Uniform Nerds Unite!

For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a uniform design nerd. Growing up, despite my obvious lack of artistic talent, I used to make these Broncos game recaps, where I would draw Broncos logo and their week’s opponent’s logos. Then I would cut out photos from the game recap in the paper and paste the photos onto my recap sheet.

In high school, I started to compile an NFL uniform history using Paint Shop Pro shareware. I created my own uniform template and researched as much as I could. I pulled out old football cards, recorded NFL’s greatest moments on ESPN and bought a book of Topps NFL cards from the 60’s to the 80’s.

Then I got on the internet and quickly found out that I wasn’t alone. And that there were people that we as crazy as I was for this stuff (if not more) and much more artistically talented.

Anyway, here are my favorite hockey related uniform sites:

Avalanche specific sites

Eddie's Jersey Room

Awesome photos of game worn / used Colorado Avalanche jerseys throughout the years.

Avalanche Database

Just a ton of Avs information here. Two of my favorites pages relegated to uniform nerdiness are:

• History of Avs goalie mask designs
• History of Avs jersey numbers

Hockey specific sites

Icethetics

NHL uniform design news. This will be the site to watch for credible information on any leeks about all upcoming new 3rd jerseys for 2009-10, including the rumored Avs 3rd. Current hot topics include a Panthers logo tweak and Free Agent number changes.

NHL Uniforms

Quite simply, a truly amazing comprehensive history of all NHL uniforms.

• Avs page:

PuckDrawn

Primarily, a blog of extremely well done and professional looking hockey concepts, going beyond the usual, “here’s my concept for my favorite team”. Cool stuff like what would the Thrashers or Hurricanes look like if they were around in the 80s? (Too bad the Avs weren’t included in this series.)

NHL Patches

As you can imagine, a history of all patches worn on NHL jerseys.

• Avs page

Third String Goalie

A blog by Spyboy1, who has gigantic collection of hockey jerseys. Features a new jersey just about every day. So far there have been a couple of Avs jerseys featured.

General sites (that feature hockey)

http://sportslogos.net/

http://boards.sportslogos.net/

http://www.uniwatchblog.com/