FB: American Rivers Conference

[the_mayne_event]

I really like all black uniforms...especially if it is your school color (both HS and College were all black at home).  For away, I agree they need white or at least light color tops.  I would love to see some colleges do an extreme uniform for at least one game a year.  Obviously it would not be easy money wise, but an all orange uniform for Wartburg...homecoming?  I'm sure the admissions would love to use that.  Just as long as you don't have all baby blue like UIU.

89.1 Have you seen Clemson in all orange???.... YUCK. Maybe paint the helmet orange and orange pants for some color (like my HS was)

personally i like the all orange uni's at Clemson, it is the purple that throws them off.

Jarad Allen to the Chiefs makes sense, he is one of the best DLinemen in the league.  All ready has established himself.  they would have to pay almost that much money to a rookie, unproven guy.  they have all ready used their number 1 picks on DE's that haven't panned out.  Jarad Allen is still only 27.  He is better then any DE they would get in the 1st round, and he is worth the 2nd rounder as well.

Pacman was also worth trading for as well.  pretty much risk free since if he gets banned again, or doesn't get reinstated, the cowboys get their draft pick back.  pacman is better then any CB in the draft, a lot better, and then they can use their 1st 2 picks on WR and RB.
sorry, just had to throw my 2 cents in there.

[Klopenhiemer]

I am a big fan of the yellow pants that BV is sporting.  I like yellow football pants in general, but I am one of those outside the box people.  I think it was a drastic improvement over the last unis that sported all blue and white.  Yellow is a school color and I am glad they brought it back into the uniforms.  I am also very glad to see them move away from the cartoon beaver.  I am a much bigger fan of the helmet decal. 

I am not a fan of all black uniforms.  I think the black washes the rest of the uniform out.  It would be interesting to see the evil empire add some more organge to the uniforms consider the motto of "Be Organge". 

No offense Cornell fans, but I am not a fan of purple on anything, but I do dig the white helmets.  I think that looks sharp for both Cornell and Central. 

[knightlife06]

I'm a big fan on black on black for home uni's and white on white for away.  I also like the fact that Wartburg went back to the short black socks as opposed to the long white ones they wore when I was there. 

Jared Allen=Beast.  If you have ever seen this guys in person he is a freakish athlete.  I was fortunate enough to get an on-field pass for their camp last year and got to see him close up.  Huge man that is not very nice.  It will be a great get for the Vikings IF he keeps his nose out of trouble. 

[sportsknight]

Who is that handsome gent in the black sweatshirt and the Johnny Cash cap on the sideline?

LOL -- handsome lad, indeed. I have a single friend that thinks he is cute.....

I'm listening.

[DutchFan2004]

Who is that handsome gent in the black sweatshirt and the Johnny Cash cap on the sideline?

LOL -- handsome lad, indeed. I have a single friend that thinks he is cute.....

I'm listening.

Dry spell SK?   

[The Show]

12:25pm today - Mini Show is born!

Unlike our first, this one will be able to strap on the pads!  8 lbs. 10 oz. boy.  Dad is pretty proud.

[Klopenhiemer]

12:25pm today - Mini Show is born!

Unlike our first, this one will be able to strap on the pads!  8 lbs. 10 oz. boy.  Dad is pretty proud.

Congratulations!  I heard Jay will be calling tonight to start the recruiting process

[sportsknight]

Alright, settle in folks, because I have plenty of thoughts on what makes a good and a bad uniform and I'm probably going to throw most of them out right now, which means this could be a pretty long post.

First of all, just like anything else, there's always an exception to every rule.  But there are some rules to follow in judging uniforms.

I'm on the fence about all one color looks.  I think that for some colors (black, navy, white) it looks fine.  But when you start getting into red and orange and purple, you get onto some loose ground.  As much as I can appreciate the sentiment that Wartburg should have more orange in their uniforms, I don't think it would work that well.  I've seen video from the 80s when the Knights wore orange jerseys and the results were not good.  Same with Luther's away look.  A lot of people would say that you need more color in there, but I'm not sure the blue pants would improve that uniform all that much.

That leads us to what I call The Helmet Match Rule.  Its my belief that either the jersey or the pants on any uniform should be the same color as the helmet.  There's just a natural symmetry to uniforms that abide by this rule.  Its also why I think that Coe's all-red look and BVs road uniforms don't work that well.  Especially when you figure in that both of those uniforms employ solid-colored pants.  The exception here is Iowa's road uniform.  Black helmet, white jersey, yellow pants.  But the jersey numbers are black only (no shadow or outline) and there's a big black stripe down the side of the pants.  That makes black the common element through the entire look and creates a much more cohesive design.

As said before, I am not a fan of schools and teams wearing black uniforms just because they think that black is so much more "cool" or "mean" looking.  If it isn't one of your school colors, find a way to do without.  Cornell's new black jerseys are a prime example here.  As much as I don't care for the color purple, I'd much rather see the Rams decked out in it than black.  And before some Cornell fans get upset, I don't think of black as one of Cornell's school colors, even though it is in their logo.  When I think of Cornell, I think purple, white, and nothing else.  But Cornell's football and men's basketball teams (and possibly the baseball team too) wear black at home now.

Quick breakdown of my thoughts on each IIAC school's unis:
BV - I think they had a good model to work with when they had that navy and white look up until last year.  I would agree that it needed more gold/yellow, but they didn't need to make as drastic an overhaul as they did.  My high school's colors were navy and gold, so I'm a fan of that combination, but pick a gold/yellow.  What I think I don't like the most about BV's pants are that they're SO yellow, where the BV basketball uniforms have a much more toned down gold.  That and the fact that they are solid-colored pants.  I think putting a navy stripe down the side or something like that would have helped them look like the they fit with the rest of the uniform a bit more.

Central - Here's where abiding by the Helmet Match Rule works.  White helmet, red jersey, white pants.  White helmet, white jersey, red pants.  Always something matching the helmet, but never all three the same color.  Central has developed a very traditional, but not boring, look that when you see it, you know its Central.  Kind of the Penn State of the IIAC that way (except that Penn State wears all white on the road).

Coe - Real mixed bag here.  If I were Staker, I'd throw out the red pants.  Wear the gold ones all the time.  Not only do the match the helmet, but they just look better.  I think Coe's home uniform is one of the best ones in the conference, except for when they trot out the all red look.  Bad news there.  Their helmet may be a blatant rip-off of the 49ers, but the crimson and gold that they went to about 7 years ago is a vast improvement over the red and yellow from 2001 and back.

Cornell - As much as I like the black and purple striped socks, they have to get rid of the black jerseys.  They just don't look right.  Its almost like Dillon came in this year and said "Hey, Whitewater and Mount Union both wear black jerseys.  Maybe if we look like them, we'll play like them too."  It doesn't really work that way.  Go back to the purple and use black as an accent color if you want to.

Dubuque - Pick a uniform and stick with it for a while.  Seems like every year when Wartburg would play UD, they had made some sort of tweak to their uniform.  Find a look, decide you like it, and go with it for at least 3 years.  Blue, black, and white is a good color combo, but things have to line up.  I remember one year when Dubuque came to Waverly and had blue helmets, white jerseys, and black pants.  The jerseys had black stripes down the side, which magically turned blue when they got to the pants.  Made no sense whatsoever.  And don't go all-white on the road.  Find some blue pants to wear when you get on the bus.

Loras - I'd put Loras' home uniforms up there as one of the IIAC's best looks.  Just like Central, you can set your watch by Loras wearing gold, purple, and gold at home.  For the roadies, wear something that looks somewhat similar.  Same number style, same striping patterns, etc.  The last couple years when they got all crazy with the number font, Loras' roadies have been an unmitigated disaster.  It was like seeing a borderline girl under the bar lights and then in normal lighting.  Wait a minute, you looked good last week when we were in Dubuque...what happened?

Luther - The Indianapolis Colts called.  You're being sued for trademark infringement.  But seriously, if you're going to wholly and unabashedly rip off an NFL team, you could do worse than Indy.  Luther's uniforms both look pretty good, albeit a bit boring.  But they're consistent.  Clean and boring at home, clean and boring on the road.

Simpson - Same problem as Dubuque, they need to pick a uniform and stick with it.  Might be able to pull off all red at home, but I'm not sure I'd give it a shot anytime soon.  They kind of need to decide how much gold and black they're going to use and go from there.  In past years they've worn some gold pants that looked good at home, but bad on the road, then switched to white pants that had the same problem.  I'd go red, red, white at home and red, white, red on the road.  Just make sure there's enough gold or white in those road pants to tone them down a little.

Wartburg - I don't think they ever could have improved the 2001-2005 home uniforms, but they tried and it didn't turn out all that bad.  I think that had they stuck with it, the old uniforms could have become as identifiable with Wartburg as Central's are with that school.  I think the old roadies were OK too.  I never would have made the change, especially coming off of a championship.  I can't remember for sure, but I don't think any NFL or Division I team has ever won back to back championships after altering the uniforms from the first title year.  That voodoo must trickle down to the IIAC, too, because ever since Wartburg changed their road uniforms in 2005, they haven't won a leage title.

All in all, I think the IIAC is a pretty good looking league, but kind of boring at the same time.  I'd like to see a little bit more use of stripes and different number fonts to help set the uniforms apart, just as long as teams don't go to crazy.

[sportsknight]

Who is that handsome gent in the black sweatshirt and the Johnny Cash cap on the sideline?

LOL -- handsome lad, indeed. I have a single friend that thinks he is cute.....

I'm listening.

Dry spell SK?   

Since anything worthwhile, yes.  And I know that if this lady is hanging out with you, that she is first-class all the way.

[Dutchster]

Every once in a while when Kac was at Central we went all whites on the road.  A lot of us liked it because our red pants were old and crappy.  They worked for the Dutch on this day...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siiYmWGkets][url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siiYmWGkets[/url]

[Dutchster]

sorry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siiYmWGkets

[sportsknight]

Every once in a while when Kac was at Central we went all whites on the road.  A lot of us liked it because our red pants were old and crappy.  They worked for the Dutch on this day...

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siiYmWGkets]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siiYmWGkets][url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siiYmWGkets[/url]

Those uniforms are white?

[BeaverOfYore]

I am a big fan of the yellow pants that BV is sporting.  I like yellow football pants in general, but I am one of those outside the box people.  I think it was a drastic improvement over the last unis that sported all blue and white.  Yellow is a school color and I am glad they brought it back into the uniforms.  I am also very glad to see them move away from the cartoon beaver.  I am a much bigger fan of the helmet decal. 

I am not a fan of all black uniforms.  I think the black washes the rest of the uniform out.  It would be interesting to see the evil empire add some more organge to the uniforms consider the motto of "Be Organge". 

No offense Cornell fans, but I am not a fan of purple on anything, but I do dig the white helmets.  I think that looks sharp for both Cornell and Central. 

In regards to the yellow pants, the only problem I have is that there seems to be no cohesiveness  between sports at BV in the use of gold or yellow.  I wish someone would make a decision as to which color is official and force every team to stick to that decision.  The confusion is heightened by the fact that signs around campus as well as university letterhead have the same inconsistency.

I agree that the blue and whites were ugly.  They looked even worse my senior year when Bob accidentally issued the plain blue road pants for practice, leaving us with only the blue pants with white stripes.  It looked pretty silly with our road jerseys that were white with blue stripes.

I also have some recruiting news to pass along to the BV faithful.  Little bro changed his mind about Simpson and will be wearing the blue and gold come fall.  Right now I believe Larry has him penciled in at Mike LB, so even though he doesn't get to revel in the glory of playing on the o-line like his brother, he'll at least get a chance to crack some skulls.  Along with him, there are 3 other SOB kids planning on playing--one o-lineman, one DB, and one punter/WR.  Rumor has it that there are between 40 and 50 kids "committed" to BV, so let's hope they all show up for camp.

[Klopenhiemer]

I am a big fan of the yellow pants that BV is sporting.  I like yellow football pants in general, but I am one of those outside the box people.  I think it was a drastic improvement over the last unis that sported all blue and white.  Yellow is a school color and I am glad they brought it back into the uniforms.  I am also very glad to see them move away from the cartoon beaver.  I am a much bigger fan of the helmet decal. 

I am not a fan of all black uniforms.  I think the black washes the rest of the uniform out.  It would be interesting to see the evil empire add some more organge to the uniforms consider the motto of "Be Organge". 

No offense Cornell fans, but I am not a fan of purple on anything, but I do dig the white helmets.  I think that looks sharp for both Cornell and Central. 

In regards to the yellow pants, the only problem I have is that there seems to be no cohesiveness  between sports at BV in the use of gold or yellow.  I wish someone would make a decision as to which color is official and force every team to stick to that decision.  The confusion is heightened by the fact that signs around campus as well as university letterhead have the same inconsistency.

I agree that the blue and whites were ugly.  They looked even worse my senior year when Bob accidentally issued the plain blue road pants for practice, leaving us with only the blue pants with white stripes.  It looked pretty silly with our road jerseys that were white with blue stripes.

I also have some recruiting news to pass along to the BV faithful.  Little bro changed his mind about Simpson and will be wearing the blue and gold come fall.  Right now I believe Larry has him penciled in at Mike LB, so even though he doesn't get to revel in the glory of playing on the o-line like his brother, he'll at least get a chance to crack some skulls.  Along with him, there are 3 other SOB kids planning on playing--one o-lineman, one DB, and one punter/WR.  Rumor has it that there are between 40 and 50 kids "committed" to BV, so let's hope they all show up for camp.

I would agree that the their does need to be some formal satute regarding the yellow/gold color at BV. 

Glad to hear that your brother is going to be wearing the blue/gold and that others will be as well.  Nice to hear that they had a good recruiting class, and hope they all show up ready to play football. 

[5 Words or Less]

23 - seconds, human blood circulation time

... I have a single friend that thinks he <sportsknight> is cute.....

... a little faster for sportsknight