All Systems Almost Go

Alright folks, if you so desire, we are holding a fantasy league for the National Lacrosse League. Registration for week one will close in five days. You can register late without fee, and there is only one game this week. However do be advised that registration at the link below is also free.

NLL Fantasy Box Lacrosse

Also the link to the BNG League is provided below upon the completion of account and team registration.

Eagle Professional Box Lacrosse League

I even attached the article below on who's good and who's not including pre-season value. Just because you don't know league players, don't be discouraged form giving it a try!

Position Rankings

Best of luck!

-Ricky

Nothing But the Stars

Rather late, yes - but I was not going to be home all day (unbeknownst) to me prior to leaving this morning.

But I went to the 2012 NLL All-Star Game in Buffalo at First Niagara Center. The first two of four intriguing new jerseys to appear in the arena Those being  a home and road set for the East and West Divisions respectively. Mine again is a blank.

This is what I made my Bandits prediction on a few weeks ago. Obviously this was made to accommodate the new stitching patterns produced for Reebok jerseys introduced for the 2012 season.

Courtesy of: Buffalo Bandits

Further photos I have stored on my laptop will be posted during this coming year's all-star game - Tuesday the 28 of February. Not there has been no game announced, but there are three days between weeks 8 and nine. I took the photos when shopping for mine.

That's it. A surprise comes tomorrow, another last minute decision on what I will feature.

-Ricky

A Dynasty Revisited

The forthcoming jersey signifies one of the greatest franchise eras in NLL history. During the original run, Buff McCready resigned after three losses in the Bandits first three games ever in franchise history. Les Bartley was asked to  step in after being the team's scout. This would begin a milestone that will likely be untouched.

This move began a 22 game win streak including two consecutive championships in 1992 and 1993. Seasons today are twice as long (16 games from eight) and a team sometimes got a first round bye whereas there are always three playoff games won by a championship team.

Les Bartley would see the final year of the original jersey and final year at the Memorial Auditorium end with a third ring (over Philadelphia, again). This is where a transition began moving from "the Aud" down the street to (then) Marine Midland Arena. They would make the championship game in 1997, but saw a change in coaching the following year as Bartley and Jim Veltman were picked up by the Ontario Raiders who moved to Toronto the following year (1999) and continued Bartley's Hall of Fame career. In the year of Bartley's departure was the last non-playoff year for Buffalo. But since then, the Bandits have made it  back to the Champions Cup game in '04 and '06 before getting the ring in '08 (which so evidently was the last dressed game for HoF goalie Dallas Eliuk before retiring).

Then came along 2011, the 20th season. The retro jerseys were unveiled in an open practice am month before (December 2011). These were worne for the season operner which was at home against Toronto. The Bandits would win 15-14.

Diagonals were common for the (then) Major Indoor Lacrosse League (MILL). The Baltimore Thunder (now Colorado Mammoth) and New York Saints (now defunct) also used the same design except the difference in color. It also has the original logo, which was only to be succeeded by the current one do far. It is almost identical to those of the original as Reebok was not in the indoor lacrosse industry at that time. No matter, it was great to see these brought back!

-Ricky

Changing My Mind

Okay, so those jereseys will come next week. Instead, a little diddy I forgot about. I'm bringing my NLL collection in for show and tell the next three days starting today.

The Third Jersey

The above is the first ever alternate in team history, only for the 2008-2010 seasons. This was the only one other than and preceding the retro jersey. As typical of me, most of any jersey I have is a blank. actually the font is rather ugly. Superimposing your clubs logo doesn't seem logical, but the Bandits made it work! The main reason being the change of bandanna from gray to orange and no nose or cheek outline. The positive about the numbers - it hides some of the black on the back. That even though the font was gray with a white outline.

Tomorrow, the aforementioned retro jersey.

-Ricky

Finally Finished (Whew)!

BNG is back on board! we have been caught up and now we can celebrate. For that, I am not putting up concepts. Also, I will have four ready tomorrow all for men's high school as my alma mater St. Mary's of Lancaster, NY is participating in a Rival public school's holiday tournament for the 7th straight year.  We'll have a tournament of our own and see who wins.

-Ricky

Backgrounds and Tweets

You will notice an addition to the Twitter background of the blogs account. That in addition to returning ours to normal.

The wonders of Paint.net can be very beneficial in learning how to use these features. Fortunately I had used the two primary features many, many times.

On behalf of the BNG staff, we would like to send our warmest regards on this day of celebration. Seasons greetings - Happy Boxing Day and Happy Kwanzaa!

-Ricky

The Spirit of Christmas

This wasn't sent into us, but I wanted to feature it anyway.

Joey Abreau sent this in to HJC, and Steven Grant at SG-94 had posted his regularly scheduled post at HJC on his own blog due to the temporary shutdown of the HJC URL.

I wanted to share with you the following picture . . .

and video as well . . .

Bob Lyons of Florida does this on the side and is very well known in the American Southeast. check out his YouTube page and see if he has any new videos!

On behalf of the BNG staff, we would like to wish everyone a very joyful holiday celebration full of good cheer. Seasons greetings and Merry Christmas!

-Ricky

'Tis the Season, Fa La La La La La LaFontaine!

To understand the reference  please watch the 23 second video below. An ode to newly inducted Hockey Hall of Fame member and Sabres play-by-play man Rick Jeanneret. An extension of the general "LaLa"calls.

Hope you like the tidings of the Twitter feed showing activity yesterday evening in addition to the temporary holiday decor.

The above will appear for those who may have missed the change in scenery during these posts. The changes began effective midnight EST on 24 DEC 2012.

Those of you who are festively celebrating, all the best warm wishes from the staff at Buffalo Nickel Graphics!

-Ricky

R.I.P. HJC?

Ryan Haslett at Hockey Jersey Concepts has been experiencing advanced problems to what we've been dealing with at BNG. The blog has been deleted, he can eventually reopen the blog with the same domain only if Blogger is able to correct his situation. On behalf of BNG and our other readers and HJC contributors, we wish him well in his quest to overcome this unfortunate occurence. No posting of images today.

-Ricky

My Christmas Signature

As the holidays draw nearer in the United States, I decided to get my signature decorated as I usually try to for each holiday (American or else-wise that I recognize in relation to me). so I was able to give it a go.

I figure that it cheers up the regular (and occasional visitors) to my personal Facebook page. It also gives me reason to update it before and after the fact as I have begun to want to change it less and less outside of a holiday celebration. But it is just another way to keep me busy outside of this blog.

Seasons greetings!

-Ricky

"And I Feel Fine!"

Today is the Winter Solstice, shortest day of the year and a Friday. But what they say is the most notable -today is the Apocalypse. The lyric of the above blog post title is what REM vocalist Michael Stipes said after "It's the end of the word (as we know it)" with the song title of the same name.

Photo credit: eBaum's World

Here are my theories on the matter based on pre-known facts and figures:


"As I study such phenomina, I have things to say. Anyone who is so interested must understand a few things . . . :

A) The Mayan Long Calendar stated that 21 DEC 2012 was the end of a 5,125 year cycle and didn't show the new cycle because they thought they'd die off before the next cycle.

B) From a theological perspective, it would have occurred ffour years ago, seing as Herod died in the 4 BC, so if the baby Jesus was born before his death, the year would be 4 BC ergo the current calendar year is 2016 soon to be '17.

C) The idea was that it would occur around not necessarily on this date.

D) If an object were to collide with the earth, it could be a "near-miss" non-collision.

E) Back to theology . . . a rapture would occur, thus ascending those worthy souls directly to the heavens.

For the record - the specific time would have been 12 AM GMT (-6 EST)

These are just a few of my solutions."

Then the following comment was made followed by my response.

"Also, don't forget that the concept of a leap year did not exist for the Mayans as well so even if everything

else stayed constant, this "end" should have occurred months ago."

"And the Julian calandar had a leap year every 4 years but with seven possible days for a leap year, so it

could be off 28 years"

Thus I rest my case.

-Ricky

Tweetless in Seattle

No I'm not anywhere near the aforementioned city, but It is regarding our Twitter account at BNG. There are no hackers or bugs, but I have not been at the account page logged in. It's been over two months not intentionally ignoring you of course, but the problems here are more important than Twitter. However I came to a realization I made to not providing updates in a much faster manner such as Twitter - a social network I actually cannot stand,. In fact I hate social media in it's entirety  although I also realize the majority of the world community depends on it so much so that I am trying to blend in.

I will be attempting to get on again before the days of the holidays. So never worry, never fear - BNG will soon be here (on Twitter again)!

-Ricky

Quarter to Two

Yes an unusual posting time as I leave for going back home from school at Springfield College. I don't have anything for you except one thing.

The video here is the first and only on Chris Creamer of SportsLogos.com YouTube channel.

Anyway, enjoy your easy BNG day!

-Ricky

Optical Illusions

I was thinking if I should do something with the zubaz bicoloerd template.Instead, I found an optical illusion.

You may see either a Bengal tiger's stripes, a zubaz pattern or both. Or if you stare at it long enough, you may see the image begin to move.

-Ricky

Reality Check

Today is a free day, but for you guys to write comments and create concepts for us to display. You can e-mail concepts to us at bngraphics 2012@aol.com or you can Facebook or Tweet to us by clicking on our page links below the header.

That is why the font is larger than normal for posting. This blog is for you so people can see your great work. My concepts are merely ideas for you to use. I am not the best designer out there, which is why you can visit everyone on the "Friends of BNG" tab below the header as they too can help you in an attempt to make the perfect concepts!

I give everyone my best regards to your successes!

-Ricky

Bandits New and Old

Yes Banditland, the new unis are here! This video (Buffalo Bandits on YouTube) will explain it a lot quicker and better than if it's typed out.

I also have stills courtesy of the Official Buffalo Bandits Twitter account.

It looks like I missed out on a bit compared to the Rock's retro jersey. Particularly the faint Bandit "B"s in the striped side panels. There is more that I don't like in the design than I do. However all good things must come to an end. And besides which, what I don't like is relatively minor . . . according to the video, the Bandits "stole" the Isles "championship stripes" except it is a more subtle detail. The can be found in purple on the collar front.

-Ricky

Boise State Broncos and Syracuse Silver Knights

Have you ever personally seen the blue turf at Boise State University's football field? I haven't but it is sure a staple whenever their home games are televised. What if they did that for indoor arena turf?

I'm a fan of the Syracuse Silver Knights of the MISL (2009-present). The team is a midst its second season and plays at the War Memorial at Oncenter downtown. I'd be a Rochester Lancers fan, but the Knighthawks and Buffalo Bandits rivalry in the NLL and the Red Wings versus Buffalo Bisons (IL-AAA-MiLB) has ensured that I will not root for any team in Rochester(, NY). I root for the Americans (Amerks) as they are the AHL affiliate of the Sabres but didn't root the few years the Sabres were in Portland(, ME).

Since the other defunct favorites of mine aren't around, I stuck to the relevance of the Silver Knights in my fanhood. They became the target for my experiment.

Generally I would also have one for indoor lacrosse, however there are only three major markings on the field plus five dots and the goal lines and creases. So we stuck with this.

-Ricky

Crunching Force

I found a goldmine when I was going through my Facebook fed and a few jerseys showed up on a former pro indoor soccer goalie's page (personal friend Otto Orf). Here are my findings.

What a blast from the past these are. Just some thought for the day.

-Ricky

Voyaging Sound

The following items were done last month. Both were for an HJC contest and both weren't entered. The Seattle one was but disqualified for looking too generic and the Voyageurs never got finished to my liking at that time.

It was probably best this way. This was only the opening stage anyway. I was trying to be original with the Voyageurs and that's exactly what I got and hopefully it will soon be revisited.

-Ricky

Rock-ing Around the Christmas Tree

This is pretty much what I had in the mock guess I made on Saturday. Accuracy is pinpoint from my perspective.

Courtesy of: Toronto Rock

Courtesy of: Rock shop

There are two games in which these will be worn.  Those are the home opener on January 19th against the Wings (PHI) and against the Mammoth (COL) on Friday, March 8th to be auctioned off for charity.

-Ricky

11 Pipers Piping

The "11th Day of Christmas" gives you a lovely day off. Have fun today!

-Ricky

HJC Sample

*** This post never actually was published.
This was my submission to write for Hockey Jersey Concepts on 29 SEPT 2012.***

Friday of Fame

I am going to inform everyone that tonight is the last chance to vote in this weeks polls with the following reminders:

COTW April 15-21 vote (ends tonight @ 11:59pm EST)

1st Quarter vote - COTY (ends tonight @ 11:59pm EST)

NYR Untouchables Top 5 vote (ends tonight @ 11:59pm EST)

Now that the important stuff is accounted for, let's talk hockey jerseys . . .

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Quick Hits:

Canisius College Golden Griffins (Bobby P.)

Niagara University Purple Eagles (Bobby P.)

Phoenix Coyotes (Mike S.)

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Springfield Falcons(Andrew G.)

The concept in general seems to be very typical, but Andrew gives us the addition of the silver to the logo in place of the navy blue without completely removing it from the branding. I feel this changes the dynamic of the jerseys completely. The recolored alternate logo as a nice touch at the lower end of the sleeve. This really ties in very well with the Jackets as proven by the NOB and numbering. All of these factors combined, I see an 8/10.

Brampton Battalion

This one just cannot grab me completely. The logo appears to be very bland for a primary logo and the branding takes away relevant color (what Brampton has now) which is already hurting. I understand the reasoning behind everything, but it's a tough concept to grasp overall. If not for execution saving this concept (with a good effort to boot), I unfortunately believe this would be good material similar to a "black ice" or other similar promotions. That means making revenue, which adds value to the concept. A 7/10 is in order here.

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I am also going to present my profile card. As I continue to make my submissions for you to review.

There is a quote that I would have liked to put on it that would actually have been a revised one spoken by Phil Jackson (replace basketball for hockey to get it). There's more to life than hockey, and there is more to hockey than hockey.

-Ricky

"There Shall Be No Banditry Here"

I have both my home and road set for the Buffalo Bandits of the NLL, as promised yesterday. I am not sure that its very close but there are some things that will be featured on the actual jerseys.

Home

Road

These are primarily based on last years all star game, which they hosted. However there are still some traditional aspect to the concepts too.

-Ricky

Seasons Greetings and a Happy New NLL Season!

Today, I would like to spend the first part of the blog to wishes our best wishes to all of our friends celebrating Hanukkah festivities over the next week or so. The holiday begins at sundown tonight.

In the mean time were five weeks away from lacrosse time! That mean's it is time to start rolling out the new jerseys. The Toronto Rock are expecting a retro third jersey and the Buffalo Bandits are getting a complete (kind-of) jersey makeover. The Bandits will show one week from today at the second and final open practice, whereas the Rock will show on Tuesday. Expect pictures for posting the day after each. Today I will guess what the Rock May feature, and the Bandits the same tomorrow.

There are four to eight games allowed to wear an alternate jersey in the NLL. The potential schedule for those will follow the concept.

Sat 12 JAN 2013 @ Calgary Roughnecks-CGY

Sat 19 JAN 2013 vs. Philadelphia Wings-PHI

Sat 26 JAN 2013 @ Rochester Knighthawks-ROC

Sat 2 FEB 2013 @ Buffalo Bandits-BUF

Thurs 28 FEB 2013 vs. Buffalo Bandits-BUF

Fri 8 MAR 2013 vs. Colorado Mammoth-COL

Sat 16 MAR 2013 @ Philadelphia Wings-PHI

Sat 30 MAR 2013 vs. Rochester Knighthawks-ROC

The games are with a purpose, In this case, it would work out with four home and road games. The Rock have played all teams above with the original jersey (c. 1999). The fact that BUF, ROC, and PHI are in the division, this trumps playing against a "new" team home or away. Use in CGY is because of the fact that COL only play the Rock once which happens to be in Toronto and therefore worn in CGY only. COL, even though they haven't played the Rock with these, they were in Baltimore (1999) and Pittsburgh (2000) before the second generation of Rock jerseys cam into place against the Washington Power (2001-02).

Well, tomorrow's unveiling of my Bandits concept is now officially underway.

-Ricky

Travel Day

I saved the Road for last on purpose, because it is not white and ending on white would be boring. Ending on the b.p. jersey wouldn't be idea either because they aren't "
game worn."

We discussed the back issue the other day. But lets talk about the pants. Remember the Indians' uniforms from 73? Well mid season, they ditched the pants due to being ridiculed by the general public. This is why the pants for the concept are the darker shade from the logo rather than the jersey.

Image: Bleacher Report

Also, the belt and stirrup socks are blue to first incorporate that color and to prevent the baggy legged pants from being used (they are a safety hazard and should not be used unless they are cuffed to the inside of the pant leg).

I only have one thing to say, be excited for tomorrow!

-Ricky

The Homestand

This is day three of the "Baseball Beginnings" series. I feel that this aspect of a baseball uniform set will never change, that being that home uniforms will always be white with minimal color. However I would not like to see the MLB switch home and road jersey colors like the NHL and NFL - especially with Selig still in charge.

It makes absolutely zero sense of logic. We kind of had this discussion on a previous post. Colors (except for alternates) are for the road. That is how it should be. I have no idea why the NHL changed this in the mid-2000s, but it's still dumb to me. I also would like to know when the NFL started to do this. The one team I know that should be wearing their white jerseys at home - the Indianapolis colts. I feel that it pretty much defines the franchise. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers so I wont debate the matter anymore right now.

-Ricky

Beginnings for Big Innings

Some of a teams best games have resulted because of wearing an alternate uniform, heck the A's always seem better when wearing theirs. But the Angels are the Angels.

As we get to the real jerseys in this set I have one thing to explain. There will be no numbering or names on the backs of the remaining jerseys. Unlike yesterday's batting practice jersey, which does not need a number necessarily, I want to keep my options open if I make changes to this particular concept series. For the record, read the post on Friday to understand why this jersey is gray.

-Ricky

Baseball Beginnings

Today begins concepts for baseball specific uniforms. However it is very subtle since we are actually starting a series of four that commences with a batting practice uniform. Staying true to my clubs, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim would be a good start for me.

You see that this focuses more on the hardly used navy and dark red in the color scheme. The stirrup socks do have a purpose - which will be explained on Friday. Until then, we will propose an actual set to be intended for use.

-Ricky

Easy as 1-2-3

Yes today is the 3rd of December, yes I am not putting up very much content if any today. I just wanted to renovate an old concept. I took everything from it and had it bundled. There are both execution errors and style changes that have been tinkered with.

HJC had an AHL rebrand concept in which I had chosen to go to the Pittsburgh affiliate. Personally, I would have the location as its AAA-IL counterpart Scranton Wilkes-Barre Rail Riders of Minor League Baseball.  But the arms on the home shoulder lose the stripes as they were removed from the logo and the back of the road is now black changed from white including white inner outlining of the numbers instead of the gold thus changing the name on back from red to white. I did however retain the striping across the face of the jersey behind the logo.

Tomorrow begins a first for BNG along the lines of the use of baseball uniforms!

-Ricky

Visiting: Twitter

Hey, check out our twitter page! There are a couple ways you can do this. First you can visit by way of clicking the Twitter tab below the header on this page. Or you can type "Buffalo Nickel Graphics" into a search engine like Bing, Yahoo, or Google. When you see the below background image, you know you've found it!

-Ricky

Visiting: Facebook

Hey, check out our Facebook page! There are a couple ways you can do this. First you can visit by way of clicking the Facebook tab below the header on this page. Or you can type "Buffalo Nickel Graphics" into a search engine like Bing, Yahoo, or Google. When you see the below image, you know you've found it!

-Ricky

Better Than the Infamous and Unused Blues Jersey?

I didn't mind that jersey from 1996 that was never worn, as a matter of fact not only do I like it, I don't know why so many people had an issue with it and/or what's so bad about it. Comment's are welcome at the blog's e-mail address (bngraphics2012@aol.com). Anyway, I hope the mask is as good as I first thought it was.

I wanted to originally combine past and present, which wound up not happening as the only present items are a revamped script to accommodate the rest of the mask and the current alternate logo on the back panel. If I didn't have to shrink the blue notes, it would look decent, but that does seem to take away from the concept.

Tomorrow is Saturday and the first of December.  We also prepare to begin the eighth month of this blog's operation. As we prepare for changes, possibly some for the new year, we ask for your suggestions of what you have liked (or not liked) about what you have seen here at BNG so far.

-Ricky