Michigan not wearing any alternate jerseys this year?
From Ondre Pipkins latest tweet, it looks like Michigan will not be wearing any alternate jersey's this year. Pipkins seems disappointed by this, but I'm sure there's a lot of fellow MGoBloggers that will be happy to hear this news. It didn't seem like many people on the board were big fans of the alternate uni's last year.
I'm sad that we aren't wearing any alternate jerseys this year
It's time the players were taught that Michigan's tradition means more than the apparel contract rat race college football uniforms have become. You come here, you play for the stripes on the winged helmet. Not for the off-chance of having the occasional bumblebee stripes on your jersey.
Yeah, let's show the players what we prefer they wear when they play football for our entertainment!
It's a lot bigger than that. Michigan Football is not only a tradition, but a brand. Players come and go, but the brand stays.
I respectfully disagree. Just because you have a brand (and the logo with it) doesn't mean you are locked in for eternity and there aren't opportunities to experiment. The Michigan brand is excellence - it's domination in the classroom, on a playing field, and in the real world. Maize and blue in one unique combination personify that brand to some degree, yet don't on their own signify the brand, or else the brand would have been somehow damaged over the years by the changes.
http://www.sportslogos.net/logos/list_by_team/750/Michigan_Wolverines/
Rhetorical in my own mind but did the brand change when the logo changed?
I'm not sure if there was a contingent back in the day that was disappointed the wolverine left the logo. Tough to tell since all of Gerald Ford's tweets on the subject were deleted. /s
Even the Coke brand, the most valuable in the world (by Interbrand), has changed over the years, albeit in a much more subtle way.
http://www.frankcommunications.co.uk/the-story-of-a-logo
I personally think that a blue jersey with maize pants is the coolest thing there is (the simplicity is key), but i won't discourage looking at ways to balance tradition with the future. I think Brandon is a pretty shrewd guy and I'm sure he and his team (with whomever they have as an apparel provider) will keep tinkering (and not become Oregon overnight)
is that neither adidas or the athletic department will put forth any subtle, sustainable alterations to the existing uniforms that can be used modestly over an extended period of time. Everything has to be big and have the "wow factor." White and blue pants that can be alternated with both home and away uniforms, and the matte helments, those are all subtle modifications that could be available to be employed one at a time, every now and then. This would provide some variety without drastically altering the entire operation.
The problem is the need to employ all of these different alterations at the same time that results in a Uniformz explosion that is painful to the eyes.. The alternates used by Michigan are too loud to just be "part of the story" so it always feels like we are just joining the revolution and detracts from the football. It is time for Michigan to act like they have been there before with alternates and not have to jump up and down and shout "HEY LOOK AT ME" all game long. Do we need bumblebees against Michigan State, a huge rival, where tradition should be most important? Absolutely not. Would it be cool to be in all whites or matte helmets just because we feel like it when we go on the road to kick the shit out of Illinois? Yeah, I don't think that would be too bad.
I think your Coke analogy is a good one.
We, like Coke, had a very traditional and well-known brand. Then, Dave Brandon came in and introduced New Coke (with "Victors" and "Valiant" on the sleeves). Of course, it could be argued that the Rich Rod era was "New Coke", but nonetheless, the traditional "Michigan" uniform is what the people (not just the kids), over time, want and expect. Short-term deviations will be tolerated (UTL bumblebees), but he needs to stick to the basics (as he's doing with the simple block M's around campus).
Personally, I'd prefer that we never see any tinkering. No Xmas tree ornament helmets (please, don't do it). No bumblebees. No invisible bball jerseys. Etc. If they do need to mess around, throwbacks are ok...as they actually tie back into our brand.
disagree. I would rather see minor deviations available as part of a uniform rotation in which the basic idea/pattern of the uniform never changes. I feel like that is the "old-style" alternates. Think Florida State in the early to mid 1990s. They were always the same uniforms, they just varied the colors. Sometimes on the road they would be the red-maroon pants with the white jerseys, that look in particular was sweet. I see Michigan being able to do something similar with their colors and base patters. I think blue pants with white jerseys on the road would be completely original for the team but still not sell-out the uniform concept. Blue on blue at home every once in a while would be a nice touch too. Not for big games, just for a game, just cause it is available and why not shake it up a little once in while.
Wholesale throwbacks are not only distracting but they are not throwbacks at all. They are new uniform concepts made to look like old uniforms that never existed in the first place. It is that kind of "big idea" thinking that is getting in the way of some nice, small variations that have been employed at places of substantial history and tradition to great effect in the past.
The players are the ones that put their body on the line everday for four years. Some of them will leave will devestating injuries (ala Bass) and others, their abuse will catch up over time. If the players want to wear alternate jerseys, then they should be allowed to wear them. Who cares what fans who risk nothing or someone who played in the band back in the day says about something as superficial as pageantry.
let's not act like the is the Hunger Games for god sake. Yes, players should have more insight than fans, but alums, doners, and fans should not be admonished for having an opinion. The pageantry does factor into fandom.
Hey, maybe the kids would like to swap colors on the helmet - blue wings on maize - EPIC!! Anything they want, man.
I gotta work on my obvious sarcasm.
No you dont, we got it (the royal we)
That's what adults are for. Will you let your own kids do whatever the hell they want just because they want to?
If by "do whatever the hell they want" you mean "wear a different pattern on their clothes than what was worn when I was young", then yes. I think that's acceptable to allow.
I started school at UM in '71, and at that time seemingly 80% of the student body was wearing tie-died shirts. I guess you would have been OK if Bo had agreed to tie-died patterns being incorporated into the jersey design.
to many curmudgeons on this website...
I say let the kids mix it up... and as far as what my children wear: I encourage them to try different looks and explore/expand their wardrobe. Of course when I was in high school I turned the inside of my football helmet blue from my blue hair...
jdon
Tie-dyed football uniforms? I guess since you're constructing straw men, you have nothing else interesting to say?
You say things like "let's show the players what we prefer, that's what adults are for," because you're too rigid to enjoy Michigan football as much if it looks different than it did when you first came to it. You might enjoy your fandom more if you lighten up a bit. Besides that, you come across as if you feel that you're more important to Michigan than the players and younger fans. I hope you're not that deluded, but there are enough down-in-fronts in the Stadium on Saturdays for me to suspect otherwise.
You are terrible.
Thank goodness!
See what I did there you guys?
Look again
That we couldn't read the numbers on the alternate jerseys? Or was that basketball? Or maybe it was both...
it was impossible to read them but other that those the alternatives jerseys have been fine (from a readability stand point anyways)
I'm not trusting it until halftime of the last game has passed.
I am ecstatic, not because I hate alternative jerseys, but because I have no faith in whoever designs/approves of our jerseys to make them look aesthetically pleasing.
You can't be more wrong.
Here's the jersey against State:
Here's the UTL jersey:
And how does the UTL jersey not have the bumble-bee stripes? The only differences I could see were white vs blue, and M-on-front vs not.
I really want the Victors Valiant undershirt. That is bad ass!
I'm sure you can find piles of them up for donation in a third world (or fourth world, if there is such a thing) country. Right next to the San Antonio 2013 NBA Champions t-shirts.
Bad comparison. We are the Victors Valiant, but San Antonio Spurs are not the 2013 NBA Champions.
We weren't that day.
We are the "Victors Valiant", but we don't need to, literally, wear it on our sleeves. The only words that belong on the uniform are the school (and maybe player) names.
Those bumblebee jerseys were so bad. Still amazes me that someone actually approved that POS uniform
but if it's what today's kids are 'in to' so be it and too bad. Granted the last number of designs have been rather ugly, it's not my choice. And if I was told to wear it, I would. It gets old with all the uniformz nonsense. All the bitching in the world doesn't stop it. Deal and move on. Sounds like some of the players are bummed. The world changes hate to say it.
pretty sure this Pipkins tweet is a set up. This can only mean that there is something in the works to break out when the time is right.