The One TRUE Maize

Submitted by GratefulBlue on

This should settle things once and for all:

Clearly, our uniforms used to be even BRIGHTER than the Adidas highlighter unis. And why is no one talking about how our blue has been bastardized?!?

/s

Colors are protean, and beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I know the REAL maize is one of Brian's pet issues, but this is all pretty silly/subjective. 

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CarrIsMyHomeboy

July 11th, 2015 at 10:01 AM ^

This. A black and white photo is not definitive proof. Heck, it's barely informative. Which plays out for the blue discussion, too. I'm not sure why so few people realize that the same jersey captured with two different cameras or seen on two different screens can show *very* differently. Comparing blues between seasons is flawed for that reason.



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Mr. Yost

July 11th, 2015 at 10:00 AM ^

And use pictures...

A much better use of energy would just be trying to find a shade of maize that a majority can agree to use moving forward. Who gives a shit what it was in some old pictures.

Seth's exercise was much more effective. Put a bunch of shades and see what people like...that said, he shouldn't have said where he got each shade until AFTER people placed the vote.

Just put the color swatches up and pick the one we like the most.

Hell, ask fans for 33%, current student athletes for 33%, alumni for 33% and Hackett gets 1% vote because his decision making is awesome.

If you can eliminate trolling from other fan bases, I'm sure you'll get something people can live with or learn to live with.

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M-Dog

July 11th, 2015 at 12:49 PM ^

He should also put up the colors of other yellow / gold teams so that we know if are picking colors that are redundant with other programs   . . . instead of the historical colors that are unique to Michigan athletics.

We want to be our best selves, not a me-too with a dozen other programs.

Just because I don't want to be Oregon does not mean that I want to be Cal.

There is a context to all of this beyond just picking colors that would look good on a letterhead.  The colors give your team an identity.  They have an impact on recruiting and merchandising.

A program like Florida has colors that work really well for them.  Should they change them to look like Syracuse or Illinois because some people look at swatches of blue and orange color palettes and think the darker ones look "better" or more "official"?  

That would be stupid.  There's more to it than just picking some colors for the living room curtains.  

Our colors are unique and work very weil for us.  It would be stupid to change the essence of them based on a drive-by fan poll.

 

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M-Dog

July 11th, 2015 at 12:55 PM ^

Thank You.

We are blessed with unique colors that are very stylish and good for recruiting.  

Our colors and the winged helmet are our calling card    . . . a calling card that does not say "Boring stodgy midwest program".

Even fans of other programs that don't like us, like our colors.

And yet all the old fogeys on the board want to give that up so that we can look like a dozen other non-descript boring programs.  Just so we can say "official maize", blah, blah, blah.

Next thing you know they will want to get rid of the winged helmet because it is too flashy and replace it with an "official" block M . . . and look like Missouri.

 

 

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Seth

July 11th, 2015 at 11:04 AM ^

Regarding the old photo: 

You are seeing letterman sweaters, not uniforms. In 1891 the players wouldn't really have a uniform; they would wear what George Southworth in the front-far right is wearing, and sew an 'M'. The "uniforms" weren't really uniform; player would get a new thing to wear once a year (a jersey, a a striped sweater, a vest, whatever) and might play in any one of them. I don't think we have any 1891 action shots but here's the team playing in 1894 vs Cornell:

(click for big)

If you're wondering where the hell they're playing, that's the old Detroit Athletic Club Field on Woodward/Forest/Cass/Canfield, where the Whitney and some Wayne State University buildings now stand. In the background is the Old Main Building of Wayne State. Yes, off-campus football games were a thing back then.

Anyway those sweaters in the photo weren't maize; they were white. Bentley has one. The 1891 team all got them the day of team photos and they are the first known use of the Block M.

Another thing about this photo is James E. Duffy isn't present despite being one of the best players on that team.

 

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M-Dog

July 11th, 2015 at 12:26 PM ^

But was it an egg-shell white or a porcelain white?  This will tear the fan base apart until we know for sure.

Different pictures can distort the true colors.  Especially when they are, you know, in black and white and 125 years old.

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