The CCHA has decided to switch to wearing dark uniforms at home: http://ccha.com/release.asp?RELEASE_ID=439
They will continue to follow the usual home white/road dark procedure for non-conf games except for home games when they get approval of the visiting team. Since we don't have any road games at CCHA rinks this year, the change won't affect us at all. But I'm all for the change and would love to see the ECAC follow suit.
(Just thought I'd pass on some news and deflect a little bit of the ticket wars flame towards me :-D )
I dunno; I kinda like the white jerseys more than the red ones for us.
I like the red unis better and would enjoy seeing them as the home seed unis at Albany. Doesn't matter to ordinarily crumudgeonly me.
I think it's silly to require the home team to wear one or the other. Let them decide individually what they want to do, like in the NFL.
I like the white uniforms better. I just think they look better than the red ones. Maybe because I've seen some 50 or so games in white and 3 games in red, so I've gotten used to the white ones. Although, when I finally save up enough to purchase a jersey for myself, it'll likely be the red one.
CCHA has run itself into a troublesome spot. The point of having light at home and dark while away uniforms is that there is fast and easy identification for all players durring the game to tell which team is which and insure that there are no fights over who gets to wear what color (for example, RPI v. Cornell, or St. L-U v. Cornell. BU v. Cornell would all be very annoying if there was disagreement over who got to be red). Also, the team with the light uniform (for example, Cornell in the post season) is the home team, even if not technically at home: the team with the last line change rights, first on the ice, last of the ice, etc. rights for the home team which are all carefully laid out in NCAA rules. It is easy to remember these things as it becomes second nature for players, coaches and the crowd to figure it out.
Anyway, almost every team in the ECAC has the same lack of their primary color at home. At Lynah, the crowd wearing red and the players wearing mostly white doesnt matter, they know which rink they are in and who their supporters are. But when we are away, our players wear red and so do are fans. It becomes a powerful showing of the Lynah Faithful to our team and our oposition.
That said, I do eventually wanna buy a red jersey. Where does one get those offical uniforms?
QuoteBen Rocky '04 wrote:
CCHA has run itself into a troublesome spot. The point of having light at home and dark while away uniforms is that there is fast and easy identification for all players durring the game to tell which team is which and insure that there are no fights over who gets to wear what color...
Huh?
For years college (and pro) hockey teams wore their "color" at home and white on the road. It truly was not "troublesome" in the slightest. There were no "fights over who got to wear what color." The Cornell football team has worn red at home for a zillion years, and I don't recall any confusion (at least not over color; over other things, confusion aplenty) as a result. ::help::
IIRC, Cornell won two NCAA hockey championships wearing their "home" reds.
I also think college educated players and fans are capable of figuring out which team they are playing with/rooting for whether the team is in dark or light colors. The coaches and, more importantly, the refs should be able to figure out who to give last change to, regardless of color.
The only way there would be the kind of confusion/fights that Ben suggests would be if they allowed both team to wear whatever color they want. Now that would be interesting...
Ben should definitely not go to Michigan games, just in case they decide to wear their Maize jerseys (which they would sometimes wear regardless of home/away technicalities). Or were those outlawed?
QuoteKeith K '93 wrote:
Ben should definitely not go to Michigan games, just in case they decide to wear their Maize jerseys (which they would sometimes wear regardless of home/away technicalities). Or were those outlawed?
By the fashion police, one would hope. ::yark::
Al and Keith should just not sit near ben.
Sorry, I'm a traditionalist.
White=home
Red=Away
Full stop.
JH
QuoteJeff Hopkins '82 wrote:
Sorry, I'm a traditionalist.
White=home
Red=Away
Full stop.
JH
Well, 'traditionalist' is a bit of a misnomer here, since it sounds like red=home preceded white=home for a good number of years (at least as late as 1970 it seems, according to Al). So, there are two traditions, I guess, the 'original' one and the one that's been in effect for, what, twenty years or so? I don't know, someone please clarify for me. In any case, I agree with you, Jeff, though for a different reason.
QuoteOne of the guys who got revenge on Volonnino wrote:
QuoteJeff Hopkins '82 wrote:
Sorry, I'm a traditionalist.
White=home
Red=Away
Full stop.
JH
Well, 'traditionalist' is a bit of a misnomer here, since it sounds like red=home preceded white=home for a good number of years (at least as late as 1970 it seems, according to Al).
I understand where Jeff's coming from, because I felt the same way when the shift from "traditional" red to white was made for the home unis. You're comfortable with what you were weaned on, be it linguine or corned-beef-and-cabbage.
So--for me, the ultimate "traditionalist"--a change back would be welcome. Also, it just makes little sense to me for the other guy to wear "his" colors in 'your" rink. But again, that's how I was brought up in my formative college hockey years.
Certainly Cornell wore red at home in 69-70 (see any picture of the NCAA championship game win to see what the "home" team wore). I'm pretty sure they wore red winning the ECACs as top-seed in 1973, but I could be mistaken. In Bob Kane's
Good Sports, there's a picture of a 1975 game at Lynah with Cornell in white, so the change was made sometime in the early 70's.
Oh gosh...what next....will the ECAC elect to go shirts and skins?
QuoteAdam '01 wrote:
Oh gosh...what next....will the ECAC elect to go shirts and skins?
Well, it would get more people to show up for the women's games... :-P
QuoteBen Rocky '04 wrote:
Also, the team with the light uniform (for example, Cornell in the post season) is the home team, even if not technically at home: the team with the last line change rights, first on the ice, last of the ice, etc. rights for the home team which are all carefully laid out in NCAA rules.
That's a pretty good point, especially given the quality of ECAC refs, but I still think I favor wearing your colors at home, especially when half of the teams in the ECAC are somehow identified by a color (Big Red, Big Green, Crimson, Red Raiders, Golden Knights... you get the point). It always seemed strange to chant "Let's Go Red!" when Cornell was wearing white and hosting a team wearing red jerseys (like BU last year).
The NHL is bringing back the colors-at-home approach for this season, and I'm all for that, so I'd like to see it in the ECAC.
I still prefer the whites. They just look sharper.
Well, if you want to talk "tradition" I guess you need to define what sport you're talking about. Baseball has always been "home whites, road grays" dating back to the 1800s. Recently, Sunday "color" softball-style jerseys have started being worn, but the majority of the unis are still "home whites, road grays." I'm not well versed enough in the history of NFL/NHL/NBA jersey traditions to know anything about changes, but I've heard that the main reason home teams in the NFL wear dark jerseys are because the darker colors absorb more of the sun's radiation and keep the players warmer when the weather turns colder...actually important in northern open stadiums in Green Bay, Buffalo, Pittsburgh, New England, etc.
The NHL is changing to color at home for no other reason than to sell more merchandise, IMO (similar to the 3rd jersey phenomenon). As far as I know, the NHL has almost always been white at home. As has the NBA, for all I know.
Another thing to consider is the Cornell study that came out in the past 15 years that found that teams wearing dark colors became more aggressive. Whether or not you believe that or not, you can make your own decision on where you'd like to exact that "advantage."
http://www.joeclark.org/basicblack.html
I was under the impression that in the really old days the NHL used colored jerseys at home. The nickname "Broadway Blues" makes a little more sense if the Rangers were wearing blue when they played on Broadway. I could be wrong though.
I strongly dislike the softball jerseys being worn in MLB now (and pray that my team never starts wearing them). But this fad is better than the horrid uni's of the '70s and hopefully will go away like those abominations did (e.g. the black unis in Chicago, with and without shorts, or the McUniforms instituted by Ray Kroc in San Diego).
QuoteKeith K '93 wrote:
I was under the impression that in the really old days the NHL used colored jerseys at home.
"Really old days" is a relative term, Keith, I suppose.;-)
Certainly through sometime in the 70s NHL teams wore their "colors" at home, just as college hockey teams did. I frankly don't recall what caused the change to wearing white at home--for all I know it could have been to promote merchandise sales then as well.
It's folly to debate which uni looks better--sort of like arguing whether 'Vettes look better in red or silver. To each his or her own. But to cite "tradition" for keeping the home unis white just doesn't work.
or not...they're nice girls and all but... ::yark::
The NHL changed from home colors to home whites for the '70-'71 season. I attended the Canadiens home opener that year against Ned's red-clad Wings. Since then, there was at least one half season when they switched back just for variety, and in recent years they have allowed home teams to occasionally where the darks at home as well as 3rd uniforms - although I'm not sure what the approval process or limitations have been for that.
Personally, I don't care which way it is. Either way, we'll be cheering "Let's Go Red!"
An SID (Sports Information Director) told me 25 or so years ago that the decision to wear white at home was that so the fans could get to see the "colors" of the opposing team's school. I guess it's as good an explanation as any. I must admit that in last year's Ohio State game with the "away team" wearing their "greys", it did get hard for these older eyes to tell the players apart!!
It doesn't matter whether Cornell wears their white or red jerseys. They have been, are still, and always will be "THE BIG RED"
Larry '72
QuoteLarry Baum wrote:
It doesn't matter whether Cornell wears their white or red jerseys. They have been, are still, and always will be "THE BIG RED"
The one and only. Despite what Nebraskans would have people believe. I only refer to their school's nickname as the Cornhuskers, or their original name, the Bugeaters.
QuoteRich H '96 wrote:
QuoteLarry Baum wrote:
It doesn't matter whether Cornell wears their white or red jerseys. They have been, are still, and always will be "THE BIG RED"
The one and only. Despite what Nebraskans would have people believe. I only refer to their school's nickname as the Cornhuskers, or their original name, the Bugeaters.
The University of Nebraska (presumedly at Lincoln) was founded in 1869. Our school has a four-year head start on them. :-P Of course, I have no idea when the term "Big Red" started being associated with each school's athletics program.