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CFB: Gamecocks Throwbacks, Plus NHL & NFL

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A happy Sunday morning to you all. Yesterday the South Carolina Gamecocks revealed the uniforms they’ll be wearing when they thrash my alma mater, the Akron Zips. During the Week 4 encounter on September 21, Carolina will throwback to 1980 with a simple but very nice tribute to the George Rogers era.

Rogers won the Heisman Trophy in 1980, after leading the Gamecocks with almost 1,800 rushing yards, and helping them earn a trip to the Gator Bowl. That was the first time I saw South Carolina. I was a massive Pitt Panthers fan then, and I have fond memories of Dan Marino, Hugh Green and company beating them in that bowl game.

The throwbacks accurately re-create the big C logo with the mascot inside, and they have the same black/red/black striping on the pants.

They even brought back the star merit stickers from that era. Since this is a one-off uni, I’m assuming everyone gets two stars on the helmets and that’s it.

The first photo shows that the white collar stops short of going all the way around the neck. Normally that would be a slight problem with me, but if they’re doing it as an homage to Rogers’ neck roll, then I’m okay with it.

This throwback is more of a fauxback, due to the maker’s mark and the Southeastern Conference patch (USC was one of  *31* independent teams back in 1980…imagine that!). It’s as close as you’re going to get now, so no complaints from me.

And although I’m a fan of pretty much anything the Gamecocks wear these days…

…I still think of George Rogers and the 1980 Gator Bowl when you say South Carolina. Thanks for the memories, USC, and thanks to Under Armour for a job well done.

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Possible Winter Classic Leak?

I normally don’t pay attention to leaks until they’re made official, but since the source has a good history of accuracy, I’ll pass this along to you.

According to On Tap Sports Net, neither the NHL nor the Chicago Blackhawks have confirmed this yet, so I’ll hold off on commenting except for one thing: it’s nice to have them in a red sweater for a change in the Winter Classic. In their other appearances they’ve gone with black or white sweaters.

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Back To Football, Exhibition-Style

Two teams debuted new uni combos yesterday: the Texans and the Jets. Houston went with their new VERY dark blue jerseys against Phil’s Giants.

Thank goodness their shade of red is so bright, because it’s needed in this case. The Names On Back really pop, as you can see in the next photo. You also can get a good look at the Giants’ 100 Seasons patch.

And, the new H-Town logo made its debut in the Texans’ end zones, as you can see in this clip.

Meanwhile, the Jets looked snazzy in their Richard Todd-era fauxbacks, as they visited Carolina. The Panthers wore white at home, so the Jets wore their “new” green jerseys.

Phil said the green helmets looked much darker than the jerseys on his TV, and they were reflecting almost like a chrome helmet instead of a traditional glossy one. Anyone else have that issue? From the photos and videos I saw, I didn’t notice it to the extent he was saying.

Next Saturday, the Jets and Giants will play each other in their New Jersey home, and they usually share the field graphics for that game. So my question is: why couldn’t the Rams and Chargers have done the same thing yesterday?

I know most of you don’t like my view that they should share the graphics all season, the way the Saints and Tulane used to do. Still, for a preseason game, I think more of you might agree. Or not.

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No CFL Walkoff Field Goal Last Night For A Change…

Don’t worry, though. I have not one, but two preseason walkoffs! First, here’s an end-of-the-half kick featuring two classic unis, and a former USFL phenom who just (unofficially) tied the record for the longest NFL field goal.

Then there’s the Titans walking off in my favorite combo of theirs.

And finally, the prettiest looking game of the day ended with a former UFL phenom walking it off for the Lions.

 

 

 
  
 

Time For Me To Walk Off As Well

That’s it for another weekend. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and I’ll catch you here on Saturday. Take care, everyone.

 

 

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Comments (31)

    Boy howdy, did those Jets unis look good, and it’s been 40 years since they wore those with any regularity (in ’85 they started wearing white at home, which they kept doing until the black trim was added in 1990). Now I want a green-jersey throwback in that shade.

    I didn’t watch the game, but aren’t the Jets helmets supposed to be metallic/chrome green, and hasn’t that been the case since their 2019 set?

    Yes. These are the same helmets they introduced in 2019. I love how they look, but the problem is they’re actually too shiny. And I want to clarify what I said to Jimmer yesterday. They’re not quite chrome, but they do reflect light almost like they are. So, when the stadium lights (which were on from the beginning of the game) hit them, they take on a much lighter, kelly green. When there is dark sky (which there ws yesterday, even before sunset, the *crown* of the helmets look very dark. Neither shade matches the jerseys, which I’d put somewhere between hunter and kelly green. It was quite noticeable on TV. Only the very bottoms of the helmets, where there were not lights reflecting nor dark sky above replecting, did the color come close to matching they jersey. It’s certainly not a dealbreaker (the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets looked great), but it was definitely a bit annoying.

    That’s always going to be an issue with metallic-finish helmet shells; they’ll always look too bright or too dark depending on how the light hits them.

    Phil – thanks for the detailed explanation; I see what you mean.

    Graf Z – I agree; lighting really impacts this type of helmet finish.

    I hope George is off of that… “cocaine” (Sung like Royce the 5’ 9”, not Clapton).

    Does the Pre-season count against alternate uses? If so, are the titans down to one Oilers game for the rest of the season.

    Yes!!!!!!!!!!! Carolina should bring these back full time!!!! Fantastic looking uni-set.

    As a casual Texans fan the new set is growing on me, at least the regular home and away are. I still think it was unnecessary and I’m ‘meh’ on the number font but overall it works for me.

    The Giants looked terrific as usual yesterday, ‘Big Blue’ nickname be damned that’s one of my favorite looks in the NFL. I freely admit my opinion is driven largely by nostalgia. I grew up watching the Giants with my father and that uni reminds me of those days.

    I’ll be saying it all year: we’ve way undersold the enormous downgrade of the Texans’ uniforms. The more I see the new set, the less I like it. Their old set was distinctive without being garish.

    Are the Cardinals just dead set on never trying their white pants with the cardinal tops? It would be by far the best look that set could be. I don’t understand why they are dead set on having 3 uni-tard looks.

    The white over white roadies have become one of my favorite uniforms in the NFL…glad the Cards haven’t mixed-and-matched their sets

    That’s a very nice South Carolina uniform. I really dig the stars on either side of the helmet stripes.

    To me, that’s the best the Jets have ever looked. Miles ahead of the previous 2 sets. Speaking of, I’m guessing the Jets/Giants end zones are because they share the stadium whereas the Chargers are merely tenants at SoFi. At least that’s my theory.

    But if the Chargers are just tenants, they *definitely* should have shared. Both end zones featured Chargers graphics, and there was the lightning bolt at midfield. Just seemed odd that the owners were the road team and the tenants were the home team.

    There’s only one USC, and it’s not the Gamecocks. This would be like calling La Salle University LSU.

    Worked with a guy a few years back who went to South Carolina. He always referred to it as USC, and it confused the hell out of me. I said, well, SoCal is USC, so you guys are SCar.

    He said, “No, we’re not. We’re USC.”

    That ended that real quick-like.

    The Hawks have never worn an outdoor jersey with a red base before. Hell, they’ve not worn an outdoor jersey with this much color since our first foray at Wrigley over 15 years ago. We’ve also exhausted every option in terms of historical throwbacks, so coming up with something new was hard, but they did well. Now please don’t give us another outdoor game. I’m sick and tired of losing on the big stages

    At a quick glance, it looks OK but spend a little time with it and the flaws are glaring. The biggest issue: it’s way too busy. The crest and the sleeve patches get lost in the stripes.

    Also, they already have a red jersey as their primary so black for special events makes more sense.

    That field was my inspiration as a youngster. I used to draw fields for fun, and I did a Steelers/Pitt Panthers one that looked very similar.
    Once the Maulers arrived, I wanted to include them, but couldn’t figure out how to do it. I suppose I could have added Duquesne to make it an even number.

    After watching the Lions game yesterday the helmets literally come off as powder blue or like the old Oilers blue on TV. On TV the helmets blue shade mismatch with the rest of uniform comes off far greater than the original photos posted last week.

    The new Texans uniforms don’t have nearly enough red. Getting rid of the shoulder and collar stripes on the home set takes away a lot of the personality and identity of the uniforms. Hopefully they’ll start wearing the red pants occasionally with the home blue and road white. As is, I’d say the white isn’t better or worse than the old white, but the home blue is a clear downgrade.

    I was sitting at the lobby bar at Aria in Vegas and thought I recognized the guy sitting next to me. It was George Rogers there for an expo. He was the nicest guy ever grabbed me a few drinks and of course I had to ask about the Heisman.

    After a few tequilas he said “do you want to see it?He had the valet pull it around in this safe and he took a pic of me holding it. Super cool moment.

    Carolina looks really nice with the stars on the helmet. The Carolina Panthers also looked nice, as did the Jets. Nice, nice , nice all around. Any not so nice uniforms seen here? Ofcourse, the Titans who never get it right.

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