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Putting A Final Bow on Bowl Season

Bowl Wrap 2016

By Phil Hecken and the whole Sunday Morning Uni Watch Crew

OK, kids — I know we’re not quite done with the NCAA Football Season just yet; there’s still the big rematch Monday night between Clemson and Alabama — but we’re pretty durn close. So, today, it’s time to tie a final bow on the NCAA Season with one last post from the SMUW crew.

I can’t thank these guys — Terry Duroncelet, Jr., Joe Ringham, Rex Henry, Dennis Bolt, Kyle Acker and Ethan Dimitroff enough for the YEOMAN work they all put in this season. Terry handled the heavy lifting, taking us through 14 weeks (plus last weekend’s bowl wrap, Part I), Joe compiled his weekly “5 & 1” and Rex, Dennis, Kyle and Ethan all handled uni tracking for the Power 5 conferences. Dennis even compiled the Duck Tracker — a feature of Uni Watch for something like seven or eight years. My great thanks to all of them, and my hat goes off to each and every one. These guys are the BEST! Please (I beg you), give them all a nice virtual round of applause in the comments, won’t ya?

Now then — last weekend Terry and Joe were featured and looked back at the first half of the 2016 Bowls. Today, they’re both back with Part II, and the trackers will each have a section where we see the unis worn for those teams in the Power 5 conferences who received (and accepted) Bowl invitations. While their work for this season is “done,” we’re not quite done with several of them, as I plan to feature some of their work in the coming days, weeks and months. Their talents extend beyond SMUW.

Thanks again, to all of them!

OK — let’s get this started. Here’s Terry with your…

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Sunday Saturday Morning Bowl Wrap (Part II
By Terry Duroncelet

Well, looks like a rematch of crimson elephants and orange tigers is underway, but what happened in between those games? Let’s find out, shall we?

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From Wednesday, December 28th, 2016

│Northwestern vs Pitt│ It’s a battle of the big cats, as The Northwestern University Wildcats wore wore black helmets and pants with purple jerseys, while the opposing University of Pittsburgh Panthers wore navy helmets and pants with white jerseys. As an aside, I wonder why Pitt doesn’t have the squared-off part of their collar colorblocked navy as well? USC (more on them in a moment) has the full collar, and both USC and Pitt’s uniforms are new for 2016, so I can’t find a logical reason as to why there’s no real consistency here.

│Miami vs West Virginia│ Moving from New York City, NY to Orlando, FL, we witness the University of Miami Hurricanes in… THE LOOK, facing off against the navy/white/white-clad West Virginia University Mountaineers.

│Utah vs Indiana│Albeit three days late, the University of Utah Utes dressed decal-to-shoelace in red, red, RED (take notes, Houston). And a surprisingly-decent all-white look for the Hoosiers of the University of Indiana Bloomington. Something that Warren Hallmark pointed out was the face that Hoosiers QB Lagow wears #21. He does this in honor of his sister. As I mentioned in the previous column, BYU and Utah wore these decals (photo originally from Isaac Asiata) in honor of Elise Mahe and Hayes Tate (more info here). Kudos to Jeremy Edom for the bowl patch glitch shot. Though the unis may have contrasted with ease, the game’s score was quite the opposite, with this being one of the closest games of the year, with Utah justedgingout Indiana, 26-24.

│Kansas St vs Texas A&M│ A pretty standard-looking contest for these two former Big XII colleagues: the Kansas State University Wildcats in silver helmets and pants with purple jerseys, and the Texas A&M University Aggies in maroon helmets and pants with white jerseys. That being said, some of the game photos make aTm’s maroon look like it’s a bit on the purple-side to me. Eh, it might’ve always been that shade, and I’m just now noticing.

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From Thursday, December 29th, 2016

│South Carolina vs South Florida│ Another high-contrast game that I don’t entirely hate: the University of South Carolina (a.k.a. the other USC) Gamecocks came out in full-black against the University of South Florida Bulls, who conversely came out in all-white. Gamecocks QB Jake Bentley (who typically is seen wearing #4) switched to #19 in time for the game (more info here). And thanks to Fonty McFontFace, we see that there was a bit of a– well, font discrepancy on the field.

│Virginia Tech vs Arkansas│ The next game on the day is between the University of Arkansas Razorbacks in mono-white with cardinal helmets, and the Hokies of –say it with me– the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (typing that never gets old), who wore white helmets and pants with maroon jerseys.

│Colorado vs Oklahoma St│ In one of my favorite-looking games of the year, we have two former Big XII colleagues (again?) playing in what ultimately proved to be a one-sided affair, between the Buffaloes of the University of Colorado Boulder, who wore a very nice (and classic) gold/black/gold combo, and the Cowboys of Oklahoma State University”“Stillwater, who wore white jerseys and orange pants with the black barbed wire helmets, which grow on me with each game. Traditionally, Oklahoma State wears Marshal badges with captain Cs for bowl games (kind of how Notre Dame doesn’t wear player names except for in bowl games). There’s just one little problem with doing that this season: Oklahoma State’s new uniforms for 2016 already use a Marshal badge, so what are they to do? Eh, just a regular tackle twill C will do (with credit to Dan Medina). On a more somber note, Colorado honored former Buff and 1994 Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam with this helmet decal. Salaam reportedly committed suicide on December 5th, 2016.

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From Friday, December 30th, 2016

│Georgia vs TCU│ The University of Georgia Bulldogs played against the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs in the first game on the last Friday of 2016. Georgia would wear –what else?– red helmets and jerseys with silver pants. TCU would wear all-white, which is one of their better looks, all things considered.

│North Carolina vs Stanford│ Up next, we have a game between two teams: one being known for a particular color, the other who’s team name is a color. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Tar Heels in the classic Carolina Blue helmets and jerseys with white pants, and the Leland Stanford Junior University Cardinal wore their usual all-white road uniform.

│Air Force vs South Alabama│ For the third time this season, the United States Air Force Academy Falcons wore their Sharktooth uniforms against the University of South Alabama Jaguars, who wore all-white.

│Tennessee vs Nebraska│ One not in the know might wonder why the University of Tennessee (Knoxville) Volunteers wore their “Smokey” uniforms against the white-clad University of Nebraska-Lincoln Cornhuskers. Tennessee did this in response to the wildfires in Gatlinburg, TN. And the final memorial on the season for Nebraska’s Sam Foltz was this decal, which Tennessee wore on the back of their helmets.

🍊Florida St vs Michigan🍊 The first of the New Year’s Six games, and this was indeed a close one. We have the Florida State University Seminoles in garnet jerseys with gold helmets and pants, and the University of Michigan Wolverines in the mono-white uniforms that harken back to 1974, and of course, what Michigan uni would be complete without the helmet? And just look at all of those merit decals! Speaking of which, it’s no secret that from the unis to the decals that Wolverines head coach Jim Harbaugh is a classicist, right down to his tried and true maize and blue sideline gear (with credit to JP on Twitter, as well as Craig Barker in that same thread who writes “Skinny M on Harbaugh’s hat is a throwback to 1950s-1980s Michigan baseball cap (and Bo’s preferred style)”).

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From Saturday, December 31st, 2016

│LSU vs Louisville│ And so we come to the end of 2016, the year that saw the expected purging of Les Miles as head coach of the LSU Tigers, as well as the unexpected birth of a meme that arose from the death of a silverback gorilla. We begin with the aforementioned Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Bengal Tigers in the classic gold helmets and pants with white jerseys, the lattermost of which is a holy bastion of how shoulder stripes should look (take notes, Indy). They squared off against the University of Louisville Cardinals, who wore an all-red ensemble, complete with red-chrome helmets. I’m not sure if the seniors have been wearing it all season and I just never noticed, but just in case, here’s what their SEC Graduate patch looks like. Much Like COL/OSU, the game was high in contrast, and was pretty lopsided, as LSU would close out 2016 with a 29-9 victory over Louisville.

│Kentucky vs Georgia Tech│ Unless I lost count, this is our third color-vs-color game thus far, and THANK HELL this isn’t black vs red! Here, we have the University of Kentucky Wildcats in blue helmets and jerseys with white pants, and the Georgia Institute of Technology Yellow Jackets in gold jerseys, white pants, and white honeycomb helmets. Georgia Tech’s seems to have come back to their uni-senses after losing their way only a few short years ago in more ways than one. Here’s hoping that they stay on the up-and-up going forward (moving back to the darker gold would be a good start).

🍑Alabama vs Washington🍑 After all of the pomp and circumstance has sided, we reach our first semifinal game of the 2017 (calendar year) College Football Playoff, between the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, and the University of Washington Huskies. Alabama in the Vapor Untouchable II variant of the tried-and-true crimson helmets and jerseys with white pants. Far less seams than their normal uni, which I consider to be addition by subtraction. Washignton would wear gold helmets, white jerseys, and purple pants. Aaron Wiens notes two Bama jersey inconsistencies: two Alabama players seem to be wearing the older jersey template: #13 in this shot, and the center in this shot. Note the plain, white swoosh and the lack of a bowl game patch on both tops (links to the pic that Wiens provided here and here). Alabama won the game 24-7, although some plays and actions drove Nick Saban to channel his inner Vince Lombardi. Also, Dan Medina spotted an Alabama championship belt of sorts. What was that thing Paul Bear Bryant said a long time ago: act like you’ve been there before, or something? [Note: the belt is given to a defensive player who creates a turnover, and that player keeps the belt until the next turnover — PH]

🍲Clemson vs Ohio State🍲 Rounding out the final game of 2016, we have the Clemson University Tigers in enough orange to make the State of Florida green with envy. On the other end of the ball are the Buckeyes of THE… Ohio State University, who wore white jerseys with grey helmets and pants. Unfortunately for Ohio State, that block ‘O’ is going to mean something else entirely for the next year, as they were SLAPPED around by Clemson in a shutout, securing the Tigers’ spot in a rematch of last year’s CFBP.

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From Monday, January 2nd, 2017

│Iowa vs Florida│ Happy 2017! Who has the honors of throwing the first ‘skin of the new year? The University of Iowa Hawkeyes and the University of Florida Gators, of course. Iowa wore black/black/gold, and Florida wore orange/white/white. A solid look for both teams, with plenty of contrast, and no strange surprises.

🐏Western Michigan vs Wisconsin🐑 The Western Michigan University Broncos are the Mad-American Conference’s first ever team to play in this storied game that has been a staple of college football since 1937. They dressed for the occasion: wearing all-white for the contest. A good look, considering what they’re known for wearing. Ick. Meanwhile, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Badgers wore what they typically wear: white helmets and pants with red jerseys. It was an excellent season for Western Michigan, but the fell just short of winning. That said, things can only go up from here for the Broncos (and here’s hoping the uniforms follow suit).

🌹Penn State vs USC🌹 The Rose Bowl (ignore the date). A game that never gets old, despite it being one of the holy lands of football as a whole for south of a century, opening in October of 1922. The 103rd edition was held between the University of Southern California Trojans, and The Pennsylvania State University Nittany Lions; a game that’s been eight years and one day (since this year’s game was on January 2nd) in the making, as the last time these two teams met in the GOTA was New Year’s Day 2009, a game that would see the Trojans win 38-24. This year, Penn State wore the home uniforms this time around, coming out in white helmets and pants with navy blue jerseys. USC wore cardinal helmets, white jerseys, and gold pants. On the back of USC’s helmets, they wore ‘JM 4’ decals in honor of former USC Trojan, Joe McKnight. In addition, Ronald Jones (who normally wears #25) wore McKnight’s #4 in his honor (hard to see here). It was a game for the ages, as USC staged a comeback in the 4th quarter, and Penn State –much like JJ from Yuri on Ice— cracked under pressure when it mattered the most. On a game winning field dab— er, I mean field goal, USC would win it, 52-49. Looks like Penn State will have to wait until NYD 2025 for their next attempt to best USC.

🍬Oklahoma vs Auburn🍭 And we close with the Auburn University Tigers in all-white, and the University of Oklahoma Sooners in crimson helmets and jerseys with white pants. A season that begun with Oklahoma falling to Houston in Week 1 33-23, ends on a high note, as the Sooners would win against Auburn, 35-19.

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And just like that, we’ve reached the end of the 2016 college football season. I never know how to end these columns, except with a couple of thank-yous. Thank you to everyone on Twitter (and via email) who submitted stuff all season. A HUGE hank you to Paul and Phil for allowing me to write for Uni Watch since 2011. Since I started reading religiously in March of 2009, I’ve always been happy whenever a submission of mine makes it in the ticker, and to be able to write annually for the site years later is an honor, and a privilege. And lastly, thank you to all of you for your continued support. Considering I ramble often and can be overly-pedantic at times, I’m happy if even one person reads what I have to say, and the fact that so many of you come back every week to see what as going on in Oregon’s mind for the week is simply mind-blowing. I currently have a neat project that I’ve been working on for literal months, and will appear on the site very soon. If I don’t see you then, then I’ll see you in eight months. See ya’s!

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Thanks, TJ! And thanks for another tremendous season of SMUW! OK…now on to…

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Joe Ringham 5 & 1

Joe Ringham’s 5 & 1

Following in the footsteps of the original “5 & 1,” Jim Vilk, and Catherine Ryan after him, Joe Ringham is back for 2016 to make his “5 & 1” (five good looking and one stinker) uni-vs-uni matchups. Sometimes he’ll have some “honorable mentions” and sometimes there will be more than one “bad” game. You may agree and you may disagree — these are, after all, just opinions and everyone has one. Feel free to let him know what you think in the comments section.

Here’s Joe:

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Hey everyone! If you missed part one of the Bowl 5 & 1, you can find it here (scroll down). Man, the back half of the bowl season was filled with good-looking games. So much so that this was probably one of my hardest 5 & 1’s this season. But, I could only pick the best 5 (at least, according to me). So, for the final time this college football season, let’s see who made the cut.

5) Russell Athletic Bowl: West Virginia vs Miami — Two old Big East rivals looking great down in Orlando. Really liked WVU in navy/white/white here, although I think it would’ve looked even better had they gone colored pants. The U looked fantastic in their white/orange/white home fauxback set they’ve gone to.

4) TaxSlayer Bowl: Georgia Tech vs Kentucky — Love, love, love how the bowl forever known as the Gator Bowl went color vs color. Really loved Tech going white/gold/white, picking a great time to break out the rarely used gold tops. UK seemed to compliment that very well with their blue/blue/white set, making it a damn good looking game in Jacksonville.

3) Alamo Bowl: Oklahoma State vs Colorado — Old-school Big XII (or, even Big 8, for those that remember the Big 8) match-up in San Antonio, and it was a beaut. Really dug OSU going black/white/orange, by far one of their best looks of the season. It matches up wonderfully against the traditional gold/black/gold look of the Buffs.

2) Texas Bowl: Texas A&M vs Kansas State — Yet another old Big XII match-up coming back in bowl season. Anyone who’s followed this since I started knows how much I love K-State’s unis. No exception here. The Aggies, though, hit it out of the park here, going with the always great maroon/white/maroon here.

1) Rose Bowl: Southern Cal vs Penn StateBest looking game of the bowl season. Period.

And, finally…

+1) Foster Farms Bowl: Indiana vs Utah — The Utes picked a bad time for their worst look of the year, channeling their inner-Maryland with the “red-ops” mess. Just… no.

That will do it for me this season. A huge thanks to everyone for reading and commenting all season long. Huge thanks to Phil for letting me do my thing in this space. Enjoy both the FCS Championship and the CFP Championship, and we’ll do this again starting in September!

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Thanks, Joe! Great stuff this year. OK…now we move to…

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NCAA Uni Tracking

Uni Watch will again track the uniform combinations worn by the “Power 5” conferences. Most of the 2015 trackers are back, with one new tracker added:

We’ve got Rex Henry (tracking the ACC), Dennis Bolt (tracking the PAC-12), Kyle Acker (tracking the Big XII), and Ethan Dimitroff (now tracking the B1G AND the SEC). Rex, Dennis, and Kyle and are all returning from 2015, and Ethan is new to the NCAA Uni Tracking this season. Ethan has stepped into the dual role (thanks, man!) of both the B1G and the SEC after one of my previous trackers could no longer provide the B1G.

Here are the Uni Trackers for the Power 5 Conference Bowl Participants:

+ + + + + + + + + +

Rex is up first today (ACC):

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ACC

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And now, here’s Dennis with the PAC-12:

Pac12uniforms2016-7-Bowls

PAC-12

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And here is Ethan, with the SEC:

SEC Football Uniform Tracker Bowls

SEC

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And here is Kyle with the Big XII:

Big XII Bowl Games

Big XII

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And here’s Ethan with the B1G:

B1G Football Uniform Tracker Bowls

B1G

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Awesome work guys!

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UW Friday Flashback

UW’s Friday Flashback

In case you missed it on Friday, with the Raiders back in the playoffs Saturday — their first postseason appearance since Super Bowl XXXVII in 2003 — Paul’s latest Friday Flashback piece over on ESPN takes a look at some quirks and eccentricities in Raiders uniform history (including Kenny Stabler’s facemask, which had the scars from where the center vertical bar had been sawed off and removed, as seen here).

Check out the Friday Flashback here.

Enjoy!

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Too Good For the Ticker


Too Good…

for the Ticker

Got an e-mail from Kevin Mann who had a question for Paul and Uni Watch about white Spring Training Coaches caps. It’s a bit too long for the ticker, so I’ll run it in TFGTT. For all images below, you can click to enlarge. Here’s Kevin…

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I have an item I would like you to look into if you’re interested. I’ve been a long time hat buyer, and most recent collector. One of my favorite hats as a kid was a Dodgers “Coaches Hat”. I recall one year in a hat catalog (Star Struck or something similar) they sold what they called Coaches Hats for all MLB Teams. All of the hats had a white crown, and team color squatchee, eyelets, and bill. Attached is a picture of the Dodgers hat.

I recall only seeing this one year, and I’m not positive which year. Since it has the MLB Batterman on the back I know it had to be ’92 or later. The Dodgers hat had a kelly green underbrim (my favorite), and I believe they switched to grey in ’94. My guess is this was in 1993, but it could be 1992.

I also recall seeing a picture of Tommy Lasorda in the newspaper during spring training that year wearing this hat, while everyone else had the traditional blue hat. I think this was a Spring Training only thing, but I could be wrong.

I would love to see some pictures of coaches hats being worn, or maybe even learn more about this. Seems to be an early special edition type hat.

I did some google/ebay searches and I found what I believe is the Rangers and Mariners hat (see attached). I couldn’t find any others.

I hope this finds your interest. Thank you!

Kevin Mann

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3 4

6 5

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Thanks, Kevin. OK readers — any thoughts on this? I don’t recall the white coaches caps myself, but then, I don’t usually pay much attention to coaches caps in Spring Training.

OK. Now, on to the ticker…

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Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil

Baseball News: Here’s an awesome color shot of Chavez Ravine being shaped to build Dodger Stadium, ca. 1960 (from MLB Cathedrals). While the photo is incredible, the backstory behind the Dodgers move to Chavez Ravine is a lot less romantic than you might imagine, especially if you happened to live there at the time. … Mmmmm. Beautiful look at national league uniforms, circa 1967, from this Atlanta Braves Scorebook (via SportsPaper). … Looks like some new unis for Oral Roberts University (h/t Bryan Kilpatrick).

NFL News: A new exhibit featuring iconic professional football jerseys worn throughout the game’s history opened at the Hall at Patriot Place yesterday. The exhibit, “The Fabric of Football,” will open with game-worn jerseys from 41 NFL quarterbacks on display inside the museum’s Grand Hall (from Jordan Mayblum). … Former NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle was featured on the January 6, 1964 cover of Sports Illustrated, with a great array of single bar facemasked-helmets (from Bruce Menard). … Here’s a tremendous array of AFL jackets on display at Arrowhead Stadium (note the gold Raiders’ and also the original Broncos’ jackets). From Justin. … This might be the most Buffalo .gif ever. … Interesting article on two guys who make custom cleats for Antonio Brown and others. … “Some interesting uni-related bits in SI’s 2007 NFC Title Game oral history,” says B-Dilly. … Taking the whole “Squish the Fish” thing to it’s logical conclusion, Primanti Bros. of Pittsburgh announced they’d be removing fish from the menu through Sunday in honor of the Steelers taking on the Dolphins. There’s only one problem with that. Here’s a bit more on that (h/t on the article to Mike Chamernik).

College/HighSchool Football News: Alabama won its first title at the Rose Bowl in 1926. Players had have this ticket to get into the venue (via Darren Rovell). … Here’s a look inside the Youngstown State University Penguins locker room. Notice the Championship sticker on the back of the helmet (from Robert Hayes). … Here’s an interesting version of BYU’s helmet, with additions to the stretch Y evoking the image of a paw (from Josh Freeman via Paul). That photo comes from this interesting site, which I’d recommend checking out. … “The University of Minnesota tweeted/posted (this image) to announce the hiring of P.J. Fleck,” says Adam Northenscold. “I know its customary for schools/teams to post a photoshopped image for these announcements, but this one is an interesting design choice because: a) I couldn’t find any pictures of Fleck wearing a yellow pull-over; b) I couldn’t find any pictures of any Gopher coach wearing a yellow pullover; and c) That design isn’t available for purchase from any of the online Gopher retailers.” He adds, “Odd that they would fabricate an image of him wearing something that doesn’t resemble anything he or any previous Gopher coach has worn and doesn’t resemble anything Nike produces.” … Jerry Kulig was at the College Football Playoff (CFP) Fan Fest and grabbed this shot of the four teams, in home unis who were involved in the playoff. Interestingly, Clemson is shown there with white pants (they wore all Orange vs. The Ohio State), and of course, both OSU and Washington wore white jerseys (and Washington had purple pants). … The helmets for the Army Bowl all have a little hand-painted customization (from J. Walker).

Hockey News: Awesome poster from Anthony Zych (feature on UW several times both by Paul and me) for last night’s Ring of Honor Ceremony for John J. McMullen, who was responsible for bringing the Colorado Rockies (hockey team) to New Jersey. … The Kingston Frontenacs (an OHL team) will honor the Tragically Hip with a special jersey and game night. … The Regina Pats (of the WHL) wore these Blue Jays inspired sweaters last evening (from @daneimrie via Paul). Here’s how they looked (almost) on ice (from Nelson Hackewich). … Because we can only have so many teams wearing Rocky-inspired threads, the Muskegon Lumberjacks went with Star Wars inspired ones. … On Thursday, Army Hockey wore special gold jerseys for their outdoor game against Bentley in Fenway Pawk. … Pretty cool jerseys last evening for the Texas Stars (a Dallas Stars affiliate), even if they’re Star Wars related (from Dylan Nadwodny). … In the immediate aftermath of yesterday’s tragedy at the Fort Lauderdale Airport, Florida Panther players added “FLL” to their skates (h/t J. Walker). If you weren’t aware, FLL is the abbreviation for the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. … If you happened to miss the St. Louis Blues retro-inspired unis during the Winter Classic, you’re in luck — they’re wearing them again tonight (and will wear them a total of six times, not including the WC, this season).

NBA/College Hoops News: It went over so well for the football team, they’re doing it in hoops: apparently the Maryland Terrapins will wear a “red ops” uniform this weekend against Michigan (from Marty Summa Jr). … Our own Jimmer Vilk scored an awesome Goodwill Washington Bullets tee shirt, adding, “Not sure who I feel more like: Moses Malone, Manute Bol or Mark Price.” … Beautiful black and white photo of Idaho State versus UCLA (from Brad Iverson-Long). Love the stripes everywhere. … Here’s an odd NBA logo patch, w/ white stripe on side (from John Turney, via Paul). … With Thursday’s announcement of this year’s NBA ASG uniforms, Sports Illustrated is having a vote on the best jerseys on ASG history. … The Delaware 87s, a 76ers affiliate, wore these R2D2-themed uniforms last evening. … Fortitudo Bologna (somewhere in the Euro league) with the rare polka dot basketball jerseys for their game against local rivals Vitus in Italy’s top flight (from ursos arctos). … Oh man. I’ve never felt more sorry for a popcorn vendor (from Jimmer Vilk, an ex-vendor himself).

Soccer News: After splitting up with France Football (who controls the Balon D’Or), FIFA has rebranded their awards as “The Best”. Here is a video revealing the design of the new trophy that will be handed out to the winners (from Saurel Jean, Jr.).

Grab Bag: The tweet from whence this image comes reads: “Vermont’s maple syrup logo is one of the most incredible logos you’ll ever see for all the wrong reasons.” I’m just gonna leave that there (nice spot by Fractured But Whole — itself an interesting handle). … Alabama gymnastics opened their season wearing a special leotard covered in silver jewels that was created following the April 2011 tornado that came through the West Alabama region (thanks to María Canales).

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And that’s it for today. Thanks — BIG HUGE HONKING THANKS — to all the SMUW guys: Terry, Joe, Ethan, Rex, Dennis and Kyle. They may be done with their SMUW “duties” for the season, but we haven’t heard the last of them. I have a few segments (possibly a lede, definitely some sub ledes) featuring most of these chaps with related projects. Stay tuned for that. In the meantime, please give them one more round of thanks for a fantastic 2016 NCAA Football Season!

In case you missed it, last weekend my buddy Jimmer Vilk offered up another wonderful round of collectibles in our second annual “A Very Merry Vilkmas” reader appreciation raffle. All the details are here, so be sure to check it out if you missed it — so far I’ve received over 100 entries, but the contest is still open until January 8th (7:00 Eastern Time deadline), so if you’d like some of Jim’s used crap generous Cleveland-related gear, there’s still time to enter!

That’s all for me for today. I’ll catch you tomorrow, but until then…

Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.

Peace.

.. … ..

“I also prefer the (Raiders) silver numbers, but I don’t think they’ll ever go back to them as a permanent change. Everyone complains too much about ‘legibility.’ I can read ’em just fine, but apparently no one else can.”

— THE Jeff Provo

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Comments (41)

    For the A’s, it was not just a spring training thing in the early 70’s. Manager Dick Williams and his staff wore the white crowned caps throughout the regular and post-season.

    link

    Popcorn vendor: THIS is why there is no place for sports mascots in sporting events, no matter whether or not this particular incident WAS staged! I have to wonder if the vendor needed the concussion protocol after that.

    It’s pretty obviously staged. Notice how the mascot is the one who falls to the ground instantly at impact while the popcorn guy is still standing. That doesn’t happen in a real collision.

    I love that the first jersey pictured in the patriots place article is Doug Flutie’s USFL New Jersey Generals jersey :)

    I see Toronto Blue Jay Ezequiel Carrera made it into the team photo with the Regina Pats after the game last night.

    Goddamn came here to post that. Bugs the hell out of me everytime I see or hear it.

    Moreover Bloomington is the main campus so there’s no need to specify, especially when talking football considering none of IU’s satellite campuses are FBS.

    Hi. Every bowl season, it’s tradition for me to list the full names of each school, and although I try to be as accurate as possible, sometimes I screw up (and it bugs the hell out of me, too). Adding “Bloomington” is justified as a result, even though they’re really the only campus playing FBS football. The “University of Indiana” thing was entirely my fault, however. Stupid error that I didn’t catch in time. It should’ve read “Indiana University Bloomington”.

    Typo on Alabama vs Washington?
    “After all of the pomp and circumstance has sided”… subsided?

    I have one of the Yankees’ white coaches caps. It has the Batterman and I remember the coaches wearing them in Fort Lauderdale so it has to be from between 92 and 95. I think I got it at the Yankees Fan Festival.

    OKST/COLO was beautiful to watch, enhanced by the Alamodome. Excellent lighting, and great-looking green playing surface. Perhaps, you could rate indoor stadiums someday. Watching a game from the SuperDome is like watching a movie on a torn screen with soda stains. (The Army All-American Bowl from the Alamodome is this afternoon.)

    Can’t remember when the Rangers switched to that style “T” on the coaches cap, but it was after 1993. Nolan Ryan never wore that style and her retired after 93.

    I bought the Rockies version of the “coaches cap” in 1992 and wore it like crazy for a few years.

    Until it got dirty, I bet. That’s the problem with white caps; and that’s why I am almost afraid to wear the great Philadelphia A’s cap that I got at Shibe Sports in Philly.

    On the Sports Illustrated cover with Pete Rozelle, a few observations: the Bears helmet isn’t single-bar, the Rams helmet (at bottom) is almost invisible (only the yellow horn can really be seen), and the Redskins helmet is a logo-less Browns-esque solid red. My first thought was: gee the 8 AFL helmets from that season would sure be a contrast.

    I’m struggling to think of any MLB ballpark being constructed with some people being upset. When hundreds of acres are involved, it’s just inevitable. Also, on some of these documentaries, it feels like more of a political agenda instead of honest investigative work.

    Not sure what “some of these documentaries” you’ve been watching, Gusto4044, but the history of Chavez Ravine is extremely well documented, and involves way more than “some people being upset” about the construction of a new ballpark. It’s not a political agenda to note that a vibrant long-standing community was wiped out to build a baseball field.

    Dodger Stadium is beautiful, iconic ballpark, one of the crown jewels not only of MLB but of all professional sports. Its construction involved egregious actions that displaced hundreds of families and destroyed a community. Agreeing with one of these statements doesn’t mean one must disagree with the other one.

    What is the difference between “overly pedantic” and “anal retentive,” please? And, did you happen to notice the (somewhat) trend in college bowl game jerseys this holiday season of “back to silk screen jersey numbers” as opposed to the much more pleasant, and resilient, tackle twill lettering/numbering? My long time understanding is that the players get to keep their bowl jerseys; if I was a recipient of one of those cheapass screen printed jerseys, I’d be VERY DISAPPOINTED after busting my bottom all season long!

    The jersey isn’t the only thing the players get; aside from whatever gift the bowl gives them, they usually get new workout wear (t-shirts, shirts, caps), sweatsuits, shoes, etc.

    “Anal retentive” from my understanding has more of a bossy connotation, whereas “overly pedantic” means more of just being “too far in the shit” of details, like silently faulting one ballplayer on a roster of say, 24, for wearing his stirrups 1 1/2″ too high, even though the rest of his uniform is on-point.

    I have noticed mainly the Adidas teams wearing more of the screened number jerseys (the bane of my existence), but I don’t think I caught anything out of the ordinary during the bowl season. There has been an abundance of college hoops teams wearing unis with wither screened or sublimated numbers this season. Not a fan.

    Lastly, I think the jersey keeping goes on a school-to-school basis, mainly because NCAA tends to be picky about things like that, since they don’t know if players are gonna sell the jerseys while attending school (which can land them in big trouble), etc.

    I’m no legal expert, so maybe someone better versed could tell you more than I could.

    Glad you guys liked the Georgia Tech uniforms. I can’t stand them. The honeycomb pattern is dumb. The jersey color is not gold, it’s some pale yellow. It doesn’t match the helmet gold or the pants stripe. In a word, terrible. Thank goodness we won the game.

    Whenever I see a logo like the Vermont Maple Syrup logo, the first question that comes to mind is, “Who in the world signed off on that?”

    Star Struck (catalog)! Now that’s a name I haven’t heard in a while!

    The odd NBA referee patch might’ve been from the 25th anniversary of the league:
    link

    Just in the way of constructive criticism, whie I did enjoy the bowl recap, I’d find it more useful if there were a clear link to a picture showing both unis. Most of the unis aren’t new…it’s the way the go together (or don’t) which I find interesting, and I suspect I’m not the only one.

    Re: nice spot by Fractured But Whole – itself an interesting handle…

    It’s a play on words: “The Fractured Butthole”

    link

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