Oh Honey, No… a Bucky’s 5th Quarter Fashion Blog: Green Bay

This is a special fashion review for me, as Green Bay is my alma mater. Fun factoid, when I was at school in Green Bay, the school athletics originally went by University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, or UW-Green Bay, if ya nasty.

Near the end of my time on campus, the school wanted to separate itself from the UW System athletically and dropped the ‘UW’ from its name and just went with Green Bay. However, the school itself still goes by University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

Another fun fact is that the school nickname of ‘Phoenix’ is singular, because the mythical bird by the same name is the only one of its kind.

Now that we have the fun facts out of the way, it’s time to do the fashion.

As a reminder, we will be rating the opposing threads on a scale of oh honey, no, to YAASS QUEEN.

Oh honey, no: Obviously, this is the worst rating. If I must explain this to you, you’re probably wearing socks with sandals right now, or a brown belt with black pants, either way, oh honey, no.

Ewww: Nice try, but no.

Werk it: You brought it.

YAASS QUEEN: Best of the best. Your proverbial milkshake brings all the proverbial boys to the yard.

School: Green Bay

Mascot: Phoenix

Color Scheme: White and Green

Official Brand Sponsor: Adidas

Home uniform:

Green Bay’s home uniform is the standard white uniform with ‘Green Bay’ across the chest in black and green. Their numbers have a similar design as the lettering, with the number in black, outlined in green.

The look is not a far departure from the Boston Celtic’s timeless uniforms.

This uniform is alright, but its not as sick as their 2018-19 campaign.

Their previous look is very similar to the one they are wearing on the court this season, but the trim along the side of the uniform really pulls the entire uniform together.

However the uniforms I loved most of theirs were worn back in the days of Keifer Sykes.

The ‘Green Bay,’ across the chest is not block lettering, which is always a plus and I like how the words are completely outlined and you cannot see the white of the uniform between the letters.

Uniform score:

Werk it

Away uniform:

When playing on the road, the Phoenix wears green uniforms with white accents. The letters and numbers of the uniform are grey with white outlines. Other than the player’s last name. That text is solid white.

I like the accent on the shorts, two lines that go around the bottom of the short leg, with the line coming to a point on both sides of the shorts. While its a subtle accent, it is a solid addition.

When I first set out to score these uniforms, my first impression was that they were drab and kind of basic, but the more I look at that, the more I like them.

Away uniform score:

Werk it

Alternate Uniform:

Last season, Green Bay used an alternate uniform that was black, with just ‘GB” on the front of the uniform.

The black background behind the green ‘GB’ is just blah...

Their previous alternate black uniforms, featured in the Keifer Sykes vid above, were much better.

It is unclear on whether or not the Phoenix will be wearing alternate threads this season.

Uniform Score:

Ewww

Why Your Mascot Sucks

Phlash the Phoenix

Phlash the Phoenix has been the school mascot since the 1970s and was originally known as Phred. You have to admire their penchant for using ‘Ph’ to start the name, to match Phoenix. (Editor’s note: the Phillie Phanatic, the greatest mascot in sports, approves.)

Phlash has grown quite a bit over the years and morphed into the Phoenix you see today.

Caution. Keep away from open flame.

In the late 1990’s to early 2000’s Phlash was, potentially nightmare fuel, depending on who you were...

Shudders...

With the athletics program rebranding that occurred in 2007, which we’ll go over below, Phlash saw another metamorphosis.

This was quite the improvement over the nightmare fuel that preceded it. Phlash jumped into the 21st Century and became a mascot worthy of the school’s rebrand.

The most recent time Phlash rose from the ashes, he got a slight makeover with darker feathers and a bushier plumage of feathers below his head.

The change wasn’t exactly for the better, as I feel like his head lost the detail that it had previously. But, dat plumage tho.

A couple months ago, the school introduced a new Phlash caricature, which was designed by UWGB 2020 grad, Katie Stephenson.

The new rendering is an updated caricature of Phlash, as the new athletics logo no longer features the school’s bird. The look is smooth and Phlash is jacked.

The new caricature has been used to promote mask wearing during the pandemic.

Rebranding

As I mentioned earlier, while I was going to UWGB the school made a change from UW-Green Bay to Green Bay, thus prompting a change in logo which I, a member of the student body, got to vote on!

The school athletics department moved away from the above logo, which still remains the school’s academic logo. That’s right: one school, two logos.

Following the vote, the school logo rose from the ashes...

The new logo, which was introduced in 2007 was a more modern twist on the Phoenix and looked more like the infamous bird, rising from the ashes, in a fiery blaze.

Green Bay recently updated its logo once, to the interlocking G and B logo.

In a statement released in 2018, Charlie Guthrie, the school’s athletic director said:

“It’s not uncommon for intercollegiate athletic programs to refresh their brand from time to time, and we felt now was the time to rejuvenate Green Bay’s athletic word and number marks.

The new additions provide us a cutting-edge look and will deliver consistency across our various channels in representing the Phoenix. We’re delighted to unveil this exciting venture to the campus and Green Bay community.”

While I agree that it is a clean logo, I disagree that it is cutting edge... the school’s previous Phoenix logo was far superior, as I don’t think the ‘GB’ logo isn’t enough and the school’s mascot worked into the logo would make it a stronger brand.