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Fixing Maryland (and Winnipeg, while we’re at it)

umd header 2

By Phil Hecken

By now, you are all surely sick of hearing about the Maryland Terrapin football uniforms, in particular the bizarre flag costume they broke out last Monday evening on national television. Throughout the week, we’ve had record numbers of comments, Paul has been on several tv and radio shows, the twittersphere and other social media have made it the number-one trending topic, etc. etc. etc. And much of the commentary has been centered on an “either/or” attitude towards the uniform concept — either you love it or you hate it. But we were all talking about it.

And that’s exactly what the University of Maryland and UnderArmour founder Kevin Plank wanted. Clearly the phrase, “There is no such thing as bad publicity” applies here.

But what about the actual uniform. Yeah, we kind of get it — they tried to take the flag of Maryland and graphically represent it on the helmet and shoulders of the uniform.

It’s actually a pretty clever idea.

The problem is, they didn’t quite succeed. Since the flag has four quadrants, to truly represent the flag, the designers should have flipped the designs on the shoulders. Instead, what we saw was this. And unfortunately, that look is more clownish and garish than it should be.

Almost immediately after these uniforms were unleashed on the field of play, I got in touch with my graphic design buddy, Tim E. O’Brien, who was already at work crafting a fix. That would enable the uniform to more closely approximate the flag. See?

And since Maryland has already introduced just a few new uniform combinations for the 2011 season, I thought they could just scrap those and work off of the flag theme.

So, because my schedule is now pretty full, and I lack the talents of Tim E., I asked him to concept a few of my thoughts for how Maryland could continue to fix their uniform AND keep the flag motif.

I first said to Tim, “can you first create me a helmet with just ONE of the flag elements,” (like this or this), “and make both the shoulder elements the same and see how that would look?”

Tim obliged, creating several:

First, he took the black and gold element and used that for the helmet, pairing it with the red and white for the shoulders.

Next he swapped the two, using the red & white for the helmet and putting the black and gold on both shoulders.

Then I asked if he could pair the black and gold with the black and gold and vice versa:

All red and white elements

and

All black and gold elements.

Although neither of the last two quite accomplishes the idea of incorporating the flag into the uniform, they both look much better as a uniform (at least in my opinion). When Tim created the all black/gold version, I noticed the numbers kind of looked out of place (color-wise), so I asked him if he could fix that. He did. Believe it or not, I actually like that last concept a lot. It’s totally unnecessary, of course, but then again, having 3,245 combinations already is ridiculous. But at least that one is somewhat pleasing to the eye, not one apt to cause seizures.

The best fix, of course, was simply Tim’s original swapping of the flag pattern on the shoulders, so as to actually, ya know, approximate the flag. Fortunately (we hope), this uniform will never be worn again, so it’s now a moot point. But it just goes to show you how a slightly tweaked design element can make all the difference in the world.

Now…about those Winnipeg Jets…

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Fixed Jets

The Hockey Wing Speaks…

Almost lost in all the talk about the Maryland uniform shenanigans this week was the fact that the Winnipeg Jets have also introduced new uniforms — if you missed that, look here. And almost as soon as the Jets introduced this new set, the Hockey Wing sprung into action. Here’s what they had to say about the new unis:

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Mike Engle:

• Disappointed that the jerseys are more navy than light blue. Seriously, if your main jerseys look like silly alternates out of Florida and Columbus, you’re not getting an A+ from me; instead, you’re gonna get a very underwhelmed opinion.

• I do like the way the jerseys work with the Edge template, without totally selling out to it, i.e.: if the NHL were to revert to real hockey jerseys, you’d hardly know the difference. An example of a team totally selling out to the template would be the Calgary Flames.

• Fonts: good enough. Logos: surprisingly good. For some reason, the maple leaf looks less obtrusively noxious on the jerseys than in previous contexts.

• Final grades: Navy jersey gets a B+ for a solid effort. I cannot fault it at all, but I just can’t give it ultimate praise without drinking Kool-Aid. White jersey: much weaker. In general, hockey jersey arms should have a horizontal OR vertical component, never neither and almost never both. The Hawerchuk Jets had vertical arms, while the Tkachuk Jets had horizontal arms. Here, we get both, and the horizontals look like a panicked after-thought. Just not as good. A simple shoulder yoke would have been fine! I’ll call it a B-.

~~~

Teebz:

I like them for a few reasons.

• First, the jerseys aren’t light blue. I get that the RCAF was light blue by choice, but the only light blue team in the NHL should be the Quebec Nordiques. Severing that tie with Atlanta is a good choice as well.

• Second, the stripes on the arms are fine. I’m not overly excited that the shoulder yokes go all the way to the wrists, but the horizontal sleeve stripes actually break up stripes quite nicely. It looks a little odd at first, but I’m already getting used to it, and the “aviator blue” used for the light blue stripes really pops.

• Logos and fonts work nicely. They’re not overstated and they’re not gaudy, so they work well. The glimmer of the jet in the logo when Ladd was giving his thoughts in the sunlight looked awesome against the navy blue.

• Overall, I’m very happy with these uniforms. They had the opportunity to be horrendous, but the Jets kept it simple – and it works.

• As for comparing the old Jets to the new Jets, let’s just stop with that crap. The Jets never bought the rights to the old logos from the NHL, so they weren’t even up for discussion. Quite frankly, the old jerseys were synonymous with losing, so let’s head in a new direction. This accomplished that step with flying (excuse the pun) colors.

~~~

Mike Styczen:

It looks like there’s some concensus:

• The blue home jersey is excellent. Nailed it.

• The white road jersey, the striping is wrong. Each element is nice, the sleeve stripes and the shoulder yoke extending to the wrists (looks like the 1980”²s Jets or the 1980s Leafs), but I don’t think they work together very well. One or the other would have been perfect, but not both.

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Jeff Barak: (also, be sure to check out Jeff’s Third String Goalie Blog)

• I certainly like the white jerseys with the stripes that run all the way down the arms better than the blue jerseys. The stripes running down the arms reminds me of the 1980’s Jets jerseys. While I’m not a big fan of the stripes running around the arms and crossing over the full length arm stripes, at least they go all the way around the arms, unlike the original Reebok Edge jerseys from Edmonton and Florida which only went halfway around the arms and drove me crazy.

• The blue jerseys are a very basic, safe look which I think would have been enhance greatly by a contrasting shoulder yoke of white trimmed in light blue.

• While I have always liked the combination of a dark blue and light blue, such as those from the University of Maine, I was hoping that the Jets would incorporate some red in the jersey to draw off of the use of red in the main crest (which I still feel would be a fine secondary logo but just doesn’t do it for me as the main crest).

• For me, by favorite and unexpected part was the italicized numbers on the back. There are currently only three teams using italicized numbers (Calgary, Carolina and Nashville) and I don’t understand why more teams don’t, as I think they add excitement to a jersey even when standing still. The rounded lettering is reminiscent of the original Phoenix Coyotes letters and ties in nicely with the numbers.

• Overall, the jersey set is fine, but it’s not the kind of think I long for in a new jersey when my first reaction is “I must own that!”.

~~~

Thank you gentlemen. Shortly after Mike Styczen wrote that, he contacted me with an idea:

Phil,

I had an idea for some weekend content (one that I can’t carry through on).

Everybody seems to be saying that the road white uniform’s problem is the arm stripes – the yoke doesn’t work where it meets the sleeve stripes.

Maybe mock up 2 alternatives – one with just a yoke that goes to the sleeves, one with just sleeve stripes – to compare to what they selected and see if it works any better.

The one with just sleeve stripes, you could go without a yoke (similar to the home uniforms) or with a yoke that just covers the shoulders and stops (similar to the Canadiens road whites). If you go with a yoke like the Canadiens, the yoke will be a different colour than the arm stripes, which will also look dumb. So one or the other might have to change colour.

Anyway, might be interesting. It presents the opportunity to do three or four mockups of how the road uniform would look better. I say I can’t carry through because I don’t know how to use photoshop and nobody wants to see what this looks like rendered by MS Paint.

Excellent idea Mike. And what better person to conceptualize these than Tim E.? So…here’s what Tim came up with:

For comparison, here are the current home and current road uniforms.

When you look at them like that, I totally agree that the roads are so close to being pretty good, but the sleeves are just not quite working. Tim came up with four simple fixes, and all of them work better than what the Jets currently have:

Simply removing the light blue stripes on the forearms.

Creating a light blue yoke and keeping the stripes.

Changing the light blue yoke to a dark blue yoke and retaining the stripes.

Making the sweater all white (sort of the inverse of the home) and retaining the stripes.

I think any of these four solutions would improve the Jets roadie, and I’m grateful for the Hockey Wing feedback and Tim for turning their suggestions into concepts.

~~~

That’s it for the uniform fixes (until the tweaks section of course) — but it really does show you how just the slightest alteration of the Maryland uniform and some teensy modifications on the Jets new road jersey would really make a world of difference. What say you, readers?

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ncaa football

New NCAA Rundown

This proved to be a neat little feature last weekend, and my man Terry Duroncelet is back with another quick rundown. (With a little help from a couple others.) Let’s see what we have:

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Oklahoma State wore mono-black with white lids against Arizona.

• Arizona State also wore their Charcoalman costumes against the white-clad Missouri Tigers. And it turns out that Brock Osweiler has a big grammar error on the tattoo on his left arm. We’ll let Brock (who is the tallest QB in college football at 6’8) live his life to IT’S fullest while we continue with the uni rundown.

• Florida International University wore their white super-stretchies in an upset win against Louisville. One of the FIU players’ NCAA conference patch was coming off slightly, and T.Y. Hilton was wearing a Nike Pro Combat Hyperstrong padded compression shirt (look at his armpits). Specifically, this one. I wonder how he got that under the Adidas radar?

• Not uni-related, but my fan-of-the-week award goes to Dick Coffee, who hasn’t missed a Bama game since 1946!

• Indiana wore white helmets against Virginia

• ECU still had the very-awesome Jolly Roger on their helmets in their game against Virginia Tech. Wish the Hokies would’ve broken out the orange pants.

• BC broke out the new striped helmet. This included the bandana sticker for former BC athlete Welles Crowther

More in the Red, White, and “Blech” club:

Wyoming (brown shell w/ S&S helmet decal)
Washington (white shell with S&S helmet decal)
Northwestern (normal shell w/ S&S helmet decal)
Arkansas (it was also on the field)
USF (including the Lee Roy Selmon tribute)
Rice
Idaho

Notre Dame and Michigan wore throwback uniforms to mark the first ever night game at the Big House.

• The current #21 for UofM had a patch over the retro Adidas logo. Quote from reader Jeff A: “Musburger just explained Michigan’s plan to keep circulating numbers of legends rather than retiring them. So if the current no. 21 (already wearing a patch honoring Desmond Howard) keeps making big plays for Michigan, will a future no. 21 have to wear TWO patches?”

• It also turns out that Notre Dame was throwing back to three — maybe four — different eras. The helmet was from 1961, the jersey was from 1959, the white cleats were from the era that ND wore white shoes (not sure of the exact years) *Note Michigan’s block ‘M’ crew socks: nice*, and the socks were from… uhh… *ahem* My point being is that a throwback should focus on one era. I took the liberty of whipping up two different throwbacks to reflect what a proper look would’ve been for last night’s game, with the Adidas TechFit application. Not perfect by any means, especially since there are no TV numbers in either jersey (so much for accuracy e_e), but it’s better than what the Fighting Irish wore last night, IMO. Michigan actually looked pretty cool last night. I wouldn’t go as far as to say they should switch to a modern version of their throwback full-time, but some other team should go with that look ASAP.

~~~

Nice job again Terry!

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duck2

Duck Tracking…and more

Last weekend I asked if there were any enterprising souls who wanted to follow in the footsteps of Mike Princip and continue with the wonderful Duck Tracker. Only two of you replied to express interest, and no one sent in any graphic samples. However…

Our buddy Rob Holecko over at the Gridiron Uniform Database (which is co-authored by Bill Schaefer and Timmy Bruila), has come up with something almost as neat. It’s an opportunity for trackers of any college teams (Penn State and Alabama fans need not apply) to track the various uniform machinations of their squads.

I’ll let Rob explain:

Hi LI Phil

About a week ago, you mentioned in Uni Watch that the Oregon Duck uniform tracker was unable to continue that project for this year. We at the Gridiron Uniform Database have decided to follow in the footsteps of the Duck Tracker and have created a website to track the notable college football uniforms being worn, both Oregon’s as well as any others. Announcing the College Football Uniform Tracker.

This site we hope will serve as a repository to track many of the various uniform combinations worn on the field these days. This is where the Uni Watchers come in. With The Gridiron Uniform Database taking up our free time, we will be continuing to expend our energies keeping that site up to date, and we don’t have the time to create a whole bunch of college football graphics, and that is not our intention with this project. We our merely offering to host the graphics that you Uni Watchers create on our site.

You’re not limited to the ten teams I have listed, we’ll use graphics for any colleges you want to send in, I just chose ten teams that have been in the “uniform news” lately, Maryland, Oklahoma State, etc. But if you send in any others, we’ll use them. We’re not seeking to track all 200+ NCAA FBS/FCS teams, just the ones you want to send in. And if you want to send in uniforms from past years/games, etc, send them in too, I’ll figure out a way to get them on the site. For now, everything is just one the one page, but as it grows, we’ll expand with sub-pages as necessary. If all you various Uni Watchers with the great graphical skills that I see in all the Uni Tweaks that you all submit will “adopt” your favorite NCAA team and submit their uniforms, we can build a great uni-tracker without one person having to do a whole lot of work, but many people doing a little work.

If we get more than one submission for a particular uniform, I will choose one to be in the gallery, but I will include all other variations as well somehow.

Also we’ve opened up a forum at the Gridiron Uniform Forums to discuss this project.

The only requirement is that we just ask in order to keep the graphics looking uniform (no pun intended), you only use Bill Schaefer’s template, which you can get by clicking any of the blank thumbnails on the page.

So how ’bout it guys? Let’s track those uniforms!

Send your uniform graphic submissions for this project to robholecko@gmail.com.

Great stuff guys. What say you, Uni Watchers?

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Benchies Header

Benchies

by Rick Pearson

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Hey! It’s the First Day of the Rest of the Season…

9-11-11_s-Chili_ALT

And of course, your full-size.

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all sport uni tweaks

Uni Tweaks

We have another new set of tweaks today.

If you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way.

Remember, if possible, try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per tweak. You guys have been great at keeping to that, and it’s much appreciated!

And so, lets begin:

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We start with Pat West, who begins our NFL Kickoff Weekend with some more NFL tweaks — this time the NFC:

Phil,

Here are some tweaks of NFC teams.

Cardinals: Much more traditional look all the way around.

49ers: Moved the sleeve stripes up.

Seahawks: Sent this in for the contest. Got rid of the Navy. Brightened up the royal. Added Silver helmets and pants. Made some sleeve stripes from the recolored logo.

Vikings: Made alternate the primary. Went with a more traditional white uni. Added a yellow alternate. Kept the modern helmet.

Panthers: Made helmet black. Matched helmet and pant stripes to shoulder stripes. Gave them all black look at home like a panther should be.

Falcons: As modern unis go I actually like their design. I normally hate drop shadow but I left it here as well because it works with this uni. Brought back black as the primary and gave them a red helmet.

Cowboys: Matched the silver and blues.

Giants: White pants and added a hint blue to the away uni

Redskins: Matched yellow pant striping to the maroon and white pants. Made socks with same striping as pants as well.

Thanks, Pat

~~~

And our second, and final tweak, comes from Bruce Genther, who has some concepts for the Miami Marlins:

UniWatch… A proposal for the 2012 Miami Marlins – new logo and new uniforms…enjoy!!

Logo

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

Option 4

Option 5

Bruce A. Genther

~~~

Thanks gents. Back next weekend with more.

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colorize this

Colorize This!

Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.

We welcome back a one-time colorizer with the first batch today, Ian Carr:

Hi Phil.

It’s been a while since I sent anything your way. Life, you know.

Anyway, I got a look at that photo of Gene Hackman in a baseball uni and had to take a shot.

Having just acquired a Wacom tablet, it has made the work so much easier.

Enjoy!

~~~

Ian wasn’t done, however, as he sent along two more.

At it AGAIN. Feel free to spread these out as much as necessary. I’ve got a few more I’m thinking of doing and will be bombing your inbox as I get them done (since I tend to do a bunch of something, then get bored for a while.)

I found NOTHING at all about these gents’ uniforms, so I put them in blue. They’re from DC, so they’d either be blue or red (Skins notwithstanding). I thought the blue looked better than the red.

Original is here.

and

Here’s Bobby Hull really giving it to a ref, who’s tired of it.

Sometime in the 60-61 season, if my research is accurate (based on the placing of the Tomahawk C secondary patch on the Blackhawks’ jerseys)

Image Source Original blog post WAS here: not up as of time of emailing.

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Moving along, another former colorizer has returned, my buddy, Larry Bodnovich:

I colorized a 1934 Canton McKinley football uniform picture

Not a great quality original. But at least gives an idea what that uniform looked like.

Larry Bodnovich

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Next up is Gary Chanko, who is still in baseball-mode:

Although football season is getting into gear, baseball is still on my plate for a while. At least until the Phils’ capture another World Series title!

This photo is from the great Life Magazine collection, most of which were never published.

This week features Rich Asburn taking bunting practice during the Phillies 1950 Spring Training camp.

A terrific image of how MLB player’s used to practice basic skills.

~~~

And we close with George Chilvers, who has a theme for this week:

Hi Phil

A theme to this week’s contributions.

I was asked by a guy in Venzuela if I could colourise some photos for him. He is obviously a great fan of the 1950s Hungarian soccer team – the “Golden Team” or “Aranycsapat”.

They were by far the best team of the age, and possibly one of the all-time great teams. They revolutionised tactics and were the first foreign team to beat England on home soil – and actually scored 6 goals in doing so. They were hot favourites for the 1954 World Cup but somehow lost the Final to West Germany.

I sent you a few months ago a picture of Ferenc Puskas from that team, and here are pictures of a couple of other members of the team, a squad picture, and a picture at the start of the 1953 game against England.

Originals can be found here, here, here, and here.

For you uni-watchers to note that the shirt that says “Hungaria” is a club shirt, not a strange spelling of Hungary. Hungaria are now called MTK.

Best wishes

George

~~~

Thanks everyone! Great to see a couple familiar names to go along with George & Gary. OK, you colorizers, show me what you got!

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vilk 5 & 1 b

5 & 1

And now, the part of the post you’ve all been waiting for: The 5 & 1.

For those of you unfamiliar with the “5 & 1” it’s pretty simple, really, much like Jim Vilk. He takes all of the NCAA games in a given weekend and examines them under the vilkescope to determine his best five, and one worst, matchup, as dictated by uniforms. There are few givens with the 5 & 1, because there is little rhyme or reason found inside the Vilk brain~pan. Large sums of money have been wagered, and lost, trying to figure out who’ll win the coveted “best” and “worst” #1s. And if you really want to know more, then be sure to read Being Jim Mothervilker…guaranteed to make your head explode. Now then, here’s Movi:

~~~

First, a moment of silence.

Thank you.

Honorable Mention to UC Davis/Montana State — Somewhere in Columbus, a young man is smiling.

Another Honorable Mention to Vietnam Vet and straight-on kicker Alan Moore. — Four years younger than Ricko!

5. Norfolk State/West Virginia — Because, like a 17-year-old, I’m attracted to bright objects.

4. Stanford/Duke — Would have looked better if they kept their helmets on tight…

3. Notre Dame/Michigan — You know…if Michigan traded the big M for regular numbers, both teams could keep this look.

2. Navy/Western Kentucky — Besides, the Midshipmen pull off Notre Dame’s look better than the Irish.

1. Alabama/Penn State — As much as I love messing with Phil’s head, I couldn’t do it this week (sorry, Larry).

And the bad one: Missouri/Arizona State — If you’re gonna go BFBS, don’t do it against a team with black as one of its colors.

~~~

Thanks, Movi. Ya know, I figured for sure you’d have put Paterno State & Phi Slamma Bama lower due a bunch of players wearing black socks. Which means I’ll never figure you out. And I’m (pleasantly) surprised you didn’t pick this matchup for the top 5, since I know how much you love brown and yellow gold.

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And THAT, folks, is a wrap. Obviously, today marks the tenth anniversary of perhaps the most tragic, devastating day in United States’ history, at least for any of us not old enough to remember (or who were born before) Pearl Harbor. Everyone remembers where they were ten years ago day, and what happened in the immediate aftermath. I purposely avoided (except for some brief uni-related reviews of yesterday’s uniforms) turning today’s post into something more than it should be. I’ve said my piece about 9/11 in the past, and if you’d like to read that, here it is. However you choose to remember the events of ten years ago, please remember that today is not about expressing your patriotism or waving the flag or putting a ribbon or sticker on a uniform. It’s a day of solemn remembrance. I lost a lot on that day. So did we all.

Peace to all Uni Watchers.

~~~

“The kid is like the anti-Lukas. He wants to wear Nike and hates yellow and green. As someone who likes purple uniforms, I say kudos to him.” — Jonee

 
  
 
Comments (179)

    When I was playing soccer I would wear those same white ankle braces when I didn’t have the opportunity to get taped. I noticed that they stained very easily and it was almost impossible to get the dirt and grass stains to come out of the brace without throwing them in the washer and normally ruining the way they fit

    I loved the Oregon Ducks Carbon pants/Yellow jersey/Carbon helmet uni worn yesterday. It is probably not something that I’d want to see every week, but for once the numerals matched the helmet and pants, and the Yellow jersey made for an interesting contrast. Probably would have looked even better at night under the lights.

    I like that color combination, and if any MLB tean would every go back to a Yellow/Athletic Gold cap, it would look fabulous with road Grays …. Yellow Numerals and trim, maybe an outline on the Yellow numerals/trim/team name over the Gray uni ….

    Pirates? A’s? Come on …. Here’s to hoping

    I just looked through all 44 photos from that game at espn.com and can’t tell…is there any green on that uniform at all?
    link

    Not that it looks bad, nor it is even a criticism. It IS Oregon, after all, and that’s their thing.

    But I couldn’t find any green. Not for sure, anyway.

    Of course we have to look really hard to find any maroon on these, too…
    link

    What the hell, we learned a long time ago Nike has decided it’s so big it can redefine anything it wants.

    I really wish we could sit in on the design process, just to see how much of it is Nike insisting vs the school actually asking for the black option.

    That’s true, yeah. A certain amount of responsibility probably does lie with the “But our kids would really like to wear black sometime” mentality.

    Either way, somebody out there is chosing to market special event promotions instead of school colors.

    There is absolutely no Green on that uni…
    The Ducks don’t seem to like putting green and yellow together much. Their only jerseys that have both on them are the Green(yellow numbers, yellow collar logo) and their White 1 jerseys( Green shoulder wings, Green numbers, yellow trim.) They also don’t combine green and yellow in many combinations. If they wear one color, that’s the only color that shows up.

    Does anybody know where to purchase heavy cotton football jerseys? The older style worn in the 1960s and 1970s? Surely someone must still make them for High Schools up North? Some places call them “practice jerseys” and one UW commenter once mention them being sold as “wrestling shirts”. I can not locate them on the web. Any help is appreciated.

    Thanks, Nick V.

    I still think the Jets should have used gray jerseys. Blue hockey jerseys are a dime a dozen.

    …and can we please stop submitting Vikings “tweaks” that consist of little more than “make them wear what they did 30 years ago”? I don’t mean to sound like an ass (well, no more than usual anyway), but we’ve seen that concept 100 times.

    I don’t mind the Miami above the Marlins, but I could also live without it. Agreed, though…that is brilliant! Love the smiling non-snarling mascot.

    Yeah the colors are close to Tampa Bay’s, but they won’t be around much longer anyway, huh?

    Excellent job, Bruce.

    I agree, they look great except for the Miami above the Marlins. Being a traditionalist, I’d lose the minor league “angry fish” patch. Too minor league.

    As a FLORIDA Marlins fan, I am dreading both the “Miami” name and any color changes. The black/silver/teal look is just excellent, IMO. I know teal is not popular anymore, but as a trim color with black words/numbers, it works well.

    While acceptable as a design, these blue Marlins look far too similar to the TB Rays (who should’ve kept the Devil and green). Let’s hope the actual ones are not too similar to any other teams, especially rivals. Why can’t a team embrace their history?

    I actually love Duke/Stanford on the field. I think those are two of the better classic uniforms in College Football today. They totally blew Penn State/Bama out of the water. But alas, even in the eyes of Jim Vilk, the SEC must reign supreme! Give the Pac 12 some love!!!

    Tell the PAC 12 to give me something to love. ;)

    I was *this* close to putting Oregon State/Wisconsin on the list, if that’s any consolation.

    I thought Stanford Duke would do the trick!
    I would agree about OSU Wisconsin, but Wisconsin carried that matchup! I HATE the Beavers and those damn helmet logos! I will be after you with Pac 12 matches that look good! Gimme a shout out if you actually pick one!

    Oh yeah…Stanford is in the PAC 12. ‘Twas early when I wrote that first post…

    You’ll see some other matchups, and some might even make it to #1. Unfortunately the USC/UCLA game isn’t a given anymore, since they really messed up the Bruins’ unis.

    Anyone else notice Big Brock is giving everyone the shocker?? Wtf.. grammatical errors and obscene gestures. Get this guy outta here..

    A few college uni questions:
    1. Is that Michigan #21 patch permanent? Seems dumb.
    2. Did anyone else notice Notre Dame’s “red hat” squad? I think they where QB’s and obviously signaling plays in….anyone else do this? (Uni wise I mean).
    3. Was it me or did only certain players on S. Carolina have NOB’s?

    2. This was covered last year. So they’ve been doing it at least this long. And the guys already showed other schools that do something similar like Ole Miss, who last week wore navy unis but their QB/signal callers wore red unis, etc.
    3. It was only you.

    2. Thanks. I can’t read every day, so I didn’t catch that.
    3. I only saw the highlights on Sportscenter, so that’s where I got it.

    It sounds like the Desmond Howard patch is going to be permanent from here on out, according to this: link

    As for retiring numbers/honoring former players, I wish more teams would take the route Notre Dame has used. Instead of retiring numbers, each player is given a card at the beginning of their ND career that lists notable players that wore their number before them. I think that is a cool idea.

    Thanks for the shocker update.. yikes. Still not sure how that resembles a pitchfork, but I trust you guys..

    Also, can’t believe there was NOTHING on this page about the official’s throwback unis in the Adidas Bowl! Come on guys, the zebras need loving too..

    Speaking of the Michigan/Notre Dame game, were the white pageboy/driving style caps on the officials (not the ref, though) part of the throwback? Or something new in the NCAA?

    I think those were throwbacks too, although it looked good and it really wouldn’t affect things if they did wear them more often.

    Also, why couldn’t they find a black ivy cap for the ref? link I did their job for them.

    Nicely done. I was disappointed too when I saw that the head ref didn’t have one on. I liked what the refs did and it really took the throwback feel to another level, for me anyway, even with the mish-mash of years ND took their unis from. I was also shocked this wasn’t mentioned in today’s column…

    I find it interesting that since they couldn’t find/didn’t want to give the refs black “newsies” hats, the head ref had to wear a black hat. Especially since often times, he’s even referred to as the “white hat.”

    What everyone has not pointed out, is that officials unis were dead on throwbacks – no position placard, plus since NCAA went full bore with the black pajama pants, and NFL style stripes, the last time you’ll see skinny stripes, and white knickers!

    UM-Notre Dame looked great on the field. Best thing was Notre Dame’s pants were actually gold instead of beige.

    Anybody know why they don’t wear those pants all the time? They match the helmets much better than the ones they normally wear.

    I thought UM looked OK. The ND stretchy jerseys (as with most stretchies) looked like crap, and cheap crap at that.

    I’ll be honest here, there’s a good reason why football jerseys don’t have huge honking letters on them anymore. and Saturday’s game proved it even further. Funny thing was where I was watching it. I was at the Nationals game that night (they ended up getting creamed 9-3 by the ‘Stros) and as I was getting a shake at the Shake Shack, they had the game on. I guess thats what happens when the Nats get their ass whooped in September.

    Even more interesting, the Astros wore their full greys to the game, a look that i thought had been phased out almost entirely by the emergence of the red alts

    to go with that cheap comment; on michigan’s last drive or second to last drive they showed a close up of one of the notre dame d-linemen (can’t remember the number) and his jersey was completely ripped off of his right shoulder. not just his shoulder pads were a little exposed, but that part of the jersey was completely gone.

    I wondered if there would be any comments about that shot. Ya that jersey with all the newfangled high tech material sure didn’t last.

    I was surprised that he was allowed to continue in that mangled mess of a jersey. Looked like they taped it up.

    I also liked Notre Dame’s use of old gold pants instead of Vegas Gold in this past Saturday’s game versus Michigan.

    The Maryland tweaks did all look better than the ones on the field. I thought my favorite would be the Calvert (checkerboard) design on top and the Crossland (cross) design on the yoke, but with the raglan sleeves on the uniforms, it didn’t work nearly as well as having the Crossland design on top and Calvert design on the yoke.

    I agree that the tweeks with helmet in one pattern, shoulders/sleeves looks better, but…

    all that you’ve really done is exchange a horizontal split for a vertical one in a design that is supposed to be quartered.

    These three pics say it all:

    link: White crew socks, black cleats, proper-sized leg pads, pants below the knees… this is what every college football player should look like (more or less).

    link: Screw the players; the cheerleaders (note the dude cheerleader with the Nike Salute ripoff gloves), referee, and the Tenors in the background are highlights in and of themselves!

    link: Upsie-Dasie!

    “The maple leaf looks less obtrusively noxious on the jerseys than in previous contexts.”. You complain about the Winnipeg Jets new AWESOME sweaters (and call the symbol of my country obtrusive) on the same page as you celebrate the travesty of the Oregon Ducks uniforms????????

    It is obtrusive. They aren’t the only Canadian team in the league, what the hell do they need a maple leaf in the logo for?

    That’s my comment, so I’ll back it up. When I look at the Jets’ logo just as a piece of clip art, I can’t tell whether the leaf is in the background, or the plane. Sometimes it looks like a mega leaf-plane mash-up object. Now that it’s finally on the jersey, it’s finally obvious that the plane is in front, and the leaf is in the background. And “less obtrusively noxious” means it’s better, i.e.: the logo finally shines when it’s on the jersey.
    All I’m doing is seeing sports design, and critiquing it. Which is kind of a central tenet of this blog. Hope I’m making myself clear to everybody, in case my original comments aren’t as obvious as I think they are.
    And oh yes, I believe I’m qualified to say this as a McGill student: You have a nice country. Happy to be here. ;-)

    Got a question about sewn on numbers…

    Last night I went to the LSU/Northestern State game and was able to watch NS from pretty close in pre-game warmups. NS wears super stretchy Adidas TechFit uniforms (not a pretty sight). I notice that the numbers on their jerseys were not sewn on but applied in some other process. My question is whether sewn on numbers are possible with these super stretchy jerseys…and, if not, how are the numbers applied?

    Tackle twill (i.e. sewn-on) numbers are possible on the Adidas body suits. A lot of the the newer, small school converts to the Adidas TechFit uniform are using what look to be sublimated numbers on the jersey. Probably the same process used to apply the pant stripes on the new Adidas TechFit football pants (which are basically glorified compression shorts).

    BTW, I’m sorry to report that Nebraska is a /// body suit link.

    Yea, I noticed the pants, too…no side seams that I could see. Another thing was the leg padding. Some players wore tiny thigh and knee pads as though just to be legal. But many of the players wore a design of thigh pads I had never seen. They were rectangular, and worn horizontally so that they wrapped around and covered the side of he thigh as well as the front. Do you know if this is also an Adidas invention?

    Probably padded compression shorts, which were actually pioneered by McDavid, I believe. They’re slowly — but surely — replacing traditional leg pads. I wouldn’t be surprised if thigh and knee pads were made obsolete and all college players were required to wear a padded girdle in the future, and seeing as college players wear their leg pads as small as possible, it would probably be a good thing.

    The Winnipeg “I’m Still Calling Them The Thrashers” Jets jerseys look better than I thought they would.

    Still too much two-toned blue in the NHL.

    Good job with the nfl uniform tweakings!

    The Redskins uniform should exactly look like that. The gold pants striping should match the stripping on the sleeves and the socks. How about moving the two broad stripes on the jersey to where the numbers are currently located and the numbers moved to the shoulders?

    Good job with the Cowboys tweak. The blue on the jersey should match with the blue star on the helmet and the pants should be silver like the color of the helmet.

    The Cardinals uniforms should like that rather than what they are currently wearing.

    I like the Falcons helmet to be red instead of black.

    The Vikings tweak for the home and away uniforms is perfect.

    I think instead of all gold the NFL should have gone with a gold “C” and four white stars for 5 years, and then for 6 through 9, they could have made each white star gold again.

    IMHO the gold c looks terrible. But then generic C patches look terrible all together, but the all gold makes it worse

    Roman-numeral-style counting on the captain patches would work really well and take care of that pesky problem of what to do next year.

    It looks like Gary Brackett’s also got a gold vector logo on his shoulder to match the gold “C”.

    Texans wearing white at home as well – do they usually do this?

    Maryland would never wear the all-black and gold or the all-red and white. The black and gold is the flag (or crest) of Baltimore, and the red and white is for Calvert. There is no way that the school would predominantly choose one over the other.

    Absolutely agree on swapping the shoulders for Maryland, thought it myself during the game. Makes too much sense.

    And boy am I glad. I didn’t feel like losing my breakfast this early. Burnt orange makes me vomit solely because of Texas.

    I’ll give some love (even though I’m a Sooner). I’ve always liked the Longhorn road unis. But, being a home game, I didn’t get to see them. Still, BYU looks much better than when they had the mismatch colors on the front and back of their jersey.

    That game was penciled in all week and got bumped at the last minute for Norfolk/WVU. As great as it was, I can’t have every matchup in either shoulder stripes or Northwestern stripes. Gotta mix it up a little.

    Neutral on the Sooners/Longhorns front. They both look great, and when Texas is the road team, that matchup is pretty much a 5&1 lock.

    And Keith, if BYU still wore those mismatch unis, they’d only contend for the &1. I was hoping they’d wear the blue pants last night. That game could have used a little more contrast.

    You and I would get along nicely, Bernard. LET’S GOOO!

    Nice to see the Mounties in the 5&1 as well. Keep an eye on them Mr. Vilk. Many of their games please the Uni-Gods.

    You know, the real problem with Penn State isn’t the jersey. A basic jersey can work – see the Oakland Raiders. The problem is the lack of a pant stripe to match the helmet, and the lack of a helmet logo. Or, if they simply *must* have a blank helmet, the lack of any other team logo on the rest of the uniform. At least Notre Dame has an ND logo on their jerseys.

    When you look at a Penn State uniform, the *only* logo you see are Nike swooshes. As much as we may get on Oregon for being Team Nike, the sides of their helmets have a big O on them.

    I almost said, “Leave the helmets alone,” but that third design is nice. But only because you included numbers.

    Even though I give them an A+, there’s room for tweaking. I’m fine with a blue pants stripe and helmet numbers…even last year’s trim. But that’s it.

    It is the plain white pants and plain white helmet with the single stripe that all make it so boring. At least the in the 1960’s they had a pants stripe and the numbers on the helmet. 1969 was when they went to the boring look.

    And the PSU pants are in the picture I posted of the jersey. You just can not see the white pants because the background is ALL WHITE. hee hee

    Ooooooh…

    Although it’s Penn State AT Temple, so the Lions will be in all white.

    Will it affect their place on the list? Will Larry tune out next week fearing the worst? Will WVU at Maryland distract me with even more bright shiny mayhem? Tune in next week!

    I do agree with Jim V on one point. Why did Arizona State choose an all black vs Missouri?

    But I did like the ASU look despite that they do not have black as a color.

    Like it or not, and I don’t, ASU added black to their color scheme across the all teams as part of the re-branding, thus black is now a one of their colors.

    Overall I didn’t mind the ASU unis. The part where it seems just a big lazy is the font on the sleeve ASU. If you are going for a new wave demon look, don’t use plain jane Arial. Also would have looked better with a yellow to maroon gradient on the numbers instead of white to yellow.

    Was that the first time Washington has ever worn a white helmet??? I’ve never seen them in a white helmet before yesterday, and I’m wondering if this was a first ever or a return to something from the past.

    I appreciate the originality of the Maryland flag. I do. But it just can’t be incorporated onto a modern football uniform successfully. I want to like it, but it’s an eyesore in any incarnation. It’s confusing and desperate looking.

    The Jets uniform is just blatantly dull. Do we praise it for for being safe and uninspiring? Is that what it’s come to? Shades of blue….sigh. Teebz won’t want to hear this–and I see his rational point–but that original Jets look is missed here.

    Alabama and Penn State. That’s how it’s done. I look at those well-meaning NFL tweaks and shrug. You just cant put stripes on these elastic pull-over tank top excuses for jerseys. There’s no room. Why bother?

    That’s my problem with the Jets, too. It’s generic and dull. Lifeless.

    And definitely no room for stripes anymore on football shells (they’re shells for pads, not shirts).

    You just cant put stripes on these elastic pull-over tank top excuses for jerseys. There’s no room. Why bother?

    Why bother?

    Because if we, the fans, insist on putting stripes on jersey sleeves, maybe…just maybe… someone at Nike or Adidas will realize that they need to stop fucking up the jerseys and go back to a cut that actually has sleeves on it.

    /ok, so it’s a long shot, but we can dream can’t we?

    Sure is – the sunny weather really makes the uniforms opp.

    I didn’t realize how much I missed the white helmets.

    Not liking the Rams in blue-over-blue. And I can see what some of us have been talking about; the horn decals look off.

    Also, with the Ravens in white at home I’m wondering if the Jets are going to wear white tonight. They did it in the home opener last year, which was both surprising (you’d think they would want to open their new stadium in their proper home uniform) and unnecessary (white doesn’t keep you cool at night when the sun’s not out). Fat Bastard seems to have a fetish for the whites, which the Jets wore in Super Bowl III and all through the playoffs last year and the year before. (If this keeps up, I’m going to have to start calling them Gang White…) And they might want to wear white to force the Cowboys to wear blue, which everyone knows they don’t like to do. But, OTOH, the NFL might want to showcase both teams in their best unis on such a special occasion.

    the jets are one of the few teams who look better in all white…and they did win SBIII in them

    and any reason to force *america’s team* to wear blue is a huge plus in my book

    im a J-E-T-S fan tonight

    They look good in all-white, but green-over-white is their best look, IMHO. Wearing white all the time reminds me too much of the Joe Walton era.

    And yes, they did win SBIII in them, but not by choice; only because it was the AFL’s turn to wear white.

    All-time in the postseason, Jets are 9-9 in white, 3-4 in green. Two of the four losses in green were on the road (’82 in Miami, ’86 in Cleveland). They also wore white at home in the playoffs twice: the loss to New England in ’85, and the win over Kansas City in ’86.

    I could’ve lived with the helmets & shoulders matching if they swapped the “leg warmers” most players were wearing on their arms instead of matching them to everything else. Of course a lot of them were wearing them on only 1 arm which made this look even dumber if that was even possible.

    BTW I see another BrianC posting earlier so I changed to this to avoid confusion…

    Yesterday Colorado State wore special orange jerseys to celebrate the region’s agricultural heritage (CSU use to be known as the Colorado A&M Aggies who were orange). They played the University of Northern Colorado, who wore their standard all white road uniforms with gold helmets.

    Later on in the day, the CSU women’s volleyball team wore orange as well I believe.

    Best looking NFL game this week:

    Buffalo – Kansas City (followed very closely by Green Bay – New Orleans)

    Worst looking game:

    Philly – St. Louis and that depressing dome. Of course, this game would look bad outside, too.

    i’ll totally give you that the rams monoblue is horrid, but the iggles in green/white/green is their best look

    there’s still a whole slate of games (granted, unlike college, we pretty much know what most teams will be wearing) to be played tho…can’t declare KC/Buf just yet

    Well, Buffalo – KC was declared after glancing at the rest of today’s games. For me, no possible combos that could take place the rest of the day have a prayer.

    Philly in white is their best look, but it’s still bad. Rams – Philly is just the worst look on a day of no truly awful matchups. If only Jacksonville were playing Arizona today. That would be a seriously easy choice.

    indeed…has a 70’s vibe for sure…the only problem is how shitty the giants jerseys (superstretchies) look…i mean, some of them are just awful; forgetting the cut however, yeah…it’s a pretty sweet matchup

    If that game were in New Jersey it would be absolutely beautiful. Assuming yellow britches for Washington.

    I absolutely CANNOT stand that striping pattern. The jersey color swatch stripes totally compete with each other in direction. They don’t correspond in any way. And the pants stripe is bad too. Needs to have a more defined taporing or something. Just a couple of little fixes could turn this thing around so quickly…

    link

    I do not disagree with you one bit. As a die-hard Mountaineer fan I love the old uniforms with none of that crazy striping going in random directions. Give me the plain Old Gold and Blue any day. I had to include them for accuracy though ;)

    The uniform could be much worse. WVU keeps it pretty simple for the most part and I appreciate that. I would love to see a simple shoulder stripe and nothing down the sides, with a plain stripe down the pants as well, but the current layout is still better than many others out there.

    This would be pretty nice to see again… link

    Yeah, could be much worse, but so could everything. It’s such a simple fix, either to go back to the old trim or put something that works together on the thing. And such a good looking base uni too.

    Why do the numerals have to be outlined in white? There is no other white piping or outline trim elsewhere on the uniform to match it. The blue and gold look is cool withoutout any gratuitous white piping or outlining.

    Redskins look sharp in the yellow pants and striped hosiery. Giants, of course, in excellent road whites. Great uni matchup in DC.

    Hadn’t noticed it before, but it certainly looks like the Vikings’ jerseys have two shades of purple. This is not an improvement.

    And thanks to the colorizers. Ian, Gary and George. Keep sending the work in. I always check them out.

    This is inspired by a comment from Ricko (I believe) a week ago: Let’s call the Maryland uniforms from last week “Captain Maryland” uniforms.

    I like the tweaks Tim, Pat and Bruce!

    Wasn’t me.
    But that’s a great description.

    Would that make their tortoise unis, “Turtleman”?

    Nah, they’re pretty young.
    Maybe “Turtleboy”?

    No, wait, obviously it would be…
    “Teenage Mutant Ninja Terrapins”.

    If the entire team is wearing the same thing, then it is a uniform. The term “costume” is rather juvenile.

    u·ni·form (yn-fôrm)

    adj.
    1. Conforming to one principle, standard, or rule; consistent.
    2. Being the same as or consonant with another or others.
    3. Unvaried in texture, color, or design.

    n.
    1. A distinctive outfit intended to identify those who wear it as members of a specific group.
    2. One set of such an outfit.

    Can we please get over the hate for uniforms that think outside of the box.

    “Can we please get over the hate for uniforms that think outside of the box.”

    Ummmmmm…no. Some uniforms are nice and pleasing to the eye…others are pure crap.

    did you even read past the first sentence? i used the word “costume” — and let’s face it, that’s what it was — exactly ONCE, followed by the term “uniform” eight…count em…eight times

    and i don’t think i was all that unfair in the critique — but i think clearly you’re predisposed to hear a certain thing and you don’t even want to look any further; i don’t like the idea of one offs, and especially not this one, but i tried to judge it AS A UNIFORM — and i think it was an interesting idea that didn’t quite work…if the team had simply swapped the shoulder patches as in tim’s mockup, i think it would have been much better

    and i’ll continue (as i am sure will paul) to call something like this a costume…just like nike’s amateur pacifist uniforms are also costumes…

    There’s nothing to “get over”. Costume is a great descriptive term for some of the cartoonish uniforms we’ve seen lately.

    I don’t think there’s any “hate” for uniforms that “think outside of the box” (whatever that means, although I doubt that a uniform can think at all…)

    There is disdain for uniforms that are ugly, particularly those that are ugly for the sake of being ugly. Difference.

    In any event, there’s no accounting for taste.

    I don’t know if this has been discussed yet, but word is, MLB not letting the Mets wear the FDNY, NYPD or PAPD hats this evening. I read on Twitter, via Josh Thole, the fines will be heavy if they do. Does anyone else have a huge problem with this? I certainly do.

    Or better yet, why does MLB feel the need to try to cash in on 9/11 and have it come off as “patriotism”. Obviously, selling hats is the bottom line here.

    Now, I’m not saying baseball doesn’t truly care or isn’t sincere in honoring the most horrible day in our country’s history, but, to not let a New York team, playing a home game on 9/11, honor this day the way they see fit? That’s wrong.

    Excellent; green over white.

    Not so excellent; Mets are wearing the hybrids tonight. If it’s because they wore them on 9/11/01, fine, but seriously, WTF? (Then again, no one’s watching….)

    “If it’s because they wore them on 9/11/01, fine…”

    That’s my guess. Both teams also have adhesive U.S. flag patches over the MLB logo on the back collar.

    They have flag patches on their hats. Is all the commemorative stuff MLB does necessary? Why don’t they just just put up banners in the ballparks to commemorate sacred days or to support a cause? Leave the uniforms alone and just let the players play ball.

    For Rob I hope the college uniform tracker does well.

    I enjoyed Michael’s Duck Tracker. We know Michael is busy these days and I wish him luck with the helmet.

    Jets – Cowboys threw me a curve. I thought for sure NY would wear the white, forcing Dallas into their shitty blues. Instrad now we have ourselves one fine looking game. And yes, I think the Cowboys look fantastic in the whites, mismatched blues and all.

    as long as the J-E-T-S win, i don’t care how they’re attired…although i would have preferred them in white

    Has the game started? I boycott the first quarter of any TV game that has its own theme song…usually sung by a Country & Western artist. Pre-game hype is such annoying bullsh*t…

    ON THE THEME SONG COMMENT:

    It reminded me of this classic comment from Paul about 9-10 months ago:

    “Not strictly uni-related, but…. Is anyone else puzzled by the use of “I Hate Myself for Loving You” as the template for Faith Hill’s Sunday Night Football theme song? (I’m also puzzled by the notion that Faith Hill is either talented or attractive, but that’s another story.)

    “I Hate Myself…” was a #8 hit for Joan Jett – in 1988. It’s not her signature song, or anything close to it, and it was from an album (Up Your Alley) that barely cracked the top 20. A hit, yes, but hardly iconic, and a lot of today’s young NFL fans weren’t even born yet when it was released.

    More to the point, its lyrical content is all about a guilty, self-loathing pleasure – it’s a dark song. Not dark like “Enter Sandman” or “Hell’s Bells,” but dark in that troubling, introspective way. And that is NOT the way sports leagues typically market themselves. If the NFL was gonna write itself a theme song, it would more likely be titled, “I *Love* Myself for Loving You.”

    I can’t stand “All My Rowdy Friends…,” but at least it MAKES FUCKING SENSE. I totally don’t get the use of “I Hate Myself…” Anyone else?”

    I hate’em all…and whenever I hear any football game theme song I hate everybody! It just has that effect on me… ;>)

    Have the Cowboy’s worn link this whole time? It looks really strange.

    Also, I love the cleanness of having the 9/11 memorial ribbon above the Jet’s captains patches on (who is another team I don’t remember having captain’s patches for…)

    Would the league make a team wear their captains patches? It makes me worry for my Eagles…

    And, of course, there was so little room that Revis’ captain patch extended over his number. (Sanchez’ single digit saved him from that fate.)

    LeHair of the Cubs is having serious flag issues. It looks like the one pasted to his jersey going to fall off any minute.

    Either it’s the light or the color dial on my Zenith needs adjustment, but those Cowboy pants have a tint of green in em.

    It was almost a shame to see Tony Romo look completely clueless on that snap with 8 seconds left in the game… only because he was wearing actual sleeves on his uniform.

    2 things about the Maryland tweaks–

    First, you can’t go only black and gold. Think about the Ravens biggest rivals, and what colors they wear. Second, Baltimore City’s flag is simply black and gold and Maryland has the red and white portion in addition to the black and gold.

    To be honest, as a one off, they weren’t as horrid as people were claiming them to be. I’m biased being a Bawlmer boy, but I think it was just a fun thing that got the team and a rather bored fanbase pumped. Our flag, imo is the best in the union, but probably shouldn’t be used as uniform fodder.

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