After writing my initial post, I looked back at a few pictures and I really did like the gray as an overall idea. If the names were easier to read, I would have liked the gray/gray combo more. The numbers were not ideal, but they were far easier to read than the names. I didn't hate the helmets, though the OE "R" provides a little more recognition.

Overall, I say kudos to the athletic department.

(10-09-2018 12:55 PM)cr11owl Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 12:22 PM)Ourland Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 09:46 AM)mrbig Wrote:  I liked the gray as an idea, but didn't like the execution with the numbers and names so difficult to read. I also didn't like gray tops and gray bottoms together, but I think I would have liked them individually if done in combination with more blue.

+1. This whole uniform experiment screams of amateurism. We trot out in something different every week. Kids shouldn't need the latest designs in uniform apparel to get motivated to play. It's ridiculous. Put an end to it. Find a permanent combo that's classic and traditional in look. I thought we had this all worked out in 2008. There's one uniform that we can all agree on. We need to find it.

Have you watched college football any the last 10 years? Almost no team wears the same uniform combo every week. Even ND alternates now.

There are many schools that haven't given in. Some have such a strong brand that they have no reason or desire to change it. Our brand needs to be that identifiable. It should be so strong that to change it would be sacrilege. Call me old fashioned.

It seems like there are two problems: inconsistent design, and bad design. Some contend that inconsistency is a feature rather than a bug, and we won't settle that debate here.

But inconsistency and badness are not unrelated. The number of bad design ideas far outnumbers the number of good ones; this is especially true in sports (where even "professional" design is often amateurish), and also especially true of design decisions made in haste and without context. In these circumstances, the frequent adoption of new designs almost necessarily increases the frequency of using bad designs.

Among those who contend that inconsistent design is a feature rather than a bug, there is perhaps a subset who believe that even bad design is not a concern. As an evidentiary matter, they might be right; but as an aesthetic matter, it's infuriating.

I would hope that when previewing a new uniform/helmet design someone takes the time to view them from the stands, at least at the concourse level. From where I was sitting the numbers were barely legible and the player's names were not even visible. The helmet logo was invisible, too. Overall grade: D-

(10-09-2018 06:13 PM)Leoguy Wrote:  I would hope that when previewing a new uniform/helmet design someone takes the time to view them from the stands, at least at the concourse level. From where I was sitting the numbers were barely legible and the player's names were not even visible. The helmet logo was invisible, too. Overall grade: D-

One would think, but MLB apparently does not do that either.

(10-09-2018 06:45 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 06:13 PM)Leoguy Wrote:  I would hope that when previewing a new uniform/helmet design someone takes the time to view them from the stands, at least at the concourse level. From where I was sitting the numbers were barely legible and the player's names were not even visible. The helmet logo was invisible, too. Overall grade: D-

One would think, but MLB apparently does not do that either.

Unis are done for television closeups. I doubt what the in-person fans see is very high on the list to worry about for those responsible.

Best picture showing the units.

Egad those are bad. :(

(10-09-2018 09:13 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  Egad those are bad. :(

Room for improvement, yes. But better than the all whites we wear on the road
1. Rice isnt the Blue and White
2. Everyone wears white
3. We suck on the road even more than at home and they look like we decided to wear the white flag of surrender.

Gray helmets, blue jerseys and gray pants would look great.

I do agree the helmets were terrible. You can support the USA and the military without tacky flag like decals. Its possible, but seemingly impossible to most of the world to find a classy solution.

(10-09-2018 11:14 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 09:13 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  Egad those are bad. :(

Room for improvement, yes. But better than the all whites we wear on the road
1. Rice isnt the Blue and White
2. Everyone wears white
3. We suck on the road even more than at home and they look like we decided to wear the white flag of surrender.

Gray helmets, blue jerseys and gray pants would look great.

I do agree the helmets were terrible. You can support the USA and the military without tacky flag like decals. Its possible, but seemingly impossible to most of the world to find a classy solution.

I think a cool thing to do re: military appreciation would be to have a helmet decal on the “neck plate” of the helmet (the weird horizontal crescent shaped moon thing, on Riddells) honoring each of the Rice slums who have been killed in action. There’s a plaque in the RMC somewhere that I’ve seen before.

(10-09-2018 11:14 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 09:13 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  Egad those are bad. :(

Room for improvement, yes. But better than the all whites we wear on the road
1. Rice isnt the Blue and White

I agree. And we're not the gray and gray either; or the gray, red, white and blue.

(10-09-2018 11:14 PM)Antarius Wrote:  2. Everyone wears white
3. We suck on the road even more than at home and they look like we decided to wear the white flag of surrender.

Gray helmets, blue jerseys and gray pants would look great.

So easy to do -- heck, the very phrase "blue and gray" makes it seem obvious. But for some reason we keep not doing it.

(10-09-2018 11:14 PM)Antarius Wrote:  I do agree the helmets were terrible. You can support the USA and the military without tacky flag like decals. Its possible, but seemingly impossible to most of the world to find a classy solution.

Indeed. The idea that "Oh, let's throw some red white & blue in there" makes for either a good look or effective symbolism is amateurish. Unfortunately, amateurism tends to be the norm in sports design.

(10-09-2018 09:13 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  Egad those are bad. :(

And it looks like the wrong shade of gray as well. Sheesh.

A little weird that we did the military appreciation nod a month after 9/11 and a month before Veterans Day, when they are normally done? I guess since we did/do not have a home game coinciding with either week, it had to be last week...

Since Saturday is our last October home game, I'm guessing hot pink is on tap for this week's game? Maybe that will improve people's view of the gray uniforms?

(10-10-2018 12:19 AM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 09:13 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  Egad those are bad. :(

And it looks like the wrong shade of gray as well. Sheesh.

Is it?

https://staff.rice.edu/Template_RiceBrand.aspx?id=4718

That's what it looked like to me, but the size differential, plus on TV may have made it look different

(10-09-2018 11:14 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 09:13 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  Egad those are bad. :(

Room for improvement, yes. But better than the all whites we wear on the road
1. Rice isnt the Blue and White
2. Everyone wears white
3. We suck on the road even more than at home and they look like we decided to wear the white flag of surrender.

Gray helmets, blue jerseys and gray pants would look great.

I do agree the helmets were terrible. You can support the USA and the military without tacky flag like decals. Its possible, but seemingly impossible to most of the world to find a classy solution.

blue helmet with OER, blue jersey, definitely gray pants.

(10-10-2018 05:41 PM)Ourland Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 11:14 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 09:13 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  Egad those are bad. :(

Room for improvement, yes. But better than the all whites we wear on the road
1. Rice isnt the Blue and White
2. Everyone wears white
3. We suck on the road even more than at home and they look like we decided to wear the white flag of surrender.

Gray helmets, blue jerseys and gray pants would look great.

I do agree the helmets were terrible. You can support the USA and the military without tacky flag like decals. Its possible, but seemingly impossible to most of the world to find a classy solution.

blue helmet with OER, blue jersey, definitely gray pants.

So kinda like Nevada this last week

(10-10-2018 06:01 PM)ruowls Wrote:  

(10-10-2018 05:41 PM)Ourland Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 11:14 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 09:13 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  Egad those are bad. :(

Room for improvement, yes. But better than the all whites we wear on the road
1. Rice isnt the Blue and White
2. Everyone wears white
3. We suck on the road even more than at home and they look like we decided to wear the white flag of surrender.

Gray helmets, blue jerseys and gray pants would look great.

I do agree the helmets were terrible. You can support the USA and the military without tacky flag like decals. Its possible, but seemingly impossible to most of the world to find a classy solution.

blue helmet with OER, blue jersey, definitely gray pants.

So kinda like Nevada this last week

Fresno State takes lead with 19-yard TD Video https://es.pn/2OAOHQn

Would love to see the Owls run that play to one of the Walters.

And yes, I like the blue helmet & jersey and grey pants.

(10-10-2018 06:01 PM)ruowls Wrote:  

(10-10-2018 05:41 PM)Ourland Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 11:14 PM)Antarius Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 09:13 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  Egad those are bad. :(

Room for improvement, yes. But better than the all whites we wear on the road
1. Rice isnt the Blue and White
2. Everyone wears white
3. We suck on the road even more than at home and they look like we decided to wear the white flag of surrender.

Gray helmets, blue jerseys and gray pants would look great.

I do agree the helmets were terrible. You can support the USA and the military without tacky flag like decals. Its possible, but seemingly impossible to most of the world to find a classy solution.

blue helmet with OER, blue jersey, definitely gray pants.

So kinda like Nevada this last week

The Goldsmith era uniforms, but with the OER decal. I really thought we had great uniforms in 2008. There was enough gray on those to satisfy me also. It's sounding like we all want gray, just not as much as we got last weekend.

(10-10-2018 05:32 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  

(10-10-2018 12:19 AM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 09:13 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  Egad those are bad. :(

And it looks like the wrong shade of gray as well. Sheesh.

Is it?

https://staff.rice.edu/Template_RiceBrand.aspx?id=4718

That's what it looked like to me, but the size differential, plus on TV may have made it look different

Honestly, I'm not sure either.

(10-10-2018 07:29 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(10-10-2018 05:32 PM)Hambone10 Wrote:  

(10-10-2018 12:19 AM)georgewebb Wrote:  

(10-09-2018 09:13 PM)georgewebb Wrote:  Egad those are bad. :(

And it looks like the wrong shade of gray as well. Sheesh.

Is it?

https://staff.rice.edu/Template_RiceBrand.aspx?id=4718

That's what it looked like to me, but the size differential, plus on TV may have made it look different

Honestly, I'm not sure either.

One thing is for sure. We are not using the official "blue".