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I think it was a case of them starting with the Cavs font and making some small tweaks to the forms to at least attempt to differentiate them a bit. It’s not the Cavs font, but it’s certainly derived from it.

Huge missed opportunity.

It’s been called both things since it was first revealed by Oregon in 2019. When the Ducks unveiled the 2019 uniforms on social media, they called it Vapor Fusion. Then they put out this graphic before the first game of the 2019 season calling it Vapor F.U.S.E.:

That’s a big gripe I have, too, especially because the CC unis are replacing the teals on the home uni schedule. The teals are their best look IMO and have now been relegated to occasional use instead of having a consistent set date.

They won’t be. Georgia and Ohio State wore the new template in the CFP and neither had perforated numbers. If a team wants perforated numbers, they’ll get them. If a team doesn’t want them, they won’t.

The whole point of the trident logo was/is that it forms an M. Turn it upside down and it makes no sense as a cap logo for the Mariners. The bad luck thing is pretty dumb, but if fans think it’s that big of an issue then the cap logo should always just be an S (with or without the compass rose). The Mariners’ City Connect unis look incredible in action… from the belt up. Love the bright blue and yellow on the jerseys, love the font, love the trident on the cap, love the yellow belts. Absolutely hate the black pants.

The Astros did that to match the gold-brimmed hats on their championship celebration uniforms this year and I believe the Brewers have done that a few times in the past to match holiday caps. I’m assuming the Mariners’ EQ staff didn’t want to have to remove decals in between Friday night (when they’re wearing the CC uniforms) and Sunday home games (when they wear the cream set).

The Mariners will be debuting their City Connect unis tonight. I was thinking they might just do a decal swap on the royal batting helmets that go with the cream unis, but it looks like they did actually get new helmets to match the black-billed CC caps:

Take this with a grain of salt but the general consensus of Oregon players (who have been wearing the template since 2019) is that the new template is tighter and more “locked in” to the pads. The Vapor Untouchable template was all about eliminating seams and making it as light as possible, but the lack of seams made the jerseys easier to grab and stretch. Not trying to be a Nike apologist here, this is just what I’ve heard from people around the Oregon program in recent years.

Haven’t made a 3D mock yet, but I did post a 2D version of a trident cap on Twitter: I like the trident a lot, but I personally prefer the S compass on the cap. I would be good with the trident as an alternate or spring training/BP cap, though.

Really appreciate the kind words, and yes here are a couple mocks with a teal hat. I like the idea of it being an occasional alternate for the white jerseys (kinda like Toronto sparingly wearing the white-panel hats) and the go-to cap for when the navy tops would be worn at home.

I get that, I definitely expected some people to have that reaction to it. I guess my response would be that it’s kind of supposed to be that way??? Not necessarily a distraction per se, but it’s definitely intended to draw your attention. In any case, I decided to make some 3D mocks of the white, gray, teal, and navy uniforms:

Here’s a guess at this week’s matchups. * = confirmed shirt and/or full kit choice. *Charlotte (blue/white/blue) vs. NYCFC (all-orange) Cincy (royal/navy/navy) vs. DC (all-white) Miami (all-pink) vs. Atlanta (stripes/black/red) Montreal (all-gray) vs. Orlando (all-purple) NYRB (all-red) vs. Philadelphia (tan/blue/blue) San Jose (all-black) vs. LAFC (all-smog) Toronto (gray/red/gray) vs. *New England (all-white) Dallas (red/blue/blue) vs. St. Louis (all-gray) *Houston (all-orange) vs. *RSL (all-gold) Nashville (all-yellow) vs. Chicago (navy/navy/red) *LAG (all-white) vs. Colorado (burgundy/blue/burgundy) Portland (all-green) vs. Austin (all-mint) Vancouver (white/navy/white) vs. Minnesota (all-black) *Seattle (dragon/black/black) vs. SKC (all-sporting blue)

There are two versions of the new template, one that has the V-shaped seam under the collar and this one with horizontal seams on either side of the collar.

Yeah, that was definitely something that was bothering me but I couldn’t quite figure out the best way to fix it. I did try a thin white stroke on the inside, but still wasn’t completely satisfied. I think I almost like an approach like this better, just a larger compass rose patch on the sleeve of the white jersey and also a matching gray jersey as requested by @VampyrRabbit:

When the Mariners City Connect jersey first leaked, one of my first thoughts was how much potential the wordmark had for being the basis of an updated identity system. Ditto for the S logo on the leaked prototype socks. As a Mariners fan myself, I think the current identity has a lot of good bones but the logos and typography have looked dated for a while. Plus, the navy jersey is and has been a train wreck for quite some time. This proposed brand refresh addresses those issues and builds on the current identity while also nodding to the past. - Primary cap logo is a tweaked version of what was seen on the leaked prototype CC socks. The compass rose has eight evenly sized spikes, with a yellow highlight pointing northwest. I was inspired in part by the inclusion of yellow in the All-Star Game logo. - The teal-brimmed cap becomes the primary cap for both the white and teal jerseys. Could easily be worn with the navy jerseys as well. - Headspoon piping, used by the M’s since 1987, remains. The color of the piping matches the color of the drop shadow on the white, teal, and navy jerseys. - I personally would prefer a gray uni, but M’s fans love the cream set. With that in mind, I made a new version of it with collar and cuff striping like the new City Connect (just with the blue and yellow swapped). Cap is solid blue with a stand-alone S as a nod to the both the Pilots and the Mariners’ ‘87-92 caps. - The trident is used in the “Mariners” wordmark, but the compass rose remains as the primary identifier. Frankly just a matter of personal preference there.

It’s officially black:

Here’s the Mariners’ full City Connect uniform: I cannot believe they went with black pants. I hadn’t even considered that possibility because it frankly seemed too dumb to be a realistic option. Can’t believe I’m saying this but I would’ve much rather seen blue pants. I do like the beveled trident on the cap, and I guess I’m fine with the black bill. Really though, these would’ve been close to a home run with a yellow brimmed hat and white pants. They got the jerseys right IMO but fell flat after that.

Oh, so we’ve officially reached the misogynist point of this discussion? Sheeeeessh. Hey siri, play “Hey Jealousy” by Gin Blossoms.

Columbus, please keep wearing this combo:

We had a full slate of US Open Cup matches last night and will again tonight, but I’m gonna jump ahead and give my predictions for this weekend’s MLS matches. * = confirmed shirt and/or full kit choice. Nashville (all-yellow) vs. Atlanta (stripes/black/red) Columbus (all-yellow) vs. Miami (all-black) DC (all-black) vs. *Charlotte (blue/white/blue) *New England (all-navy) vs. Cincy (all-orange) Orlando (all-purple) vs. LAG (all-white) Toronto (gray/red/gray) vs. NYCFC (all-city blue) Austin (green/black/black) vs. San Jose (all-light gray) Chicago (navy/navy/red) vs. NYRB (all-yellow) SKC (all-navy) vs. Montreal (all-gray) St. Louis (all-pink/red) vs. Portland (all-green) *RSL (red/navy/red) vs. *Seattle (all-green) Vancouver (all-white) vs. Colorado (burgundy/light blue/burgundy) Minnesota (all-black) vs. Dallas (all-white)

I went back and forth on whether or not to dot the i but ultimately decided against it to keep it more consistent with the ‘77-80 and ‘81-86 wordmarks. I think the compass rose idea works a lot better on @MJD7’s concept than it did when I tried it on the City Connect-inspired mark. Also, I see no reason why the compass rose and trident can’t coexist. In fact I personally wouldn’t be in favor of bringing back the trident unless the compass rose was still the primary identifier. I think something like this could work (would need some small tweaks).

Curiosity got the best of me…

The Mariners posted a press release yesterday with all the details about this Friday’s City Connect release. Within the press release was this note: “They will don them on the field for the first time when they return from their three-city road trip and take on the Astros the following Friday, May 5. They will then wear them for every Friday home game the rest of the season.“ We already knew that May 5th would be the on-field debut, but we didn’t know that it would become the new designated Friday home uniform. The teal jerseys and teal-brimmed hats have been the Friday home uniform since they were brought back in 2012. I find this move disappointing because it seems like the teals will be worn pretty sparingly this year. So far this year I believe they’ve only worn it twice; once at home and once on the road. Despite being the designated road jersey now that the grays have been axed, the navy tops have been worn at home more times than the teals this year (just like last year).

There’s an alternate version of the new template that has horizontal seams on either side of the collar instead of the ‘V’ shaped seam that sits below the collar. The Ducks used it on their 2020 “Ohana” uniform and it’s also what Seahawks players used when testing the template in late 2020: I would imagine this^ is what the Jets will get if they make the switch to the new template.