Must’ve been a sale on navy fabric dye lately, as the Broncos, Rams, and Texans all went solid-blue yesterday. Not my favorite look for any of them, but whaddaya gonna do. Aside from that, a minor helmet decal tear incurred by Pats linebacker Rob Ninkovich, and the Steelers once again going bumblebee (which I still love), it was a very uni-uneventful day around the league yesterday.
So let’s look back to Saturday night, when something fairly major took place involving Louisiana-Lafayette. Everyone knew the Cajuns were planning a blackout, but I don’t think anyone knew they were planning this (if you’re reading this on a mobile device or are having trouble with the embedded slideshow, click here):
Whatever you think of it, it’s impressive that they got permission to do it. I mean, those front numbers are so tiny (smaller, I think, than the ones Nebraska and Wisconsin used earlier this year) and are positioned so high that they’re almost TV numbers. And instead of using a big chest letter, like Nebraska and Wisconsin did, they used a big chest symbol. It’s really more akin to what we think of as a hockey jersey than a football jersey.
If the NCAA is okay with this, it opens up a whole new frontier in football jersey design, because the chest is suddenly a blank canvas. I love the possibilities that this presents, although I fear that it will result in an aesthetic race to the bottom, not to the top.
Oh, and the Cajuns also introduced something new — FLOB. That’s French lesson on back. Good to see that tedious clichés can work in other languages. Meanwhile, what’s with the lowercase lettering?
As for the rest of Saturday’s college action, you should start with Phil and Terry’s coverage from yesterday’s post. Once you’re done with that, here are a few additional items:
• Lots of bullshit G.I. Joe-isms — including socks! — for Georgia Tech.
• Central Michigan wore a new combo: gold over maroon. Not bad.
• Georgia Southern defensive back Valdon Cooper suffered a seriously gruesome-looking finger injury. If you have a weak stomach, don’t click here.
(My thanks to all contributors, including Jimmy Couto, Tom M., Dave Rawkowski, and Britton Thomas.)
As you’ve no doubt heard, the Hostess snack cake brand is going belly-up. Or at least that’s the situation for now — it’s a safe bet that the brand, or at least its core products, will be purchased off the scrap heap by another company. Still, like so many other people, I found myself feeling a bit nostalgic upon hearing the Hostess bankruptcy news on Friday, so here are a few thoughts.
I used to love Hostess products. As a kid, I happily spent my milk money on Hostess CupCakes, Twinkies, and Suzy-Q’s. In my 20s and early 30s, I’d show up at friends’ dinner parties with an assortment of Hostess products and some ice cream, which I would use to create what was then my signature dessert: junk food à la mode. Always a hit.
Back when I was writing about the details of consumer culture in the mid-1990s, I wrote a piece about Hostess CupCakes that garnered some attention. Here’s the crux of it:
I’ve got a bone to pick with the folks at Hostess. The spongy cake, the endearingly synthetic frosting, and the injection-pumped filling are fine, and the ingredients listing still functions nicely as a junior-college chemistry lesson, but my favorite part of eating Hostess CupCakes has always been removing the cakes from the cardboard base on which they sit and then running my finger along the piece of cardboard, thereby salvaging the pastry residue that inevitably sticks there. A informal poll of acquaintances reveals that I am far from the only CupCake consumer to have savored the joys of the finger swipe, a consideration that apparently eluded the folks at Hostess when they recently replaced the cardboard base with a very unsatisfying pre-molded plastic tray.
Fortunately, as I went on to explain, Twinkies and Suzy-Q’s were still being packaged on the little sheet of cardboard, so I could still salvage their residue via the finger swipe.
This analysis, which I originally wrote for the alt-weekly New York Press and then reprinted in my zine Beer Frame: The Journal of Inconspicuous Consumption, apparently struck a chord with a lot of people — so many people, in fact, that I found myself discussing the finer points of Twinkie and CupCake packaging on The Conan O’Brien Show in 1996. That was a bit of a trip.
I can’t remember the last time I purchased a Hostess product, although I suspect it was close to 10 years ago. Part of it is that my tastes have changed, but I also feel like these products haven’t aged well as cultural icons. They feel more aligned with the 20th century. As if to reinforce this point, the packaging now touts the products as “Snack Classics” — a tacit admission of their contemporary irrelevance. It’s one thing to inspire nostalgia, but once you’re actively trading on nostalgia, you’re pretty much acknowledging that the world has passed you by and that you’ve become a museum piece.
A more 21st-century approach to Hostess products is to reverse-engineer them. There are tons of recipes on the web for this, and I’ve tried a few of them. Even have my own Twinkie mold pan, although I’ve only used it once. Maybe it’s time to use it again.
I don’t know you: There’s this guy I used to know. We met in the late 1980s, when I was a fan of his band and he was a fan of my zine. In the 1990s, we became friends — not super-close friends, but good enough to have attended each other’s birthday parties, good enough for him to have been in my home multiple times, good enough for him and his then-galpal to have come over to my then-galpal’s house so we could all watch Iron Chef (original Japanese version, natch), that kind of thing. By the early 2000s, we had drifted — not due to any animus, but just because friends sometimes drift apart. It happens.
This guy I used to know is now married to an exceedingly wealthy woman. There is nothing wrong with being married to an exceedingly wealthy woman (or, for that matter, with being an exceedingly wealthy woman). It is one of my fondest hopes to marry an exceedingly wealthy woman myself at some point.
If and when I’m fortunate enough to do that, I hope I have the good sense not to agree to facilitate the writing of a noxious lifestyle article about my fabulously accessorized home that rubs my wealth under everyone’s nose in a way that makes me look like some sort of nouveau riche asswipe. And even if I somehow agree to do that, I reallyreallyreally hope I have the basic decency not to do it while other people in my city are still dealing with the loss of electricity, heat, and even their entire homes in the wake of the most catastrophic storm to hit the region in a few generations.
The guy I used to know apparently has no such compunctions.
Show & Tell update: Photos and stories from the latest installment of Show & Tell are up now on the Show & Tell web site. And for those who are into such things, this latest round-up includes a pretty good shot of me with my cast and sling.
Uni Watch News Ticker: A few updates regarding the Cardinals’ newly announced uniform changes: Yes, the insignia on the new Saturday retro jersey is indeed chain-stitched; yes, the home and road jerseys will still be chain-stitched as well; yes, they’ll still be wearing their Sunday alternate cap; yes, the navy cap will still be a road alternate option (the primary road cap will now be red), but there’s no specific protocol yet as to when the navy cap will be worn. I got all of this, and much more, from team president Bill DeWitt, who I interviewed on Friday. Full transcript soon. … You wanna see a real rivalry jersey? Check this out. That’s Lafayette wearing the “Beat Lehigh” design (from Alex Putelo). … Rasheed Wallace wore his headband with the NBA logo upside-down the other night (screen shot by Ben Marciniak). … Here’s a pregame tour of the Notre Dame football locker room (from Warren Junium). … “I have watched Missouri basketball for 40 years,” says Jason Walker. “The Tigers have always worn white or gold at home, until Friday night, when the team wore black against Nicholls State.” … Here are the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series paint scheme changes (from Adam Jackson). … I love the Bills’ new blue pants but hate that they’ve been pairing them with blue-topped socks. But now John Pasucci points out that several players in Thurday night’s game were wearing white-topped socks. Or at least that’s how it looked — I think at least some of them were actually wearing white tights, the upper-calf area of which was exposed when they didn’t pull their blue-topped socks all the way up. … Torii Hunter, newly signed by the Tigers, wanted to buy his usual No. 48 from Rick Porcello, but Porcello asked him to donate the cash to Hurricane Sandy relief instead. Good on both of them. Porcello will now wear No. 21, which he wore in high school (from Leo Strawn). … The Italian volleyball team Andreoli Latina has some seriously ugly uniforms. “Ouch,” says Jeremy Brahm. ”¦ Gavin Orobko is about to start creating a custom table hockey game modeled after the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. “I’m buying an old broken game I found on Kijiji,” he says. “The ice surface will have MTS Centre graphics on it, which I took from a layout I found on Frozen Faceoff. I’ll send updates as I work on the project. It should be done in three months.” ”¦ Here’s an article about the guy who submitted the winning name for the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre baseball team (from Art Savokinas). ”¦ The Reading Phillies are now the Reading Fightin Phils. I kinda love that the new mascot character is an ostrich and especially love that the ostrich looks like a hairy-legged guy in drag; I kinda hate the new team name and especially hate how there’s no apostrophe at the end of “Fightin” (from Kurt Esposito). ”¦ Here’s an article about what happened to the football from the Immaculate Reception (from Will Leslie). ”¦ Back on Oct. 30, I ran those photos of that amazing 1939 Fresno State uniform and invited readers to submit some modern concepts based on that design. Unfortunately, I broke my arm the next day and never got around to revisiting that topic until now. Several readers did submit concepts, which you can see here. The readers’ names are shown in the file names. ”¦ Under Armour founder Kevin Plank is lobbying Maryland’s Board of Regents to move the school from the ACC to the Big 10 (from Rex Henry). ”¦ “The Pirates released their 2013 promotional schedule over the weekend,” says Brian Young. “If you look at June 16, the giveaway is a replica Sunday alternate cap. Also, Aug. 4 is a replica Sunday alternate jersey. To me, this implies there is a new jersey in the near future, since the Bucs don’t currently have a Sunday alternate. Very interesting.” ”¦ Lots of photos of the uniforms that are supposedly for the Army/Navy game have been circulating. No idea how legit any of them are, although that Navy helmet looks stupid enough to be the real deal. Navy photos now confirmed as legit. “Army is using black on black and is utilizing military maps from the Battle of the Bulge (I think) as a pattern on the undersleeves, numbers, and the helmet stripe,” says William De Los Santos. ”¦ Jose Reyes is breathing Ethier (from Marc Bauche). ”¦ Arizona will be wearing solid red, including a red helmet, this weekend (from Kenny Abbey). ”¦ Marc Mandin found these Packers Matryoshka dolls an antiques store here in Griffin, Georgia (here’s the rear view). “The local high school team, the Griffin Bears, wears the same color combo and logo,” says Marc. ”¦ Notre Dame’s women’s basketball team went G.I. Jane yesterday, but here’s the beauty part: Prior to the game, Irish player Natalie Achonwa was honored for being part of the Canadian Olympic team. And what did they give her to wear for this occasion? An American flag-desecration shirt. “I assume they shook her hand and said, ‘Congratulations, Natalie, you have made Canada very proud — now please go out there and show these fans how proud you are of the USA,'” says Dylan PH Fernandez. When are these idiots going to realize that “Look at me!” patriotism is a sucker’s game? ”¦ The presumed deal between the Marlins and Blue Jays — widely reported but not yet formally approved by the commissioner’s office — has created a fascinating uniform situation for an Arizona Fall League player (big thanks to Jeremy Kelly).
As a mid atlantic resident, i’ll take tastykakes over hostess.
Oh snap….me thinks you are right. Tastykakes > Hostess
Tastykake is a step down, only buy them when a store is out of Hostess.
Justa heads-up, Paul…
The Pirates promo link in the ticker bleeds into the Army/Navy game info and possibly the Army/Navy link for photos.
Thanks. Now fixed.
Robert Griffin III was wearing Dogtags on the field and they at one point came out from under the shoulderpads/jersey.
link
Wow!! UL-Lafayette!! Bold move!
Meh. It’s been done before, sorta: link
Don’t give the Montreal Alouettes any ideas, especially with the French on the back.
Navy uniforms are legit: link
Noted. Will adjust text.
To mark the demise of the Twinkie, I went out on Friday AM and had a Pork roll, cheese, and egg sandwich. No Twinkies but there is still pork roll……thank you Mr. Taylor.
Bring back the Acadian flag helmet,UL !
That NY Times article was one of the most obnoxious things I’ve ever read. Where I’m from you don’t discuss money.
With mindsets like theirs, they’ll be broke in 5 years.
The problem with the article is that the writer seemed to be trying to get a rise out of the reader. Near the end it did say “They are also helping to put seven nieces, nephews and cousins through college.” Nothing wrong with that.
I don’t know these people, but I do know several other very wealthy people, and they all help those less fortunate way more than most will ever know. Who knows what kind of other things this couple does, but don’t be too disgusted just because an author chooses to focus on the obnoxious.
Plus the editorial decision to run it now. A “lifestyle” or hone decor story such as this has a fairly long shelf life. It’s not like they couldn’t have run it, say, after the New Year. As Paul said, it’s rather galling to read this when they still haven’t cleaned up the damage from Sandy.
I have no problem with wealth, believe me. I work in financial planning. Wealth, i believe, is a wonderful thing. Wealthy people give enormous sums to charity. The quote that got me was that they wanted a home others would be jealous of.
Just have a home you love. Why is someone else’s jealousy affecting how much you love your house?
i think it’s a have some decency to not flaunt your wealth kinda thing…
“Vulture capitalists?” Think you best reserve your commentary to subjects you something about. Of course in the blogosphere you can make fatuous remarks without end.
See first definition:
link
Of course, in the blogosphere you can leave obnoxious comments on other people’s web sites without end.
Hi Paul!
As usual you find a way to interject your beta-male progressive Brooklyn politics into a blog about sports uniforms. “Vulture Capitalists”, for a guy who blogs about tackle twill and black jerseys for an (apparent) living, you sure do know a lot about finance. Only unions make companies run, not financiers and investors. Yup that works for me!
You’re picking a fight when no fight is warranted. I didn’t mean the term to be judgmental or pejeoraitive — just descriptive. Someone who buys up a bankrupt property is a vulture capitalist, and that’s what I expect to happen to the Hostess products. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with that; I’m just saying it’s likely to happen, and there’s a term for that, so I used the term.
As for what I know about finance, maybe I picked up some of that while writing for Fortune magazine, Money magazine, BusinessWeek magazine, the Financial Times, and the Wall Street Journal. All part of how I make an (apparent) living, as you put it.
Paul beta-maled the shit out of him right there.
I don’t get this… I’m a libertarian, died-in-the-wool capitalist and when Paul gets on one of his anti-corporate kicks that I disagree with* I just skim over it or, at worst, roll my eyes and move on. It’s a skill I’ve honed by having friends who have diverse viewpoints, and with whom I don’t always agree. It may be a little difficult at first, but with some practice I’m sure you’ll find it to be quite easy.
*Occasionally I even agree with Paul, as crony capitalism (something corporations occasionally dabble in) is quite distinct from the capitalism I champion.
I’m right with you on that, ClubMedSux. You’d think that readers of a blog about sports would have had plenty of experience with friends who support rival teams, etc., and would be able to accept that not everyone is going to have the same opinions that you have.
I work in finance and the investment vehicles that are used to purchase the assets of bankrupt companies are routinely referred to as “vulture funds.” It’s what they are. They pick the carcass clean. Notihng else (positive or negative) is meant by the term.
Paul is misusing the term “vulture capitalism” in his commentary. Simply acquiring a company in bankruptcy does not necessary result in the adverse outcomes typically characterized as vulture capitalism.
Don’t know why he felt the need to inject this notion into his comments, but clearly it reflects something other than a future outcome that has not occurred.
I did not mean to imply an adverse outcome. In my experience, “vulture capitalism” can mean, among other things, simply acquiring a bankrupt property. I already linked to one definition that backs me up on this:
link
Honestly, I didn’t mean to for the term to be (or sound) judgmental. Since it seems to be a distraction, I’ll change it now.
That “Fightin Phils” uniform set is a total cluster. OK, maybe the home set is OK, But the road set is horrible and destroys the continuity of the brand.
HEY!
The road jersey, though, eschews the Reading moniker altogether, instead proclaiming the team as from “Baseballtown,” on both the gray faux-flannel uniform
Nice! Hopefully someday all MLB road uniforms will be faux-flannel. It would improve them 1000%.
Hopefully someday all MLB road uniforms will feature colored jerseys. It would improve them 1000%.
/fixed ;)
I seem to remember the plastic trays being introduced for the Hostess Cupcakes two-packs when I was in elementary school, back in the early 1980s.
while i get your stance on the whole camo/military garb being using in sports. statements like ” Lots of bullshit G.I. Joe-isms – including socks! – for Georgia Tech.” this are just inviting trouble.
Gotta disagree. The Army just announced their own GI Joe uniforms, and the one school that absolutely has a right to wear camo, isn’t wearing camo. This fact alone makes an ass out of every civilian football program that has worn camo this year.
my point isn’t that it’s right or wrong for teams to wear these unis, it’s that if he wasn’t a peaceful community, don’t incite arguments with wording entries this way
This, I was at the game, I saw the coaches wearing the camo pullovers and thought well at least they aren’t in fatigues.
I wasn’t thrilled about this tribute, and unless they auction off the gear I see no point in it. But reading the entry today and seeing it referred to as bullshit made me defensive. Had Paul not used such a charged word I wouldn’t have had that moment of disagreement, but he did, and I did.
I don’t have an issue with condemning the practice but you’re going to get a rise out of people who may otherwise agree with you when you word it the way Paul did today.
Those red names on black are damn near impossible to read, particularly in the third one. They look just as bad as the red on the all-black unis MD was wearing against Florida St.
And I shudder to think what MD would do to a “blank canvas” potential.
Not a big fan of black on black, but I love that Battle of the Bulge detail on the Army uniforms, especially the helmet stripe.
Am I the only person who can’t even remember if he’s ever eaten a Twinkie? Is it an age thing (I’m 29)? I do remember having the cupcakes a time or two, but my mom worked at a bakery when I was a kid so I received far superior treats from her (hence the reason I was a fat kid). I can’t say I’m all that sad to see them go, except for the job losses.
For mass-produced stuff, Little Debbie is where it’s at, anyway.
Yes. Yes you are.
I’m 44 and I’ve never eaten a Twinkie
fuckin eh
I’m 50 and never eaten a Twinkie. I’m more of a Little Debbie man myself. I miss Devil Twins though.
Did Twinkies not exist in Cana-duh or something? You have no idea what you missed out on. Twinkies were the Junk Food of the Gods. I haven’t had a Twinkie in a few years… but now I really freakin want one. :(
Won’t somebody please think of the Yodels?!
Jeff, actually, up in Quebec the big Hostess-like company produced a very twinkie-like cake, and those are what I used to like, I had always assumed that THAT was a twinkie, then at some point when down in the USA I bought a Hostess twinking and I was just like, wow, these taste like shit. As a general rule I always found packaged cakes to be pretty awful stuff, across the board…so maybe its just me.
Interesting news about the possible new Pirates Sunday alternate uniform. One design which would marry the past with the present would be a gold pinstripe uniform, with a black “P” on the chest. I’d like to see the return of the hat with the gold bill and black crown.
Gimme a 1960’s style vest with black sleeves and everything else would be right with the world.
I second the vest!
My guess is the Sunday jersey will be a yellow version of their play alt.
Here’s a YouTube link to that Conan appearance.
link
I did not know that Conan was 7’5″.
He’s named after a barbarian, of course he’s tall. C’mon man.
lol Conan O’Brien is awesome.
Twinkies & Hostess products, not so much.
Everything about the new Reading identity is embarrassing. Even though it wasn’t an original name or uniform style, what they had was so much better than this train wreck. Speaking of trains, its a sin that they took away the script R cap with the locomotive engine on it, evoking the Reading Railroad, and replaced it with an Ostrich and a hot dog?? This team is a now a bad joke in my eyes, and I hope the Reading fans show their disapproval by not buying this garbage. I can almost stomach the ridiculous name change, the home jersey with the script R cap isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and the home alt with the script F cap and the “Fightins” across the front are good for a gimmick night, but the rest of that branding is honestly some of the worst I’ve ever seen.
I hope they choke on their anthropomorphic hot dog caps.
Slight disagreement. Not everything is an embarrassment. The name is perfectly fine for a minor-league team. The home uni and script are quite good, even sans apostrophe. The new R cap logo is excellent. Heck, the home uni numbers are better than the actual big-league Phillies numbers. The ostrich mascot is fantastic, and perfectly in keeping with the parent club’s nonsensical mascot.
It’s the road half of the team’s identity that’s an embarrassment in every conceivable way. At home, they’re a respectable pro baseball team. On the road, they’re a half-assed, overfunded beer-league amateur softball squad.
As a R-Phils fan, and having taken a second look at it, I’ll agree with that. I don’t hate the home uniforms. I’ll even deal with the Ostrich. Everything about the road uniform makes me want to beat up the branding people. Terrible.
Pretty much in agreement. The R-Phils claim to want their own identity, like the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs. OK. But to take on the unofficial nickname of the parent club which has been used for about 60 years; to use the parent club’s 1950 uniform as the basis for their own; to go BFBS; and, to develop a logo that pays homage to a hot dog vendor who dresses in an ostrich uniform doesn’t appear to be forging your own identity. Looks more like borrowing from others. And what happens when the vendor quits or is laid off? Oh, the humanity.
I love minor league baseball, especially for the unique freedom with logos, mascots, nicknames, etc. that Scott is talking about. But I feel like the organization is full of it when they say they simply want to claim an identity, when the initial uniform roll-out includes SEVEN caps including a batting practice cap!! You can buy one cap per month during the season, and still not “collect them all.”
Not that I hate the designs, but it makes the “we just want to be our own entity” argument a bit weak.
Reading hasn’t used the “R” with a train embedded in it for a few seasons, actually. In recent years, the cap has been an “R” with a star inside it.
Apropos of absolutely nothing, but I lived for a time in Griffin, Georgia. That is why I did not continue to live in Griffin, Georgia.
/digression
That’s the coolest and calmest reaction I’ve ever seen to a broken finger. He seemed to be more frustrated to leave the field than worry about the pain.
That’s the coolest and calmest reaction I’ve ever seen to a broken finger.
Agreed. Especially compared to the reaction that the video is no doubt inspiring among everyone else!
That finger looked like Joe Theismann’s leg after LT broke it. If you want to see some really ugly fingers, try watching any NFL Films show on Chuck Bednarik. When he holds a football, his fingers seem to go in all different directions.
Anthony Munoz and Torry Holt have some pretty mangled fingers as well.
I thing that the Missouri uniforms were the “anthracite” version, as they looked much lighter in person than the pictures show. Also, compare the side panel and lettering coloring to the black unifroms in the second link. Cant be sure though, as they have not played a road game yet this year to see the black jerseys in action.
link
link
If you look and google all Missouri basketball uniforms, you’ll see the gold version shown on leftfield.com says “TIGERS” on the chest when the gold uniforms actually worn say “MIZZOU.” Also, the black or anthracite uniforms shown have anthracite numbers with an outline. The uniforms worn against Nicholls State had gold letters and numbers.
I for one am GLAD they have gold letters and numbers on the black/anthracite version…the other was nearly illegible.
Figures the Pirates would rather change their uniforms rather than the players in them. Or the manager. Or the general manager. Or the president. Or the owner.
Well, yeah… changing those other things is much more expensive & stuff.
Besides, if they can get the right uniform in place, it’ll just inspire better play and they won’t need better players. Duh…
The ugly volleyball uni link is at top-volley.net.
Get it?? dot-NET!! oh so clever.
That Broncos uniform is truly the goofiest looking thing I’ve ever seen. The Steelers throwbacks look dignified in comparison.
The addition of the nike collar feature (the leisure suit treatment) is the element it needed to secure its place in the Clown Suit Hall of Fame. Congratulations.
thats a clown suit, bro
Since Paul brought up the cardboard issue with Hostess cupcakes, I feel compelled to point out a similar issue I’ve had with a Hostess product… Ding Dongs used to come wrapped in thin foil. At some point (I’m guessing late ’90s?) they switched to a white plastic wrapper and I swear they didn’t taste the same. I’m sure it’s all in my head, but one time in grad school (circa 2002) somebody showed up to a party with Ding Dongs and lo-and-behold they were wrapped in foil again. I’m not sure I’ve had one since, because I was always afraid to buy a box and find they went back to the white plastic. Anyway, I don’t consider myself an overly-sentimental type, but when you’re talking about comfort foods there’s value in those minor aesthetics, whether it’s cardboard on a cupcake or foil around a Ding Dong.
for that matter, hershey bars don’t come wrapped in paper anymore. I loved unfolding the silver foil paper. Now they come in a wrapper like every other candy bar.
I wish the broncos would have worn their orange shirts, and the Fleur-de-Lis looks so lovely. Central Michigan did it right. Hats and britches should match.
Have the Broncos ever done orange over navy? I’m a casual fan of theirs, but can’t remember it being done. I actually think that would be a decent look. It would certainly be an improvement over monochrome (which I don’t really like in any color).
No, they haven’t.
I don’t think that look would work with their current uniform anyway. Now, if they wanted to bring back the 80’s style uniforms with navy instead of royal, then navy pants with white-orange-white striping would probably look pretty good.
Not in the current color scheme. The blue pants have an orange swoosh. The orange jersey has a blue swoosh. The swoosh has always been one color per game. I remember blue pants with orange jersey around 1971, but that may be a recollection of an illustration rather than of an actual game.
The Houston’s would have looked better if that stripe was not on their britches.
Ugh… no.
They need red socks with the navy pants. They do NOT need to eliminate any pant striping. What the heck is wrong with you?
I Love solid color britches, except for the Sooners and SMU. Nothing is wrong with me. I have my opinions, you have your Mr. Jeff.
that’s THE jeff to you
I apologize Mr. THE JEFF.
I don’t know Paul, shouldn’t the times be called on this for running the article?
Yeah it’s a little in poor taste on the old buddy’s part but the editor makes the call on the piece.
btw… I think the place looks like shit.
Yes, totally, publishing this piece in the aftermath of Sandy was in extremely poor taste.
But the Times Style section is basically an exercise in bad taste, and always has been. It exists primarily as an advertising vehicle and secondarily as something for the rest of the world to make fun of. (There’s a good piece about that link.)
So the fact that the Times would publish something like this, even at the worst possible moment, is nothing new. The fact that someone I once considered a friend would cooperate in the creation of such an article — that’s new. Or at least I hope it is.
I’ve seen these two on Saturday Night Live. They were in a skit called “Two Assholes Buy A Christmas Tree.”
^^^^Nice!
Army’s uniforms have maps on the helmet line, in the number, and decorating the compression sleeves. Is this a top secret way for Nike to give troop locations to the terrorists? If not, where are the maps supposed to depict?
“Army is using black on black and is utilizing military maps from the Battle of the Bulge (I think) as a pattern on the undersleeves, numbers, and the helmet stripe,” says William De Los Santos.
That’s now confirmed. Here’s a close-up:
link
Any reason given as to why they decided to go with that? Neither the date of the game, nor the year have any sort of significance.
As a geographer/map geek, I have to begrudgingly applaud this move.
I like the idea (I’m a map geek too), but why that battle? Why not Yorktown? Why not D-Day?
This works if and only if sometime during the game, Army declines a penalty by telling the ref, “Nuts.”
^^^^^Nice “nuts” :)
Am I the only one that thinks it would be oddly satisfying to see Washington stroll into Dallas on Thursday, absolutely annihilate the home team then declare the stadium as their new home?
…then declare the stadium as their new home?
How exactly would they do that? By planting the ball on the star at the 50 yard line? That just leads to 15 yard penalties.
I’m just hoping that the game features Dallas in their white helmeted “throwback” uniforms and Washington in red jerseys and yellow pants – because color vs color needs to continue happening.
They will wear the white hats on Turkey Day. They have worn that look for the past 5 Turkey Day games.
Not last five… the last three and six of the last eight.
link
Maybe its a Canadian thing, but when I was a kid (1970s) Hostess was known in Canada for its potato chips, not its baked goods. Which suited me fine because I’m a salty snack eater, not a sweet eater.
link
According to the Wikipedia, they’re still for sale in some places, I haven’t seen them in years.
None of that matters to me, though. In the mid-1970s Hostess came out with a line of fruit flavoured chips (grape, orange and cherry) which 9 year old me thought was the greatest thing ever. When they discontinued those chips (because apparently everybody except me thought they tasted like shit) I started a Hostess boycott which I’ve kept up to this day.
I’m a salty snack eater, not a sweet eater.
I speak from some experience when I say that the two need not be mutually exclusive!
“I started a Hostess boycott which I’ve kept up to this day.”
~~~
what the hell is wrong with you man?
That’s blasphemous!
more for us… i’m ok with it
Maybe it’s a regional thing (northwestern Ontario, Canada) or faulty memory but I remember Old Dutch being top dog in the chip market in the 1970s. Hostess came on strong later to be number one here with chips – the baked goods line have been rarely available and then only at certain stores until relatively recently.
When I was a kid it was easier to find a product like Lucky Elephant Popcorn than a Twinkie. I think Vachon baked goods products were readily available here in the 70s; if not they were for sure in the 80s.
I think you’re exactly right. Hostess was chips and hickory sticks, Vachon was bakery stuff. Jos. Louis and May West!
Where in NWO are you? I was in Atikokan for most of the 90s.
mike 2 – I’m in Thunder Bay. Except for part of one year have live here my entire life (since 1968).
I remember trying a bag of the grape-flavoured chips at the time. Sorry, man, but *they* did taste like shit… :-6
Yeah Twinkies & Hostess is not a part of my DNA either. I wasn’t raised on them, Kool-Aid or juice boxes which was American standard.
Cheetos paws and X’s&O’s on the other hand, that’s what I miss the most.
I’m surprised nobody mentioned the Hostess 1975-79 baseball cards.
The ND women’s basketball team were attempting to knock out two things in their first home game of the season. Honor the military and give Ace props for her performance in the Olympics. Poor timing? Sure.
They were reusing the uniforms from the Carrier Classic, so it wasn’t a one off. Here’s hoping they’re put in storage for the rest of the season.
Not a fan of the Steelers’ bumblebee look, but they could have reached back one year further and achieved throwback nirvana.link
whoops. Here’s the link to a painting of the 1933 “Pirates” uni. link
Three’s a charm? link
Both links are 404ing for some reason, but we already saw the Steelers use the 1933 uniforms in 1994. It was ugly as hell then, and it’d still be ugly as hell now.
Right now I’m really hoping for a Notre Dame/Alabama color v. color BCS title game.
I’m not really sure how I’d feel about that. I like color vs color, and the red/red/white vs gold/blue/gold would be a great color vs color game – but I also hate helmets without logos, so both teams would annoy the hell out of me.
I don’t think the Pirates need to add a Sunday jersey, or really ANY jersey. Their three jerseys are sufficient enough. I know Paul hates them but as a Buccos fan I like the black alternates that they seem to wore more often than either of their home whites and road grays.
Okay actually Mizzou was wearing GREY at home. link
The Grey unis have gold #s and the black unis have grey numbers
Black: link
Those Navy helmets remind me oflink.
Err..what? That wasn’t a picture of a number 3 car…
or a #43 car…
Seriously. I don’t even like NASCAR, but even I know that the correct answer looks something like this:
link
link I corrected the Xs that the site changed to multiplication signs.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a Twinkie to be honest. Can’t say I’ll miss em. I grew up on Little Debbie Swiss Rolls, and the occasional Tastycake Butterscotch Krimpet(which are the supreme lord of all cake-based junk foods in my humble opinion).
Kudos to Louisiana-Lafayette on that uni design. I’ve always found the large numbers on both the front AND back of football jerseys to be redundant. Reducing the small #s on the front opens up a vast new world of possibilities. Though I gotta agree with Paul in that it’s likely to produce a good number of awful designs too.
With all of the “Tributes” that have taken over the sports world, it got me thinking of a potential UniWatch community project/segment/discussion. A lot of us hate the Pinktober and Stars/Stripes/Camo uni-tributes that various schools and leagues have started. I think most or at least a lot of folks feel that the causes are worthy, but the implementation is just painful to look at. So, what would be an appropriate unicentric tribute to causes or honor-worthy people?
My first suggestion would be for breast cancer awareness: Rather than simply have players and coaches wear random pink paraphernalia, why not have a patch or accessory (e.g. armband or similar) for players with family members or close friends dealing with the disease? Bonus if there is a place to write in the name of said friend/family member. That way, those splashes of non-team color make a real impact on a personal level.
How about they just don’t do anything? Professional sports are supposed to be for entertainment – an escape from reality. I really don’t need to be reminded of death when I’m watching a fucking GAME.
I’ve probably had a Twinkie, but I can’t remember it. I loved the CupCakes though, used to have them all the time when I was a kid…
So Rutgers and Maryland are all but members of the B1G now. They move into the B1G as the 13th and 14th best looking football programs in the conference now, right? I mean, Maryland is 13, because Rutgers… damn.
But seriously, teams I think unequivocally look better:
Penn St
tOSU
Mich
MSU
NU
IU
Wisco
Iowa
Minni
Neb
Teams that probably look better than Maryland:
Illini (and their in the process of a 2 year Nike rebrand according to reports)
Purdue (and until last season, they were fur sur better looking than Maryland.)
I take solace knowing that Maryland takes a top basketball program from the ACC and adds it to the B1G. And this also helps IUBB’s recruiting, because they’ve started to recruit well in Maryland and now they can all but guarantee a game a season in Maryland (since BBall will probably start to follow division scheduling).
But Rutgers is a joke. They’ve sold out something like 2 of their last 26 home football games and this season they’re like 9-1.
Michigan sells out every game in a 4-8 season.
And they might as well not have a basketball program. It’s a fuckin’ joke. A total grab for the NYC market when NYC fans have proven they just don’t care about college athletics (see: Rutgers inability to sell out).
Oh, well. Delaney seems to know what he’s doing. Hopefully he can read the future as well as he thinks he can…
“NYC fans have proven they just don’t care about college
athleticsfootball”Fixed
True. They do seem to care about basketball, but really that’s about it.
yeah, um
no we don’t
Well not you Phil, you hate the NBA, of course you wouldn’t care about *worse* basketball. Everybody loves the tourney, though…
In regards to the Times article, I could go on and on about sitting at my “town surplus” $10 desk and looking at my “won in a raffle” fishtank filld with bargain basement fish, and I could print lovely pictures on my two “used but not abused” printers that I scored for a song on Craigslist….
Here in boston we have a similar thing in the Globe where people walk around and talk of every posession in terms of “designer” “brand name” “exclusivity” and of course, “price tag”.
Almost enough to make me want to eat a twinkie. If I coulod find on in a retail store instead of having to get it on eBay for a weirdly inflated price….
Man, my typing sucks today. Or it’s this stupid “protection” software I downloaded yesterday that can’t seem to keep up with my 2-fingered typing.
Still not enough to make me buy an overpriced Twinkie.
What’s Archie going to offer Sammy Davis Jr to eat now?
F1 Cowboy hats!
link
A sports radio guy who usually only speaks on this type of stuff when he believes it to be true got word today from a source he trusts that by 2014/15 the B1G wants to go 16 and Texas is smack dab on the radar.
Obviously the Big 12 is basically dead and Texas is the big name left who everyone is going to want, but I think the B1G could do it and I think they’d try and get Oklahoma to bring Texas into the fold, but either way, I’d expect the B1G to grab their last two teams from the soon-to-be defunct Big 12.
From a pure logo-inspired standpoint, I could see where the B1G’s goal would have been to get to 1G teams all long.
^^^THAT!!!
well played, sir
So if Texas and Oklahoma go to Big 10, what happens to the also-rans Iowa State, K-State, Baylor and the rest? The PAC-16? Big East? ACC?
So eventually we’ll have 4 big 16-team conferences + Notre Dame?
Sure seems like it’s headed that way.
Pac16 (maybe add KansasSt and Kansas and TTech and TCU…?)
Big10 (OK and UT)
SEC (Baylor and FSU or Miami…?)
ACEast (all the remnants of ACC/BigEast and other relavant teams from across the nation or perhaps a predominantly basketball focused conference)
The ACC will add UConn, and I imagine Louisville, and when the 4 mega conferences become a reality Notre Dame will become a member in all sports (this is why they agreed to the deal with the ACC, be independent for as long as possible in football with an easy transition to conference play). The Big East will only survive as a minor football conference, it will be able to retain a lot of clout as a basketball conference albeit it a little diminished by certain losses.
I doubt the Big 12 is going anywhere now. Hell I think that Boise State, Louisville and maybe Cincinnati may come to the Big 12.
The Big 12 is Texas/Oklahoma. Without them, you can call it whatever you want, but it ain’t the Big 12 anymore. It’ll probably fold into the ACC/BigEast nation wide conference, but I’d expect all of its major schools picked clean within the next few years.
I’m surprised Big10 went after Maryland & Rutgers instead of Iowa State, Kansas and Kansas State. But like they said, they wanted NYC.
What happened to that Texas & Oklahoma to the PAC-12 thing?
Texas and Oklahoma are committed to the Big 12. The conference just signed a new TV deal with FOX, ESPN/ABC that will bring almost 3 billion dollars to the conference over the next 8-10 years. Plus each school now has sold secondary TV rights to Fox. Baylor, Tech, OU, Kansas, and I think Boone Pickens U have deals with Fox for like a Sooner Network et al.
Fox owns the BTN and the profits from the BTN >>>>>>>> the LHN and other junk. ESPN/ABC contracts would not be voided.
The lower case French is pretty indicative of the language. There are very few words in French that are capitalized. Even the months of the year and the days of the week are lower cased. Countries, cities, all lower case. The only real things that have capital letters consistently are proper nouns. So, if UL used capital letters, every Cajun-French descendent of the area would have screamed BS.
I do like your comment about how this opens up a whole new world for football. I think for TV purposes, back numbers and shoulder numbers are sufficient. Let’s keep expanding (for better or worse) our imaginations on the fronts. BTW, I hope this opens up the NFL to the use of a classic C and A for captains and assistant captains instead of that weird C patch with the stars.
I agree – the fleur de lis looked nice. Russell did a good job on this uni and can bring down that chest number some. I’ve experimented with this concept some in my own concepts and if you want to see some older designs with symbols on the chest: check out Furman’s 1920s target chest and the Gamecocks’ imperial symbol from the 1920s as well.
Great. I will check them out. I was thinking the same about Russell. UL seems to be one of the last schools to use them, but I like what they do with their regular uniforms, with the fleur de lis on the shoulders. The black pants featured part of that too, considering these were part of their regular 3 pant rotation (red, black, and white). That strip that starts small and gets wider toward the calf has numerous small fleur de lis, and this is mimicked on the shoulders of their jerseys.
I’m sure you know all of this, but I just think it’s good that Russell is trying to do something fresh. I think sometimes that the Ragin’ Cajuns have a lot of good stuff to work with uniform/mascot/branding-wise, and I’m curious to know what uni producers like Nike or UA would do with the trade dress.
Love the throwback concepts from the other submitters. I guess mine was more of an adaptation with the yoke and the “V” above the number to show how you can use today’s standards with yesterday’s design.
Although I can’t say that I really care for the Louisiana-Lafayette jerseys, they bring me back to my point the other day about unimaginativeness of Under Armour and their Marland offerings. I respect that Russell Athletic for at least trying something innvoative and proposing a new approach to uniform design. What the end result will be, I don’t know, but at least it’s something new and not just something recycled for the 50th time and branded as being new.
Twinkie residue reminds me of Reese’s residue.
link
official photos of the tOSU unis for saturday’s game against scUM
I like them. just wish the sleeves had more grey in them
even more photos link
They look good. Just stop saying they are honoring past teams or unis. Call them Nike creation and stop the propaganda.
Seeing some other leaked pics, they will probably look sharp on game day.
well it is an homage of sortas.
link
That’s probably the worst image you could have found. the pants and jersey stripes are wrong and the numbers are laughably wrong.
think more along the lines of this: link with different shoulder stripes.
i said homage, not direct copy.
look at the numbers they’re silver not the normal white tOSU uses.
Oh and just bring back the classic gray sleeve stripes.
A couple of things:
– “…but my favorite part of eating Hostess CupCakes has always been removing the cakes from the cardboard base on which they sit and then running my finger along the piece of cardboard, thereby salvaging the pastry residue that inevitably sticks there.”
This feel. THIS. FEEL.
– I love the link. The Army ones are decent enough for a one-off, but Navy is where it’s at. And for some reason, that helmet is just about the link to my eye. Sure, there’s a bunch of shit going on, but it flows together. It’s controlled chaos.
– I don’t know how I missed the LA Lafayette uniform over the weekend, but that is fuckin’ link. I just wish that the pant design was simpler. The link throws it off to me. But other than that, good on ya, Cajuns.
– I’m firmly opposed to Maryland moving to the B1G, if only for geographical reasons. To me, the B1G has always made a name with their Midwestern members, while the ACC has always been the safe haven for Mid-Atlantic teams. Penn State aside, how does an east coast school that fits the bill of an ACC program geographically moving to the Big (insert numeral of choice here) make any sense?
I would love to see a Blue version of the Navy unis. The helmet is very forward looking!
I can’t believe it, but I feel the same way about the Navy helmet. The matte white, the GOLD, and then the bit of navy and the number placement all just seems friggin’ sweet to me.
Best. Navy. Helmet. Ever.
Hell, Best. Football. Helmet. Ever.
link
Jay Horwitz, Matt Harvey, Jeff Wilpon at a soup kitchen. Do those hats say “The Mets?”
link
I also wonder how many orphans Jeff Wilpon will have to murder and eat to atone for this altruism.
Upon further review, they say “Team Mets.” But still, what in the world is that about? Never seen it before.
First of all it’s UL not ULL. The uniforms are not the new uniforms. They were made for this game only.
Great story on the Immaculate Reception. I am surprised that the Pittsburgh museum has the wrong mask on the wax replica of Franco Harris. It is a modern version of the the 1970’s “receiver” mask that has an additional horizontal bar across it.