Nike Pro Combat Photo Gallery (Detailed Photos)

Alabama’s is ok, but what were they thinking when they made Miami’s and Virginia Tech’s?

… the gator-skin etching on the Florida helmets did look awesome. It was really very detailed and it looked like it would be something difficult to produce, but it looked great. Again, though, it’s a shame because you cannot see it at all. We didn’t even notice it until we got to hold one of the Florida helmets.

you don’t have a good shot of that crimson/grey undershirt thing do you?

Look at the Pitt guy

in the light shading of the numbers and the glove palms. I was horribly worried that we would end up with houndstooth helmets or some other bastardization of the theme.

I might be the only person on the planet who really likes the VT uni. Everyone ive seen seems to hate it. The only other Uni I like is ours though I guess TCU’s isn’t too bad.

 a lot going on there.

Alabama’s was the worst of the undershirts. It really ruins the color scheme. Do you think the players can just opt now to wear that hideous crap?

Glad we got a close up of the TCU model’s junk. Yecht.

think we should maybe keep that.

They actually did quite a few things, but they were all subtle enough that it doesn’t drastically change the look. Florida’s and Boise’s were pretty good too. A lot of them were fine. The only ones that really struck me as bad were Miami and Va Tech. I didn’t like the Pitt helmet either but the rest of it was fine.

the pants look like they have them pulled up under their armpits. And they look lumpy and very uncomfortable, especially around the beltline.

- Like the jersey material. The stitching looks nice and if that’s piping I like it too. Like the number style and size. The houndstooth is nice and not overdone.

- Not sure about the helmet. In the photo the stripe looks too wide which exaggerates the bubble head look.

- The “A” on the pants looks very nice. Hope we’re the only one with that little detail. Do not like the stripes. They are too wide and too much space between them. Looks like Oklahoma’s. Nothing against Oklahoma.

- The belt on the pants is a big no no. It’s too big. It gives a tackler something to grab and hold on to. If a defender gets his hand on that the runner will not be able to shake or break the tackle. NO NO NO !!!!

are they? I thought those had a darker background, not houndstooth.

They kept the changes minimal, stayed within our traditional look, while giving us something of note with the pants (which I think actually look great). Sitting in the stands… I doubt anyone can really tell much of a difference…. heck, even on tv it’d be tough… you know, until the up close of Ingram, Richardson, Julio, McElroy, Maze, Barron, Dareus all scoring their respective touchdowns vs. Miss. St. Roll Tide.

I know some people expressed that White helmets WOULD have been cool… and I agree given our past with them… but I kinda was hoping for our EAXCT same uni’s as always… just in Matte Crimson/White. Thoughts? I think the Matte Oregon State helmet is pretty cool, and one of Missouri’s was Matte Grey/Black last year and was great.

As far as the other teams… for those that departed normalcy… West Virginia wins it for me overall. Pitt’s not bad too. VT – horrible. Ohio State – Horrible, the number looks stupid and the helmet looks like our practice helmets, pants are ok tho. Miami… yeah, you just deserve those crappy unis.

aside from the point i made above, is summed up very well by paul lucas at uniwatch who calls nike pro combat hullabaloo “corporate lifestyle branding masquerading as team branding, and merchandising masquerading as school spirit.”

lucas, writing for his column on ESPN2, sums it up thusly :

“The usual Uni Watch litmus test — “Is it good or is it stupid?” — doesn’t really apply here, because all these designs are stupid. They have no reason to exist, except as a function of Nike’s hype machine."

which is about as far from what alabama football is that i can imagine. coach saban runs it like a CEO but that’s due to the program’s sheer size not its mindset. and lucas notes that nike folks were most concerned about the reaction to the alabama design. which is why the look is, in the end, the most reasonable of these uniforms.

but the only real advantage we get are any of the technological advances in the design not the aesthetic changes. and it’s not clear that these “breakthrough” features on the uniforms are any different than what the regular uniforms made by nike have. a lot of the players i saw on the field last night seemed to be wearing those distinctive upper-arm-covering undershirts introduced with these pro combat uniforms.

bottom line, alabama’s profile as a program is such that nike needs us in these uniform to sell. so it’s obvious why it was part of the new contract. and that’s 30-plus-million good reasons for us to take part in this charade. but the reason why they need to tinker with the look of the thing to do that is 100% marketing and its disingenuous to pretend otherwise.

that’s not something i’m against per se but its also something i damn well want to be done on our terms not theirs. and don’t piss down our back and tell us it’s raining either.

Those uniforms are extremely ugly. The only thing I like about them are the gloves.