Michigan-ND Throwbacks: Possibly Paleozoic

sports.  Why mess with it?

Haterz gonna hate anybody?

Maybe they were trying to get the uniforms to (somewhat) look like the ones we wore in 1899 when we played Notre Dame in South Bend right after WE TAUGHT THEM THE GAME. 

But those are still ugly as sin. 

What is wrong with this uniform?

Like a lot of folks here, I don't think the uniforms look terrible, but I'm bothered by the fact that they've never been worn in M history. Which means these aren't "throwbacks," they're just "alternates," or Adidas's version of Nike's Pro Combat.

But as soon as they mentioned throwbacks, we had to imagine something stupid was going to come out of it. Other than slapping a block M on the front of the home jersey (which may not even be allowed anymore) there's not a whole lot they CAN do to make something unique that they think people will buy.

Let's just not buy these and tell Dave Brandon in an angry barrage of emails that we won't buy these, and they'll go away.

I always through throwback jerseys were supposed to recreate history, not rewrite it or create it out of whole cloth.  What was shown in the Freep looks like a combination of the 1891 jersey strips with a M varsity lettermen's sweater.  There is no single, past Michigan football jersey that looks anything remotely like it.  In contrast, the hockey team uniforms for the Big Chill was based on what the team actually wore in the 1940s. 

I think it comes down to what Adidas and David Brandon thinks will sell to the general public.  Along with others, I thought Michigan would resurrect the look from the mid-60s by putting numerals on the helmets and block M's on the shoulders.  The problem with that from a marketing standpoint is that this type of throwback doesn't differentiate much from the current uniform.  If you want to sell them to the typical fan in any number, they're going to have to be markedly different.

I'm sure Brandon will spin this in such a way to say that it combines elements of uniforms from Michigan's plast into a single jersey or something like that.  I actually like the idea of unveiling them at night under the lights at Michigan Stadium.  The final product, though, might leave something to be desired.  The hockey team looked okay with all the stripes on the helmets and on their sweaters--I'm not so sure it's going to look quite so good on the football team.  

I think NCAA rules require a number on the front of football jerseys.  These will not be worn at the ND game. 

What's the point of wearing throwbacks when the only difference is in the design of the number, or the lack of a number on the shoulder.  Nobody would even know but us diehards, the announcers would crack jokes about it as they had to show the telecast images of the two jerseys side by side and then point out the differences.  I think the ones the freep put up look sweet, even if we never wore them, they look like something a Michigan team from the 1940s would wear. 

I even like the hockey alternates, my only beef is the nasty yellow but since we've adopted that color for all of our teams I guess it doesn't matter, but I love that logo.  It reminds me of the one with the wolverine wearing that sailor or conductors hat or whatever, that one's sweet too, as soon as I saw it, I bought a shirt with that logo on it.

these will look great on Martin as he makes Cave or Golic his donkey come fall.  I'll buy whatever the U is selling...but they know that already obviously.  I wouldn't mind this in a nice rugby style material like the originals came in.

high school kids will love this.  and truthfully, their opinion counts more than ours.  or at least those of us, who like me, stopped trying to dress cool a while ago.

on the football unis, too?

I can't get jiggy with this shit.

I really liked the Big Chill jerseys.  I generally love most throwbacks.

But I want these to be burned in a cardboard box in an alley like Frank Costanza's cabanawear.

Man, I didn't expect to come home and read so many rage filled posts regarding the uniforms.  It's just a jersey man.  It's the sign of the times.......like luxury suites, night games, and whale-sized high definition video scoreboards. 

Go (striped) Blue!

...not sure if this has been mentioned, but IMO this was "leaked" while they are tweeking the jerseys in order to get some "feedback."  That way they can hopefuly avoid a PR problem.

So, if you HATE the jerseys, let the AD know.

The gold pants are very desirable these days.

Barring the huge block M, these come close to resembling what we wore in 1891.

I'll wait until something a bit more official is released or leaked from Adidas before I believe this is what we'll wear. 

Money. There is literally no other point to the proposition. If David Brandon believed he wouldn't be able to make a profit on selling replicas of these dumpster fires, there would be no discussion of "throwbacks" that don't actually throwback to anything in our history.

Looking on the bright side, it's nice that they don't sport the obese muskrat that the Big Chill jerseys did.

Why mess with the best uniform in college football.  I remember a few years ago against lil' bro, when we made that huge 4th Q comeback and the game went into the evening.  The uniforms looked so great in the night.  These "throwback Uni's" look like complete crap.  We are Michigan damn it, we don't need to pull these stunts. 

Calm down everyone. They're cool.