I ran across this little piece on Lost Lettermen.com, via CBSSports.com.
I hope somebody in Whit's office is paying attention.
http://www.lostlettermen.com/slideshow/cfb-top-10-ugliest-fbs-helmets-ever/
While the ACC is more than well represented (10 out of 20 helmets), with Pitt, MD (twice), WF, FSU and ND (ok, they're ACC-lite, but they're here twice) showing up, we are the only school in the list to have the distinction of having three helmets on the list (hokiestone, hokie tracks, and the fighting gobbler from the Russel Athletic Bowl).
I kind of liked the matte fighting gobbler helmet, but I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. For what it's worth, the comment on the hokie track helmet included this bit of advice:
Virginia Tech should just stay away from alternate uniforms and helmets as a whole.
I'd be happy with #allmarooneverything, personally.
Comments
I liked the fighting gobbler helmet we wore in the Russell Athletic bowl. I follow the lostlettermen and the guy that runs it on twitter and he is a complete douche in my opinion.
and so you follow him why????
I guess if Skip Bayless has followers, anyone can.
I was not a fan of the turkey tracks. I was OK with the Fighting Gobbler helmet; it was kind of a cool retro look and I did like the matte finish. In the end, I really liked the Hokie Stone helmet. I liked what it stood for and the fact that it represented tradition in the University and tied into the foundation (literally and figuratively) of VT and its principles. Maybe anyone who didn't go to VT wouldn't appreciate that as much as the rest of us.
That said, I agree that we need to cut back on the different uniform combos and helmet designs. Stick with the maroon helmet with slant VT, and maybe one special one-off per year - I'm still on board for black unis on Black Friday, but otherwise stay true to brand identity and #ALLMAROONEVERYTHING for critical games (Miami on Thursday night - DO YOU HEAR ME MR. BABCOCK?).
I noticed that the hokie stone helmet they showed didn't have the logo as worn in the game (either the pylon logo or the VT logo). I thought it would have been better with a maroon stripe down the middle to mask the graphic seam.
Please, no black unis, though.
For a white-out helmet, I didn't mind this square-root-of-one logo version.
When I first read the article, I was expecting to see at least one of these on the list:
It wouldn't have surprised me to see the green camo or the orange lid either, but they weren't as egregiously ugly as the others.
Jesus, that camo helmet...
The Hokie Stone one wouldn't have been so bad if they didn't do such a piss-poor job of designing it. They didn't even try to match the pattern along the seam down the centerline.
VT athletics has never been known for design skill. I say next hire someone else to come up with a special helmet/uni.
The fighting gobbler helmets were amazing and I refuse to listen or hear any argument about it....
just like the hokie stone
I liked the matte ,Aron but not the fighting gobbler nor the turkey tracks.
The Hokiestone is fine. I'd like it with the square root of 1 logo.
I liked every VT headgear in this article.
The Gobbler was the best.
The problem with the multiple helmet designs is that it undermines the effort to create an identity. We could put cool transformers and pokemon on the helmets too, but the casual observer is going to wonder "is that the same school as VT?"
Way to go Virginia Tech University!
If the issue is identity, they can look to the bottom of the screen and see 'VT' or 'VA TECH' and us winning. As long as maroon or orange is the primary, people are going to recognize us. People should know us by watching our awesome defense, lunch pail attitude, and a resurgence of BeamerBall, and note our uniforms if they want. I liked the Hokie Stone and Fighting Gobbler helmets. They weren't randomly chosen and meaningless like if we chose a Pokemon, they represent our ideals and past, so quit calling out a lack of brand identity by bringing in irrelevant stuff and sarcastically calling us Virginia Tech University.
Good points. In addition, the media need to make an effort to use correct terminology. VT Athletics puts out a brand identity guide and it is given to all broadcasters and journalists. They are specifically told how to refer to us and how not to refer to us. Yet, you still get these chuckleheads from E$PN calling us "Vah Tech," or "Virginia Tech University," and if the Worldwide Leader in $ports doesn't get it right, then no one else is going to be expected to. They're helping to erroneously define who we are. It's a small thing, but it's important, and it happens every damn year over multiple games.
I can understand why they have 'VA TECH' at the bottom to show the score since VA is the abbreviation for Virginia, but saying VT takes less time and rolls off the tongue better. Whit just needs to go to Bristol and unleash his inner Rogers on someone.
Yep, to be clear, I couldn't care less about "VA TECH" being on the screen - my brain translates "VA" to "Virginia" because it's a known abbreviation. I just hate people they enunciate it like "Vah," because when I was in school, I was told that "Vah Tech" originated as a jab from our not-so-successful neighbors to the northeast, said with a comically thick Southern accent, to try to make us sound like a bunch of dumb yokels. That's the main reason I hate when E$PN tries to legitimize it as a way to refer to us.
Maybe as payback, we should start simply saying "UVA" the way it looks. In Spanish, "uva" means "grape." Grapes make wine, and basically everyone up there would rather be having a wine and cheese party than going to a football game...
If it wasnt a jab ... we would hear 'gah tech' or 'gee tech' for Georgia Tech. It's a subversive, yet feeble attempt of undermining and belittling our beloved program. End of story. GO HOKIES.
I hate all of the cute little variations we come up with. Maroon brain buckets only please.
Their criticism of the hokie stone helmet is lame. I liked that helmet. The turkey track and foghorn leghorn helmets were a f*cking train wreck. The fighting gobbler helmets were awesome. The camo helmets are weak. The black helmets weren't us.
Does anyone know who designs our alternates?
The Hokie Stone helmets were awesome and everyone at the bar thought they were cool until they noticed the seam. That single handedly killed the positive perception. I noticed it on the prototype and can't fathom how that oversight made it to the finished product.
Agreed. Doesn't seem like they put a whole lot of effort into the alternate uniforms. At least something in the NCAA is still amateurish.
EDIT: The seam probably had something to do with manufacturing or applying the pattern. This is just a guess on my part.
I'm still in shock that the Hokie Stone and Fighting Gobbler Helmets were included and not the atrocious Foghorn Leghorn Helmets.
Yeah, I'm not really getting that one. The Foghorn Leghorn was atrocious, while the fighting Gobbler one is probably one of my favorite helmets all-time. I always use it in NCAA 14 for bowl games with all maroon.
I thought these helmets looked like somebody found a box of leftover window decals and thought, "Gee, I bet we could put these on our helmets!".
This.
Anyone willing to research the correlation between the number of "special uniforms" in a season, and the number of losses? And if said losses fell on a special uniform day (looking at you Miami '05)
They got both of our alternate helmets that I actually liked and left out all of the ones that I disliked. (Asside from the tracks. Lord.)