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Monday Morning Uni Watch

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The Redskins have worn their gold pants many times this season. Until yesterday, though, I don’t think any ’Skins player had done what offensive linemen Jammal Brown did: He wore gold undersleeves (and if you look at the upper-right corner of this shot, you can see that at least one sleeve was festooned with little Redskins helmets). I immediately thought of all the Amateur Armistice concepts Phil had run yesterday — had he been ahead of the curve on the gold sleeves? Alas, although Phil did provide contrast-colored undersleeves for some teams, he gave the ’Skins burgundy sleeves to match their jerseys.

Lots of other uni-notable moments on the pro and college gridirons since I signed off last Thursday. We’ll start with yesterday’s NFL action and then work backward through the various bowl games. Here we go:

• I never did get a straight answer from the NFL as to whether Tim Tebow was fined for writing a Biblical message on his wristband on Dec. 26. But I note with a raised eyebrow that his wristband was scripture-free this time around.

• I love green, but not this much. Let’s hope the Jets only did this because it was a meaningless game played primarily by second-stringers.

• Always disappointing to see the Saints going solid-black, but can you spot the unusual element in this photo? Answer: Reggie Bush usually wears fairly high whites, no matter what uni combo the Saints are wearing. But yesterday he skipped the whites altogether.

• From that same game, Roman Harper had some sort of tape job on the waist of his pants.

• As promised, Mississippi State QB Chris Relf, who usually wears No. 14, switched to No. 36 for the Gator Bowl, in honor of teammate Nick Bell, who died in November.

• In the Fiesta Bowl, Oklahoma RB DeMarco Murray had some decal problems.

• Surprising move in the Liberty Bowl, as UCF’s bowl patch covered up their badge of douchebaggery. Wonder what poor soul is gonna lose his job over that one.

• Coupla notes regarding Notre Dame’s appearance in the Sun Bowl: First, the Irish added NOBs for the occasion — first time they’d worn NOBs since playing in the 2008 Hawaii Bowl. And in an odd quirk, QB Tommy Rees has now made four starts in four different uniforms in four different stadiums: 1) ND Stadium, blue jersey; 2) Yankee Stadium, green jersey; 3) LA Coliseum, white jersey, NNOB; and Sun Bowl, white jersey with NOB.

• In the Chicken Sandwich Bowl, Florida State appeared to be wearing new gloves with a shiny silver top color, but the same silliness on the bottom. (As an aside: I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am surprised that so many players at so many different schools are robotically doing that Nike-fied sieg heil. What’s the point of a gesture like that if every other Nike team is also doing it? Just another way the Swooshkateers have managed to subsume individual team identities into the larger Borg cube of Team Nike.)

• For reasons that aren’t entirely clear, Vonzell McDowell Jr. of Washington went NNOB in the Holiday Bowl.

• SMU went BFBS in the Armed Forces Bowl, supposedly “as a tribute” to Army, who just happened to be their opponent. Lame. Also lame: SMU QB Kyle Padron had Adidas-branded socks. Not lame: SMU added a Don Meredith memorial decal. Oh and here’s a nice little footnote: On Friday a Dallas radio guy reportedly said he’d seen photos of black pants and helmet to match the SMU jersey. Can’t wait to hear what excuse they come up for wearing them next season. I mean, they can’t be playing Army every game, right?

(My thanks to all contributors, including Ryan Alexander, William Banowsky, JP Bertram, Robert Daniel Lim, Dan Sankar, Dan Cichalski, Doug Keklak, Alex Zeese, and David Pealing.)

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By any other name: I didn’t include the Rose Bowl in that rundown because it deserves its own little section, mainly because of TCU. As you may recall, they unveiled this uni during last month’s Nikegon event, but word quickly began circulating that they’d most likely be wearing purple jerseys, not black. That notion was reinforced when they wore purple jerseys with Rose Bowl patches for media events leading up to the game.

But when TCU took the field, they were wearing the black jerseys after all — but with purple pants. Why the switcheroo? A little birdie tells me TCU really wanted to be “purpled up,” but Nike wasn’t happy about the team’s plans to not wear the black jerseys. So the corporate tail wags the on-field dog yet again. Douchebags.

A few other notes from that game:

• Several TCU players had problems with poor footing during the game. Although I didn’t hear the audio, a number of people told me that the broadcasters spent a fair amount of time blaming the new Nike cleats for all the slipping and sliding. Awwwww, what a shame.

• How much time do you think this moron spent making sure his logos aligned? The stripe effect would actually be pretty cool if not for the gratuitous marks of the beast.

• Just to show that douchebaggery isn’t limited to Nike, Bucky Badger wore a special Rose Bowl jersey — with Adidas logo creep. (As reader David Vines points out, Bucky’s usual jersey is blissfully free of such nonsense.)

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• And just so you don’t think I’ve gone 100% crankypants, I really, really liked TCU’s special helmet with the rose in the frog’s mouth. Uni Watch’s highest rating.

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Winged helmet update: Last Wednesday’s entry about Michigan State debuting the winged helmet in 1934 prompted two readers to find even earlier examples.

First up: Klaus Gebhard, who presides over the excellent Infinite Helmets site. He provided shots of the winged helmets being worn by Ohio State in 1930 and 1934 (he says they wore that same design for the intervening years as well), and by Indiana in 1933.

Larry Bodnovich confirmed the Indiana ’33 finding, as you can see by clicking through the first 11 photos of this gallery (and just in case you wanted to be sure that those shots are from 1933, you can cross-reference the Hoosiers’ opponents listed in the photos’ captions against their ’33 schedule).

Also: There had been some question as to whether Michigan State had first worn the winged design in 1934 or ’33. Judging by this 1933 shot that Larry provided, the Spartans didn’t wear the wings that year, so they must have started wearing them in ’34. That means at least two teams — Indiana and Ohio State — predated Michigan State in the wing-ding derby.

The real lesson that’s emerging here is that no school or coach “invented” the winged design. It was simply a stock item offered by sporting goods companies (definitely Spalding, perhaps others) and several teams in the early 1930s chose to use it. As for the longtime Crisler/Princeton party line, it’s pretty apparent now that that’s just a triumph of mythmaking. The surprising thing is that it’s lasted this long.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Minnesota-Duluth’s new hockey arena is about to open, so the team is adding this patch (with thanks to Eric Berg). ”¦ Big sting on counterfeit NHL gear. ”¦ Gooooaalllll! (Thanks, Kirsten.) ”¦ An interview with the L.A. Kings’ third jersey? Sure, why not (with thanks to Alex Kinkopf). ”¦ Back on Thursday I linked to a Texas A&M photo archive. Todd Hotz went exploring in that trove and came up with something really tremendous — take a look. ”¦ The Bobcats used to wear white sneakers, white socks, and orange headbands at home. But when Paul Silas took over a few games ago, all those uni elements changed to black (as noted by Dan Buckalew). ”¦ Coupla things of note in this Mo Vaughn photo. First, Mo always went low-cuffed, so it’s stunning to see him wearing standard Bosox stirrups. Second, looks like he wore a knee pad. But the big thing is that this photo is from 9/20/95, when the Sox clinched the 1995 A.L. East title — which means Mo was doing the celebratory horse ride thing more than a year before Wade Boggs took his much more famous ride at Yankee Stadium (great find by Brian Erni). ”¦ One reason several of those OSU players were suspended is that they sold their “Gold Pants” trinkets. For those not familiar with the Gold Pants, look here (with thanks to Patrick Sokolowski). ”¦ Always good to see an article about Packers seamstress Marge Switzer (with thanks to Joe Jurkiewicz). ”¦ New military-appreciation jersey for the Edmonton Oil Kings (with thanks to Thom Dennis). ”¦ Small Gestures That Made My Day, Vol. 1: Marty Hick recent sent me a check to cover his Uni Watch membership fee, and he did a really nice job of addressing the envelope. ”¦ Small Gestures That Made My Day, Vol. 2: Baroness Karen McBurnie presented me with a really nice gift over the weekend: some chocolate in a gorgeous wrapper. ”¦ Oh wow, scroll down to take a close look at the amazing chest patch on this jacket. ”¦ Latest college hoops team getting the sublimated back-jersey design treatment from Nike will be West Virginia. ”¦ Another discovery from the Texas A&M photo archive: That’s one big-ass uni number. ”¦ Here’s another example of the kind of uni number stitching that the Sabres’ throwback is based on. That’s Sherbrooke St-Francis from the early ’50s (screen shot courtesy of Jeff Czuba). ”¦ Here’s the new logo for the 2016 Olympics. “The shape is similar to that of Sugarloaf Mountain (Pao de Acucar),” explains Jeremy Brahm. I like it, but apparently it’s fairly similar to this logo, which has already led to some controversy. ”¦ Interesting coffee cup decal on the Mercyhurst College hockey helmets. “I’m told that a prominent supporter of the program with the initials A.B. died this year, and he owned a Tim Horton’s coffee shop franchise in the Erie, Pa., area,” says Tris Wykes. ”¦ Both head coaches in the Winter Classic wore groovy varsity-style jackets, plus Pens coach Dan Bylsma added a fedora. ”¦ Did you know Reebok now makes baby shoes? (As noted by Brian Young.) ”¦ New cycling kit for Garmin-Cervélo (with thanks to Walter Young). ”¦ Looks like Under Armour won’t get to pick Maryland’s new football coach after all. ”¦ Cross-dressing alert: Pascal Dupuis of the Pens warmed up for the Winter Classic in a Steelers helmet. ”¦ No Mas honcho Chris Isenberg and I had lunch at Peter Luger last Thursday. Shortly after we sat down, Ron Darling walked by, heading for the exit. He lives nearby and, I was later told, is a frequent customer. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get anyone to tell me how he likes his steak done. … More cross-dressing, courtesy of Scott Snow: “Greg Anthony drove to the lane during a game in 1989-90 season (UNLV’s championship year) and broke his jaw when he fell to the ground. He wore a hockey helmet with a football facemask in practice but never wore it in a game. His jaw was wired shut and he had to have a tooth removed so he could drink through a straw.” ”¦ Now that the holidays and the NFL regular season are both over, can we pleasepleaseplease have no more of the Hyundai ads with the insufferably cutesy musical duo playing Xmas songs at every freaking commercial break during a game? The duo is called Pomplamoose, and they’re not untalented, and yes, we get it, a boring compact car suddenly looks a lot more interesting when there’s a wholesome-looking yet sexy girl singing in front of it, but holy Christ, people, those commercials got tiresome back around Dec. 6. And for some reason they seem to be running more often since Christmas passed. Okay, I’ll buy a Hyundai, I’ll download some Pomplamoose songs on iTunes, I’ll turn my life into a series of adorable quick-cut videos that show off my playful sense of whimsy — just make it fucking stop already!

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Please join me in wishing the happiest of birthdays to Uni Watch bench coach Phil Hecken. Little fella finally turns 21 today, whoop-whoop!

In all seriousness: I’m sure Phil’s birthday usually gets swallowed up by the post-holiday exhale we all do in early January. Who wants to celebrate something else when you’ve just spent what seems like the last three months celebrating? He deserves better, so drop him a line to let him know how much you appreciate his work on the weekends.

And here’s something I didn’t know until a few weeks ago: Phil’s father’s birthday is tomorrow. Here’s to both of them — enjoy, guys.

 
  
 
Comments (231)

    The “moron” with the lined up logos happened to have at least three knockdown hits on the Wisconsin QB and knocked down the PAT attemped pass. I’d pay money for you to go say “moron” to his face. His name is Tank. Tank Carder. LOL!

    So . . . . if the logos were NOT lined up you’d probably call him out on that. You’re taking on the personality of a talk show host.. . . .

    No, I would not call him out for having the swooshes not aligned. I’d prefer it look like he just threw them on, instead of throwing them on and making an extra effort to make sure the swoosh is visible on the bands, because it’s apparently not prominent enough on the uniform already.

    For me personally, I don’t like to see those fashion bands at all, no matter who makes them. They could be made by Jesus Christ and I wouldn’t approve of them.

    That being said, Tank Carder isn’t a moron. Yes, he chooses to wear moronic things like the fashion bands, but that doesn’t mean he’s a moron for doing so.

    Yeah, I’m with Tom here. Not sure why that college kid has to be a moron for aligning his swooshes.

    1. Their necessity notwithstanding, they would look worse if they weren’t aligned.

    2. I thought the party line was to comment on the corporate machines, or the specific decisions people make, but not to label individuals themselves (particularly student-athletes).

    Too slow today.

    Took me three looks at that image to find out what everyone was referencing.

    I was going to comment as well. Regardless of whatever he’s doing with his accessories on the field (he’s been doing the multiple bicep band thing for some time, it looks like), is it really necessary to call the kid a moron? I mean, I think there are a lot more people in the world of athletics deserving of the title.

    Yeah I’m not really sure why he’s a moron for aligning the logos. I don’t know what purpose those bands are supposed to have or why they need a logo on them… but if I was wearing them I’d have to align the logos too. (and, being me, wear them so the logo is upside down) Unless he’s just a moron for wearing them at all? Eh, whatever.

    The fact that he goes by the name “Tank” doesn’t help his “moron” standing. In fact, before knowing that, I’d say he’s a guy who did a moronic thing, but “Tank” pushes him closer to actually being a moron.

    Boogs left the Sox after the ’92 season, so he wasn’t there when Mo hopped on the horse. I vaguely remember another member of the Red Sox doing the same thing when they won the AL East in ’88 or ’90. Can’t remember who it was though.

    It was Roger Clemens who first climbed up on a Boston Police Department horse, on Sept.28, 1986 at Fenway Park, after the Red Sox beat the Blue Jays 12-3 to clinch the AL East. Wade Boggs simply copied what he had seen his teammate do 10 years earlier.

    1) The brand “Weebok” has been around at least since my daughter was a baby, and she’s entering college this year!

    2) Not uni related, but I’ll take “Pomplamoose” any day over those annoying Verizon mashups with x-mas carols and 80’s hits, and that equally annoying Honda Vampire Weekend “Holiday” song.

    Yeah, turning “Jingle Bells” into Madness’ “Our House” was disturbing to me.

    Madness was (and is) my absolute all-time favorite 80’s band.

    I am the exact opposite: Dug the mashup but hated the Pompaloose-I-will-make-this-same-goofy-face-in-every-shot-while-I-sing-this-cutsey-ass-song woman.

    I got my goddaughter “Weeboks” for her first pair of tennis shoes. That was 15 years ago…now she’s 5-10 and her feet surpassed mine a long time ago. Ouch.

    Hyundai’s are from Korea, i know a lot of Koreans who would be quite offended if you called them Japanese, and i get what you mean about the sexy but wholesome girl…

    Hyundai’s are Korean. You’ll need to eat some kim-chi, download the Pomplamoose songs and see Tron in 3D.

    Or they’ll just keeping running them until we get the new Peter Cottontail version in March.

    I understand Wayne Hagen will be filling for Jeff Bridges on for the voiceovers on those.:)

    And just wait until you see the commercials for the May 21, 2011 second coming!

    Did anyone see Joe Paterno wearing the POLO sweater during Saturday’s game?! Must’ve got it for Christmas.

    (Sorry if I missed this being covered in the comments this weekend).

    link

    “Now that the holidays and the NFL regular season are both over, can we pleasepleaseplease have no more of the Hyundai ads with the insufferably cutesy musical duo playing Xmas songs at every freaking commercial break during a game? The duo is called Pomplamoose, and they’re not untalented, and yes, we get it, a boring Japanese compact car suddenly looks a lot more interesting when there’s a wholesome-looking yet sexy girl singing in front of it, but holy Christ, people, those commercials got tiresome back around Dec. 6. And for some reason they seem to be running more often since Christmas passed. Okay, I’ll buy a Hyundai, I’ll download some Pomplamoose songs on iTunes, I’ll turn my life into a series of adorable quick-cut videos that show off my playful sense of whimsy – just make it fucking stop already!”

    AMEN, brother!

    Paul, I have been saying the same thing about these Hyundai ads on Twitter and elsewhere for some time now. I came across Pomplamoose a while back and while my initial reaction to them was favorable — or at least, not negative — their Hyundai campaign completely turned around my opinion of them. In about 3 showings the ads went from cute to loathsome. I find the girl somewhat creepy with her blank, emotionless, dead facial expression.

    In any event, you and I are not alone. The Hyundai campaign won the award for “Worst Holiday Ad” at consumerist.com:

    link

    I have found this season that NBC’s Sunday Night Football has the lead in the competition for the worst set of commercials appearing on a football telecast. In addition to the Hyundai spots and the hopelessly bad Toyota “Tiny Football League” segment (which I consider an ad), DirecTV is a regular sponsor and all of their recent ads have been not just obnoxious but actually disturbing, what with the battling androids, the couch-potato superhero, and the excessively rich Russian with his miniature giraffe. Add to that the Lexus “December to Remember” series with their conspicuous overspending by conspicuously wealthy but ultimately unlikeable characters, any CGI-infested Nissan ad, and the NBC promos for shows like “The Biggest Loser” and their various bottom-feeding singing and dancing “reality” shows and you have a most disgusting stew indeed.

    I agree with that, also can we get that BMW commercial off the air as well. The problem with it is the model train. I am a railroad buff and a model railroader. The train has a Pennsylvania engine, Pennsylvania freight car, Pennsylvania Caboose and Baltimore and Ohio Passenger cars. Pennsy engines would never haul B&O Passenger cars. Drives me up a wall.

    Pennsy engines would never haul B&O Passenger cars. Drives me up a wall.

    ~~~

    i know, right

    wait…WHAT?

    OK – in one sentence – it would be like a Coca Cola truck delivering a load of Pepsi somewhere…..

    And Happy Birthday Phil! One of the many many great people of this site!

    Wow, I though I was the only one who hated those god damn Hyundai commercials. Initially I thought she was a boy and the guy looks like a cliche douchebag hippie-stoner musician. The commercial itself: call it annoying, quirky, cheesy, horrible, stupid, too-busy-selling-out and appointment mute button pushing.

    Tho I could think of dozens of commercials I want gone, tho “Kars 4 Kids” is absolute worse in radio. Why in the hell would a kid need a car?? Stupidass name & scream-inducing.

    Orrr, what about Mike Rowe turning all of the Toyota owners into Ford owners at the drop of his well-worn hat?

    Or those VW pen twirling dealers?? Gosh, you guys are sooooo talented! Now give me the pen so I can buy a Passat or else I’ll talk to Mike Rowe to sell me a Ford!!

    I had the dubious pleasure of watching a Mike Rowe Toyota ad followed by that obnoxious “makes my butt look good” Jeans ad the other day. Rowe must go!

    Yeah, Rowe should just stick to crawling around in sewage and other assorted messy things on the Discovery Channel and stop advertising at us.

    “Now that the holidays and the NFL regular season are both over, can we pleasepleaseplease have no more of the Hyundai ads with the insufferably cutesy musical duo playing Xmas songs at every freaking commercial break during a game? The duo is called Pomplamoose, and they’re not untalented, and yes, we get it, a boring compact car suddenly looks a lot more interesting when there’s a wholesome-looking yet sexy girl singing in front of it, but holy Christ, people, those commercials got tiresome back around Dec. 6. And for some reason they seem to be running more often since Christmas passed. Okay, I’ll buy a Hyundai, I’ll download some Pomplamoose songs on iTunes, I’ll turn my life into a series of adorable quick-cut videos that show off my playful sense of whimsy – just make it fucking stop already!”

    oh my GOD, i was thinking the same exact thing yesterday, and thought i was the only one. END IT ALREADY

    X-mas in general lasts way too long. Try working in retail – the music started on November 11 this season.

    I usually watch my football games commercial free on monday or tuesday mornings (thank you internet), so I haven’t really been bombarded with these Hyundai commercials… but anyone/thing still playing christmas music now needs to die. Painfully.

    I didn’t start listening to Christmas music until about a week before the actual day. And I’m going to keep listening to my CDs for another week or so. My tree will probably be up until Groundhog Day.

    By the way, it’s still Christmas. Ten lords a leaping today.

    And I still find Pomplamoose charming.

    Holiday car commercials almost always run until the Sunday after New Years, so you shouldn’t be seeing anymore jingling all the way or decking the halls now.

    Yes, STOP already. Especially “Up on the Housetop”. Waaaay more annoying than the others. Even worse than “Saved By Zero” a couple of years ago which is hard to top.

    I thought I was the only one to notice all those Hyundai commercials with the Xmas songs. I agree that the girl did grow on me. But man did I have enough of it. Too much.

    Way too much of “Up on the Housetop”. Don’t mind the others very much as I haven’t seen as much of them. And the winsome young lady needs a biology lesson (ok really the songwriter, but he is probably long-dead, so let’s stick with the winsome young lady). Reindeer don’t have paws, they are hoofed.

    Yes.

    “…reindeer pause. Out jumps good old Santa Claus.” If they didn’t pause he’d fall off the roof.

    One of my favorite old Mad Magazine cartoons. Man walks up to another man beneath a sign that says, “Bus Stop.” First man says, “Say, does the bus stop here?” Second man replies, “No, it slows down to 25 and you have to jump on.” Man, that was hilarious when I was like 7 years old.

    Say, do the reindeer pause here?

    D’oh!

    Well, were I still single and maybe 25 years younger, I’d still like to give her some lessons. . . .

    I must be asleep at the wheel- I don’t recall those spots. But I saw Dr Joyce Brothers about 50 bazillion times on the New Years Day 3 Stooges AMC shows.

    Well that link was totally uncalled for. I just thought you were older than that, no need to throw Hyundai commercials at me.

    “Also: There had been some question as to whether Michigan State had first worn the winged design in 1934 or ’33. Judging by this 1933 shot that Larry provided, the Wolverines didn’t wear the wings that year, so they must have started wearing them in ’34. That means at least two teams – Indiana and Ohio State – predated Michigan State in the wing-ding derby.”

    I think that’s supposed to say “Spartans” instead of “Wolverines”, seeing as you’re talking about Michigan State, not Michigan.

    Happy Birthday, Phil.

    TCU looked like Northwestern in teh 1996 Rose Bowl. At least they wore some of their school colors.

    link

    I know you dislike Nike and all the Team Nike style stuff they do. But when you look at that FSU pic of the gloves you have to love that there is not one swoosh showing. And at this point if I weren’t an informed person I would believe that those gloves could be any manufacturer. So maybe that “salute” is actually a detriment to Team Nike?

    What teams have incorporated the rose into their helmet logo for the Rose Bowl, besides TCU?

    I can only think of 2 others:

    Purdue in ’01
    link

    Wazzu in ’98
    link

    Have any other Rose Bowl participants done this?

    1) The Mississippi State QB still had 14 on his helmet

    2) Happy Birthday Phil. Have a great birthday.

    I think that’s just you… I can see how if you are looking for it you may be able to see something similar to “Rio” but I don’t think that was the intention. Looks to me like the rock formation was the inspiration.

    oh jim…

    uga VII has been sporting one for some time…not sure if his predecessor did tho…

    how pathetic is it that “the mark of the beast” is…quite literally…on the beast?

    Happy birthday Phil! I appreciate all the work you put in to this site. And I know the feeling of having a birthday lost among holidays as mine is Dec 30.

    For one, we have multiple holidays (Memorial Day, Veteran’s Day, July 4th, etc) in which to do that. For another – THEY WERE PLAYING AGAINST THEM.

    Zactly. There’s this old-fashioned concept that the way you honor your opponent in a competition is to play as hard as you can to win, to play fair and obey the rules while you do it, and to put the competition behind you the instant the game ends and treat each other as friends no matter the outcome. This concept is called “sportsmanship.”

    I don’t know what “wear copycats of his uniforms instead of your own colors” is, but it’s certainly not sportsmanship, and as such it is not compatible with “honoring” one’s opponent in an athletic competition. f you really want to “pay tribute” to Army, then the list of acceptable options would include shaking hands before the game and thanking the cadets personally for their devotion to country; lining up as a team to sing the national anthem or other patriotic song; arranging for any number of wounded vets to attend the game on your boosters’ dime; spending some time before the game boxing up care packages for soldiers overseas; and so forth. Wearing special look-at-me! uniforms doesn’t make the list.

    If someone tried this in normal life – say, wearing the same dress as the bride to a wedding to “honor” her – you’d feel justified slapping that person upside the head for being such a selfish dope. It’s rude, and it’s stupid, and it’s the kind of thing we don’t put up with from children most of the time, yet the adults involved in sports are doing it more and more often. And that’s the worst of it: When it happens on the field, it teaches people that it’s OK to do in general, and so it cheapens standards of decency and manners for all of us.

    ” say, wearing the same dress as the bride to a wedding to “honor” her ”

    Especially if Ricky Williams or Dennis Rodman did it…

    Excellent post, especially the emphasis on sportsmanship. Wish more announcers and sports writers would say something similar.

    I hope the Ponies come out in all Black next season. That would be AWESOME. It would look even better if the Mustang would be in white.

    It’s too bad that every college team in the nation doesn’t come out in all black. Think of how awesome THAT would be.

    One other thing about that Mo Photo:

    He appears to be under 300 pounds. As a secondary fan of the Mets (family from area) I’ve never seen him looking so svelte.

    I was hoping Pomplamoose did a version of “Happy Birthday,” but sadly they don’t.
    Oh well, I’ll have to do this a capella:

    Happy Birthday, Phil!

    Short on time, long on opinions.

    SECOND RUNNER-UP. Marge Switzer, seamstress of the Packers.

    FIRST RUNNER-UP. Kirsten’s urinals.

    MISS UNI WATCH. Birthday Boy Phil, with special commendation for his weekend colorizing feature and the subsequent showcasing of the spectacular George Chilvers.

    GET THAT WASTE PRODUCT OUTTA HERE! Rio 2016 logo.

    First things first: happy birthday, Long Island Philip Hecken.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Now the important stuff…

    Hyundai’s Pomplamoose vs. Honda’s Vampire Weekend: aren’t there like at least 2 other companies using that “Holiday” song in their commercials? That just makes the Honda commercials even more insufferable.

    But I’m cutting Honda some slack because I kinda like the Acura “season of reason” spots (not just for their ironic value).

    And is it just me or does link look a bit like link in drag?

    good call wing U.

    if the pineapple has to watch them singing one more time i think her head might pop off. “enough with their ironic christmas song!” i thought she was the only one, shows what i know. i am an equal opportunity cars in bows hater this time of year, they aaall bug the corn out of me, so i guess this gives credence to that one being more annoying then say the one where the pickup goes and gets the biggest tree on the planet to “sit under” for that annoying housewife to come out and gush over. aaaargh, now THAT makes me want to murder elves who want to be dentists, and punch santa in the nose for not recognizing rudolph’s talents. speaking of punching, did anyone else get punched in the jewels christmas eve by the annoying kid of an in-law only to be still suffering that soap poisoning? damn that little mothervilker packed a wallop. and what’s with rudolph, have you ever met a bigger one trick poney? what a totally useless reindeer. maybe in 1832 he served a purpose, but come on. the other night there was some sort of new year claymation on, and i only watch 2 seconds, but he was pulling out the same tired look at my nose lighting the way trick. c’mon amazing krekin pull a rabbit out of your hat.

    “at least 2 other companies using that “Holiday” song in their commercials? That just makes the Honda commercials even more insufferable.”

    Think the Tommy Hilfiger Holiday “picnic” spot was one of them, maybe?

    You all do realize that the more you see a spot (or series or spots) the more effective the campaign probably is being. Advertisers don’t continue to run spots that are a flop.

    “Mr. Whipple” didn’t please some people over the years, but he sold a helluva lot of Charmin. And, considering that the percentage of men who concern themselves with toilet paper purchases is extremely low, they really didn’t care what typical males thought of the spots.

    —Ricko

    Yes. (Thanks?) Tommy Hilfiger is one of them.

    The other one(s) may be local. I really can’t remember.

    haaaaaaaaappy birthdaaaay long island skipper. here is a rant, just for you…

    @wings: this has been bothering me since the first post. um, the cut of the helmet begged it to be painted that way. claiming to have invented wings is like inventing the hub cap, sooner or later somebody was going to slap something shiny on a wheel, you want a cookie for that? it is like when the molded plastic domes came out with the raised seem. like it took a genius to paint that stripe? i knew msu and osu wore painted cranial leather before the scUM, but with this new evidence, let’s throw the hoosiers the bone and say they “invented” it since they went three stripe first, and they have so little, poor lil hoosiers. now that ram player/artist who painted the horns, that was inventive, but wings, pfffft, they are already on the freaking helmet for corn’s sake. hey look i discovered my nose!

    whew, had to put the game face on for that one skip, happy birthday.

    1. Happy Bithday, Phil!

    2. That picture of UGA reminded me of an amazing present I received for Christmas this year…The Sports Illustrated College Football Book…a treasure trove of amazing pictures…including this one of UGA:

    link

    “uga VII has been sporting one for some time…not sure if his predecessor did tho…”

    Apparently so, since it appears that the cage is marked “UGA VI.”

    So the ratings for the Winter Classic were up 22 percent from last year. Could moving the Winter Classic to the evening be the niche the NHL is looking for? Only up against one bowl game.

    Or it could just be higher unemployment leading to more people who don’t have cable, so out of the 5 broadcast stations they get, hockey was the best option.

    (mostly kidding)

    Nielsen ratings are a joke anyway.

    THANK YOU! I’m glad someone else gets it about the stupid ratings! Seriously, I’ve never, in my lifetime, been asked to participate in the Nielsens, and I don’t personally (as in, in real life, as opposed to over the Internet) know of anybody who’s participated either.

    I did once receive an offer about five years ago to participate in the Arbitron ratings for radio, but I declined, since (due to the nature of my job at the time) I only listened to radio about one hour or so a day, during my commute, unless I happened to be driving at night while a game was on.

    I do give Arbitron credit, though – their name is more indicative about the true nature of ratings than Nielsen – they’re pretty much arbitrary, especially when your sample size is such a miniscule fraction of a percentage point of the population.

    Besides, the main reason ratings even exist isn’t for the shows themselves, it’s for the advertising. Companies that have commercials to air don’t give a crap what the highest-rated programs actually are, they only care about how many eyeballs are actually watching their commercials.

    Ever been polled by any of the major pollsters?
    Gallup? CNN? Rassmussen? Any of them?

    Just curious.

    —Ricko

    My wife and I were a “Neilson family” back in the 80s. Had to keep a written log for like a month.

    Three factors for the good Winter Classic TV ratings in no particular order:

    * Very unattractive Fiesta Bowl game
    * Very successful game in unique venue, even though my Pens lost.
    * NHL overall TV ratings increase since the Winter Olympics

    ratings for the Winter Classic were up 22 percent from last year

    ~~~

    and how much were they down last year from the previous? in other words…did they do better than the wrigley classic as well? because i know the boston game was down (i think considerably) from the chicago game…

    if so…maybe having a prime time game up against only one bowl IS their ticket

    That I don’t know the answer to. I do know that if the Winter Classic was played at 1 PM, I would have been watching as I was watching the Wolverines get skinned.

    thanks tod

    so they were actually down 11% from 2009 then

    basically tis a flatline, but saying their rating were up 22% is giving it far too much credit…

    if 2,900 people watched in 2009, but that dropped to 2,600 in 2010 and went back up to 2,800 this year…we really wouldn’t be making that big a deal, either way

    if you have it handy — do you have the ratings for the fiesta bowl and whatever else was on in that time slot? did it beat the infomercial on the WB?

    TCU’s 21-19 win against Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl drew an 11.7 rating, down from the 13.8 for Ohio State’s 26-17 win against Oregon last year on ABC. Oklahoma’s 48-20 Fiesta Bowl victory over Connecticut drew a 6.7, down from the 8.6 for Boise State’s 17-10 win over TCU last year on Fox.

    Here is a link to the other ratings for the night

    link

    Personally, I think the NHL wins by going to a night game. Only one bowl to go against. In the one o’clock slot you had

    Penn State vs. Florida
    Mississippi State vs. Michigan
    Alabama vs. Michigan State
    Texas Tech vs. Northwestern

    Less competition makes it easier to get ratings (IMO).

    “if so…maybe having a prime time game up against only one bowl IS their ticket”

    Not to mention there probably were a pisspot full of households where, “Oh, thank god, something besides football!” allowed a lot of guys to remain pleasantly planted in their Barcaloungers for the reaminder of the evening without further comment and criticsm.

    —Ricko

    Happy birthday, Phil! I thought you were older than me, too, and I’m 36! Just shows the level of maturity you bring to the board, eh?

    And the only thing worse than early-January birthdays is end-of-December birthdays! (Mine was last Thursday, the 30th.) And my mom decided to be snarky about the timing this year… but then, I can always counter that she and my dad were the ones who conceived me three seasons earlier, so hey, it’s not MY fault! :P

    Rose Bowl snagged something like an 11.7 while the Fiesta grabbed something in the 6.5 range.

    still looking for pictures, but St. Anselm college had the winged helmet back in he 30’s as well thier current helmet is a modern day version of it and is slightly different then michigan. i have seen pictures of Ray Mclean wearing it in 1937 but know it goes back further, just trying to find a pic.

    So Paul calls a college student athlete a “moron” yet thinks South Korea’s Hyundai is Japanese. I suppose all Asian food is “Chinese” as well. Gotta love the stereotyping irony. Calling a college student a “moron” over a personal hatred for Nike is pretty bad journalism.

    Yes, it’s true — I’m a moron too. Go tell the world!

    That doesn’t make it any less idiotic for a player to turn his body into a billboard for a corporation’s branding scheme.

    Try debating the message, not the messenger.

    Maybe the kid wanted to put on the bands because he thought they look cool, but has OCD so he had to matchup the logos…

    food for thought

    as a kid talking about another kid wearing armbands in a football game, most don’t give a shit about all that corporate bullshit and most just think that stuff like that looks cool, btw its just about playing a game and havin fun

    and probably what i have to say is just going to get refuted by some logic that paul or some other member has to say soo thats my two cents

    swt

    Japanese, Korean, Chinese: none of those terms mean anything. All are just made up for humans to fight amongst each other… as you obviously look to do in life.

    As has been noted a million times here (admitted hyperbole, but not by much) Paul’s, as well as many others, “hatred” isn’t at any company itself, instead it’s at these companies’ insistence on making themselves bigger than the team, school, or even the game. Similarly here, the kid is a moron for willingly continuing this trend in this instance. Someone can be a moron in one situation, for one act while not being a moron in others.

    From link:

    Everyone is [a moron], not just the people with low SAT scores. The only differences among us is that we’re [morons] about different things at different times. No matter how smart you are, you spend much of your day being [a moron].

    Happy Birthday Phil

    While I wouldn’t be surprised to see the winter classic move to prime time, it would lose some of the charm. Keep in mind it’s suppose to in some ways represent pond hockey, not many pond hockey games are played under the lights.

    In regard to the ratings of the various Bowl games – when all is said and done, it would be interesting to take the average rating of the top 15 bowls – my guess it will be between 4.0 and 5.0 – and then imagine what the ratings for 16 team tournmant would be (also would have 15 games) – my guess it would be at least between 8.0 – 10.0 (i.e. a 100% increase). The tournament would also likely feature one of the biggest television days of the year -can you imagine the first round, maybe one game schedule Thursday night and one game Friday night – then on the new Super Saturday – 6 elimination games – it would be huge. Instead we wallow around in kind of “golf” like recognition system, Oaklahoma you get to play in the equivalent of the PGA , TCU you get the Masters, sorry Boise but it’s the Frys Open for you.

    Dunno, still a heck of lot of hockey played on municipal lighted outdoor rinks. “Pond Hockey” doesn’t neccesarilly have to translate literally. Is more about outdoor hockey.

    My high school didn’t star playing indoors until my junior year in high school (’62-’63 season), and the park at the bottom of the hill from my house (well, where my ex-wife still lives, anyway) to this day still probably has someone playing some kind of pick-up hockey just about every night all winter long. Maybe some kids only play indoors thesedays, but there are a TON of semi-lighted backyard rinks, too.

    Hockey players have no problem indentifying with the game at night, that’s my point.

    —Ricko

    We used to run extension cords from my friend’s house to the frozen retention pond about 200~250 feet away so that we could play hockey “under the lights”.

    Agreed, but all things equal and ignoring television competition, a day “outdoor” game is esthectically more attractive than a night “outdoor” game. The rating increase is also a reflection this was a very appealing match up for hockey fans – Crosby/Ovechkin compared to last year’s Phila/Boston game.

    As to next year – does the NHL finally play the New York card, the Rangers are better this year, but they’ll still somewhat of a bland team – with limited appeal to the casual hockey fan. If I was to guess – I would go with

    Chicago / Detroit rematch – this time at Ann Arbour – or maybe you substitute the Rangers for Chicago.

    Happy b-day to Phil from someone more than twice your age.

    That was the best slate of New Years’ Day results ever, even beating out 1991 (the Cotton and Gator results that year even outweigh my Buffs winning it all).

    gregg…you’re…

    90????

    i hope no one really thought paul was serious about wishing me a 21st…

    like ricko said, i have neckties older than that…underwear too

    Of course, when I posted earlier, I’d just woken up, having slept in on my first day off from work this year (it was a site holiday)…

    Well, there were days last year I felt 90, but no, merely 47 and a few days. Just playin’ along, but I do have neckties older than myself from days as a collector. Underwear gets the don’t ask, don’t tell treatment.

    C’mon, Phil didn’t say he still WEARS any of them.
    Might just be a pair of Valetine boxers, a present from a girlfriend long, long ago, y’know.

    Cuz I think I remember him saying, “She really liked it when I wore my boxers with a big red heart on.”

    —Ricko

    Maybe that’s what we could call sanitary socks?

    Y’know…”Some of the A’s wear forest stirrups and athletic gold underoos.”

    Then again, there’s also be, “The Giants farmhands wear three-striped black stirrups with traditional white underoos.”

    Nah…maybe not.

    Better let ’em stay the ones with Wonder Woman on ’em.

    —Ricko

    i don’t know rick, i just can’t believe or lil el-eye turned 21 today. i feel like i should bake him a cake or something.

    and greg, sooooo ya think this is going to change anything? it sounds like you think tcu threw a monkey wrench into things when they didn’t. good for tcu, they won the rose bowl, they are a good team, nobody doubts that. but the skies will not darrken and the earth will not swallow up the bcs. all you people who rooted for tcu, not because you wanted tcu, but because you think it is actually going to change the system are hysterical. like the ncaa is going oh. my. god. what are we going to do now? so great, you are as happy as you were in 1991, and not because your team won, but because we had out first of 2 split titles that ultimately led to the bcs? that’s crazy! do you flog yourself at night before bed too? what are you catholic or something? you are pointing back to 1991, 20 years ago? is that how far you have to go to find a season that someone got hosed? because if that is the case, um the system works. judas priest, congrats tcu, you are as solid a 2 as there is, you are a conference champion, and a rose bowl champion but you are still a 2. why can’t we be happy for tcu? when those kids won and were chomping on roses and putting on their silly hats after the game, how many of them were crying about the title game? that’s right, none of them were, they were happy to be there, and happy to have won. give it up, we are not going to have a playoff in D1 next year or in out lifetime. maybe you should start rooting for colorado to field a team good enough to get to pasadena, and stop rooting for yourself and everyone else to be miserable, it only makes people, um, miserable.

    I wonder how many of those whining for an NCAA football playoff so the “lesser-ranked teams get a chance at the title” are today bitching about an NFL team with a losing record winning a division title and making the playoffs?

    Seems to me you can have it both ways.

    —Ricko

    16 team invitation football tournament would never have a losing record in it.

    The NFL play-offs could easily fix their play-off issue, by implementing a minimun standard to qualify for the play-offs. i.e. A division winner must have a winning record, or forfeit it’s right for automatic play-off qualification. If this happens a third wild-card team would be added – and the top wild-card team would become the 4th seed.

    I was just glad at the results of the games themselves, not any hope that it would lead to a playoff. There’s no perfect system for anything human and that applies in spades to college football.

    Although, and not just to hack off rpm and the mothersunbowlker and a few others, much of the delight had to do with the defeats of teams from a Basically Indiana-centric Geographic Title Eluding Non-entity.

    well greg, i am pretty easy to hack-off on this subject as you can tell. if you want to magic carpet ride back to the days before the bcs, i am with you. but in lieu of that, i could maybe accept a return to the traditional bowl match-ups followed by a plus one to give everyone their bottle. but even that scares me because i think you are opening the door to a playoff. if you want to talk about non qualifier schools, that’s a complicated issue with me. i still say tcu did not deserve to be in the title game in the current system. in an old bowl +1 oregon would have played sconnie in the rose, and auburn would be in the sugar against an at large team, probably tcu. so as long as sconnie didn’t upset the applecart, fine it give you your tcu title shot. but auburn is better then tcu and oregon is better the wisconsin, so it goes right back to what we already have, AU-O. again, good for tcu, i think they accomplished a lot this year, by no means have they been left out of anything.

    The bowl system provides a whole lot of fun that would not be present in a playoff. Since one of my mottoes is ‘Moderation is for those who fail to recognize the benefits of excess’, I heartily approve of keeping the crazyquilt of the bowls, if for no other reason than the festivities thereupon attendant.

    to anyone who brings up the P-word that sets me off every time i see it…it isn’t personal, it just so happens to be the only sports topic that i actually care about. if i actually watched sports other then college football, and a hand full of baseball games like i did when i was a kid, this wouldn’t be my daily sports page. but this is about as close to a sports fan as i want to get. i am sorry that i don’t see the need to figure out who number one is at the expense of everything else in the college football season. i am sorry that i don’t see the practicality of trying to fit 120 teams into some sort of stupid tournament. i am sorry if you like basketball and march snoozings. i am sorry you can’t appreciate a .500 school winning it’s first bowl game in 20 years, and how excited those 20 year old kids get, and how your playoff will break that. just, i am sorry. but i am going to continue to go off like a rocket every time i read someone rooting for things to mess up the system. news flash, there will never ever ever be a perfect system. we have 2 we want 4. we get 4 we’ll want 8, and so on. someone will always be left out. at large spots will always go to notre dame, and the ohio states rather then schools that might deserve it. if there is even the slightest human componant to how the schools are chosen, it is no better then what we have now. the second you put one “at large” team in the football p-word, you muck it up.

    oh and thanks oaktree, that is exactly my point, not even the perfect nfl can get it right. all they have to do is blah blah, tweak tweak. no, college football doesn’t need it. and the world isn’t going to end with the seahags in the freaking playoffs either. mother of corn! can’t we just watch the games? do we always have to piss and moan and take all of the fun out of it?

    Everyone who opposes a playoff for NCAA football is a coward and without honor.

    That’s right. You’re scared. You’re so afraid that some little podunk school might actually be *better* than your established traditional powerhouse that you won’t even let them play the game. It’s pathetic.

    oh jeff, you clearly do not know me. the only people that would benefit from a playoff is the biggest of big schools from the biggest of conferences, this years tcu does nor exist with a playoff. that isn’t even the argument my friend, but hey, nice try thanks, for playing.

    Potato, Pahtato. A fedora is a one piece body, soft brimmed hat with a crease down the center. A trilby is a short brimmed hat with a crease down the center, but it can be made as a cut and sew piece, like those cloth ‘fedoras’ at the mall. Blysma’s hat is a stingy brim fedora, which falls into the trilby category as well.

    Both terms are broad categories, and fedora especially has evolved over time. The first fedoras would not be considered such today, they would be termed homburgs. Hats like that were quite definitely termed fedoras in the 50’s and 60’s during their heyday (note that I’m talking about the style of fedora, not hat wearing as a whole), at least in the US.

    Almost certainly that NNOB Husky is not McDowell – I believe it’s a defender that throws on another jersey when he does special teams coverage. Wish I had time to track down the Seattle Times article that mentioned him – I believe he wore something like five different uniform numbers this season.

    OK, I had time:

    “Safety Taz Stevenson wore No. 4, at least the fifth different number he has worn this season. He has had to switch to avoid double numbers on special teams. No. 4 was available with Chris Izbicki’s departure and an injury to Vonzell McDowell.”

    From the Game Notes section here: link

    While Mo Vaughn always wore his pants low, he could usually be seen with stirrups peeking out as in this photo:
    link

    Incidentally this makes me wonder who was the last player to show the Red Sox stirrups while playing? There had to be someone in the 1990s clinging to them while everyone else went low or switched to solid socks.

    I’ll say Jerry Remy. Just comes to mind for some reason. Not joking, and not saying it’s the answer. Probably too far back, though. Musta been others since.

    —Ricko

    and he was last with the Red Sox in 2000. By 2003, under the new management, the stripes and blue undershirts at home were gone. Two great losses to a great looking uniform IMHO.

    The road jerseys were supposed to be worn with blue sleeves, but Jonathan Papelbon’s ego decided he didn’t like it and threw a fit.

    That’s what I seem to remember hearing, anyway. I still wear navy under my Sox jerseys.

    I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the blue socks. Their run was short, but pointless.

    Question was, Who was last to show stirrups?
    Those are the tube version the Red Sox wore for a season or two.

    Not being agrumentative or nit-picking, just saying its a really good question.

    —Ricko

    the story about the hockey jerseys being intercepted is interesting. i was looking at the winter classics jerseys on a major retailer’s website this weekend and they were listed for $425. why are they so expensive? the ones from china are like $40. worth the risk.

    They’re priced that way because the NHL and Reebok have a monopoly, so they charge whatever the fuck they want.

    As I said that day, change all the remaining royal to black and that’s a heckuva uni for Northern Illinois or someone who wears black and red.

    SMU doesn’t happen to be one of them, however.

    —Ricko

    I wouldn’t mind seeing SMU going with a blue jersey and red pants, also with “SMU” in larger size on the front of the jersey. Perhaps with a blue mustang on the hip area of the pants.

    Interesting to note both Oklahoma and Florida State had their school names on the front of their respective jerseys for a time in the early 80s. The Seminoles had an unusual font style at the time, which was shared by the basketball program.

    You’re right, Ricko. I actually went to NIU, but back then they mainly wore red, and I believe the football was an actual pig. Or a rock. I dunno. The creative students were housed in a different cave. And Mel Brooks was barely a thousand years old…

    Its not a big deal, SMU looked great. So did Washington. Anytime anyone wears black on black its friggin AWESOME!!!!!

    Jerry Glanville your dad or something?

    If it’s your school color, fine. But if everyone does it, doesn’t it lose some of its friggin awesomeness?

    “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am surprised that so many players at so many different schools are robotically doing that Nike-fied sieg heil”

    OK, yeah the logo gloves have a corporate douchey feel to them. Yeah, they’re definitely a little played out at this point. But come on, it’s a silly (though I still think they’re kinda clever) way for 20 year old kids to show a little school pride and spirit. I don’t think we need to start comparing college football players with gimmicky gloves to storm troopers marching down the Unter den Linden!

    The whole thing reminds me of the jersey ‘popping’ fad in college basketball a couple years ago. Just frown or smile and move on – dwelling on it will only make you look like an aging curmudgeon.

    rpm said:

    the system works

    ~~~

    yeah, um…no it doesn’t

    but that doesn’t mean we need a playoff…what’s wrong with just going back the way it was 20 years ago? you know, when we had like four really good bowl games on NYD and that was it?

    but what they have now don’t work…i don’t think anyone would seriously argue that the winner of UO & auburn isn’t a unanimous #1…but is either or both better than TCU? we’ll never know, will we (but do we actually have to?)

    Should put this here…

    I wonder how many of those lobbying for an NCAA football playoff so the “lesser-ranked teams get a chance at the title” are today bitching about an NFL team with a losing record winning a division title and making the playoffs?

    Seems to me you can’t have it both ways.

    –Ricko

    I don’t think anything will ever change in NCAAF because those in charge do not want change, but my idea for the Big Four is to scrap all divisions (keep rivalries scheduled as such) and let the best records go the playoffs. It makes the most logical sense.

    Four ain’t bad. Probably do-able. And maybe should be, and could be, done…and still leave a heckuva bowl season intact.

    It’s those who think 8 or 12 or something would be just divine because it’s the only framework that doesn’t “bore” them.

    —Ricko

    Bad wording on my part – I meant Big Four as in MLB, NFL, NBA & NHL.

    As for NCAAF, I don’t expect anything to change, and there will probably never be a true playoff.

    A play-off of 4 would increase the meaningful games from 1 to 3 (a 200% increase) , a few more doublings – and you’ll be there – and America would realize they can do without the Bowls.

    In a way – by spreading out the games – the NCAA has already done away with one tradition, the importace of Jan 1st.

    Im not bitching. Someone was 6-0 in their division, but can’t go to the playoffs because their record is 6-10. In Texas schoolboy football, we have had teams 3-7 and 4-6 in the playoffs because they won the games they needed to win to get there. Ya’ll may not like it, but its the system they we play.

    I don’t see why 1-A can’t use the same system that 1-AA uses. They seem to do just fine. There is no difference between 1-A and 1-AA except size. Thats all. The real way to get a playoff system is stop going, watching and supporting 1-A college football.

    You can go back to the good old days. Turn on your TV at these following times and dates only:

    Dec 31st @ 5:00pm – Sun Bowl
    Jan 1st @ 5:00pm – Rose Bowl
    Jan 3rd @ 8:30pm – Orange Bowl
    Jan 4th @ 8:30pm – Sugar Bowl

    Nobody’s holding a gun against your head to watch the rest of the bowl games. Let those schools enjoy their teams in an extra game after the regular season.

    um, yes it does phil. is it perfect? no, but it works just fine. did you read oaktree? “it would increase the meaningful games fro 1 to 3”. right there he is saying the only thing that has meaning is who wins the damn title to the exclusion of everything else, it is a myopic view of college football, it is a ridiculous view of college football, it is an nfl view of college football, it is the opinion of someone who doesn’t care about college football. and phil, you talk too much out of both sides of your mouth on this issue, pick a hole and hit it archie griffin. is it broken because tcu was left out or not. do you like the bowls or not, you play both sides of the fence on this one, is your only complaint the days they are played on? i cn’t figure you out….i understand this but i understand that too…ya dirty touchy feely hippie, follow your blockers!

    and rick, 4 teams? you would kill the bowls for 4 teams? i think i cried when i read that from you.

    i don’t need no stinkin hole to plug

    i was all dead-set, hell-bent on a playoff until you talked me out of it last january…but having no playoff doesn’t fix the mess we have now

    i see two ways to fix it: playoffs…(insert jim mora youtube clip here) or … just go back to the way it was

    since you convinced me playoffs are NOT the way to go, then there is only one other choice — and that’s to return it to the way it was, and the way it worked perfectly fine for 50 or 60 years

    im not talking out of both sides of my ass here…but the “solution” (if there is one) isn’t keeping the status quo…don’t want playoffs? fine…but don’t keep the crap we have now

    either way, what we have is broken, and it needs fixing…you can fix it one of two ways — playoffs, which you hate, or a return to the old ways…which i think you want

    i only have a second, i need to go chauffeur.

    by the way, did you get the archie reference 45?

    yes, i want the old bowls, but i am a realist too. and given a choice betwixt this and a playoff, i’ll take this, and rail the idea of mora. because waxing about the way it was isn’t going to make me any happier, and it sure as hell ain’t bringing it back. the closest you are going to get is a plus one, shoot for that. i have to run.

    i have not paid any attention to the other strains, but maybe geophro was referencing my head exploding and getting that confused with hate. but i don’t hate anybody for disagreeing with me, i just get in a lather. okay phil, i’m gon’a sign off here, but again, happy birthday my friend, let’s hope things look purdy tonight.

    I think I have a sensible solution to the whole playoff/bowl game(s) debate: combine the two.

    1) Have all four BCS Bowl Games play on NYD.

    2)The next week, have two games play on the same day (ex. Rose Bowl winner vs. Sugar Bowl winner, and Fiesta Bowl winner vs. Orange Bowl winner) to decide the two teams that will play for the bona-fied National Championship at a later date.

    It pleases the playoff lovers, and keeps the tradition of bowl games in college football. AND the best part is that the teams that don’t win the BCSNC still go home with a BCS Bowl Game trophy at the end of it all.

    RPM’s is partly right, I am at best just a “casual fan” of NCAA football – but it’s the casual fan that’s being lost here – judging by the ratings.

    I think one thing – most of us agree – the current system is the absolute worst – a play-off system that `invites only 2 teams. Either expand or go back to the old system – which did at times provide good suspense.

    FCS, Division II, Division III, NAIA, what else am I missing? … manage to make a simple 16-team playoff work. Keep the bowl names, and the other bowls for the non-16.

    Play round 1 at home sites. I’d love to finally see Florida (who doesn’t travel outside of going to Kentucky every once in awhile.) play up north in December.

    Quarterfinals and semi-finals can be bowl games. You’d need a total of 6 games (Orange, Sugar, Fiesta, Rose, Cotton, and one of the Gator/Outback/Champps/Chik-Fil-A clones, or hell bring back the Bluebonnet Bowl for all I care.) The final is still the BCS Championship game at it can be played in Glendale every year if you want to.

    Where do the 16 come from? Either follow the FCS model (simple seeding based on current computer models and polls) or choose conference champs. Yeah, that gets you Troy as a 16 seed, but you’ve got to do something logical.

    It would make more f-ing money than the current crappy bowl system (and you still get to play those crappy games like the International Bowl!) and who wouldn’t want to see Auburn play 8th-seeded Oklahoma and then have to beat 2-seeded Oregon or 3-seeded TCU to win it all? I would.

    who wouldn’t want to see Auburn play 8th-seeded Oklahoma and then have to beat 2-seeded Oregon or 3-seeded TCU to win it all? I would.

    ~~~

    i’ll tell you who…the alumni

    that’s why we don’t have playoffs to begin with…and to a certain extent, guys like moose who are alumni should have a certain amount of say…lets say the THE osu make it to your sugar bowl (in a playoff system) — that’s a big ass hike and will probably blow most of their savings for a bowl game right there — and there is no guarantee they get to the next one…so what to do? skip the sugar and hope you make it to the promised land? go to the sugar and then be fucked if you make the next game?

    the problem with ALL of this is we really have two distinct classes working at opposing ends of the spectrum here…those who have no stake, per se, in who makes the national champeenship game, and those who do (aka, the alums), who would then be faced with some very difficult decisions, both travel and financial

    most of us who can only afford to watch the games on TV…and make no mistake, THAT is what drives everything, want playoffs and the alums (and a few old schoolers) want it the way it always was, and i don’t have a problem with that

    all i want, either way, is for the current sham of a mockery to be changed…because right now, depriving TCU of any shot, even tho they are undefeated, really does make a mockery of an actual national championship game

    maybe this “plus-one” that’s being discussed is the answer, and maybe it’s not — maybe they can try it for a couple years and see if it works

    but either way…this system now sucks

    Better yet, how do those Duke Alums do it every March?

    Also, alums (and their insane love of college football) will adjust their schedules and finances according to the system in place. Eight teams are guaranteed an extra home game (105,000+ in the shoe isn’t chump change.) The most games 2 teams would play is 4. If you go 12 teams with 4 first-round byes, then chances are the most likely teams to play in the title would play 3 games. Or just trash the bowls and go straight home-team advantage playoffs. I was trying to accommodate the traditionalists, too, but screw it. Make the Rose Bowl the 2nd best teams in the Pac-10 and the Big-10.

    When has App State played three neutral-site games in three weeks in three different locations and needed to fill an NFL-sized stadium each time?

    The basketball tournament also doesn’t need the kind of massive traveling support that the big-time bowls require. The first weekend sites have 8 teams, usually in venues of the 15-22K range. The regionals have 4 teams, again usually in NBA-sized arenas. Sometimes they are in NFL domes, but even those are downsized to the 30-40K range. Only the Final Four ever has a comparable amount of seats to sell, but even that doesn’t require the minimum 17,500 per school ticket allotment that the BCS bowls do.

    The lifeblood of the BCS bowls are the best-supported teams that can bring 30-40K or more to a bowl, but that’s not going to happen three consecutive weeks with two of those weeks being on short notice.

    While watching the Packers v. bears game yesterday I caught a glimpse of Desmond Bishop’s 5s and saw they looked a little different. I went to google and saw that they have been this way for more than a just yesterday.

    I’m having difficulty trying to explain what exactly is odd about them, but I think a picture should make it fairly obvious. Just look at the middle of the 5’s.

    link

    This may be old news, but its the first time I’ve noticed it. Anyone know how long the 5’s for Green Bay have been like that, or know of any other teams with the same style.
    (The picture is from 2007 according to the site I found it on)

    I just want to clarify that we are referring to the same thing. I’m not referring to the spike, but rather the fact that there is a dip before the line starts moving up and to the right.

    The throwback bear’s 5 has the same dip but the Indiana ones don’t seem to (they might have the same effect but you can’t tell from the the pictures as they are too far away).

    Douglas: link to tell? Anyway, I get what you mean — the little “valley” at the upper part of the middle of the numeral — no, the IU numbers didn’t have that.

    EMD: Heh. I was actually going to use a link (y’know, cuz there are two 5s) but I went with Urlacher just because of that distinctive 4.

    the basketball one was too far away (when looking for something so small), I incorrectly lumped the football one into that category (there was a crease near the area in question that made the football one tougher to judge).

    I’ve never thought about how tough it is to describe certain parts of a number until today.

    Super Bowl 45 logo question.

    Beginning this year, the NFL will use the same design for the Super Bowl logo every year. Is it just me, or will everyone else miss seeing a new logo every year? I love the Super Bowl logos.

    I can understand that they want a consistent brand (they’ve updated all other logos this year too), and the new SB logo is a good one, but I think it will get pretty boring. Especially with silver being the only color in the logo.

    It’s a meaningless gesture. The Super Bowl brand is large enough to forgo logo consistency.

    Do those Winter Classic varsity jackets ever become available to buy? I can’t for the life of me find one, and would be shocked at the NHL not cashing in on all Winter Classic stuff…especially when they even have me ignoring whatever the dollar sign is to get the Penguins one!

    So the “Color of the Year” for 2011 is link. Or maybe link. Depends whom you ask. Plenty of the latter in sports, but pink – er, excuse me, Mr. Pantone corporate counsel, “honeysuckle” – not so much. I know we Americans are brainwashed to think that pink = weak, but that’s a relatively recent cultural bugaboo and anyway the particular, kind of pale pink that Pantone has decreed seems like it would actually be a strong secondary color for a sports team alongside, say, a well saturated green or medium blue.

    Anyway, the press release just got me thinking about how American sports unis are oddly constrained. Any dark or medium shade of any color is acceptable, but only a few light hues are allowed. So you can have plum or violet but not lavender; maroon or red but not pink. Light blue and light yellow are really the only light shades allowed. Seems oddly constrained, and it forces us to treat several medium hues – orange and red – as the “light” color in a lot of two-color identities.

    A shame no American team owner has the cojones to adopt pink as a color. Turquoise and honeysuckle pink, for example, would make a much more aggressive statement for the Miami Marlins than the Fish’s long-rumored new color scheme of orange and black.

    Come October, I’ll be back to complaining about football teams wearing too damn much pink. But that’s different!

    College football can still have those 35 bowl games for 6-6 teams and have a playoff. When every other level of football has working playoffs then something is wrong when only 1 does not.

    For that matter all NCAA sports have championships or playoffs.

    it may not be long before we have 4-8 teams playing 4-8 teams in some meaningless bowl game.

    SI had a great article about who is stopping a playoff from happening.

    As for winged helmets and what team was first. It could be what the definition of winged is. Since OSU and others had winged type helmets before Michigan did. As far as I know Indiana had the sort of winged helmets that Michigan later used.

    As some here know there were others too to have a winged type design before Michigan did.

    Pretty interesting thing to study or try and dig up information on and if possible pictures too.

    Just watching some of College Football Live and I forgot Virginia Tech is wearing an orange helmet tonight.

    Sheesh

    Virginia Tech has a nice helmet normally and I liked it more with stripes in the middle.

    well…it does have stripes in the middle…or do you mean stripes that actually go all the way from front to back

    i think va tech will look pretty good in orange lids tonight, actually

    but…

    GO CARDINAL!

    Go Cardinal, then Coach Harbaugh please take the Niners gig. You won’t have to move or anything.

    Fuck that!

    HOKIE HOKIE HOKIE HI
    TECH TECH VPI
    SOL-A-REX SOL-A-RAH
    POLYTECH VIRGINIA
    RAE RAH VPI
    TEAM TEAM TEAM!

    What he said.

    And yeah, the orange helmets look pretty good — from the front and the sides, at least.

    I like the orange hat too. Wish Stanford would have worn the red britches. Now they need a red hat.

    And for the record, I kind of like the orange helmets. I didn’t think I would, but they actually look nice with those jerseys. They actually don’t look as awkward as the white helmets.

    Anyway, time to get out of here and catch the game with my fellow Hokie Alumni. Hope you enjoy the latest installment of BeamerBall… whatever that entails.

    Those orange lids are nice looking. I don’t have a dog in this fight, I’m just hoping for a good game.

    I think LarryB is referring to those sharp Tech helmets during the Bruce Smith era, which had orange and white stripes down the middle. That’s the best looking Tech helmet, IMO

    Hey did anyone notice during last night’s Rams-Seahawks game, there was a fan in the stands wearing a white Seahawks jersey, but with neon green sleeves instead of blue? This was around midway through the fourth quarter.

    Stanford and VaTech had potential for anything from a uni trainwreck to a real treat for the eyes. I’m liking the choices, orange helmets and all.

    Oh – Happy Birthday Phil!

    Orange Bowl Breakdown:
    Mascot Edge: Hokies v Cardinal
    Ok so this is kind of a weird one. Nobody really knows what a Hokie is although they have a strange bird as the personification of a Hokie. Cardinal is essentially a color but they’re represented by a tree. Birds nest in trees therefore the Cardinal tree owns the Hokie bird. Advantage Stanford
    uni edge: Frankly both teams look great. I like the orange helmet. I like Stanfords look better.

    Here’s the part of the day where I tell rpm he’s wrong.

    Just got to check the comments and saw he wrote novels on how the BCS is good. Well, we all know novels are fiction.

    LI, I knew you always secretly agreed with me.

    Tradition, really. The stands are empty. Playoffs all the way. I hope Mark Cuban brings down the BCS and I hope it comes crashing down hard. You wanna talk about corporate d-baggery let’s talk about the BCS bowl system. Honestly if there were a playoff I think Stanford would beat Auburn. The SEC is overrated. The BCS sucks. It all must come crashing down.

    rpm said:
    “if you want to magic carpet ride back to the days before the bcs, i am with you. but in lieu of that, i could maybe accept a return to the traditional bowl match-ups followed by a plus one to give everyone their bottle. but even that scares me because i think you are opening the door to a playoff.”

    I may be a playoff fan, but I could easily get on board for a plus-one game with the traditional bowls. Going just on memory, I’m pretty sure there was never a three-team argument at the end of the pre-BCS bowls. A plus-one bowl would have settled all those split-champion or ’95 PSU / ’07 Boise / ’11 TCU screwjobs, and almost no one would call for a bigger playoff.

    I’m not just saying this because it’s his birthday, but I’m with Phil – go back to the old days or go playoff, but the status quo isn’t working.

    Just don’t extend the season any more, because it’s already eating into the pure unbridled joy that is college basketball.

    No on the plus one. It will just lead to which one loss team should be there. Same issues.

    Eight team playoff. Undefeateds are autoqualifiers. Six conferences are the only ones that are eligible. Other conferences get their own division.

    First round is on Christmas day. Second round on New Years day. Final game on Jan 8.

    That’s seven games. Bowls bid for the games. More money gets a better game. Fans will find a way to get there. They will.

    The rest of the bowls can be played as is. They don’t matter now, they won’t matter then.

    Teams in non big six conferences will then be able to play for something. Their own title. THAT IS WHY THE GAME IS PLAYED!!!!! TO WIN SOMETHING!!!!

    No on Christmas day.

    And make the plus-one game only for undefeated teams. It would be like MLB’s one-game playoff (or play-in?) – you won’t always have one, so it would be really special when you do. One of the major bowls would be on plus-one watch every year, just in case they would need the game. No undefeateds, then go by the polls. Any school wants to complain…then they should have won out their schedule.

    So rather than giving the TCUs & Boise States a chance at the championship, you want to split them off and give them a lesser one. That seems a bit wrong, but ok we’ll go with that – IF the big 6 conferences can only play each other. No cross-level scheduling. No silly voter ranking system. Six conference champions and 2 wild cards, seeded by record, not votes.

    The 11 1-A Conference champions and 5 at large bids. 16 teams. Follow the same format that 1-AA uses. You can use the bowls are you can totally leave them out. Just give me the same playoff system that 1-aa uses or the same one that Texas schoolboy football uses.

    Beardface said:

    Hope you enjoy the latest installment of BeamerBall… whatever that entails.

    ~~~

    dude…that was awesome

    Yeah, that sucked…

    Ugh, at least Evans and Williams will be good for something tonight…

    link

    I guess being unemployed and thus able to drink til the point where tonight is forgettable has its benefits… I guess…

    Jerry Glanville your dad or something?

    If it’s your school color, fine. But if everyone does it, doesn’t it lose some of its friggin awesomeness?

    @ Jim…No Jerry is not the old man. But I have my opinion on uni’s. black is my favorite color, so any team that does the “BFBS” is #1 in my book.

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