Stickers on helmets
Those who have followed Michigan football for a long time may remember the days when players would get little stickers (or decals) on their helmets whenever they made a very good play. An exceptional player would have his helmet practically covered by the end of the season. Michigan was not the only team that did this; Ohio State had them too.
Does anyone recall when this practice was discontinued, and whether there was any kind of announcement or explanation at the time? (I am not lobbying for a return to this practice, just wondering when/why it went away.)
September 27th, 2010 at 11:23 AM ^
I believe when Carr took over it ended, or around that time. Not really sure why though.
And tOSU still does it. You make it sound like they don't anymore.
September 27th, 2010 at 11:23 AM ^
I believe this stopped during Mo's tenure or after the transition from Mo to Lloyd.
September 27th, 2010 at 11:23 AM ^
Carr was the one who ended the practice, IIRC
September 27th, 2010 at 11:17 PM ^
...that Lloyd Carr always did have a good sense for appearance.
Stickers are ugly on the helmets. So Columbus.
September 27th, 2010 at 11:24 AM ^
did away with them. I think it was to foster more of a team spirit. The stickers focused on individual achievement and LC wasn't a fan of that.
September 27th, 2010 at 5:24 PM ^
Lots of teams did it back then.
Of course, there was an even-earlier era when Michigan conceded to another fashion, and put numbers on helmets. (As almost everybody did in the 50's and 60's; was it a rule then, that you had to have numbers on your helmet? It seems like everybody did it at one time.)
Anyway, to me it is all just unneccesary clutter, on what is now regarded as the best helmet design in football. No stickers, please. And no numbers.
September 27th, 2010 at 11:24 AM ^
September 27th, 2010 at 11:29 AM ^
September 27th, 2010 at 11:32 AM ^
I was going to mention this but for some damn reason I could not remember what the book (if you want to call it that) was called. If I was at home I would have looked it up for the reason it explains and all but oh well. +1 meals69.
September 27th, 2010 at 11:36 AM ^
September 27th, 2010 at 11:31 AM ^
i will buy some for my bike helmet
September 27th, 2010 at 11:38 AM ^
September 27th, 2010 at 11:25 AM ^
Lloyd Carr took it away to create team unity or something. But believe it or not, it was actually Rich Rodriguez's idea back then that caused Carr to do it, because only Rodriguez would piss on tradition here, not Carr or anyone else from the Bo family tree.
September 27th, 2010 at 11:41 AM ^
Did he force Lloyd to practice excessively too? What a bastard.
September 27th, 2010 at 11:58 AM ^
Whole history there.
September 27th, 2010 at 11:34 AM ^
I would be a fan of bringing them back, but not until this program is re-established as a Big Ten power, that way, we continue to focus on the team. But if they aren't ever brought back, I'm not going to fuss.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:08 PM ^
I am not of fan of this, I always look back at those helmets and I think they clutter the helmet, the helmets look much better now and the wings stand out much more; however it works for certain teams (FSU, Georgia, and OSU).
September 27th, 2010 at 11:36 AM ^
- Carr's first year as HC.
The 1994 Holiday Bowl vs. Colorado State was the last game that Michigan wore "Wolverine" helmet awards.
September 27th, 2010 at 11:37 AM ^
Only little girls and Buckeyes play with stickers.
HTH.
September 27th, 2010 at 11:42 AM ^
But if they are scratch 'n sniff....
September 27th, 2010 at 11:45 AM ^
And little brothers.
September 27th, 2010 at 11:41 AM ^
Bo Schembechler's "the team, the team, the team" and the fact that is was Bo who issued helmet awards the first season he coached at Michigan.
You can coach both principles at the same time: "The Team!", "team unity", etc. AND personal achievement recognition, i.e. awards. These are not mutual exclusive concepts.
There were great players who played for Bo who had relatively few helmet stickers on their helmets.
September 27th, 2010 at 11:52 AM ^
A little unknown/overlooked fact about helmet stickers: there were two variations--one for the left side of the helmet, one for the right, with the wolverine facing opposite directions.
Though the early stickers were just (quite large) maize footballs without anything inside them. The wolverine variations came about in the 80's. It also seems the helmet stickers disappeared for a point in time (mid 70's-early 80's) but were reintroduced by the middle part of the decade. One can only imagine what Anthony Carter's helmet would have looked like with stickers...
September 27th, 2010 at 11:53 AM ^
Lloyd Carr ended the stickers and went for a team approach. 1997 says it was a good idea.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:00 PM ^
Never liked the stickers. Too busy. Ditto that for UGA's dawg bones, FSU's tomahawks, Purdue's sledgehammers...
A couple images of the UM stickers from mvictors.com:
September 27th, 2010 at 12:21 PM ^
Beyond the mentioned "team" mentality, I think Lloyd also thought we had the perfect helmet, and the stickers cluttered up the beautiful wing design. Leaving them off kept it looking sleek and perfect. I agree.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:58 PM ^
If we are not bringing back the helmet stickers then could we possibly have another way of incorporating the wolverine in to some type of design? I've said this before on a thread months ago. I think it would look pretty cool to have a wolverine on our pants instead of the block M.
September 27th, 2010 at 1:06 PM ^
I looked at this the first time, and I thought it said-
I think it would look pretty cool to have a wolverine in our pants..Which obviously is a whole different concept...
September 27th, 2010 at 2:27 PM ^
The stickers themselves (the later versions with the wolverine head) looked okay, but when they were on the helmets they made them way too cluttered. I used to always like it when they showed our sidelines and you could see the clean look of the helmets of the guys who didn't play. I'm glad Carr discontinued them.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:20 PM ^
just convoluted the helmet. It is enough to be wearing the wings.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:29 PM ^
And I have to say, i'm glad he did
September 27th, 2010 at 12:29 PM ^
"Daddy, why does the quarterback have a maize helmet with blue polka-dots?"
September 27th, 2010 at 12:29 PM ^
Is this Marc Shepherd, class of 92 who lived in Taylor House, South Quad, in 1988 ?
September 27th, 2010 at 1:04 PM ^
I graduated from Michigan a decade earlier than that, and never lived in South Quad.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:54 PM ^
..with larger helmets, but without the stickers.
September 27th, 2010 at 12:59 PM ^
Is it just me or do you feel like the OSU's team stickers on their helmets kinda resembles kindergarden motivational techniques. "Be good and you'll get a sticker." Thank God Michigan is above the whole "sticker" thing! Go Blue!!
September 27th, 2010 at 1:24 PM ^
At OSU stickers are given out per unit ie.....offense, defense and special teams and based on team play not individual play. Bo liked the idea and brought it from his days at OSU.
September 27th, 2010 at 1:39 PM ^
...Bo brought it from his days at Miami (OH)- OSU got it from Bo. Not the other way around...
September 27th, 2010 at 4:23 PM ^
September 27th, 2010 at 10:38 PM ^
+1 to you good sir!
September 27th, 2010 at 1:35 PM ^
Good thing we dont' have them, Denard would have to start putting them on his pads.....
September 29th, 2010 at 11:08 AM ^
YES to the wings. No to the stickers. I never liked it back in the day when a "new" (read stickerless) player came into a game later in the season. This would give the opposing side, say, little brother who can’t read numbers, a chance to be coached to key on the players without stickers.
Even my wife says she loves the wings...but she’s talking about something altogether different.