Not So Fast, My Away-Jersey-Panicking Friend Comment Count

Brian

Remember these?

These were the uniforms bestowed upon attendees of the Women's Football Academy this summer, and their relation to West Virginia's vaguely chintzy duds did not go unremarked upon or unlamented. I phrased the post title as a question ("is this the ne road jersey?") despite the clear authenticity of the photos because it seemed highly improbable that Michigan would sign off on a pretty dramatic departure from their classic white away jerseys. At least, that's what I hoped.

That hope lives. Beauford Bixel -- a nom de plume up there with Orson Swindle -- of State of the Game has alertly picked up on a thread over at Michigan fansite/message board UMGoBlue.com featuring the uniform impressions of Phil Callihan, the site's founder. (Side note: Drew Montag, a UMGoBlue columnist, actually registered "mgoblog.com" two months before I started the blogspot version and, after two years and considerable friendly pestering, gave me the domain for free. They are Friends of Blog.) Callihan says he's seen the official jerseys and they are like so:

The home jerseys have a maize block "M" on the shoulder, the number is a little thicker and seems to be placed a little higher than on past jerseys. There's also a small (1/4 inch wide by 1-2 inch) vertical maize strip running down from the collar that has Michigan in blue. [Callihan would later correct himself, saying there is a block M on the strip. -ed]

The away jerseys have a thin maize piping straight across the chest. There also have a small maize strip on the back of the collar that says Michigan in blue.

Both have a small Adidas logo on the front.

There's the requisite panic and hasty, speculative photoshopping in the aftermath, with various people declaring their completely hypothetical outrage or joy over an ultimately trivial matter. It's basically a microcosm of the internet, and it's pretty awesome. We'll find out what they actually look like in around two weeks, and there will be a great TCP/IP howl for three days before we forget about it.

Comments

bdubya

July 2nd, 2008 at 12:07 PM ^

I'm a little worried about what the vertical strip on the home jerseys will look like (I know it's only two inches, but that's alot sometimes)(that's what she said)(actually, that's what he said) Also, Can anyone find pictures of the embossed "M" in the older Nike jerseys that Bixel wrote about?

oriental andrew

July 2nd, 2008 at 2:24 PM ^

Another guy also pointed out that they would look like the 1968 unis. 

http://images.umdl.umich.edu/cgi/i/image/image-idx?;c=bhl&ei=1&quality=3&view=entry&subview=detail&cc=bhl&entryid=x-bl001251

As for the embossed M on the mid-late 90's jerseys (forget the exact timeframe), they were obviously the same color as the jersey (duh) and on top of the shoulders.  Pretty subtle. Can't find a decent pic, but a buddy of mine had the authentic jersey with the embossed M.  I was at UM from 1994-1999, so that should give you an idea of when it was used.

Electron Erectshon

July 2nd, 2008 at 12:10 PM ^

This jersey banter is nonsense. We'll be so fast no one will notice what they're wearing as they whiz past opposing defenses and coaches like Charlie Weis, who wouldn't have noticed anyway because he probably was sucking on a drumstick.

hat

July 2nd, 2008 at 12:23 PM ^

So the home jerseys are different? That bothers me more than changing the road ones. But at the end of the day, yeah, it's just a jersey. 

caup

July 2nd, 2008 at 12:30 PM ^

You know, there are some pretty good precendents in the uniform change department: Broncos, Buccaneers, Patriots... I'd hate a drastic change, too, but I'm just sayin'. Also, some sort of small but easily recognizable change might be nice little way of symbolizing the dawn of a new era.

hat

July 2nd, 2008 at 3:08 PM ^

My brother had a replica Jarrett Irons jersey (#37) that he bought in either 1995 or '96. It had the embossed M. From a distance, you couldn't tell it was there. In 1998, my freshman year, I got a replica Anthony Thomas jersey (#32) and it did not have it. So we only had them for a couple of years.