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The Return of the Bumblebee

bumblebee hed

By Phil Hecken

You folks may remember way back to August of 2010, while I was filling in for Paul during the weekdays, I ran this column on the “Bumblebee” period for the Pittsburgh Pirates. If you scroll down, you’ll note the second part of that column featured Uni Watch’s resident “BucTracker,” Jerry Wolper, who at the time was undertaking a tremendous research project to document every uniform combination the Pittsburgh Pirates wore from 1977 through 1984 — not just their mix-and-match jerseys and pants, but also caps, sleeves and stirrups/socks as well.

I’m pleased to announce that Jerry has now completed that project, and I have the pleasure of now sharing that with you all. Jerry’s done yeoman work here — and although the final product is almost complete (we hope to be able to host it in the “Research Projects” section of Uni Watch), it’s now ready for prime time. So, I’ll shut up now and let Jerry take it from here:

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The Buctracker Project
By Jerry Wolper

This is a listing of what colors the Pittsburgh Pirates wore during their multi-colored uniform period of 1977-1984. Most of the information comes from photographs, especially from newspapers. Some gaps were filled in from the “rules” described below. There’s something for 93% of games, and everything for 90%. In the underlying database, about 80% of fields are filled.

The primary source is the Google News Archive, which includes the two daily Pittsburgh papers of the time (the Press and Post-Gazette). Some suburban Pittsburgh newspapers are also archived. The only other major daily from an NL city they have is the Montreal Gazette, which was useful for Pirate-Expo games. (There are also some French-language Montreal papers.) Many random papers also have occasional helpful wire photos, and every now and then I would find one in something like the Press-Courier from Oxnard, CA which features wire coverage of the Dodgers (and Angels) the same way the Youngstown Vindicator features the Pirates (and Indians). I could then use the Press-Courier as a source for Pirate-Dodger games.

There are, unfortunately, holes in the Google archive. The Pittsburgh papers are on microfilm at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, which includes the editions that Google doesn’t have. The library also has the New York Times, which was useful for Pirate-Met games. While traveling, I had the chance to visit a couple of libraries. The Multnomah County Library in Portland was especially useful for the Oregonian’s coverage of exhibition games when the Beavers were the Pirates’ AAA affiliate.

The online AP, Getty, and Corbis archives had several photos with dates and too many more without. There are also some Ebay sellers of wire and press photos who had useful pictures. retrosheet.org was invaluable for matching players and game situations to the correct dates.

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What They Wore

The Pirates always wore black caps and sleeves with gold jerseys and gold caps and sleeves with black jerseys. (I’ve only seen one exception,
when they wore gold caps with gold jerseys on September 12, 1977 at Philadelphia.) Similarly, they wore black stirrups with gold pants,
and gold stirrups with black pants. Helmets were always gold, which was a holdover from the gold-capped days of the early ’70s.

1977: No names on backs. The Pirates would mix and match any combination of gold, black, and (striped) white shirts and pants, both at home and on the road. Either color of cap or stirrup was worn next to a white jersey or pants.

1978: Like 1977, except that they didn’t wear white shirts with white pants on the road; they’d still mix the (striped) white with black or gold, though.

1979: Names appeared on backs. The striped white jersey and pants were only worn with each other, and only at home. I’ve seen a couple of games with gold caps and white jerseys, but black caps were much more prevalent. Black and gold shirts and pants were still mixed and matched, both at home and on the road.

1980-84: Names remained on backs. The stripes were dropped from the white uniforms, which were now worn at all home games with black caps,
sleeves, and stirrups. Black and gold shirts and pants were still mixed and matched on the road.

September 1980: In September of 1980, the Pirates did mix and match black, gold, and white shirts and pants at home. According to the September 4, 1980 Pittsburgh Press, “For the first time all year, the Pirates did not wear their all-white uniforms with black hats at home. ‘The players wanted to do it, so I figured “Why not?”‘ explained equipment manager John Hallahan.” I’ve seen one game where they wore gold caps with white jerseys. After 1980, it was back to white jerseys and pants at home.

Please send additions, corrections, and questions to BucTracker@gmail.com.

Thanks to Paul and Phil for all their help and support. Thanks also to Tim Brulia, Dan Cichalski, Rich Loup, and Jerry Reuss for their contributions.

~~~

Thanks Jerry. And just what exactly, do Jerry’s herculean efforts show us? Well, here it is: www.Buctracker.us.

I’ve run out of superlatives to heap on Jerry for this undertaking. But this was beyond a labor of love, and truly one for the record books. OK, dear readers, please let Jerry know just how great his efforts are.

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ncaa football

New NCAA Rundown

In what is now a regular Sunday feature during the NCAA season, my buddy Terry Duroncelet is here to give us the uni machinations and assorted athletic aesthetics for Week IV of the college football season. Here’s Terry:

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• Oklahoma State Co-Defensive Coordinator & Linebacker Coach Glenn Spencer lost his wife Angela last week to complications from a heart transplant from a year-and-a-half ago. The Cowboys team has added a memorial decal with Mrs. Spencer’s initials in the back of their helmets. My condolences go out to Mr. Spencer and his two teenage sons. Another uni-notable moment from that game is that the Cowboys wore their grey helmets with white jerseys and grey pants. Are we ever going to see any orange in the Cowboys’ wardrobe this season? And I think it’s safe to say that Texas A&M doesn’t give a single f*ck about the Longhorns’ or the Big XII’s feelings.

• The Notre Dame Panthers faced off against the Pittsburgh Fighting Irish. Nothing much else to say.

• Virginia Tech not only broke out the orange pants for the first time this season, but they also broke out the orange helmets from last season’s Orange Bowl, complete with truncated helmet stripe. The game also gave us a good look at the new Marshall home uniform, which looks a lot better than their current road uni (read: I HATE screenprinted numbers as a whole, but especially in a tackle sport. It’s called “tackle” twill for a reason).

• The Southern vs. Florida A&M game was no Sonic Rainboom, but it was pretty darn close. Can somebody tell me what was on FAMU #5’s shirttail?

• I think we found Movi’s worst uni-matchup of the weekend in TCU vs. Portland State.

• Indiana went full-Storm Trooper against North Texas, who — as shown in the screengrab — had corresponding white Denver Bronco-style pants to go with their green Bronco-pants.

• Minnesota wore maroon helmets and jerseys with white pants. Not a combo that I usually see from them. The dark helmet/dark jersey with secondary color numbers/white pants-look works well for the Rams, but not so much for the Gophers, IMO.

• Hard to tell in this photo, but Southern Miss changed up their helmet striping to a 1-and-a-half-inch? single-stripe. You can *barely* see the differences in that helmet and the one shown in Paul’s ESPN college uni rundown.

Kentucky wore white helmets, blue jerseys, and white pants for the first time since… *to self* When was the last time they wore white-over-blue-over-white? On a side note, I caught a video of a Kentucky food goodie during the game.

• Boise State wore their 2010 Maaco Bowl Pro Combat uniforms against Tulsa (keep in mind that the “No-Mono-Blue-Crap-At-Home rule” only applies to conference games). I think it’s safe to say that the File Tab unis have been laid to rest, which is a good thing.

• West Virginia went mono-canary against LSU.

• Terrible screengrab, but Arizona State went mono-maroon (complete with maroon helmets) in their third straight monochrome game this season. They actually looked pretty sharp this time around because — *gasp!* — they’re wearing an actual school color! And luckily, Lame Kiffin only mandated black socks at home, because the Trojans were wearing the proper white socks in their road game.

• Arizona wore a new combo that I’ve never seen before: blue helmets with red jerseys and blue pants.

Miss. State was in black jersey tops and (thankfully) burgundy pants.

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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 Bret Ayres, who (prior to the introduction of the flag costume) decided to fix Maryland:

Mr. Hecken,

After your Maryland update on August 23rd it took me some time to pick up my jaw from the floor, and finish questioning the existence of God, but I decided to take a shot at making a non-horrible set for the Terps. Despite the garish nature of their new uniforms I found two redeemable design elements in the helmet stripe inspired by the state flag, and the shell patterned helmet. I wanted to use the flag striping a little more, and make the shell pattern a little lighter. No gradient numbers, no rainbow stripes, and I’m relegating the black helmet to a black third uniform set.

HOME
ROAD
ALT

Bret Ayres

~~~

Next up is Michael Sullivan, with a tweak for the NFL Panthers:

I decided to take on one of the NFL’s great uniform challenges. The Carolina Panthers. I made a home and away that I’m pretty pleased with. The tweak is here. Thanks.

-Michael Sullivan

~~~

And closing down the show today is Matthew Donnelly, with a few different ideas:

Phil,

I had a bunch of tweaks that I wanted to clear out and send in:

-A Pro Combat uniform for my Alma Mater, Ithaca College

-a Bengals helmet made by playing with gradients

and 2 from OBrien’s template:

-The inevitable Blue Mets Jersey

-New jerseys for all of the Mets’ NY state affiliates

Thanks,

Matt Donnelly

~~~

OK — thanks to all the tweakers. Back with more next weekend.

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Benchies Header

Benchies

by Rick Pearson

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If you’ll all open your playbooks, please…

9-25-11 s-Open

And, of course, the full-size.

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vilk 5 & 1 flat 2

Jim Vilk’s 5 & 1

And now for the part of the post that I wait up all night for you’ve all been waiting for…

I don’t even want to look (but lets see if Terry was correct about the worst game):

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Terp Tracker – The turtle-shell look is great on the shoulders, not so great elsewhere.

Honorable Mention to USC/Arizona State – Just enough contrast to put them in the running.

And to Virginia Tech/Marshall – Nothing rhymes with what I like about this photo.

5. Colorado/Ohio State – Don’t worry, Robert…it probably won’t be the only time for the Buckeyes.

4. Florida State/Clemson – Orange you glad I picked this game?

3. Eastern Michigan/Penn State – Any fries to go with that B1G MAC special?

2. Tulane/Duke – Been waiting for you, Tulane!

1. Ohio/Rutgers – OK, Bobcats…NOW you can celebrate.

And the bad one: Portland State/TCU – I don’t like alliteration, but…it’s the BFBS/Bad Font Bowl!

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Duck Tracker Header

2011 Duck Tracker

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, Jake Hurley has stepped up to the plate and taken over the “Duck Tracker” for 2011. What is the Duck Tracker? Quite simply, it tracks each and every uniform combination the Ducks have worn for the 2011 season. He steps in for former tracker Mike Princip, whose non-Uni Watch activities will preclude him from tracking for 2011.

Last week Jake wasn’t quite ready for primetime, but we’re good to go now. He says, “So I finally have the site up and running, it is ‘live’ now. It is extremely low key at this point, it will look better by the time Sunday rolls around.”

So, ready or not, here is the new 2011 Duck Tracker.

Please let Jake know what you think and if you have any suggestions on how to improve or change it.

Thanks, Jake!

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And that’s going to tie a bow on this Sunday. I’ll be pinch-hitting for Paul tomorrow, so if you have any good NFL uniform news, screen shots or other assorted items of interest, you can sent them to the usual uniwatching address or send them directly to me.

And if you happened to miss yesterday’s post, we began voting on the Seahawks Uniform Contest, and the voting will continue until this coming Friday. Make sure to check it out and to cast a vote (or 2) for your favorite unis if you haven’t already done so. OK? OK!

~~~

“Mono-gold for my Mounties is a guaranteed L. These damn kids. They call this a ‘Gold Rush.’ I’m afraid it’s going to turn into a ‘Golden Shower’.” — Coleman Mullins

 
  
 
Comments (158)

    Virginia Tech not only broke out the orange pants for the first time this season, but they also broke out the orange helmets from last season’s Orange Bowl, complete with truncated helmet stripe.

    Um, no, not quite. VT’s orange helmets are different than last year’s. They reversed the stripe pattern. Last year they looked like a slightly miscolored (but properly logo’d) Browns team – the white stripe was in the middle.

    Let’s not go there… My schedule says today is supposed to be a gray facemask argument day with a 30% chance of complaining about throwbacks.

    Jerry, thanks for the Buctracker and the unexpected shout-out. I always love finding out more information about the bumblebee era, and I can’t wait to read your work.

    Rich Loup

    Well, shoot. By the title, I was hoping for a “Pirates to revive bumblebee hats in 2012” announcement…

    Oh please, no.

    Gotta say, I didn’t remember the first bumblebees being NNOB. I’d love to see those make a return, but with the current hat. And bring back the gold & black helmet!

    Jerry, that Buc Tracker is fantastic! Thanks for your efforts.

    I think it was a bad uniform combination in last night’s game: West Virginia vs. LSU. It was a bad decision for West Virginia to wear the all yellow uniform combo against LSU, who almost always wear white jerseys and yellow pants. Too much yellow for both teams! The referee should have prohibited West Virginia from wearing yellow jerseys and should have demanded that they change to their dark blue jerseys. At times, it was confusing to distinguish which team was West Virginia and which team is LSU. The best way to distinguish the teams in last night’s game is by their helmet color: West Virginia dark blue and LSU yellow.

    I said it last night… Golden Shower. The easiest way to tell who was who? The team playing like crap was WVU, and LSU was the other team.

    Uni-wise, though, WVU needs to wear [url=http://goldandbluezone.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/WVU-football.jpg]this[/url] at home.

    Yeah, I loves me some yellow, even more than orange, but there’s such a thing as too much of a good thing.

    If Va. Tech wore what they wore against Clemson in the mono orange, I’d say the same thing. Separately, though, all four unis look great.

    Forget VT. How about that nifty little bison that ND State had on their helmet? He has that late 50s early 60 vibe going for him. I like.

    Nicely done, NDS!

    North Dakota State has done very well against FBS schools in recent years, with wins in the Big Ten, Big 12, and MAC. I also like the green-yellow combination in those uniforms.

    “The Notre Dame Panthers faced off against the Pittsburgh Fighting Irish. Nothing much else to say.”

    A couple of games I watched yesterday made me wish that NCAA & NFL games adopted similar uniform rules as those used in soccer–whether in MLS, Europe, or the World Cup, etc. The away team is permitted to wear its color uniform so long as any portion isn’t too similar to that of the home team.
    Ideally, then, ND would have had to come up with a different color pant and helmet. I also watched the ‘Bama/Arkansas game, and that was possibly even more confusing. Both teams wore white pants and red helmets. And Arkansas white jerseys had red on the shoulders. There were a few times when, at first look, it seemed as though a ‘Bama player had tackled his own RB or WR! Sure, it’s a suggestion that ignores tradition, but imagine the color schemes that you could have!

    I think you are over-thinking things. Pitt had blue jerseys on. ND had white.

    What is the issue? I don’t recall any instances in the game where guys were tackling people on their own team and QB’s were mistaking DB’s for WR’s

    The Southern Miss helmets were their 2nd of their 3 helmets they will wear this season, they changed more than just the stripe, if you look at the logo you’ll see that “Southern Miss” is on one line and it is underlined by a feather.

    they wore these:

    link

    not the ones shown in Paul’s preseason rundown.

    Also Saturday was the first time Georgia Tech wore a uniform they have already worn. I noticed that neither their away uniform nor their home uniforms with the blue numbers have been shown (only mentioned) so here those are:

    link

    link

    Something I only realized yesterday when I picked up a replica that the home-whites have “Yellow Jackets” Across the chest (unlike their 2009 counterparts), while the away-whites have “Georgia Tech”. Also I don’t think its been mentioned that the pants Tech are wearing have the spike (or I guess stinger) on them last seen with the 2008 set.

    Ooooooh, yeah! That is nice.

    Speaking of contrast, I assumed North Texas was going mono green last night. Never saw a photo, but if I did, their game against Indiana had a shot at making the list.

    Minor detail from the UGA vs. Ole Miss game.. The Rebels have a (quite large) SEC patch on the right chest-area of their jerseys:

    link

    Seems, however, that their QB (#8) didn’t have the same patch as everyone else:

    link

    As I said, minor detail, but isn’t that what UW is all about?

    Great tweaks today, guys.

    I really like the Terps new unis…above the waistline. If they used Bret’s pant design they’d be much better. And if they used all of Bret’s design, that would be good, too.
    You know, if you made one sleeve stripe/pant stripe in the other design from the MD flag, that would work. It wouldn’t be as distracting as the unis they wore against Miami.

    Michael, you have a different take on the shoulders from any other Panther remake I’ve seen. I like.

    Matthew, your Brooklyn Cyclones are the cream of your crop.

    Thanks!

    If only the Lions would follow suit.

    I would have loved it if the Lions and Buccaneers would have done a throwback game in Week 1. I always loved seeing the Barry Sanders era blue uniforms in the Florida sunshine against the creamsicles. Would have been a great NFC Central throwback

    New Metrodome roof makes it much brighter in there. And it’s clear, sunny day, too, so it really improves the viewing experience. Looks more like a outdoor game and less like the “inside an airplane hangar” half-light of most domes.

    Throwbacks also greatly improve the visual experience.

    Now, about the home team….

    Could the dome have gone this route years ago with the roof or would it have caused havoc for outfielders catching fly balls?

    Completely agree. Something about that “midnight” purple helmet. The Viks are missing the boat with their modern take on purple. Those old classics must return forever.

    Many thanks to Jerry for his BucsTracker project, I imagine the Pirate Yearbooks from that era were also helpful in accumulating this information. The 1977-84 era was a very successful one, so those uniforms do have nostalgia attached to them. In fact, in five of those eight seasons, the Bucs were serious contenders, even though ’79 was the lone division title/world championship. A number of the players from the five time division champion teams from 1970-76, so there is a carryover effect.

    Another area Jerry might want to tackle would be the all-star game uniforms. It’s my recollection in at least one of those games, the Bucs had players selected who wore different versions.

    Arizona wore blue-red-blue at least twice before: 2005 vs. UCLA and 2006 vs. Cal

    Here’s a video from the Cal game: link

    Obviously, that is with the old uniform template since they released new unis in 2010

    Wish Arizona would increase the size of the “A” on those helmets. I noticed Eastern Michigan was able to enlarge the size of the “E” on their helmets.

    Also, would like to see teams increase the size of their school name/nickname on the front of jerseys. Texas and Oklahoma are good examples, and years ago, other schools used this size. Having the school name in tiny lettering doesn’t make sense to me.

    Or lose ’em. Ain’t baseball unis.

    Doesn’t mean I’m disagreeing with you. Quite the contrary. If they’re so dinky they’re worthless, either make them count or deep six them.

    At first, I thought Southern Utah was wearing scuffed logoless helmets,
    link
    but I finally found a closeup – they have a stealth logo:
    link

    Another game that contended for Top 5 billing.

    Nice look for the T-Birds. Much better than the orange and fairly blue they wore back when they were still Southern Utah State College.

    I said they’d look like crap, didn’t I?

    (although I haven’t seen them yet as I’m stuck with Bengals/Niners or Browns/Dolphins…stupid Ohio programming)

    I’ve was inspired last night by the duck tracker and my Hoosiers have worn four different uni combos in their four games so… link

    Let’s just hope we stick to just cream and crimson.

    I saw when you posted that last night. It is fun to see those trackers like the Duck tracker. Surprised Indiana does not use a black. I did not like the red and black they wore a while back. But they did wear black in the late 30’s and early 40’s.

    The crimson and cream looks good.

    I was wondering if Ohio State vs Colorado would make the top 5. It looked good to me with Colorado’s throwbacks and the helmet looked nice on a sunny day. I love Ohio State’s metallic helmet especially on sunny days.

    I knew PSU would make the top 5. Not thrilled about Eastern Michigan’s unis.

    There is a trend with the green in the 5 and 1.

    Why has ASU chosen something similar to their opponents a couple times this year? Not really close to USC but almost.

    When I first saw WVU LSU last night my eyes hurt. As said for WVU to wear that vs LSU was not a good look.

    Just curious, what would you expect ASU to where against USC?

    1) All black – I can live without seeing that again. Besides we’d get more complaints of BFBS and “not wearing school colors (even though black was added to their colors as part of the re-brand).

    2) All gold – let’s see… against USC, wouldn’t that look alot like the WVU-LSU game you’re complaining about. ASU did go all canary once during the Jake Plummer years. I hope and pray that they won’t be repeating that experiment.

    3) How about their traditional home scheme, gold-maroon-gold. MMM… don’t the trojans also wear gold pants?

    Or they could alway pull an Oregon, and come out in green, or purple or turquoise, who cares what, just so long as it isn’t anywhere close to USC’s look.

    Come on… teams have their own colors. Sometimes they play teams with similar colors. It’s bound to happen.

    I am saying they chose to wear unis close to their opponents twice already. Against Missouri a team with black they went all black.

    Maybe they should have worn what they did last night vs Missouri and worn the all blacks vs USC.

    “There is a trend with the green in the 5 and 1”

    Thought you’d say orange…

    But yeah, as long as it isn’t monochrome, and as long as it’s a lighter shade than the grass/turf, I like a good green uni.

    When posters tell us what teams are wearing on Saturday just about all of us can tune in and see the college game. On Sunday when somebody says what an NFL team is wearing most of us can not tune in. Unless you have an NFL package.

    Only time to see what NFL teams are wearing is during highlights.

    Vikings up 6-0.
    Reminds me of a story Alex Karas told about his son, a placekicker, going off to play college football.
    Karas called the kid after the first game.
    “How’d you do?”
    “We lost 21-6.”
    “Well, at least you kicked a couple field goals.”
    “Nah…missed the extra point.”

    Just heard on College GameDay Final “… or should we calm down on the whole uniform craze?” as they flash ASU, Maryland, and of course Oregon’s abominations across the screen.

    We might be getting through to someone.

    Making the Final Verdict on ESPN, Lou Holtz is my HERO. MArk May can go bite the big one. I’ expect this from a Pitt grad. They’re discussing new school vs. old school with uniforms and the nonsense of all these manufacturers and apparel companies making the decisions.

    Final Verdict: Mr. Holtz, old school wins! Enough with the uni-bominations.

    My guess is they’re starting to realize the focus is shifting a bit too far to the unis and away from the football.

    I mean, if a team is getting shellacked all the time, but they’re getting air time for their unis, sooner or later someone’s gonna ask, “What the hell are we doing following them around?”

    Speaking of such things…anyone seen any video yet of that purple and gray gridiron?

    And right now they’re up 20-0, with :09 left in first half.

    Let the second-half fold commence.

    I’m sure someone has paid closer attention than I, but haven’t the Vikes played, overall, pretty well when they wear the throwbacks?

    Which reminds me, does anyone else think the Lions’ helmet stripes look a little…puny? Really gives them the Great Gazoo look.

    Either make them bigger, more like Ohio State, or maybe lose them altogether and let the big ol’ lion decal carry the design?

    Dunno. Just thinking out loud.

    Nah. Here’s with the current tiny stripes and without.
    Without looks like East Pacific Upper MidState Land Grant College.,,
    link

    So maybe TOSU large.

    Again, just thinking out loud.

    Favre threw his record-breaking 420th TD pass against the Vikes while they wore their throwbacks, and did go on to lose. That is just one instance I can think of off the top of my head.

    I know it is only the first quarter, but the Saints really do look like their teams from the 70’s.

    Oh, and they are wearing throwbacks too.

    Dude, it is pouring like a MOTHER in Charlotte, NC, and it kinda makes the Panthers look like they’re wearing their silver pants with the white jerseys. But no… they’re in mono-white. If the Jaguars’ uniforms weren’t so miserable, this might be the best-looking game of Week 3.

    Jerry, I see the reference to the Youngstown Vindicator and covering the Pirates and Indians. That is true and is my area.

    Nice work Jerry today.

    When I saw “Vindicator” pop up in the Google results, I knew it would be another good source. It’s really too bad that Google’s not continuing with the News Archive. (They’re apparently leaving what’s there, but not adding any more to it.)

    I heard about Google not continuing the News Archives anymore. Makes me wish I used it more often than I did. It was fun at times hunting down old articles.

    If more people had used it, Google would have continued the project. Maybe someday, when there is money to be made off it, they’ll resume the archives…

    Jerry, do you happen to know which uniform combos the Bucs wore during the four game NLCS victory over Cincinnati in 1979?

    Steelers-Colts tonight.
    Threatens to be a bit like spending three hours watching some guy run over an armadillo.

    I’m reminded of the ’87 Twins. Take a bunch of good young players on the verge of really finding their way and get them out of unis associated with futility and into a reasonably a classic, “big league” look and good things can happen.

    Not that it’s the reason for the success, but it sure doesn’t HURT.

    (Not saying Bills will win the Super Bowl, just that such a thing can be a sort of “galvinizer” for improved play).

    I’m probably in the minority here, but I actually like the orange Bears tops. They’re not pairing it with blue dancer leggings or anything like that, so I — and this is no shade, I say this out of mere curiosity — honestly can’t comprehend why a decent percentage of Bears fans hate the orange jerseys so much. Is it too bright of a shade of orange? Do you want to see matching socks (a navy and orange inversion of their navy socks), to better correspond with the matching sleeves/socks thing with the Bears? What is it about the orange jersey that gets such a rise out of people?

    Even the Boston radio hosts, disappointed in the Patriots’ loss today, are commenting about the Bears ruining what would have been a great looking game. I guess “orange” and “Bears” just don’t go together.

    C’mon guys, if that was a college game, it would be my color palette special for the Top 5. Awesome.

    But then again, I’m not a Bears fan, so I’m not one to say what they should wear.

    “‘Bout time for somebody to bitch about the Jets’ white socks pants on the road, isn’t it?”

    (Fixed)

    I’d much rather see link from the Jets on the road. They’re nicknamed “Gang GREEN”, not “Gang WHITE”.

    They’ve worn white-over-white on the road for most of their history. I don’t mind the white-over-white look on the road; I don’t like it at home, though. White-over-green is fine too. But I don’t think “They’re X, not Y” is a viable argument for the color of the road pants. IMHO.

    Shouldn’t we separate what a team calls itself from what fans/media tag them?

    Isn’t “Gang Green” such an outside-the-team thing?

    Likewise—and I’ve asked this a couple times and no one has ever responded—have the Giants ever sanctioned “Big Blue” by using it themseleves? Cuz I’ve only seen it from fans and talking heads.

    Point being, we can’t really use “Gang Green” as a basis or decrying mono white if the team doesn’t think of itself as such. Similarly the Giants’ red road numbers, stripes and socks…if the club never uses “Big Blue.” Historically (going back to even before the TV era), the Giants and the Mara family have used red as much more than a trim color. Was only for a relatively few years in their long history (just before, during, and briefly after the LT era) that they relegated red strictly to trim.

    Excellent point. I suspect the reason why “Big Blue” caught on has more to do with alliteration than anything else — once you concede that Giants are by definition… big!

    I hope the bills go 16-0 and everyone can attribute it to their better uni’s. Just fix the sleeve “stripe” abomination.

    According to the last line, they played on a grass field, which would make it the only such game in the CFL this season.

    I could not be a college coach in this day and time where 17 year-olds are swayed by the colors of the teams shoes and what brand the school uses.

    The very first thing I would do is take the names off the backs of all the uniforms.

    My reasoning? If you want to wear your hair long enough to cover your nameplate, then we will just take it off.

    BTW…is Joe Buck the only announcer that FOX ever uses? And when was the last time they changed their bumper music.

    I am reminded why I like hockey.

    BTW…is Joe Buck the only announcer that FOX ever uses? And when was the last time they changed their bumper music.

    Well, they haven’t cloned him, so he just does one game a week like the other announcers, but he is on the #1 team, so he usually does the game with the most exposure and gets seen by more of the nation on average than the other announcer teams.

    I believe their music has stayed pretty much the same since they started broadcasting the NFL in 1994.

    Also, late in the game today he said, “They could have ran…”

    What next, “They ain’t got none”?

    Just seems like every time I turn on either a baseball game or a football game…there…he…is…again.

    Yes, I’ll grant you that, he does seem a little “ubiquitous.” A word that he would use by the way, at which point either Aikman (or McCarver, either one, doesn’t matter) would invariably comment about that being “a pretty big word.”

    Called TCU-Portland State in yesterday’s comments, before I saw any pics. Should have placed my wager. Damn you, Vilk!

    Nice colors indeed…but I don’t like either of those fonts. Arizona uses the Titans font, which is one of the worst in the NFL.

    Oh, I was just considering the colors, yeah the fonts knock it down a peg or two.

    How would those colors rank if it was all traditional looking unis — blue helmet/red/blue vs. green helmet/white/green. I say pretty sweet.

    Oh, and by the way I don’t care for Temple’s pants’ vertical dashes look.

    “Oh, and by the way I don’t care for Temple’s pants’ vertical dashes look.”

    link

    I’m going to pretend I didn’t read that last sentence…

    Hey, not only does FAMU put their pants on one leg at a time like everyone else, they also never put them on backwards.

    Besides, I thought 1-AA vs. 1-AA was discouraged when it comes to the list. That’s one of the reasons I started the honorable/dishonorable mentions.

    Is it true Akron is trying to get Marquette, Detroit and U of Chicago on their schedule next year?

    I mean, the Golden Eagles, Titans and Maroons would be worthy gridiron opponents, don’t you think?

    (Unless Minnesota snaps ’em up first, that is).

    I’ll let you know.
    Vikings have been outscored 67-6 in the second half.

    Although I think the Viking are more likely to be courting Arena teams (“We get those Barnstormers on a big field and we’ll show ’em”).

    I think the difference is that the Gophers’ chances would be better against teams with no players.

    Whereas you’d think the Vikings could get by with a three-man advantage.

    Unless, of course, they want to win the Andrew Luck Sweepstakes.

    Then Christian Ponder and Jimmy Clausen can buy a Wendy’s franchise together somewhere. Or something.

    Very nice job with the Duck Tracker Jake! I love the action shots, and that uniform template is superb!

    NYJ/OAK if only because of the dirt infield…

    had they played MIA/CLE in miama, that would have been it

    Re: Duck Tracker 2011, needs cleats and a carbon pattern for the helmets. They’re not just grey. Other than that, it’s great this year! Keep it up.

    Re: NCAA Watch, Terry needs to get his photo-hosting situation sorted, because Photobucket is very mad at him right now.

    Well, they insist on wanting to charge for a “Pro Account”. Ain’t gonna happen. The reason that I didn’t want to put stuff on Flickr is because I want to reserve that strictly for uni tweaks. I’ll just start using my digital camera instead of my phone and send Phil the images like that, which I didn’t want to do because of the potential crowding.

    i have the pro flickr account, terry — i’ll host them for ya…we’ll just have to work out how you’re gonna send em to me…

    Thanks, man. I’ll take some phone pics when needed, and put ’em in a Gmail draft (almost forgot about that App). Photobucket will “detach the ball and chain” from my account on Oct. 8th. I’ll probably open up a second Flickr account by then, though.

    Late to the kudos, but I must give my hearty congrats to Jerry for the incredibly thorough Buc Tracker from 1977-1984. A colorful era for the Pirates in more ways than one.

    Thanks again, Jerry!! Well done!!

    THIS JUST IN…

    The Vikings will now have a sign in their locker room quoting Tex Maule in SI from a long, long, long, LONG time ago…

    “You can’t make a buck out of two quarters.”

    And this, too…

    John Gordon is retiring at the end of the season after 25 years in the Twins’ broadcast booth.

    He’s the “Touch ’em all” guy, for those who don’t know him by name.

    (Sorry, Paul, I don’t believe he’s taking Wayne Hagin with him).

    I feel dumb about asking this because I think this has been covered on this site before, but I noticed something a little different about a few of the Colts’ players’ jerseys tonight, especially on the TV numbers. I’m a Steelers fan so I don’t watch many, if any Colts games and this was the first time I really noticed it. Some of them were rather small, while others looked huge. Were the smaller numbers due to the type of jersey they were wearing (Similar to the Giants’ jerseys with no red collar, tighter sleeves, etc.)? Here’s the best photo I can find right now: link. Can anyone explain this?

    To signify players that went to UC Davis?
    link
    Nah, it’s because of those dumb stretchy jerseys. They mess up the “shoulder stripes,” too.

    John Feinstein – “Randy Edsall needs to spend less time making announcements about uniforms and more time getting his team ready to play in those uniforms.”

    link

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