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In What May Be My Shortest Ever Post…

curling nats

By Phil Hecken

Greetings from Philadelphia. Or as I like to call it, the city with the semi-unstable wireless internet in the hotel.

Paul and I drove down yesterday afternoon and took in several hours of curling at the 2012 US Curling Nationals, enjoyed some sightseeing…and repaired back to the hotel where the wireless connectivity is to say, spotty.

So, I’m keeping this very brief — I took several dozen photos, none of which was I able to upload — in fact, the splash is a screengrab from my camera’s SD-RAM card. Hopefully I’ll have better luck after we return home tonight.

Hope any of you who are in the area can stop by the IceWorks Skating Complex, where the finals are being held today — the ladies at 11:00 am, and the men at 3:00 — and in a bit of great news, the fella who taught Paul and I to curl a couple of years ago in South Plainfield, Dean Gemmell (the gent on the left), has made it through to the finals! So we’ll be pulling for him today.

After we finish with the weekend of curl, we’ll be repairing to the Devil’s Den, for a Uni Watch Gathering, beginning at 6:30. Hope to meet a bunch of you great readers this evening.

And that’s it! Looks like the wireless held on long enough for me to complete this post.

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Benchies Header

Benchies

by Rick Pearson

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Quite simply, not a day like any other day…

2-18-12 d-Palm trees

And here is the full-size.

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all sport uni tweaks

Uni Tweaks Concepts

We have another new set of tweaks, er…concepts today. After discussion with a number of readers, it’s probably more apropos to call most of the reader submissions “concepts” rather than tweaks. So that’s that.

So if you’ve concept for any sport, or just a tweak or wholesale revision, send them my way.

Please do try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per image — if you have three uniform concepts in one image, then obviously, you can go a little over, but no novels, OK? OK!. You guys have usually been good with keeping the descriptions pretty short, and I thank you for that.

And so, lets begin:

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We start with William McGillis who has a NCAA-look for the Rockets:

Phil

With so many college b-ball teams getting a gray uniform, I thought I would do that for the NBA. I attached a gray Rockets uniform.

Thanks,
Will McGillis

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Next up is Bobby Pinkham who has a couple of new unis for old friends…

Hey Phil,

Here are a few concepts I’ve been working on.

The first is a Bruins concept for, say, an away Winter Classic jersey or just a road third. It’s based on the jersey they wore when they won their first Stanley Cup in 1927, but with the modern alternate logo applied and several other tweaks.

The second is a Flyers third jersey concept. Since they ditched the black jerseys a few years ago, I feel like they’ve been missing something. So I made a black alternate with striping based on the old Philadelphia Quakers uniforms. I used what i believe to be a highly under-used aspect of their logo, the orange puck or circle in the middle of the logo, and used it as a frame for the logo. I also kept the popular contrasting nameplate.

Thanks,
–Bobby P.

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That’s it for today. Definitely much more tomorrow, including (hopefully) a UW gathering update and some more curling (yes, really) and MORE! Everyone have a great Saturday and I will catch you guys tomorrow.

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“Guns don’t kill people, Colt .45s jerseys do.” — Ray Barrington

 
  
 
Comments (60)

    Is Warner Bros no longer aware of their source material? Or should Disney be suing every sports media outlet for their (over)use of Cinderella in March Madness?

    One of my favorite cartoons EVER was in “Dunigan’s People.”
    Showed execs sitting in a boardroom. Sign on the wall told us it was LucasFilm, Ltd.

    One of the execs was reading something in a file folder and saying…

    “We can’t protect ‘Star Wars’? What kind of Mickey Mouse ruling is that?”

    Off topic, but while watching sports center this morning I noticed the N.O. Hornets Mardi Gras jerseys; needless to say I think you should talk about them tomorrow, very cool looking, I had never seen them before.

    Also, pertaining to the girl in your curling picture….is she available for private lessons??

    Possibly Knicks fan are outraged, believing those unis maybe were responsible for Lin’s 9 turnovers in the first half last night.

    He thought there were three teams on the court.

    Cheaters. Using a cheap trick like that to mess with a NY phenomenon. :)

    I noticed the N.O. Hornets Mardi Gras jerseys

    Did you notice the shorts, too?

    Anyway…

    All smartassery aside, I’m pretty sure Paul did a full write-up on those unis when they first rolled them out a couple years ago.

    An off-topic bit of my own: Last night I had a mostly incoherent dream that I was shopping for stirrups in a sporting goods store, and I couldn’t find any green / kelly green ones. On the subject, why is the color (true) green / kelly green so neglected in the world of sports? Is there some kind of stigma associated with it? Is there a green dye shortage? Thoughts, anyone?

    Red, black, and every shade of blue has been done to death, and the color forest green does nothing for me and is pretty dark & might as well be black.. And yes, I would love it if my favorite baseball team switched from black & silver to a kelly/green & white scheme.

    Smartassery aside, I think he’s got a point… even before the somewhat recent (as in within the last 20 years) darkening of colors, green is rather sparse compared to blue or red. The NFL’s only got 3 green teams out of 32. MLB has 1 green team. The NBA only has, what, 2? I think the only league with a somewhat even ratio of blue, red and green is the CFL, and they’ve only got 8 teams so they don’t even really count.

    Why is green used so infrequently?

    Know what you mean. Some of it seems cyclical.

    When I used to travel playing Senior Softball about five years ago, it seemed like every tournament we played everyone (including us) was wearing black and red. Residue of the “good teams wear black and red” era brought about partially by the Bulls, I imagine.

    Then again, in the mid-70s there was disproportionate amount of green and gold in such circumstances, owning to the success and notoriety of the Oakland A’s.

    Then there was the “wear black and silver” period, too.

    And “teal time.”

    But the navy/red or black/red goes on and on. Suppose it looks “All American”. Or something.

    Also it goes to the long-ago attitude where printers or newspapers would say, “For only a little extra I can give your company as second color for your stationery/ad.”

    “Oh, okay, how ’bout a nice bright red to attract attention.”

    The result, of course, was that every furnace cleaning company in the country had a red and black logo.

    Then there was a time when teams/universities wore light blue and pink

    i.e. Syracuse

    link

    At one point in the early 70′. the CFL had 3 of 9 wearing green, the Alouettes were wearing a green and red combo.

    Green is actually considered an unlucky colour. No-one seems quite sure why, but it’s also rare in British football (only Plymouth and Yeovil regularly have worn it).
    link

    Sorry – I meant English football – Scottish teams such as Celtic and Hibernian wear it because of the Irish connections.

    A few things to touch on:

    * – Is green really considered “bright”? Is it considered hideous as well? Maybe we’re just sick of seeing green outside on the lawn, trees & street signs all the time?

    * – I think no other color commercially is so closely tied ethnically than green & the Irish. It’s not really a big deal anymore, is it? Why should the color be regulated to just one day out of the year?

    * – Personally I’m not Irish (mostly a Swedish mutt) so there is no personal tie-in, I just really like the color – and it pairs really well with gold, white or silver and to a lesser extent: red, orange or royal.

    * – The political Green Party, marijuana & the environmentally “going green” (things which I almost never think about) stigmas? But it’s not like they *own* the color green.

    * – I think it’s ridiculous that I walk into stores and there’s literally no green clothes & it’s only sparingly around this time of the year.

    In regard to the comment that green is unlucky, there may be something to it, the CFL is I believe is the only league that can say that at one point green was tied with being the most prominent colour (three green uniforms, three black uniforms in the early 70″s), and a lot of people believe that was the Apex of the CFL. it has been all down hill since.

    FYI – that obscure sporting event that Paul and Phil are attending, takes over TSN (the Canadian equivalent of ESPN) over the next few weeks – amazing the difference with a simple border makes.

    “Is green really considered ‘bright’?”

    Evidently the Eagles, Jets and Michigan State (to name three) think so.

    Must…be…somber. Look…tougher.

    Green is also the color of grass. If your team is wearing green uniforms, they will blend in with the field. If your fans can’t distinguish the players from the background from the stands, it’s not a good thing. Red is the complimentary color of green and has the most contrast and is most vibrant when put in front of a green background.

    I’ve heard that color is the last thing the mind processes so who knows if the color of your uniforms really matters. As long as there’s enough contrast between the two opposing teams there won’t be any confusion among the players and from the spectators’ perspective.

    Green is also the color of grass. If your team is wearing green uniforms, they will blend in with the field.

    That doesn’t excuse the overall lack of green in basketball or hockey. Although it does make a good “why the hell do they wear white in the NHL” argument.

    I think it could (at least in part) be down to how ubiquitous sports merchandise & replica jerseys are nowadays. Colours like blue, red, black, white (etc.) tend to go with a wide range of other colours, but it’s harder to pull off green. I’ve got a large jersey collection, and whilst I don’t wear them too often, when I do I’ll pick a more neutral colour. Generally, the only time I’ll wear a green jersey out in public will be a time like St. Paddy’s day (when I might bust out a Whalers or Celtics jersey).

    Just my theory, anyway…

    We may see more green in the future with the NBA and NHL, as Seattle is trying to build a new arena. I believe the Sonics nickname and history are rightfully still in Seattle, and a relocated NHL team may use green as well.

    Sonics. Another team that switched from kelly to a “forest” variant.

    A’s, too…but that was a bit earlier, before the Somber Movement.

    Burnley FC wore green at the beginning of the 20th century but in 1911 they changed from the perceived-to-be-unlucky colours adopting the more successful colours of Aston Villa, claret and blue.

    Three years later in 1914 they won the FA Cup.

    link This is how they do it nowadays.
    Or, this is how they should do it more often. I think if you invert the black to white, or go more green with a darker forest green, add the right stitching, it would still look pretty badass.

    Darker forest green, combined with a kelly green that is. Two tone green. I also believe gray/silver would look nice with kelly green. Kelly green, for the most part, is really nice complimented with good design in the details, or combination of the entire uniform. I guess you could say that about any color, although it’s a little more difficult with the brighter variants.

    I also believe gray/silver would look nice with kelly green.

    The 1974-1995 Philadelphia Eagles would like to take a moment to say “well, duh”. ;)

    I was glad to see Buster Olney on twitter speak out against the Colt .45’s gunless jerseys. Seems like anyone who has an opinion on it generally agrees. Taking the gun off is dumb. Maybe there will be enough pressure to make them change their minds?

    “Y’know, we got sued in the early ’60s because we were so dumb we thought we could appropriate a trademark and say it was a generic term. Don’t wanna remind people of that whole fiasco. Or get sued again.”

    “Hey, I got it, Bud! We’ll have ’em take the pistol off the jersey and say it’s because we’re so ‘socially/culturally responsible.'”

    “Ooo…good idea.”

    Bud Selig is a Purist’s nightmare. I cannot stand that man. Whore it all out for the Almighty Dollar. Sickening.

    My high school was/is kelly, white, and black. The football team has worn monochrome kelly unis going back to the mid ’90’s and they actually do a good job with keeping the black as trim only. It is a unique look since very few schools utilize that green.

    If any team should go back to kelly green, it should be the Eagles. The weird green with black and charcoal combo has run its course and its time to get back to the cleaner, sharper looking kelly and silver.

    I completely agree about the Eagles. Their current uniform SCREAMS 1996. The green they have now I like to call “forest teal”. It’s just a dark, hideously-ugly forest green version of teal. And we all know the teal trend has been dead for years now.

    And seriously, the Eagles wearing black jerseys? Who thought that would be a good idea? Obviously that was only done for one reason: upping jersey sales. BFBS at its worst.

    When Andy Reid goes, the uniforms need to go with him, so years from we can refer to them as the “Andy Reid era unis.” Plus, is there a less appealing uni to see on MNF than the Eagles at home?

    I’m so used to the blues on the Cowboys uniforms not matching that it doesn’t bother me. I think if the blues DID match, they wouldn’t look like the Cowboys. There’s just something about the non-matching blues that says “we’re the Cowboys” and just adds to the aura of the team.

    They are the Yankees of football, the team everyone loves to hate. If the Yankees stopped wearing pinstripes they wouldn’t look like the Yankees, and if the Cowboys stopped wearing non-matching blues they wouldn’t look like the Cowboys.

    I think the Cowboys link and still look like the Cowboys.

    Also, as an Eagle’s fan who watches the current uniforms, I love them. I wouldn’t be disappointed with a switch back to Kelly green, but they have to change the logo.

    You know if they switch back to Kelly, they’re gonna keep the black, right? Would Kelly green and black seriously look better than midnight green and black? Ponder that for a moment.

    You’re right- I mean, when I lived there (granted, a long time ago) and all this time, I’d never given the hodgepodge of color schemes a second thought—that’s just…the way they were. I would love to see a nice clean look with all shades matching.

    Son of a bitch! Well, it’s still in my cache – screencap:

    link

    Why did that decade have to be associated with such a hideous color.

    Heh. At halftime the other night, my wife and I were browsing that big merch store at the UC. When she spotted those for sale, she asked my opinion.

    I said nothing and just gave her the “please” face. She nodded and said “yep, that’s hideous.”

    The Texas WBB team is wearing the worst brast cancer awareness uniforms ever. They are playing K-State (who is wearing pink), in their black alternate uniforms with Pink and white numbers but with everything else normal. The result is a uniform with the colors Black, Burnt Orange, White and Pink.

    The game is on Fox Sports South if you want to get a glimpse at the horror.

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