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Archive for November, 2009
Forget about Black Friday — yesterday was Black Sunday in the NFL, as game after game featured uni-notable aspects. One at a time:
• The Jets did the stupid-ass solid-green thing. At least they wore the right socks this week.
• The Rams did the stupid-ass solid-blue thing.
• The Texans did the stupid-ass solid-blue thing.
• The Falcons wore their awesome throwbacks. Here’s a sock-porn close-up, and a shot of the league’s most unsightly player.
• The Bills wore their home AFL throwbacks.
• The Eagles wore their black alts.
• The Bengals wore their orange alts, and Bernard Scott marked the occasion by playing with his belt unbuckled. (And look, we all know the Bengals have different jersey cuts for different positions, but come on. [Screen shot courtesy of Jack Krabbe.])
• The Chargers wore their powder blue alts (not to be confused with their powder blue AFL throwbacks — similar but different). They also honored their 50th-anniversary team before the game. Cool to see all the different jerseys.
• The Vikings wore their throwbacks. Can someone please steal their regular set so they can just wear these for the rest of the season? Thanks. Meanwhile, Adrian Peterson began the game bare-handed, but after fumbling in the first quarter he came out with purple gloves — first time all season he’s worn gloves. He later switched to a black set.
• Even by today’s standards, Frank Gore was really pushing the biker shorts look yesterday.
Aside from that, it was a completely normal Sunday.
That thing I won’t stop talking about, update: Here’s the latest on those 1956 Portland Beavers striped undersleeves. According to Dave Eskenazi, who hepped me to this story in the first place, an opposing team protested the striped sleeves at some point during the ’56 season (presumably because the stripes could be distracting to a batter). The PCL office upheld the challenge, and one of Eskenazi’s sources says the team continued to wear the sleeves with red fabric patches covering the stripes until new solid-red sleeves could be procured.
The tragedy of this, of course, is that it’s unlikely that any of the striped-sleeve shirts survived in an unsullied state. Still, I’d love to see photos of the patched-over stripes. Eskenazi hopes to be able to comb through his source’s 1956 scrapbooks, which may yield further info and imagery — stay tuned.
Too Good to Get Buried in the Ticker: You know the famous 1928 Tigers road uni with the tiger’s head on the back? I’ve always been so fixated on the back that I’ve never paid much attention to the front. See how the letters seem to run slightly downhill? Turns out the declination was pretty significant! So rare to see a chest insignia running downhill like that.
That photo was provided by Bruce Menard. Interestingly, it’s not from 1928 — it’s from spring training of ’29. The Tigers would switch to a different road uni when the regular season started.
I showed the photo to uni designer Todd Radom, who of course had an even better photo of that uniform. “Whenever I see this jersey, I can’t help but wonder about the sobriety of whoever created it,” he says.
Membership Update: Recent enrollees in the Uni Watch Membership Program may have noticed that their names haven’t been added to the active roster page. The short version: When we upgraded the site’s architecture a month ago, we lost the ability to update that table (something to do with a plug-in). Johnny Ek is working on fixing it as we speak, so hang in there — we’ll get you all listed on the roster page soon.
Meanwhile, some great new designs have been added to the membership card gallery, including Martin Fox’s Wrigley Field outfield wall treatment, which falls outside our usual parameters but I allowed it because it was an inspired request. That’s easy for me to say, of course — turned out to be a lot of work for Scott. Thanks for persevering on that one, buddy.
As always, you make the membership scene yourself by signing up here.
Sponsor Shout-Out: Our friends at Distant Replays are running a one-day sale: 40% off college sports T-shirts (which brings the price down from $29 to $17.40). Enter the code CYBERT at checkout. Offer expires at midnight, Pacific time.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Good article about blue being the new black in the NHL (with thanks to Jonathan Trapp). … Here’s the new LZR swimsuit from Speedo (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Here’s a football uniform that probably would have ranked highly in Phil’s “Worst Uni Ever” poll — look. That’s from the European Federation of American Football (big thanks to Tim Friedrich). … Hey, check this out: a vintage Byron Nelson Classic jumpsuit. … Oooh, and dig this old Philly A’s elephant patch. … Gumball helmet maven Bill Jones knows I’m a fan of No Mas’s Jewboys tee, so look what he sent me! So cool. … Who’s that? It’s none other than our own Robert “RPM” Marshall and his better half, Kate Perryman, in Chicago’s Turkey Day parade. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Every team doing a blackout should be required to wear these socks. Actually, every team should be required to wear those socks, period. That’s Crystal Falls, a Michigan high school. … The Predators unveiled their new navy alts on Friday night. Lots of photos here, and a good article here (with thanks to Wade Harder for the article). … Jared Camden points out that both Alabama QBs wear McNOB, but with differing treatments for the “c”. … Cool soccer mask. That’s Aberdeen FC’s Davide Grassi, who’s nursing a triple cheekbone fracture (with thanks to Steven Taylor). … Single-digitized pitcher! That’s George Brunet of the Pirates — a real pitcher, not a position player — in 1970. Here’s a shot of when he was warming up for that appearance (big thanks to Dan Cichalski). … Mike Cooperman reports that the old 1980s Chisox logo is being put to good (if unauthorized) use by a California batting cage operation. … Lou Sherwood was watching a replay of the 1971 MLB All-Star Game and noticed that the batboys were wearing American and National League uniforms — faaaascinating! Also, from that same game: Dock Ellis wore a very odd-looking helmet. Anyone know more about that? … Buried at the bottom of this 1955 Yanks/Phils spring training game recap is the following note: “The Yankees will not be taking risks this season. They ordered a half-dozen protective helmets today. ‘I’ll wear one only when I face left-handers,’ Yogi Berra remarked.” Sounds like these were the first batting helmets the Yanks ever used (genius find by Morris Levin). … Having two players with the same uni number worked out well for South Carolina on Saturday (with thanks to Trevor Williams). … Michael Princip recently added these two awesome paintings to his collection. I particularly like the one on the right — Ollie Matson, as painted by Lon Keller (an illustrator I’ve written about in the past). … Absolutely tremendous footage of Tom Seaver’s first MLB game, on 4/13/67, here. Particularly notable because it shows (a) how starting pitchers at Shea used to warm up in front of the dugouts, not in the bullpen, (b) Shea’s short-lived green outfield wall with black distance markers, which only lasted one homestand in 1967 (best view of that begins at the 4:25 mark), (c) Seaver’s original roundhouse wind-up, which he streamlined soon thereafter, and (d) Jerry Grote finishing an inning by dribbling the ball to the Mets’ dugout side of the mound, so the opposing pitcher would have to walk a bit farther to retrieve it at the beginning of the next inning. Oh, and the video also shows how the Mets’ uniform is supposed to look, but you knew that already. … Michael Kinney wants to know why the football players at Wheaton Warrenville South High School in Illinois all wear a little “77″ on their helmets. … Ethan Ritz, the Technical Operations Manager for the NFL Network, has graciously filled us in on the pom-pom microphones we’ve been seeing on the officials’ caps lately. “The microphone is a Sennheiser ME104, and the pom-poms are windscreens,” he explains. “The two mics are necessary because we broadcast in stereo. As you can see, the hats are retrofitted to carry the mic, and the transmitter goes onto the wearer’s belt. NBC uses the same setup.” … Mike Kennedy notes that Demaryius Thomas’s TV numbers appear to be positioned too far forward, especially when compared to his single-digit teammates.
In your face, chickenpox!: I’m officially back to normal health. Thanks to everyone who sent encouraging words during l’affaire du pox.
November 30th, 2009
By Phil Hecken
Back with round two of the “Design-A-Uniform” contest entries for the Clarksville High School baseball team. If you missed the first batch of entries, you can see the whole thing here. Today we move on to the second set of entries, and they are every bit as good as the first. So, let’s get started:
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Adam Hainsfurther: submission
-Adam Hainsfurther-
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Peter Halbrooks: submission
I look forward to seeing everyone else’s designs!
Peter
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Joe Hilseberg: submission
Hey Phil,
So I threw a design together. I really like High School uniforms to be basic. Knowing that they already have the Cubs styled “C” hat I though I would work from that.
Home Jersey: I really played off of the Cubs look and feel here by introducing a home pinstripe. It can be black or purple…not gold! I also created a “Cville” logo to mesh perfectly with the existing hat. I think this design can hold up well over time. And of course all of the jerseys feature the Cubs number style…why not go all the way?
Road Jersey: Super clean. Basic varsity font and vertical arching. Enough said.
Alt Black: This jersey introduces a new alt CHS logo as well. I’ve personally always prefered the paw logo over the “angry cat” logo when dealing with cat themed teams. This is just a variation of a paw with stylized interlocking CHS letters. This logo can also be used as a sleeve patch on the home or road.
Let me know your thoughts.
-Joe Hilseberg
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Thomas Huppé: submission
Hope it will help.
Regards
Thomas Huppe
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Patrick Karraker: submission
Phil:
Here is my entry for the Design a Uniform contest. I designed two new logos for Clarksville — one which is a re-colored version of the Clemson paw logo, and a brand new “CHS” logo. For the uniforms, I created an almost Oregon-esque set featuring five jerseys and three caps, although I have preset uniforms so there is none of that crazy “mix-n-match” stuff. The first one, the primary home uniform, is a sleveless model featuring that CHS wordmark that the Clarksville coaches love. I paired this one with the black “CHS” cap. I think if any team is doing a redesign, they should have a pinstripe option, so that is my first home alternate, and I paired that one with the purple paw cap. The second home alternate, my personal favorite, is a black jersey, paired with a black paw cap, special for this jersey. For my road jerseys, my primary set is a gray jersey inspired by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ road set pre-exorcism, which I always thought was one of the more underrated uniforms in baseball. This jersey is paired with the purple paw cap. Finally, my road alternate is a sleveless purple jersey which has an LSU feeling to it. This one is paired with the CHS logo cap. Good luck to the Wildcats this season, hope to see them winning with this look.
Patrick Karraker
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Eeth Koth: submission
I’ve attached my submission.
I only did one treatment being I’m a better thinking these things up than executing.
As you’ll see with my MS Paint nightmare.
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Matthew Lanzoff: submission
Hey Phil,
First off let me say I love reading your work. Each of the writers bring a great voice to blog and as an everyday reader it nice to have things change up. Well with out any further ado, here’s what I put together for the Clarksville squad.
As a child of the 80s, hearing the name Wildcats my thoughts immediately go to the Thundercats. So thats where I started with my design. While I hate it on my Mets, I’ve never really minded it on some baseball teams I think it looks good on the field so I took the coach’s cues and put together a black home uniform. The white arm bands, which might be impossible to get from a uniform supplier, are inspired by Tygra’s random yellow embellishment on his sleeve. The chest crest is of course inspired by the Thundercats logo itself.
On the road, I thought the Clarksville squad would look best in a more traditional grey. This time we get the initials woodmark across the chest, complete with cartoon cat inspired font, and the sleeve bands make a return. For the team’s heads I wanted to go with something understated but consistent with the rest of the look, so I whipped up this.
I liked the idea of a school having a running theme through all their teams looks; so as a special bonus, I put the cat logo on a football helmet. I think its pretty appropriate.
Thanks,
Matt Lanzoff
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Steve Lastname: submission
Hi Phil,
Attached are two files. One is the home and away jersey (and pants), the other is two possible alternates. Let me say that I don’t like the logo on the black alt, but I figured I’d explore it. I might like it more if I had more time to design the letters to look like the ones on the Cubs uniform. But then again, a Cubs logo rendered in yellow and purple on a black jersey just doesn’t look right, no matter how good the letters look.
Thanks,
Steve
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Ryan Muraro: submission
Hey Phil,
My name is Ryan Muraro, and I am an aspiring design who just graduated this May with an Industrial Design degree from the University of Wisconsin Stout. Recently I read your entry about the Clarksville High School Wildcat baseball team’s desire for a rebranding effort, and I would like to entry my designs for consideration of fulfilling this request. The entry consists of 3 logos and 3 uniforms, descriptions as follows;
- The logos were built for identity consistency, as all of the logos are built around the cap logo, which will remain as was requested. Currently the Clarksville H.S. teams use several logos from various sources, so the hope was to create a logo set that could be used across the athletic department if desired. The “Chicago Cubs” C is perfect for building apon; being so symmetrical creates a perfect base. The First two logos are the Wildcat logos, one with full body and one with a cropped body. I took inspiration from the University of Kentucky logo primarily, but was sure to keep the logo’s look original. These are simple two-color logos, if there would be a desire to create more detailed-looking Wildcats, there is the option for that. The full version is a primary mark for print materials, spirit gear, etc; the secondary mark is streamlined with the exclusion of the Wildcat’s legs for use on team uniform elements (jerseys, caps; if it were to be used for other athletic teams, it would work for an excellent football helmet logo). The third logo is the CHS lettermark logo, again built off of the Cub C hat logo. Not much description needed for this logo, it’s meant to be a strong, clean, simple, versatile logo.
- The uniforms are pretty self-explanatory. The alternate is very Purple, but I must be crazy for not being afraid of the color. Purple, though, makes for a terrible complement to black, so there is no use of black throughout this uniform set. If black were to be uses, I would suggest either altering the shade of purple used with that uniform set, or just avoiding the use of purple all-together. The home uniform is super clean, the aways have an original script mark, the numbers are standard jersey block style, while the font is a standard sans-serif type (Abadi in this application, but is meant to be altered depended on what the manufacturer has available).
That may be a bit wordy, but I want to make sure there is a good basic understanding of my mindset while undergoing this design process. I hope that, even if this isn’t the design chosen, that my effort and skill are evident in the final product. Best of luck in the future, and thanks for this opportunity.
Ryan Muraro
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Joseph Obermaier: submission
Hi Phil,
Here is my entry in the design a uniform contest. It was enormous fun. I missed out on the Sartell Sabres call…would have loved to try my hand at that one… Love the site! (I, too, once thought I was alone as a uni watcher.)
Here are the four pieces (putting on my best Michael Kay voice from when he was only on the radio):
1. Wildcat “mascot” logos, appropriately mean and inspired (maybe too much) by Halloween.
2. A home uni, proud whites with purple sleeves, trim and gold accents. Home mascot patch above the heart. “Wildcats” across the chest, purple trimmed in gold; matching colors for the oversized number on back. NOB in untrimmed purple. Purple stirrups with gold stripes trimmed in white (must be worn high!). Also with a “CHS” cap that is reminiscent of the great Habs (Canadiens) logo. The font is Copperplate Gothic.
3. An away uni, heavily gray, with plenty of black, and purple and gold accents. Away mascot patch above the heart. “Centerville” across the chest, gold trimmed in purple. Also with a CHS cap and oversized number on back; same fonts as the home uni, but with the colors inverted. NOB in untrimmed purple. Black stirrups with purple stripes trimmed in white.
4. An “alternate” jersey, no sleeves, with black and purple claw marks on upper right, and longer claw marks on corresponding shoulder on the back. “Wildcats” across the chest in a scratchy font called Viner Hand, purple trimmed in black. Number below left, same color scheme. Oversized number on back in same colors. NNOB (would mess with my claw marks). Same stirrups as the away uni; purple pants (I know, but why not for an alternate uni?). The cap is purple, with black brim, large gray panel in front containing the home mascot.
Anyway, there they are. I would love to hear any feedback the other uni watchers have on the designs. And find me some more contests like this one!
Thanks.
Joe
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Well, that’s going to do it for the second round of the Design-A-Uniform contest entries. There are many more awesome ones like the ones you see today still to come. Make sure you praise and comment upon today’s entrants. Their work is awesome (and hopefully, it won’t devalue the profession).
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 Got a brand new “Benchies” for you today, and it’s in color, much like the UCLA/USC uniforms last evening. Here’s Ricko to give you the rundown:
“Ah, the Holidays, that time of year when TV introduces the world of Mick and Mike to all the new high tech gadgetry out there. Imagine the excitement in BenchiesLand.”
Enjoy your Sunday Benchies.
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 Our next batch of NFL uni tweaks feature more interesting concepts from the readership. Despite one or two posters not enjoying the reader designs, the reaction has been overwhelmingly positive, and I have several more tweaks still to come. If you’re interested in this, please drop me a line and put in the subject line: “Uni Tweaks (your team[s])”.
First up is Patrick Woody who bring us this:
Hey Phil,
I know you’re getting bombarded with these things, but I’ve had a few NFL redesign concepts gathering dust for a while in the wasteland of my hard drive.
First up is one for the Titans. Basically I matched the helmet stripes up with the pants, removed all the Jetsons elements, and tweaked the logo to look more traditional and less cartoonish. The three stars on the sleeves probably doesn’t work, but I wanted to slap something on there and didn’t want to replicate the helmet logo.
Second is the Ravens, who to me are the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NFL. Like the Titans, here I wanted to remove the gimmicky cartoon elements (sorry, I can’t stand the superhero/cartoon trend) and make them look more like an established and storied franchise and less like a team playing in the Arena Bowl. Still, I wanted to keep the purple and black, even though I’m not a fan of that combo. On the jersey, I went with single-color block numbers because there is never a time when that doesn’t look good. The mustard pants would never fly, but I wanted to see how they looked. I left the cartoon bird head logo (limited by MS Paint – not much I can do with logos), but removed the superfluous “B”.
And last is the Falcons. Ok, this is pretty much just their recent throwback uniform, but I really think it’s such a damn-near perfect look that you can’t do much to improve upon it. I used a version of the red helmet without the gold stripes, although I do think the gold stripes would work. I also threw in the gray pants as a nod to the Bartkowski era uni’s, but with the throwback striping pattern. Of course, that pretty much made them the Giants pants with slightly different colors. Oh well.
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Next up is Greg Skaljac, who has some thoughts on the Browns:
Love your site and the articles on changing some awful NFL unis — lifelong Browns fan, but can’t stand the current unis — need some modern updates.
See attached “brown jersey”, “wht jersey” and “alternate orange” looks…I also put in a new helmet utilizing the classic “brownie elf” with their original white helmets
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Next up is Matt English, a Bills fan with an idea for a new helmet:
As a Bills fans, I thought they’ve been long overdue for a uni tweak. For starters, taking out the navy and going with a straight white/red/royal blue design. Here’s what I whipped up for a helmet redesign. It was originally primarily red, but I decided at the last minute in Photoshop to make it primarily silver/white. I brought back the old standing Buffalo logo. The stripes through the logo give a sort of Montreal Canadiens vibe, overall I think it has a retro aesthetic without being too plain.
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Moving along, we have Mike Boriotti, who dislikes the current Panthers uniform, and has this to say:
So, I personally hate the Carolina Panthers look. I think the shoulder stripes are way to busy, the pants are ugly, and they completely misuse their quasi-Carolina Blue color; look at the UNC football team and you’ll see the correct way to utilize Carolina Blue. What I did was completely change the Panthers to much more traditional looking jerseys, pants, and socks. Other changes included getting rid of silver as one of there colors all together, using a new logo, and changing the blue to a much darker shade. The new logo is actually based on the 1947-1955 Pittsburgh Panthers logo, which I like better because it shows the entire Panther, and the Panther also looks like it is stalking its prey- very aggressive and masculine. One non-traditional thing I did was following the Jacksonville Jaguars in pairing black helmets with black pants, which for my money, is really cool looking when executed correctly. Also, the seams aren’t meant to be seen like on the Buffalo Bills, they just look that way. Big thanks and keep kickin’ fuckin’ ass UniWatch.
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Last up for today is John Loukadakis, who points out that what follows are not actually his designs, but they are some new tweaks for the Redskins:
First let me say this is NOT my design, I read the Warpath as I am a HUGE Deadskins fan, another fan designed this, I just wanted to bring to your attention.
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 UW #1 Seahawks Fan Michael Princip has been tracking the Oregon Ducks and all of their 2,456 possible uniform combinations this season. He’ll be updating it after each game.
The Ducks were idle yesterday, but they’ve got a HUGE game coming up this Thursday (December 3, 2009) in Autzen, when they meet their cross-state rival OSU Beavers in the 113th edition of the Civil War. Always a big game, this one is for a Rose Bowl birth! And, knowing the two combatants, you never know what kind of crazy uniforms they may break out just for this game. Will the Ducks finally break out the carbon helmets? Will the Beavers counter with their own version of pro-combat riflery uniforms that Paul first tipped us off to in his NCAA season preview back in the first week of September? Gonna be a true run for the roses Thursday next.
Here’s Your Updated Ducktracker
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 Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: OK, a little bit of twist to today’s entry, which comes courtesy of reader Andrew Leavitt. I know from what sport this comes, but you folks may need to put on your thinking caps. Pretty good puzzler today, but not for you die hards. Please, if possible, LINK to the answer in the comments. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. Date, location, teams and final score, please. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!
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 In case you missed the comments late yesterday, reader Tod Hess (aka “aflfan”) graced the boards with a fantastic write up of some High School football they play in Detroit. I’ll let him describe it, along with the recap of the games. Here’s Tod:
“Every year in Michigan means one thing, Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) State Football Championship. They started in 1975 with four divisions and have now expanded to eight divisions. The finals are now played at Ford Field on the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving and had previous been played at the Pontiac Silverdome and before that Western Michigan University. Below are the photos from this year’s Championships. It is my favorite weekend of the year as I use to do stats for the finals for several years. You see almost every kind of offense you can imagine for spread to I formation to wishbone to veer to single wing and if Menominee makes it down to Ford Field you get to see the single wing. You also see lots of different uniform styles.”
Thanks Tod. And now, here’s a rundown of the games:
The Michigan High School Athletic Association held their boys football finals at Ford Field yesterday and today. Here are some pictures of the uniform match ups
Division 1: Detroit Catholic Central (blue) vs. Sterling Heights Stevenson (white)
Division 2: Lowell (red) vs. Inkster (white)
Division 3: East Grand Rapids (Blue) vs. Orchard Lake St. Mary’s (white)
Division 4: Marshall (white) vs. Three Rivers (Purple)
Division 5: Jackson Lumen Christi (white) vs. Clare (green)
Division 6: Montague (blue) vs. Monore St. Mary’s Catholic Central (white)
Division 7: Traverse City St. Francis (Blue) vs. Hudson (white) — Hudson is way to busy to me.
Division 8: Beal City (white) vs. Crystal Falls Forest Park (black with striped socks)
* Those are photo galleries where you can look through a bunch of pictures. Great stuff, Tod, and thanks!
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 Our man in the street, Jim Vilk, brings you his “Top 5″ Best and one WORST college football uni matchup from Saturday’s games:
Honorable Mention to the best looking university game in Canada yesterday, the Vanier Cup between U. of Calgary/Queen’s U. — Okay, so it was the only game in Canada yesterday…
5. Washington State/Washington — A pretty sweet-looking Apple Cup
4. ND/Stanford — And one dandy of a ballgame, too.
3. Tennessee/Kentucky — Best of a slow week for the SEC.
2. Tulane/SMU — A serious contender for #1…if not for…
1. UCLA/USC – Wow! All that’s missing is Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles.
And the Worst Uni Matchup: Arizona/Arizona State – Wildcats won the game, but lost for the 2nd week in a row here.
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 And Finally…the Riflery Unis: I’ve been pretty hard on Nike these past few weeks for their “treatment” of school tradition with their superhero new “Pro Combat” uniforms that will supposedly turn the wearers into mythical warriors. I bashed the manufacturer for their hype, but never really commented on the uniforms themselves. Well, I dragged the man on the street, the man who never met a uniform he didn’t like, to assist with his unbiased opinion of the unis foisted upon us this past week. Yep, Jim Vilk will trade barbs with me on the riflery unis. Here’s Jim:
“This weekend we saw another round of Nike “Pro Combat” unis. Their purpose, of course, is to make my job harder when picking the Top 5 matchups. Okay, actually, their purpose is to give the players a lighter, state-of-the-art and more fashionable (?) uni blending the past and the future. This time, there were seven teams involved, which you will see below.”
Clemson: Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
JV: Fine from the front. What’s that on the backside, chaps?
PH: Agreed. I actually liked Clemson in this. But WTF is with Nike and these pants. It’s like, they imagined a the pants as a picture frame that needed a border or something. With the focus on the buttocks. There is a pattern here.
Florida: Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
JV: Again with the chaps. Otherwise, I really liked this one.
PH: This one is bad. Mono-blue, and the picture frame pants — a signature pattern for swoosh.
LSU: Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
JV: Not bad. I can handle the wraparound leg stripes. I’d rather have yellow, too.
PH: Gold (intersting shade) helmet? Good; Jersey? Good; pants stripes that neither start nor end anywhere? Not good. Liked the “sleeve” stripes tho.
Miami, Fla.: Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
JV: An improvement on the regular uni! Two-color numbers are kind of cool. Stripes too far on the backside, but at least they’re not chaps.
PH: Gotta agree here, as well. Definitely better than anything they’ve trotted out there in the past decade. I don’t mind the two color numbers, and they kept the pants relatively clean. Good job with this one.
Missouri: Exhibit A and Exhibit B
JV: From a distance, and in the right light, that’s almost a Seahawks away uni. Glad to see they managed to find a little room for some gold…
PH: If I am judging this solely as a uniform, I actually like it…a lot. But, could they have taken away any more of Mizzou’s identity in the process? At least the bottom of the cleats and the shoulders had some gold. And that helmet was pretty cool.
Texas: Exhibit A and Exhibit B
JV: A lateral move from a classic uni. Very well done.
PH: Outstanding job. Only two complaints: probably could have used a normal (if that’s possible) stripe on the pants, and, even though they were actually true as they could be to the original, I wish the helmet logo and numbers were either different sizes or that the numbers would have been black. Just would have made it easier on the eyes. But a nice job, swoosh.
VA Tech: Exhibit A and Exhibit B.
JV: Another improvement on the regulars, but that’s not saying much. Don’t mind the fading numbers and stripes.
PH: Another not-so-bad one, but they ruined it with the signature pants “swoosh” or whatever you wanna call it. But if that was their only digression, then I say, not too bad. Better than their current uni, but they should make their throwbacks their full time gig.
Final thoughts:
JV: In short, if you take away all the hype that surrounded these, you end up with what uni makers usually have – some hits and some misses.
PH: While I totally disagree with the entire exercise (did any of these teams really need “new” uniforms to begin with???), and think it’s more hype designed to move more merch, as uniforms, this batch wasn’t too bad. There, I said it.
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OK, whew…another short one. But hey, there was a lot to cover this morning. The pros take over the gridiron today, and don’t forget, tonight at 6:30 EST, the Grey Cup (that’s like, the Super Bowl for Canada) is taking place in Calgary. My buddy Mike Styczen reports that the entire city is sold out of watermelons. Why, you ask? Because Roughrider fans cut them, gut them, and wear them on their heads, like helmets. I shit you not. I guess that’s Canada’s answer to the cheesehead. Anyway, if you get it on your television, it’s a great game (and hopefully, both the Als and the Riders will be wearing their sweet throwbacks) and definitely worth watching.
Uni Watch Winter Classic Update: If you missed last weekend’s announcement of the UWWC, click here and scroll down to the second item, where Ricko describes the whole thing. Both Paul and I will be attending, and among all the other activities described, Paul plans on holding a Uni Watch Gathering at one of the local watering holes. Full details to be announced at a later date, but we hope to see as many of you as possible (so far, besides Ricko and Teebz, I believe rpm, Ben Traxel, jth and at least 20 others are planning to attend). Could be the biggest Uni Watch Gathering to date! Mark your calendars for January 22, 23 & 24, 2010.
Have a fantastic Sunday everyone.
November 29th, 2009
By Phil Hecken
OK, the long-awaited “Design-A-Uniform” contest entries have finally been all uploaded and flickr’ed (there were approximately 190 individual entries, from close to 40 entrants) that came in. That’s far too many to display in one post, so I’m going to be breaking them up into several different articles, interspersed with some other subjects, so as to give a little more variety into the weekend columns. I figure the easiest way to do this is to let each artist have his or her say, and to then link all their submissions to their own flickr set (since some had as few as one single submission, some containing multiple graphic, to others who sent me a dozen or more). And to be democratic about it, I’ll be doing it in alphabetical order. So, if your last name begins with “W” (and there were 7 of you who fall into that category), your submissions will be last, but that’s simply because of where you fall in the alphabet.
This entire contest began about a month ago, when I had posted a couple emails I had been trading with Marc Walls, pitching coach for the Clarksville WIldcats, which turned into the Design-A-Uniform Contest (and which was followed up with a column later that week by Paul which questioned whether contests such as this “devalue” the work of graphic designers). Well, I won’t decide the merits of either side of that argument, because what you are about to see are some pretty outstanding efforts by readers who participated in the contest. The guidelines were pretty simple:
* A logo incorporating the letters “CHS” … any font or format. Looking for something unique, even outside the box. We would love a hat design featuring the CHS logo.
* A ferocious looking “wildcat”. Any logo involving a wildcat or paw logo would be outstanding. Our football program has been using the Kansas State Wildcat, and we want something a little better.
* Uniform designs. We are looking for a white, grey, purple, yellow or black (yeah, I know). Our head coach loves black so any black jerseys or hat designs would be outstanding.
*The parameters: colors are purple and gold.
Not everyone followed the guidelines to a “T” (and a couple of you even submitted, as a bonus, football uniforms for the school). But everyone who participated did an outstanding job, and deserve your compliments and praise.
So without further ado, let’s look at the first 10 entrants (alphabetically). Simply “click” on the “thumbnails” in each link to view them full-size; you can also click on “detail” to view them (if there are more than one) in one full page, in almost full-size — clicking on those thumbnails will then provide you with a large picture:
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Andy Altemus: submission
Here is my entry for Clarksville baseball. Me and my roommates helped with the designs. We like the pinstripe look and of course the classic stirrups are key. The two-toned hat design was also a favorite. Hope you like it.
Andy
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Chad Anderson: submission
Here are my two entries in the Clarksville High design a uniform contest.
I didn’t actually design a uniform but I did design two logos!
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Gretchen Atwood: submission
Phil,
I chose a uni builder that did not include caps so these are not exactly complete. But you get the idea of what the color scheme could be. I imagine gold/purple or purple/gold “CHS” caps with these.
Home: I am not a fan of lots of contrasted color piping everywhere. And purple is simply not a baseball color. So I would go with crisp whites with gold and purple accents, light on the purple.
Away: Again, keeping it simple. In this case have the uni number and outline in gold and only have the mascot name with purple and white. Makes the name pop while keeping the uni number visible but not competing with the name.
Alternate: I am also not a big fan of doing black just because. But since the coach wants it, here it is. Again, keeping the uni numbers simple so they don’t compete with the name.
Gretchen Atwood
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Jeff Bahry: submission
Here are my entries for the Clarksville Wildcats. Home whites, road greys, purple alt and black alt uniforms along with two cap designs. I didn’t get too crazy with the “C” redesign, but gave it a more modern edge. I also used a variety of lettering and numbering fonts in an effort to create a unique look. I added gold piping to the black caps b/c I thought it looked cool! Here are some logos to consider, too.
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Jake C.: submission
Just the white uni for now, that’s all i had time for. I just went with a classic design using the purple and gold as the primary colors. Double-striped pant leg, sleeves and collar, just kept it simple. Although I’m not a big fan of black, I used it as the primary color for the cap as requested. Custom logo with the wildcat paw and the CHS logo inside it. That’s about all I’ve got, hope you enjoy it, oh and the striped stirrups!
-Jake C.
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Kevin Callahan: submission
Kevin Callahan – Creative Director, Alterra Coffee.
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Kevin Connolly: submission
Hey Phil,
I’m an avid reader of uni-watch but rarely participate in the daily conversation. I was, however, intrigued by the design a uniform contest. I have a few options in my design and due to it’s overall size, I’ve compressed it into a pdf file that I’ve attached. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s contributions.
Regards,
Kevin Connolly
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Joe Csikos: submission
Here is my shot at a home, away, and alternate uni for Clarksville.
Thanks,
Joe
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Matthew Donnelly: submission
Thanks for this contest. I love to try my hand at these things.
I am a graphics teacher at a high school in Northeast PA, so I came into this with some idea how to pull this off. I tried to keep my thinking inside the box, as I know how public school budgets work and what can or can’t be produced.
For the hat, I incorporated a “CHS” logo based on the 1950’s-1960’s White Sox. I also included the wildcat logo on the brim. I have always liked contrasting brims, so I went with that in all of the designs as well.
The Home (pinstriped) and Road I kept fairly conventional – script logos, single stripe socks (I’m afraid that stirrups are gone at this level), and a wildcat logo on the left chest below the name. I “borrowed” the wildcat from a British rugby team and modified it for my own use – Inside a school, we can claim Fair Use.
I varied things a little on the yellow – A paw under the script logo and a LSU-like logo on the cap, leaving the brim alone. On this and the purple, I made the sock stripe vertical. Perhaps it is my own aversion to Yellow as a base uniform color, but this is my least favorite.
I gave the yellow alternate white pants, probably thinking of it as a home alt. So, the purple one has gray pants. I made the purple a pullover, with the largest graphic on the front – the full modified ‘wildcats’ script and logo from our friends across the water at Wakefield Trinity. I opted to reverse the regular hat, with the wildcat logo on the center of the hat, with CHS on the brim.
I also designed a sleeve patch, which I’m not fully satisfied with and may be too busy – I may need to make a choice between the wildcat or the CHS, but not both, even with a ghosting effect.
Thanks,
Matt Donnelly
New Milford, PA
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Jamie Dupler: submission
For my uni design, I like the one color-white-two color look, I also like the number on the front and the script represents a classic look. Not a huge fan on purple and a black alternative, but I just went with a simple look with all three colors included. I spend about 2 hours a week on the beta.easports.com website designing unis under the team builder section of ncaa football 10.
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That’s going to do it for the first batch of “Design-A-Uniform” submissions — there are many more to come, and they’re all as good as this first set. I’ll have the second batch tomorrow. Remember to thank the submitters for their hard work, and let them know what you think!
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 Division Two Football-Where Uni Design Goes To Die Ain’t Quite Dead…
By Phil Hecken & Jim Vilk
I’m back again with our man on the street, Jim Vilk, who loves him some Division 2 football. He insists that there are some really good uniforms to be found in this rarely seen division, and I, like Fox Mulder, I want to believe. So Jim scoured the circuit and came up with some unis he really likes…but will I? Let’s find out. Here’s Jim:
After reading our uni-review when the season began, one may have come away feeling there is nothing good to see in the land of Division II football. Today’s piece will try to dismiss that notion. Looking at close to 150 schools throughout the season, I have compiled a list of my favorite D-2 unis. Phil has taken a look at them, and we’ve both added our comments. The schools are not ranked in order of preference. I just went through the list in the order I found on D2Football.com. Apparently the smaller schools cut back on the photography budget, as there are some where I could only find home unis or last year’s sets. Anyway, you will see some different styles – some classic, some new. The only common factor is that, “Yes, I’d wear that uni.”
NORTHWOOD:
PH: Awful. Even UNC can’t make this combo look this bad.
JV: I put them in because of the great color combo, plus they contained the “bumper sticker” effect to the pits.
WEST GEORGIA:
PH: Nice.
JV: Yes sir!
LAKE ERIE COLLEGE:
Home (Jim saw that game and snapped that pic, by the way) and Away
PH: Awful. Times 2. How can you ruin black & green? I guess it’s possible.
JV: Original. I like the lightning bolts separating the colors.
ANGELO STATE:
PH: Not bad, but I could do without the Rams helmet.
JV: I’m a sucker for Rams helmets, especially when you add shoulder loops.
WASHBURN:
PH: Hmmm. Not too bad, but lose the yokes.
JV: Yokes save the uni – they break up the dark blue.
SAINT ANSELM:
PH: Great helmet, awful shoulders.
JV: Love the helmet. The shoulders jazz it up without going overboard. Might be tied with West Georgia for my favorite.
BEMIDJI STATE:
PH: NICE! If memory serves, I even liked their hockey sweaters. How you say their name again?
JV: Thought you’d like that. I like the original beaver logo in natural colors gracing the classic Jets-like uni.
GANNON: Home and Away
PH: Gorgeous, just need pants stripes.
JV: Yep.
KUTZTOWN:
PH: What BC should look like.
JV: Yep. Perhaps with a BC instead of a KU…
MILLERSVILLE:
PH: Only Iowa should look like the Steelers. And even they shouldn’t.
JV: But they have yellow numbers, so they’re different. Keep ‘em.
SHIPPENSBURG:
PH: Zee goggles…zey do nossing.
JV: Step outside the box, my friend. The logo is cool, and deserves a cool uni.
SLIPPERY ROCK:
PH: Whoa! Absolutely gorgeous! I even like the green socks…best Div 2 uni ever…maybe.
JV: Alas, they had white socks when I saw them play. Nevertheless, they do look good.
WEST CHESTER:
PH: Purple & athletic gold? Um…no. And, round these parts, “West Chester” is one word, yo.
JV: At least they also didn’t use the LA Rams’ colors.
PH: You say that like it’s a good thing.
CSU PUEBLO, COLO.:
PH: Um…no. Just no.
JV: Um, original. Well, the sleeve stripe appears to be.
NEW MEXICO HIGHLANDS:
PH: AWFUL. Are we done yet?
JV: And yet I liked it, even though it’s a BFBS. Shoulder loops helped.
Finally, KENTUCKY STATE:
PH: Are you kidding me?
JV: I think it’s the green and yellow. I’ve seen far worse.
PH: Yet, you’d wear that. Man, I don’t think I’d ever want to see what’s in your closet.
Well, I have nothing else to say, so I’ll let Jim finish it up. Jim?
JV: As previously mentioned, this is not THE list of best Division II uniforms. If you’d like to show off a school whose unis you like, please post it in the comments section. I’d love to find out what you consider your favorite. At least we’ve seen that not all D-2 unis are coporately designed from the same template. There is variety, and maybe a little life here, after all.
Oh, and no, you you don’t want to know what’s in my closet (From last Christmas – the Hawaiian shirt is actually a Nativity scene. The tie is holly and ivy with French horns and the pants were part of a throwback Virginia Squires warmup [donated the top but kept the pants].)
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Thus (mercifully) endeth the D-2 uniform rundown, unless you all have something else to share. Thanks to Jim for finding these. I think.
You may not know it, but Jim actually attends some D-2 football games, so while his opinion of their unis may not agree with mine, at least he’s heard of some of the schools we’ve reviewed today. And not only that, Jim’s a bit of a Division II shutterbug. Check it out:
JV:Went through my photos and found some halfway decent ones. Now let’s get your opinion:
Cal U. of PA/Slippery Rock: here, here, and here
Ky. Wesleyan/Lake Erie: here, here, here, and here.
Marian/Walsh: here. (NAIA schools, but better facilities than D-II – that’s at the Football Hall of Fame in Canton)
If nothing else, I had a blast going to the games and walking around taking the pics. If the NFL goes through with their work stoppage, screw them. I’ll take D-II anyday.
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Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Back to the diamond for today’s GTG. This one comes courtesy of Shaun Tunick, who has supplied us with a bew-tee-ful picture. Might not rate that high on the difficulty scale, but the pic alone is worth it. Don’t forget, please do NOT post the answer in the comments, but instead, post the link. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. As always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!
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Mick and Mike are back in the apartment again, the way it should be — watching Chuck on the little tube. No — not that Chuck. Distracted tho they be by the commercials, the boys still manage to find humor in any situation. Or so it seems. Enjoy your Saturday Benchies. Take care, old frog, you croak too much against Moses. Or something.
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Our man in the street, Jim Vilk, brings you a SPECIAL “Top 5″ Best and one WORST college football uni matchup from Thursday and Friday’s games:
5. Wyoming/Colorado State — Because CSU’s in-state rivals really dragged down the Nebraska/Colorado matchup.
4. Pitt/WVU — Monochrome or not, it’s a sweet matchup.
3. Temple/Ohio — Ditto.
2. Alabama/Auburn — Tide almost lost #2 ranking, but this uni-matchup was a solid #2 regardless.
1. Texas/Texas A&M — Phil said it best: “Even Nike couldn’t screw up the Horns’ unis…this one was a classic.”
And the worst matchup: Memphis/Tulsa – I don’t dislike the colors, but the blues are too similar and the unis are too busy. Sorry, Leon.
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Alrighty then, that’s going to do it for this fine last Saturday in November. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Plenty of college football (at least the real, Division I kind) today, what with some riflery rivalry games and some big “intrastate” games as well. Haven’t heard whether USC/UCLA will be color vs. color again this year, but it’s definitely worth checking out (they play at 7:00 PST). And will the Gators vs. Noles be Bobby B’s last game ever? Could that be a riflery game? (If so, that’d be some kinda color on color matchup, if both teams play along.) Good stuff ahead, for sure.
Have a great day everyone.
November 28th, 2009
Meet Tom. Unlike all those people who call their Thanksgiving turkeys Tom without actually knowing its gender, we know for a fact that our Tom was a male, because he was a capon, which means he was male by definition. And he was every bit as delicious as he looks here.
Tom was the star attraction in a spread that also featured apple/cherry/walnut stuffing, port-braised onions (Kirsten’s idea — unbelievably good), cranberry relish, roasted root vegetables, and gravy. Plus Kirsten whipped some cream into a stick of butter and used the resulting buttermilk to make a swell batch of biscuits. For dessert we had an apple-cherry pie (better-looking than that photo indicates), plus I sliced some more apples, tossed them in some rendered capon fat, sugar, cinnamon, and Calvados, and baked them. Came out great, but we were too stuffed to do more than nibble at it.
And as a modest centerpiece, we had a sprig of parsley from Kirsten’s garden and a sprig of rosemary from mine. Isn’t that nice? Hope your day was just as fine as ours.
As for today: I’m not quite on board with the entire Buy Nothing Day agenda (how am I supposed to read all 37 of Ricko’s comments if I don’t turn on my computer?), but I agree with its general line of thought. Or to put it another way: Wouldn’t it be nice if you spent the day someplace other than the mall? Let some other clowns get trampled to death — it’s just natural selection, after all.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Here are the dates (and a good photo) for the Warriors’ throwbacks. … Two new killer tees from No Mas: 1970s Sport magazine and Wiffle Ball. … Reprinted from Wednesday’s comments: Check out Emporia State’s striped helmets from the 1990s. Never seen that type of pattern on a helmet before. … Throwbacks on tap for Dayton hoops (with thanks to Tom Hirt). … How is it possible that the Panthers’ team store in their own stadium has the wrong NFL logo? (As spotted by Frank Mercogliano.) … Very beautiful collection of typewriter ribbon tins here (thanks, Kirsten). … European hockey? Nope — it’s the Kalamazoo Wings of the ECHL (with thanks to Adam Walter). … This was supposedly Missouri’s first football squad. One of the uniforms survives to this day (with thanks to Kate Sutter). … The Harvard football stadium has a cool dedication (with thanks to Tris Wykes). … The Hawks debuted out their “ATL” alts last night.
November 27th, 2009
I’m still under quarantine, which totally sucks, but Kirsten and I are trying to make the best of it. We’ll be roasting a capon and serving it up with some apple/cherry/walnut stuffing, green beans, cranberry relish, root vegetables, port-braised onions, apple pie, and maybe one or two things I’m forgetting. Like they always say, starve a cold, feed the chickenpox.
Here’s wishing everyone a swell holiday, especially my brother and my Mom — I’d be with you if I could, and I’ll be thinking of you. Have some extra dark meat for me. — Paul
November 26th, 2009
The nice thing about Thanksgiving, aside from stuffing your face and watching the Lions lose again, is the elemental simplicity of the holiday’s premise: Surely even the most downtrodden of us has something to be thankful for. But there’s no denying that some people have a few extra blessings to count. I refer, of course, to those of us — or, rather, those of you — whose favorite team is not owned by Fred and Jeff Wilpon.
Before we get to Fred and Jeff’s latest uni-related snafu, it’s important to understand just how badly the Mets’ visual identity has deteriorated under their watch. Let these facts be submitted to a candid world: There’s been the endless procession of alternate caps; the miserable black alternate jerseys; the pointless addition of black drop shadows to everything; the shunting aside of blue as a team color, especially on the road uniform; the wearing of the road cap at home; the near-disappearance of the home pinstripes; the removal of the “NY” from the skyline logo; the needless imposition of a black skyline logo; the worst stadium-opening sleeve patch in MLB history; and on and on.
With this impressive body of work behind them, the Wilpons announced yesterday that they’re changing their home pinstripes from a white-based fabric to an off-white cream. On its face, this is fine — it’s a very small cosmetic change that I don’t mind and that most fans won’t even notice. Hooooowever:
1) Why did this “news” merit a multi-paragraph press release and an e-mail blast? Look, here’s all you need: “You know that pinstriped uni we never wear? Next year it’ll be beige instead of white,” the end. You can put that on Twitter and still have enough characters left for a few Willie Randolph jokes.
2) Let’s take a closer look at the middle of that announcement:
The Mets created the retro uniform following research and positive responses to the jerseys the 1969 World Champion Mets wore during their 40th anniversary celebration in August. The natural color and pinstripes were staples of the original Mets uniform when the team debuted in 1962.
Um, guys, you didn’t “create” anything — you just told Majestic to change the fabric from white to Pantone 155, or whatever. More importantly, though, how can you call this jersey “retro” — and how can you have the chutzpah to claim the spirits of ’62 and ’69 as your inspiration — when the new cream pinstripes will still have that accursed drop-shadow?!
It’s right about here that my head explodes.
Here are the World Series reunion jerseys referenced in the press release — the ones that supposedly generated all the “positive responses.” Notice any drop shadows there? The issue isn’t that the shadow-free script looks better than the shadowed script (although it certainly does); the issue is that the Mets can’t even do retro accurately. They can’t even describe what they’re doing accurately! It’s an affront — not just to those early, pre-Wilpon Mets squads and the fans who cheered for them, but to anyone with a functioning brain pan. I mean, seriously, you have to work pretty hard to screw up something this simple.
It’s all too much. The Bernazard thing, the vanilla stadium with the corporate name and the 37 price tiers, the GM who thinks it’s a good idea to call out a beat writer at a press conference, the bottomless pit of medical misdiagnoses — and I’m not even counting the on-field performance. I’m just talking about the most basic aspects of team ownership and stewardship. These guys aren’t just bad at it; they’re the definition of dysfunctional. If the Mets were their kid, Child Services would’ve whisked the team into foster care years ago.
And so, Fred and Jeff, in the spirit of the holiday season, I send you the following Thanksgiving wishes: I hope you gag on your turkey, spill cranberry sauce on your suits, and get gravy stains on your ties. I hope your wine is corked, your mashed potatoes lumpy, and your pumpkin pie spoiled. I hope your staff quits at the last moment and spends the day peppering you with crank calls from “me, your old pal Bernie Madoff, don’t you remember?” Then I hope you get the runs afterward. The two of you deserve nothing less.
And nothing more.
To everyone else, happy almost-Thanksgiving — travel safe today, wherever you’re heading.
(Thanks to Brian Erni for the side-by-side jersey comparison.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Did you know there’s a little factory in upstate New York that’s been making NBA game-day jerseys for 40 years? Now Adidas wants to outsource that work to Thailand, a move that will cost 100 jobs. Happy Thanksgiving! … The Sacramento State football team all went with “Mattos” nameplates on Saturday in honor of former Sac State coach Bob Mattos, who is battling brain cancer (with thanks to Marty Kobata). … Missouri riflery gallery, complete with embarrassing collar slogan and obligatory D-ring photo, here. … “I was watching Real Sports on HBO tonight,” says Brad Wasserman, “and Bryant Gumbel was in the NFL offices interviewing the head of NFL security when he walked by a a wall that featured every NFL team’s sock pattern!” Actually, as you can see, some of them are pants piping patterns, but still — I’ll take the whole set in my Christmas stocking, thanks. … Hmmm, interesting design. That’s Emporia State, a D-II school from Kansas (with thanks to Brian Hansen). … Did you know the Phillies once lost their gear on the way to 1920 game against the Dodgers in Brooklyn? They eneded up having to to borrow the Dodgers’ road uniforms, along with some shoes and bats. The whole thing is described is hilariously florid detail here. It looks like a lot to digest, I know, but just click on that first thumbnail and then click on “All Sizes” — you won’t be disappointed by what you read, I promise you (big, big thanks to Morris Levin). … Things you learn when you’re stuck home with the chickenpox: My Name Is Earl, which I had never ever watched before, is a gas.
Holiday Schedule: The site will be open for chatter tomorrow. We’ll also be open on Friday — maybe just for chatter, maybe even some actual content. We shall see.
I can’t spend the holiday with my family on account of the ’pox, but Kirsten and I plan on rustlin’ up some fine grub for ourselves. Everyone have a healthy and a happy. And remember: White meat’s for suckers.
November 25th, 2009
I’m fairly certain that no Uni Watch reader has sent me as many contributions over the years as Jeremy Brahm, and I’m absolutely positive that no other reader has sent so many highly specialized contributions. Search the site for Jeremy’s name and you’ll find a wealth of information relating to volleyball, cricket, Aussie rules football (which he wrote about last weekend), African youth soccer, African amateur athletics tournaments, sumo wrestling, and, of course, Japanese baseball, where he reigns as our foremost authority.
The volume and specificity of Jeremy’s contributions have made him something of a celebrity here on the site, so about two months ago I did an interview with him. And then, as is my too-frequent habit, I back-burnered transcribing the tapes for way too long. But hey, there’s nothing like tape transcription to take your mind off chickenpox (trust me). So here, finally, is the long-awaited Jeremy Brahm installment of Uni Watch Profiles — enjoy.
Uni Watch: How old are you, where do you live, and what do you do for a living?
Jeremy Brahm: I’m 36, I live Tigard, Oregon, and right now I’m a business development associate. It’s a new job I just started.
UW: What exactly is a business development associate?
JB: It involves trying to identify clients to bring to the business, but also kind of taking clients from my old business.
UW: Which was..?
JB: SpecialtyVehicles.net. I researched different truck bodies and their manufacturers, in America and Canada predominantly. You know the UPS big brown trucks, right? I would research the companies that would put the box on top of the truck chassis. Kind of a unique kind of market research and analysis. My clients would more or less be anybody from Freightliner to an international to investment groups, to even suppliers of aluminum or a company like 3M that needs to know how much paint to sell. Interesting, odd markets — things you see every day, but nobody thinks about them. [Update: Since we conducted this interview, Jeremy has left this job.]
UW: Are you from Portland originally?
JB: Yes, born and raised.
UW: Have you always been interested in uniforms?
JB: Before I could read anything else, I could read the sports page in The Oregonian.
UW: Yeah, but what about uniforms and logos?
JB: When I was a kid, whenever I was doing coloring or drawing, I’d try to do it with a sports motif. I always wanted to keep track of the [football] scores, so I had all these pens and I’d draw each of the different logos on a helmet. The helmets themselves weren’t perfect — I could never figure out how to do the ear-mold flap area — but I’d replicate the logo as closely as possible.
UW: So you’d create a scoreboard this way?
JB: Yes. On Monday mornings I’d say, “Okay, this was the Seahawks score,” because that’s the team I grew up watching, and so on. [Jeremy wasn't able to find any of these scoreboard drawings, but he did provide some childhood NFL helmet tracings, MLB and CFL logo drawings, CFL Huddles, which he created by tracing the NFL versions and adapting them for CFL teams. -- PL]
UW: Any other childhood uni-related activities?
JB: My mom, as one of her side hobbies, she did a little bit of knitting and sewing, and she’d create little outfits for me to put on my teddy bear. So she’d use white sheets or old T-shirts to make a little white shirt for the teddy bear, and then I could write and draw on it to design a uniform for him.
UW: For the teddy bear?
JB: Right. So if I wanted to make a little Portland Beavers uniform for him, or a Cubs uniform, I could do it. So one day I was watching the North American Soccer League, and the Chicago Sting were playing, and I thought, “It looks like a bumblebee — that’s what I’m gonna do!” So that’s what I did.
UW: Did you play sports as a kid, or in school?
JB: Oh, yeah, I played Little League, basketball. Never played organized football, though.
UW: And did you pay special attention to your uniform in those days?
JB: I know we had stirrups, and I remember thinking, “Which way do these things go? Does the big loop go in the front or the back?”
UW: When did you first discovered Uni Watch?
JB: Around 2004, when you started writing for ESPN. I liked some of the history stuff, and I thought, “Oh, this is interesting.”
UW: Do you recall the first contribution you sent in?
JB: It was either about the Portland Trail Blazers changing to “Portland” on their road uniforms, or else when you asked about teams that put the players’ names below the numbers, so I sent you some photos from the J-League in Japan.
UW: Do you collect jerseys, or anything else that’s sports-related?
JB: I do have baseball cards, but I’m not a big collector.
UW: You have some jerseys, though, right? I remember you wore a Rangers jersey to the Uni Watch gathering in Portland, which was a very nice way of making me, as a New Yorker, feel welcome in your town.
JB: That was actually a gift I’d received from my aunt.
UW: You’re a big volleyball guy, right?
JB: Yes, I played in the 1990 Junior Olympics volleyball championships.
UW: That’s so cool. How’d you get into that sport?
JB: From watching the U.S. win in the 1984 Olympics, and again in ’88. Always had an interest in the game. So I learned al lot about the uniforms and so on. I’m still a big volleyball fan today.
UW: You realize you’re something of a celebrity here on the site, right?
JB: Yeah, yeah. I always find it funny.
UW: And people have basically requested this interview, for that matter. How does that feel, knowing that you’re sort of a character on the site?
JB: It’s — not strange, exactly, but being known as kind of an expert is not a problem.
UW: It’s fun to be an expert!
JB: Yeah, just like my job doing all the things with the trucks.
UW: You’re a man of very specialized knowledge, is what you’re saying.
JB: Yeah. It’s nice when people know that you know what you’re talking about. For me, a lot of the stuff with Japan, I had an interest from having gone there as a student…
UW: Yeah, let’s talk about that. You’re known on the site for having a few specialty niches, especially Japanese uniforms. How did you become so interested in Japanese sports and culture?
JB: I first got interested in Japan as the Japanese economy was growing in the late ’80s and I thought, “Hey, it’d be a good idea to study Japanese.” Then, as I got into college, I thought, “Why not actually study in Japan for a year?” My parents basically said to go for it, so that’s what I did.
UW: So you spent a year there?
JB: Yes. I went to Waseda University — basically one of the Japanese Ivy League schools. And there was plenty of baseball there. So I decided one of the best ways for me to improve my language skills was to follow sports.
UW: Right, it was an easy way in, it was something you were interested in…
JB: Exactly. When I got there, I just soaked it up like a sponge. It really improved my skills.
UW: Did you attend games?
JB: In the Tokyo area, I visited each of the stadiums. And I scored the games, so I can actually say — and prove — that I saw Ichiro before he became big. Same with Hideo Nomo.
UW: You also send in a lot of contributions about some fairly obscure sports. Volleyball is one thing, since you’ve played it competitively. But you’ll also send me stuff about cricket, or Australian rules football, all sorts of sports that aren’t in our mainstream North American consciousness. Are you actually interested in these sports? Or do you just go searching for obscure little things to send me? Like, if Uni Watch didn’t exist, would you still be coming across this material?
JB: Sometimes it’s just searching to search. As I’ve grown and met more people from more cultures, my interests have grown. I traveled to India in 2005 and saw cricket for the first time. In the ’80s, when ESPN had Australian Rules Football, I kind of became intrigued by it. And of course the uniforms haven’t really changed. The colors are the same — the only difference is that maybe they have, say, three stripes as opposed to five.
UW: You’re obviously into mainstream sports as well, but you almost never send me information on those. My impression is that you’ve decided to leave the mainstream material to everyone else — because let’s face it, I can get that from anyone — and to focus on what we might call, for lack of a better term, the Jeremy sports.
JB: You know, if I’m watching a Mariners game or a Seahawks game, those are my teams — I root for them. So usually I’m too busy enjoying the game to think about the uniform aspects.
UW: Some days you’ll send me multiple contributions — sometimes many multiples — and I’ll end up using only one or two of them. Be frank: Does that annoy you?
JB: Uh, I understand there’s a lot of stuff you have to go through. Plus it’s your site. Some of the things can be frustrating, like that time I sent you the link for those Japanse baseball dresses — it was like, “You’ve got to use this one, Paul, come on!”
UW: Do you sometimes find yourself thinking, “Why’d he use that one, instead of THAT one, which was so much better?!”
JB: Sometimes. But at the same time I kinda just say, look, it’s your site.
UW: You know, there are some days when I make those choices for very specific reasons — “I like these two a lot, but these two don’t do so much for me.” And then there are other days when I’m really busy and the volume of stuff you send can almost be overwhelming and it’s almost like I end up pulling them out of a hat.
JB: And I understand that.
UW: I gotta tell you, I do feel guilty sometimes. I try to use as much as I can, but I also want to be fair to everyone else who contributes stuff…
JB: I know, I understand. There’s only so much you can throw in, or else you’d be up 24/7. Also, with the time difference from Japan, their day is basically over when I my day is starting. So a lot of the things I send to you, they’ll either be at around 5am or 6am my time…
UW: Yes, I’ve noticed that.
JB: …because that’s when the news come up from Japan, first thing in the morning, so I check some of the Japanese sites really quick to see if I can find something.
UW: Now, back in August of 2008, you came to the Uni Watch party in Portland, which is the first and only time we’ve met. Did you have a good time?
JB: Oh yeah, it was cool. It’s always good to be around people with similar interests and see what they actually look like.
UW: You brought all sorts of Japanese sports publications. I confess that it was a bit overwhelming when you started showing them to me.
JB: The hard part was trying pick out the stuff you wouldn’t expect, like the hawk’s-head helmet.
UW: Did you acquire all those publications when you lived in Japan?
JB: Some of them. Others I’ve acquired here in the States, or during other trips to Japan. [You can see Jeremy happily playing show-and-tell with other Portland party attendees in the background of this photo of Pennant Race Gear honcho Ryan Wantland. -- PL]
UW: What was that Roadkill jersey you brought along?
JB: That was from one of my youth volleyball teams. I was the only one on the team who had a car, so I had to drive all over the place to pick up everyone else on the way to a match.
UW: Leaving roadkill in your wake?
JB: That was the idea behind the shirt, yeah.
UW: Have you ever considered having your own blog or web site?
JB: I’ve thought about it. But it would basically be an offshoot [of Uni Watch], so then maybe I’d have to do a lot more research or get into markets I don’t normally focus on, like China. Would that be worth it? Would there be enough demand?
Conversation rambles for a bit, and then this:
JB: Mike Kinkade, he was a classmate of mine.
UW: Really? Mike Kinkade who briefly played for the Mets?
JB: Yes.
UW: Wow. What I remember most about him is that when the Mets traded Kinkade and Melvin Mora to the Orioles for Mike Bordick, Steve Phillips — who was the Mets’ GM at the time — announced that the Mets had acquired Bordick “in exchange for utility infielder Melvin Mora and utility catcher Mike Kinkade.” And I thought, boy, “utility catcher” — could they possibly make him sound more worthless?
JB: Yeah, he was a classic four-A player. The thing about him, though, is that he later played in Japan for the Hanshin Tigers. I actually have a replica jersey with his name on it. But it’s pretty tight on me, because that was the biggest size they had for the replicas over there.
= = = = =
Want more of Jeremy? He’s recently been working with Phil to produce this survey of 1990s Taiwanese baseball uniforms — a classic Jeremy topic.
And here’s the perfect coda to this interview: As I was putting the finishing touches on this entry last night, Jeremy e-mailed to tell me, “Paul, the Blazers’ and Bulls’ warm-up uniforms are basically the same, aside from ‘Chicago’ across the chest.” He was at the game, had taken that photo, and had e-mailed it to me on the spot. Now that’s dedication! Big thanks to Jeremy for sharing his story, for patiently waiting for me to transcribe it, and for everything he brings to the site every day.
How do you spell “wyld-kat”?: It’s rare that you see documentation of a uniform typo from over 60 years ago, and even rarer to find that the typo was discussed in print at the time. Becky Taylor found that bit of proto-uni-watching
in the 1/30/48 issue of the UGA newspaper, The Red and Black. As you can see in the second graf, The New Yorker apparently mentioned the typo as well. If anyone out there has the complete CD-ROM set of New Yorker archives, perhaps someone could track down the item in question, yes? Yes.
Uni Watch News Ticker: What team is this? That’s the Packers, circa early 1950s, says Tom Farley. “The Packers had the metallic gold helmets from 1951 — after they bought them from the first NFL Baltimore Colts, who folded after the 1950 season — through the ’53 season,” he says. “They wore the gold jerseys over the green pants in all three seasons.” … A very surprising entry in the “no gloves” camp: Adrian Peterson. He wore gloves in previous seasons but has been bare-handed this year (big thanks to Amos Miller). … Other gloveless wonders, both pointed out by Chris Fox: Larry Johnson and, in the retired category, Shaun Alexander. I’ve gotta admit, I’m stunned that there are any receivers or backs who go bare-handed. … Two Texas Tech notes from Susan Freeman: Taylor Potts went NickNOB, literally (“Nick” is his nickname), and Rajon Henley, who normally wears No. 91, wore number 40 and NNOB in honor of DB Nathan Stone, whose season ended early due to a neck injury. … As everyone and his pet weasel knows by now, Texas will be wearing throwbacks on Thanksgiving against A&M. But what’s this? A counter uni-maneuver by the Aggies — the battle is joined! “The ribbon on the helmet logo commemorates the 10th anniversary of the bonfire tragedy that took the lives of 12 students and injured 27 others,” explains Andy McNeel. “In addition, every player’s helmet will have No. 12 on the back, instead of their own numbers.” … Interesting note from Aaron Rich, who writes: “I saw the new Nick Cage movie, Bad Lieutenant, over the weekend (pretty bad) and there’s a scene when the bad cop is meeting with his bookie and they’re watching a football game. It’s definitely a USFL game (the movie takes place in 2008, but whatever) between the Memphis Showboats and a team in blue (maybe the Oakland Invaders or the LA Express). I got to wondering if there are other movies that use USFL footage for generic football footage rather than using NFL or NCAA footage. Also, I wonder if this is done because of trademark rights or NFL being hard to deal with. It might be a fun thing for the readers to see if they can make a list of the movies that use USFL footage.” … Check this out: a NORAD (that’s North American Aerospace Defense) hockey jersey. “They’ve fielded military hockey teams for many years,” says Ryan Connelly. … What’s with the two different uniforms? Turns out the seniors are wearing dark, underclassmen in white (good find by Tris Wykes.) … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Photos of all the rest of the riflery uniforms can be accessed here (with more LSU shots here and here), can we just play football now? … Yesterday’s screen shot of Mike Smith’s parking lot-sponsored play-calling sheet prompted the following note from Falcons assistant equipment manager Jimmy Luck: “Great pic of Coach Smith — the marketing people wish they had thought of it! Coach always has a copy of the itinerary with his notes, for timing reasons (bus departures, warm-up times, etc.). All away game itineraries have a map of how to get to the Parking Spot on the back. Just so happens he put it in the back of the page protector this time and the whole TV audience got a free Parking Spot ad.” … Hey look, the Detroit chain gang goes FiNOF (good catch by Jared Camden).
November 24th, 2009
So here’s the new Panthers alternate. The base color looks black in that photo, but it’s actually navy. Hmmm, remind you of anyone else’s recent alternate design? Let’s see, one thing at a time:
• The new color scheme: Idiotic. You’ve got one of the more distinctive color combos in the league — a combo that does not include light blue — so why go with this mood-indigo treatment? And where’s the red? Where the gold? Nice way to chuck the franchise’s chromatic history out the window. So is it good or is it stupid? Stupid.
• The new chest logo: It’s actually just a modified version of the head on the primary logo, but with muted colors (why??) and — get this — no whiskers! C’mon, whoever heard of a cat without whiskers? More to the point, the team’s original logo, much like its original color scheme, was unique; any idiot can design a circular logo. Looks like what the team’s AHL affiliate should be wearing. Stupid.
• The new shoulder logo: You’re kidding, right? You’re all fearsome and snarling on the chest logo but then you’re all morning in America on the shoulders. Not a bad logo for the local tourism bureau, but it doesn’t work for this uniform. Stupid.
• The new typeface: All the numbering and lettering on this design is rendered in a font I’ve never seen before. You can get a good sense of it here — the serif on the 9 is really odd, no? Could work, though. Need to see more. Too soon to tell.
Overall, there’s a lot to like here — matching stripe patterns on the socks, sleeves, and hemline, old-school shoulder yoke, no Bettman stripes, no Ree-box. But it doesn’t feel like the Panthers. This is a new-school team in a new-school city (at least by NHL standards), and trying to fit them into a traditionalist box doesn’t work. Not a bad design, just the wrong one for this franchise.
November 23rd, 2009
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