Lots more college football news to catch up on, beginning with the new Tennessee uniforms, which were leaked via a series of video game screen shots that were tweeted by Chad Fields. You can click on those thumbnails to see larger versions. Interesting that they show the Adidas stretch marks so clearly in the vid game. As for the checkerboard, I love it on the base layer and don’t much care for it on the uni numbers. Mainly, though, it makes me think of a certain pet food brand.
Some other college football items from yesterday (for the embedded tweets, you can click on the photos to see larger versions):
• Here’s a look at Baylor’s all-white uni, from the Big 12 Media Day.
• Also from that same event: WVU in solid yellow and solid white.
• Texas Tech staffers are dressing a bit less formally this season.
• Remember that matte gray Kentucky helmet that was making the rounds a few days ago? According to a Q&A with coach Mark Stoops, which you can find here, they will be worn “somewhere in the future. Probably not this year.”
• Earlier this year, UNC unveiled a blue helmet with a white logo. But now they’ve updated it to have a black logo:
Updated helmet for 2013. Black NC logo with small white border. Final version will have slightly larger logo pic.twitter.com/wxwuojXKJB
— Carolina Football (@TarHeelFootball) July 21, 2013
• I missed this over the weekend, but Florida State tweeted a photo of its “new” uniforms. I don’t see anything different from last year except the new ACC patch — am I missing anything? Are the uni numbers bigger?:
First look at the 2013 #Noles jersey. #ACCkickoff http://t.co/UoaOa9uaku
— FSU Football (@FSU_Football) July 21, 2013
• Comically bad new jerseys for Buffalo. Maybe they’re pushing the “New York” angle just a smidge to much, eh?:
Comically bad new football uniforms for Buffalo: pic.twitter.com/hFcl9iw5u5
— Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) July 23, 2013
• New gloves for USF:
Gloves for the season just hit. The detail is unreal @UnderArmour Go Bulls! pic.twitter.com/Y9vRzOdxKv
— USF Equipment (@JCLees) July 22, 2013
• Better views of Boise State’s new helmet:
Slightly new helmets for Boise State. Logo is smaller. And number is on other side. pic.twitter.com/m6BSlALGB7
— Brian Murphy (@murphsturph) July 22, 2013
Here is the other side. pic.twitter.com/KbyWLRBjGB
— Brian Murphy (@murphsturph) July 22, 2013
• We’ve had some peeks at the new Houston uniforms, but here, finally, is the full set:
New Houston unis pic.twitter.com/mjBvzNlgqm
— Phil Hecken (@PhilHecken) July 23, 2013
• New cleats for Miami:
A sample of some of our cleats for this season pic.twitter.com/hpkt51H3tq
— The U Equipment Room (@TheUEqRoom) July 22, 2013
• New American Athletic Conference patches for Rutgers:
Here are the brand new #American Athletic Conference patches for @RFootball this year. #Chop pic.twitter.com/gNzjUXV8wF
— The Emblem Source (@theemblemsource) July 23, 2013
• Fresno State apparently has a blackout uniform in the works:
Fresno State Blackout unis #uniswag pic.twitter.com/4rcbUTeB8H
— Uni Swag (@Uniformswag) July 23, 2013
Fresno State new blackout uni: pic.twitter.com/VkVYClyrvH
— Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) July 24, 2013
• I recently showed a photo of Columbia’s new uniforms, but here’s a video clip that provides much better views:
• I can also shoot down some rumors today, beginning with that chrome Ole Miss helmet from a few days ago. A source tells me that’s just a sample — not going to be used on the field.
• Similarly, remember that chatter about a possible silver helmet for Texas A&M? Apparently it’s not slated for on-field use.
• Finally, Tyler Maun has been covering the Mountain West Conference’s media shindig and has this amusing report:
[On Monday] I interviewed one of Colorado State’s players and asked him about some of the stock video shots they’d been doing with various networks (CBS Sports, Root Sports, etc.). I said, “Are you guys modeling the new threads?,” referring to CSU’s switch to Under Armour this year. He told me they weren’t and that the team hadn’t even seen the new UA unis yet. He said they were wearing last year’s Russell uniforms for their video shoots and added something to the effect of, “We’re having to tape over every little Russell symbol on them.” He was wearing an Under Armour polo but said it was the first piece of UA apparel he’d gotten. Later that day, I overheard CSU head coach Jim McElwain joking with a couple of reporters about his own polo to “make sure the tags aren’t still on this thing.” He later joked with me that he thinks his polo must have been airlifted to Vegas to get it to him in time for media days.
Seems unusual to not have any sort of apparel delivered to a team by just about a week before their fall camp gets started, doesn’t it?
(My thanks to all contributors, including Johnny Bruno, Dave Wilson, Levi Buck, Chris Howell, Andrew Cosentino, Josh Wren, Jason Cook, the Hungry Hungry Hipster, Jared Buccola, and of course Phil.)
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Home Away from Home: Last night was that weird Reds/Giants doubleheader in San Francisco. The first game was a conventional game, but the nightcap was a makeup game of a game that had been rained out in Cincy, so the Reds were the designated home team, complete with home uniforms, even though the game was now being played in SanFran. The Reds didn’t exactly trot out their best home look for the occasion, though:
@PhilHecken @Reds the "home" team in this makeup game. Not their best look. The @SFGiants shoulda gone w/ away alts pic.twitter.com/pIyae1bki2
— Scott Gallian, MD (@sgallian3) July 24, 2013
Reader Richard Craig was in attendance and offers the following report:
• Joey Votto changed batting gloves and sweatbands between games. In the first (“away”) game, he wore black and gray sweatbands with red and gray gloves. In the second (“home”) game, he wore red and white sweatbands and his gloves were white with red trim.
• Brandon Phillips also changed gloves and a pressure sleeve between games. For the opener, he wore red batting gloves and a black sleeve; for the nightcap, he wore white gloves and a white sleeve.
• The catchers’ gear for the Reds was primarily gray in the first game and red in the second game, though this might also have been because different catchers played in the two games.
• As for the Giants, Pablo Sandoval wore black batting gloves in the first game and orange/gray ones in the second game.
• Buster Posey, in contrast, had black sleeves and gray gloves in both games.
• The ballboys (“balldudes” in Giants lingo) wore white for both games.
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’Skins Watch: Here’s the latest on the ’Skins name and related issues:
• Two of the greatest and most popular players in ’Skins history, Art Monk and Darrell Green, think the team should consider changing its name. Daniel Snyder was apparently unavailable for comment.
• A Wisconsin school district has defied an order to stop calling its teams the Indians.
(My thanks to Phil for his contribution to this section.)
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Uni Watch News Ticker: “Arsenal wore Japan-themed kits for a preseason game against Nagoya Grampus on Monday,” says Ethan Faust. “They play one more game in Japan this Friday, so it’ll be interesting to see if they wear these again. They had been wearing normal kits for their first two games in Indonesia and Vietnam.” … Andy Chalifour notes that Bosox catcher Ryan Lavarnway, who wore a front-facing catcher’s helmet last year, has had the brim facing backwards this year. … Speaking of catchers’ headwear, Mike Vasinko notes that Indians backstop Carlos Santana’s helmet doesn’t match any other headwear in Cleveland’s wardrobe. A leftover from a previous year, perhaps..? … After being ranked the 499th-best NBA player, Kent Bazemore had “499″ imprinted on his sneakers (thanks, Brinke). … Some info on how Giants equipment director Joe Skiba assigns uni numbers here (from Chris Flinn). … Rick Pitino brought a Louisville jersey to President Obama (thanks, Phil). … Yesterday I mentioned that David Wright had a Giants helmet hanging in his locker. Looks like he also has a Virginia Tech helmet (from Gabe Ortiz). … Here’s the latest teaser image from the Suns. Meanwhile, someone has taken all the teasers so far and created these mock-ups (from Paul Kos). … Looks like the Mets will be wearing orange Los Mets jerseys for Fiesta Latina Night this evening (thanks, Phil). … Bo Faulds’s great-grandpappy played for the Singer Sewing Machine Company’s baseball team in 1898, and check out his uniform! Love that ornate “SSM” chest mark. Also, note the memorial armband — wonder who that was for. … The Dolphins are still practicing in last year’s pants (from Frankie Parish). … Here’s something I didn’t know: First-place finishers in the 1896 Olympics were given silver medals, not gold. You can see this on the IOC’s own site — go here and click on “Medals” in the right sidebar. Now we just need to do an 1896 throwback Olympics, because silver is so much better than gold! (Thanks, Kirsten.) … In a related item, there’s now a call for Olympic medals to be made from sustainable sources of gold, silver, and bronze (from Tom Mulgrew). … Sporting Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes has a very cool lining to his suit (from Casey Wieder). … New basketball court for GW. “I’m very excited that part of my daughter’s $12 billion tuition bill is paying for this,” says Chris Hamilton. … Taj Tedrow’s design studio created fauxbacks for Windward High School in Los Angeles. … Jason Hammel wore stirrups last night. “First time I recall him wearing them,” says Andrew Cosentino. … Mike Monaghan just scored a bunch of Sammy Sabre stuff. “I like that the membership card is blank,” he says. … “Just got back from the county fair with my son,” says Coleman Mullins. “While there I caught some great repurposed chairs and flooring from an old basketball court, paint and all!” … Why was Brad Pitt’s childhood basketball team called the Rejects? (From HHH.) … The Texas Rangers have now put ads on the inside of their cups. And if that doesn’t make you want to put a bullet in your brain, I don’t know what will (Phil again). … Back in 2009 I wrote an ESPN column about an LSU fan named Bruce Richards, who had an unusual tailgating tradition. Bruce will be appearing on Jeopardy! this Friday, and he tells me that he got to discuss his tailgating habits with Alex Trebek. … Andrew McKillop has put together a list of every neutral-site location and/or non-league stadium that has hosted a NFL, AFL, or AAFC game, including exhibitions. … Phil is still feeling blue about Bizkit, but he asked me to tell everyone how much he appreciated all the kind thoughts in yesterday’s comments. He’ll have more to say about this tomorrow.
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Hello, I must be going: Today is my last day on duty before the start of my annual month-long summer break. Beginning around midnight tonight, the Uni Watch email address will be forwarded to Phil, so all Ticker submissions will be going directly to him. If you have a question or concern that only I can deal with, he’ll send those emails back to me.
Scott Turner and I will still be processing Uni Watch membership orders while I’m on break, so you can still sign up at the usual place. If, in theory, you were interested in some theoretical T-shirts, well, we can talk about that too.
I’ll be back here on the blog on Aug. 26, but I’ll still be doing ESPN work during the next month, including a new edition of the Uni Watch Power Rankings, which should roll out during the week of Aug. 19.
Thanks for everything. See you in a month!
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