M Uniform Bracket - Round 2 Women's Regional

UPDATE: Round 2 voting has now closed. Stand by for the Sweet 16!

First Round Recap

The ladies' first round bracket had a bit rougher time generating interest than the fellas' (what else is new). But that doesn't mean it was any less exciting. The girls averaged much fewer votes. I blame myself, not the girls or the MGoBlogosphere, since that bracket kind of went overkill on the pre-text, which included such superfluous items of non-interest as a photo of seven hot women in Michigan bikinis.

I know you're not here for that. You're here for Womens' Varsity and Club Varsity Athletics at the University of Michigan. Well, there's plenty where that came from.

I seriously wish I could have done this bracket over again, and not just because volleyball's excellent unis only got one representative (and that in the toughest region). I tried to do my research beforehand, but somehow it escaped the OP that the dance and cheer teams wore completely different unis (in all fairness, the spirit squad has by far the least helpful website at mgoblue). Apologies to the dance team -- if I could do it all over again, I would have ignored the somewhat redundant old hoops maize and the short-sleeve version of the cheerleaders' maize thing to get you some representation. As it stands, I've made an executive decision to replace the kind-of-similar white version of the cheer outfit, with the dance team's iconic, block M whites for the duration of this event.

Not so many upsets in the first round, but some really close votes in one bracket, and another 1-vote victory, that of the hoops pink-striped alts versus the tennis blues. Also, the Diane Deitz-era basketball white throwbacks, a 2 seed, got whupped by the soccer whites, most likely because the only color photo I could get of those unis was this. Considering the men's awesome soccer unis, which are almost the same exact thing (the men have the University's logo on the left breast), are going up against the football homies this week, I'm glad to see European football still doubly represented on the ladies' side.

So without further ado, unless you count a line break and a headline as "ado," here's the fairer side of the 2nd Round.
 

Women's Bracket, True to Blue Region:



Not every women's team needs 15 different outfits, especially when one has already found the perfect look, which is, of course, navy and maize. Oh, some girls may have a maize alternate to spice things up, or a pleasant white for after Memorial Day (again, this is a myth), but for at least half of the ladies' teams, whether it's evening wear or beating the ever-living crap out of Ohio State, when the going gets tough, they reach for the tried-and-true navy blues.

Last round: Not a lot of surprises in this bracket last week, with all higher seeds moving on. To abuse a few metaphors, Rowing pushed past the Water Polo team; Track&Field couldn't keep pace with the Swimmers and Divers; Cross Country far outdistanced Syncro Swimming; and the Gymnastics unis did flips over Syncro Skating.

Preview: The OP expected the rowers to dominate Water Polo, but the 41-22 result, while not close, was not the kind of unanimity one would expect from an untouchable, and Gymnastics' impressive 40-25 victory over the pleasing-to-the-eye Syncro Skating team could spell upset. Swimming&Diving and Cross Country are a question mark. Neither faced stiff competition in the last round, with CC fairing slightly better. And don't expect the swimmers to get a break for being, you know, women in swimsuits, seeing as both of their underwater sistren went down in the first round with little fight.

Game 1: Rowing (1) v. Gynmastics (4)
 
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Game 2: Swimming&Diving (2) v. Cross Country (3)

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Women's Bracket, Something Fresh Region:



Sometimes a girl can't get by these days with just one outfit, especially when Adidas is willing to provide a second (or third, or thirtieth) for free. You don't have to be classic to be classy, and the following alternates have it all, from throwbacks, to global consciousness.

Last round: The maize cheerleading unis dominated their 1-8 matchup, but the 2 seed, the hoops team's twice-worn breast cancer awareness alts, scraped by with one lousy vote. The soccer blues advanced with little trouble over the lacrosse team's blue tanktops. The softball regular blues and the blue softball alts were neck and neck all week, with the regulars pulling away by 4 votes (the biggest lead all week) at the very end.

Preview: Again, I've given the regional front-runner a fan favorite for a second round matchup, as the softball blues move on to face the lovely maize longsleeve cheer unis. This one could come down to which team can smile more. Meanwhile, things get serious in the second game, as the pink and white basketball unis face those beautiful blue soccer uniforms.

Game 1: Cheerleading - maize longsleeves (1) v. Softball - regular blues (4)

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Game 2: Basketball - breast cancer awareness (2) v. Soccer - blue alts (3)

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Women's Bracket, Daisy Looks Crazy in Maize-y Region:



Why wait for summer to let the sun shine? For an afternoon of making everyone around you smile (except your Big Ten opponents that is), maize is all the rage. Try a tasteful two-piece jersey and shorts combo like that favored by the Hoops team, or maybe mix it up with whites and blues to refine or bring out your shine. Comes in t-shirt, tank-top, jersey, or vest, sometimes all for the same squad.

Last round: The basketball maize jerseys (both the current Adidas and old Nike versions) both survived the first round, with the currents taking out the golf alts (who didn't put up much of a fight), and with the old Nikes knocking off 3-seed Rowing. The cheerleaders' warm-weather tanks had no trouble with the maize tennis alts. And though they may have only been worn once (after arriving with just four weeks left in the season, it seems) the maize field hockey unis shined against their t-shirt stand-ins.

Preview: The current maize basketball unis have a tough matchup against the tight field hockey tanks (yes, I give myself points for alliteration -- don't you?). The other hoops unis will have a tougher time, it seems, in toppling the triumphant, teetoling, tennis-defeating cheerleading maize tank-tops.

Game 1: Hoops - maize regulars (1) v. Field Hockey - maize vests (4)

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Game 2: Cheerleading - maize tanks (2) v. Hoops - maize Nike-era (6)

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Women's Bracket: I'm Wearing White Because Me and that Big Ten Trophy are About to be Wed Region


White has a lot of symbolism behind it. There's the purity thing, although many cultures have different ideas of that, and it's by far the least interesting. In literature, white is associated with horror, kind of like the face opposing batters make when a white blur is tossing a neon yellow blur at 100 mph. In Asian cultures, it is associated with death, kind of like how once you saw Diane Deitz step on the court in her whites, it was death to your season's hopes.

Last round: Except Diane Deitz went down, and handily too, against the 7-seed soccer whites (okay, that was a totally accidental alliteration, as was "accidental alliteration.") The volleyball whites, surely the find of this whole project, narrowly beat out the golf whites 56-9 (ever since golf got its own channel, nothing surprises me). The softball gals, a favorite 3-seed, took out lacrosse while saving their big arms for later rounds. And in the game that no longer matters because I swapped out the winning uniform, the cheerleader whites made it possible for me give the dance team some credit before bowing out gracefully.

Preview: We'll see what moves the dance team's got right away, as they go up against the heretofore OP's favorite, perfectly balanced volleyball whites. The soccer whites took out the powerful retro '80s hoops unis, but it'll be a tough time taking on the softball team's best.

Game 1: Volleyball - white (1) v. Dance team - white (4)
 
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Game 2: Soccer - white (7) v. Softball - white (3)

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