Overall, though, just an outstanding job. Thanks for sharing those, and I look forward to seeing other creations from you in the future. What say you, Uni Watchers? Did Danny hit one out of the park?

Add another mea culpa to the “NFL Uni Contest”. This time, it appears as though I omitted reader (and also former contest participant) Kevin Connolly from the show. It’s too late now to include him, as the finalists have been chosen, and will be given to the readers for a vote tomorrow. Doesn’t change the fact that I somehow missed his E-mail, out of the scores I received.

If Kevin’s tweak looks somewhat familiar, it should because he submitted it for a the “regular” uni tweaks back in December of 2009. And it was a really good one too.

Here’s his submission that he resubmitted to me just before the contest deadline, but somehow I missed. It was for the Patriots.

Back in December, here’s how Kevin described it:

Since the Patriots have been wearing their legacy uniforms, I have decided that I like more traditional Patriot look over the current uniform set. This was quite the revelation for me since I’m a big fan of contemporary uniform designs and pretty much love anything that Oregon does. I’ve attached my rendering of a concept uniform set which is a slight twist on the traditional shoulder stripes. At first, I wasn’t sure how much I’d like the look, but am pretty happy with the result. I’ve also included some player models displaying the uniform set. I’ll be interested to hear what people have to say.

Again, mea culpa, Kevin. I know that may not make you feel any better, but it was an honest eff-up on my part and I deeply apologize.

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Back to a little baseball, now that the calendar is slowly edging toward that magical day that is “Opening Day” and all is right in the world again. Today’s scoreboard comes from none other than Lance Smith (aka “Squiddie”) and might be what we call a bit of foreshadowing. Ready? Guess The Game From the Scoreboard Date, location and final score, please, and be sure to link to your answer. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!

Back again with more Uniform Tweaks, Concepts and Revisions today. Taking a look at all sports from here on out, so, if you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way.

We begin today with Travis Knotts, who simply has a logo and helmet tweak for the Buffalo Bills:

Attached is my tweak to the Buffalo Bills primary logo and helmet. I wanted to make a logo that could satisfy the current logo’s detractors, while not being a drastic revamp. I’m not a Bills fan, but I think this concept is something Bills fans could take pride in. I mean, it even has a tail now!

- Travis

Next up is Joe Piperno, who has a whole mess of NFL changes:

I made 7 complete uniform change and added some alts
For the 49ers, i gave them the old uni with lighter colors and added a gold jersey

giants: added red to home. added blue to away and alt

patriots: I added red and made a red alt

bills: I found the 1961-64 unis and tweaked them. I also gave them a red alt and white streaking buffalo helmets

seahawks: Gave them white pants in the home and added a green throwback

Raiders: added silver to the home, added silver&black to the away and made a silver alt

Jaguars

Vikings: added yellow alt; Steelers:added yellow alt; Rams: added gold alt; Redskins: added yellow alt — set here

Packers: added yellow alt; Chargers: added yellow alt; Bucs: added pewter alt — set here

Our final tweak today comes from Logan Savage, who was admittedly late for the NFL jersey contest, but wanted to share his vision for the Saints:

Okay, so this is about 3 weeks late but I was surfing the web and came across a link to your blog and decided why not try my luck and send something in. Hopefully if this isn’t accepted as an entry, it is at least pleasing to the eye. The backstory is I had been wanting to use that font on a few other prototype I’ve made but it didn’t suit any of the teams so I finally thought of the Saints and it fit perfectly with the whole Mardi Gras thing and was an improvement on their old bland logotype. The uniform drew inspiration from a few college team unis, most notably Georgia Tech. I love the look of the college unis and thought the NFL could use an updated look since most real uniform updates haven’t been drastic over the years. Anyway, hopefully I’m given a chance although I completely understand since it is way overdue and I can’t wait until the next Design contest comes up. Thanks for your time.

That will do it for today’s tweaks. We’ll get to some of the other sports next time.

And on that note, that’s all for today folks. Everyone have a great Saturday. Peace.

Look at that concentration. That steely gaze. That finely toned body ready to spring into action like a precision-engineered machine. That tongue sticking out of his mouth.

Or just be like everyone else and look at the pants. They really are something. And look, you can wear them too! Free Uni Watch membership to the first reader who provides proof of having bought and worn a pair of these.

New ESPN feature today, as Jim Caple and I engaged in an e-mail debate on the merits of figure skating costumes (although in retrospect we should’ve just discussed the Norwegian curling pants). Here’s the link.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Really interesting article about the Canadian propensity toward being left-handed hockey shots. … Matt O’Brien was watching an NYC-area high school hoops game and noticed that both teams — St. Pat’s and Rice — were wearing green. “It was confusing for the players, and even the refs had trouble assessing fouls, etc.,” he writes. The problem was solved in the second half, when Rice switched to black uniforms. … Best views yet of the USA’s World Cup kit here and here (with thanks to Michael Berluti). … The Rangers blog on SNY.com is using jersey icons to show recent Rangers scores — nice (with thanks to Matt Harris). … Interesting find by Noel Amezquita, who came across a flannel shirt with a Catfish Hunter label. Never seen that before. … New Era is selling Japanese umpire caps (as noted by Stan Olechowski). … Awesome historical breakdown of Chelsea FC kits on this page (with thanks to Greg Buchanan). … Good video report on the Reds’ spring training clubhouse (with thanks to Brett Crane). … Check this out: One of the Canadian curlers is wearing a maternity jersey (with thanks to Andrew Greenwood). … Interesting commentary and photos about Yeshiva University soccer players wearing skirts (with thanks to Eric Distenfeld). … Mike Jones wonders if a uni change is in store for the L.A. Kings: “The team store was blowing out authentic jerseys for $149.99 on Saturday night. The regular price on these is $280 for the alternate, and over $300 for the home and road.” … Soccer query from Bojan Bajovic, who asks: “Why were both Lyon and Real Madrid wearing uniforms without the usual sponsor logos on their chests?” The answer comes from Bern Wilms: “The French government has yet to permit unregulated advertising for sports bookies, so Madrid couldn’t wear ‘bwin’ and Lyon couldn’t wear ‘BetClic.’ So we got a game that looked like the gorgeous European Cup games we had well into the early ’90s.” … Still more curling news: I’ve been corresponding lately with Tyler George, who just missed making the American Olympic squad. I asked him about the house rings in Vancouver being blue and green, instead of the usual blue and red. His response: “It’s not all that unusual, just uncommon. In Madison they did plaid and cow-print, just for fun. I didn’t really like that.” … New Redskins coach Mike Shanahan and GM Bruce Allen “have had discussions about the color schemes of the Redskins’ uniforms,” according to this story (with thanks to Will Risinger). … Check out this sort of tattered but totally cool Durene tee I just won. … A Florida high school is in hot water for poaching the Dodge Trucks ram’s-head logo (with thanks to Alex Moggridge). … Georgia Tech wore 1960 throwbacks last night (with thanks to Bo Brewer). … Rugby news from Caleb Borchers, who writes: “Last weekend the Super 14 (the premier rugby comp in the Southern Hemisphere) premiered. Almost every team rolled out something new, but here are the most significant uni changes: The Queensland Reds are living up to their name, more so then in previous years; the Bloemfontain Cheetahs have a new representation of their colors (which, yes, are white, orange, purple, and aqua); and the Johannesburg Lions have a new jersey with a lot more bumper stickers than their old one.” … Here’s a snowboard graphic design contest (as forwarded by Scott Novosel). … You know how a touring musician will have a contract rider specifying what sort of food should be available backstage and all that? Michael Bublé’s rider specifies that concert promoters that concert promoters must provide him with one “local team hockey puck.” “He must have a pretty damn impressive collection by now!” says Austin Chen. … Yesterday’s entry on Joe DeAngelis’s DIY Rangers jacket prompted Paul Wiederecht to send pics of his DIY Mets jacket: “In 1984 I got to know two guys who had a uni store in Hartsdale and they helped me find a wool varsity jacket that was close in color and striping. Took the patch off and also added a few when they pulled it all together. Since then I’ve added almost all the patches the met have worn and been stopped and asked about it in many parks across the country. This probably has run me about $100 with everything included and has lasted more than 25 years.”

By Phil Hecken, with Rick Pearson and Tim Brulia (with photo assistance from Larry Bodnovich)

The Big Game is today, or the Super Bowl, as most of us call it. Which means, it’s time to take a look back at the uniforms of the two combatants in today’s contest: the Indianapolis (nee Baltimore) Colts and the New Orleans Saints. Now wait, you’re about to say, “Didn’t Paul already do that on ESPN.com this past Thursday?” Well, yes he did, and a splendid job he did. But, having enlisted the aid of uniform historian Tim Brulia, the original Uni Watcher himself, Rick Pearson, and with several photos provided by Larry Bodnovich we’re going to take a much more in-depth look at just how closely the uniforms the two teams playing today resemble those of their predecessors, and how what they’re wearing today came to be.

Tim, as usual, has provided us with the parameters, studiously denoting all the minor (and major) changes of the teams throughout the years, while Ricko will handle the finer points of the uniform progressions. Since the New Orleans Saints are the new kids on the block, playing in their first Super Bowl (and the “younger” team in terms of service time), as well as the “designated road team” and decided underdog, we’ll take a look at them first, followed by the Colts. Let’s go!

~~~

SAINTS:

The New Orleans Saints entered the NFL in the 1967 expansion, playing in Tulane Stadium until their current home, the Superdome, was constructed for the 1975 season. Frequently the laughing stock of the league, the Saints often sported horrible teams and frequently had fans showing up wearing bags over their heads. Frequently referred to as “The ‘Aints”, they were born wearing black and gold, and a design which has remained remarkably unchanged since it’s inception. But changes have been made over the years, often what we refer to as “tweaks” rather than wholesale revamps. Let’s see where they began, and how they got to today. Ricko and Timmy present this wonderful timeline:

1967: Brass gold helmet with black fleur-de-lis logo outlined in white, black/white/black stripes; jersey: Black with gold numbers with white outline on front, back and shoulders. Sleeve stripes Browns-like, white/gold/white/gold/white; white with gold numbers with black outline on front, back and shoulders. Sleeve stripes on road: black/gold/black/gold/black, and on home: white/gold/white/gold/white. Pants: gold with black/white/black stripes. Socks: black with stripes as on black jersey. Wore numbers of two different thicknesses. The SI “debut” cover (with the training camp helmets) shows the thicker ones. Note that these uniforms are *NOT* copper, as some have believed — it’s due to a poor scan of the SI Cover — that image is from Ricko’s original SI Issue, and shows the color much more properly than other photos on the Internet. Saints wore both thick and thin at same time. Bonus pic: check out Sir Saint in the endzone!

1968: Preseason games featured no sleeve stipes at all. Early in season, switched helmet stripe to white/black/white and also stripes on the pants to white/black/white. However, many players kept the old black/white/black striped pants. Both styles worn simultaneously. (*Note, this photo is from 1967 — apparently at least one player had the “reversed stripe” pattern [white/black/white] prior to the changeover in 1968)

1969: Preseason wore black helmets with a gold fleur-de-lis outlined in white and stripes were white/gold/white, but reverted back to 1967 helmet style when regular season began (in training camp, helmets had been solid black). Early in season, they wore a black jersey with white front/back/shoulder numbers that featured Packer style sleeve stripes of gold/white/gold/white/gold separated by a sliver of black. They later reverted back to 67-68 style black jersey later in season with thicker numerals. The white jersey also featured thicker numerals. The pants were gold with the 67 stripes for all players. Socks were black, but sanitaries had separated stripes of gold/black/gold. 50/NFL patch worn on left sleeve between TV number and stripes.

1970: The early season 1969 black jersey was now normal jersey. The white jersey now had black numbers on shoulders and sleeves. For the first time, NOB’s were added, matching number color.

1971: The Saints started wearing white shoes.

1974: Wore white jersey for every game.

1975: Added black V neck to white jersey, TV’s moved to sleeves, sleeve stripes narrower, gold outlined added to numbers. Black jersey added a gold V neck and gold outline to the numbers. Gold pants ditched for white pants with black/gold/black stripes. Socks black with stripes like the stripes on black jersey.

1976: Changed helmet facemasks from gray to black. Added black pants to be worn with the white jersey. Gold/white/gold stripes on black pants.

1983: Gold numeral outlines on jersey now separated by jersey color. high socks now solid black.

1986: TV’s move back up to shoulders. On white jersey, state map of Louisiana in black with fleur-de-lis inside northen half of LA on sleeves. On black jersey, state map of Louisiana in gold with fleur-de-lis inside northern half of LA on sleeves. Pants gold with thick black stripe on sides with outline of Louisiana in gold with fleur-de-lis inside northern half of LA in gold on hips. Black socks add a thick gold stripe.

1990: NOB’s got really squeezed tight.

1991: Wore a 25th season patch

1994: Like all other NFL teams, wore the 75/NFL patch on the left collarbone area. Wore 1967 style throwbacks for the NFL’s 75th anniversary.

1996: Wore a 30th season patch. Black jersey saw LA state sleeve patch replaced by gold fleur-de-lis with micro thin black/white outline. Numbers and NOB’s gold with white outline. White jersey also saw LA sleeve patch replaced by gold fleur-de-lis with micro thin black/white/black outline. Numbers and NOB’s gold with black outline. Pants saw LA state outline replaced by gold fleur-de-lis on hips. Socks now solid black.

1999: White jersey saw black numbers return with gold outline. NOB’s back to a normal size with black outlined in gold. Fleur-de-lis on sleeves black with gold/black outline. Black jerseys just changed NOB’s to more normal size and gold fleur-de-lis on sleeve to a slightly thicker black/white outline. Black pants worn with white jersey with thick gold stripes and black fleur-de-lis with white/black outline on hips. Pretty much the prototype jerseys worn to this day.

2000: Helmet logo noticeably smaller, with white/gold/black outline. Same outline adopted for white jersey sleeve logo. Gold pants worn with both black and white jerseys.

2001: Black pants return and are worn for all games. No stripes, just a gold (with black/white outline) fleur-de-lis on each hip.

2002: 1967 black throwback worn for a game. Gold jersey worn with black pants for a game. Black jersey/gold pants, white jersey/black pants and white jersey/gold pants were combos worn.

2003, 2004 and 2005: Gold pants worn all season.

2004: Black cleats return.

2006: Gold LA state Gold LA state map patch on collarbone area of jerseys worn.

2007: LA patch removed. Pretty much the same uni since.

COLTS:

The Colts franchise was officially created in 1953, but can trace its roots to pre-NFL days. The franchise began as the Dayton Triangles, a founding member of the NFL that was originally created in 1913. The Triangles wore blue and white jerseys. They are seen here, in 1926, playing the Frankfort Yellowjackets.

From there, the Dayton Triangles relocated to Brooklyn and were renamed the “Dodgers” in 1930, (here, the Dodgers are playing the Giants in 1938) and changed the name to “Brooklyn Tigers” in 1944. In the same year, the Boston Yanks are founded. A wartime “casualty,” the Tigers merged with the Yanks in 1945 and were simply known as “The Yanks” (the Yanks player is shown at left). The franchise was cancelled in 1945 by league and the team’s “temporary” merger with the Boston Yanks was made permanent.

Meanwhile, a new league (the AAFC) formed and created the “New York Yankees,” which was founded by the Tigers’ former owner. Another team in the newly formed AAFC, the “Miami Seahawks,” were purchased and relocated to Baltimore and renamed the “Colts” (whose original colors were green and silver). This franchise was dissolved by the league on January 18, 1951. The Colts were gone, but not for long.

Back in the NFL, the Boston Yanks would relocate to New York in 1949, becoming “New York Yanks” (interestingly, they absorbed much of the AAFC Yankees’ roster the next year). Those New York Yanks, much like the Yankees, Dodgers and Tigers were unable to compete with the New York Football Giants, and moved to Dallas in 1952 where they were renamed the “Dallas Texans.” The Texans’ colors were blue and white. Unfortunately, the Texans found themselves without a stadium in which to play, about halfway through the 1952 season, and were dissolved shortly thereafter. Here’s a great shot of the Texans versus the 49ers from 1952.

What had been the “Dallas Texans” franchise (not to be confused with the later, original AFL Texans) was moved to Baltimore on January 23, 1953. The Texans couldn’t really keep that nickname upon moving to Baltimore, so they adopted the “Colts” nickname, and kept the Texans team colors of blue and white. Thus began the current Colts’ 30 year run in Baltimore, which, as we all know, ended badly. The Colts would relocate to their current home in Indianapolis in 1984, and continue playing there to this day. Now, let’s take a look at the Colts (1953-present) uniform timeline.

1953: The Colts started out with a white helmet with criss-cross blue stripes. After one game, they took the criss stripe off. They also wore a plain blue helmet for a day game and a couple of night games. The jerseys were rather generic; white had blue front/back numerals with blue NW sleeve stripes, while the blue jersey had white front/back numerals with white NW stripes. The Colts also wore for night games a plain RED jersey! Pants were white with a thin white stripe down the sides. Socks were solid blue.

1954: They started with the white helmet, but early in the season, they switched to a blue helmet with a white stripe and a small white horseshoes flanking the stripe on the back of the helmet. The 53 white jersey stayed the same, but the blue jersey had a stripe tweak to 3 even sized white stripes. The socks went from plain blue to blue with three white stripes as on the blue jersey. The plain red jersey was worn for night games.

1955: White jersey sleeve stripes changed to match the style on the blue jerseys. White socks with the sleeve stripe pattern worn with the white jerseys.

1956: Helmet changed from blue to white with a blue stripe with the horseshoes turning blue and staying on the back of the helmet. Like 7 other teams this year, the Colts added TV numbers to the sleeves of both jerseys.

1957: Another overhaul, but this turned into the classic Colts uniform. The horseshoes were now proudly displayed on the sides above the earhole and made much larger. The 3 sleeve stripes (who’s that guy? glad you asked) were replaced by two shoulder loops on both jerseys. A second blue stripe was added to each side of the pants. And blue socks with two blue stripes were worn with both jerseys.

1958: Interesting program produced by the 49ers depicting the Colts wearing a combination (blue/purple helmet with gold shoulder loops) that never existed.

1959: Medium sized players’ numbers were added to the back of the Colts helmets.

1964: No changes to uniforms, but Colts would make it to the championship game versus the Cleveland Browns (note the handwritten helmet number), ultimately losing to the Browns in what would be the Browns last NFL championship.

1969: 50/NFL patch worn on shoulder above shoulder loops.

1970: NOB’s were added to all NFL jerseys, and the Colts’ NOB’s were serifed until Super Bowl V where they became sans serif and remain so to this day.

1973-74: Gradually changed to white cleats.

1977: Changed facemask color from gray to white.

1981: Chagned to solid blue socks.

1982: Added silver in between the blue shoulder stripes on the white jersey and also added silver outline to blue numerals to that jersey. Wore white pants with blue/silver/blue stripes with white jersey. Wore silver/gray pants with single blue stripe with a blue horseshoe with player’s number on both hips. Sock stripes returned with two silver/gray stripes.

1988: All silver/gray is removed and back to 57-81 look except for white socks with two blue stripes worn with both jerseys.

1993: Solid blue socks return and worn with both jerseys.

1994: 75/NFL patch worn on collarbone area of jersey. Didn’t really wear a throwback for the occasion.

1995: Changed facemask color from white to blue. Wore blue pants with two white stripes on sides for a couple of early games. Wore white socks with two blue stripes with these pants.

1996: Switched back to black cleats.

1997: Wore a horseshoe on the left collarbone area of both jerseys; blue on the white jersey, white on the blue jersey.

1998: Horseshoe removed from jerseys. Back to white cleats.

2002: 50th season patch on collarbone area of jersey. Shoulder stripes noticeably truncated.

2004: Gray facemask returns. Sock stripes return. Black cleats return. Also wore white 1956 style throwback for T-Day game with Lions.

2006: Back to solid blue socks. Pretty much the same uni since.

OK, everyone. Hope you enjoyed this “little” lookback on how the Colts and the Saints got to where they are today, uniform wise. Now, when you attend your Super Bowl parties, you can show off your intimate knowledge of the teams — and don’t be surprised if everyone looks at you a little differently when you do.

Thanks again to Timmy, Ricko & Larry for their assistance with this monumental undertaking.

In probably the worst kept secret in alternate jersey releases in baseball, the Tampa Bay Rays have officially offered for sale their new alternate powder blue jersey. Of course, there has been no actual official announcement yet, but it will be coming. After earlier unveiling their powder blue BP cap, (they will have both a navy and a powder blue BP cap this year), speculation quickly followed that they’d be introducing a powder blue alternate.

Is is good or stupid? Well, it’s not a bad color, but it’s unnecessary. It is my firm belief that a powder blue alternate will only look good if it’s paired powder blue pants. Now, before you dismiss the idea out of hand, here’s how that would look on the field of play. Not so bad, right?

See, I’m not ONLY a white at home/gray on road kinda guy — I just hate the softball look. There were some powder blue teams whose looks I rather enjoyed. I grew up when powder blues were not necessarily the “norm,” but they weren’t foreign either. Of course, back then, stirrups were worn and unis were properly fitted — now…they’d probably wear the powder blues like the Jays and I’d hate it. So maybe it’s best if they just keep the alt and wear it never rarely.

In honor of the Saints making the Super Bowl, or maybe just because it’s on the schedule, last eveing the New Orleans Hornets broke out their special purple Mardi Gras uniforms.

No…wait. Last night the New Orleans Hornets broke out their special green Mardi Gras uniforms. Wait…that’s not correct either.

Anyway, last night the Hornets debuted their purple, gold AND green Mardi Gras uniforms. You remember them? Paul had a small bit on Uni Watch (so we could comment) and a much larger piece on ESPN, detailing all that went into these, um…beauties.

We won’t rehash all that here (although, feel free to comment), as Paul has done an outstanding job covering all the ins and outs of the design and thought process that went into the unis. Personally, while I love the concept and the execution, the “two tone” nature of the uniform offends my OCD. I “get” why they’re green, gold and purple. I understand the colors and accoutrements and the beads and masks and costumes and general licentiousness and drunken debauchery that goes into all these uniforms stand for. I really do.

I just don’t like two three-toned uniforms. I can overlook this, because of the spirit of the holiday, however. But just how awesome would the uni still have been if they just went with one color or the other?

If you’d like to see more pics of this game, I put 40+ pics in a Flickr album. Enjoy.

What is it they say about an irresistable force and an immovable object? Here’s Rick:

Super Bowl Sunday. A perfect time to be reminded that, when it comes to its unfortunate conclusion, a wardrobe malfunction can make you feel like…well, like a real boob.

Here’s your full-color, Super Bowl sponsored, Sunday Benchies.

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Today we have a ‘guest’ scoreboard being brought to us by reader Chris Rocco. While the location may be familiar, the clues are all right there in the picture itself. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. Date, location and final score, please, and be sure to link to your answer. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!

As if you needed another reason to watch the Super Bowl, now you do:

As you all know (or should), the Who will be performing the halftime show. In the comments below, the first person to correctly name each song in the correct order the Who play today will win a prize. So, make sure you post your guesses — if someone has already made a guess — be sure to post a different one, ok? Remember, it’s the first person who identifies EACH song played and in the EXACT order.

I have a whole bunch of uni-related materials lying about the place, and I’m itching to give something away (the prize is as yet undetermined). So, take a guess, and maybe you’ll walk away with something cool. Or not. But you gotta be in it to win it.

Back again with more Uniform Tweaks, Concepts and Revisions today. Taking a look at all sports from here on out, so, if you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way.

First up is Tom Dempsey(!) who was inspired by the Pro Bowl piece last Sunday, with some Pro Bowl unis:

Hey there,

I was inspired by your column about the Pro Bowl unis and decided to give them a shot. Both have the conferences primary colors with the contrasting color as the secondary, so the game would be color on color. I also added some gold piping to represent the special meaning of being chosen to play in the pro bowl. On the pants, the colors are reversed for each team.

Hope you enjoy,

Tom

Next up is James Comfort, who has some revisions for the Packers, Bills and Panthers:

For my first batch of uni tweaks i started with my favorite team, the Packers. Their uniform is, in my opinion, the best in the league. But I’ve always wondered what it would like like with metallic gold. Home. Road.

Next to tackle the second worst uni in the NFL – the Bills. I went with a modern uni, but still very clean and free of bumper stickers. Home. Road. Alternate.

Then the Panthers, whose uniforms are very nice, but just nice. And they’ve remained unchanged for a long time. Not a big fan of the silver, so I took it out. The NFL needs a team with a powder blue helmet. Home. Road. Alternate.

Much more where that came from, including a makeover for the Browns and Bengals, as well as a new and different approach to the Cowboys. Stay tuned!

-James Comfort

Moving along, we have some MLB tweaks from Dennis (from Philly, and who would prefer I don’t use his last name), who has taken on your National League Champion Philadelphia Phillies:

Hello — long time reader, first time contributor. I have a few issues with the uniforms of my beloved Philadelphia Phillies, so I decided to go ahead and give my best shot at a slight alteration. Specifically, my two biggest gripes are the cartoonish NOB/number font and the number on the sleeve. I started out by creating a uniform set using the current team colors, changing the font back to the Helvetica style font used in those Vet-era uniforms (with vertical arching for the name) and moving the sleeve number to the front of the jersey. To replace the sleeve number, I added a Liberty Bell patch to the left sleeve. I’m a fan of the Phils’ current alternate unis, especially their use of blue, so I incorporated the color more than it’s used now. The alternate jersey bears a passing resemblance to the current alt and uses the same cap, but is white instead of cream and has some piping. I also made a fauxback alternate with the ‘P’ on the chest, in the current colors and outlined by blue (and sans pinstripes). One of the options is a white cap with a red bill and red piping (worn in the early 20th century), giving this uniform facets of those worn throughout the Phillies’ history.

I also think red (and to a lesser extent, blue) is overused in MLB. The old maroon uniforms worn in the 70s and 80s give the team a good opportunity to break away from this mold and claim a unique color combo, so I tried to envision what a modern take would look like. I also think the maroon went well with the power blue uniforms worn during that period, so I used this as an accent color in my mockups. The NOB and numbers are outlined in powder blue, and the color is used on the sleeve and sock stripes. The alternate features even more powder blue and the white hat with maroon accents. Lastly, I made a vest design based on the 70s/80s Phillies jersey with maroon sleeves and a dash of powder blue. This is the most ‘out there’ of my designs, but I think it works for an occasional game or two.

-Dennis from Philly

PS- I apologize if the color or design elements are off when you open the file – I made these in MS Paint and it is my first time doing something like this. If you do decide to use this, please only use my first name. Thanks, and I hope you like it!

That will conclude this round. Already, I have more for next weekend, so keep them coming. You know where to send them. Thanks!

*PHEW*

That’s (finally) going to end this Super Sized Super Bowl piece. After going a stellar 7-3 (which would have been 8-2 had I picked the ‘boys over the Iggles) by “picking the winner based on the better uniform,” I will have to pick the Colts to win today. As of late last evening, the spread was 5 points. So, giving the five, we’ll take the Colts to win. Be nice to close out the season with another “uni win.”

Don’t forget to post your “What will the Who play?” guess down below. Just pick the songs, in the ORDER THEY PLAY them, and you’re good to go. OK? OK!

Oh, yeah. There’s still the matter of a game. So — enjoy the big one today. Cheers!

The Pro Bowl (tonight, 7:20pm EST, ESPN) hasn’t always sucked. But now it does, and even the most avid of Uni Watchers will be hard pressed to call this event a “must see.”

If you actually care to watch, today (tonight actually) the 2010 NFL Pro Bowl takes place in Hawaii…er, Miami, the site of next week’s Super Bowl XLIV. Seeking to fix what was broken, but for all the wrong reasons, the NFL has decided this year to play their year-end spectacular before the Super Bowl, and on the mainland. At least when the NFL played the game in Hawaii, the players viewed it as a joke with a nice vacation thrown in. Now? It’s just a joke. There must be some connection between the declining quality of the game itself and the uniforms, right?

This year, it’s even worse — and I’m not going to go on a rant here — but good lord, moving the game to pre-Super Bowl, to try to generate some excitement, has actually worked to the game’s disadvantage. You see, none of next weekend’s Super Bowl combatants are allowed to play in tonight’s game — which makes sense — but it means that, automatically, the following players are eliminated: (from the Colts): Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Jeff Saturday, Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, and Antoine Bethea; (from the Saints): Drew Brees, Jonathan Stinchcomb, Jahri Evans, Jonathan Goodwin, Jonathan Vilma, Darren Sharper, and Roman Harper. So, right off the bat, that’s 14 players, including BOTH Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, who were selected to be the starting quarterbacks. That means we’re left with a matchup of Matt Schaub and Aaron Rodgers.

Add in the following guys who won’t play “due to injury” (Philip Rivers, Chargers; Tom Brady, Patriots; Wes Welker, Patriots; Jake Long, Dolphins; Brian Cushing, Texans; Jairus Byrd, Bills; Nate Kaeding, Chargers; Brett Favre, Vikings; Steven Jackson, Rams; Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals; Sidney Rice, Vikings; Andre Gurode, Cowboys; Kevin Williams, Vikings; Lance Briggs, Bears; Charles Woodson, Packers; Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Cardinals; and Patrick Willis, 49ers.) That’s 17 more. So, of the players selected to the Pro Bowl in 2010, fans won’t get to see 31 of them. Yeah, that seems like a good deal. If you’re still interested, here’s the full roster. Now, traditionally, lots of players somehow found themselves “injured” and unable to play, but they still enjoyed their Hawai’ian vacation. But there were never THIS many players selected to play in the game who will not. Good move, NFL.

But it wasn’t always that way. Although it has now become the least consequential and likely least watched “all star game” of the major sports (and maybe even hockey, too), the Pro Bowl has actually been played, in one form or another, for decades — beginning with “all star games” first staged in 1939, between the NFL champion and a team of all-stars compiled from the other teams. From 1939 through 1942 (when WW II took it’s toll on the players and the game), the New York Giants, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears (twice) and the Washington Redskins all took turns scrammaging against the best of the rest.

The first true Pro Bowl took place on January 14, 1951, when stars from the NFL’s National and American Conferences faced off against each other. Accounts of what the players wore during the game are sketchy, however, it was likely blue (for the Nationals) and red (for the Americans). It was certain that during this game the tradition of having the National Conference wear blue (helmets), while the American Conference wore red. Both teams wore dark uniforms (or, I should say, the game was “color vs. color”). Another game would be held in 1952, and according to the game program, it was color on color again, with the National Conference wearing blue and the American Conference wearing Red. The third Pro Bowl game was played in 1953, this time with the American Conference donning white jerseys. Although the program covers for 1952 and 1953 depict white helmets, each team appears to have worn the color of their respective conference (blue for National, red for American).

Beginning in 1954, and continuing until 1970, the NFL would divide the teams up into the “Eastern” and “Western” conferences (this followed NFL procol, which had changed the names from American and National after the 1953 season). For the most part, the NFL kept the teams in their red and blue color designations (including the helmets), although several years had the players donning gold helmets (which occurred from 1967 through 1970) and wearing the NFL decal on the sides — the East wore a red-white-red tri-stripe and the Western a similar blue-white-blue tri-stripe. Players brought their own game helmets to the game, which were then spray-painted and decorated for the contest. (For the 1970 game the helmets featured the 50 NFL logo, which celebrated the first 50 years of NFL football.)

When the AFL came into being in 1960, that league began playing All Star Games as well, beginning in 1962 and up until 1970. Following the merger of the two leagues for the 1971 season, one Pro Bowl for the entire league was once again played. We’ll take a look at the uniforms from 1971-2009 (and also, for today’s game) in a moment.

Wikipedia, the always trustworthy source, sums up the uniform designations thusly: “The teams are made of players from different NFL teams, so using their own uniforms would be too confusing. The players each wear the helmet of their team, but the home jerseys and pants are either a solid blue for the NFC or solid red for the AFC, while white jerseys with blue or red accents, respectively, for the away team. While it has been speculated that the color of Pro Bowl jerseys is determined by the winner of the Super Bowl, this is untrue.

“The design of Pro Bowl uniforms is changed every two years, and the color and white jerseys are rotated along with the design change. This has been Pro Bowl tradition since the switch to team specific helmets, which started with the January 1979 game. The two-year switch was originally created as a marketing ploy by Nike, and has been continued by Reebok, who won the merchandising contract in 2002.

“In the earliest years of the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl, the players did not wear their unique helmets, as they do now. The AFC All-Stars wore a solid red helmet with a white A on it, while the NFC players wore a solid white helmet with a blue N on it. The AFC’s red helmets were paired with white jerseys and red pants, while the NFC’s white helmets were paired with blue jerseys and white pants. Two players with the same number who are elected to the Pro Bowl can wear the same number for that game. [In the games early years], all players were required to wear different numbers, regardless of what jersey number they wore on their regular team. This changed … when players wore the jersey number on their regular team jersey, thus initially resulting in virtually every wide receiver on the field being numbered 80 or 81, a situation that, predictably, created significant confusion. Thus, it is recommended — although not required — that players use different jersey numbers, and generally when two players share a number, the less experienced one will wear a different number for the game.”

So anyway, back to the uniforms, throughout the 1971-2009 history. Back in the first several years, as mentioned, the teams simply wore “N” or “A” helmets, with the NFC wearing blue jerseys and white pants. This continued until 1979, when players began wearing individual team helmets on top of their respective teams’ uniforms. No matter what the year, the uniforms remained a constant: AFC in team specific helmets with white jerseys and red pants with white-blue-white stripes, NFC in team helmets with blue jerseys and white pants with blue-red-blue stripes.

This set pattern persisted until 1989, when the NFL kept the same basic color schemes for both conferences, but added stars down the pants stripes (plus an “N” or an “A”) and contrasting colored outlines around the teams’ jersey numbers. This particular style lasted until 1994

Here’s where it all went to hell. Beginning in 1995, when the AFC was outfitted in garish costumes, and the NFC followed suit, uniform design has been, shall we say, lacking. The 1995 game featured the NFC in a “half blue/white” jersey blue pants (with the leotard look to boot), but for 1996 and 1997, they would switch to white pants. The AFC would stick with red pants throughtout the there year run, but in 1995 they wore red undersocks (for the dreaded leotard look), while in 1996 and 1997 they stuck with high white socks. One can only assume the jersey style was influenced by the CFL’s American contingent, since they sported small off-center numbers on the front of the jerseys. Mercifully, the three year run of that jersey design ended after, surprisingly, three years. Those uniforms were manufactured by Wilson.

1998 would usher in a new set of uniforms for the Conferences, with the AFC being outfitted in a solid red jersey for the first time. If one doesn’t count the 1995-97 jerseys as “white,” the NFC wore white jerseys for the first time. These two jersey sets weren’t all that bad (aesthetically), although they did feature rounded, drop-shadow numbers for both teams. Those uniforms lasted for three years as well, from 1998-2000. This was Nike’s uniform set.

The NFL would begin it’s “two and done” run of uniforms in 2001-02, and these were lackluster at best. The AFC was outfitted in red fading to white jerseys (in a gradient pattern) with white pants. The NFC, on the other hand, wore white fading to blue jerseys (in the opposite gardient pattern) atop blue pants. These uniforms were so bad that very few photos exist on the Interwebs of them. Perhaps that’s for the best. Reebok manufactured these uniforms, and would continue to do so through today.

2003-2004 didn’t get much better. Returning to a somewhat more traditional look, the AFC wore white over white, with garish side panels and football shaped designs on the pants. For its part, the NFC was outfitted in monochrome blue, in the reverse pattern of the AFC, also featuring the side panels and amorphous pants design.

A new uniform design would begin in 2005-06, with Reebok contining to trend towards the modern look. The AFC returned to wearing red jerseys, with same color side panels and a “Broncos-esque” pants swoosh atop white pants. While the AFC would have red top socks for a more balanced look, the NFC would sport a reciprocal white over blue uniform, complete with blue socks, for that special dancer look. Both jerseys would feature rounded numerals, and six stars would adorn the jersey and pants side panels, three each on the top and bottom. In a typical “mirror” image, the AFC’s white numbers had a white-blue outline, while the NFC would feature a solid blue outlined in white and red. As far as recent uniforms go, these weren’t too bad.

2007-08 would usher in new uniforms again, with the AFC returning to white over red and the NFC donning blue over white. Continuing the “modern” look and feel, this uniform set would include bumper sticker paneling under the arms and down the side panels, and the pants stripes would also include white and blue panels within the stripes for both teams. But the most interesting feature of these uniforms was undoubtedly the jersey design, which included similarly colored darker stars superimposed on the solid jersey, gradually moving from fully filled-in stars to outlined stars from top to bottom. Whether these new jerseys were following the jersey patterns of the moment or driving them is still up for debate.

We conclude our tour of the Pro Bowl uniforms with last year’s gems, which will be worn again this year. In the final game (at least for the next few years) in Aloha Stadium, the NFC sported a predominantly blue getup, while the went with mostly white over white. However, the uniforms were not without little quirks: while the front side of both unis were solid blue or white (providing a splendid monochromatic appearance for the NFC), the back of the NFC uniform was white (leading to an odd white vs. white appearance from certain angles). The AFC, in mirror-like fashion, had mostly red backs. Both sets of jerseys were textured with stars and had an odd number font. Fortunately, we’ll be graced with these lovelies again in 2010.

That will end the lookback at the Pro Bowl uniforms of the past several decades. Certainly today neither they, nor the game, approach their former, um…greatness. So now, if you do choose to watch the game tonight, in it’s new and temporary home in South Florida (what’s the name of the Stadium now?), you can at least appreciate some of the tradition that has gone into (and the ‘innovation’ that has become) these uniforms.

I’d be remiss without pointing out that by far the best and most comprehensive site (and from which many of the photos in this article were borrowed) is mmbolding.com. If you want to read a description of every Pro Bowl (and All Star Game) ever played, that’s the spot. If you want to simply look at more pro bowl photos, several of which were not in this article and which are fully captioned check out the Flickr album I put together.

Of course, I would be ESPECIALLY REMISS if I didn’t include something from The Ricko Files today. The one and only Rick Pearson was all over the AFL All-Star Games in the early 1960s, producing his famous “Kid Cards” for the 1962 and 1963 All Star games. Note that, unlike the NFL, the AFL teams wore their own helmets for the first two AFL All Star Games (the AFL played their first all star game in 1962).

There is ONE good thing about the NFL moving the Pro Bowl to today — it means that after this exhibition is over, the football season is not. I guess by playing it tonight, the NFL hopes to keep the interest up and fill the void during the week off between the Conference Championships and the Super Bowl. And think of the Pro Bowl this way: you can watch ESPN all day long, after checking out the X-Games, you segue right into the Pro Bowl, and then back to the closing ceremonies of the games. Perfect day, right?

Remember the “Reebok Pump”? Yeah, I don’t either. Here’s Rick:

Technology is wonderful, and some of it is classic, timeless, unforgettable. And the Internet makes all things possible, accessible. So we use it to find any little advantage we can.

Here’s your full-color Sunday Benchies.

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: You’d think that in honor of the Pro Bowl being played today, I could find a scoreboard photo from a Pro Bowl game. You’d be wrong. So, you’ll just have to settle for the following instead. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. Date, location and final score, please, and be sure to link to your answer. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!

Our next round of Uniform Tweaks, Concepts and Revisions is upon us again. We’ll be examining all sports now. So, if you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way. Since most of you guys have been sending submissions for the Official NFL Jersey Tweaks Contest, (which is separate from the normal uniform tweaks section), it’s a smaller batch today. Remember, the deadline for the contest is February 1, (this Monday), so the contest WILL be closed down after that date.

Our first entrant today is Thad (who would prefer I don’t use his last name), and Thad has a couple tweaks for Da Bears:

Hello,

I’m a life-long Bears fan and love the uniforms but I have a couple tweaks that would make the set flow better.

I didn’t change anything on the navy jersey because it’s perfect. However, I adjusted everything else, though this set still looks like the Bears. The white pants now have an orange-blue-orange striping pattern, as do the stripes on the white jersey and socks. The navy pants now are white-orange-white.

While this doesn’t change too much on the home set (other than making the pants and jersey striping match if they ever go monochrome again), it makes the striping on the away set more uniform and makes it conform better to the rest of the look. It always bugged me that the stripes on the navy jersey are outlined, but the stripes on the white ones weren’t. If the Bears do the traditional monochrome on the away set, all the stripes match.

Thanks.

(And if you do use this, just refer to me as Thad.)

Next up is Ronnie Poore, who has some ideas for the N’awlins Saints:

I gave the Saints uni a bit of a tweak. Added a white divider stripe on the pants (never liked the Steelers style wide stripe). This makes the pants stripes match the helmet stripes. Also darkened the pants so the gold better matches the helmets. I’ve attached 2 images, one with plain socks, one with stripes…take your pick.

Ronnie Poore

Moving along, we have my new Deep Freeze buddy, Ben Traxel, who knows I’m an Islander fan and couldn’t resist mocking up a new logo, just for me:

I mocked this up quickly last night…just for you, Phil. :) It was quick and dirty, just for fun.

Ben

That’s all for today. Today’s second submitter, Ronnie Poore also sent me a bunch more tweaks that we’ll get to in the next round. If you have any last minute submissions for the ‘win a jersey’ contest, again, tomorrow is the deadline. Keep the regular tweaks coming, though, since that part of the weekends will remain (as long as I have submissions). Send both your regular tweaks and your contest tweaks to me at the same address, but if you’re submitting something for the contest, please be sure to label the subject: “UNI WATCH NFL JERSEY DESIGN CONTEST.” Thanks!

Meet Flat Tyler. Time for a little love for Ryan Connelly, who send me the following E-mail, which is pretty damn cool:

You guys have heard about “Flat Stanley,” a project kids do for school? They take pictures of this paper guy all over the place? A lady at work (Nancy), has a lady in her group that works in Denver. Well, the lady in Denver has a 6 year old grandson that had a “Flat Tyler” project. The kid’s name is Tyler, and the project (I think, I wasn’t paying ALL that much attention at the time) is to send Flat Tyler out to friends around the country and get pictures in various places. Nancy got it and knew I was going to the Penguins game last Tuesday (Malkin 3 goals, Crosby 6 pts), and asked me to take pics of Flat Tyler at the game. So I took it one step further for the little guy, and made him a little Penguins jersey. Took the image from this page.

I copied the image multiple times into an Excel spreadsheet, sized them down to Flat Tyler’s size, and printed them out. I cut the arms off of the first jersey image to use for the body, then cut the arms off of the other image so that I could angle them on to Tyler’s arms. Then I taped the jersey together and paper-clipped the jersey onto Flat Tyler, so that the real Tyler could take it off and on and do whatever the hell he wanted with it.

So there, quickie little DIY project I wanted to share. Enjoy the pics!

P.S. Those were NOT taken from my seats! I was a “a little” further up. HAHA

Thanks RyCo40…nice job for Tyler!

This next section is a repeat from yesterday, so if you saw it then, you can feel free to skip it today. But if you didn’t, please give it a quick read. Thanks.

You may remember Kenny Ocker, the Uni Watcher who scored the fantastic interview with Casey Martin last month. Well, he’s back at the U of O and he needs your help. I’ll let Kenny explain:

Dear Uni Watch Community,

Kenny

No, thank you Kenny. What say you, fellow Uni Watchers, can you help a brother out?

That’s all for today folks. I want to thank everyone for their nice comments on yesterday’s post — looks like there will be a uni stadia watch II down the pike. If anyone wants to assist me with a column on the old ball parks, I’d love to work with you (all but Parc Jarry & Exhibition Stadium, tho — I already have a co-conspirator on those). Give me a holler. In fact, if you have any ideas for a future column, let me know. RIP, JJ

Have a great Sunday, folks. Enjoy the Pro Bowl.

Although I live in New York, I don’t watch many Jets games. Part of this is because I’m never been a Jets fan, and part of it is that I tend to watch the Giants each Sunday — one game a week is usually enough for me. But of course I watched the Jets/Chargers game two days ago, and I was surprised to see that punter Steve Weatherford had his socks pulled up over his pant cuffs (plus he wears his wedding band on the field, but we noted that in the Ticker a few years ago).

I meant to check some old photos of Weatherford to see if this was just a one-game thing, but I forgot. Then, yesterday morning, I got the following note from reader Jarrett Mattina:

Do you have any info on why the hell Jets punter Steve Weatherford pulls his socks above his knees and over his pants? He looks ridiculous. As a Jets fan, it’s embarrassing.

I asked Jarrett if this was a new thing for Weatherford, and he quickly replied, “Nothing new — he’s been doing it all year.”

In fact, it turns out that Weatherford has worn this style for four different teams in his short career. Here’s a quick timeline:

2006-07: Begins his NFL career in New Orleans, where he wears the Saints’ black-topped socks pulled up high on both of the team’s pant designs.

2008: Waived by the Saints. Signs with the Chiefs and is on their roster for 13 days, during which time he manages to wear high white socks over KC’s red pants and high red-topped socks over the white pants. Waived by the Chiefs and then signs with the Jaguars, where he goes high-hosed with both of the Jags’ pant designs.

2009: Signs with the Jets.

(And how did Weatherford wear his socks in college? It’s sort of a trick question, because he went to Illinois, which doesn’t wear full-length socks. … Wait, update! As has now been pointed out in today’s comments, he wore normal-length socks at Illinois at least once.)

The most surprising thing about all this is that it hasn’t come up here on the site before. Just another case of punters getting no respect, I guess. Personally, I’m gonna be rooting for the Colts on Sunday, but it would almost be worth it for the Jets to win, just so I can get one of my reporter friends to ask Weatherford about his socks on Super Bowl Media Day. That’d go over about as well as Jim Caple asking CC Sabathia about his pinstripes.

Speaking of this weekend’s AFC title tilt, reader James Crossman notes that there will be only three team colors on display in that game: green, blue, and white. Must be a record low, no?

IMPORTANT Membership Update: I have now set up an Amazon Payments account, which will be the new e-payment system for the membership program. If you already have a credit card registered with Amazon, it’s extremely simple to use; if you don’t, it takes only a few minutes to get set up. Complete details are now posted on the membership sign-up page.

But if you’ve been thinking about signing up, now’s the time to do it, because card designer Scott M.X. Turner is about to embark on some travels that will soon force us to stop processing new orders for at least a few weeks. We will process every order I receive by the end of tomorrow but will then take a temporary hiatus, so get crackin’. (If you choose to pay by mailing me a check, just send me an e-mail with all the particulars regarding your card design and we’ll process your order even if the payment doesn’t arrive until later.)

Research Query: Got a note yesterday from Zack Hample, better known as the guy who’s snagged over 4,000 baseballs at MLB games. In his words:

There’s a baseball scene in the movie called ‘Roommates,’ and I’m analyzing it for a book I’m writing. Among other things, I’m trying to figure out what the uniforms say.

The scene takes place in Pittsburgh in 1963, but the movie came out in 1995, and it was filmed in Indianapolis. The logos on the uniforms in this scene are weird and only partially visible — I’ve posted some screen shots on my blog.

The uniforms aren’t familiar to me, but I bet someone reading this can identify them. If so, please contact Zack directly and fill him in. Thanks.

Contest Reminder: Remember, next Friday, January 29th, is the deadline for the Cooperstown Hawkeye logo design contest. Full details here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: What’s with the gray sneakers? According to this story: “Several Wizards players decided to honor the late Martin Luther King Jr. by wearing some special gray Nikes, with red, black and green trim. The colors represent, respectively, the blood that unites people of African ancestry, the people, and the natural wealth of the continent. Andray Blatche, Dominic McGuire, Randy Foye, Earl Boykins, and Brendan Haywood all wore the shoes.” … In other NBA news, George Alfano notes that the Grizzlies wore color at home yesterday, and so did the Hawks. Was that an MLK Day thing or what? … There’s even more to the Alexander Pechurski story, which I first mentioned yesteday: He had to borrow Marc-Andre Fleury’s pads, because his own pads weren’t legal by NHL standards. Full explanation in this video clip (with thanks to Tyler Hull, who also notes that European teams are now selling ads on goalie stick blades). … Wanna dress up as a World Cup soccer ref? Here’s your chance (with thanks to James Craven). … Whoa, anyone know which Expos minor league affiliate wore this jersey? (Nice find by Jeff Barak.) … Update: Several readers have now informed me that that’s a Rockford Expos jersey. … David Ariel reports that the Buffalo hoops team has added a memorial patch in memory of former school president William Greiner. … Okay, the super-stretchy thing has officially gotten waaaay out of hand, as you can see in this high school basketball shot (with thanks to Steve Johnston). … There is soooo much to like in this old meat ad (with thanks to Steven Tatar). … As I suggested yesterday, the Cardinals’ logo does look pretty good outlined in white on a black helmet. That’s Metamora H.S. in Illinois (with thanks to Omar Sofradzija). … If you scroll down to the middle of this page, you can find Alex Gordon of the Royals discussing the team’s powder blues (with thanks to Robert Eden). … Big uni news in the Premier League, as Birmingham City has inked a £7.1m sponsorship deal with the Chinese sportswear company Xtep. “It’s the first Chinese-based company to produce kits for a Premier League club,” says Michael Orr. “The deal starts in August, so no more Umbro or F&C Investments for Birmingham’s shirts.” … Also from Michael: “Here’s a wee clip from the 1982 Scottish League Cup final between Celtic and Rangers. Check out how the Celtic players don’t have numbers on their shirts but instead have numbers on the front of one side of their shorts and on the back of the other. Very weird, never seen it before. I don’t know if that was their look for the whole season or if it was special for the Cup final.” … Jim Vilk reports that the Cactus Bowl — the D2 all-star game — was played on January 8th. “Rather no-frills-y on the unis, as you can see in this video clip, and they swap helmet stickers the way guys did in the old Blue-Gray games,” he says. “If you get the same advertisement before the video that I had, you’ll be treated to a commercial for a sporting goods place that shows cap-embroidering and screen-printing, among other things.” … Most unfortunate uni photo ever? “It’s gotta at least be in the discussion,” says Hugh McBride. … Brian Erni reports that the Islanders’ broadcast team mentioned something on the air yesterday that most of us already know: The retro alts will be the team’s full-time uni next season. … John Muir heard something uni-related during yesterday’s Isles game too: “The announcers talked about a recent practice where John Tavares had to hold up his end of a bet with Isles captain Doug Weight. It was simple: Canada wins the World Juniors, Weight wears a Canada Jersey; USA wins, Tavares dons stars and stripes. The jersey Tavares wore was the 2002 model, but it had two strange openings on the back, where the ends of the nameplate would be. Thing is, there was no remnant of a nameplate. Teams will affix velcro to the backs of jerseys during mini and training camps so nameplates can be switched out. My guess is that this was a camp jersey from ’02.” You can see more of John’s screen shots here. … What’s this? It’s a scene from a 17-minute French animated film called Logorama, which looks at the increasing role of brands in modern life. I haven’t been able to find an online source for the film itself, or even for a trailer, but there’s an interesting analysis of the film here. … Big roller derby news from the Rev. Nørb, who passed along some new uni number rules issued by the Women’s Flat Track Derby Association: “A player’s number may contain up to four characters. … A player’s number must be alphanumeric with at least one numerical digit. For example: L5 is an acceptable number, but LV is not. Numbers cannot contain symbols. … A player may have small characters preceding or following her player number on her jersey (e.g., 55 mph, where “mph” is considerably smaller than “55″). These small characters are not considered part of the skater’s number and they may not inhibit the legibility of the player’s number whatsoever. The maximum size for the small characters is two (2) inches.” Nørb explains: “This exciting and draconian rule prohibits players from using the pi symbol, question marks, integrals, words, Jesus-fish-with-Darwin-feet symbols, etc., as jersey numbers. In an unrelated matter, I thought both the Paper Dolls’ and Rollergirl Regiment’s new unis looked very nice Saturday night.” … Speaking of fringe leagues, check out this report from Coachie Ballgames: “Women’s Professional Soccer is adding two teams, the Atlanta Beat and the Philadelphia Independence, for its second season. Two truly uninspired logos.” You can see the rest of this season’s WPS jerseys here. … Here’s a great example of proto-uni-watching: a 1963 newspaper article about NFL helmets! Trevor Williams found it in the Lawrence Journal-World archives. … Even by the standards of some photos we’ve seen in the past, this photo showing the Lakers’ old color-match problems is pretty bad (with thanks to Brady Phelps). … Jared Camden wore this outfit to the OSU/Michigan game in Ann Arbor last fall. “Their fans actually enjoyed the work I put into the shirt,” he claims. “Sorry this is so late but we thought the camera was lost for a longggg time… damn drinking.” … Got a cool note yesterday from Gary Cieradkowski, the guy who designed many of the graphics at Camden Yards: “I attached a few shots of some movie prop Negro League scorecards I designed a few years ago for a film that was never made. I actually designed complete eight-page scorecards for all six Negro National League teams and a few others, like the KC Monarchs, for the 1945 season. Was a hell of a fun job and I take them out every once in a while for fun. Since the film was never made, I have a quantity of these in my attic and was thinking of selling them on eBay or something eventually.” Gary also designs his own realistic-looking baseball cards. The Babe Ruth one is his actual business card, showing the Babe as an Oriole in 1914. … Eric Snyder reports that Spanish soccer club Racing Santander is wearing some seriously whacked-out two-tone jerseys this year. “They don’t always do the full-on sock dichotomy — sometimes they wear two green socks,” he says. “But at Real Madrid they went all-out.” … Defense Secretary Robert Gates has instructed his aides at the Pentagon to stop wearing combat fatigues and switch to dress uniforms.

Have there ever been a worse helmet design match-up than last night’s Fiesta Bowl? Woof. Fortunately, the game featured a few uni-notable aspects:

• Boise State wore orange pants for the first time since the 2007 Fiesta Bowl. Although the pants had way too many gewgaws, I thought the basic white-over-orange look was really nice.

• Boise State also became the latest team to don riflery gloves.

• Speaking of gloves, I didn’t watch the halftime show, but Geoff Poole did: “The TCU band’s drum major was wearing what looked like the TCU riflery gloves. Holy crap. That’s going one step too far, if you ask me.” No photo, alas.

• A few Boise players pulled the old Nike stunt of wearing mismatched undersleeve colors. Most of them, however, went the more conventional route.

• At one point both of TCU’s No. 47s were on the screen at the same time — and Fox put up the graphic for the wrong one

• Speaking of Fox miscues, Jeron Johnson’s academic major was the subject of a rather unfortunate typo.

• It’s tough to see in this screen shot, but the folks at Nike couldn’t have been happy to see a TCU player sporting some Under Armour logo creep.

• No photos, but Zack Hickman sent me this footwear note during the game: “Both teams are wearing new cleats. Most skill position players appear to be wearing the new Nike Vapors that I was actually able to see during a focus group I was a part of. The way to tell the difference between the current 4.2 Vapors and the new Vapors is the large swoosh on the toe. Another thing: I may be mistaken, but the BSU offensive line appears to be wearing Nike Hyperdunk cleats. Basketball shoes as cleats?!” If someone more footwear-obsessed than I would like to provide some visual documentation of all this, I’ll be happy to run it tomorrow.

But the biggest surprise of the night for me was that I got quite a few e-mails that basically said, “What the hell is TCU wearing?” I guess a lot of casual fans had remained blissfully unaware of the riflery program until now. Lucky them.

(Big thanks to Chris Salove, Sam Forster, and Clark Ruhland for their screen shots.)

Signal Flare: Attention Chance Michaels, Paul Radetsky, Zach Davis
, and
 Steve Prestegard. Reader Nicole Haase would like a word with you for a project she’s working on. You can contact her here.

Research Query: Eric B. is trying to make a DIY Bronco Nagurski jersey, based on his U. of Minnesota days. “I’d love to see one of his jerseys in color,” says Eric. “Rumor is that his frat, Sigma Chi, has one of his jerseys framed. Do you have any Sigma Chi readers who could take a photo and e-mail it to me?” If you can help Eric out, e-mail him here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Georgia Tech has decided that the Orange Bowl is a great time to unveil a new jersey. Brilliant! Details here (with thanks to Bobby Sanmiguel, who says he hears there will be new pants as well). … Brandon Flowers needs to buckle up. … The old Tiger Stadium scoreboard has been moved to Wayne State (with thanks to Tom Konecny). … Aarron Stilley made these DIY pennants and gave them away as Xmas presents last month. … Cycling news from Sean Clancy, who reports that team Sky has unveiled its inaugural kit and Quick Step has a new design. He also sent along these gorgeous cycling illustrations. … Remember the old Cincy Royals logo? When Chris Chaussee got married seven years ago, he and his true love used this logo, which they put on guitar picks as party favors. … Yesterday afternoon I was at Foley’s on West 33rd, where they had an odd photo showing Seaver and Gentry in various states of undress. … Wichita State wore MTXE-era throwbacks on Sunday (with thanks to Ryan Atkinson). … Ray Emery has a new homage-driven mask design (with thanks to Matt Pesotski). … Check out this shot, sent me way by J. Sebastian Smelko. The jersey was worn by Thornton Fractional North (that’s an Illinois high school) for their rivalry game against Thornton Fractional South around 1967. Love the “Beat South” yoke. Makes me wonder how many other teams have worn special messages for their rivalry games over the years (and I don’t mean special messages concocted by Nike’s marketing team). One that comes immediately to mind is the Jolly Roger that Navy wore for the 1962 Army/Navy game. Got any others? … An item toward the end of this page indicates that Kent State football is switching to Nike (with thanks to Jody Michael). … Bizarre contribution of the day: Dave Sizer was driving through our nation’s midsection last week and spotted the Majestic logo being used by an oil-change shop. Hey, all you Majestic people reading this, give me some good inside dirt and I’ll tell you where the shop is located.

You will all recall that over the past two weekends, I had the pleasure of bringing you the participants in the “Clarksville ‘Design-A-Uniform’ Contest.” All the entries were outstanding, and it really was a labor of love hosting the contest. But we’re not quite done yet, as Coach Marc Walls has looked over each and every design, for uniforms and logos, and he’s narrowed it down to five finalists in two categories: Best Uniform and Best Logo. He’s allowed me to put his final five to a vote, and a short poll will follow the descriptions. If you want to refresh your memory, here is the full set of every submission. Click on any individual window and it will enlarge that graphic.

I will now turn the post over to Coach Walls, who’ll set up the finalists:

Hey Phil,

Wanted to chime in on those top choices you asked for. Overall comments: A really fine job done by all of the people who submitted work. Our players would be proud to wear any of your designs. One overall comment I’d like to make, is that I think some of the uniform templates some of the designers used were just fantastic. It really helped these designs come alive, and made me want to see some of the other ones the same way. It was hard to pick these few, but the criteria I used involved these factors:

Is it realistic?: Loved the off the wall submissions from some people, and our players loved seeing the multiple designs. I don’t think I’ve ever seen yellow pants for sale before though, and I think there’s a reason for that!

Is it something I can take to a uniform outfitter?: While the more professionally designed ones were great, I really enjoyed many of the submissions from the more amateur designers. I appreciate the effort because I couldn’t do any better. Unfortunately, for some, I just couldn’t print a picture and say “make me this.”

Is it unique?: Everyone wants to stand out, and for the right reason. I appreciate those uniform sets that are obviously original, because so many teams at the high school level, for budget reasons, use pretty simple designs.

Here then, in the category of “Best Uniform,” are the five finalists:

Joe Hilsberg: One thing I’m not crazy about in this set is the Capitol “C” on the grey Clarksville set. I’m not opposed to a vertical arch with a simple varsity block. Big fan of the “c-ville” logo. Not sure why. It’s kind of gimmicky, but something that would definitely be an attention getter. Overall, just a well thought out set.

Ryan Muraro: Another clean, well thought out set. Not too busy. I like the idea of the “C” logo with the “hs” inside. Plus, paired with the hat we already use, it’s obviously something that will mesh with what we’ve got going on. I like the less is more approach, and I really like the script “Clarksville.”

Steve Lastname: Is “Lastname” really Steve’s lastname? Kind of cartoonish, but I’ve always been a fan of the v-neck top like Stanford wears. I also like the “C” logo on the black jersey with the “cats” inside. Overall, a fun design. White and greys are nice and clean. I would change the “Clarksville” on the white set to the “Wildcats” wordmark on the yellow jersey. City names on the home jersey are always a pet peeve of mine. I’ve always thought you advertise who you are at home and where you’re from on the road.

Andy Altemus: I enjoy this set, and the thought put into it. I like the color set as it is, but would really like to see the set in a more “yellow” gold. I’ve always enjoyed that fancy font and number font. Simple, and effective. A great job.

Jeff Bahry: I really like the work he did on the multiple logos. Really good stuff. As far as the uniforms go, I think it’s contemporary, clean and well designed. Not too busy with the trim, which some might disagree with, but I like it. It’s a realistic uniform design.

An honorable mention to the uniform set by Kevin Callahan, which I think we would all agree was just fantastic, and the sort of throwback set that everyone would love. I loved the color combination, and would be proud to wear it. However, the design would be impossible to replicate unless we were ordering a throwback fit uniform set. But, I just wanted to give a public thanks to Kevin. Hopefully you do this type of work regularly, and if you do I’d love to see some more examples of things you’ve created.

And next are the “Best Individual Logos:”

Jeff Bahry’s logo set: Just enjoyed the overall effort of the design.

Chad Stilson – “C” logo: very creative spin on the Cubs “C” I really enjoyed it.

Ed Westfield – “C” logo with “hs” inside: One of my favorites. Really liked it on the home whites.

Kevin Connolly – Really enjoyed the whole set: the Wildcats script, the paw wrapping the ball.

Thomas Stafford – really enjoyed the “C” with the clawmark: Wasn’t crazy about the jersey font, otherwise the whole uniform set would have been a true favorite of mine

Another honorable mention to the Tennesse Flag alternate logo from David Vines: I really liked it. I thought it was clever, and something we’d love to put on as a jersey patch. A Great job.

Overall, I’m very impressed Phil. There are several of these logos and uniform sets that we’d love to use. I’d like to contact all of those people and thank them personally, and for those where we might be able to change the shade of gold, I’d like to do that as well. What I’d like to do is any time we use a logo or design for anything, we’re going to give that person a copy of their work. If we use a logo on a shirt, we’ll send them a shirt and a thank you note from our players. If it’s a hat, and so forth. We’re launching a website soon, and we’re going to give a thank you to those designers by name. If they run a business, we’ll happily advertise their business at no cost to them. However, I will request that anything we use we can have sent to us in a format that can be used to replicate. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, but if, for example, all we have of a logo is a jpeg, then the company that does our screen printing will charge an artwork fee to redraw it in their program. Saves us unnecessary fees, and really, if I’m going to pay, I’d rather pay the person whose idea it was. Thanks again for all of your hard work, and if you need any clarification on what specific design I’m talking about, feel free to ask. Thanks Phil.

Marc

No, Marc — THANK YOU! Obviously you and I aren’t quite done with this, and certainly you’ll have some business with all the participants. But now it’s time to turn it over to the readers for their say.

It’s very simple folks, and I’ll ask for your indulgence one last time. Please take a moment to vote for your favorite uniform and logo in the Clarksville Design-A-Uniform Contest. One vote each for the best uniform set and logo set, as identified above by Coach Walls.

Once again, a huge THANK YOU to Marc Walls and to each and every participant. I’ll be back to let you know the final tallys, but please know, everyone who participated is a true sport and you’re all winners.

Ahhh…the simple joy of a Sunday Benchies. Ooooohhh…and a new character too! Here’s Ricko:

Always good to “one up” the bar stud. Even if he is dumb as a box of hair. Or maybe it’s even BETTER if he’s that dumb? Hmmm…too close to call.

Enjoy your Sunday Benchies.

Our next round of NFL uniform tweaks/revisions and concepts is upon us.

We’ll get started today with Ronnie Poore, who has an interesting concept for the Panthers:

Hey,

Enjoying all the NFL tweaks being posted on the uniwatchblog. Here’s my version of the Carolina Panthers. My take is “what if the Panthers joined the AFL in 1960, what would their uniform look like?” I took away silver, but kept the light blue and black. Gave them Northwestern stripes and a plain block C helmet logo. Even though alternate jerseys weren’t a staple in the 60’s I couldn’t resist the urge to give them a light blue jersey. Whaddya think?

Ronnie Poore

Our next redesign (more of a tweak really) comes from Dave Ebert, who’s taken on da Bears:

Phil,

I’ve been an avid dropper by to your site for a long time now. I really got excited when you started talking about revising the classic NFL uniforms. My beloved Chicago Bears recent choices have really stuck in my craw. What, with the Awful hack job on their alternate orange jerseys, to the WRONG socks when they come out in “all white”. I would love to infiltrate their uniform laboratory and inject my opinions.

In the designs I threw together, I basically went back to a similar look to the 1960’s uniforms, but added a “C” to the helmet. The idea was to eliminate the white striping on all elements. (shirt sleeves, pants and helmet) oh, and of course a grey face mask. I love the way the orange looks, right up against the navy. Kind of like the Giants’ red helmet stripe. That really does it for me.

Anyway, I hope you like. If I need to become a member to get these out there, I’m thinking I might have to.

Regards

Dave Ebert

Our next set comes from Lukas Nowinsky, who wants to change both the worst (understandable) and best uniforms in the NFL, the Bills and the Packers. But he explains the Packers tweak with this:

Hey Phil,

Let me start by saying I love the Packers uniforms the way they are, and I hope they stay that way. Since all the teams seem to be getting tweaks from fans, though, I thought I’d give the Pack a hypothetical makeover. I’ve attached a new home and away version.

Once I finished my Packers tweaks I couldn’t help but try to improve some
of the worst uniforms in football, the Bills. I went back to the royal
blue, and scrapped the mono-navy they’ve been wearing.

Thanks,

Luke

Moving along, we have Joe Katz, who has done some minor tweaking (and one major tweak) on the Rams:

took the Rams uniforms and did a few minor tweaks. Mainly, I killed the all blue look, and added a all gold look (not much of better, but I really like the gold.) I figured, if you’re gonna have a all color uni, and the blue looks terrible, you might as well go with gold.

Also, I took the gold from the shoulder logo, which was lighter than the rest of the gold in the uni, and made all of the gold that lighter gold.

The other changes are here, here and here.

Thanks, Phil, keep up the good work
Joe Katz

And our last submission today comes from Amos Miller, who’s decided to take on the entire NFC North:

I set out to change up the Vikings current terrible uniforms. I ended up redesigning the entire NFC north. I attempted to incorporate some element of history into each uni redesigned.

With the Vikings I wanted to keep a “modern” look but wanted to create something a bit less cluttered then the rags they don now. I ended up with the shoulder stripe equally being two different colors. On the away uniforms I attempted to incorporate the shoulder stipes of old by adding a line of purple piping underneath the dual stripe design. Upon completeing all I could think of was the Rams current Unis, but I liked them enough that I kept it.

I next set out to give a team pinstripes because I thought it would be novel. I ended up with the Bears due to their history in vertical stripes (‘94 throwbacks and 20’s leather). I threw in the bears claw mark pants for shits and giggles. I began to feel as thought I was redesigning the Broncos so on the away set I put the old iconic sleeve strips.

With the Packers I couldn’t really think of a way to include the old uni elements, so I just started pasting in a bunch of modern stripes and other junk. I later decided to put shoulder yokes in with an attempt the somewhat match the ‘94 throwbacks.

With the Lions I began by looking at some only logos, I of course found the White lion on two vertical stripes of blue and silver. The colors on the logo where slightly darker than the colors used now. I used the two stripe motif across the uni and replace the white lion with the modern logo they introduced at the beginning of this year.

Oh, and in response to your post about D2 football programs, being that my hometown is Bemidji, MN I can tell you that it’s pronounced something like Buh-MIh-gee.

Really enjoying the Uni Tweak section every Sunday.

Have a good one,

Amos Miller

OK, that’s it for this round of Uni Tweaks. I still have several more, and they keep pouring in, so keep them coming. Obviously, this is a pretty popular feature, and I have to say, some of the submissions have been absolutely outstanding.

Now that the NCAA football season has basically concluded, I’ve asked our man in the street, Jim Vilk, to come up with a season ending “Best Ten and Worst Five” college football uni matchups, spanning the entire season. Remember, these are his opinions, so be sure to hurl any vitriol in Jim’s direction. Let’s see what he came up with:

10. Temple/Penn State — Rectifying a rookie mistake — I completely left this beauty off my second-ever list…

9. Duke/Kansas — Almost like watching the Manning brothers face off, eh?

8. UCLA/Tennessee — I always thought this matchup would be good in a bowl game.

7. LSU/Georgia — One of the brightest games of the year.

6. Oklahoma/Texas — Beauty in simplicity.

5. Texas/Nebraska — I didn’t wait for the clock to almost tick to zero — I picked this matchup very quickly…

4. Indiana/Michigan — For some reason, I can hear Billy Crystal’s Fernando saying, “It’s better to look good than to feel good.”

3. Tulane/SMU — I like a good horsey helmet and I like green/blue unis, so this matchup is a worthy finalist.

2. LSU/Ole Miss — See the description for matchup #5.

1. UCLA/USC — Too bad the game wasn’t as stellar as it looked.

And Jim’s Absolute 5 Worst:

5. Ball State/Eastern Michigan — I have this thing against all-green teams on a green field.

4. Virginia Tech/Maryland – One over-hyped uni plus one well-intentioned tribute equals one mess.

3. Oregon/Arizona — One has almost no school colors, the other has a bit too many.

2. Tennessee State/Florida A&M — Well, at least it wasn’t monochrome…

1. San Jose State/Boise State — I also have this thing against all-blue teams (in really goofy unis) on a blue field.

I wanted to nominate Oregon/Boise State instead, but that pre-dated the lists (and I think Phil would have overruled me anyway).

Phil here. Thanks, Jim. How FAMU/TSU can only rank as the second worst game baffles me. And how you could possibly even think I’d let you put the Oregon Storm Troopers as a “worst” also boggles the mind. But a nice job with the rest of the list. Can’t say I agree with all your choices, but your quips are good.

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Back to the pros today for a gridiron riddle. Although you can only see a partial scoreboard, that shouldn’t make much difference — either you know this game, or you don’t. Please try to find a link and post the link in the comments. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!

As we begin counting down the days till the Rose Bowl, I’m going to be joined by tOSU’s biggest fan Larry Bodnovich and the man who’s been bringing you the Ducktracker all season long, Michael Princip, in a weekly look at some fun Ohio State University and University of Oregon factoids, uni histories and other fun stuff. Larry, of course, will be tackling the Buckeyes, and Michael will handle the Ducks.

We’ll begin with Larry today. He found out a fascinating little nugget about tOSU’s Heisman Trophy winning running back, Archie Griffin.

I was looking though the All-American teams from Playboy. I came to 1975 and see “Archie Griffin” is not the real Archie Griffin. It is also funny how the only guy wearing white is the fake Archie. I do know that Woody Hayes would not let his players take part in the Playboy shoot. A year or so before John Hicks and Randy Gradishar were on the team. But the pics of those 2 look photshopped or airbrushed or whatever they did back then.

I got a kick out of seeing this fake Archie Griifin. I do not know who the guy is. I posted that on an OSU board and one guy said it looked like Greg Hines. But Hines was a lanky guy.

Thanks Larry. I gotta agree…our mystery man is probably not Gregory Hines. Great stuff. And now, on to Michael’s contribution.

In the spirit of the Ducktracker, I simply present to you Michael Princip’s “Ducks In The Rose Bowl” history. Unis and history all wrapped into one — be sure to click on all the stuff (including rare pictures and video) that’s in there — it’s an AMAZING job.

I learned this week that the Ducks weren’t always called the Ducks, their school colors were once green and yellow, and they have only been in the Rose Bowl a total of four times — 1917, 1920, 1995, and the 1958 game, which featured tOSU against UO — it’s a rematch that’s been in the making for 52 years. And it’s what we’re counting down to in the next few weeks.

Thanks Larry & Michael! Can’t wait to see what you have for us next week.

Couple last things before the wrap — there seemed to be enough interest in a “College Football Pool” for the Bowl games, but I haven’t worked out the details yet. Well, that, and I haven’t found someone who’s proficient enough at the setup to have a contest ready today. I’m hoping today to make that happen. If not, perhaps Paul can make an announcement during the week. If I get it set up, I’ll post the link back in the main article.

Keep the “rename the Winter Classic” slogans coming. Personally, I happened to like “Pond Bond,” but that’s just me. Lets see if we can’t throw a few more out there.

And now, we’re done. Thanks to Marc Walls for his input on the Clarksville Wildcats Uniform contest. Once again, if you haven’t already please take a minute to vote in the poll. It’s only two choices, so it shouldn’t take you more than a few seconds. Congrats to all the “finalists” and one more big thanks to everyone who participated. Great stuff all.

Have a Super Sunday.

And, finally, today we visit the last round of entries for the “Design-A-Uniform” contest for the Clarksville Wildcats. As with the previous three rounds, we have another outstanding set today. The last two entries, you will notice, are not in alphabetical order — one was received last weekend (as the first entries were being run) and the other was my fault, as I had received the entry but neglected to post it in proper order. So, those two will appear at the end of this entry. I believe I was able to upload every single entry sent my way, but if you sent me something that DID NOT appear, please contact me with your submission and I’ll make sure it gets to Coach Walls (and I’ll run it in a future column). So, lets take a look-see at the final entries:

Dylan Visvikis: submission

First and foremost, thank you for considering my submission.

I used the Rawlings Uniform Builder and took some screenshots.

This uni set is designed for a classic high school look with a modern twist–the “cougar head” logo, featured on the shoulder sleeves of the Home Whites, Road Grays, Blackouts, and the CHS Purples. It is featured on the chest of the Gold Alternates. The logo is outfitted with two of the five team colors, each depending on its surrounding jersey.

Home Whites: Self-explanatory.

Road Grays: Again, self-explanatory.

The “Blackout” Alternate Uniform: Can be paired with the pictured white pants or the Alternate Black Pants. This uni is for night games.

TWO ALTERNATE UNI OPTIONS:

Gold Alternates: The logo-centric option, can also be paired with alternate black pants.

CHS Purple Alts: The CHS option.

Adam Walter: submission

Phil,

Amateurish at best…but actually kinda happy how they turned out.

I attached both the new logo as well as the uniform line-up (both in .jpg form). Have a good one.

Adam Walter

Daniel Washburn: submission

I am far too lazy to come up with a complete uni set, but here is a black alt vest set that I put together quick with what was floating around in my head while reading about it. The idea is that the paw is scratching through the vest to show the undershirt. With the pants I wanted to continue that theme by purchasing black pants and then cutting the stripe with a knife. Don’t hem the edges, so they have a frayed look, and then sew a strip of yellow inside the pants. That is my outside of the box part.

20 years with the Cubs hat logo? Time to give the Good Guys their due.

Geoffrey Waterman: submission

Hey!

I might have a few more (like an away or something) on the way, but here’s what I have so far.

Two versions of home uniforms, and a logo in three colors that could go on a hat. Thanks! Take care!

Sincerely,

Geoffrey Waterman

Michael Watson: submission

For Clarksville High. First time trying this, only have sorry MS Paint to work with… this was fun.

Michael Watson

Ed Westfield: submission

Phil,

My submissions for Clarksville HS baseball

Thanks!

-Ed

Mark Wilkes: submission

Here are my contributions to the contest.

Same interlocking logo design for CHS applied to two different uni sets with and withough gold outline. Did not use the Cubs “C” – why copy, be original! Same cap for both sets as I felt the two tone cap was needed to get some of the gold in and balance the purple.

CHSa – more traditional, minimalist approach to uni. Exception would be the use of yellow sanitary socks to add color/contrast and balance use of gold in cap (only works if the players show their stirrups of course)

CHSb – more contemporary without being over the top. Uses CHS logo with gold outline to help balance stronger use of purple on sleeves.

Thanks for the opportunity to contribute. I would welcome other opportunities like this (even if it means “devaluing” the design profession – which I am in).

Mark Wilkes

Wesley Willis: submission

Dear Phil,

Here are my three submissions for the uniform contest. Today, I am presenting a home uniform (mostly gold and purple), an away uniform (mostly white and gold), and an alternate (black and gold with purple pinstripes). I hope the UniWatch community likes what I have to show them, and I thank you and all involved for your consideration.

Warmly,
Wes

Vinny Bove: submission

Here’s my Clarksville uniform submission. Purple and yellow (that’s right, Packer and Steeler fans, it’s ‘yellow,’ not ‘gold’) are notoriously difficult colors to work with, and it was a challenge to come up with something that was both new and classic. In the end, I created a few different versions of the main logo (including a ‘CHS’ version), as well as two different versions of both the home and away unis.

The ‘C-cat’ logo is based off of the actual Chicago Cubs ‘C.’ I traced it, then added all the cat elements on top.”

Joe DeAngelis: submission

Hello Phil,

My designs have hints of classic uniforms (NYY & LAD) and a modern looking alternate vest jersey that I think would look great over a black T-shirt. The alternate cap is black based featuring a “wildcats” claw as a secondary logo.

Thank You
Joe DeAngelis

Well, that’s the final round of the Clarksville Design-A-Uniform contest. And a great bunch of submissions on which to end the weekend. As with the other three batches, please let the artists know what you think, and give them all a standing round of applause for their efforts!

As I had previously mentioned, now Coach Walls will review all the submissions, and I believe he’ll be narrowing down his (and his team’s) favorites in both the caps and the uniforms, which we’ll then put to a non-binding vote of the readership. Each and every one of them has been outstanding in its own right. If by some chance (and knowing me, it’s a decent chance) you sent me a submission and I didn’t include it, please send it to me again (a couple of the submissions actually got sent to my spam folder, and while I do check it to make sure there isn’t spam in there, it’s also possible one or two got through that i just missed). I’ll make sure Coach Walls sees them and I’ll include your design(s) in a future column. If you didn’t send me your design, the contest is officially closed, but I expect we’ll have another contest in the future.

Thanks again to everyone who participated! This turned out to be a LOT of work for me, but it was indeed a labor of love. The designs presented in the past two weeks lend me to believe that contests such as this do NOT devalue the work of true graphic designers, but they better stay on their toes, right? Great stuff all.

Nice, fresh, new color Benchies today. And the author himself to set it up. Here’s the Rick:

“Always good the learn new things, right? Never too old to be a jock, right? Grab life like it’s a flask of Peppermint Schnapps and take a big ol’ hit on it…”

Thanks Ricko. Enjoy your Sunday Benchies.

UW stalwart Ryan Connelly, whom you may remember more for his DIY failures than his DIY successes, is busy with more projects. He recently made a cameo appearance at Sheep Station in Brooklyn, and shot me an E-mail updating me on his newest “project” — a “Uni Watch wall.” What’s that you say? I’ll let Ryan explain:

My dining room wall is being taken over by UniWatch…

I framed my Pittsburgh sports mash-up, my Swisshelm Express logo, and my Invaders disaster. (Closeups can be seen here and here.) The framing turned out better than i thought it would…

Great stuff. Now, if you read the second article (and I know you did), you’ll also remember that Ryan had painted his family’s shed to look like an old Mail Pouch barn. Well, RyCo just finished his latest mail pouch barn last month and sent along those pics for us to enjoy.

Thanks Buddy! Awesome job too. Keep up the DIY’ing.

More uniform designs from the readership today. Some shorter descriptions, but the product is just a great as ever. If you would like to submit a uniform redesign for your team(s), please shoot me an E-mail and put in the subject line “Uniform Tweaks for (your team[s]“). Thanks.

Our first redesign today comes from Michael Weinbaum, who has a design concept for the Jags:

I’m a Jags fan (yes we exist) and I know you said you don’t like their new uniforms. I agree that there are a few problems with them, but I think that the road look is much worse off than the home look. You can barely see the thin stripe on the black pants, and the teal borders on the names and numbers never shows up, not even with hi-def TV. With that said, the Jaguars will be wearing black numbers with a teal border on the road for the next 5 years. For the next 5 years, the road jersey will have a thin snakey-thing so the road pants might as well have it too. So what minor change can be made to make this uniform ‘pop’ in a good way, both on TV and in person? See attached picture.

I believe that black pants are always going to look terrible, and I note that the Saints no longer wear them and the Ravens are phasing them out. There is a chance that teal pants might be a better look for the Jags, but that’s a thought for another day. One thing is for certain, as bad as black pants look in football, they look much much worse when mated to black-top socks. Thus my change. The Jags could start wearing these in a matter of weeks if they wanted too, whereas new jerseys will take 4 more years and new pants at least a year. Hope you like it, hope it earns a mention in your blog, hope they start wearing these after you publish this photo.

Our next tweak comes from Ron Verrecchio, who has a simple solution for the Ravens:

Just a quick fix for the away uni. Changed the helmet stripes to match the new pants stripe.

Next up is Mike Hass, who has a couple different suggestions for the Steelers:

A couple of days ago I sent you my suggestion for a team (the Steelers) that needs a Uni Tweak. I listed my problems with their current uni, and explained how I would fix them. After thinking about it awhile, I really wanted to see what the new uni would look like, so I just designed it myself. Since I was only tweaking the current uni, I was done after an hour or two. I’ve attached what I came up with, and you can do with it what you will. I think it’s a subtle change, but looks way better.

Just to recap the changes I made. Before (current) and After (new uniforms):

• Block style numbers replace the italic san serif numbers.
• Black outline removed from NOB.
• Yellow stripes with thin black outlines changed to solid yellow, black, and white stripes.
• Stripe pattern added to socks as well.
• White inner stripe added to ultra thick black stripe on pants.
• Yellow added to collar.

And that’s about it. Enjoy!

Moving along, we have Emanuel Caros, who had some ideas for fixing the Browns:

Phil,

As a means of putting off studying for my law school finals, I figured that I would try and update the Cleveland Browns uniform like a few people did in your last post.

I found a mock-up of a Bowling Green uniform and used it as my basis, adding logos (which i’m sure everyone at uni-watch hates that there are 4 different logos on one uni, but I think since they’re small, they come out as cool little details as opposed to obnoxious), changing the colors, and elongating the shoulder stripes so that they wrap around the entire arm. The helmet logo is supposedly one that was made in 1965 but never used; it looks surprisingly modern to have been made so long ago. I also added matching stripes to the originally solid white socks.

I like a dark/light brown contrast so I wanted to mess around with that two-tone look that comes about when players sweat, a la North Carolina’s kit, but all my ideas seemed too cheesy (“BROWNS” appearing on the side panel). Also, in attempting to be as realistic as possible, I realize that it doesn’t say “Cleveland” anywhere, but I couldn’t find a place for it without compromising my values in regard to uniform designs (I hate tiny words under the neckline!) and so it probably looks a bit too “college football.”

Anyway, I hope you like the result. Have a good one.

Today’s penultimate concept comes from David Sonny, who has some thoughts on how to redesign the Bengals:

Okay, so I did this a while back to show certain people that a return to the past is not always a bad thing. This is just a mix of the 80’s and late 90’s uniforms with a little modern twist. I only did one color, obviously the white would just be an inverted version as would an alternate orange, so I left it as is. The mock ups only take around 30-45 minutes, but why spend the time when people can use their imaginations?

And that is how I see the Bengals uniforms if they decided to go back to revisit the past.

Enjoy.

And today’s last set of tweaks come from Mike Forman, who has a couple changes for the Bills and Eagles:

Tweaked the Bills logo by gimping that lame motion eyeball streaky thingy from the current one (here’s how it looks with a new uniform). Also removed a lot of unnecessary black from the Eagles duds. Thanks.

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Another reader submission today, this one comes from Brian Bennett, and it may be a doozy. That’s probably because you won’t find a link to it. But it does have a date, location and final score. Put on your thinking caps today, boys and girls, because this one may take some thinkin’. You can probably find something on the web that will indicate you got the game. Confused? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!

Our man in the street, Jim Vilk, brings you his “Top 5″ Best and one WORST college football uni matchup from Saturday’s games:

A posthumous honorable mention to a matchup we won’t see anymore, Hofstra/Northeastern — Somewhere, Wayne Chrebet is shedding a tear and Dan Ross is looking down with a sense of melancholy.

5. New Hampshire/Villanova — ‘Nova looks good anytime, but throw in some snow and a decent opponent and you have a Top Fiver.

4. Oregon State/Oregon — Yeah, it’s from Thursday, but it was a really slow week.

3. Florida/Alabama– Would have been ranked higher with normal unis.

2. West Virginia/Rutgers — My color palette special of the day.

1. Texas/Nebraska — Pithy comments not needed — just look at them and enjoy.

And the WORST matchup: New Mexico State/Boise State — I’d love to see the Broncs bust the BCS…but not in these unis.

Where’s Your Messiah Now? Well, it was a tough day for the Gators, falling 16-33 13-32 to Bama, to lose the SEC championship. This of course, sent my BCS predictions into a tizzy…couple that with frantic finishes from Cincy and Texas, and the whole kit-and-kaboodle almost went up in flames. Texas still isn’t a lock, but if not the Horns versus the Tide, then who? Horney Toads? Boise? Bearcats?

Nope. Gotta go with Texas, who IMHO got royally screwed out of a shot at the BCS last year, to meet Alabama. The rest of the bowls, kind of a crap shoot…anyway…the BCS predictions (they’ll be announced today at 8:00 pm EST on FOX) … check back then to see if I nailed ‘em. Here goes:

BCS Championship: Alabama vs. Texas

Fiesta Bowl: TCU vs. Iowa

Rose Bowl: Ohio State vs. Oregon

Sugar Bowl: Florida vs. Boise State

Orange Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Georgia Tech

Tough calls this year…and I’ll probably be wrong…but those are my calls and I’m sticking with ‘em. Feel free to disagree or make your own predictions below.

And as for the Heisman, the three finalists will be announced Monday during the 6:00 showing of ESPN’s SportsCenter, so I’ll make my picks now as well. Did Timmy’s meltdown yesterday affect his chances? How about Coy’s last minute save and a beaut? What about that kid from Stanford? Or maybe that kid from ‘bama… I can’t see Tebow winning it again, but he’s still gonna be tough to leave out of the top 3. I thought at the beginning of the year Colt would win, and nothing he’s done this year has led me to change that. So, that’s two finalists. Who’s my third…hmmm.

Gonna go with these three: Tim Tebow, Florida; Colt McCoy, Texas; and … drumroll … Toby Gerhart, Stanford. Real tough to leave out Mark Ingram, especially after he showed Tim Tebow who’s his daddy in the SEC Championship. If anyone sneaks ahead of Tebow, Ingram’s it.

OK, everyone, that’s it for today. Thanks to everyone who participated in the Clarksville Design-A-Uniform contest. Coach Walls will have some tough choices. I believe we’ll be doing a poll to have you, the readers, pick YOUR choice for the best uni and the best logo, next weekend, but that’s dependent upon Marc. No matter what, though, there will be a new uniform poll.

Special HAPPY BIRTHDAY wishes to out to the man who brings you those polls, James T. Huening, who turns a year older today. Have a good one, JTH. Cheers.

Everyone have a Super Sunday.

Today we begin with Round III of the Clarksville “Design-A-Uniform” Contest, with a plethora of superb entries. If you missed the first two rounds (or just want to refresh your memory or see the parameters), click here and here. Lots to get to today, so lets dig right in:

Amy Preston: submission

Hello,

I’ve been following Uni Watch for at least a year now, and although I don’t comment, I find it all very interesting. The opportunity to redo a uniform for a baseball team combined my two favorite things – design and baseball. This was by far the most fun thing I’ve ever had the opportunity to create!

With that being said, here are my submissions for the Design-A-Uniform Contest. Attached are a home white with “Wildcats” on the front, an away gray with “Clarksville”, and and alternate black (hey, he asked for it!) top that works with both pant bottoms with a “CHS” logo I came up with. I also came up with a new Wildcat logo that I think would work well for the school.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask. Thanks so much for the opportunity!!

Amy Preston

Michael Princip: submission

Phil, here ya go. My first attempt at designing a baseball uniform, and specifically a high school baseball uniform. Not much to say here really except I tried to stay old school with the fonts ‘CHS’ wordmark etc. It also looks like my subliminal inspiration, for the logo, came from vintage East India? ;o) This was fun.

Paul Radetsky: submission

Phil:

Just forgot to get this to you, hope it’s not too late.

Thanks.

Paul Radetsky

Ricky Roy: submission

hi, attached are my designs for the contest
i have a White home, a gray road, and purple one and a black one that could be worn as home or away.
also attached is the logo used for the hat and the black uniform
thanks,

R.Roy

Matt Sajna: submission

Phil,
I hope this email isn’t too late. Just wanted to send in a logo that I thought up for Clarksville High School. I put it onto some hats to. Hope you like it.

-Matt Sajna

Andrew Schroeer: submission

Hi,

I realize this is being submitted after the unofficial deadline; I hope it is not TOO late!

I like old-school designs and scripts, so that’s the direction I took this in.

Attached are submissions for the hat and a chest logo (a la the Detroit Tigers); I didn’t have time to flesh out the full uni, but I would imagine it would have piping like the Tigers jersey, and that’s it (gotta have piping at the end of the sleeves, too!).

Version 1 (CHS) was aimed at the request for a black hat that incorporates the purple.

CHS_alt is also aimed at the black hat, but without the offending purple. If purple had to be incorporated somehow, it could be somewhere on the shirt or it could be on the bill (not that you would, but you could).

CHS_alt_2 is to show the new CHS insignia with the current cap’s color scheme.

The CHS_Unis in their various guises are fairly self-explanatory, I think.

Again, I hope this isn’t too late!

Thanks for a great website, and a great contest!

- Andrew

Thomas Stafford: submission

Hello gentlemen,

Attached is my entry, please let me know your thoughts. Thanks.

Have a good one.

Thomas Stafford

Chad Stilson: submission

Thank you so much for extending the time. I hope the Clarksville High School likes my designs.

Thanks!

Chad B. Stilson

Ben Traxel: submission

Hello Phil,

Thanks for another fun assignment! A little bit about my submittal, I started by looking up some quick history about Clarksville but didn’t find anything that really struck my eye from a uni standpoint. Looked over the school district website but still came up blank. Since the mascot is not incredibly unique I had nothing there either! Well, I went to Creamer’s website and looked up every college that used Wildcats as their name and checked out the options. Davidson seemed to have my favorite but I really didn’t want to do anything that detailed (call me lazy). So I just started messing with a C and seeing what I could come up with. Tried the paw thing but seemed overdone. Ended up with the Cat Eye in the center of a modified Reds/Bears C. Didn’t turn out too bad so I ran with it. Then I worked on the unis. The whites (actually cream) after a while ended up wanting to be single colored. I think the old style really came off nice. Stuck a generic C on the hat just because it seemed to go with that particular design. The grays and yellows are other design options as well. Anyway, I’m sure there will be plenty of tough competition but very glad to participate.

I worked some more on the Clarksville project and came up with a second set. Put some teeth in the C logo among other changes. Limited my use of purple as I know it is not a favorite of a lot of people, though being a Kansas State Alum it doesn’t bother me much (for bias reasons obviously!). Since the football coach likes black I mocked up some football unis and made black a large part of the design.

Thanks again.

Ben Traxel

David Vines: submission

Hey, I’m David and I’m a student interested in graphic design. Below is a short description about each of the uniforms I designed and some of the styles that inspired them. Hope you like ‘em.

Primary Logo: A simple, clean, purple paw with a thin gold outline.

Alternate Logo: The three-paw “flag” alternate logo is modeled to reflect the state flag of Tennessee, with the stars on the flag being replaced by the school’s paw logo. This patch appears with gold paws and a purple backdrop, but these colors can be inverted.

Home Whites: These are easily my favorite of the bunch with the gold letters, purple pinstripes, and the primary paw logo as a sleeve patch. It’s very important that the stripes are as thin and as dark as possible on this jersey. There are also purple socks along with a purple belt, which I think is a nice final touch.

Road Greys: Grey uniforms with “Clarksville” written across the front and purple piping along the uniform. Sleeve patch, hat, and socks are the same as the home uniform.

Purple Alternates: Solid purple jerseys with gold sleeve piping and the “Wildcats” wordmark across the front with a black outline. It’s notable that the purple on the jersey is slightly lighter and the jersey’s wordmark is slightly more yellow than it appears on the other unis. These uniforms also need their own set of white pants, because the home pinstriped pants on a non-striped jersey would look like crap.

Black Alternates: Since your coach is asking for a black set, I created this alternate and a new cap to go along with it. The jersey has the letters “CHS” across the front, purple piping, and it goes with either grey or white pants. The most notable change on the uniform comes on the sleeve patch, where the three-paw “flag” logo is used instead of the primary paw logo.

Primary Hat: This cap features CHS Script logo in purple over a gold background, a purple brim, and a purple squatchee. The three-paw alternate logo is used as a patch on the side of the cap.

Alternate Hat: This hat is intended to be worn with the black jerseys, but can also serve some double duty with the gray roadies if you so choose. Similar to the Red Sox new alternate caps, this one features your team’s primary logo on the front over a black background, with a purple brim and squatchee to boot. What makes this makes this hat stand out are the small uniform numbers that are sewn onto the left side of the cap. I love football helmets with numbers on them (Alabama, Chargers throwbacks) and even though they are rarely if ever seen in baseball, I figured why not give it a try, especially since the black uniforms are the only ones with a numberless front.

Well, we’ve now completed Round III of the Design-A-Uniform contest. Yet another stellar round of submissions from all involved. Make sure you heap plenty of praise upon those who submitted their designs, as this was another fantastic batch. Our final round will be tomorrow, after which I believe Coach Walls will be making some of his final decisions, and we’ll put the finalists to a vote. Stay tuned!

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, as I’m sure you’re all aware, WON the Civil War last Thursday evening, at Autzen Stadium, defeating the Oregon State Beavers, and in the process, earning a trip to the 2010 Rose Bowl against tOSU. Fantastic game was the Civil War, with the Ducks donning a “hybrid throwback/modern” uni set. Be sure to click on each of Mike’s graphics in the “Ducktracker” for pictures of each uniform combination the U of O has worn this season. He’s got some neat stuff in there, so poke around. Special thanks to Mike for providing updates for me and the UW board immediately following each game. It’s been a fun “ride” so far, with one more stop on New Year’s Day.

Here’s Your Updated Ducktracker

Uni Watch CFL Fan and my buddy, Mike Styczen, who assisted me with some interesting trademark explanations (and with whom I plan on teaming up for a mega-post in the future), has done an outstanding bit on the Grey Cup, which is basically Canada’s equivalent of the Lombardi Trophy/Super Bowl. We had originally planned on having this run last Sunday, but because of the language barrier (I don’t speak Canadian), it was delayed until today. But, trust me, it’s well worth the wait. So, here’s Mike. — PH

The Grey Cup

By Mike Styczen

The 97th Grey Cup was played last Sunday between the western champion Saskatchewan Roughriders and the eastern champion Montréal Alouettes. The game was played at at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta — the end zone logo at the bottom of the photo is for the Calgary Stampeders, and at the top for the University of Calgary, who share McMahon with the Stampeders.

It was an exciting game, coming down to the last two plays. Montréal came back from 16 points down in the last 11 minutes, and with no time on the clock and Montréal down 2, Montréal kicker Damon Duval missed a 43 yard field goal. Saskatchewan wins! But wait – Saskatchewan is flagged for too many men on the field (13 instead of the regulation 12), and Duval kicks it through from 33 yards. Montréal wins 28-27!

Halftime entertainment was provided by Blue Rodeo, a reasonably innocuous Toronto pop-country band.

It was Montréal’s second win since 2000, against five losses in that time. Saskatchewan last won in 2007.

A little history about the Grey Cup itself:

The Grey Cup was originally donated in 1909 by Albert Grey (the Governor General of Canada and the grandson of the man for whom Earl Grey tea is named), to be awarded to the top amateur football team in Canada. For many years the trophy was awarded to a variety of amateur, military and university teams (including last Saturday’s Vanier Cup champions Queen’s Golden Gaels three times in the 1920s). From the 1950s onward, the Grey Cup was contested only among professional teams, and since the founding of the Canadian Football League in 1958, the trophy has been awarded to the CFL champion.

In one of the nicest traditions in sport, the Grey Cup is brought onto the field by Mounties in their red serge uniforms to be presented to the winning team. This year, in a bit of a twist, the Grey Cup was brought through the stands to the field.

The Saskatchewan Roughriders are known for their rabid following. “Rider Nation” is known for following their team to road games in western Canada, dressing entirely in green, and (you couldn’t make this up) carving watermelons to wear as helmets or lingerie. Also remember that, for the World Junior hockey championships coming up in Saskatoon and Regina next spring, Team Canada is wearing a special green jersey to honour Saskatchewan fans and the Roughriders. Calgary has a large population of Saskatchewan expats and Regina is only 7 hours away by car, so the city was full of green, the stands at McMahon were full of green, and the city was actually sold out of watermelon last week.

The Riders home jersey is among the nicest in the league, green with a bit of black and white trim, worn with silver pants. The road jersey is a mirror image of the home jersey and is worn with green pants. This year, as part of the CFL’s “retro” year honouring the 1960s, they’ve been wearing a beautiful green throwback jersey with grey pants and a 1960s helmet logo, as well as a white alternate jersey with a different throwback helmet.

The Alouettes have a spotty history. The team was an original member of the CFL, moved into the weirdest stadium ever built (Autostade) in the 1960s and then Olympic Stadium in the 1970s. They made a splash signing NFL talent they couldn’t afford in the late 1970s and folded in 1982. The team was immediately reborn as the Montréal Concordes (owned by Expos founder Charles Bronfman), were renamed the Alouettes in 1986, and folded again at the beginning of the 1987 season.

The current Alouettes were founded in 1994 in Baltimore as part of the CFL’s ill-fated U.S. expansion, won the 1995 Grey Cup, and then moved north to Montréal with the move of the Cleveland Browns to Baltimore in 1996. They moved back to Olympic Stadium as the Alouettes and struggled at the gate for the first two seasons. In the fall of 1997, a scheduled U2 concert forced the Alouettes to move a playoff game to Percival Molson Stadium at McGill University in downtown Montréal at McGill University. The move to the smaller, more intimate venue caused a surge in interest in the team which has lasted to this day. The Alouettes now play their first 8 home games each year at Molson Stadium and their final home game and all playoff games at Olympic Stadium.

The Alouettes have an odd if memorable uniform. Red, white, blue, silver, black, I couldn’t tell you what their primary colour is. The home uniform is primarily red and the road uniform is primarily white, and this year they’ve also worn a blue alternate jersey, and a black alternate jersey. They’ve got red pants, blue pants and silver pants and I can’t figure out what gets worn with what, other than that they don’t wear monochrome. Twice this year as part of the retro year, they wore a sweet red throwback with white pants and an awesome white helmet.

Here’s one interesting quirk – the Canadian Football League is also known as the Ligue Canadienne de Football and has two official abbreviations: CFL (english) and LCF (french) with corresponding league logos. All teams wear a league patch at the base of their collars: the seven teams outside Québec wear a CFL patch and the Alouettes wear an LCF patch.

The Alouettes wore their usual white road jersey for the Grey Cup with blue pants and Saskatchewan wore grey pants with a new throwback jersey (similar to the throwback jerseys mentioned above, but with Colts-style shoulder stripes instead of sleeve stripes. Both teams wore advertising patches for Rona (a Canadian home improvement chain) and for Celebrex (arthritis medicine). There’s a much larger gallery of photos on the cfl’s web site.

It was a great week, lots of fun parties, a cool parade, lots of green, good weather, and a close game to top it off. Uni-wise, Saskatchewan was the clear winner with the throwbacks, it would have been nice if Montreal had broken out white versions of the throwbacks they wore during the season, but still the game looked very nice.

Phil here. AWESOME job with that Mike. For many of those in the US who not only couldn’t be at the game, but couldn’t even WATCH it, this was an extra special treat.

But wait! Uni Watch “screen grab general” and master “colorizer” Larry Bodnovich (who also assisted me with a column earlier this year) also has some amazing screen grabs he wants to share, and which put a perfect capper on this section.

Check out Larry’s magnificent screen grabs for a history of the Grey Cup, as well as a history of both Saskatchewan and Montreal in the CFL.

Had enough CFL yet? If not, you can always check out this column I co-authored with Hockey Wing President & 13th Man Teebz earlier this year, on the “defunct” American teams in the CFL’s ill-fated expansion south of the border.

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Another reader submission today, this one comes from Danny Wittels, and its neither a major sport nor from the United States, so I’m gonna have to rate the difficulty as “high”. Although, for those of you who follow sports outside of the United States, it may not be so difficult. As always, if possible, please try to find a LINK that includes the date, location, teams and final score. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!

Alrighty, Ricko’s got a new Benchies today, and I’ll let him do the honor of introducing it. Here’s the Rick:

“Ah, Friday nights. Such big plans. Such optimism. Come Saturday, though, your friend wants to know how it went. You can say something vague. Make him think… Aw, hell, better to just explain how life makes your head spin…”

Thanks Ricko. Enjoy your Saturday Benchies.

Lukas In The News: In case some of you missed it in the comments section yesterday, UW Prexy Paul Lukas was featured in a fantastic piece in Newsday, which is a pretty big paper in the NYC/LI area. Now, the article is “subscriber” only, but since I’m also an Optimum Online customer, I get the whole article. For those of you who can’t read past the first few lines, here’s the relevant portions:

Nike mostly threw history and lore out the window in favor of drumming up retail sales. By putting “a visual signifier on a dozen different teams,” as sports uniform maven Paul Lukas pointed out in a telephone interview, “you’re creating a cross-branding thing. By doing that, you’re saying that individual teams and schools are not what matters. You’re creating a new team. Team Nike.”

Lukas readily acknowledges occupying “a very geeky niche” in “obsessing” – his word – over sports uniforms with his on-line uniwatch blog and similar Uni Watch column for ESPN.com. But he is not alone, generating comments from readers as numerous and passionate as arguments over polls and the BCS bowl system.

“People who care about uniforms care a lot about uniforms,” he said. “They care about the visual aspect of sports. They care about logos. They care about team colors.”

Those logos and colors facilitate a team-follower association, while the Nike culture is “the retail tail wagging the on-field dog” situation, as Lukas put it, in which “the first question you now ask [about team uniforms] is, ‘How is this going to sell at the team shop or at Modells?’

“In sports, especially college sports where players change so much – in four years a whole new roster – what is constant? What are you rooting for? It’s that uniform and that logo. If you change the design, it’s jarring. You’re messing with something people feel very strongly about.”

“It’s interesting what is happening in college sports, and especially college football,” Lukas said. “It used to be that the sportswear companies did what the schools told them to do. Now it’s the other way around and Nike, especially, gives the marching orders. The outfitter somehow supersedes the school, and has unfortunately been successful with turning the proper relation of team-and-outfitter on its head.

“To my mind, it’s an honor for Nike to be making the uniforms for a school. But they’re a retailer as well and an outfitter, marketing to younger fans who buy this stuff. So you’ve got a 18-year-old sensibility driving what hundreds of thousands, really millions of fans and alumni, have to look at. Basically, the inmates are running the asylum.

“This is part of the larger video-game-ization of sports, the superhero-ization of sports. When you use terms like ‘pro combat,’ you have these fantasy teams and the players become like comic-book superheroes. And superheroes don’t wear uniforms. They wear costumes.”

Bad ones, at that.

Well said, Paul. And props to Newsday writer John Jeansonne for a well-written (and obviously well-researched) article.

That’ll do it for this fine Saturday. I guess there are a few football games of note today — like the SEC Championship (pitting No. 1 Florida against No. 2 Alabama), plus the Big XII Championship and the ACC Championship, and a few other big and small games of note. Don’t forget to post some of your nominees for “Best” or “Worst” uni matchup of the day.

Thanks again to everyone who submitted their Clarksville Design-A-Uni entries (final set coming tomorrow) and make sure you give some love to today’s submitters; thanks also to Mike Styczen (“Mike 2″), for a terrific Grey Cup “mini-article,” and for everyone who’s been sending me NFL ‘uni tweaks’ — another batch will also run tomorrow.

Everyone have a fantastic Saturday!

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:

Adam Hainsfurther: submission

-Adam Hainsfurther-

Peter Halbrooks: submission

I look forward to seeing everyone else’s designs!

Peter

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

Thomas Huppé: submission

Hope it will help.

Regards

Thomas Huppe

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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).

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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!

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!

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.

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.

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.