Mingjai

I’m curious—anyone here know if manufacturing locations actually changed during the Reebok-Adidas shift or was it just the same facilities retooling to a different template and slapping on a different logo?

So they are. I saw the pics of their New Era hats and figured they were still black with just a logo change. But on closer inspection, the hats are dark navy too.

Was watching a bit of Taiwan-Netherlands. I can't tell if it was the lighting, but Netherlands' jerseys looked navy blue. Even the coaches' gear looked navy. Probably just the way fabric reflects the lighting.

Agreed. That classic W would look much better for baseball. It would be similar in concept to what Minnesota baseball does with their caps—using their historical unbordered M—compared to the rest of the athletic department branding. EDIT: Just noticed that the Gophers are using a different Minnesota script than the original for their throwback pullovers. Strange because Gopher hockey sometimes uses a script that looks pretty close to that old baseball script.

I think the plum flower a great idea as well. They have so much potential and all we get is that crap.

It’s funny, I refuse to use “Row the Boat” except when specifically referring to Coach Fleck himself: “Ol’ ‘Row-the-Boat’ should have gone for it on 4th down there…”

I’m an adopted Minnesotan—went to Minnesota for grad school and never really left (even now I split time between Chicago and Minnesota). I say still U of M when I’m in the state, especially instead of “the U,” because as a third generation BYU grad, “the U” refers to something much more heinous than the U of M (either Minnesota or Miami)…

I’m just putting this out there, but Taiwan (or officially Chinese Taipei) baseball needs a rebrand. That CT logo just looks bad. I’m sure they could come up with a really traditional looking interlock CT, or even better ditch the C altogether and just use a T (T for Taipei when China inevitably complains). As someone with Taiwan ties, I own a couple of these hats and wear them fairly regularly, but yeah, not good…

I don’t really agree with you about nicknames, especially with all the great nicknames out there. Maybe this falls under one of your exceptions, try living in Minnesota and telling people you’re going to the Minnesota game. You could be referring to the Vikings, Twins, Wild, Loons, Wolves, Linx, or any one of many University of Minnesota sports teams. So in the state of Minnesota it’s always the Gophers in general or Gopher hockey, Gopher football, etc., in particular. I think you’re in the minority though in saying “Ski-U-Mah” to folks, though it might be increasing since the school has started using more in its branding. They school didn’t really use it as much in branding before when I was there in the 00s. In Chicago, I get “Go Gophers” by at least a 10:1 ratio, and I almost exclusively say “Go Gophers” to fellow fans. I guess next time I get a Ski-U-Mah on the street, I’ll know it’s you! (Or PJ Fleck, but he’d say Row the Boat first… )

It’s more than a US Army or even US Military thing, at least in practice. Many transit authorities also adhere to it when they affix flag decals to the sides of buses or trains. New Era generally adheres to it when putting US flags on hats. But you may be right about flag code—I’ve never looked it up to see if the “canton on the right when the flag is on the right side” is actually in the flag code. It might just be a military reg (as your suggest) or even accepted practice.

Is the US the only country in the WBC (or in general) with the rule that the canton must be on the right side of the flag when the flag is placed on the right side of the wearer/vehicle? Australia, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, and South Africa seem like they should be flipped horizontally, but maybe their flag usage doesn’t demand it.

That exactly why I like it was well. Such a simple logo that uses negative space lends itself well to being “oversized”—though to me, it’s more being directly integrated into the overall jersey design than merely oversized. I’d like to see how a red version of this jersey looks.

Even if they kept everything else, switching to gold numbers and collar should be a no-brainer… (So says every Blues fan over 40…)

Seems to me Minnesota should be up for new uniforms, though I’m a little reluctant to see what Row-the-Boat comes up with this time (whenever that is…).

I seem to recall pictures of LSU’s Les Miles wearing Zephyr hats that were rebranded as Nike. Am I just imagining that?

Completely understood. I feel the same way about Utah. If you can’t beat ’em, at least you can make fun of what they’re wearing.

The set in the top picture (home jersey below) would be killer with the coppery old gold (the same color they used in the 2012 Navy game). This should be Army’s regular gold:

I’ve always thought the Twins should be using New Era’s lighter navy (just Milwaukee using it now?) versus the midnight navy (basically every other navy team). Here was their chance to fix it and they decided not to. I guess I can see them needing the darker navy to make the unbordered red pop a bit more. On the topic of New Era navy, it drives me crazy that New Era uses the lighter navy for the Chicago Bears hats when their on-field uniforms have always seemed midnight navy.

Sorry everyone. I guess I jinxed it. Hopefully it was just because Tunisia was the home team and chose to wear all white, forcing France into a shorts change.

But France has worn the traditional bleu blanc rouge in both matches this World Cup. The designated home side should chose their preferred primary and leave it to the away side to figure out clashes. I don’t know who selects the US kits, but I don’t think the FIFA clash refs are the issue anymore. US needs to be wearing blue shorts.

I understand the sentiment that black socks look good, but gold socks look right. But to me, the gold socks both look good and right with the current look because they provide a balance the gold shoulder yoke. Black socks might, however, look better with the 1980s uniform set.

Minnesota uses the North Star because of the state motto “L'Étoile du Nord,” meaning the Star of the North. As a result, one of Minnesota’s nicknames is the North Star State.

Purdue’s were better than Navy’s as well. But it’s weird to see Navy pushing its connection to a civilian agency. Maybe next year, Navy can play tribute to former Navy grads who work for the Department of Energy with a big atom on the side of their helmets. They could even borrow Army’s mascot to do the kicking.

Never realize how much being a Gopher fan has influenced my hockey aesthetics—I’m accustomed to gold jerseys to a degree that in many cases I prefer them. Most of my Gopher jerseys are gold, not maroon or white. My favorite Bruins jerseys are their gold 2010 Winter Classics and the original those were based on. I think of the Preds as a gold team, not a blue team. And I’d like to see the Wild, Sharks, Kings, and Pens do gold-based reverse retros. I’m sure if my favorite team weren’t gold, I probably wouldn’t feel this way because gold, whether athletic or Vegas, is an in-your-face color (I guess old gold is more low key though).

Though not, I imagine, on Athiest Night with the Mr. Paul Aints: