Indiana Déjà Vu

Yesterday, Indiana announced a new uniform set for 2011. While anything is an improvement over this, I'm not sure just going back to this was the best idea ever.

A few weeks back, I had hopes that this would be IU's uniform next year. Aside from that silly collar, that's almost exactly what I wanted out of the Hoosiers' unis.

But, alas, the Hoosiers disappointed me yet again. The uniform - seen here and to the right - along with the helmet (at the bottom) are basically throwbacks to the Terry Hoeppner era.

And actually the new IU unis look a lot like my over-the-top IU concept, down to the overly fat uni numbers - except for the numbers on the compression sleeves, and the candy-stripped pants.

Compare: 2011 uni  vs. O’B. Candy-stripe.

Let's start with the helmet. I like the white facemask but that's where my love affair quickly ends. The only redeeming feature of the 2010 uniforms was the double stripe helmet.

Originally a one game throwback with a block I, the double stripe helmet from recent Hoosier past was so popular it was the new standard uniform helmet THE NEXT GAME and then continued to be for the next three seasons.

While the Hoosiers aren't the only red cap in the BigTen (Minnesota flirts with a red helmet), IU could at least continue having a unique red lid while they’re at it.

As for the jerseys, they're way too boring. Maybe add some stripes to the bottom of the sleeves, or maybe go with sleeve numbers rather than pad numbers, or go for what IU fans really want, the double stripe theme all over.

The Hoosiers were just shoulder stripes away from that design two years ago and they were a pair of pants (and that stoopid side blotch on the jersey) from having it last season. Keep it simple but don't make us an Oklahoma knockoff again (I mean, Riddell already thinks we're interchangable).

And please, for Christ's sake, remove the "For the Glory Of Old IU" from the inside of the collar.

Final Grades:

The Helmet - Love the facemask, hate (like, loath) the lack of stripes. Grade: D | Uni-Watch.com Scale: Seriously Stupid

The Jersey - No side blotches, but no stripes whatsoever. Grade: B- | Uni-Watch.com Scale: Good but could be Great

The Pants - Back to the ol' double stripe. Grade: A+ (so long as they wear red pants on the road) | Uni-Watch.com Scale: Great

Overall, two steps forward, one step back: B- (which is a vast improvement from the D- that was last year.)

Next Year Will Be Better

I mean, it can't get worse.

Requests

Since the wonderful people over at UniWatchBlog.com highlighted my work with the OKC Thunder, I have received crazy amounts of page views, complements and even some requests.

Over the past few days I've tried to respond to all the emails and requests sent to me and here are some of what I have been working on.

First off, Dave N. writes:

I am 55 years old, and when I was a kid, I loved the LA Rams. The "Fearsome Foursome", Roman Gabriel, Jack Snow, Eddie Meador and so on. In the late 60's, they always seemed to battle out with the Colts for the Western Division crown.  Sadly, the Colts were always just that much better, or it could have been the Rams that lost to the Jets in Super Bowl III...!

Back then, the Rams were blue & white. No Yellow. Now I know historically there was yellow, or gold, but I used to love the look of the Rams in there white jerseys, pants & and white Ram logo on the helmets. It was a classic look. They very rarely wore there blue jerseys, and were a bit like the Cowboys in not liking to wear them.

Whenever I see Uniform tweaks, no one goes back to that classic era of blue & white. I for one, would love to see them do that.

Well Dave, ask and you shall receive. I like the white and blue color combo too but the Colts already 'own' that look, in my opinion, and the maze and blue is a classic football color combo missing in the NFL.

While I still prefer the yellow look in a redesign of the Rams unis but these beauteous throwbacks should be a go-to for your Rams

Next up Rob (I'm guessing from Ohio) asked me to take a look at OSU and the Bengals:

I am AN Ohio State alum and lifelong fanatic, and although I love the current football uniforms and feel they are nearly perfect, I've always thought the numbers on the home scarlet jerseys should be gray.  I also want some gray on the sleeve stripes, just like the road uniforms currently feature.  I think this is an even better idea now that Nebraska is joining the Big 10.  We already have similar jerseys to Wisconsin and now the Huskers come in wearing bold red.  The extra gray would set OSU apart, especially for the fans who don't walk around wearing gray helmets and football pants to differentiate themselves like the players do.

Also, unfortunately, I'm a Bengals fan.  Your concepts for them are definitely a huge improvement over the current clown suits they call uniforms.  I'd like to see some more subtle designs and I think they should retire the stripes.  Since burnt orange is closer to the actual color of a Bengal tiger, I think helmets of that color with the growling tiger head logo they have on the side (and maybe a single black stripe down the middle) would look great.  Simple, classic jerseys and pants featuring burnt orange, black, and white trim would look awesome.

With OSU, I removed almost all the white and replaced it with gray - except for the road jersey's main color.

As for the Bungles, I made the shoulder and helmet stripes a bit 'tiger-y' and gave them the standard NFL stripe (color on either side of white) on the pants.

Forrest P. comes in next with a few ideas for Michigan State:

I was wondering if you could do a set of msu football jerseys with the new color and font and maybe a pro combat alt.   I am terrible with photoshop, but i always thought using the new bronze on their jerseys for the helmet (ie: the movie 300) and going off a similar motif from the movie.

Here is the dark green and new font:

As for the 300 inspired unis, Forrest touched a nerve with me. One of my closest friends is a Sparty fan and I am a Greek history buff. I have always wondered how a team named after Spartans can wear any color other than red when the ancient Spartans were famous for donning the color (and Sparty himself wears a the garb of Roman Centurion, I mean come on...).

I took some liberties with what you might have thought in terms of coloring and accuracy to 300 but I think  they turned out well.

Kyle D. came looking for some IPFW Mastodons ideas:

Like your work. Anyway you could put together a basketball uniform concept for the IPFW Mastodons? Thanks!

In my concepts, I took the Mastodons' logo (which features a triangle symbolizing the convergence of Indiana Purdue and Fort Wayne) and modified it for the front of the jersey.

Finally, Bryan B. gave me a heads up on this contest to design an Oklahoma fan t-shirt. My alma mater, Indiana, did something like this a few years back and the shirt ended up sucking. For the Sooners, I flipped OK on its side and made it look like a foam finger (and if you click on the image you can read all of the contest stipulations).

Well, that's it for now, I think I have a few more NBA concepts coming in the next week but if you have any requests feel free to shoot me an email here.

Update:

Many people suggested I put the front uni numbers on my road Thunder concepts in between 'Oklahoma' and 'City'. So once again, ask and you shall receive:

Basketball Jones

Check out the new uniform concept page for basketball jerseys.

If you have any uniform concept requests, feel free to contact me.