Back around 2002, I wrote a column about collectibles for a magazine too embarrassing to mention. The column was eventually discontinued because the editor felt I wasn’t coming up with enough “found in the attic” stories — i.e., stories about amazingly valuable collectibles that had been gathering dust in someone’s attic until they were discovered and then sold for many thousands of dollars. I tried to explain to the editor that stories like those don’t grow on trees, but somehow he was unmoved, and that was the end of the column.

Too bad I didn’t know about this game-worn Jim Brown Syracuse helmet back then. Here’s the deal: The helmet was originally given to the father of a young Syracuse family by a close friend of former Syracuse coach Ben Schwartzwalder shortly after the 1956 season. It was a gift to an expectant father, who put it away for what he was sure would be his new son. When his wife gave birth to a girl instead, the helmet stayed tucked away in the family attic, where it remained until the daughter, now grown and caring for her elderly father, discovered it more than four decades later.

The helmet was eventually acquired in 2001 by Curtis Worrell and Jim Parker of Helmet Hut. It was the crown jewel in their helmet collection, but with Parker’s recent death, Worrell has decided to sell the helmet and give the proceeds to Parker’s widow. It’s currently up for auction at Game Used Universe (which, as you may have noticed, is a new Uni Watch sponsor, although that’s not why I’m writing this piece — the helmet is a great story, and the Helmet Hut folks are great people).

The auction runs through this Thursday, just in case you have an extra 30 grand burning a hole in your pocket. And even if you don’t end up bidding, you can check out these great Jim Brown pics here.

New ESPN column today — my annual college hoops season preview, and it’s a doozy, with coverage of over 50 teams. Major thanks to all of you who provided info. Here’s the link.

Raffle Reminder: Today’s the last day for the poster raffle. Details here.

What’s it worth to ya?: Remember last Wednesday’s discussion of the value of design? Scott Misner, whose comment a few days earlier prompted that discussion (but who did not participate in the Wednesday dialogue — he was busy with work-related stuff) has checked in with a lengthy essay in which he expands on his original comment and responds to some of the points made in Wednesday’s comments. Check it out here.

Mooooo!: Yesterday’s Brooklyn Beefsteak was a smashing, gut-busting success. Thanks to all the Uni Watch readers who said hello! I’ll post my photos tomorrow, so send me yours if you want them to be included.

Your productive day is now over: Dave Holz sent me a link to some absolutely stunning 1930s color photography from the Library of Congress. It’s not uni-related, but it’s flat-out the most compelling imagery I’ve seen in ages. Be warned — once you click on this link, you won’t get anything else accomplished all day. Enjoy.

Uni Watch News Ticker: In case you were under a rock for the past 72 hours, we now know what a bunch of the Nike rivalry revelry riflery designs look like, including the full Ohio State uni, the Virginia Tech jersey, the TCU uni, most of the gloves, and probably a lot more stuff that I’ve missed. Oh, and each riflery school gets its own stupid-ass comic book slogan, and Nike helped prime the pump for today’s Virginia Tech uni unveiling by parking this unassuming little buggy on campus. Nicely done. … Now that’s a uniform, as worn by Jon Solomonson, circa 1973. The other kids’ helmets had only one stripe, but they had to find a smaller lid to fit Jon’s noggin, and it had three stripes. He says he later removed the extraneous striping so he could match his teammates. … Now that the Yanks have won their 27th title, Joe Girardi plans to change his uni number. … Best Twitter feed ever (thanks, Kirsten). … 11/11 isn’t just Veterans Day — it’s also “the date that most closely resembles corduroy,” at least according to these folks, who’ll be holding their annual Grand Meeting on Wednesday right down the avenue from my house. … Nice story about a Sidney Crosby jersey here (with thanks to Nate Budziszewski) …. Jay Danbom lives in Dickinson, North Dakota, where those college softball players recently drowned. He responded to the tragedy by designing a memorial ribbon (”Ashely Neufeld’s initials are in red because she was from Canada,” he explains), which was worn by his rec hockey team. … Bit of a poppy controversy in Old Blighty (with thanks to Mark Coale). … Okay, so this is pretty damn cool. Details here (with thanks to Braden Lerwill). … Check out the major helmet-stripe damage on Alphonso Carreker’s helmet, circa 1988. … Many college football refs wore blue sleeves on Saturday, for prostate cancer awareness. … There’s gotta be an easier way to represent your team on your goalie pads than this (with thanks to Laura Pond). … Bruce Menard was looking through an auction site and turned up a really nice 1911 Cubs jersey and an even nicer 1920s Cubs jacket. … This is a gown made of Arizona Cardinals jerseys. Lots of additional details here (with thanks to Chad Todd). … Interesting discussion on the Chris Creamer board: Someone pointed out that the far-right Lightning player in this photo isn’t wearing the the NHL collar logo. That prompted someone else to post that Robyn Regehr has never had the NHL logo on his collar since the league went to the Edge template. … The Japanese women’s volleyball team will be wearing new uniforms — including a very odd upside-down pouch design — at the Grand Champions Cup next week (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Super-cool collection of bicycle chain guards here (great find, Kirsten). … More excellent info on the nature of flannel fabrics here (with thanks to Dave Grob). … Double sock stripes! Additional creamsicle pics here. … New soccer kit for Argentina (with thanks to Tomas Abrate). … Torn helmet decal yesterday for DeAngelo Williams (screen shot courtesy of Corey Davis). … “Jesuit High School of Portland, Oregon, has a successful cross country team that has the athletes put a cross on their face,” reports Jeremy Brahm. … Sorry there’s so little NFL info in today’s entry. I was off the grid all day yesterday due to the beefsteak. Priorities, priorities…..

By Phil Hecken & James Huening

Back with my wingman, and UW pollster, James Huening again today, to bring you our nine finalists in the “Worst. Uni. Ever.” poll. You selected the nominees, and you voted (oh, boy did you vote), and now we’ve narrowed it down to the nine worst. One last round of voting will decide the winner of perhaps the most inauspicious title in all uniformity: Worst Ever.

Not much else for me to say, so I’ll turn it over to James who’ll take you through the final piece of the process. Here’s James:

Last weekend, we presented our candidates for worst uniform in the history of ever (or at least in the history of North American team sports). We asked you to vote in a survey to determine the finalists. More than 2,600 responses were received, which means this was our most successful survey to date.

The field has been narrowed down. We’ve got our nine finalists. Now it’s up to you to decide what is the worst (North American) uniform ever.

So without further ado, let’s meet the finalists.

In the Major League Baseball category: the 1978 San Diego Padres.

From the National Basketball Association, the expansion Toronto Raptors.

Representing the National Football League, we have the Seattle Seahawks‘ lime/electric/snot/neon green alternate.

The National Hockey League gave us our only truly close race. Only a handful of votes separated our top vote-getter from the second place finisher. And that top vote-getter is the “Flying V” of the Vancouver Canucks.

The next category is for Short-lived Uniforms. These are the ones that lasted a handful of games at most. It seems fitting that the 1976 Chicago White Sox get that “honor.”

Next, the Minor Leagues. This one wasn’t even close. The Tucson Toros absolutely ran away with this vote. Is it any wonder?

The University of Oregon Ducks and their mix & match “diamondplate“ look are representing the NCAA in our poll.

Our soccer representative is another runaway winner. The Caribous of Colorado got nearly triple the votes that the other two contestants did.

Last up, we have the Orlando Thunder of the WLAF representing the Miscellaneous Pro Football category.

Full results are here, here and here.

Now that you’ve met the contestants, please tell us which is the worst of the worst. There are more pictures in the poll. You can click on them to see the full-size versions.

The poll can be found here. Time to vote!

Awesome work, James. Big round of applause to Mr. Huening for undertaking the monumental task of tallying more than 2,600 votes. But our work here is not quite done. We still need to pick a “winner.” So follow the link provided above and cast your final vote for the “Worst. Uni. Ever.” The future of the world is depending on you We’ll have the results next week. And may the worst uniform win.

OK, I’ve been receiving a LOT of NFL uniform tweaks from you guys (thanks!)…so many that if I don’t start running a few with each post, well…there will be a couple of weekends of JUST uniform tweaks (and we really don’t want that, do we?). I kid, I kid. But many of these are really good, and so, today I will begin to mete out the first buhch I received.

Our first set of tweaks comes from John Mattson, who writes:

Here’s my shot at
Bengals (also here and here), Vikings, Falcons, and Cardinals.

It am not a graphic designer and it is done on the simple Paint application on all windows PCs.

Thanks for all your great work. Let me know your thoughts.

Next up is Andrew Greenwood (”Greenie”), who sent me the following just as we were beginning our polling:

Phil,

In anticipation of the news that the Buffalo Bills were the lowest scoring team in UniWatch’s first ever jersey poll ranking, I’ve come up with this new design. Simply put, the Bills need yellow. There is no yellow in the AFC East, and there are already enough teams that wear red and blue. Since the Rams dumped this color pairing when they switched to the metallic gold, it’s a team identity up for grabs. Also, this color scheme compliments the only other Big 4 team that Buffalo has, the Sabres. Simple helmet logo (someone on UniWatch had the idea to get rid of the red line on the logo, and I believe you did your quick and dirty best to show it), classic NFL helmet striping blue-fat white-blue, two fat shoulder stripes for contrast, and a UNIFORM stripe pattern on all three pants. Two more fat stripes on the sack finishes the look. Can’t wait for the poll results.

(I actually voted the Jags and Cards lowest, but I think the Bills will edge them out. Go Pack!)

Next up is Shaun Tunick, who sent me a few different concepts, in a couple of different e-mails (so this may sound somewhat ‘cut and pastish’). We’ll look his tweaks for the Broncos, Patriots, Falcons and Giants now:

Tweaks for the Broncos and Pats, for the Broncos i took out the weird side to chest stripe/panel, and changed the color scheme back to the royal blue and orange, and then switched the jersey back to orange… i mean they have never had a blue jersey before, so why should they? i also replaced the horn stripe thing on the pants with the striping from the 1977 orange crush uniforms. also, i got rid of the weird helmet stripe. for the patriots, all i really wanted to do was get rid of the really frickin annoying blue side panel on the away jersey, and i ended up taking it off and also the piping from the home jersey. edited the pants stripes a little.

[PH here - Shaun did two Falcons mockups -- an original and a revised edition, which he describes below -- his first version is here]

i wanted to change the pants piping, i hate how it flares out at the bottom but i just didnt want it to look like complete garbage. i really like the striping that you guys did on the bengals, cant remember what it is called… but i meant to get rid of the piping on the pants. something like what they wore 97-02 would look great too. and on the jerseys the one thing i was thinking about was getting rid of the black, i dont really mind the piping there.

And about the helmets, i just wanted to see what a red mockup of the current helmet would look like, and i just threw the mid 80s helmet in there for kicks because that is IMO the best set theyve had… the one with the logo resting on the shoulder stripes, something that would never work today.. On the pants, it is silver, something that they started in 78 and then decided to ditch with the new uniforms.

Hey sorry forgot to throw in the giants, i edited the away jersey just a bit… anyway thanks a bunch for checking this out!

Moving on, we have a submission from Ed Westfield, Jr. (”Eddie Atari”), who wanted to fix the Giants. Here’s Ed:

I liked Phil & Ricks’ NFL uni tweaks, and I have another one for the
Giants. I’ve said before that there is not enough blue in the road
kit, so how about… BLUE PANTS?!

Here’s my Photoshop mockup.

I’m usually a Giants purist, but I actually like this, especially with
the red/grey/blue stripe in tact. Note: It should ONLY be worn with
white jerseys…

Last up for today is a first batch from Uni Watch’s #1 Broncos fan, a man who simply goes by Denver Gregg. He first sent me a batch, of (surprisingly) Denver Broncos mockups. We’ll look at those today. Here’s Gregg:

Hiya Phil

You do a great job with the weekend site!

I’ve been a Broncos fan as long as I can remember, and there has always been something that’s bothered me about the unis. I remember doing a copper and silver redesign in 1973 (long since mercifully lost). Anyway I decided to do a 2010 re-design, incorporating elements of current and past unis. I’ve kept the elements I like in the current set – especially the number and letter typefaces, the colors and matching the helmet color to the principal jersey color. I know my MS paint skills aren’t that great, so there are a few things that look a bit off (like the hue of the orange). There’s something in this set from each of the five generations of Bronco uniforms.

I did four variations on the socks. Denver2010 is probably a bit too out there. Denver2010a may look too similar to another team’s 75th anniversary throwback attire. I don’t really like Denver2010c, but it’s needed to balance out Denver2010b.

I also took the liberty of changing the helmet logo. The first one I remember is the horse coming through the ‘D’. I thought that was too busy and had the drawback of a horse facing the wrong way on one side of the helmet. When I saw the “amoeba horse” of the 1960s in old pictures, I was horrified – regardless of its eye color. I don’t like all the swooshes on the cyberhorse. So I took the best past element and isolated it. It probably needs work, but the idea could be worth pursuing.

I fully understand if (1) you have other stuff on deck; and (2) this isn’t up to snuff from a craftsmanship standpoint. If you have time to give me feedback, though, that would be great.

That’s gonna do it for today on the NFL tweaks. I’ve got LOTS more in store for you in the coming weeks, so if you sent me something and it’s not in this batch — don’t despair — it’s coming. For anyone else interested in sending in mockups, gimme a shout.

Our man in the street, Jim Vilk (taken at the Kent State/Akron game) brings you his “Top 5″ Best and one WORST college football uni matchup from yesterday:

5. Oklahoma/Nebraska: I miss seeing this every Thanksgiving weekend.

4. Furman/Auburn: Tigers are back, and bringing some snazzy Paladins with them.

3. LSU/Alabama: Best conference with another of the best uni-matchups.

2. Washington/UCLA: Even without the Bruins throwing back, this is a Top-Fiver.

1. Duke/UNC: It’s awesome, baby!

And the worst matchup: Navy/Notre Dame: It’s like going to a dance with your twin – it just ain’t right.

And as a special bonus pick, Jim awards “UW Honorable Mention to” Tulsa/Houston: Now Leon’s not the only one seeing red when it comes to Tulsa unis

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: OK — back to football today. Not sure if you guys like these, but this one may be interesting. You should be able to determine the location and the teams with ease. So it’s just a date and a final score that’s needed. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. Place a link to the answer from pro football reference. And if you want to keep this going through the fall, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line and help a fella out, k? Thanks!

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. Unfortunately, the Ducks winning streak came to a screaching halt yesterday, as they were upset down in Palo Alto by the Cardinal. In their second loss of the season (a possible derailment of their bullet train to the Rose Bowl), one stark fact emerges: White unis=bad. Might be safe to say this is the last time they’ll be outfitted in both white pants and jerseys in 2009. Here’s Your Updated Ducktracker.

You knew the Boys of Benchies liked football and baseball, but today we find they also have an affinity for a non-major sport. They’re up to their usual hilarity and hijinx when one of the Original Six makes an appearance in their hometown. That Mick…he kills me. On that note, Enjoy Your Benchies for today.

Couple last things: Pacific Rim Correspondent Jeremy Brahm reports that even Japan is doing the Olde Tyme Baseball thing — check out that catchers’ mask! … Yesterday, both Oregon/Stanford and USC/ASU featured games where the officials were wearing one blue sleeve (sorry, no screen grabs) — it could best be described as a “long” blue sleeve worn on the right arm, underneath their regular official’s jersey (sort of like Jacoby Ellsbury in reverse). Anyone know what was up with that? … No Legacy Games today in the NFL, but we can all look forward to the Buccaneers busting out Bucco Bruce and the creamsicles in the Battle of the Bays (and that’s the early FOX game).

That’ll do it for today. Everyone have a great Sunday, and don’t forget to cast your vote for the WORST UNIFORM EVER.

The stream of info on Nike’s “rivalry uniforms” program, which was supposed to be all hush-hush, went from a trickle to a full-on projectile vomit yesterday, as Florida State caught everyone (or at least me) off-guard by unveiling the superhero costume they’ll be wearing on November 21st. There’s a very thorough and illustrative photo gallery here, so take a minute to click though it before we go any further.

A few thoughts:

• The thread pattern on the shoulders looks like the experimental Oregon State design that first surfaced back in August. Reminds me of Spirograph art, which would normally be a good thing, except Spirograph art doesn’t really belong on a football uniform.

• If we go back to that Ohio State jersey photo that was making the rounds a few days ago, we can now see the same thread pattern on the shoulders of that jersey. I didn’t initially recognize it as such — thought it was just some sort of textured surface. But now it’s looking like Nike is going to give some of the same design elements to all of the rivalry uniforms. Which means, once again, they’re subsuming the individual team identities into the larger Team Nike concept. Fuckers.

• Interesting to see that the jersey in that FSU slideshow and the one in the Ohio State photo are both No. 55. Anyone know of any underlying significance there?

• The patterned undersleeves are exactly what Phil and Ricko have been proposing lately — a way to restore sleeve graphics to a uniform that no longer has sleeves. It’d be nice if the graphics in this case were something other than a giant feather, but whaddaya gonna do. At least it’s a team-based graphic instead of some sort of Nike branding graphic.

• The way the gloves fit together like a puzzle is cool — except that football players rarely have their hands together, and the individual glove designs don’t look so hot on their own.

• A black helmet? Sure, why not, whatever, knock yourselves out.

• My favorite three words in the promo package: “padded belt loop.”

• High-tech fabric, greater ventilation, lighter weight, higher breathability, moisture wicking Nobody cares.

• You know people are getting tired of Nike’s antics when a mainstream newspaper like The Orlando Sentinel responds to the new uniform by publishing something like this. Sample line: “There’s this thing down the side of the pants. You’ll see. Kind of looks like a horse tail.” Read the whole thing and then get me the writer’s phone number so I can ask him to fill in for me a few times a week.

And so on. Personally, I find it difficult to take this stuff very seriously — it’s not the worst uniform in the world, but I’m here to watch a football game, not the Batman. More importantly, FSU already has one of the best uniforms in the game — why mess with that? Oh, right: Because you can.

And here’s a scary thought to ponder: Buried within this promo sheet are the words “system of dress for football.” Grreeeeeaaaaaat.

Raffle Reminder: I’m currently raffling off three cool posters. Details here

Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out Babe Ruth wearing a special uniform from a 1934 tour of Japan. Further info here (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Here’s a cool sheet running down all the Penguins’ skate details (with thanks to Dane Drutis). … I can’t believe it took a federal court case to determine that it’s OK to making paintings of football players. … Totally ingenious art project, which ties into issues of value, authentic-vs.-copy, etc., described here. … Awesome photo of Dean Meminger and Gary Brell wearing Marquette’s 1970-71 striped warm-ups. And the patch is for Apollo 11! … The Phils may have lost the Series, but they definitely have a more interesting assortment of facial hair than the Yanks will ever have (nice find by Nathan Haas). … We’ve all seen plenty of photos from old-style “base ball” games played by 19th-century rules. But Justin Lafferty recently attended one that had an extra twist, because the participants included Jeff Kent, Steve Finley (dig the botto end of the bat!), Blue Moon Odom, Spaceman Lee, Vida Blue, Gaylord Perry, and Rollie Fingers. You can see the rest of his photos from the game here. … UCLA will be wearing throwbacks tomorrow. … Good question from Cliff Murphy, who asks: Which team or league was the first to have its players wear championship T-shirts, caps, etc.? Or to put it another way, who’s to blame for this idiotic tradition? … Look, soccer without sponsors! “Normally Liverpool is sponsored by Carlsburg beer and Lyon by an online gambling site,” explains Coachie Ballgames. “However, French law bans alcohol ads and online gambling, so the net result was soccer played the way it should look, without ads.” … The Blazers will be wearing their Rip City alternates tonight. … And the Bucs will be wearing their creamsicles on Sunday. … The Rockets’ red alternate uni will make its debut tonight. That uniform and other Houston alternates are discussed in this article. … According to Greg Riffenburgh, this photo shows Michael Vick wearing the Air Zoom Vick II cleat from 2004. “That means he either has some left over, or Nike revived them for him (I’ll be they’re stockpiled),” says Greg. “Vick’s signature shoes haven’t been seen on the field in years (obviously) so I’m curious to see if he’ll be wearing any other versions of his old signature shoes in the near future.”

By Phil Hecken and James Huening

The long awaited “Worst. Uni. Ever.” nominees were submitted (both in last weeks comments as well as dozens of e-mails) and now, James is ready to bring you your selections in a knock-down, drag-out poll format. After receiving literally hundreds of nominees (many of them the “usual suspects” but some we never expected), James has devised the following poll, the link to which appears below. We’ve broken them down into nine categories, the winners of which will “face-off” shortly thereafter in a cage death match to find the absolute worst of the worst, as voted by you. Sounds complicated? Not really.

Simply read James’ descriptions and the pictures of your worst uniform nominees below, as broken down by category. We’ll take the top vote-getters in each category and have them all go up against one another. So with that, lets take a look at each of the nine categories, followed by the poll. James takes it from here:

1. First up we have the Cleveland Indians and their solid red uniforms that were worn from 1974 to 1977.

2. Next are the Houston Astros‘ beloved “Tequila Sunrise” uniforms.

3. This one’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser: the New York Yankees’ venerable pinstripes.

4. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ original unis.

5. The 1997-2000 Anaheim Angels.

6. Finally, the 1978 San Diego Padres.

1. Our first contestant is the Buffalo Bills.

2. Joining them are the Cincinnati Bengals.

3. We go back to the dawn of the AFL for our next nominees, the original Denver Broncos uniforms, which have been on display this season as throwbacks.

4. And of course, we have the Seattle Seahawks and their new alternates.

1. Starting with the Atlanta Hawks’ 1995-99 uniforms.

2. Staying in the mid-to-late-90s, we have the Cleveland Cavaliers

3. The Detroit Pistons

4. The Houston Rockets

5. The early 90s and the Philadelphia 76ers are not to be forgotten.

6. We’ll head back to the mid/late 90s for the NBA’s two Canadian Representatives: the Toronto Raptors

7. And Vancouver Grizzlies

8. This decade is not completely off the hook, as you can see from the Washington Wizards’ recently-retired alternates.

1. We start with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and their whimsical “Wild Wing” alternate.

2. Staying in California, but going back farther in time, the California Golden Seals had a look that seemed as though it was inspired by UCLA football.

3. Moving to the present day, we have the Atlanta Thrashers alternate.

4. Back to California for the Los Angeles Kings and their “Burger King” jersey.

5. The Nashville Predators and their mustard-colored alternate that was worn from 2001 to 2007 are up next.

6. Next, let’s see the New York Islanders and the “Gorton’s Fisherman” jersey.

7. Back down south for the Tampa Bay Lightning and their 1996-99 alternate.

8. Our only Canadian nominee in this category is the “Flying V” of the Vancouver Canucks.

9. And rounding out this category, the Phoenix Coyotes alternate some refer to as the “Picasso” sweater.

1. We’ll lead things off with the Baltimore Orioles and the orange jerseys and pants they wore for two games in 1971.

2. Joining them are the Chicago White Sox “short pajamas” that were worn in 1976. Nobody really seems to be able to agree on how many times they were worn. Most accounts have them being mothballed after a single wearing, but some say they were worn as many as four times.

3. Next up, the New York Mets and their “Mercury Mets” outfit that was worn as part of the Turn Ahead The Clock promotion in 1999.

4. The Philadelphia Phillies gave us the “Saturday Night Specials” for one game in 1979.

5. The only non-baseball nominee in this category is the Dallas Mavericks “trash bag” alternate uniform worn for a single game in 2004.

1. Starting with the American Defenders of New Hampshire whose regular uniforms feature a camouflage motif.

2. The El Paso Diablos wore yellow, pinstriped uniforms with red pillbox caps in the early 1980s.

3. Our final nominee here is the 1980 Tuscon Toros According to an account I read, the back of the jersey was turquoise.

1. First, we’ll have a look BYU football’s 1999 redesign

2. Next up, we have Florida A&M football

3. Turning to basketball, NC State’s “leotard” experiment makes an appearance.

4. It wouldn’t be a worst uni poll without Oregon football’s “diamondplate” mix & match set.

5. We’ll close out this category with a pair of football teams dressed from head to toe (or head to knee, at least) in orange: Syracuse

6. And UTEP.

1. First, we have the Caribous of Colorado from the NASL. Their innovative jerseys featured fringe.

2. The early days of MLS gave us the Kansas City Wiz (who later became the Wizards).

3. Our third and final soccer nominee is Team USA for their 1994 World Cup unis.

1. From the CFL’s south-of-the-border expansion days are the Memphis Mad Dogs.

2. The Orlando Rage represent Vince McMahon’s XFL.

3. And we’ll wrap things up with another nominee from Orlando, the 1991-92 Orlando Thunder.

On to the poll then: GO HERE FOR THE WORST UNIFORM EVER NOMINATIONS POLL.

Thanks again to James Huening for working on this and for coming up with the poll format. We’ll keep the nomination poll open for a week, and have the “playoffs” for the worst ever uni shortly after that. Thanks in advance for your participation!!!

5. Texas/Oklahoma State — A real orange bowl, eh?

4. Tulane/LSU — Green Wave a little too green, but that light blue redeems them.

3. Temple/Navy — A wise old owl didn’t need to tell me to add this to the list.

2. UCLA/Oregon State — My color palette special of the day.

1. Ole Miss/Auburn — Nothing scary about this Halloween matchup at all.

And the worst matchup of the day: San Jose State/Boise State– At least the field looked nice…

More Mongo

Still More Mongo

Remember, Mongo only pawn in game of life.

Happy Halloween matchups.

5. Miami, Fla./Wake Forest

4. Cincinnati/Syracuse

3. Grambling…uh, I mean Georgia/Florida

2. S. Carolina/Tennessee

1. Coastal Carolina/Clemson

Spooky…thanks, Jim.

Good stuff there. Thanks to Jim & Rick & James & Mike and everyone else along the way. Don’t forget to vote for the WORST UNI EVER nominees. You can even post your guesses as to who you think the nine finalists will be in the comments, if you want.

And for all you uniform designers, and wanna-be designers, if you missed yesterday’s column, be sure to check it out — a chance for you to design a baseball uniform, logo and cap!

One legacy game today: Titans (Jets) versus Dolphins — should be cool to see the fish in something other than dropshadow for a change — you’ll be reminded how good they once looked, and could look again, if they wanted to make that look permanent. Game IV of the World Series tonight. Don’t forget to push your clocks back, if you haven’t already! That extra hour of sleep is so awesome, no? Of course it is.

Everyone have a great Sunday!

A few days ago I reported on some inconsistencies in Michigan’s NOBs. Now reader Michael Kinney, after watching last night’s West Virginny/Colorado tilt, has spotted some similar issues with the Mountaineers. Let’s take a look at the problematic players:

• Julian Miller: There’s another Miller on the roster — Pat — so it makes sense that Julian would have a first initial. But why does he have his first two letters, instead of just one?

• Geno Smith: WVA has three Smiths — Geno, Lawrence, and Eain. What’s not clear is (a) why Geno’s NOB starts with “Eu,” or (b) why the second letter is a small cap.

• J.T. Thomas: There is only one Thomas on the roster — so why does his nameplate look like this? And does it count as FNOB if his first name consists of initials?

I don’t know what’s wrong with these teams. Then again, gratuitous use of first initials isn’t limited to the gridiron.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Non-uni quiz: What do you think this is a collection of? Answer at the bottom of the Ticker. … Did Bronson Arroyo have pine tar on his cap the other day? … Speaking of Reds pitchers’ headwear, the elite fraternity of MLB players who’ve worn the S100 helmet increased by 20% yesterday, as Micah Owings went full Gazoo during a 3rd inning at-bat. Details here (with thanks to C. Trent Rosencrans). … New basketball uniforms for for Iowa State and Colorado State (with thanks to Kyle Adema and Alex Lind, respectively). … If you watch this NHL clip, you’ll see that the Swedish goalie’s NOB is covered with tape (as spotted by Denis Kirstein). … Just when you thought there was nothing left to bet on, a casino is giving odds on whether a punt hits the Cowboys scoreboard this season. … Hey, check it out, the Bengals have a helmet cart. “It’s apparently only used to bring Who Dey the mascot onto the field,” says Dan O’Connor. “Injured players are carted off on regular carts.” … Lots of awesome vintage baseball-themed snapshots available in this slideshow. … Daniel Wolf notes that Francisco Cervelli is the latest Yankees catcher to bat bare-handed. … The Cleveland Browns photo archives apparently features some unusual material (nice one, Vince). … Here’s an interesting video on how to recondition a helmet (with thanks to Ryan Perkins). … “I’m Ted fucking Williams!” That 1974 photo was taken at Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina. It’s from a great photo archive devoted to a North Carolina photographer named Hugh Morton, who Chris Warfford recently brought to my attention. The archive’s sports-oriented shots, many of them outstanding, are here. … “You seen this fighter Abner Mares?” asks John Darnielle. “His ring-entrance garb is seriously goth’d out in an actual menacing sort of way to my eyes. White bandanna with a skullprint on it wrapped over the low half of his face, bandit-style — awesome. And the robe he shed after entering was white. Real angel-of-death schtick.” … Alexander Giobbi made himself a DIY jersey for his dodgeball team. “Let me tell you,” he says, “it is hard to draw or write on a T-shirt, especially when it’s wrinkled.” … I’m still calling it a freakin’ football field. … Oooh, check out this basketball-themed bowl of pasta (big thanks to my pal Friederike Paetzold). … “Joe Beimel wore this robe during the Rockies’ post-game celebration,” says John Romero. “Crappy pic, but you get the idea.” … Has it ever occurred to you that hockey pants are kinda like lederhosen? Right, me neither, but look! Wow (big thanks to Brian Schick). … Here’s an interesting way the Mets could boost their power totals without changing the outfield fence. Details here. … The Seahawks’ neon-snot jerseys continue to wreak havoc, this time in Indy, where the Colts have been prepping for Sunday’s game against Seattle by watching last week’s game film (with thanks to Gary Moore). … The Avs retired Joe Sakic’s number last night. They did the usual thing where everyone wore “Sakic 19″ jerseys during pregame warm-ups, except the jerseys also had the players’ own NOBs, in addition to Sakic’s — has that been done before? Also, the pregame Sakic jerseys had a patch on the left side, but the game jerseys had the same patch on the right side. Closer look at the patch here. … The Flames opened the season in their new alts. Note the straight hem — no Edge scoop-hem! … Quiz answer: It’s a collection of dryer lint (which is surprising), displayed as part of an exhibit at the Philadelphia Airport (which is fucking incredible!).

Got a note the other day from reader Aaron Rich, who’s identified a troubling lack of NOB consistency in Ann Arbor. I’ll let him explain:

As you might know, Michigan football has a freshman QB, Tate Forcier. He’s the younger brother of Jason Forcier, who was once a third-string QB on the team (about five years ago or so) and then transferred to Stanford. When Tate started practicing in the spring, there was a thought that Jason would transfer back to Michigan and both brothers would be on the team at the same time. This never happened, but Tate still wears a ‘T. Forcier’ nameplate, as if Jason were on the team.

Meanwhile, we have Kevin Grady at FB and his brother Kelvin Grady at WR (who had been on the basketball team last year and then moved to football this summer). They’re both K. Grady — in fact, they’re both Ke. Grady — but they both wear just ‘Grady,’ even though they’re sometimes on the field at the same time. I sorta wish they did FNOB, which I love, or else ‘Kel. Grady’ and ‘Kev. Grady,’ but alas, they just wear their surname.

Finally, we have Stevie Brown at LB and Carlos Brown at RB. Carlos’s NOB is just ‘Brown,’ while Stevie wears ‘S. Brown’ — weird.

I’m surprised this would happen at Michigan, where they take the home uniforms so seriously.

I think we can all agree that if the Wolverines can’t maintain a consistent NOB protocol, they should be demoted to D-II (or else forced to go NNOB). Big thanks to Aaron for his eagle eye and helpful background info.

Follow-Up Roundup: In case you missed it yesterday, Uni Watch has a new e-mail address: uniwatching at gmail dot com. Please update everything that needs to be updated. Thanks.

Also, if you read yesterday’s blog entry prior to 1pm, you may have missed the link to some NFL uni news I posted yesterday on Page 2. Go here and scroll down to the lower-left corner.

Note for Discerning NYCers: Scott M.X. Turner’s band, RebelMart, is playing this Friday night at Freddy’s. Be a smart lad and show up, won’tcha?

Uni Watch News Ticker: Speaking of NOBs, I’ve been waiting for someone to provide a good screen shot of Pierre Garçon’s nameplate, complete with the cedilla, and Andrew Enright is the one who came through. It’s tough to be sure, but it looks to me like they took a regular “C,” positioned it at a slight superscript, and then sewed on an extra loop of fabric to form the cedilla. Major props to the Indy equipment staff for going the extra mile. … That noise you just heard was half the readership saying, “So maybe now they can sew some extra fabric on the shoulders to complete the truncated loops already?!” … Contribution of the day goes to Art Florio, who spotted this pair at Sunday’s Jets/Titans game. … Oooh, check out this awesome old Rawlings ad (with thanks to Jim Ransdell). … I don’t have Showtime, so I’ve been wondering what that AFL Full Color show looks like. Fortunately, Mako Mameli was nice enough to make a bunch of screen grabs. … Best minute and a half you’ll spend today: this short video showing the 11 worst helmets in Maple Leafs history. Don’t miss (big, big thanks to Jeff Barak). … Awesome Venn diagram here (with thanks to David Brown). … Third-to-last graf on this page includes some Nuggets uni number news (with thanks to Ryan Hess). … Late-breaking NFL uni change that we all missed: The Jags’ road captaincy patches are now teal (same as on the home jerseys). Last year they were black (good catch by Jonathon Binet). … Very cool home movie footage of the 1957 Michigan/Indiana game here (nice find by Ethan Crooks). … Good analysis on the difference between Umbro on-fields vs. retail authentics here (with thanks to Nolan Reagan). … The Blue Jackets will apparently have a new alternate jersey next year (thanks, Teebz). … Arkansas wears this road jersey these days, but Rudell Crim wore this design. “The Hogs wore both styles last year,” notes Lance Perrin. … An FNOB jersey I’d never seen before is available here (with thanks to Nick Hanson). … You know autumn has arrived when we have our first Mr. Met-O-Lantern sighting of the season (with thanks to Terence Kearns). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Holy shit. That’s Florida, wearing the Confederate flag against Penn State in the 1962 Gator Bowl. Thoroughly depressing details here (screen shot courtesy of Larry Bodnovich). … Plan B Branding, which has done lots of uni design work over the years, has a blog called the Clink Room, where they discuss ideas, share concepts and failed experiments, and so on. Now they’ve unveiled a piece of Clink Room merch: a stupid-expensive cap. … Awesome-looking Campbell’s Kids baseball catalog here. … Speaking of catalogs, there are some killer uni catalogs up on eBay at the moment. Even if you don’t want to own them, the graphics shown on the auction pages are pure gold. Dig: Spalding 1913, Reach 1913, Spalding 1916, Rawlings 1929, Spalding 1939, Wilson 1940 (whoa, check out that color center spread!), Spalding 1961, Rawlings 1963, and Louisville Slugger 1972. … No more stadium patch for the Cowboys, so that was apparently just a one-game thing (as noted by Brinke Guthrie). … Nice look at the Pistons’ “Mr. D.” memorial tribute to Bill Davidson here. That will be a permanent memorial, by the way — the first such gesture in NBA history (with thanks to Jeff Cohen). … The 2010 Mets uni info buried in the middle of this report is accurate. The related but slightly different report that ran in yesterday’s N.Y. Post is NOT accurate.

Bruce Menard recently informed me that the folks at Heritage Auction Galleries have a ton of good stuff in their current auction catalog. Here’s a sampling:

• According to the auction listing, Robin Roberts wore this throwback replica while throwing out the first pitch at the 1976 All-Star Game. I’ve never heard about this before. Anyone know more?

• Totally digging the typography on this 1929 World Series program cover. And dig that little bear!

• And speaking of World Series programs, here’s a doozy.

• Here’s a rarity: A Pro Bowl helmet from the days when the players wore conference-specific headgear.

• Love all the quote-marked nicknames in this poster.

• I’m always a sucker for these college all-star uniforms. Rare to see one that includes the pants and the helmet. And man, those “4″s!

• Oh man, check out these killer Giants programs. Interesting uni note: Check out the shin of the Jints player in the lower-right illo — looks like he has a pad under his sock.

• Oh, for the days when the Bears played a beer-sponsored team.

• When I was at the National in Cleveland a few months ago, one of the most drool-inducing items I saw was this Tulsa Oilers hockey jersey. Here it is, up for auction.

• Never seen anything like this Ottawa Senators jacket or this Blackhawks jacket.

• Also new to me: This amazing Red Wings cardigan, with a white version to boot. Looks like they have the American flag facing the wrong way on the left sleeve, though.

• Remember the barber pole design that the Blackhawks wore in the Winter Classic? Here’s the original. But I think I like this design even better.

• If you’ve been wondering what to get me for my half-birthday (coming up next Monday, don’tcha know), this jacket wouldn’t be a bad place to start.

• Worst hockey jersey ever? Eh, close enough.

• Best hockey program cover ever? Eh, close enough.

• Lots of great ticket stubs on offer, including tix from the 1971 World Series, the ’51 Series, the ’57 Series, the 1962 Mets home opener, and more.

• Gorgeous hockey officiating sweaters here and here

• Not sure what this has to do with sports, but it sure is purty.

Want to see more? You can download the auction catalog as a PDF here.

And look, there are still a few hairs I haven’t pulled out: My Earthlink e-mail finally appears to be behaving, so forget about the alternate address I’ve been using for the past few days and go back to my usual addresses. And please keep your fingers crossed.

About Time: Big congrats to Jerry Dior, who’s finally been recognized as the designer of the MLB logo. He’ll be honored on the field at Yankee Stadium today and at Shea on Friday. I’ve written about Jerry several times (to see those columns, look here and here) and have always been impressed by what a gentleman he is — a class act all the way. I’m glad he’s finally gotten the recognition he deserves.

Research Reminder: My thanks to everyone who contributed thoughts, anecdotes, and historical notes regarding football gloves yesterday. If you have anything to contribute that would help document the history and culture of this largely overlooked uni element, don’t be shy.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Hadn’t noticed until now that Wisconsin is using those rounded-corner nameplates. Good view of them in the next-to-last photo in this gallery (as spotted by Ben Simon). … According to the fourth graf of this story, the Predators’ new alt jersey includes “a dark checkerboard pattern that can only be seen at close range” (with thanks to Nick Church). … You may know that Chad Ochocinco wore gold shoes and gold gloves on Sunday, but did you know he also had two fingers taped together? Never seen a receiver do that before. Anyone have any insights? (As spotted by Bob Wilzbach.) … Lenny Dykstra, financial genius. … A freelance designer is suing NYU for allegedly stealing her logo design. … Now that’s a helmet (with thanks to David Cline). … New Irish national rugby kit (with thanks to Joe Alvernaz). … Colorado will be wearing 1937 throwbacks this weekend. Additional info here, and there’s a photo gallery here. … Dave Forbes notes that Jeff Garcia previously wore No. 7 with the Eagles but will have to take a different number in Philly this time around because Michael Vick is now wearing No. 7. … Corey Zoldan reports that the following note appeared in the U. of Maryland school paper: “The [baseball] team will be ditching its red and yellow jerseys in favor of pinstripes, because [coach] Bakich wants to be able to sell future recruits on the opportunity to ‘play in the Terrapin pinstripes.’” Uh, right. … What’s worse than an Argentine soccer team with Walmart-sponsored jerseys? An Argentine soccer team with Walmart-sponsored socks, which must surely qualify as a new low for civilization (with thanks to Dario Moretti, writing all the way from South America). … We’ve talked several times over the years about the ribbed seams found on some Bears’ linemen’s shoulder areas. Now Aaron Schlesinger notes that the Eagles appear to be doing something similar. … Hey look, it’s minor league hockey. And the refs are wearing those stupid orange sleeve stripes that debuted during last season’s all-star game. … Good article about Vanderbilt’s merit decals here (with thanks to Lee Wilds). … Last week’s New Yorker featured two cartoons — appearing on facing pages! — that were very Ticker-worthy.

Highest Recommendation: I have a good friend — let’s call him Jim — who I’ve known for over a decade. Jim is a trained engineer and an experienced manager who’s particularly strong on strategy, marketing, product development, and finance. I’ve never met Jim’s parents, but they sure must have raised him right, because Jim is — and I’m not exaggerating here — the nicest, most congenial, most stand-up guy I’ve ever known. Really. In other words, he’s as much of an asset in the clubhouse as his is on the field.

Jim is currently between jobs. I can say with absolute certainty that he’d be a major plus for any company. If you’d like to see his résumé and some position papers he’s written, please get in touch and I’ll send them to you. Thanks.

Alright, our first full-on football weekend of the season. Here’s what caught my eye:

• The Golden Gophers lived up to their name for their first game in their new stadium on Saturday — yikes. And here’s an interesting conspiracy theory from Chris Lampling: See how the jerseys developed orange-streaked sweat stains? Looks a lot like a TCF check card — and the new stadium is called TCF Bank Stadium. Coincidence or stealth branding?

• At least Minnesota had a vague name-based reason for their stupid-ass solid-colored uniforms. What was Western Kentucky’s excuse?

• Lots of NFL teams wore white at home yesterday, including the Panthers, Bengals, Texans, Ravens, Saints, and Bucs. For what it’s worth, those teams went 2-4.

• The Jets are wearing a 50th-season patch after all (they hadn’t worn it during the preseason). As a result, they’re not wearing captaincy patches.

• Speaking of captains’ patches, I believe you-know-who is the first player to wear the “C” for three different teams.

• Still more on captaincy patches: They make a bad design look even worse.

• Lots of players seem to be wearing this new helmet design that looks fairly ProCap-ish.

• Ouch.

• Not often that you see a kicker wearing gloves. Upon further review, it turns out Jay Feely has done this before — on kickoffs, too — but I hadn’t noticed. Do any other kickers wear gloves?

• Look, if a guy has to wear a knee brace, then he has to wear a knee brace. But sometimes it really looks like shit.

• And sometimes it really, really looks like shit.

• Good to see Al Harris and Devon Hester both up to their old tricks.

• Is that a new logo on the Gatorade towels?

And there you have it — Week 1, in the books. And now, before we get to the Ticker, a few small announcements:

Stirrup Club Reminder: Robert Marshall is now taking orders for a new round of stirrups. Details here.

E-Mail Reminder: My Earthlink account — which is on the verge of becoming an ex-Earthlink account — is still very spotty. For now, the best way to contact me is at beerframeguy [at] yahoo.com. (And if you sent me awesome Ticker material that I’m not using, it’s almost certainly because I never received it and not even a little bit because I didn’t think it was as awesome as you did, or because I wasn’t in the mood to plow through a few dozen Ticker contributions, or because I thought your observation was a bit arcane even by Uni Watch standards. Nope, no chance of any of those at all.)

Attention Jordan Cutler: Tried to write to you but my e-mails keep bouncing back (which I think is actually due to problems with your e-mail account, not mine), so I’ll say it here: I got the package — thanks so much! You da man and all that.

And speaking of people are who da man…: Let’s hear it for Phil, who kicked some serious Uni Watch ass over the weekend, am I right?

OK, now then…

Uni Watch News Ticker: Lots of great new pin-up illos from Rob Ullman (and yes, if you’ve ordered a commission from him, he’s working on it — busy fella!). I’m particularly fond of this one. … The Winter Classic jerseys will look like this and this. Both perfectly nice, but not the huge blast from the past that we’ve seen in other Winter Classics. … “Coincidence, or long-term parental planning?” asks Les Holmlund. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: arguably the Shorpy’s finest moment. … Hilarious scene at the Angry Samoans merch table on Saturday night, because the band is still pulling the old punk rock move of buying up used T-shirts at Goodwill for 25¢ (or whatever), screen-printing the band name onto them, and selling them for $5 — very cool. That baseball tee was swell, but the best sports-related design was this one (underneath the photo, it said, “1962 Green Bay Packers, Greatest Football Team Ever”), which I totally would’ve bought if it had been my size. There was also this one, which I couldn’t decide if I loved or hated. Best one of the batch was worn onstage by Metal Mike. … Good video of the Penn State shoes getting polished — to the strains of Kiss! — here (with thanks to Gerry Dincher). … We’ve had several discussions over the years about pre-Nazi uses of swastikas on uniforms, and now Bruce Menard has found one I hadn’t seen before. That’s Rabbit Maranville, circa 1915, and Bruce says the cap was worn to commemorate the sinking of the Lusitania. I know the swastika has a lengthy pre-Nazy history, so let’s not rehash all of that, but I didn’t know about this Lusitania connection. Anyone know more? … Kudos to Santa Clara High, whose football team wears these socks (with thanks to Don D.). … New York Mets baseball and steaks, chops, and wings, these are a few of my favorite things. … Fresno State is wearing black nose bumpers with “D.B.” initials. “It’s for the late much appreciated Dan Brown, their defensive coordinator from last year, who died of cancer during the off season,” says Jake Moorhead. “Also, his son Travis Brown is a freshmen linebacker on the team and is being allowed to wear number 9 (the retired number of Kevin Sweeney).” … Daniel Listoe was poking around the SI archives and found something from the 12/14/81 issue: a critique of football helmet logos. To read it, go to page 8 here. … New goalie gear for Henrik Lundqvist (with thanks to Matt Harris), and a new mask design for Semyon Varlamov. … Love this mid-’70s design from Texas A&M. And check out the up-back in a four-point stance! (Big thanks to Clayton Weber.) … FNOB alert from 19 years ago (nice find by Matt Ryburn). … Unfortunate byproduct of the new CHL uni changes: Because all teams are using the Edge template, the Ottawa 67’s had to scrap their longtime barber pole design. Instead, they’re going with this (as noted by Jeff Baker). … New men’s and women’s hockey jerseys for North Dakota. Lots of additional pics here. Note the the unusual uni number placement for the ladies (with thanks to Brad Reissig). … Check this out: pancakes crossed with Alpha-bits! Here’s how to do it (thanks, Kirsten!). … Mark Kluczynski notes that the CFO patch being worn by college football officials is bigger this year than last year. … Couldn’t happen to a nicer diva. … Bit of a buttoning problem for the guy in the back row, second from the right (as spotted by Brinke Guthrie’s wife). … Live by douchebag branding, die by douchebag branding. … Steve Mandich has put together a cool Ichiro tribute page, including tons of good uni pics. … Meanwhile, Steve’s wife Eliza Truitt has a tote bag blog (why not, right?), which is currently featuring this. … Here’s a new one: The Predators’ third jersey was sort of unveiled, sort of leaked, when Taylor Swift wore it onstage. … According to a post on the Chris Creamer board, there are rumors a-flyin’ about Michigan possibly wearing white pants on October 10th at Iowa. If so, it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve worn white pants on the road. … “Besides having the longest losing streak in Div-I football (29 and counting), Indiana State also has inconsistent uniform number typefaces,” says Orion Buckingham. To see what he means, look for Nos. 18, 26, and 95 in these photos. … Here’s a different kind of DIY (with thanks to Jeff Ash). … His future looks, uh, bright. … Why weren’t these losers home watching football where they belonged? But they’re right about one thing: There’s nothing worse than seeing our precious national identity being watered down by foreign influence. … Special Uni Watch feliz cumpleaños wishes to Cooperstown deputy mayor Jeff Katz — hope you get everything you wish for when you blow and the candles, buddy. … The Basketball Diarist has died, died. RIP, brother.

by Phil Hecken and Jim Vilk

Once again, Jim Vilk has joined me to take us through a look at what is not necessarily an obscure sport (it is, after all, college football), but a division of NC2A football that doesn’t necessarily get a lot of play, at least on TV or the UW boards. Division II football may not get the headlines like Penn State, USC, Florida or Notre Dame, but they still play football at these schools. It’s really great, they’ve got uniforms and everything.

Here’s Jim:

“You say college football begins this weekend. I say, where have you been? You’re a week late to the party.”

Join us, at least for this article, in a world where things are not as they seem – where Cleveland is in Mississippi, where Pittsburg has no “h” and is in Kansas, where California and Indiana are in Pennsylvania, where the season starts in August and ends in December. This is the world of Division II football.

Why Division II? Well, for one thing, we’ve all seen, heard or discussed the uniforms of the major schools by now, or we will very soon. Today, we’d like to show you how the schools on the proverbial “other side of the tracks” dress their players. Also, we’d like to showcase a little slice of college football that still has that old college feel to it – smaller, intimate venues, players that mostly play for the love of the game (although a number of D-II players have gone on to have prosperous careers in professional football), a name that still rolls off the tongue, as opposed to “Football Bowl Subdivision” and “Football Championship Subdivision.” Jim’s still calling them “Division I-A” and “Division I-AA.” Jim still likes that it’s called “Division II,” although it wouldn’t surprise him if the eggheads in the NC2A eventually call it the “Football Championship Subdivision Second Stratum,” or something equally goofy.

Anyway, since the D-II season started last week, Jim has some current pictures of some teams. With the others he was able to find shots from last season. Apparently the smaller schools don’t make as big of a deal on their web sites when tweaking their unis, but we’ll make do. We decided not to rank them by looks, although we will comment upon them. Rather, Jim is just going to show you the top ten teams in the American Football Coaches Association preseason poll. He’ll comment on the unis a bit, I’ll comment after that, but mostly we leave the judging up to you. Here we go…

1. Grand Valley State: This school in Allendale, Michigan boasts a team that is riding a 43-game regular-season unbeaten streak. The Lakers lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Minnesota-Duluth last season, but they won it all in 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006. They’ve gone for the bruiser look with basic black and blue uniforms.

JV: I like the color combo enough that the plain black pants on the home and away unis don’t bother me. I also don’t mind the jersey side stripe that goes from the armpits to the waist. The helmet logo being obscured by the ends of the chinstraps, though, is a problem for me. That’s a common occurrence these days, but they seem to be the worst offenders on this list. Overall, I like the look.

PH: I will concede I know nothing of the official colors of any of these schools, so I can’t rail against this uniform from the standpoint of it being BFBS. And I will agree with Jim that black and royal can be a decent combination. This uniform though, is typical of what I personally dislike about many of today’s unis: unnecessary jersey piping and striping. And an all-black combo? Um, no. Ditch the monochrome look or at least add some striping on the pants, please.

2. Northwest Missouri State: Although the Bearcats have won titles in 1998 and 1999, they have been runners-up in the last four championship games. While they might be trying to get leaner and meaner this year, they can’t get much greener. They opened on the road with green helmets, plain green pants and white jerseys. Last year they had all-green and all-white unis with contrasting side stripes and green helmets. The side stripes were too much – on the whites they started at mid-shoulder, went under the armpits and faded out above the knees. On the greens, there was one stripe that started at the base of a shoulder, went below the armpit, snaked underneath the rear jersey number and went up to the base of the other shoulder.

JV: If I had to choose between the two I’d take the green unis, probably because I liked the number font so much on those. Keep trying, Bearcats. You may finally bring another title to Maryville this year, but your uniforms fall a little short of championship caliber.

PH: Oh no…just, no. Were these guys one of the “models” for the Jaguars new look? God I hate that “stripe” that runs around the back of the jersey. And what’s with the truncated pants stripe on last year’s white pants? Ugh. Too bad too that they ascribe to the monochrome look — I really like the green and white as colors, but for the love of God, don’t wear the all green. In fact, don’t wear green pants at all, but if you do, you need stripage somewhere.

3. University of Minnesota-Duluth: The defending national champions look pretty old-school classic in their maroon and white home uniforms.

JV: I’d design a different helmet logo, but it’s not that bad. The road unis, on the other hand … where did the black extended armpit come from, anyway? The Bulldogs seem a little schizophrenic with their classic and trendy looks, but overall they’re winners.

PH: Now you’re thinkin’ with your dipstick, Jimmy. THIS is a uniform (excluding that roadie with the pit stripes and jersey panels) I really like (the maroon over white). Unfortunately, it’s the lone exception in a sea of “new and hip/trendy templates” we’ve seen and will see more of below. Nice to see Nike making a classic uniform — you may say it’s boring, but I say it’s just right. I’ll agree with Jim that maybe the helmet logo could use a tweak or two, but I’m not gonna complain. Replicate that look for the white jersey and this one is pure win.

4. Delta State: There’s no championship curse in Cleveland. Well, not in Cleveland, Mississippi, anyway. The Statesmen won the 2000 national title and they’re hoping to contend for another one this year. Uni-wise, there’s not a lot to talk about here – they’re pretty basic with green helmets, an all-green look at home and an all-white uni with green side stripes on the road.

JV: Classy and understated like the official mascot. The unofficial mascot, the Fighting Okra, is another story. That’s one mean veggie standing next to Mr. Statesman.

PH: Well, I have basically the same problems with Delta State as I did with NW Mo. State. Monochrome, particularly in dark colors, just is NOT a good look. The white roadie is much better, although, there we go with the side panels again. Lose those and that all white look is nice! Since Russell makes (or made) these unis, I can’t even go blaming the swoosh or three stripes for the side panel madness — it seems everyone is in on it. And while I will concede that if the side panel is the only “new school” element on the uniform, it’s certainly something I can live with, if not accept. Great helmet for Delta too. But what’s up with the Fighting Okra? Do they really need two mascots?

5. Abilene Christian: The Wildcats from Abilene, Texas are the first of two consecutive purple teams, so those with an aversion to said color can skip ahead to number 7. ACU ran into a little trouble with the NCAA and had to vacate their wins from the 2007 season. This makes the school’s first official playoff victory last season’s 93-68 drubbing of West Texas A&M. The following week the Wildcats were eliminated by eventual runner-up Northwest Missouri State.

JV: I like their look, but there’s one oddity I’ve never seen. The little stripe that runs from the collar to the pits is fine, but then it expands into a diamond shape on the side of the jersey. You can see it on the purple and white unis. Normally, I don’t like pants stripes that don’t go all the way up the legs, but these stripes that start at the knee and fade out at the upper thigh don’t look too bad. The sleeves have the same interlocking ACU logo from the helmet. You can see these on this shot of the all-white unis. As far as newer designs go, this is one I can handle. Good job.

PH: And yet, as far as newer designs go, this is the sort of stuff I detest. But hey, I guess I shouldn’t get my pants in a bundle, they are Div II — and the unis scream that loud and clear. I have no problems with the color purple (so long as they don’t ever do this). Unfortunately, the very problem I have with the Vikings’ uniforms is the same problem I have with these — the superfluous piping and non-linear striping. I guess this is the hip new direction of uniform design. May it soon go the way of the dodo.

6. North Alabama: Quick, name a Divison II football coach … We’re waiting … Actually, it’s not as hard as you think. Terry Bowden has left the TV studio and returned to the coaching ranks for the first time since 1998. The former Auburn Tiger coach is now leading a different group of cats. The Lions, from Florence, Alabama, are hoping Bowden takes them all the way to … Florence, Alabama. The D-II championship has been played at UNA’s Braly Municipal Stadium since 1986, and the Lions won titles there in 1993, 1994 and 1995. They are the only team to win three straight D-II championships. Last year they made it to the semifinals, losing to Northwest Missouri State.

JV: North Alabama looks a lot like Abilene Christian, but slightly better in my opinion. They have the same funky diamond thing on the side, shown in this shot of the purple jerseys, but the TV numbers are on the sleeves. I like the old-school look of sleeve numbers, so home or away, I really like this uniform.

PH: I know we’re seeing a pattern amongst these schools, so I’ll try not to hate on every single design that features the piping and striping, but this may be the worst of the bunch. Monochrome purple, for at least one combination, pushes them to the bottom. Even old school numbers (why bother) can’t save this mess. The white get up is actually good looking in comparison — and that’s not saying much. They suffer, as do many Div II schools, from what Ricko and I term “one too many bumpersticker syndrome.” Fail.

7. Pittsburg State: No, Toto, we’re not in Pennsylvania; we’re in Kansas. No “h” at the end of this burg. Holy Dan Marino! Is that a script Pitt we see?! It is! At least someone respects a cool helmet logo, even if it’s not the exact same script. The Gorillas (they’re the only school to use this nickname) have one D-II title, coming in the 1991 season.

JV: I like the ketchup and mustard look, even though Pitt State tweaked this year’s home unis to look like the previous two schools. Last year’s home and away unis were a classically cool sight to behold. Red helmets, yellow pants, red or white jerseys, TV numbers on the sleeves – it all worked for me. I’d rather they kept that look, but this year’s aren’t terrible. Just keep that script, Pitt State.

PH: Falling into the “just one more bumper sticker” syndrome, yet another team has succumbed to this rampant design crutch. Not that the condiment unis were any great shakes last year, this year, they’re … worse. I wouldn’t say they were “classically cool” as Jim did, but they were at least, somewhat quasi-football looking. Now, just another computer generated template brought to life in 3-D with the colors changed. When ONE team has this sort of look, it’s unique and refreshing. When they ALL have it, particularly when it’s not a particularly good design element — it makes them all look bad. Can I say anything nice about the unis? Yes, I like the helmet.

8. California University of Pennsylvania: No, dude, we’re not on the left coast. We’re about an hour south of Pittsburgh, PA. Jim doesn’t know if anyone’s done a study, but he’s willing to venture Pennsylvania has more cities and towns named after other states than anyone else. Oklahoma, Wyoming and Indiana (which has a D-II school playing in the same conference as California) come to mind off the top of his head. Jim saw California play last season against Slippery Rock. He had been wanting to see the school that accepted him (”but I turned down to stay closer to home and my job”) play against the school Dave Diles used to mention all the time on the old ABC college football scoreboard show. Jim had a good time, too, which kind of fueled his interest in Division II football. The Vulcans have made it to the semifinals the last two seasons, losing to the eventual champions each time. This year they opened the season with a rare loss – perhaps becasue they came out wearing these new unis?

JV: I can live with the all-black look with red trim, but the wide collar-to-sleeve red stripes just don’t look as good as last year’s more conventional red-white-and-black shoulder stripes. I like shoulder stripes almost as much as I like sleeve numbers, so imagine my chagrin. Oh well, life goes on, but here’s a final look back at last year, with the old away jersey. I won’t miss the number font on that one. If they would have gone with block numbers, or the kind that Northwest Missouri used, it would have been one of my favorites.

PH: It’s hard not to like a team named the Vulcans. But this was before I saw these unis. Again, I don’t know if they’re just BFBS, but its another disaster. Dropping the decent looking shoulder loops (at least I think they’ve done that) in favor of the random red and white side panels turned a somewhat nice looking uniform (and a nice jersey, so long as it was paired with something other than black pants) into typical “forward looking design” crap. The old unis had drop shadow numbers while the new numbers have a red outline. At least they got that going for them.

9. Carson-Newman: The Eagles came oh, so close to having Jim’s favorite unis on this list. Unlike many of you, he’s sure, he only has two problems with this orange and blue feast of mix and match possibilities.

JV: I don’t like the curved pants stripe that starts at the waist and tails off at mid-thigh, and I don’t like the number font. This picture better shows the numbers, which look as if they have thorns sticking out of them. Some of you may say, “Golly, Jim, that sure is a busy looking uniform.” I say, fix the numbers and the pants stripe and this is a classicly loud thing of beauty. Maybe it wouldn’t work with other colors, but it works with these colors for me. I also like that the folks in Jefferson City, Tennessee get to see a different eagle logo on their school’s helmets, unlike so many other Eagles teams.

PH: I guess they have a pretty good uniform budget, seeing as they have more uniform combos than any college team not from Oregon. Jeebus. I actually don’t mind teams who can wear a couple different jersey and pants combos, but this isn’t one of them. Colors are fine, helmet is nice. But those godawful wide stripes, in various shapes and sizes, are too much. This one has so much possiblity, but in an effort to incorporate a different pattern, style or color into every inch of every jersey, it just doesn’t work. Really, if they could tone down the color shifts and splotches, these unis have great possibilities. Unfortunately, “one more bumper sticker” is in full force.

10. Chadron State: These Eagles, from Chadron, Nebraska, got a new eagle helmet logo this season. Previously, they looked like a cardinal-red version of, you guessed it, the Lock Haven Bald Eagles.

JV: Yeah, I know, they also looked like a certain NFL team with the fans who booed Santa Claus. Former Buffalo Bills receiver Don Beebe went to school here, so that is Chadron’s claim to fame. Their unis, on the other hand, are a little too plain and forgettable for me. Change the number font.

PH: Oy. More monochrome darks, more truncated pants striping, more panels. I guess that’s par for the course for Div. II. Actually, I kinda liked their old helmet design — the one that looks like the current Eagles (of Philadelphia NFL lineage) helmet. Even the new helmet, while maybe original, is a downgrade. The all white road uniform that Jim showed wasn’t too bad, but where they add too much to the uni by adding panels and junk, they take away too much by wearing plain white socks. Hello? There’s your chance for a bold color statement, instead of making even your roadie look like a ballet outfit.

Thus ends our quick tour of the world of Division II football. If you survived it in one piece, perhaps we can look at the uniforms of Division III someday. As you can see, time marches on, and the old-time feel of small-college football doesn’t always have the old-time look. Hopefully you found something you liked, though. Jim did.

JV: Yes, I found things I liked (and I did go a bit easy on my comments), but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t make changes on any of these unis. Like Phil, I don’t like unnecessary piping, but that depends on what you consider unnecessary. If you eliminate the side piping with the diamond and keep it from the collar to the sleeve, I would find that a necessary piping to help break up a monochrome uni. Anyway, if you live near a D-II school, take in a game sometime. If you like football for the sake of football, you’ll enjoy it. If you have Phil’s taste in unis, I’d suggest sitting as high up in the bleachers as you can so the unis are more of a blur and less of a distraction…

PH: I wasn’t quite as pleased. I’m not opposed to new because it’s new, but this set of unis seem to be more of the same set of “bumpersticker” syndrome. More is not necessarily better, and new isn’t always good. I realize most of these uniforms are probably templates and Div. II schools no doubt don’t have the money (nor do the uni makers have the desire) to create unique looks for each team. But the prevailing trend to wear all dark at home (I don’t mind the all white on the road) is annoying, not to mention, usually an eyesore. And the unnecessary panels, stripes (thin and thick) in every which direction and seemingly without purpose or thought just rub me the wrong way. But hey, that’s just my opinion — I could be wrong.

Yesterday featured the first batch of “new Crew” uniforms. However, two readers also sent me redesigns for teams besides the Brewers. Also yesterday, I asked you graphic designers out there to send me your submissions for more teams (baseball only, for now, please), you’d like to see in a new design. If you’re interested, or you’ve already got one, gimme a shout.

Here’s a look at two uniform redesigns, sent into me while UW was on vacation:

Got an E-mail while UW was on hiatus from reader Jason Krause, who saw the call for “fixing the Brewers” but had a couple mock-ups for his hometown team, the Colorado Rockies. Although I don’t think we’ll be fielding any propositions for Rocks mocks as the 2009 season winds down, I wanted to share his efforts with you. Here’s Jason:

I based these Colorado Rockies jersey mockups off of the old school logo of the hockey Colorado Rockies before they became the New Jersey Devils. I made them a pull-over top such as the Blue Jays and the Cards from the 70’s.

I created two different home looks, as well as an alternate that pays homage to the Colorado Flag. The black jerseys are also a big hit out here, so I created a look for one of those.

Thanks Jason!

Got another E-Mail, this one from reader Alex Rocklein who sent me some mockups for the New York Mets. Very interesting. Says Alex, “I attached some Mets uniform concepts. Some are outrageous, but there is considerably less black.”

Indeed, when it comes to the Mets, less black is usually much better. He has come up with three new uniform concepts: a clean new home and away set, with all the black removed (but where are the stirrups???); and two alternates. The first, featuring pinstripes (I guess we can say they’ve reduced the once venerable pins to an alt) and a royal blue top with “New York” in fancy block letters. As you know, I’m not a fan of the “alternate/softball” tops, but if the Mets could replace the black tops with this one, I’d be 100% behind it. Finally, Alex came up with another home alternate, and it is considerably more colorful. He combines a new alternate cap, featuring a blue crown and an orange bill, with a new orange alternate top (plus he has put the script “Mets” on the blue alternate). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I’d have to see the orange top in action, but I can’t help but think of this disaster when I see an orange top. But, an A+ for effort Alex.

Great job. Thanks guys!

Keep em coming!

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Today’s scoreboard comes from reader Louis Griffel, who’s sent my way and oldie and (I hope) a goodie. All the clues are right in front you but it may still prove a challenge. As always, date, location and final score are required. Just post the answer with a link to Retrosheet or Baseball Almanac, and tell us how you went about discerning the answer. OK? Ok. Guess the Game from the Scoreboard. And if you’d like to submit a scoreboard to challenge the readers, you know what to do. Good Luck!

Got a brand spankin’ new weekend strip for you today, courtesy of the Rick. Like I said yesterday, keep your eyes peeled (never understood that expression) for an announcement of a real, honest-to-god Benchies blog, where you’ll be able to get your Benchies fix 24-7, plus I am sure a bunch of other goodies from Mr. Pearson. Until then, enjoy your Sunday Benchies.

That all for today, folks. Send me your uni mocks, stay tuned next weekend for Part II of the Brew Crew Review, have fun at your Laborious Day BBQs, backyard bashes, baseball, bags and beaches, and get ready for some football. Have a great Sunday!

So guess what: I kinda like them.

I mean, I don’t like them the way I like USC’s uni set, or Michigan’s. But it’s sooooo much better than what they’ve worn for the past few years. Like it or not (and I’m in the “not” camp myself), Oregon is its own aesthetic category these days, and this is the best look that the category has come up with so far.

Would it be nice if they stuck to one helmet? Yes. Is it nuts for any team to have two different white jerseys? Yes. Did I crack up during the press conference when Nike’s Todd Van Horne boasted that the little D-rings on the belt are now made of titanium and are therefore 50% lighter? Yes. Is the center stripe on the texture-patterned helmet totally silly? Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

But let’s count the positives:

• The wings are a huge improvement over the diamondplate. In fact, if the wings had been used back in the 1940s by the Eagles or any other bird-named team, we’d all think it was a classic design and wish someone would resurrect it.

• No more yellow helmet.

• No more yellow pants.

• No more vertical “Oregon” wordmark on the thighs.

• Number font has been improved (although it still has a long way to go).

• I think this look is great — vintage Oakland Raiders! You say these colors have nothing to do with Oregon or its heritage? Dude, this football program hasn’t had anything to do with Oregon’s heritage in a long time. Just dig the look and be glad it doesn’t have a cape or something.

• I’m actually fine with the patterned helmet thingie. Up close it looks textured; from a distance it just looks gray. As gimmicks go, this one’s reasonably subtle.

• Look at this photo. Now put your hand over the yellow-jerseyed guy on the far right, and try to forget that this team has worn a bunch of bad superhero costumes for the past few years. Just look at the other four guys and be honest. Not so bad, right?

No, not bad at all.

Two points that you might have missed unless you were watching the press conference: First, although it’s not shown in any of the official photos, the set does include a white set of pants. Yes, this just adds to the mix-and-match nonsense, but it’s hard to argue with white pants. And second, you may have noticed that the gray helmet had a pale-gray logo decal on one side and yellow on the other. They will not be worn at the same time; the idea is that they can switch decals depending on which jersey the helmet is paired with. And one thing I missed myself until I saw this photo: The gray pants apparently have a white stripe.

Oh, and I realize Nike and Oregon aren’t using the word “gray,” but I refuse to go along with any of their comic book color names, and I hope nobody else will either, at least on this site. Look, no matter what they call it, it’s green, yellow, gray, and black, the end. Don’t believe me? Just ask Mrs. Blandings’s painter.

As for all the “lighter, faster, dryer” performance points, nobody cares. Wake me when there’s a new uni set that doesn’t make all these claims. Until then, it’s dog bites man.

Anyway, I’m more interested in how it looks. And although I didn’t expect to be saying this, some of it looks stupid, but a lot more of it looks good. Who’da thunk?

Raffle/Redemske Reminder: Many thanks to those of you who’ve donated to the Bryan Redemske Relief Fund while entering the Wilco ticket raffle. For those of you who don’t know what I’m referring to, please look here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Check this out: Barbie foosball (with thanks to Ryan Connelly). … Remember all those charts from yesterday’s post? There’s an interview with the guy who designed all of them here (with thanks to Jennifer Muller). … And here’s an even better chart, but someone else. Further info here (with thanks to longtime Uni Watch pal Rob Walker, whose Murketing blog remains essential reading). … High school teams can’t sell ad space on their uniforms, but they could do so on warm-ups and practice gear (with thanks to Jason Hillyer). … Jeff Provo has a pet peeve: “In 1994, the Raiders wore a throwback uniform with a white helmet shield, which was supposed to represent the 1963 helmet. This has since perpetuated into every single using a white shield to represent the 1963 uniform. But the shield used in 1963 was not white. It was un-filled, and thus silver. Please help stop the spread of the white shield myth.” Consider it done. Happily, they appear to have gotten it right for the upcoming AFL throwbacks. … Thirty years ago, a Westbury, Long Island catcher named Tom Donohue had a cup of coffee with the Angels. “When the Angels came to Yankee stadium in June of that year, the town of Westbury announced ‘Tom Donohue Day’ and actually had it recognized on the Yankee Stadium field before the game,” writes Donohue’s nephew and Uni Watch reader Bryan Molloy. “But Angels manager Jim Fregosi, with probably half the town of Westbury in attendance, benched him the entire game. My dad still curses the mention of Fergosi to this day.” So last weekend, Molloy and a bunch of his relatives decided to throw a surprise party to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Tom Donohue Day. “I’m a graphic designer,” says Molloy, “so I wanted to treat it as if Tom Donohue was a superstar player (he was to us). I tried to come up with something that would be a fitting design if a MLB team was honoring one of their best players. The next thing I knew we were not just getting T-shirts, but ice cream helmets, jersey patches, a giant banner, giant cardboard cut outs of my uncle from his minor league days, and more.” Very nice — you can see photos from the event here. … The 76ers have officially gone back to their classic logo. According to a team source, “Uniforms will be announced at a later date, but will be an updated interpretation of the Hardwood Classics uniforms,” which is consistent with what I’ve seen and heard from other quarters. … Here’s the annual Roger Federer Wimbledon/fashion article (with thanks to Stephen Wong). … Darren Rovell called me yesterday to let me know he’d just written a CNBC scoop about Sammy Sosa’s elasticized sleeve cuffs. He seemed a bit disappointed when I told him I’d written about that many times over the years. I also don’t agree with his analysis that Sosa was trying to make his biceps look bigger, but hey, that’s just me. … Anyone know what logo is on Tom Brady’s cap? (As spotted by Matt Englander.) … There used to be a watchmaker’s school in Elgin, Illinois. And their basketball team was called, of course, the Watch Makers (with thanks to Jonee Eisen). … Second photo in this slideshow shows Wilt wearing No. 16. What’s the deal with that? (With thanks to Shawn Bleiler.) … Brutal Tiger Stadium demolition photos here (with thanks to Ethan Shull). … Reader Will Horowitz tipped me wise to golfer Anna Rawson, who has some interesting ideas about golfwear. … The Jets are the latest NFL team to opt for ads on their practice jerseys (with thanks to Brooks Simpson). … Nice story from Jonathan Backstrom, who writes: “I recently got married on June 13th, and we were able to get Carl Beane, the voice of the Red Sox, to announce our wedding party at the reception. He ended up bringing his two World Series rings with him for guests to take photos with. Our uni numbers alluded to the date of the wedding.” … Doug Keklak notes that Pirates pitching coach Joe Kerrigan was wearing the wrong cap last night. … Corporate naming rights aren’t just for stadiums anymore. The subway station in question is eight blocks from my house. As Brad Thomas suggests, I might need to make an “I’m Calling It Pacific St.” shirt. … Here are the shirts that the Reds gave out at the Civil Rights Game. “They were shirts, not vests, had the sponsor logo on the right sleeve, used black instead of navy blue, and the nameplate was one-color black instead of red with navy blue border,” gripes Mike Miller. On the plus side, the scoreboard featured old logos. Look closely and you can see that old Comiskey in the background of that shot. Meanwhile, you may know that Bill Cosby donned a Homestead Grays uni for the pregame festivities, but did you know he didn’t wear shoes? “He said the groundskeeper told him he would kill him if he did any damage to the field wearing spikes,” says Mike. And one final detail: “The White Sox coaching staff didn’t have navy shirts to wear under their jerseys, they wore their normal black instead.” … New Bundesliga jerseys here (with thanks to A.J. Zydzik).