2012 Uni Smackdown

Most changes to the unis for 2012 are completely overshadowed by the stellar Aggie unis unveiled this year.  But here is the run-down.

U of Beveled H: Lots of jicky lines and odd shaped leg panels, blame Nike for that. Not sure about the Hot Wheels shine treatment on the helmet, and of course I hate the new beveled logo. Saving factor is the Robertson Stadium patch.

Rice and Adidas: Not much difference, but definitely not as good. School name is smaller and the stacked Adidas logo looks horrible. Does not appear to be the right color of blue either. And I am still missing the stripes on the pants!

SMU new striping: Someone claims that new unis do not facilitate UCLA stripes (but I beg to differ #QuitMakingExcusesNike). Aside from that, bonehead move to dump the name of your school... little horses belong on pants! Maybe they were trying desperately to outnumber the Nike logos... Speaking of pants... where exactly have all the stripes gone?

Arkansas Barf Fest: Just effing horrible! The full set is a non-traditional yawn fest.

Aggies ode to the 70s: as mentioned in my earlier blog entry, I really like it! Except for the matte helmet finish... and the maroon is honestly, the wrong color

New Unis for Ags Honor 75-77

There has been a huge development on the uni-front at Texas A&M.  So massive, I wish dad were here to discuss it with me!  So contradicting, yet so wonderful!   

So, NOW you want to honor your traditions...

I have sat back and watched Texas A&M toss tradition after tradition aside since I left the school - it even has a different greedy, money-grubbing feel to it now. It's the NOT the same place I fell in love with and shocked my Longhorn fan dad when I told him I would be headed to College Station. First slap in the face, The Zone and its rich suites blocking the dead mascots' view of the scoreboard. But the most flagrant slaps - ending the longest tradition of all - the rivalry between Texas and Texas A&M. And with that a move to a money-grubbing conference that will only exploit their Texas connection.

So in the shadow of trashing traditions, they decide to honor one of the most unique football unis in the history of college football (dad absolutely hated them!). The new unis (still Adidas) have the double shoulder stripe of those historic unis from the mid to late 70s. It also utilizes the striped undersleeve born by Uni-Watch readers - although, I suspect there will be some serious alignment issues between jersey and undershirt. Glad to see a stripe on the pants - but I will always be a fan of multiple stripes. I don't even mind the gray bevel highlight... That is the direction they want to go with the aTm logo (see previous post) - I hope they dump that idea! Now, this was a techFit reveal, so I don't want to get my hopes up that the new helmet WON'T have that stupid bevel logo.

All in all, the ONLY REAL problem with this uni is that crappy SEC logo on it!

UH Newly Chiseled into The Past...

The discussion at Uni Watch today was the poorly executed beveling of the Texas A&M and new UH logos. The beveling of logos SHOULD be a moot point - it's dated AT BEST! But news regarding the Aggie star T logo supporting the story was even more disturbing.

I love the star T logo and was greatly saddened to find out they are trying to limit it. It screams old school Texas A&M (even though it is a newer logo). And somehow, it screams the Corps. I constantly search for products with that logo on it! It shows A&M's uniqueness. But seemingly, the echoed sentiment here is that A&M no longer wants to be unique. They have lost so many of their traditions to fit into the big bad SEC - they have sold their soul to the company store. The only recognition they seem to want now is "Look SEC, we are your TEXAS connection!". Yea, like I said - they sold their soul to the company store. As an alum I am increasingly disgusted by the direction the Aggie administration continues to go in. I have all, but disowned them...

Back to the bevel - Dear Texas Tech, I HATE HATE HATE the beveled double T! Hated it from the day it landed at Texas Tech - never looked new, just clunky. There are so many better looking logos out there. Really! And if you want to do ONE THING to make our football helmets look good again - dump the bevel! Of course repairing it completely would be to add the stripes back and give it a red face mask!

Fitting UH is just now updating their logo with an outdated style, Cougar High...sigh.

Living, Breathing Shasta!

Okay - the cougar cub is real cute... I mean REAL CUTE! But this is the lamest thing ever. UofH used to have a live cougar mascot. So in trying to bring that back they "partnered" with the zoo and will have LIVE SCREEN SHOTS of this new "Shasta" at sporting events... huh?

Quoted in the article: "For the last 20 years or so, UH alumni have been looking forward to the day when we could have a live cougar to identify with as one of our own and this great new partnership with the Houston Zoo is a perfect fit,” said Michael Pede, president of the University of Houston Alumni Association".

Yea... some how I don't think this is what Cougar High alumni were wishing for... one LOCKED UP in the zoo.

Where's the Damn Bucket?

No really, State Farm - where's the damn bucket? Yea, yea... it's at U of H. Houston won it back in alarming fashion (and a similar score to the last time they were ranked in 2009).

But what I have major beef with is the logo. I give you kudos for the "presented by" and not trying to rename the game the State Farm Bayou Bucket. And I love the color scheme... but WHERE'S THE BUCKET?

All you had to do was add a gray background bucket - I took the liberty to do it for you! If I had the State farm font, I would "gif" it too.

Anyone have a contact at State Farm I can call about fixing their logo?

Welcome back, Froggies!

Personally, I don't get it... if A&M thinks they are not respected enough, how in the world do they think they will get more attention in the SEC?  Newsflash - SEC is only using you to get Texas recruits...  So, the getting more respect theory is a load of crap.  It's all about the money and the really bad path A&M Athletic officials continue to lead the Aggies down.  First you build a monstrosity to block the view of our beloved Reveilles (and trust me, the freshman seating has a better view!).  Then you demolish every rivalry... even the one your fight song is written about.  Will Bill Byrne rewrite the fight song too?  Where are the old school Ags - how is this being allowed to happen? 

TCU has been in a weak conference and played hardly anybody (but has wins against notable teams)... and they are ranked in the top ten at the end of each season.  A&M is still on one year, off the next... poor Aggies. Clearly, the Big XII got the better deal!  Just compare their post-SWC Bowl Game records and final rankings!

Since the end of the SWC, the Aggies have posted four top 25 final rankings.  TCU has posted eight - four of which are top 10 final rankings!  Bowl game wins also shine on TCU - Aggies are 1-9 since the SWC disbanded and  TCU is 8-4 (and two of those were BCS Bowls)!  Last year TCU went undefeated!  Since 2005, TCU has the best record of all FBS teams in Texas.

Now let's look at all-time win percentages against the SEC and their new conferences:

A&M against SEC        TCU against Big XII
58-79-6 (31%)             157-223-24 (39%)

                                     TCU against SEC
                                     33-64-4 (33%)

So, cry baby Aggies - or I want a National Championship TCU?

Conference Family Portraits

I wrote the feature story over on Uni Watch today.  Back in January I had scanned in all the Conference Family Portraits for the same website - a favorite of mine - focuses on the aesthetics of athletic unis and the minutia associated with the obsession.

Dad had purchased these postcards in 1969 and I had grown up with them - staring at them for hours.  Over the years I have found the playing cards too (they have the SWC family portrait and Up for Grabs on the two decks).  After chatting with Phil at Uni Watch I realized the originals were paintings signed by Don Collins.  I decided to see if I could find anything about the artist.  I found a bunch of neat info on him which lead to this story.

Well now that I knew where he was, I wanted more!  I put in a call to him on a Friday and he called me back Monday once he got back to his studio.  We had a fantastic conversation on the phone, me asking tons of questions about how and why the posters were made - all the while wishing I could call Dad and tell him the history.

No, it didn't take me ten months to write the story, just ten months to sit down to write it.  Enjoy the history of these little gems of days gone by!