Pet Peeves

[WideRight]

After the MNF game I wanted to vent about some pet peeves I have about contemporary uniform design. I figure I am not the only one, and perhaps some of my worst peeves are other people's favorite elements, so this could get interesting. Here are my current top 5 most annoying trends in sports (ok, football) uniforms:

5. Football socks any color but white. I don't mean the striping, and I don't mean the NCAA use of tiny ankle socks, I

mean teams wearing all black socks, all blue socks, etc. FUGLY!!!! White socks with stripes or a solid color block at

the top. At least they used to be stripes. Now, what is it? leggings underneath? Tights? what are they wearing?

Is there some kind of weird sock technology that has taken over? I know I sound like an old coot (41 yrs old) but

I remember when they made a big deal out of frozen tundra games when guys would wear pantyhose under their

uniforms for warmth, and now it looks like that is what you do instead of standard socks. OK, I know, a weird way

to start the list, but that is why it is #5 and not #1. I think that as long as I don't see all-black socks on a sports team

(what, are they all accountants?) I am ok with however they design the "sock" portion of the uni. I have bigger fish

to fry.

4. 17 alternate uniforms. Does anyone where the same combo/uniform for 2 games a year anymore. You have 6

sets of pants, 5 jerseys, 3 helmets (NCAA), and throwbacks. A uniform should be an iconic representation of the team,

recognizable to everyone. When you have Teal & White, then Black w/Teal, then Teal w/Black, then Black w/Black

(Hello J'Ville) and then, hey maybe a totally different retro uniform too, there is no identity. This is what some teams

in some sports get right. Congrats to the KC Chiefs, Oakland Raiders, NY Yankees, etc. I know who they are within

2 seconds of the TV turning on. Less gimick, more icon.

3. Stripes that don't line up or match at all. My NFL team (fave) is very guilty of this. Buffalo, with no correlation between

the helmet, the pants, or the sidepanel on the jersey. No combination of their uniform looks like matching parts because

none of the stripes lineup. For all the grousing about the new wave of uniforms that started with the Broncos, at least

they got the idea right, that the stripes flow from one element to the next.

2. Oregon/NIKE adding "kewl" elements just to add them. I think the greatest sinner here is what NIKE has done to Oregon.

Can anyone explain to me why a team named the Ducks should have diamond pattern metalwork on their

football uniforms? Why not lightning bolts or flames? (oops, those are on the helmet) If NIKE cannot handle

a team with the name Ducks and do something if not traditional, then relevant, just give up and let someone else

try. UAB can have flames on their helmets, Oregon should not. The Steelers could have ironwork patterns, but

the Ducks should not. I find this even worse because I have always believed that the athletic teams of a U. should

reflect the University as a whole. This is why they are more plain or traditional than most pro teams. Think Penn State,

Michigan, Ohio State, ND. It is why the school name/letters are almost always more prominent than the nickname.

It is more important that it is Syracuse than the orange, Georgia than bulldogs. Of course their are exceptions (Florida)

but for the most part it works that way. So why should I attend Oregon? Is it a university or a NHRA funnycar?

1. The stripeless unitard: Saints on MNF did this. Black jersey, black pants (no stripes), black socks. First off I think

there are very few times where plain pants are better than pants with some striping system. It seems

to work sometimes with College teams, especially ones with gold pants (ND), but as an overall trend I find it really

boring (hello Jacksonville, New Orleans, Baltimore, etc.) but it is even worse when it is part of a unitard. Instead of

looking like they care about image, it makes teams look cheap, like a HS with a slashed budget. I am not in favor

of 17 stripe patterns going in 17 directions (NIke, do you hear me?) but something to add some color is a good idea.

So, fire away. Those are the things that really bug me. I am sure many will disagree. And, I want it to be said that I am not one of those people who thinks Cleveland or Penn State have the "best" uniforms. I am not pushing for boring, just a basic level of aesthetics. Right now I would argue that the Buccaneers and maybe the Falcons have the best uniforms (if they would cut down on the alternates.)

[BawlmerOreos]

Big pet peeve here is when people lose sight of the word itself...uniform. Things should match. Striping patterns should match. Colors should match. Details should be branded and match. I hate when a team has one look at home, thens omething unconnected on the road. (Nats...I'm talking to you!)

Certain teams that have traditional looks that have stood the test of time, can still tweak and modify through time. (St. Louis Cardinals may be the best example here.) But stay true to yourself!!!

And one last thing...no team should ever be allowed to change their color scheme. Shades can change through time, primary, secondary, sure. But if I was an Astros fan, in my lifetime the team woudl have gone from orange and blue to blue and gold, to red and black. Tat's ridiculous.

[Spearhead]

Superb list.

Black socks? When my dad would wear black socks and shorts I cringed. Sometimes a pair of navy socks give a uniform an old school look, but generally, no.

I personally don't care for alternate unis. Home and away are enough, although the occasional throwback is a nice change of pace.

Anything Oregon/Nike does these days is fodder for attack.

I would like to add the disappearing sleeve in football and the demise of the traditional shirt in Rugby and the stirrup sock in baseball which have been discussed in full on these boards.

[Blue Falcon]

I don't like when teams go through the trouble of re-designing their uniforms...and then don't wear them properly. The Seahawks weren't supposed to be Blue Man Group clones, and neither were the Bills. The Vikings have only worn the new purple pants three times in three years, so what was the point of changing in the first place?

I also don't like the trend towards black. From a distance, it's hard to tell the Ravens from the Jaguars from the Falcons when they wear their white jerseys.

[hjwii]

Pet peeve....?

The fact that there are no stripes on baseball socks... and for that matter, that there are no stirrups (and when they do wear the stirrups, half of them wear 'em backwards!!!). But, I just love it when you see all those stripes on the Cardinals' sock. Heck, the Tigers were named for their stripes... when was the last time they wore them?

Oh, and don;t get me started on the ridiculous baggy pantaloons that so many players are wearing (see Manny)... or the baseball pants that come so far down they're walking on them... drives me crazy...

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

My pet peeve is drop-shadows, bevelling, and whatever other tricks are used to create faux-3D. I wish designers would just come to grips with the idea of working in 2D; there is nothing wrong with 2D.

is better than

is better than

Memo to world: embrace 2D!

[OnWis97]

I don't like when teams go through the trouble of re-designing their uniforms...and then don't wear them properly. The Seahawks weren't supposed to be Blue Man Group clones, and neither were the Bills. The Vikings have only worn the new purple pants three times in three years, so what was the point of changing in the first place?

I agree. The vikes uniforms were clearly designed for purple on white and white on purple. If they were going to primarily wear white pants with the white jerseys they should not have done that.

Add for me:

-Grey facemasks in football. (Unless grey or silver are part of the scheme).

-"Just add black". Lions, Mets, Reds, Royals (though they dropped it), etc.

-College basketball teams changing uniforms every year.

[hormone]

Here's what I hate...

Unitard socks in football. Look at the Titans for example. Their navy pants/socks sucked balls, but when switching to light blue pants, it just fit so much better. Why not get a pair of light blue socks for your navy pants?

The gray mask. I understand the mask was metal back in 1960. We came up with the ability to color coordinate it. Now you don't have to have it stick out like a sore thumb. This is especially lame with an up-to-date uniform with an out of date helmet. It's like some fresh clothes topped off with a mullet.

Stripeless football pants. Looks like sweatpants.

Teams/leagues switching around whites/darks. Pick one (preferably darks because of the alts) and stick with it. PS, the heat excuse is BS

The team logo above the nameplate in the NFL.

Underarm Piping.

Throwbacks for the helluva it. If your old look is how you want to be represented, just change it back.

Lace up hockey collars. It serves no purpose. Especially with the spandex-type edge jersey.

Baseball MGRs wearing unis. They aren't getting in the game. They are just stepping on the field.

Cream homes. Non-gray aways.

Batting helmets that are not a hard version of the on-field cap.

That's all for now. I'm sure I'll find more.

[capn89]

In hockey, I'm hating all these new socks. I've always hated sock designs that have NOTHING to do with the jerseys themselves. There are far too many offenders of this, too. But these new socks; socks that just stop randomly in the back, wacky angles... piping for goodness sake. Awful.

[DallasSports]

Biggest: Adding uneccessary black to uniforms (Lions). Another would be teams darkening their colors just to look "more modern" (Eagles, 49ers, Rams).

[Red Wolf]

Thick white striping of any sort. I guess it just makes for a look of emptiness or something, but I hate it. Like, the way the Minnesota Vikings' home uniforms look with the thick white striping. And yet, I really like their road uniforms (and hated when they wore purple pants).

[Krona]

Pointed serifs. everywhere!

[oddball]

Lack of sleeves on football uniforms and most of all CHRIS HOVAN!!!

[habsfan1]

The overly excessive use of black. It gives me the impression that 90% of all designers are religiously gothic!!

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

not to be a turd or anything but hasn't this all been discussed in the worst fashion trends in sports thread?

[tBBP]

I'll tell you one thing that absoLUTELY irks the mess out of me...well, really two.

The first is this whole "holding onto sleeve stripes for dear life" thing that the Steelers are still doing. Seriously...I think Ben's jersey is the only one on the whole team (possibly Jeff Reed's too) on which all stripes are accounted for, unabated and un-truncated. On damn near everyone else, those things are cut off at the sleeve/armhole cuff, and it just looks ridiculous. Look--I know the northwestern striping thing is classic Steelers aesthetic...but it's seriously time for them to look at reducing the size of those things. I mean...for real.

The other thing that supremely irks me has to do not with the style of the uniform (well, other than the incongruent striping on the helmet and pants), but rather, the numbers on the Tennessee Titans' jerseys. I'm not talking about the number font...I'm talking about how they look on the jerseys. I'm damn near certain those numbers are sewn on...but are they single-layer twill or what? Seriously, on some of those players, the numbers look as if they were either double-layer heat-pressed on or the numbers were made out of newsprint paper and glued on. Granted, i ain't seen that problem as much this year...but what is UP with that???

There are some teams whose numbers look real good and solid, like the Dolphins and Patriots...and some teams whose twill numbers look like absolute ass--like the aforementioned Titans, the Ravens (looks like crumpled-up purple foil on some players), and some of the Buccaneers (especially on their white jerseys).

Does this annoy anyone else besides me??? (I mean, I know I'm like a jersey number nazi or something like that, but I know I can't be the only one...can I?)

[Sodboy13]

The Cincinnati Bengals.

[Lord Dravan]

In hockey, I'm hating all these new socks. I've always hated sock designs that have NOTHING to do with the jerseys themselves. There are far too many offenders of this, too. But these new socks; socks that just stop randomly in the back, wacky angles... piping for goodness sake. Awful.

I agree with this one... For many teams the striping makes the socks look like they were stiched together by someone with vertigo. But my ultimate pet peeve without question is numbers on the front of hockey jerseys! I remember years ago the Flyers and Whalers wore "Cooperalls" (full length hockey pants) and the NHL said they had to swtch back to traditional pants because apparently the league had a uniformity code and all teams uniforms had to be the same in terms of length, width and style.

I guess the uniformity code is dead considering that since the mid 1990's teams have worn a different logo on both their home and away jerseys and now a handful put numbers on the front. I hate both of those trends with a red hot passion. No offence to anyone who thinks numbers on the front of a jersey in hockey is stylish, but its ugly. Plus I am pissed about it because now retailers gouge you. A friend of mine bought one of Buffalo's nice 3rd jerseys and had his own name and number put on it but asked the retailer not to put a number on the front. The retailer told him that because the club does that, he is apparently obligated to do so because it is part of the Sabres identity. In the end my friend cancelled his order.

[Frenchie]

...

4. ... Does anyone where the same combo/uniform

...

Sorry four picking on you, butt since this has bean discussed many times before, I'll had my GENERAL pet peeve, unrelated to the world of sports:

Its people who can't make the difference between different homonyms (I've heard somewhere that there are 2 different definitions for homonyms, I'll stick with the one that says that words pell differently but pronounce the same)... Some people are bad spellers because their lazy whoare inn a hurry whoare sew you's two IM and Texting... Butt when someone makes a fourth to right and Edith full paragraphs, I feel miss used homonyms just spoils it for me...

Sorry!

[StoneRaizer]

- Uniform templates. Bugs the hell out of me that many jerseys look alike but with different colours. The NHL's Edge jerseys are the worst/best examples of this. Also found in the CFL, NCAA basketball and NCAA football.

- Football's lack of sleeves. Does losing those last couple inches of fabric make that big of a difference?

- Monochrome in football. STOP IT! Dark tops with light pants and vice versa. White on white doesn't look that bad, but dark on dark is the worst.

- Modernizing for the sake of modernizing. There was nothing wrong with the Bills' Kelly era uniforms or the Vikings' classics. Both teams are a mess now.

- Nicknames on uniforms. The first was actually the Blue Jays when they dropped the "Blue" from their uniforms. Now we have the Bolts and Sens in hockey.