When attempting to design new allCanes Original tees, hundreds of ideas cross our desks before finding the right one and going through the legwork to submit and get approval.
Back in the 80s, the Wild West of collegiate apparel, there really were no rules as long as everything was done in good taste. Since then, the Collegiate Licensing Committee (CLC) and universities need to give their stamp of approval and should a rival be used or mentioned, they need to green-light it as well.
(You can imagine how many Nole-, Gator- and Irish-related ideas we’ve had in the past, only to have each respective university tell us politely to shove it.)
The latest design we’ve worked on is “Keep Calm And Cane On”, a play on the ever popular “Keep Calm And Carry On” phrase seen everywhere these days, most-notably TheChive.com, where official “Keep Calm And Chive On” shirts can’t stay in stock for more than a day. (Chive On, Chivers and Chivettes!)
Before going to print with this new design, we’re changing the process here. In the past we’d create a shirt, throw it on shelves, or our website and there’d be tremendous supply before we knew if there was any demand.
This time around, we’re following the way of the Chive and we’re going to print off demand.
Show that there’s a market for this tee and we’ll start printing them off. We’ll start with a high-grade black tee and if that does well, we’ll release a limited edition “Keep Calm And Cane On” tee in orange.
How do you help spread the word? Start by “liking” or “retweeting” this article and head over to our official allCanes Facebook page where we’ve posted a picture that you can share in effort to build some hype.
It’s been a rough run the past few years, U Family. This shirt was created as a reminder to trust “the process” that Al Golden and his staff are instilling. Keep Calm And Cane On.
Right now it really is the only way.
(UPDATE : Pre-orders for “Keep Calm and Cane On” are going on now. Small batch has been ordered so get on it. Click here to place your order. Shirts will be in stock middle of next week before the home game against NC State.)
I would buy it
Great idea printing this shirt on demand as I think it’s a terrible idea. There is no connection what so ever with UM and the London blitz of WW2 and ‘cane on’ reminds me of punishment one gets in Singapore for doing something naughty. I realize cane and cain is spelt different.. Doesn’t matter. I’m a big fan of all canes and the blog and as alumn I would have to say keep this shirt on demand only!
Carlos – Your knowledge on the actual meaning of “Keep Calm and Carry On” shows you know your history, but also might put you out of the demographic for this shirt. Dozens upon dozens of variations of “Keep Calm and (BLANK) On” have been done over the past few years. It’s become a trendy thing and very popular. A quick Google shirt brought back the following:
Keep Calm and Eat Cupcakes
Keep Calm and Have Dessert
Keep Calm and Curry On
Keep Calm and Aim For The Head
Keep Calm and Trust Jesus
I could go on all day.
The most popular is Keep Calm and Chive On, from TheChive.com – a very popular, humorous website.
Respect to your point about “Cain On” but a safe bet that 99.9% of our fan base won’t think of that when they see the shirt. Respect to your knowledge of world history, but I think you’re missing the point.
As for the shirt, it’s not being done “on demand” — it was only going to be made IF there was a demand and as soon as we announced pre-orders today, the site started blowing up.
Our message is Keep Calm and Cane On. Program is down, so trust “the process” and continue on as a Canes fan while the rebuilding takes place.
That’s a message we stand behind and not going to shy from making the shirt for a fan base that wants it, simply because it could be taken wrong by .1% of people. Hope you can understand.
http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=keep+calm+and+carry+on&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=e0daUPmMHOGW2AW9jIAQ&biw=1678&bih=1047&sei=fkdaUOjoA6jRyQG3n4H4DA
This DECADES long, loyal Miami, F-L-A Hurricane fan bloody well ‘ trusts’ the ‘ process. ‘ Eh. However, I’ve bloody well gone on RECORD and opined that I don’t trust the Cane’s defensive coordinator!
Yeah, yeah the Hurricanes are young and have experienced injuries on the D-side of the L.O.S., yet NUMEROUS other major college football programs have seen the same college pigskin tangibles materialize. Albeit perhaps not as the same degree as The Golden One’s squad.
Oh, I’d serious consider purchasing a Tee, if only the background color was white, or green or even orange, because something is amiss about a ‘ GREY ‘ or ‘ BLACK ‘ color. dUh… isn’t Miami a SHADE of green and orange.
Bon jour
Hear the message but “going on record” about Mark D’Onofrio isn’t going to do a thing. He may succeed and he may fail, but either way, three games into season two, he’s not going anywhere … so focus on supporting the kids and the job they’re doing, instead of doing the things that typical jilted fans do — rambling on and on about a coach, player, etc. that they don’t like.
As for the tee, both the orange and green are the proper shade of Miami colors. Anytime you silk-screen a black tee, you flash it with white first and then put the orange / green down.
If this tee is a success we’ll do one on orange.
Love the idea and the play off the very popular chive.com! The saying on the tee is perfect for what cane nation should be doing during these tough times. I’m a chiver myself and have a couple of the elusive tees and was wondering if these cane tees are gonna be soft, high quality tees like theirs or a thick and uncomfortable beefy tee that can’t be worn after you wash it once? Thanks.
J – They won’t be the grade of the Chive shirts, but they are definitely a higher-grade than the standard Hanes Beefy-T. If this first batch isn’t well-received because of the grade of the tee, we will keep tweaking to get it right. I let management know that we need a blank good that is more along the lines of something that can be worn out with a pair of jeans instead of something that is more of a gameday or workout tee. Enough DriFit stuff and Beefy-Ts out there. If you order one, please email me directly to let me know if the quality of shirt is sufficient — chris@allCanes.com
Blah,Blah,Blah..process this,process that we heard the same thing with randy. We are young,It’s a process,it was a long walk from the locker oom to the many excuses not enough action.so keep your deserve victorys and yourraising canes vids & your U weak crap and give me a coach who do just that coach and win….Go Canes!
Allan – No offense, but what’s the alternative? Either get on board, or stick your head in the sand until the ship is righted. Shaking your fist and saying you won’t stand for this — what will that do? Nothing.
So what, you heard the same thing about Randy. What does that have to do with Al? Shannon came in, tried and failed. Coker had the program in the dirt in 2006 and Shannon did nothing to fix things the next four years. That makes for seven down years and you’re bitching that Golden hasn’t fixed things in 1.3 seasons? Please.
Whether it’s a football team or a business run poorly for half a decade, you don’t fix it overnight. There is a process, whether you want to swallow that, or not.
If you’re cut and dry to the point where you just want a guy to ‘coach and win’ — then at least employ the logic to know that it’s going to take more than a year and a few games to clean up an almost-decade long mess. Two bad head coaches killed the culture, recruited poorly, didn’t properly develop players and let conditioning go to hell in a handbag. No one could clean that up over night. No coach.
Will sir hope you enjoy mediocrity because i promise that’s all we will get from this staff,the high coaches & talented young players in south florida are laughing at golden & co,so good luck finding talent in Alaska……
Sorry man, but sick of this attitude shared by a portion of the fan base.
How does someone “enjoy mediocrity” by simply being logical regarding the state of things? For the record, I loathe this down cycle more than you EVER could. My business here relies on it. Losing impacts my bottom line as fans scatter when the Canes do poorly, so again, I’m as frustrated as any fan — if not MORE frustrated.
Talented high school players laughing at Al Golden? Are you high?
Duke Johnson. Tracy Howard. Deon Bush. Ereck Flowers. Malcolm Lewis. All highly-desired local kids who signed with Miami last year — DESPITE all the Shapiro shit, the 41-35 record going into this season, looming sanctions and what not. Golden and crew STILL brought in a class that wowed analysts.
As for next year, already have six four-stars on board for a small class — Keith Bryant, Artie Burns, Jamal Carter, Alex Collins, Angelo Jean-Louis and a top quarterback in Kevin Olsen.
Shake your fist and be mad all you want, but you make yourself foolish when you say that local talent is laughing at Golden and that the Canes will be looking for talent in Alaska.
Stick your head in the sand for a few years, bro. You’ll be better off. Things will get worse before they get better.
And you say know coach can do better i guarantee you if saban was coaching this bunch kstate would not have been 52-13,I promise you that.
Wow. Going out on a limb there, Allan?
The example you give is the highest paid coach in the game? A seasoned veteran who earns $6,000,000 a year – plus incentives – who won a title before getting to Alabama, and turned around two programs in LSU and Michigan State?
Saban has almost twenty years on Golden and a boat load more experience.
When Saban was forty-two years old, he was yet to even embark on the Michigan State job. He was the defensive coordinator with the Cleveland Browns and prior to that a lifer assistant since the early 1970s, sans 1990 when he coached the Toledo Rockets and helped them improve by three games.
Saban made his mark over the past seventeen years of his career – from his mid-forties to his early sixties. He was hardly revered before that. Just a coach on the rise.
Let’s measure up Al Golden a decade from now, instead of fifteen games into taking of over a program in the midst of a shitstorm. C’mon now.
Let me ask you this do think the administration could have done better? Do you think golden and he’s staff where hired on the cheap? Would this staff be coaching in the SEC??
Allan – Miami offered Greg Schiano over $2M when Coker was fired and he turned it down … to stay in Rutgers. He chose Rutgers over the University of Miami. Says a lot.
I think the issue is fans’ perception regarding the desirability of this program. Miami is a very quirky job and it takes a certain kind of guy to get on board with it.
Look at the greats who have coached here – all were nobodies when they got on board, and ALL had bigger aspirations than just staying at UM. Howard. JJ. Dennis. Butch. A few assistants and a few head coaches at lesser programs – all of which made their name at Miami.
No big name guy is ever coming to Miami. It is a job for an up and comer. Throw the standard list out there. Who was an option? Who was really coming? There was a reason it was down to Golden, Mark Trestman and Randy Edsall — the latter two, absolutely disastrous.
Look at the University of Florida. After Meyer left there was talk that they were in contact with Chris Petersen of Boise State and there were some Gruden rumblings there. The Gators could’ve given either a blank check, but wound up settling on Will Muschamp — the Texas DC and head coach in waiting, with NO coaching experience.
Look at Florida State — a promotion from within for Jimbo Fisher. Another coach in waiting who had no experience. Arkansas has tons of money to throw around and could only get John L. Smith to replace shamed Bobby Petrino. Lane Kiffin bails Tennessee, who has deep pockets, and they get what they felt was an up and comer in Derek Dooley. No big name there. UCLA tried to woo Golden and had to settle on former NFL guy Jim Mora Jr.
Dejected Rich Rod winds up in Arizona. Job hopper Todd Graham bails Pittsburgh after a year for Arizona State.
Where are all the so-called great coaches that Miami could’ve hired? All those aforementioned coaches could’ve opened up big checkbooks, but there simply aren’t coaches out there who are going to leave their current posts – for anywhere.
Look at the top 25. Who is going to job hop there? Les Miles? Chip Kelly? Bob Stoops? What about other guys who made their jumps to dream jobs — a Brian Kelly from Cincy to ND … a Brady Hoke from SDSU to Michigan … Meyer from Florida to Ohio State.
Dantonio comfortable at Michigan State. Charlie Strong trying to build at Louisville. Dabo Sweeney trying to do the same at Clemson. Mark Richt hanging on for dear live at Georgia. Chris Petersen with his dream job at Boise State (turns down every gig – makes it clear he’s not moving his family). Gary Patterson fat and happy at TCU, running the program that Dennis Franchione built.
Your question about this staff coaching in the SEC — it’s as off as your “Saban would get beat so badly” argument. You’re comparing apples and oranges. Florida has STUPID money to throw around. So does Alabama … LSU … Tennessee … you name it.
Florida is paying offensive coordinator Brent Pease, $2,000,000 a year to run that offense. There are head coaches who don’t make that much.
This isn’t a matter of Miami being “cheap”. This simply isn’t as desirable a job as you think it is. For Golden, he’s in the JJ or Butch mold in that he knows it’s a high risk / high reward opportunity. He gets the culture. He understand that fans won’t turn out until he turns it around. (Read his post BCC comments.)
Miami will NEVER be able to write checks like Florida. They can never pay a coach $6,000,000 a year like Alabama does Saban. Never. Never. Never. Nor should a private school with 10,000 undergrads and a small alumni base ever be expected to do so.
The University of Miami didn’t “cheap out”. They hired the best guy available for the job — and up-and-comer at the right place/right time of his career and someone who WANTED TO BE HERE. That’s what it starts with. Not many coaches are lining up for this job and when you get one that has the traits Golden does, salivating at the opportunity, you jump on him.
Let’s play this game — if not Golden, who do you think was headed to the University of Miami to coach this football program in December 2010? Who was out there and who wanted this job? And again, take into consideration that Florida isn’t at all afraid to open their checkbook and all they could do was lure in Muschamp. No Stoops. No Petersen. No big name. No, they got an unproven assistant and gave him the keys. Says a lot about availability.
To Carlos and Chris,
Excuse me for being the English language snob here, but the meaning of “cain” you were both talking about, i.e., to flog, is actually spelled “cane”…maybe there’s an idea for a t-shirt with that double entendre but nevertheless wanted to point that out.
Go Canes! Beat GT!
Neal – I’m an English major and missed that. How embarrassing. Carlos mentioned “cain” and I got so wrapped up in the debate, I missed the spelling error. Thanks for pointing out.
No worries Chris, I kind of feel like a dork now for even mentioning it…I have been a loyal reader of your blog since 2006 and it has been, and continues to be, the best Canes blog by far. Thanks and keep up the good work dude!
Brother, I’m just worried that we have fans trying to talk us out of a great idea because it might offend someone in Singapore who was CANED. C’mon now!!
I never realized that but this just makes my argument sound even more legit! Anyway I’m done, bottom line is I want Miami to win as much as Chris does just thought it was a bad t-shirt design. Go canes!
Carlos – Different strokes for different strokes, brother. Pre-orders for the shirt have been huge. Already sold out of first batch and putting in a second order. Safe bet, every UM fan that bought this shirt is thinking about “Cane” as in this Miami team, not as in a stick used to whip people in Singapore. Just sayin’.
Will leach was bagging for the job no? Cane you imagine what duke would look like in he’s offense????????
1. Countless schools bagged on Leach between 2006, when he supposedly wanted the gig, and 2012, when he was fired. There’s a reason it took a program like Washington State to roll the dice. They have nothing to lose.
Again, proves the point; only someone nutty as Leach, or loyal as Shannon wanted the job in 2006. Again, Schiano turned it down to stay in New Jersey.
2. Duke is doing just in Fisch’s offense and if he held onto a few passes at Kansas State, he’d have at least seven touchdowns in three games.
3. If people think they’re pulling their hair out over Mark D’Onofrio – you don’t even want to imagine a “high-flying” Leach offense combined with his non-attention-to-detail on defense. Please. Canes would’ve fallen to the Wildcats, 84-27.
I hope I’m wrong -God knows, but I don’t have a lot of confidence against GTech tomorrow based on how we’ve been playing on defense so far this year. I WANT to be wrong, but seeing is believing at this point. I have confidence in the offense that, as long as Morris is ready to play, we can score plenty of points on GTech and anyone else. I hope we take shots downfield a couple of times to loosen them up and then follow up with the underneath stuff. If they bring heat, let’s see some screens to Duke.
I intend to watch some of the KState/OU game as well because I want to see how the Sooners plays D on Klein. I am convinced they will shut him down and want to see and compare to what we didn’t do. This brings me to my point that what we have been missing are elite DLines. We will not be a top tier team again until we get our line together. Look at the top teams in the country. A major reason they dominate is because they have dominant lines especially on the interior. We have to get back there and will struggle until we do.
John – If I had to give a prediction, I’d say Miami will lose … and depending how many Crowns I was down, would determine which way I went on the spread.
Based on Miami’s recent offense struggles and defensive issues, I would say that Dinich’s prediction probably isn’t too far off, IF the Canes continue to struggle on both side of the ball.
That said, I also believe anything can happen. No one gave 0-2 Pittsburgh a fighting chance when Virginia Tech came to town and the Hokies left town on the wrong end of a 35-17 ass-kicking.
We’re talking about Miami traveling to play Georgia Tech, not to Tuscaloosa to take on Alabama. This isn’t a physically imposing team or one of the nation’s best. They simply present a match-up problem and it take some work for the Canes to overcome that.
Can they? Yes. Will they? We’ll see.
As for Oklahoma / Kansas State an the Sooners shutting down Klein … totally get what you’re saying, but we’ll see if they can do it. I have a sneaking suspicion the Wildcats get it done at home tomorrow, but again, who knows. Topsy turvy year. Still, that Wildcats defense looked good against the Canes and who’s to say they don’t get to Landry Jones tomorrow and rattle his cage?
Good slate of football this Saturday. Should be fun, regardless.