Larry Brown Sports

Notre Dame is a program with one of the richest traditions in college football. They’ve been playing football in South Bend since 1887, and they’ve been doing things a certain way since then.

The Fighting Irish are all about jerseys that don’t have last names on the back, plain gold helmets with no designs, and simple uniforms with minimal color schemes. Until now.

It appears as if during the race to make the most gaudy uniforms possible — a field in which Nike and Under Armour have been leading the way — adidas didn’t want to be left out. So they created the “Shamrock Series” that Notre Dame will wear for its October game against Miami. Here are more photos of the uniforms:

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Now that Nike is the official sponsor of jerseys across the NFL, a lot of buzz has been created regarding what some perceive to be a backwards Nike swoosh symbol. If you look at the photo above, you may be inclined to say that the swoosh on Tom Brady’s jersey is backwards while the one on Drew Brees’ jersey is facing the correct way. The Twitter world was in an uproar on Thursday night with fans ripping Nike and the NFL for botching the jerseys and stitching a backwards swoosh on the right sleeve of everyone’s jersey. But the swoosh is indeed facing the right way.

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(Click photos to enlarge)

It seems like the best way for a college football program to stay in the news these days is to continue to unveil new equipment. Whether it be new helmets or alternate jerseys, teams are constantly trying to find ways to separate themselves from the rest of the pack by making a fashion statement. On Wednesday, West Virginia officially unveiled their latest alternate uniforms for the 2012 season, and they are very, very gray.

When asked about the uniforms before they were officially shared with the public last week, WVU head coach Dana Holgorsen acknowledged that teams have to stay up on the latest equipment fashion trends if they want to remain relevant throughout the recruit process.

“It’s a recruiting thing,” he said according the Charleston Daily Mail. “If you look across the country, we’re behind on this. Everyone is going (Nike) Pro Combat. Everyone has three or four new uniforms. We’re far from that. It’s recruiting. Why is everyone doing it? Because the kids want it. It’s television and marketing and the kids get excited about what they can see.”

They may not have as much luck using these threads as a recruiting tool as Arkansas should with their new uniforms, but I guess there’s something to be said for being different. Unless, of course, you’re different like Maryland. I can’t imagine many people want to be that different.

H/T Eye on College Football
Photos via West Virginia’s official athletic site

Don’t worry Dallas fans, the Mavericks haven’t changed their franchise’s team name to the “Cats.” The Charlotte Bobcats have simply unveiled new uniforms for the 2012-2013 season that look extremely similar to the ones Dirk Nowitzki and company wear. With a new head coach, color scheme, uniform design, and logo, the Bobcats are clearly looking to start fresh next year. The sad part is — as The Basketball Jones pointed out via Chris Creamer’s sports logos website — this is the fourth time Charlotte has changed its look in only eight years as a franchise. Maybe the uniform isn’t the problem?

Personally, I would have stuck with the short-lived jerseys that the Bobcats had last season. Even though they are a new franchise that has yet to establish any kind of identity, I liked how the pinstripe look gave them somewhat of a nostalgic appearance. Call me old fashioned. In any event, they are certainly easier to look at than the other basketball uniform that was debuted as a possibility earlier this week. Here are some more pictures courtesy of NBA.com.

When the Maryland football program unveiled their state flag-themed jerseys last season (click here for pictures), they instantly become the ugliest uniforms in college football if not the entire world of sports. Twitter erupted with athletes, celebrities, and regular Joes talking about how horrible they are, but it doesn’t appear that the negative feedback has bothered the university. As if it wasn’t bad enough that the Terrapins football team has to run around in these eyesores, it appears the basketball team is going to be sporting a similar look this upcoming season.

As you can see from the photo above that the Testuto Times passed along, the Terps basketball uniforms would be similar to the football uniforms with checkers and other ridiculous patterns and colors. Fortunately they do not have to wear helmets, which are by far the worst part of the football uniforms.

“Maryland Athletics and Under Armour will make sure our fans know when we launch Pride for Maryland Basketball,” Maryland spokesman Doug Dull confirmed in an email to The Dagger on Wednesday, adding that the above photo is merely a “draft rendering.”

Draft rendering or not, anything that looks even remotely close to what the football team has to wear would be a complete disappointment.

For more hideous uniforms, head on over to here or here.

The Arkansas Razorbacks will have a brand new look next season, and we’re not just talking about Bobby Petrino no longer being the team’s coach. In addition to a new head coach, Arkansas will also have new uniforms. The team announced on its official athletic site Wednesday that the Razorbacks have been given a touch of the Nike Pro Combat treatment and will have new red, white, and black jerseys to wear during the 2012 season. The team also unveiled new helmets, which are shown below.

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After hearing that several other teams had unveiled modern-looking helmet designs to be worn at some point during the 2012 season, it appears the Arizona Wildcats did not want to be left out. As you can see from the photo above that the Arizona athletic department sent out in an email Wednesday, the Wildcats have announced they will be wearing copper helmets at some point during the upcoming season. Here is the reasoning:

“Copper is not only associated with our great state’s mining history, but it has influenced architectural design on our campus, including our athletic facilities – most notably the ring at the top of the McKale Center, and the future North End Zone Football Complex,” athletic director Greg Byrne wrote. “As such we embrace the idea that as the University of Arizona we will incorporate copper into a special helmet design to represent our state and University. Copper will not replace our traditional colors of red and blue, and the copper helmet will be worn on a limited basis. Bear Down!”

The chrome helmet thing has already been done by none other than Oregon, as they pulled it off to perfection at the Rose Bowl back in January. To our knowledge, Arizona is the first team to go with the copper look. When I heard about it before seeing it, I must admit I was skeptical. However, it looks much better than expected. They don’t quite beat TCU’s potentially new helmets, but there’s something about them that’s easy on the eyes.

H/T Tucson Citizen via Eye on College Football