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At Least There Is No Blood Shooting From The Eyes

Frogs 550

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By Phil Hecken

Yesterday evening, the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs unveiled new uniforms. Let’s just cut straight to the chase: Yes — that is supposed to be sublimated “frog skin” on those uniforms. So far, we’re seeing in their monochromatic form (white, purple and gray), but at their spring game last evening, the team also unveiled some new combinations.

I’ll just let Nike’s wordsmiths describe the new uniforms:

The TCU Nike Mach Speed Uniform features the latest innovations in lightweight fabric built for maximum speed, ventilation and comfort. The new uniform design is one of the first to include a full sublimated pattern on the jersey and pants. Like the fierce, desert-dwelling mascot, the horned frog, the TCU football team uses speed, quickness and defensive tactics to outwit opponents. The horned frog’s scaly body armor inspires the new sublimated pattern ”” a digital evolution of the program’s existing lizard skin pattern. Covering the entire jersey, and extending through the pant, the motif embodies the fearless attitude that defines both the mascot and the team.

Let’s take a look at each one (and yes, for each photo you can click to enlarge, if you dare).

. . . . .

Purple

150320_Nike_TCU_home_3486_original

150320_Nike_TCU_home_3269_original

150320_Nike_TCU_home_3209_original

150320_Nike_TCU_home_3286_original 150320_Nike_TCU_home_3205_original

According to Nike, “The purple jersey and pant combination serves as the Horned Frogs’ home uniform. The color represents nobility while embodying a powerful aura and undeniable energy. White numbers, symbolic of honor, accent the purple uniform in a bold, high-contrast combination.”

. . . . .

White

150320_Nike_TCU_AWAY_16x9_original


150320_Nike_TCU_away__0642_original

The white uniform (which is the away uni) is described as such: “TCU’s white-on-white away uniform holds special meaning: The white color reflects good sportsmanship and serves as inspiration for victory even in the harshest environments.”

. . . . .

Gray

150320_Nike_TCU_alt_3419_original

150320_Nike_TCU_alt_3464_original

150320_Nike_TCU_alt_3439_original(1)

150320_Nike_TCU_alt_3446_original

“TCU’s third uniform features a gray jersey and pants, providing a neutral base for the purple and white accents,” according to the manufacturer.

. . . . .

Is there anything else we need to know? “Further graphic details on the jersey include the words, ‘GIVE EM HELL,’ embroidered on the back neckline. The phrase echoes the school’s famous ‘Riff Ram’ cheer, which has been a stadium standard and a fan favorite since the 1970s.” Interestingly enough, in the photos provided by Nike, there was no closeup (or shot at all, actually) of the “GIVE EM HELL” embroidery.

Where do we start. First of all, I don’t hate these, although I think Nike is taking their ability to sublimate patterns just a tad too far here. It’s not like they haven’t done the frog-skin pattern before, either — they’ve had it on their helmets a couple of different times, and even went so far a couple years ago to add a red stripe — symbolizing the blood shooting out of the eyes of the horned frog. The new helmets (assuming they only have the purple and white), have the frog-skin pattern on the shell and on the stripe, respectively. Those actually compliment the unis pretty well.

I don’t even mind the sublimated pattern present on the gray and purple uniforms. I think from a distance it won’t be all that noticeable (although that remains to be seen — and who knows how they’ll look when players perspire). What I don’t particularly like (at first glance) is the monochromatic look of the gray and purple uniforms. I’m hopeful they’ll break those up by wearing white pants or some other color pants from the jerseys. But the frog-skin pattern, aside from the fact that it’s completely unnecessary, is fine. I’m not sure how big a recruiting tool that’s going to be, but hey, it’s different. It also looks like they’ve dumped a significant amount of black from the colorscheme (and replaced it with GFGS). And at least there is no blood shooting from the eyes.

OK readers…you’ve seen them. What do you think? Good, bad, or something else? Did Nike push the envelope just enough, or is this the beginning of the end? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments below.

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classic scoreboards splash

Classic Ballpark Scoreboards

I’m pleased to continue with a favorite weekend feature here at Uni Watch, “Classic Ballpark Scoreboards,” which are created by Gary Chanko. You probably know Gary best for his wonderful colorizations, but he has been a solid contributor for many years, and this is his new project. This segment will appear every Saturday on Uni Watch.

Here’s Gary (click on image to enlarge):

. . . . . . . . . .

Classic Ballpark Scoreboards – Series II
by Gary Chanko

This week the series visits that once massive, hulking edifice along Lake Erie, Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium.

Cleveland Municipal Stadium UW

Cleveland Municipal Stadium


Home of: Cleveland Indians (1932-33, 1936-1993);
Cleveland Browns (1946-1995); Cleveland Rams (1936-37, 1939-41, 1945)
Closed:December 1995; Demolished: November 1996

Municipal Stadium, Cleveland Stadium, Lakefront Stadium, Mistake by the Lake; all refer to the same cheerless place the Cleveland Indians called home for parts of seven decades. The ballpark’s location (next to Lake Erie) and cavernous size combined to create an unwelcoming venue for baseball.

The Stadium was among the first multi-purpose facilities and served as the playing field for both baseball and football from the beginning. At the time the Stadium was completed in 1931, the 78,00 plus seating capacity was the largest in the world. But the massive seating capacity was tough to fill during the ballpark’s initial depression era years.

Complaints by fans and players (monstrous size outfield) drove the Indians back to League Park in 1934 where they continued to play some (mostly weekday day games) of their games through the 1946 season.

The ballpark’s rudimentary scoreboard was located in dead center field among the bleachers and some 500-feet from fans behind home plate. It must have been a challenge to see the postings. Gruen sponsored the analog clocks; the one on the right was purposed for football.

This scoreboard illustration depicts a game in progress with the Yankees on May 23, 1948.

A Few Things to Know

• The opening event in the new stadium occurred on July 1, 1931, with 37,000 fans in attendance. But this event wasn’t an Indians baseball game. It was a world heavy weight championship boxing match. The Cleveland Indians inaugural game will take place a year later.

• The 1948 version of the scoreboard was replaced by 1953. The new scoreboard now included advertising (the ubiquitous Chesterfield ad) and a new watch sponsor – Longines, of course.

84,587 people attended a Yankees-Indians game in 1954.

• Cleveland’s Osborn Engineering Company and the architectural firm Walker and Weeks designed the original Stadium. Oddly the same two companies were involved in the demolition.

Next week Classic Baseball Scoreboards returns to the City of Brotherly Love for a look back at Connie Mack Stadium in the 60’s.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

If anyone is interested in purchasing a digital copy of these posters, Gary is working on an online purchase option. In the interim you can contact him directly at Classicscoreboards@gmail.com.

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all sport uni tweaks

Uni Tweaks Concepts

We have another new set of tweaks, er…concepts today. After discussion with a number of readers, it’s probably more apropos to call most of the reader submissions “concepts” rather than tweaks. So that’s that.

So if you’ve concept for any sport, or just a tweak or wholesale revision, send them my way.

Please do try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per image — if you have three uniform concepts in one image, then obviously, you can go a little over, but no novels, OK? OK!. You guys have usually been good with keeping the descriptions pretty short, and I thank you for that.

Like the colorizations, I’m going to run these as inline pics — click on each one to enlarge.

And so, lets begin:

~~~

First up today is Marcus (no last name given) with a new look for the Broncos:

NEWAGE - Marcus

Hi Phil,

This is a bit more modern than most concepts I see featured, but I wanted to completely re-vamp the Broncos, and give them what would be one of the boldest looks in the NFL. Dull but intimidating primary color, vibrant, in your face numbers and accents. Pretty much the opposite of the attitude Denver went into the Playoffs with.

Thank you,

Marcus.

. . .

And we close today with Jeff Callahan who has a Cardinals concept:

Cardinals - Jeff Callahan

Hey Phil,

Here’s my uni tweak for the Cardinals. I love the black bat and 1940s lettering paired with the current birds.

Thanks! Uni-Watch rocks!

-Jeff

. . .

And that’s it for today. Back with more next time.

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T-Shirt Club reminder: The Uni Watch T-Shirt Club’s latest limited-edition design, jointly inspired by Cinco de Mayo and the Brewers’ “Cerveceros” jerseys, is available from now through Monday. Full details here, or go directly to the ordering page.

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USFL splash


LAST CALL For The Latest Contest

In case you missed it or were distracted by Paul’s ESPN contest to design a uniform for the future Las Vegas hockey design, Jim Vilk & I are hosting another uniform re-design contest on UW.

You can read the full details here, but basically the idea is to “free up the great names, colors and logos of the USFL and reuse them” for other teams in current leagues — all teams/leagues are open (except football, since the USFL was a football league).

I’ve received a few submissions over the past week and a half, but not the usual number I receive for a contest such as this. If I don’t receive any more, I’ll just run all the ones I did receive in one contest. The deadline is April 15th, so you still have time to get your concepts in.

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Uni Watch News Ticker:

Baseball News: Rather bizarre item from the NYT, notes the “Nationals are playing slow soft-rock songs during the visiting team’s batting practice. As if their standout starting rotation were not daunting enough, the Nationals are also trying to gain a psychological edge on their opponents, at least in some small way” (thanks, Paul). … For those interested, here’s the video from last year’s Opening Day Chief Wahoo protests (from Peter Pattakos). … Speaking of the Indians, “You would think the Indians would learn,” says Dwayne White. “Speaking of racist images, this is not just racist, it is stupid too.” … Reader Andy Horne went to the Potomac Nationals (aka P-Nats) Class High A team opening night Thursday against the Lynchburg Hillcats and got a few good pics: “1. Nellie Rodriguez (1B for Hillcats) going high-cuff; 2. Wilmer Difo (SS for P-Nats) going high-cuff with some great stirrups; 3. A bad pic but Jason Werth is on a rehab assignment and is using his Washington Nats helmet with his number 28 instead of the P-Nats team issued. He also was issued #44 as another player on the P-Nats has 28; 4. Sponsor creep alert! Wegmans (a grocery store chain) sponsoring the on deck hitters circle; and, 5. The P-Nats won the Carolina league championship last year and their opening day giveaway was a replica championship ring. What I thought would be some plastic cheap-o ring actually was legit.” … Perhaps the Padres are unaware of the purpose of the “batters eye” background? (nice spot by Jim Walaitis). I believe that’s visible ONLY for the TV audience, however. … Cubs GM Theo Epstein threw a brushback pitch at Clark the Cub (thanks to Patrick O’Neill). … Looks like the 2015 World Series & Post Season logos have been revealed. Chris Creamer has the scoop. … On June 28th, Aberdeen Ironbirds players will be wearing these jerseys on Autism awareness night. More info here (h/t Joseph Young). … Vanderbilt has some custom new gloves (from Trés Lawless). … “The Richmond Flying Squirrels outfitted Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe in a team jersey with number & NOB for their hope opener (Thursday) night,” writes R. Scott Rogers. “The team gave McAuliffe the number 1, alas. He’s officially the 72nd governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Maybe the 1 stands for the number of consecutive terms he is constitutionally permitted to serve?” … Here are the orange jerseys the Richmond Flying Squirrels will wear every Friday this season (via MiLB Promos). … The Toledo Mud Hens will be going back to the future this year (how original). … The Salem Red Sox have a throwback Avalanche hat and a remembering VA Tech shooting in 2007 cap (via Alex). … Oops. The scoreboard at Camden Yards was just a bit off yesterday (nice grab by Rasher2). … Alexei Ramirez honored Minnie Minoso at yesterday’s White Sox opener (h/t Mike Chamernik). … “Alexei Ramirez is wearing a Minnie Minoso jersey today,” Eriq Jaffe adds, “Either MLB gave him permission, or there’s going to be a fine. This may be the first time that a player has worn a ‘tribute’ jersey for a player with a memorial patch for that same player on the jersey.” … Ohio State wore these camo things yesterday (h/t Ron Mexico). … Is this a new script for Indians? Says Kevin J. Chmura, “I don’t know why they would trademark it unless they plan on using it.” … Here are the Omaha StormChasers All Star patches for this season (thanks to Ben Matukewicz). … Here’s a look at the Unequalâ„¢ protective shell in Hector Noesi’s hat. Made of a composite that contains Kevlar (h/t, literally, to Jeremy Dodson). … New Era has introduced a really awful cap. Actually, that cap might go well with my Hawai’ian shirt, but otherwise…it’s awful. … Check out the socks Cameron Maybin was rocking yesterday (via Chris Brueckner). … The San Francisco Giants will wear this patch in honor of Lon Simmons, starting Monday (thanks Brinke). … “It looks like Brewers outfielder Khris Davis is wearing one of those ‘Say No To Drugs’ wristbands,” says Randy Allemann — who thinks it may be one of these.

NFL News: Cleveland Browns uniform leaks (allegedly) are everywhere. Nothing ‘new’ in that article, but as we at UW (and the article) have pointed out, take everything with a grain of salt. One interesting factoid from that article though: a tweet from Daryl Ruiter with this quote — “Will also say #Browns regime has history of spreading different info internally to see what becomes public to figure out who’s leaking info.” Good point.

College Football News: Oops: Looks like ESPN was using JT Barrett as “cover boy” for a Braxton Miller story (nice spot by Hunter Ginn). … In this photo of Michigan’s April 2013 Spring Game, Taylor Lewan wears the team’s usual helmet, but Kyle Kalis is still wearing the matte finish helmet from the January 2013 Outback Bowl (good spot by Brian McCrodden). … The Colorado Buffaloes will unveil new uniforms on May 1 (h/t Matthew Robins). … The Memphis Tigers played a spring game last night. They put their area code on their lids (h/t nick fromtheinternet). … The short-season baseball Boise Hawks hinted on Twitter that they may soon have a purple alternate jersey, just like the Albuquerque Isotopes announced (via Brad Iverson-Long).

NBA News: Whoa — is this a Memphis Grizzlies logo on Native American ceremonial wear? Great spot by Victory Cheeseballs. … Wow — check out the inconsistent script “Nats” font on these 1955 Syracuse Nationals jerseys (they won the NBA championship that year). Thanks to Matt Newbery). … “While watching ’30 for 30 – Sole Man: Kobe and The Gunslinger,’ I noticed at the 7:56 mark they are just starting to talk about Kobe’s Crazy 8 Shoes and the actor appears to be wearing Nike sock,” says Chuck Betts. “Found it odd considering the subject matter of that part of the film with Sonny Vaccaro just being fired by Nike.” … Yesterday the Cavs and Celts (h/t Scott) hooked up in a color vs. color game (h/t M.R. Villwock).

Hockey News:Flag spotting on Ryan (McDonagh)’s shoulder pads,” writes Luke Rosnick. “This is from the webleedblue.com facebook account. This was during the Rangers’ annual ‘Blueshirts off our backs’ ceremony, so perhaps was just for this occasion.” … Check out the beautiful unis worn by the 1934 Stanley Cup Champion Chicago Blackhawks (h/t John Urbina).

Soccer News: Liverpool has unveiled their 2015-16 kits by New Balance. Says holycalamity, “Not Bad.” Here’s another look. And here’s an article with some more photos. … Here is a render of leaked details of the USA 2015 home kit (from Conrad Burry). And an actual picture of the USWNT kit. … Also from Conrad, here’s a leaked photo of the 2015-16 Juventus home kit.

Grab Bag: Reader Brady Graham writes, “Don’t know who singer Naughty Boy is, but a dancer in his music video was wearing a Kansas City A’s inspired hat I received as a giveaway on A’s Night at Kauffman Stadium in 2011.” … D-baggery alert: adidas is suing Marc Jacobs over the use of its stripe design (h/t SoleCollector). … Here are the uniforms the Buffalo Bandits will be wearing for their Tucker Out Lymphoma night on April 25th (h/t Ryan McConnell). … Check out the USA flag stripes on top of Johns Hopkins University helmets (via Griffin Smith). … Here are the outfits Masters Leader Jordan Spieth will be wearing today and Sunday (via Darren Rovell). … The original members of Grateful Dead will host two shows at Levi’s Stadium on 6/27 & 6/28 (read more here). … Yesterday, Phil Mickelson’s caddy was wearing a North Star’s tee under his caddy jumper (h/t Ryan Hagen). … Carla Borrego of the Adelaide Thunderbirds in the ANZ netball championship is the only player who wears knee-high black socks (thanks to Graham Clayton).

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And that’s all for today. As you may have seen in yesterday’s Uni Watch, I’ll be traveling today and have only limited access to the computer — and I will probably only be able to take ticker submissions by e-mail. I should have full content tomorrow (although any breaking uni news will possibly have to wait). Try to keep the ticker submissions light, if you can! Thanks.

Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.

Peace.

.. … ..

“Look, if you’re embarrassed to be wearing a hat called a trilby, then don’t wear it. Wearing a trilby but calling it a fedora isn’t the answer.”

— R. Scott Rogers

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Comments (40)

    Ay Caramba! These TCU uniforms look like pajamas. And for the record, I liked the blood shooting from the eyes.

    Should be home opener for the Richmond Flying Squirrels, not hope opener.

    I love the early weekend morning posts, gives me something to read while enjoying my morning coffee during a busy weekend.

    Dear Nike, Why don’t you sublimate some proper LSU Stripes for the Colts?

    Anyways… I think TCU looks ok. The frog skin works. It’s kinda silly, but so is naming a team after a frog. I think it could be done better, but it’s not bad. It’s not gonna look very good if they mix-n-match though. If any uniform needs to stay monochrome, it’s one with a pattern like this.

    Why does a team that has “Christian” in their school name, have Hell printed on their jerseys?

    I don’t mind the sublimation on the jerseys but the purple and grey pants are taking it a bit too far. What strikes me is that the concept of a full body sublimation on a jersey is something that you see far more commonly on soccer jerseys, and is a very common aspect of Nike’s soccer uniforms.

    Come on, Nike. Why stop at “sublimated ‘frog skin'”? Next time use actual frog (i.e., horned toad) skin. That’ll be a real attention-getter.

    Those TCU uniforms just might be the worst ever – and that is saying something.

    You’ve obviously managed to block out a few uniforms from your memory if these are “the worst ever”. You should be careful about that, too much alcohol really can be a bad thing.

    Re the great P-Nats report, Wegman’s is not just a grocery chain. The local Wegman’s store is also across the street from the site of the planned new P-Nats stadium. (He says, having just returned from a morning walk to get coffee and Danishes at said Wegman’s.)

    Wegmans is not a grocery chain. It’s not even a supermarket. It’s a “superior market”

    I dig everything about the possible 2015 World Series logo except the metallic gradient on the text. Yet more evidence that Commissioner Manfred believes he’s in charge of the sport of football, not baseball.

    The new Liverpool shirts are really nice. They’re distinctive but subdued, and they don’t just have random stripes and swirls like the last couple of Warrior branded kits. New Balance’s shirts for Celtic and the Costa Rican national team are similarly classy. I really hope that New Balance sticks with their investment in soccer. Adidas and Nike take up far too much of the market, and New Balance along with a resurgent Umbro and Puma could produce some much needed variety.

    Re: the Broncos concept…
    In a word, no. Gray for no reason as the main color, weird color patches, gradient numbers… just nothing is working. Sorry.

    Good assessment on Municipal Stadium. My favorite moment from there was Ten Cent Beer Night.

    With that said, it should be noted that its predecessor League Park is still standing.

    massive, hulking edifice…

    …cheerless place

    Massive? Yes. Hulking? OK, sure.
    Cheerless? I never thought so.

    Not a Tribe fan. I loved Municipal Stadium, though. Big as it was, it seemed a lot more home-y than the new park. The wooden seats gave it a certain charm, I thought.

    I’ve been waiting for the Municipal Stadium scoreboard. I agree with Jim. As a kid growing up going there, it was the opposite of cheerless. That might just be nostalgia, but I loved that place. Thanks for posting it.

    “…it should be noted that its predecessor League Park is still standing.”

    Well, a tiny bit of it anyway. I believe it was the ticket office, though they recently prettied it up and laid down a new playing field set to where the original field was.

    The Cardinals concept is not bad, except for the number font. A contemporary font is completely wrong for such a throwback jersey.

    Is the TCU road jersey supposed to be celebrating the arrival of 4G wireless internet to the campus?

    Do those ’34 Blackhawk breezers have pockets!? Check out the player on the far right.

    Just so everyone is clear, a “horned frog” isn’t a frog at all, but a lizard. So it really is a subliminated “lizard” pattern. That being said, I thought it was a camo pattern before reading the article. Thumbs down.

    On the purple TCU jerseys, the neckline goes down between the numbers. What about a single digit? Would it sit lower on the jersey than the double numbers? Would it sit on the neck stitching?

    Whoa. Just clicked on the full chest. The numbers do not lie flat but are on the chest seams. Those will look bad fast, both on the field and on the fans.

    Alexei Ramirez honors his fellow countryman Minnie Minoso by wearing his name and number 9 on his uniform.
    Harold Baines, the assistant hitting instructor, wears his retired #3.

    Aside from Jackie Robinson Day, has there been any other time that members of a team wore two – or possibly more – retired numbers? (I say “retired” as opposed to “out of service”.)

    I know the Tigers wore legacy names and numbers in the last game at Tiger Stadium. (Gabe Kapler wore no number for Ty Cobb.) I don’t how many retired numbers were involved, though.

    The TCU unis are a tad much. I do have a question, and I’m sure someone has pointed this out, but why is it that the NCAA can allow teams to have multiple helmets, while the NFL doesn’t allow it over concussion concern? Shouldn’t the NCAA want even more to reduce head injuries since their athletes don’t get paid and since they are students, learning?

    Because the NFL’s rationale is spurious at best.

    Why would it safer to wear a newer helmet with LESS impacts becasue it is worn in fewer games (i.e. ncaa, more helmets mean you wear each of them less often) than an older one (i.e nfl shell that gets worn all year)?

    The reason the NFL is “one helmet only” (players can switch models during the season as desired) is to prevent lawsuits, not head injuries. If Tom Brady were to sustain a career ending head injury wearing NE’s white throwback helmet he could claim that the injury occurred because he was forced by the league to wear that white helmet instead of the usual silver helmet.

    No permission OR fine for Alexei Ramirez, per an MLB representative who spoke on ESPN Radio Chicago yesterday. The MLB thought it was a “classy move.” But without permission or a fine I’m wondering what kind of precedent it sets for the next guy who wants to wear whatever he wants.

    So, adidas suing someone over trademark infringement (and dilution, probably, over use of a famous mark) is not proper, but the Indians slapping “TM” over everything is?

    Frankly, welcome to business. If you get close to a big company’s mark that is famous, then you’re going to find some kind of consequence.

    The Juventus shirt in the picture has three stars over the badge (each star representing 10 league championships). The club has stated link (in fact, the current badge doesn’t have any) because it would be indicating an acceptance of the league’s decision to strip them of the 2005 and 2006 titles.

    Nike Uniform Designers need to stop smoking pot and/or crack and or shooting up heroin and/or taking LSD tabs.

    The TCU uniform set is hideous.

Comments are closed.