Crossing Broad

Here's the Phillies 2012 Stars & Stripes Hat (Minus any Stars & Stripes)

As has been the pattern since 2008, Major League Baseball will be using special hats for Memorial Day, the 4th of July, and September 11 as part of their "Stars & Stripes" program. Mixing the design up every year, they're actually eschewing the namesake "stars and stripes," replacing them with a digital camouflage pattern. (Let me say that I think it's the Army's "Universal Camouflage Program," but military uniforms are outside my uniform wheelhouse. In terms of straight-up trivia, I'd give the designers lots of credit if the camouflage pattern for the Blue Jays followed one of Canada's CADPAT designs or if the Padres used one of the US Marines' patterns instead of what I assume is the US Army's pattern, but it doesn't look like either is the case.)

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This year, thankfully, MLB says they will donate "ALL NET PROCEEDS" from sales of the hat to the Welcome Back Veterans fund (previously, Kyle gave MLB heat for the shamelessness of contributing only $1 from a $37 MSRP item in order to play the "for the troops" card).

The Stars & Stripes hats are made in China, unlike the normal on-field New Era hats which are made by folks you'd normally see when there's an aggressive Clint Eastwood voiceover talking about it being half-time or 7th Inning Stretch or Second Intermission in America. USA!

So... how do they look? In a word, ugly. Oddly, instead of just framing the camo pattern with the normal white of the "P," they added an extra blue stroke on top of the white to frame the camo. Odd (and unnecessary). With just red and (generally green) camo, I'm stretching, but you get a nice "Christmas comes to Winter's Bone" effect. Red+Blue+Camo? Nope. Looking through the rest of the league, they just look like dirty versions of the normal hats. Also, like the Phillies, other teams, such as the Blue Jays, have gotten vestigial strokes added to the design for some reason. 

For some positivity, a detail I've always liked on the Stars & Stripes hats is that they also drop-in the pattern in the "batterman" logo on the back of the hats, and they've continued that this year. 

Looking at the Phillies hats since 2008,  the 2009 hat is the best (being that it looks just like the normal hat, minus the red button on top) with the navy blue 2008 as runner-up. 2010 is hideous and 2011 looks missed the retro fad by about 4 years. For those interested in such things, the 2009/10/11 versions are easily found on ebay, but the 2008 hats are extremely rare (as in there hasn't been one on ebay in either hat size I can wear in the last 3 years). Last season,  I offered a middle aged man at a Phillies game $60 for the one he had one his head, and he even knew not to sell it. I am not proud of any part of this anecdote...

Anyone out there planning on buying one of these? If so, you can line Kyle's pockets by clicking this link to purchase.

Pictures via lids.com and the very cool, but not-updated-since-2o1o Fittedelphia, which chronicles Phillies hats made by New Era.

$1.1 Billion Gets You... Brand Synergy! (and Pretty Cool Eagles Sneakers)

Eagles Air Max 95 (No-Sew) - NFL Draft Pack - picture via counterkicks

For those wondering what Nike would do with the NFL license after the disappointingly and expectly overhyped unveiling ceremony, they finally showed some of the benefits of their freshly enacted apparel deal with their 2012 "NFL Draft Pack" of sneakers. Gimmicky, but I like it.

You say you love the Eagles but your team-related footwear options are limited? Boom-- NFL Draft Pack. Simply, Nike chose eight signature sneakers, either classics from the past or noteworthy current shoes, assigning one to each division, then laying out a custom colorway for each team within each division. Luckily, Nike chose one of their all-time best designs, the Air Max 95, for the NFC East.

Two notes: (1) nitpickers will notice these are actually the Air Max 95 No-Sews which, well, don't have the color panels sewn together as on the original design from 1995, (2) The Air Max 95 is my favorite sneaker of all time—yes, people have such things—so I'm not the fairest judge. Heck, I wear Air Max 95s on an almost a daily basis (thank you job with minimal dress code). But come on, with both Midnight Green and Kelly Green present and prominent, what isn't to like? (well, the list price is $150, so that's something to not like...)

Here are the rest of the NFC East Air Max 95s (No-Sews). The Redskins version is fantastic. I'm not sure I'd be able to pull off actually wearing them, but it just proves how well their color palette comes together. The Cowboys and Giants aren't quite as interesting, but I can't really find fault with either of them, with the Giants, well, "Big Blue" approach working quite well, though I wouldn't have minded some silver on the Cowboys [editor's note: I see purple?].

Counterkicks has close-ups of each team's sneaker. Some notables: the AFC West in the Nike Air Trainer SC (you may know them as "Bo Jacksons") and the NFC North in the Air Max 90 (also known as the original Air Max). Also, the Buccaneers' Free Trainer 5.0 and the deceptively complex Free Haven 3.0 looks good in any color (even neon green) are new designs which are only enhanced by this NFL tie-in program.

Here are all of them for the entire league. I'm giving this whole pursuit a big thumbs-up. Which ones do you like?

via Nicekicks and Counterkicks, two great sites for sneaker news.

This Week in Yinzer Fashion: 2012 Steelers Throwbacks

from the Steelers.com Gallery of the Press Conference

Adding one last dig to our neighbors to the west before tonight's (hopefully) decisive hockey game, the Steelers did us a favor showcased their new-for-2012 throwbacks yesterday. Yikes.

Gone is the 60s-inspired alternate with its trademark yellow helmet. I never loved the previous throwback, but they were perfectly harmless, and a nice rearrangement of the design of the Steelers classic (hate to admit that one, but it's true) uniforms.

This new one? Well, the good news is that it's tied into an 80th anniversary celebration, so it's a safe bet it won't be seen after this year. The bad news is that it introduces a new type of "ugly" NFL uniform. Let's look at the types of ugly uniforms that are currently out there:

Breaking Down The 2012 NFL/Nike Uniform Unveiling

I'm really, really surprised Kyle managed to not open his earlier article with one of his patented, lengthy comparisons between some sports-related event and some (hypothetical) relationship or "girl" story with expectations as high as they were. It would've practically written itself.

Of course, the high expectations were generated completely by Nike (and some widely circulated fan renderings made in the style of Nike's "Pro Combat" NCAA uniforms which were frequently and erroneously reported as "the 2012 Nike uniforms" well after they were confirmed to be fanmade), as there's simply too much money in the NFL to rock the boat. Patting myself on the back, I'll point out that I predicted the uniforms generally wouldn't change.

For what you care about, as far as we know from what we've seen so far, the Eagles uniforms aren't changing at all this season. Being that Nike only showed the green over white combination (more on this below) and it didn't change anything on that combo (in fact, according to Nike Corporate write-up for the Eagles, they "have chosen to stay with their traditional design aesthetic as well as their former uniform fabrication this year," it's safe to assume the Eagles other components (white jerseys, green pants, black alternates, assuming those ever make an appearance again) aren't changing either. That's it. End of story.

Photo: Nike

The best way to analyze today's event is to figure out what it wasn't.

Yesterday's event was not for football fans. Every fan wanted to know what their team's "new" uniforms looked like. Nike only showed one combination for each team. Of course, the reason for that is twofold.

1) With 32 teams and multiple jersey/pants combos for each team, there are simply too many combos to show in-person (the Rams have seven combos which they regularly trot out, for example), but even the Nike website and store show only the primary/color jersey for each. OK, maybe the merchandise/material isn't available yet (these are two of the largest brands in the world, get your stuff together), but computer renderings could have been made for publishing on the Internet, a la an official style guide. Oddly, there are some substantial uniform updates for 2012 which weren't even mentioned on the 3rd. The Jaguars will be adding a black alternate to their current set for the 2012 season, so there could be other notable updates for which teams want to control the release as opposed to Nike or the NFL.  

2) There was nothing "new" about the uniforms from a fan's perspective (other than for Seahawks fans, of course). If recaps of the event included lines like, "And after showing the Rams 5th effectively unchanged combination of 7, this reporter's eyes began glazing over," it'd ruin the coverage. Instead, we get reporting(?) on how these uniforms will "usher in [a] new era of sportswear" (note: they won't).

Yesterday's event was not for the NFL. The event was a Nike commercial where they could push their brand values of performance, etc. in exchange for the $1.1billion they (reportedly) spent for the NFL license. That's all well and good (capitalism!), but that's all it was. Fans don't care that the new fabric is however many percent lighter or better at wicking moisture (unless they're materials science engineers). It's simply means to an end for associating all of Nike's products with "faster, lighter, stronger." Again, that's fine, but the "new" uniforms aren't a big deal to anyone other than Nike (or Seahawks fans). To talk about this "changing everything" or "the game never being the same"...geez, slow down, Nike. 

UniDiction 2011: Week 17 - Eagles vs. Redskins and Week 16 Round-Up

Follow me on twitter for a variety of uniform related updates during today's NFL games (@dancfuller).

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First off, Happy New Year! What's even less inconsequential than a regular unidiction? One for a game taking place after the Eagles have been mathematically elimated from the playoffs! (OK, let me first brag about predicting last week's Eagles win, then move on to the round-up and this week's unidiction.)

Week 16 Round-Up

Actually, last week was a little more eventful than was expected. The Bengals wore their orange alternates over their white pants, keeping the everyone safe another year from  the "world's worst Halloween costume" orange over black combo (last seen in 2005, so consider that one likely retired). The Bengals get A LOT of hate from the internet sports uniform community (yep, it's  a thing), but their whole get-up is just uncaringly, unredeemingly goofy, and, especially in orange, it just works in it's own, well, goofy way.

Though it's not an alternate jersey, the  Ravens paired their (normal) purple jersey with their black pants, something they did in 1996, then out that combo in their current uniform set for one game last year. It's a great trivia answer, but it's an awful uniform combination. It combines the issues of dark/black pants which don't have any contrasting features (off-color socks, stripes, etc.) with a dark jersey. It's all the issues of the Seahawks standard monochrome blue uniforms made even worse due to the black/purple combo. Blech. 

 

Your Week 17 UniDiction (Eagles, Redskins - for bragging rights only!) is after the jump. 

UniDiction 2011: Week 16 - Eagles vs. Cowboys and Week 15 Round-Up

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Again, the Eagles one, I won. Good deal.

Week 15 Round-Up

A little more uniform action in Week 15 than we've seen in a while. The Chargers wore their powder blue throwbacks, which are better than the normal Chargers uniforms, but like some of the other (loud) throwbacks (Bucs, I'm looking at you), they're best as a "two games per year" sort of combo.

The Cardinals wore solid red again (three weeks in a row). Repeating myself, these look awful, though the red pants mean that the rare, trivia-riffic white over red combo may yet make an appearance.

 

Finally, the Rams, the team with a bajillion uniform combos, brought out their throwbacks last week. They're nice, but loud enough that they're best as a (say it with me) "twice a year kind of alternate."

 

Week 16 UniDiction - Cowboys vs. Eagles

Of course, this game will be visual deja vu to week 8, as the Cowboys are a White at Home team. Of course, I hadn't unveiled my snazzy new UniDiction format back then, so I'll let the picture speak for itself. Even though I dislike (hate?) the Cowboys, I have to begrudgingly admit their uniforms are pretty nice.

UniDiction 2011: Week 15 - Eagles vs. Jets and Week 14 Round-Up

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Well, the Eagles won, and I predicted it. Nice. Sure, the score was off, but I'll take the W.

Week 14 Round-Up

 

The Steelers wore their 60s-ish throwbacks. Again, they're nice twice a season; more than that, well, that's a lot of yellow helmets. Nice to see them in non-yellow pants every once in a while, too. Nothing else notable last week, though the Cardinals wore solid Red again.

 

 

Eagles vs. Jets UniDiction

The Eagles are in Green over White, their best combo. It's worth...let's see... 22 points. (Points deducted for drop-shadows on jerseys, questionable pants stripes, and using black as one of the colors of their palette.)

Jets 18

Eagles 22

Some interesting Jets uniform trivia:

• See the complete Jets uniform history at the Gridiron Uniform Database.
• Jets fans generally don't like the Titans throwbacks. It's usually assumed that fans love throwbacks whenever their team wears one (Chargers, Patriots, Steelers, etc.), but that's not the case for the Jets because their throwbacks don't "throwback" to, you know, the "Jets."
• Even though the current uniforms were introduced in 1998 and the color has always been called "Hunter Green," they darkened the green for the 2002 season.
• The Jets 90s uniforms are very similar to the pre-Midnight Green Eagles uniforms from the same era, though the Jets wore white or green pants instead of silver.
• Wikipedia has a page devoted to "Logos and Uniforms of the New York Jets," but it omits the "Hunter Green" shade change from 2002.

UniDiction 2011: Week 14 - Eagles vs. Dolphins and Week 13 Round-Up

I lost; the Eagles lost. It was an ugly game for every possible reason. Let's just not talk about it.

Week 13 Round-Up [click to enlarge images]

 

The Buccaneers wore their Creamsicle throwbacks against the Panthers, which are ugly, but in that "so bad it's good, but no more than twice a season, please" sort of way.

 

In less positive news, both the Texans and Cardinals went monochrome in their respective games, navy over navy for the Texans and red over red for the Cardinals. Neither is a good look, but it means that the Cardinals may trot out their rare (though not particularly appealing) white over red combo now that their red pants are available this season.

 

Finally, for trivia lovers, the Redskins and Jets mixed it up by having the Redskins wear their maroon over white (instead of yellow) combo at home and the Jets in their, again, rare (and, again, unappealing) white over green.

 

Never one to shirk completeness, let me point out that the Steelers wore their throwbacks (with the yellow helmets) on Thursday night's game. Sure, it was a Week 14 game and should be in next week's UniDiction Round-up, but I'd hate to think of you would think I was being incomplete!

Full Dolphins uniform breakdown and UniDiction are after the jump.

UniDiction 2011: Week 13 - Eagles vs. Seahawks and Week 12 Round-Up (new format!)

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Well, I was wrong for last week's game, too. 3-8. Of course, there was nothing right about the Eagles on-field performance, either.

There's an all-new format for the UniDiction section which I think you'll like, so let me know what you think in the comments.

Week 12 Round-Up

The Chargers wore their very nice Powder Blue throwbacks. I think the color's odd enough that it shouldn't necessarily be their primary uniform (and the Titans use light Blue, though in a very different way). But the Chargers' normal uniforms are among the least notable in the league (neither good nor bad...they just...are), helmet with electricity on the sides notwithstanding, so file the "should the powder blues be the Chargers' normal uniforms" under "let me think about it." I covered the Thanksgiving uniform happenings in last week's article.

Eagles vs Seahawks UniDiction (new format!)

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Your score is after the jump.

UniDiction 2011: Week 12 - Eagles vs. Patriots and Week 11 Round-Up

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So, the Eagles get a win, and I get a loss. I guess that's a fair trade. I'm 3-7. Yikes.

Week 11 (and Week 12 Thanksgiving Games) Round-up

I normally do a previous week round-up here, but because there were three games on Thanksgiving (technically "week 12" games), I'll be including those here. Week 11 actually didn't have anything notable other than the Redskins at home choosing to wear their White pants below their Maroon jerseys, which isn't even that notable except for the fact that they have those great Yellow pants which look so much better with that jersey.

Each of the three Thanksgiving games actually did have some uni-relevant items, though (yes, I notice if you say "uni-relavant" fast, it sounds like "irrelevant" — the irony is not lost on me)... 1) The Lions chose NOT to wear their traditional throwbacks for their traditional Thanksgiving game. Not a big loss, as it's on the wrong side of the classic vs. old line, but still noteworthy it didn't make an appearance. 2) The Cowboys wore their 1960s inspired throwbacks which, though we hate the Cowboys around here, are admittedly very, very nice, and have a unique take on the usually "modern for the sake of modern" yoke + off-colored shoulders and sleeves design, which looks, again, classic, instead of busy. Really, though, the Cowboys suck. 3) The Ravens wore their Black alternates over their White pants. Nothing too notable there other than it never hurts to point out that this should be the Ravens primary color uniform combo (instead of Purple/White), and they should NEVER wear Black over Black.

Much more (including the Week 12 UniDiction) after the jump.

Reviewing The Flyers' Winter Classic Jersey

via icethetics.info 

Disclaimer: While I'd consider myself very strong with NFL and MLB uniforms, objectively, I'd consider my fluency in NHL sweaters as "I'm interested in them."  If any of the below is incorrect, PLEASE correct me in the comments or Twitter (@dancfuller).

[More pics here]

Watching all of the breathless speculation (some contributed by myself, of course) about the Flyers Winter Classic uniforms has been incredibly interesting. Because the Flyers don't have a varied uniform history (check out this picture of every jersey they've worn from inception to 2007), the designers are essentially making something up utilizing those same design cues, but which looks plausibly old.

pic via Frank Seravalli

Sure, the Flyers didn't exist in the 1940s, but design the uniforms well enough, and people will believe they did. This also creates an issue in tracking down the veracity of leaks, fakes, and fan renderings, because it's not like there's an actual "old" reference design to keep everyone straight. Pumpkin vs. Stripezilla made sense since it linked the Flyers with an actual historical team with ties to Philadelphia.

So, here we are with what is really the Flyers' Winter Classic jersey. A closer look is after the jump.

UniDiction 2011: Week 11 - Eagles vs. Giants and Week 10 Uniform Round-Up

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That was a bad one. In spite of the Cardinals awful uniforms (and questionable record this season), the Eagles managed to lose another one where I predicted a victory, keeping me in sync with their actual record, 3-6. I'm having as much success as the Eagles are.

Week 10 Recap

As always, using the Gridiron Uniform Database, let's take a look at the week that was. The Bears showed up in their Orange alternate (eh, not a good look, especially compared to Navy over White), and the Falcons wore their 1960s throwbacks. Sure, the Falcons throwbacks correctly pull on the "old=better" heartstrings, but if they're not their fulltime uniforms, they might as well bring back their MIA Black alternate. There, I said it. Not Black over Black, but Black over White would be a good look, much better than Red over White. And those were all of the uniform stories in last week's games. Rather uneventful.

Week 11 - Eagles vs. Giants

Oddly, the Giants rumored throwbacks never materialized this year. I say "oddly" because more often than not, uniform-related uniforms end up panning out. You know, except when I write 700 words about a "purported" Winter Classic jersey. (Thanks, Kyle!)

They're an intradivisional opponent without any interesting uniform stories this year, so I'm going to pull most of this content from last year's UniDiction. What happens when you take the least of the Eagles current uniform combinations and compare it to the most egregious "old must be the same as classic, right?" uniform in the league? Find out after the jump.