MGoShirt Alert+MGoBlogStore+six zero ended WWII with vector graphics+T-shirts

Editor's note: User Six Zero has been kind enough to run a t-shirt contest in the last couple weeks, and we finally have a winner. There's also been enough interest in one the runner ups to put in in the store as well, so the Desmond "Strke A Pose" shirt will be available for purchase as well.

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Six Zero, everyone who voted, and everyone who called him a hack because they didn't like a design or two. The internet, as always, is unimpeachably wonderful. We'll do this again next year, along with a banner contest, and this time we'll let it linger over of the offseason.

This is the final entry of the 2009 MGoShirt Alert, a design project that allowed MgoBlog readers to vote for a design in the MGoBlogStore.

(NOTE:  For all users who are currently or may one day plan to develop a design project, I would offer the following advice:  a.) Beware of Photobucket, who has the near-whimsical ability to wreck your posts with little to no previous warning, and b.) if you want to build up suspense for the grand unveiling of the project winner, you might want to think about keeping the final poll results to yourself.)

SO, YES... with that being said, ladies and gentlemen, the final winning design of the 2009 MGoShirt Alert, as voted on by you, the collective MGoCommunity, is...

DAY FIFTEEN'S DESIGN -- MASCOTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


CLICK HERE FOR A DETAIL OF THE SHIRT GRAPHIC

 This shirt is sure to be a smash hit at tailgates, alumni mixers, frat keggers, or just sitting in front of your home theater on Saturday afternoons.  Wearers are advised to exercise caution while rocking the shirt in Columbus, East Lansing, State College, South Bend, Iowa City, Madison, West Lafayette, and any official conference gathering.  Don't worry about getting hurt in Minneapolis... after all, it's a gopher.

Over 800 votes were tallied for the final deathmatch between our four finalists, and to the surprise of many the MASCOTS shirt garnered 44% of our tallies.  In light of the weekend's events, perhaps it was Sparty missing the eyeball that made it so darn voteworthy.  Final poll results can be consulted here for the curious.

Shown here displaying the shirt is our featured model, who we'll casually refer to here as Richard, in an effort to protect his anonymity. Richard finds that this shirt goes great with whistles, half-completed stadium facades, and barrages of obscenities.  It's also great to wear when cleaning up urine stains named Rosenberg. Richard endorses the MGoShirt and would like to add that it's a perfect shirt for the inevitable Maize Out that never seems to catch on. They also go great with the new Michigan Towels!

This design will be tweaked as necessary and the final vector artwork will be prepared for the print shop, and you can expect to see this design available for purchase soon in the MGoBlogStore.

I'd like to thank everyone for the interest and attention that made the MGoShirt Alert so much fun.  I sincerely hope I helped get you fired up for the upcoming season, and I hope you all enjoy wearing the design for seasons to come.  If I have any personal wish for this entire project, I'd like to challenge you-- any of you, all of you-- to get this shirt on national television!!   I want to see Michigan Student screaming like a madman with his mascot shirt in the student section just before ABC cuts to commercial!  I'd like to see Blazefire booing Herbstreit on College Gameday while wearing my shirt!  I'd love seeing all of you mob the field with my shirt after a dominating win against Western on Saturday.  Hell, I'll be satisfied with just the dominating win on Saturday!!

Gameday is Saturday, boys.  It's time to bury the ghosts.  Let's go get 'em. 

This is the final voting portion of the 2009 MGoShirt Alert, a design project that will enable MgoBlog readers to vote for an upcoming design in the new MGoBlogStore.

July 2, 1863. June 6, 1944.    November 22, 1969.

Throughout the course of mankind, there have been days where the choices of men alter the course of destiny forever.  Today, gentlemen, is one of those days.  After weeks of preparation and voting, success and failure, flotsam and jetsam, we have come to this day.  Today we'll vote on the winner of the 2009 MGoShirt Alert.

I will once again go over the scoring that was used to determine the four finalists.  As you all know, each of the fifteen entries were open to voting by the MGoCommunity to determine its success, rated on a scale of five stars to one star, with five being the most successful and one being the least.  With that being said, each five-star vote was awarded five points, four-stars were given four points, three stars got three points, etc. All points for each shirt were then added up to a grand total, and that total was divided by the number of voters for each particular poll to determine the shirt's final average score.  Obviously, a perfect average score would have been 5.00, with the lowest possible score being 0.00.  No design received either.

Yesterday I did a final count on all shirts and re-did the math for one last consideration, and then ranked all fifteen designs according to their overall average score.  It is, then, with great pride that I reveal the finalists:

1.  MASCOTS
Final Score: 4.31.
To my disbelief, yesterday's shirt recieved the highest overall score.  There was legimitate concern about possible legality issues, and although we may have to make some minor tweaks to the design should it prove the winner, I am proud to say that I think we're okay on that front.  I will admit that I did not expect the reception it received yesterday, but am nonetheless grateful.

2.  THE DESMOND
Final Score:  4.03
Ah yes, our good friend Mr. Howard, the first Heisman trophy in Ann Arbor since the legend of Tom Harmon.  There were many debates about tweaking this shirt, the text, the typeface, the foot, etc... but all in all this was our first consensus 'winner' of the entire contest.  Certainly wearable by the exclusive MGoBlogger or the broad UM fan base, it's got undeniable mass appeal.

3.  BRIAN'S AVATAR
Final Score: 4.02
Another late addition to the contest, this was the last design I did, after someone suggested it on an earlier entry.  Modeled directly from Brian's own screen icon on the Blog, this shirt also raised suspicions of possible Imperial entanglements, and in fact WAS red-flagged and pulled for use of the Block M.  You can't blame us here-- it's a Michigan web site and we're smart enough not to bite that hand.  You'll notice the design has been tweaked from its original, now using a sans-serif and less exclusive "M" in the background of the design.  We're officially good to go.

4.  THE WOODSON
Final Score: 3.50
Charles Woodson, the man who put the swagger back into Michigan.  I really enjoyed creating this shirt as well, and tried to let the design speak for itself.  There were debates about this one as well, concerning the off-center alignment, the shadow of the Heisman, the silhouette of Woodson, etc.  But make no mistake-- people were talking, and the shirt was well-received.  (Dude, you really can't see the Heisman here??)

---

So we've made it to the Downtown Athetlic Club and we have our final contest finalists.  Voting will start now and will remain open for the entire weekend, with a final post announcing the winner on Monday.  Gentlemen, it's time to vote:

pollcode.com free polls

WHAT DESIGN SHOULD WIN THE 2009 MGOSHIRT ALERT?

"MASCOTS" "THE DESMOND" "BRIAN'S AVATAR" "THE WOODSON"

For the sake of authenticity, I thought you all might enjoy seeing how the rest of the shirts stacked up.  Final scoring beneath the four finalists, ranked from highest to lowest, are as follows:

SCORE, followed by DESIGN
3.47 - SHIRT 11 – THE RETRO (Great news, sis!)
3.20 - SHIRT 01 – THE FORCIER
3.08 - SHIRT 05 – OL’ 98
2.84 - SHIRT 10 – THE NEW NEW MATH
2.82 - SHIRT 02 – SLOT NINJA
2.82 - SHIRT 04 – FAT CHARLIE
2.72 - SHIRT 09 – FORCIER/TACOPANTS 
2.67 - SHIRT 13 – CHE ROD
2.20 - SHIRT 06 – QUIERO TACOPANTS
2.05 - SHIRT 08 – BARWIS HELL
2.01 - SHIRT 03 – THE PACK/THE WOLF

There you have it, people.  I would like to again thank everyone for taking part, for sharing their thoughts and reactions, for the kind words and appreciation, and for just helping build up anticipation day in and day out.  And I'll see you Monday when we unveil the final winner of-- THE 2009 MGOSHIRT ALERT!

And behold, I saw another rider on a blue horse, and his name was
Brian, and he unleashed unverified voracity upon a third of the earth."

This is the fourteenth entry of the 2009 MGoShirt Alert, a design project that will enable MgoBlog readers to vote for upcoming designs in the new MGoBlogStore.

I've been working on a general MGoBlog shirt since the very beginning, and have had varying degrees of success.  This single design pretty much sums up my experience with this project altogether-- it's just really really hard to please a large group of people.  Everyone has different expectations, and it's inevitable that nothing can make everyone happy.  Even more so, trying to consciously please a specific portion of the crowd means that another portion of the group feels ignored or rejected.

MGoBlog itself means a lot of different things to a lot of different people, and trying to put together an identity for it is a delicate and near-impossible act of trying to please as many people while alienating as few as possible.  I tried several different approaches.  I branched one off of the logo I created for this contest itself, and some people rejected it, which is their right (I have no right to tell someone not to react to my art a certain way).  I listened to many people asking for a logo based on the MGoPoints arrows, which several people then disagreed  with.  I even played around with the menu bar icon as a logo, but nothing really seemed right.


CLICK HERE FOR DETAIL

So in the end, I went back to the source, and created this shirt from Brian's own avatar.  And no, that doesn't mean Brian's creating his own 3-D IMAX CGI sci-fi space opera about ten-foot tall blue aliens-- Although BOY would I love to see THAT opus of sarcasm.  No, this design is his own profile image, tweaked a bit for single color reproduction.  There might be some licensing issues but it's really not a true block M, so I'm hoping this isn't a big deal, but if need be we can jump this hurdle when the time comes.

I'd like to think of this shirt as a celebration of the mythical half-man, half-hair creature that makes this place possible.  Here's to Brian!  HUZZAH!!

Time to vote.  What do you guys think?

pollcode.com free polls

What do you think of MgoShirt #14?

Five Stars Four Stars Three Stars Two Stars One Star

***** Five Stars: Avatar will be the greatest cinematic moment since Strange Brew.
**** Four Stars:  Avatar will be a kick ass sci-fi movie, but will re-invent nothing.
*** Three Stars: Pretty cool-- but there's no zombies, or Megan Fox.  Fail.
** Two Stars: The plot seems slow, tedious. I'll stay home and read instead.
* One Star: Avatar will suck.  Movies are for losers who can't afford an XBox.

As I discussed earlier today, Brian and I decided to switch things up a bit-- we're showcasing two designs today so that the initial 15 shirts can be wrapped up tomorrow.  THEN, on Friday, you can look forward to the final MGOSHIRT ALERT DEATHMATCH ELIMINATION ROUND, where the top 4 shirts as voted by the MGoCommunity will be voted on again to decide which design will make its way into the MGoBlogStore.  Voting begins Friday, with the final tally being taken on Sunday night.

Tomorrow will then mark the fifteenth and last entry in this shirt design project... It's time for this designer to stop being so damn productive so I can properly engage myself in the upcoming season.  So look tomorrow for the final preliminary edition of-- MGoShirt Alert!

PS - NO, I will not unveil the OSU shirt, at least not for now.  Perhaps I'll keep it until a very bitter loss has us all in the dumps, and not even Brian's damn kittens can make anyone smile.  Perhaps then, my offensive apparel will...  That is all.

"The guerrilla fighter needs full help from the people
of the area.  This is an indispensable condition."
         --Ernesto Che Guevara

This is the thirteenth entry of the 2009 MGoShirt Alert, a design project that will enable MgoBlog readers to vote for upcoming designs in the new MGoBlogStore.

Last night, pretty much by accident, I produced the single best t-shirt design of the entire series.  And of course, I immediately knew it was a foregone conclusion that this shirt could never see the light of day, for fear of legitimate legal action from the entire state of Ohio.  The kind of shirt that, in the case you were caught wearing it in Columbus, would find your corpse dragged through the streets.  By six-year olds.  Who would later be acquitted for their acts and instead hailed as patriots.  And given the keys to the city.  By Jim Tressel.

So instead, I'll give you this shirt, originally submitted during the Harmon shirt post  by our friend MCalibur:

CLICK HERE FOR DETAIL

Che Guevara and Rich Rodriguez have a lot in common.  Both came from humble beginnings.  Both became well-educated and powerful motivators of people.  Both had a son named Rhett and a super-blond wife named Rita.

Okay, maybe not the last bit, but there are certainly similarities.  Let's hope they stop there-- I doubt that Coach Rod wishes to be executed by the Bolivian government and strapped to the skids of a helicopter like a hunter's trophy.

Time to vote.  What do you guys think?

pollcode.com free polls

What do you think of MgoShirt #13?

Five Stars Four Stars Three Stars Two Stars One Star

***** Five Stars:  Coach Rod is the single best head coach we've ever had.
**** Four Stars:   Great guy-- but no one holds a candle to Bo.
*** Three Stars:  I'd put him just behind Fritz Crisler in the pecking order.
** Two Stars:  Bump Elliot deserves more praise than this Rodriguez guy.
* One Star:  Ack-- I'm registering a firecoachrod.com URL as we speak.

VOTING UPDATE:  We're proud to announce that we're moving up the final voting to Friday, so you'll be able to vote on the MGoShirt finalists over the entire weekend-- and the winning design will be officially rolled out on Monday.  With that being said, I originally said we'd do 15 shirts-- I still can, but I'd have to run another vote later in the day either today or tomorrow.  Is that cool with all of you, or should we just go with fourteen shirts and be done with it?  Talk to me MGoBlog...

Either way, tomorrow I'm going to be rolling out some very specific artwork that  I probably enjoyed creating more than any other design.  See you then for the final editions of MGoShirt Alert!

"The Michigan swagger is back, and Charles is the one who restored it. The
feeling is like, 'We're better than you, and you aren't going to beat us.'"
   --1997 Co-Captain Jon Jansen

This is the twelfth entry of the 2009 MGoShirt Alert, a design project that will enable MgoBlog readers to vote for upcoming designs in the new MGoBlogStore.

A week ago, I rolled out "The Desmond" design to then-record positive reviews, and although there were some random suggestions to tweak the shirt in minor ways, it remains a strong contender for the final vote into the MGoStore.  In the same spirit of that shirt, then, I am proud to reveal "The Woodson:"


CLICK HERE FOR DETAIL

Beyond the Heisman, his resume includes:  Walter Camp Player of the Year.  2x Chevrolet Defensive Player of the Year.  2x Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year.  Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Year.  Jim Thorpe Award.  Two-time All-American (Unanimous Selection in 1997. Fourth overall pick of the 1998 NFL Draft.  And, of course Team MVP of the National Championship season.

1997 was the most magical season I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing, and a significant part of that must be credited to #2.  There was no telling what Woodson was going to do on any given week, but by God you always knew he was going to do something... and in the end it was enough to keep the Heisman out of the greedy fingers of one then Volunteer-wonder boy Peyton Manning.

Time to vote.  What do you guys think?

pollcode.com free polls

What do you think of MgoShirt #12?

Five Stars Four Stars Three Stars Two Stars One Star

***** Five Stars:  The highlight of Charles' college career was clearly the becoming the first primary defensive player to win Heisman.
**** Four Stars:   Single best moment has to be winning the National Championship at the Rose Bowl vs. Washington.
*** Three Stars:  Nope-- defeating OSU at home with a TD catch, a punt return for TD, and a pick in the endzone.
** Two Stars:  The legendary interception on the sidelines in East Lansing takes the cake for me. 
* One Star:  Charles leaving a year early to put on a (gulp) Raiders jersey as the fourth overall NFL draft pick.

(It was very hard for me to list any of Charles' collegiate accomplishments as anything less than five-star, except for the Raiders thing of course.  Like a trip to Atlantic City, I twinge whenever one of our boys gets picked up by Al Davis-- nothing good can ever come of it.)

Only three more shirts left-- I think tomorrow we're going to go with a reader suggestion from back in Week One. Until then, see you next time for another exciting edition of-- MGoShirt Alert!

“Incest is wrong because it brings Buckeyes into the world”

This is the eleventh entry of the 2009 MGoShirt Alert, a design project that will enable MgoBlog readers to vote for upcoming designs in the new MGoBlogStore.

On Friday, I rolled out an unfinished design that I asked you, the MGoBlog faithful, to embellish with your unique senses of humor.  To my delight, there was well over 100 responses, which can be viewed here in the event that you missed them.  In the end, however, it was clear that one reader's suggestions gathered more steam than any other.  Congratulations, then, is in order to Beegs, who came up with this:

CLICK HERE FOR DETAIL

I added the tagline below, after struggling with it most of the day yesterday during various home improvement jobs. In the end it just seemed to make perfect sense to bring it all back to the family values nonsense.  This shirt may very well be asking for legal trouble, but it's all in malicious hate and ridicule of the enemy-- good times!

I also thought it was worth sharing my original 'final' design for the retro shirt, borrowing heavily from a Chrisgocomment word that I remember surfacing several months ago:

Since I've never heard, read or smelled the word 'douchenozzle' anywhere but here on MGoBlog, I thought it had some insider community appeal-- but in the end it was definitely worthwhile to open the shirt design up to the MGoCommunity instead.  Thanks again to everyone who got involved... we're less than two weeks away from the opener boys!!  GO BLUE!!

Time to vote.  What do you guys think of Beegs' shirt?

pollcode.com free polls

What do you think of MgoShirt #11?

Five Stars Four Stars Three Stars Two Stars One Star

***** Five Stars:  Justin Boren puts all but one slice away from 3 whole pies!  If only he could find someone on campus to add all dem up!
**** Four Stars:   Boren scarfs down 2 pizzas and still has room for bread sticks.
*** Three Stars:  Benedict Arnold eats an entire pie himself, for breakfast.
** Two Stars:  6 slices.  He just doesn't have an appetite until snow plow season.
* One Star:  Justin can barely get down 3 slices.  Fat quitter Buckeye bastard.

There's been a lot of questioning about how final judging will work-- it's quite simple, really.  I'll take the poll results of each design, and weigh them against the star value of their vote:  In other words, every five-star vote will get multiplied by five, every four-star vote will be multiplied by four, etc. until a final 'score' is tallied for each design.  That score will then be divided by the total number of voters to get an overall average score.  I think we're going to go with the three highest-rated shirt designs and have a final deathmatch poll to determine the winner, probably a week from today. 

Tomorrow I look forward to unveiling the shirt known simply as "The Woodson."  Until then, see you next time for another exciting edition of-- MGoShirt Alert!