Once again, some background so you know why I like what I like. That way you know what you're getting into when you read my blog.
I am a Graphic Designer. I have a nice fancy title at my day job, but at my core, I am a Graphic Designer. I love sports uniforms and fashion and graphic design. I watch Project Runway religiously with my wife and I read Vogue and W in addition to my Sports Illustrated. I visit uniwatch every day and enjoy diving into my profession by absorbing all I can about graphic design through publications, columns, lectures, web sites, blogs and nerding out with other designers. I also love sports of course, hence my love of sports uniforms. I am intrigued with other uniforms, but not to the degree I love sports uniforms.
I am biased in my opinion of what era of sports uniforms I love most; the 1950’s-1960’s and the earliest years of the 1970’s.
I grew up reading my parent’s encyclopedia yearbooks from the 1960’s. I, of course, was reading the sports sections...duuuh! I also remember looking at a lot of LIFE magazines. Awesome photography! Although my childhood years were the 70’s, the absolute WORST years for sports uniforms ever, I was a Vikings fan, and they held onto the old school look longer than any pro football team. I am sure this is also one of the big influences on what I love in sports uniforms. When I became a Graphic Designer as an adult, I studied the principles of graphic design; Space, Line, Balance, Color, Shape, Texture, Form, Value. And the elements of graphic design; Unity, Gestalt, Space, Color, Dominance, Hierarchic, Balance. I realized after this just how much I loved the "Golden Era" of sports uniforms (my title to that era) and I also realized why I loved it.
I have spent years comparing the Golden Era to the horrors of the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s. There was a brief reprisal of the era in the 00’s, but it was short lived and fell short of what it could have become. USC nailed it for a few years until NIKE gave them those stupid white and black combo cleats.
College sports uniforms still dominate as the superior uniforms. The pros have become quite a joke. Some pro sports unis have made dramatic comebacks to the Golden Era, like the Giants:
but most fall short or are just terrible (I throw up a little in my mouth every time I see the Rays unis).
College sports uniforms tend to hold truer to the Golden Era. There is nothing like a college game! The whole thing from top to bottom is a joy vs. a pro game.
Except in baseball; college baseball?! Really? Who watches college baseball?
I know, I know, someone will comment that they do. I love that you do. But, for me, baseball is the only major sport where pro is better than college.
To be brief, the horrors of the 3 decades that followed the Golden Era;
White cleats.
Iron on numbers.
Tear away jerseys.
Mesh jerseys.
MLB making grown men wear softball uniforms; FOR TWO AND A HALF DECADES!
Colored facemasks (they STILL exist today; WHY?!)
Black socks (thanks Fab 5!....jerks!).
Black accents and/or black jerseys (even when your team colors do not include black!)
Drop shadow numbers and team names (hey Dolphins, if the 49ers can go back to the classic look, so can you!).
Combination black and white cleats and now multi colored cleats (I hate you for that NIKE).
Colored coordinated cleats (football and baseball) and basketball shoes (ever seen Kentucky now a days?! Ouch.)
And just so that hockey can make sure it’s being as big a dummy as the other sports, plastic side panels on hockey skates with some sort of crazy gradation and/or pattern thing going on.
But, there is hope. In my blog I will point out the good, great and spectacular. I will continue to show you looks from the dark ages, just to make sure you don’t ever want to go back there.
Enjoy the show kids.
Hoolie67
boooo
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