Jersey Color (Maize v. Yellow)

Submitted by blueloosh on

During the MSU game the graphic popped up at one point identifying the teams on the screen -- Michigan State in "Green"; Michigan in "Yellow."  I grumbled to no one in particular that it should read maize.  Except....in truth we're not maize anymore.  Definitely not with the basketball jerseys. 

Our basketball jerseys are what I would term "Highlighter Marker Yellow."  They make a school bus look gold.  They are not maize-y in the least. 

I'll come right out and say that I prefer the old school shade, a more gold-tinted color.  I realize that bright yellow pops out a little more in the contrast, but I think it looks more ordinary, somehow.  More like a lot of other teams' colors (e.g. WVU).

Here's the other thing.  The lettering on Crisler's court is in a gold-ish shade.  (I'm talking about the text at the ends under the baskets and the giant block M at center.)  So you have a court that is navy and gold, and then a team running across the floor that is highlighter marker yellow.

Does anyone else notice/care?

[To be clear: this did not detract from my enjoyment of a deliriously satisfying win, and does not top my list of Michigan sports concerns -- but still]

Hard Gay

March 7th, 2011 at 7:43 PM ^

Michigan's maize has changed over time, from the Adidas Sun shade we have now to almost a marigold color bordering on orange.

For what it's worth, I'm a fan of the Sun shade we have now.  

jmblue

March 7th, 2011 at 7:43 PM ^

It's true that the shade has changed over the years, but it's not true to say it isn't maize.  Maize is yellow.  It's supposed to be the color of corn, as its name suggests.  If anything, our current shade is truer to the definition of maize than the old yellow-orange shade.  Look how dictionary.com defines "maize":

 http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/maize

Alton

March 7th, 2011 at 11:22 PM ^

Exactly right.  The "highlighter yellow" is the closest thing to true maize that Michigan has worn in the last 50 years.  Maize is bright yellow, and has no gold in it.  The historically inaccurate part of our uniforms is the blue--the original blue selected by the university was more of an azure blue.

Remember what Bob Ufer used to say:  "A beautiful day for football--a maize sun in a blue sky."

 

Monocle Smile

March 7th, 2011 at 7:41 PM ^

with the old gold-tinted yellow is that it threatens to become piss-yellow. Plus then we look like Minnesota in blue. Because they are made of piss, not because of their school colors.

I'm a fan of the brighter maize, but I'm not a fan of the stripe that Adidas added to the football uniforms. But I'm willing to take it rather than having to prevent Nike from going psycho on our logo and colors.

ezinger

March 7th, 2011 at 7:49 PM ^

Even though wikipedia lists color coordinates, it also mentions that "In public usage, maize can be applied to a variety of shades, ranging from light yellow to a dark shade that borders on orange, since the color of maize may vary."  Like said here, there is no one color of corn, and there is no one color of maize.

david from wyoming

March 7th, 2011 at 7:46 PM ^

The color Maize is whatever color associated with the University of Michigan. I own Maize Out shirts from hockey and football that are in different shades from a Michigan hat that I own. Even wearing two different colors at once, both of them are Maize.

Also, my ex never once understood this.

uofmmarcum

March 7th, 2011 at 7:54 PM ^

Highlighter Marker Yellow?  Are you sure you aren't talking about Oregon?  If anything our old gold shade of yellow looked MORE like West Virginia.  I think our current shade of maize is damn near perfect.

Blazefire

March 7th, 2011 at 8:00 PM ^

I think the current Maize color is kickin'. I love it. I also think that it doesn't much matter. The alma mater says "Yellow and Blue", so...  eh.

Timnotep

March 7th, 2011 at 8:02 PM ^

I love the current shade... I'm a huge fan of the "Maize" alternate uniforms we have now, although my favorites are the Blue away unis

jethro34

March 7th, 2011 at 8:50 PM ^

As long as it's never the color of the Saints alternate jersey I'm fan.  That's too much like that church school in northern Indiana.

MaizeyBlue

March 7th, 2011 at 8:52 PM ^

This generally doesn't bother me, but since its been brought up, the one thing that does bother me is the wings on our hockey helmets no longer match our "maize" jerseys, and for some reason it bothers me, that is all.

Schembo

March 7th, 2011 at 9:07 PM ^

I think Nike patended their Maize color, and Adidas came up with their own shade.  I don't mind the Adidas yellow basketball jerseys, but the Fab Five's were better.

GratefulBlue

March 7th, 2011 at 9:08 PM ^

Actually I think the only thing seperating our maize from WVU's gold is that our's is lighter and brighter. I for one like it. Darker blue with a more electric yellow is fine with me, and I think it's a more contemporary look. Graphic designers, weigh in please

blueloosh

March 7th, 2011 at 9:32 PM ^

A lot of good comments here.  And I may have been off about WVU's colors.

I found some of the pictures from pages like this interesting:

10 best RBs

10 best LBs

I was surprised how yellow a lot of the 90s football jerseys looked.

I also was struck by the fact that, over the years, our shade of maize has been all over the map.

jmblue

March 7th, 2011 at 10:54 PM ^

I think some of the difference you see in those photos is due to the lighting.  When it's overcast, our maize appears darker, such as in this photo here.  Look at Denard's jersey number, in particular:

.    

Waveman

March 7th, 2011 at 11:41 PM ^

Those pants are my vote for the best maize... but I concur with others, as long as we're not at either the WVU or Oregon end of the spectrum, I don't have a big issue...

I do have a preference, though for the away jersey Thomas is wearing... can we lose the yellow piping on our away unis in FB?

Lancer

March 7th, 2011 at 9:39 PM ^

and maybe a little off topic but what about an alternative helmet, yellow with blue wings? i think it would look sweet, but tradition is tradition. 

MGoBender

March 7th, 2011 at 11:06 PM ^

Whew, it's about time someone complained about the "new Maize" and how it's an "awful highlighter yellow."  It had been an entire month since we had this debate!

 

/s

EDIT: The maize around the "M" clearly is not the gold that the OP speaks of.  If you're going to complain for the sake of complaining, atleast try to be factual.