The standard joke about obituaries is that you’re not dead until the New York Times says you are. So although Sydney Wooderson died back on December 21st, I didn’t learn about it until three days ago, when I read this obit in the Times.
Never heard of Wooderson? I hadn’t heard of him myself, but it turns out he was a pretty important figure in track and field history, holding the world record in the mile (at a now-pokey 4 mins., 6.4 secs) from 1937 through 1942, and also holding world marks at 800 meters and 880 yards.
But my interest, of course, was in his running togs. The Times obit was accompanied by the photo shown above, which showed a pretty cool-looking logo on Wooderson’s left chest (here’s a closer view from a different photo). At first I thought it was a Star of David, but no — a Star of David is comprised of two triangles, while the star on Wooderson’s chest was formed by two squares. I’d never seen this design before.
A quick bit of research revealed that Wooderson wore this emblem quite a bit (as seen here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here), although not always. What the hell was it?
I noticed in the obit that Wooderson’s death was confirmed by “an official for the Blackheath & Bromley Harriers Athletic Club,” and that in 1948 he “won the national cross-country title for the Blackheath Harriers; he later served many years as an official for the club.” So on a whim, I googled “Blackheath Bromley Harriers.”
Bingo. Turns out Blackheath & Bromley is a 138-year-old athletic club (its full history is here). As you can see on their home page, they splash that logo around pretty liberally. No surprise, then, that the Blackheath star now shares uniform space with another well-traveled logo.
Still, I have questions. Today’s Blackheath logo has an Maltese cross in the center, while the one worn by Wooderson had a laurel wreath — a design evolution, or a reflection of two separate groups within the club?
Also: What exactly is an athletic club, anyway? I mean, I’m admittedly pretty weak on track and field knowledge, but when I think of an athlete setting the world record in the mile — or the high jump, or the pole vault, or whatever — I don’t think of him doing it “for the Blackheath Harriers,” or for any other group. Aside from national teams (y’know, the ones that compete at the Olympics, the World Championships, etc.), I thought track teams only existed on the high school and college levels. Could someone fill me in on how this works? Or at least how it worked back in Wooderson’s day?
Sailor or Landlubber?: Meanwhile, the mysterious preponderance of sailor-hatted NCAA mascots (spelled out in greater detail in Sunday’s post, and added to by Denis Kirstein, who found this old Longhorns logo) may have been solved by reader Dave Sikula. He writes:
My theory is that the hat isn’t a sailor’s hat at all (which makes no sense to put on a mascot) but is, rather, a freshman’s beanie.
Almost all the images [in Sunday’s entry] show a pillbox hat, widening toward the top, with a very visible button on the crown. While a sailor hat does taper up, it also generally curls as it reaches the brim, and usually lacks a top button. As can be seen in this image from Harold Lloyd’s The Freshman, the classic beanie has the brim and the button, and fits in with college sports and the period in which most of the mascots were designed.
Reader Andrew Ranck has provided a similar analysis, with photographic support here, here, and here, and some excellent background info here.
Not a bad argument. My only quibble: The freshman beanies tend to be striped, while the mascots’ caps are stripe-free. I’d say this merits further study.
Tiger in My Tank: Yesterday I mentioned that Uni Watch hedge fund analyst Jenny Strasburg had given me a vintage bowling shirt with this embroidery on the back. What I didn’t realize until yesterday, however, is that Massillon, Ohio, is the town that was profiled in the mind-blowing 2001 film Go Tigers! (highly recommended — see link at right). So that logo on my bowling shirt has a bit of a history.
Ohio-maniacal reader Chad Klenk fills in some additional info about Massillon and the tiger logo:
That’s the “Obie Tiger” logo [originally “O.B.,” for orange and black — PL]. I have family in Massillon, and unless you’ve experienced it, it is unfathomable how big high school football is in that community. Newborn boys at the Massillon hospital have a little football put in their crib [this is shown repeatedly in the movie — PL], and Tigers gear is as available to buy as Ohio State gear is in Columbus.
They bring in a live tiger cub to be the Obie mascot every season. Obie stays with and is cared for by a family in town, and the people that used to do it lived down the street from my aunt and uncle, so we used to go down and play with him when he’d arrive near the start of each football season.
My uncle was an assistant coach there for decades, and I had cousins play there in the ’80s (at the same time Chris Spielman was there — and appeared on a Wheaties box). Paul Brown was the coach there before he moved on to Ohio State, then Great Lakes Naval, then the Cleveland Browns, and then of course my Bungles. The school’s stadium is now named for him.
The Massillon/Canton McKinley game is on the same rivalry scale as OSU/Michigan — maybe even more, considering they’re minutes from each other. My 7th grade Ohio history textbook had a little segment about it, and the 100th game was profiled a few years back in Sports Illustrated. It’s always the last game of the year, and even if they meet in the OHSAA playoffs and redeem a loss, they still complain that they should have won the “regular season” game.
Great stuff. Yesterday’s Comments section included links to Massillon uniform and helmet info, too. Now I love my bowling shirt even more. The only question is how it was ever permitted to leave Ohio.
Uni Watch News Ticker: No sooner did I devote yesterday’s entry to vertically striped hosiery than the Village Voice (Uni Watch’s alma mater of sorts) ran this house ad featuring local performance stripper Lady Ace (who apparently has quite a history of striped hose). … Many NHL teams wore jersey patches last night (here’s a closer look), as part of this promotion. … More hockey cheerleading info, this time from Tom Carlson: “Teams in Minnesota have a long history of cheerleaders at hockey games — not only in the stands but on the ice. We have season tickets to the Minnesota state high school hockey tournament, and many of the high school teams have cheerleaders on the ice between periods. With the combination of the hockey, the bands, and the arena packed with high-energy high schoolers it’s the best tournament in the nation.” … And Alex Surasky-Ysasi reports that Brown University has the country’s only marching band on ice (for full photo galleries, look here). … Cool note from Byron Wages, who writes: “I was going through some of my dad’s old stuff, and I came across a 1969 Atlanta Braves pennant with an actual team photo in it. My dad, being seven years old at the time, wrote out some of the players’ names, as you can see. I’ve never seen a pennant like this before.” Neither have I — anyone else? (And for good measure, Wages sent this photo too.) … Someone over on Chris Creamer’s board noticed that Fox ran a graphic yesterday with the wrong Super Bowl logo. … Our recent discussions of MTSU’s flex-sized nameplate typography prompted this from Daniel Dingerson: “The most popular team that I can recall doing this is the University of Tennessee [as seen here in 2001]. Middle Tennessee may have taken their cue from the big boys on that one. I always thought it looked tacky.” … As a bonus, Dingerson also pointed out this gallery of late-1800s U.Mich football photos. … “For the third year straight, I have punked my buddies in our fantasy baseball league,” writes Pete Ortiz. “This year, we played in a Yahoo! League, with prizes for the winner. Attached is a picture of my first place bobblehead. That’s right, the uniform is purple, including the helmet, the lettering, even purple sanitaries.” Horrifying. And to make matters worse, the uni number has an open-quote instead of an apostrophe.
#1 by Paul Lukas on 01.05.07 8:28 am |
Had some technical difficulties from about 8am-8:30am. My apologies to anyone who experienced or witnessed any weirdness on the site during that period.
#2 by Ian on 01.05.07 8:31 am |
Also note that the number 1 pinned to Sydney Wooderson’s jersey in both the obit photo and the first linked photo is upside down!
#3 by Richard on 01.05.07 8:32 am |
eh, the weirdness was ok. Glad it’s all fixed.
From today’s ESPN.com a.m. jump page, discussing the weather for this weekend’s nfl playoffs:
“Unseasonably warm temperatures are sticking in place throughout the country. In fact, I’m considering buying some property in Kentucky with the idea it will soon become beachside real estate (thanks for the tip, Al Gore!). Anyway, weather will not play a factor in any of this weekend’s games — a rarity for January football. And what does all this warm weather really mean? We could see Ed Hochuli sporting an official’s outfit consisting of a black thong and a spray-on lycra shirt. First down! “
I know we all like Ed Hochuli, but I don’t know if the uniform adjustments would be good for him…or asthetically pleasing to anyone…
#4 by -V on 01.05.07 8:39 am |
Thanks for clarifying the patches worn by the Caps last night. I was at the game, and they didn’t say anything about them. As close as my seats are (a few rows behind the Caps’ bench, I still couldn’t make out what the patch was.
I knew I could count on you.
-V
PS… I think that “trophy” could stand a little Batting Practice (if you know what I mean).
#5 by Matthew P on 01.05.07 8:41 am |
The Colotado Eagles, the local CHL team, has a cheerleading squad called the “Eagles Chicks”. No real ice time, mostly circulating in the stands and leading cheers from the mezzanine at one end of the arena. Pom poms and everything (sorry, no pic). Scott Rhodes at The Bush League Factor has a funny commentary on the Eagles Chicks along with his critique of the team’s logo. His website is highly recommended!
#6 by Matthew P on 01.05.07 8:42 am |
Colorado. Type too fast, spell too bad.
#7 by Kel on 01.05.07 8:45 am |
I’m not a cheerleader, nor do I play one on TV, but I love the sweaters worn by those Pine City girls. I liked the green/black/white, and the dragon looked pretty cool too.
For some reason, though, high school hockey just isn’t that big down here in North Carolina. :)
#8 by Ben on 01.05.07 8:51 am |
Anyone else think that the Massillon logo is strangly similar to the Hamilton Tigercat logo? Maybe there is a standard striking tiger pose that several football teams use.
#9 by ML on 01.05.07 8:56 am |
Paul, you had a chance to check out that Broncos uni history link from yesterday’s comments? Open this page and check out some of the PDF files — un-freaking-believable detail about each Broncos jersey and how they were manufactured.
#10 by Original Jim on 01.05.07 8:56 am |
Changing the logo from yellow to orange doesn’t change the fact that Massillon lifted that logo from the Tiger-Cats.
*sigh*
#11 by Michael Churchill on 01.05.07 9:02 am |
re. Sydney Wooderson…
Here in Great Britain (and probably most European countries), amateur athletes normally belong to a club. It would give them access to training facilities, coaches etc. I guess in the US the same is provided by the track team and athletic department at colleges. There are club leagues where athletes of different clubs compete against each other, so there would be a need for a club uniform.
Another thing about Sydney. In 1948, he was apparently the most famous athlete in Britain and thought to be a prime candidate to be the final torch runner at the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics. However, in the end, the taller, blonder and more handsome John Mark, who was president of Cambridge University Running Club, was chosen. I can tell you thay Sydney did not compete at the 1948 Olympics… it sounds as if he was concentrating on cross-country by then, which is not an Olympic event.
#12 by Mediocre Joe on 01.05.07 9:14 am |
Check out the late 19th Century Michigan football photo. On the knee of the player with the full beard and mustache at the center of the picture is: a beanie without stripes! It is a harmonic convergence of comment threads.
#13 by DJL on 01.05.07 9:16 am |
Paul,
Thanks for mentioning Massillon again, it really is an interesting place where high school football is king.
Here are some photos of the 100th Mass-McK game in Sports Illustrated which appeared in the Nov. 14, 1994 issue.
Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3
If you take a look at the photos, you’ll notice that Massillon has white helmets with the Obie on the side. In 1999, Massillon went to black helmets for the first time which coincided with the hiring of a new head coach. Whenever a new coach comes on at Massillon, he usually changes the uniform a bit. When the current head coach came on in 2005 (they run coaches off like the pros), he removed Obie from the helmet and slapped on the Hamilton Tiger-Cats logo.
Also, if anyone wonders what Paul Brown Tiger Stadium looks like in week 10 against McKinley, look no further. If you happen to be in town, make sure you check out the murals painted on the downtown buildings. They really are all about football in that town.
#14 by Paul Lukas on 01.05.07 9:16 am |
Dude (and everyone who was making a fuss about that link in the comments yesterday), that link has been listed in the blog’s “Links” section, under “Denver Broncos Uniform History,” since the day this site launched. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: The “Links” listing, which you can find in the right-hand column of this page, is a great resource — explore it!
#15 by Ed on 01.05.07 9:19 am |
Regarding team photos on pennants, this isn’t quite a team photo, but I do have this pennant hanging in my office:
http://www.pbase.com...
Different topic: does anyone think it’s a bit weird that some college women’s basketball teams have cheerleaders?
ed
#16 by Brian from Short Island on 01.05.07 9:21 am |
Athletic Clubs aren’t just in Britain…
#17 by Miguel on 01.05.07 9:24 am |
This is the first thing I think of when I hear about athletic clubs, mostly because of this guy.
#18 by Matt B on 01.05.07 9:27 am |
Re Blackheath & Bromley: Funny that PL first thought it was a Star of David, because the interlocked square (hexadecagon?) happens to be a recurring motif in Islamic design.
And a follow-up on yesterday’s comments about Germany’s soccer jerseys: a catchy tune written for last years WM was rather popular in Germany. Schwarz und Weiss, refers not to interracial harmony, but the colors of the nation’s primary jersey.
#19 by Columbus on 01.05.07 9:28 am |
Another band on ice…..
#20 by ML on 01.05.07 9:29 am |
Sorry…
Consider me chastised.
#21 by Jonathon on 01.05.07 9:31 am |
Auburn has a logo with the sailor’s hat (scroll to bottom of link)
http://www.jmbooks.c...
War Eagle!
#22 by Jonathon on 01.05.07 9:33 am |
How about America’s most famous athletic club (although they prefer to go by “track club”):
http://www.santamoni...
#23 by Jonathon on 01.05.07 9:36 am |
Sorry about that shit link. Try this.
http://www.jmbooks.c...
Click “Merchandise,” then click “decals”
#24 by Eriq Jaffe on 01.05.07 9:44 am |
…and, of course, the Oakland A’s name originated from an amateur athletic club in Philadelphia…
#25 by Seth H on 01.05.07 9:46 am |
In the 70s and early 80s, many Ivy League bands skated and played between periods. Then, in 1984, the ECAC (now the ECACHL) mandated a fixed amount of time between periods across the entire league. Administrators at a number of schools used this as an excuse to kick the bands off the ice by claiming that the Zamboni had to start resurfacing right away or the ice would not be ready for the next period.
I don’t know if it is any of the pictures in the gallery, but I recall watching a game on Channel 13 in NY in the late 70s (yes, they showed college hockey a few Saturdays each year) and the Brown band included a string bass. Of course, the bass had a skate attached to the bottom to make this possible. I wish I had a picture as this was priceless.
#26 by Clevo on 01.05.07 9:46 am |
Paul, one correction.
The current Blackheath & Bromley logo contains a Maltese Cross, not an Iron Cross.
From wiki:
The cross is eight-pointed and has the shape of four “V” shaped arms joined together at their bases, so that each arm has two points.
and
The Iron Cross (a black four-pointed cross with white trim, with the arms widening towards the ends, similar to a Maltese Cross) was designed by the neoclassical architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel
I have done my part for all people of Maltese descent for the day.
#27 by Ian K on 01.05.07 9:54 am |
When I think of athletic clubs, some of Europe’s biggest soccer/football teams come to mind. The predecessors to nationally organized leagues like the MLB and NFL were individual clubs based out of cities who would organize different teams for different sports. Planning for matches probably were similar to today’s colleges and their “home and home” series. I believe clubs like Real Madrid, PSV Eindhoven, Boca Juniors, etc. have or did have other teams that aren’t as popular as their soccer/football teams are. I guess it would seem likely that said clubs would have a track & field division.
#28 by The Ol Goaler on 01.05.07 9:55 am |
Athletic “clubs” in the United States tend to focus on teams that aren’t “school”-based teams… youth summer-league baseball, track and field, and teams for players old enough to be out of high school, but not playing an NCAA sport.
I was (briefly) a member of the Carondelet Sunday Morning Athletic Club in St. Louis, as an assistant coach for a baseball team of 7-year-olds. (Oddly enough, the C.S.M.A.C never had anything scheduled during Sunday mornings, at least during my tenure.) We played in the Lemay Baseball Association at south St. Louis’ Heine Meine Field… the only kids-league ballpark I’ve ever seen that served beer (only to those over 21, I must add!) at their concession stand.
I used to own a cool C.S.M.A.C. jacket, but outgrew it the summer between my graduation from high school and my enrollment at the University of Missouri. Heine Meine was a Major League pitcher in the ’20’s and ’30’s who opened a bar with a ballpark behind it after his playing days. The bar is long gone, but the ballparks remain!
#29 by Paul Lukas on 01.05.07 9:56 am |
Thanks — I’ll make the fix!
#30 by Patrick O'Donnell on 01.05.07 9:57 am |
With all the vertical stripe talk, no one mentioned Indiana’s warmup pants. I prefer these though. (Yes, they are purple. But K-State is my alma mater, so GO CATS!)
#31 by Paul Lukas on 01.05.07 9:58 am |
Because those are pants. The discussion has been about vertically striped socks/hose/etc.
#32 by chris on 01.05.07 10:09 am |
Track clubs aren’t very prevelant but they do still exist. A friend of mine started it a little bit ago. Philly Track Club
I don’t ask him too much about it, but from what I understand it’s a group of guys who like running go to track/cross country meets around the country and have sponsorships to help their members get there.
#33 by Bryan on 01.05.07 10:10 am |
Regarding the pennants. I dont have a photo because I am at work but I have a 2002 Stanley Cup Champions pennant complete with a picture of the wings on the ice celebrating their victory in the usual bunch photo.
#34 by Tom Safford on 01.05.07 10:10 am |
Can’t find any links online, but the Massillon Art Museum has a good collection of 1930’s era team photos of the Washington H.S. football team featuring Paul Brown himself.
#35 by Bryan on 01.05.07 10:18 am |
In regards to the photo pennant, an ebay search turned up this and this and this and this.
#36 by Richard on 01.05.07 10:20 am |
Why is it weird for a university to have cheerleaders for an athletic team? Count me among the people who don’t think it’s weird. Cheerleaders are not just for men’s hoops or football.
#37 by PDXclark on 01.05.07 10:29 am |
It was my understanding that most US track clubs are used by athletes who are out of high school/college, and otherwise would not have the support (training, financial, etc) to continue to compete at a high level. Because I’m from Oregon, I’m familiar with
#38 by Rich Bruns on 01.05.07 10:29 am |
How sure is Alex Srasky-Ysasi that Brown University has the only marching band on ice? I bet they don’t do Sript Ohio on the ice. TBDBITL does it once a year, usually during intermission of a game against Michigan if my memory serves me correctly.
#39 by PDXclark on 01.05.07 10:30 am |
Link for Post #37:
#40 by Anthony Verna on 01.05.07 10:31 am |
Ed, you’re bringing me back to my college days there (Case Western ‘99).
I still have some Indians gear (a hat and t-shirts) and watch on ESPN if I catch a game (even though my ever-broken Phillies are my first baseball love).
#41 by PDXclark on 01.05.07 10:31 am |
Whatever…
http://www.teamxo.co...
#42 by Ian K on 01.05.07 10:33 am |
My theory is that the hat isn’t a sailor’s hat at all (which makes no sense to put on a mascot) but is, rather, a freshman’s beanie.
When I think of freshman beanies, the first image to come to mind is, of course, Flounder.
#43 by Deron Steinke on 01.05.07 10:33 am |
PDXclark - Were you trying to link this?
#44 by matt on 01.05.07 10:36 am |
Totally off the subjects today, but does anyone know where I can find a 3″ diameter Chief Illiniwek patch? I ‘ve found the patch in other sizes but I specifically need it in 3″. Any info would be appreciated.
#45 by Deron Steinke on 01.05.07 10:37 am |
Damn I couldn’t even link. This is what I thought you were trying to link.
#46 by DJL on 01.05.07 10:38 am |
According to their Web site, the Massillon Museum recently put on a display a large amount of Paul Brown’s “coats, childhood photographs, and even one of his signature hats” on loan from the the Massillon Tiger Football Museum, who received the items from Mary Brown, Paul’s widow.
Here is the only photo I could find of the exhibition. I hope Vince notices the Bengals’ poncho.
While looking for the SI article, I also happened to find this article from Nov. 2, 1942 about Paul Brown and his second season as head coach at Ohio State. It also mentions Brown’s 88-8 record in eight seasons as head coach of Massillon.
#47 by Ian K on 01.05.07 10:41 am |
Eh, here it is again.
Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son.
#48 by DJL on 01.05.07 10:43 am |
Sorry, here is the Time article about Paul Brown, Massillon and Ohio State.
#49 by Greg on 01.05.07 10:50 am |
What I love about todays pic is the old cinder track with the chalk lanes…old time track and field.
#50 by Ed on 01.05.07 10:52 am |
I understand what you’re saying. On a rational level, I agree with your reasoning. But I can’t help but subconsciously feel a bit disoriented, for example, when I see women’s BB highlights on ESPN.
Anyway, my use of “weird” was not intended to be judgmental or suggestive of saying it was inappopriate or wrong - more that seeing them causes a slight mental disorientation in that I’m not used to seeing cheerleaders in that particular context.
I was a multiyear Washington Mystics (WNBA) season-ticket holder; they have a dance team (the Mystics Mayhem - made up of pre-teen girls and boys) - but somehow it didn’t affect me subconsciously the same ways as seeing them on the college women’s end line.
I’ll also say that I would find it similarly disorienting (weird) to see cheerleading squads for any number of college sports, mens or womens, such as (say) crew or pistol shooting.
ed
#51 by pm on 01.05.07 11:00 am |
to add another wrinkle to the Sailor Hat discussion. If you look at the photo of the late 1800’s Michigan football team, you will notice the bearded player in the middle has a sailor hat on his knee.
#52 by Mark on 01.05.07 11:01 am |
DJL, i saw several of those ponchos (or would it be ponchoes?) this past weekend as i watched that debacle from my seats. Love that old school Bengals stuff!
#53 by Kerry on 01.05.07 11:04 am |
No coincidence….it IS the Hamilton Tigercat logo. According to the school’s site, the logo was “acquired from Hamilton Tiger Cats of the Canadian Football League. Massillon was awarded a two (2) year lease on the logo and permitted to alter the colors to reflect their own.” - LINK HERE - check out the Historical Note for 2005 at the bottom of the page.
My question is if the school plans on renewing the lease or plans on changing to a different logo.
#54 by Seattle Matt on 01.05.07 11:04 am |
It seems that the 8-pointed star used by the Blackheath and Bromley Harriers AC bears resemblance to a Star of Lakshmi.
#55 by Shane on 01.05.07 11:09 am |
Check out FC Barcelona sometime. Basketball, ice hockey, roller hockey, team handball, futsal, rugby, women’s basketball, wheelchair basketball, field hockey, baseball, cycling, figure skating, track, and I think at one point they also had the old Barcelona Dragons of WLAF/NFL Europe.
All in addition to the soccer team, who are currently champions of Europe.
#56 by Skip on 01.05.07 11:16 am |
Pennats—Like the ones in the ebay link earlier, I had a Tiger’s pennat from the mid 70s that displayed the team photo.
Athletic Clubs—Any uni-watch Brits out there correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t some of your professional soccer teams start out as parts of Athletic Clubs (Oldham Athletic, Charlton Athletic, etc…)?
#57 by Brendan on 01.05.07 11:20 am |
Each time we see these old photos of football teams the players are wearing a mix of uniforms. Were there rules regarding which positions wore a particular uniform design or did it simply not matter what was worn?
#58 by Michael Churchill on 01.05.07 11:26 am |
Talk of running club uniforms led me to this picture of the University of Chicago track team at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis. Is that where the Bears got their helmet logo? (Points for naming the team coach, wearing a suit, labelled #19).
Other club uniforms at the 1904 Olympics…
Chicago A.A. represented by James Lightbody, winner of the 800m, 1500m and Steeplechase
New York A.C. represented by Harry Hillman, winner of the 400m, 200m Hurdles and 400m Hurdles
Greater New York Irish Athletic Association represented by John Flanagan, winner of the Hammer Throw
Montreal A.C. represented by Etienne Desmarteau, winner of the 56lb Weight Throw
Milwaukee A.C. represented by Fredrick Schule, winner of the 110m Hurdles
You have to bear in mind that in the early days, Olympians were not entered by their countries - that didn’t become required until the next games in 1908.
#59 by Mark Mayall on 01.05.07 11:26 am |
There are many, many, many track/running clubs out there, both in the US and globally. Here in the states, some clubs have “athletic club,” “track club,” “athletic association,” “striders,” or “running club” in their name. People join up, sometimes pay dues, and pool their resources to train together. Many clubs also hang out socially. The competitive level varies greatly, from post-collegiate olympians who are paid to endorse shoe companies (like Carl Lewis and SMTC) to back of the pack fun-runner types. Carl wasn’t paying dues to be in SMTC, while the folks in the Tuesday Night Turtles probably do. Sometimes both extremes can be found in the same club. In the Boston area where I live, the Boston Athletic Association, the group that puts on the Boston Marathon, has a running club with various ages and abilities. Their unicorn logo is distinctive.
here’s a list of clubs, more than you can shake a stick at:
one of the more interesting club logos I’ve seen
#60 by Mark Mayall on 01.05.07 11:30 am |
I can’t get the stupid link button to work, cut and paste if you want:
list of clubs:
http://gbtc.org/what...
indiana invaders’ funky logo:
http://www.indianain...
#61 by My name is not Earl on 01.05.07 11:31 am |
Thanks for that Bronco uni history link. I always thought (based on my viewing of the Super Bowl XII highlight film) that the ‘77 home jerseys were a different shade of orange (more red) than the later Bronco home jerseys. The site confirms that I was right!
#62 by Michael Churchill on 01.05.07 11:37 am |
Not quite, the Dragons were always owned by the NFL, but for two years they did have a marketing partnership and the team was known as the FC Barcelona Dragons.
#63 by DJL on 01.05.07 11:49 am |
OK, last Massillon/Paul Brown/Ohio post, I swear.
While searching for the Paul Brown photos from the Massillon Museum, I found this cool site.
http://worlddmc.ohio...
A lot of cool Uniwatch/sports-related stuff including:
1. The first Ohio State football team photograph (1890)
2. Heisman Trophy namesake John Heisman and his football teammates at Oberlin College (1892)
3. President Warren G. Harding playing horseshoes
4. Oxford Panthers high school basketball squad
5. Jack Nicklaus’ high school sweater from Upper Arlington.
6. Wooster High football team (1899)
But my favorite was the photo of the 1907 DeVilbiss Manufacturing Corporation Shinny Team. Shinny is decribed as “team sport similar to hockey, requires players to hit a ball with sticks into the opposing team’s goal.”
#64 by Shane on 01.05.07 11:51 am |
That makes sense (and also explains the two games Barca played over here in 2003).
#65 by Izzo Eastwood on 01.05.07 11:51 am |
Re: the pennants with the team photos, I definitely had an Islanders pennant from the early 80s or late 70s with a shot of one of the cup winning teams on it. Who knows? It may even be in my attic somewhere.
#66 by specs on 01.05.07 11:53 am |
With a Native North American-inspired logo (Aztec or Maya, perhaps?), wouldn’t it be more accurate to be called the Indiana Invaded?
#67 by Denis on 01.05.07 11:55 am |
Great articles here on NHL.com about the numbers most likely to get retired by the clubs.
http://www.nhl.com/b...
#68 by Nick on 01.05.07 12:06 pm |
This version of Script is performed by OSU’s Athletic Band that plays the basketball and hockey game, hence the woodwinds that are barred from TBDBITL. It was performed this year already this year against the domers and will reappear next month when the team from up north comes to town.
#69 by Greg Riffenburgh on 01.05.07 12:12 pm |
The most prominent example of different sized nameplates that I can think of were at the 2006 World Cup. Japan was a big culprit, though I think I remember others doing it too. You can see the difference here between Takahara and Brazilian import Alex.
#70 by GoTerriers on 01.05.07 12:13 pm |
Terry Frei of ESPN.com horning in on Paul’s territory with an article sure to warm the hearts of those steadfastly against the Rbk redesign of NHL uniforms (Teebz, I’m looking in your general direction)
Uniform Power Rankings
#71 by noah on 01.05.07 12:14 pm |
Athletic clubs are pretty common in track and field. we have a couple in RI…. everyone runs here, it is a way of camaraderie, plus when there is an event, it’s a team event. A good, common example would be most rugby teams here, club sports. Administrative body, enthusiastic membership, etc… to put people on the pithc…
#72 by GoTerriers on 01.05.07 12:15 pm |
Unfortunately, his article is COMPLETELY devoid of pictures or links . . . .
#73 by Pat on 01.05.07 12:19 pm |
Yet another wannabe with no visuals.
#74 by Nat gal on 01.05.07 12:24 pm |
I, too, noticed the patch on the Caps jerseys last night, but my nose bleed seats only afforded a view of a white blob. (And those Canadiens uniforms are so nice, so much better that the Caps squashed bug logo.)
But did you notice in that pic of Ovechkin that not only does he use yellow laces, the ties of this shorts are yellow, too!!
And it looks like Brashear is up to his old tricks taping over the white on his socks. Looking for evidence…
#75 by Joe Hilseberg on 01.05.07 12:27 pm |
Sorry it has taken me so long to go back and read yesterday’s comments that happened after I left work, but I have to completely disagree with Paul’s last post about press conferences.
I look forward to seeing the player hold up the new jersey. I wonder before hand…will they put an 07 or his name, will they be lazy and leave it blank, and if the team has made uni changes it’s a chance to see some on a new uni.
Sure there are ways to make the conference more interesting or change it up, but leaving out the jersey presentation isn’t one of them. And how can anyone applaud the O’s for the Huff conference because they did not follow the standard script. They did nothing new, nothing unique. He showed up by himself, spoke, and left. I think you may be confusing innovation with laziness.
And on a side note, the local media rage around it is that it was held at a really awkward time in order to get him back on a plane because he had fly to Vegas for the weekend, so non of B-more’s prominent sports guys were there. Busch League. For $20 million he can take a later flight.
#76 by Shane on 01.05.07 12:30 pm |
And the Coyotes 25th? I think they have one of the best looking sweaters in the league right now. I’d rank them well above whatever the Panthers are wearing.
#77 by Joe Hilseberg on 01.05.07 12:30 pm |
Ugggghhhh… “20. Capitals….the new scheme is an improvement on the red, white and blue that played out in the dark building in Landover, Md.”
Note to self: Terry Frei is never to be taken seriously!
#78 by Jeremy on 01.05.07 12:34 pm |
Regarding the pennants, for my tenth birthday my grandparents gave me a Detroit Tigers pennant and a game program, both from the 1968 World Series (Tigers beating the Cardinals that time). The pennant included an actual team photograph, and my aunt had filled out the scorecard in the program.
Of course, both are at my parents’ house in California, and I’m in Chicago, so no pictures (but trust me, there are some great shots in there!).
#79 by Original Jim on 01.05.07 12:37 pm |
I take back my *sigh* from before.
Finally, a school that “gets it”.
:)
#80 by Ryan on 01.05.07 12:40 pm |
Well I came in here to bring up this article but I can see I was pretty late to the party. Still, all he did was put the top 5 teams from the orginal 6 which is a pretty big cop out to me.
#81 by tessa on 01.05.07 12:48 pm |
I’ll second that name change. Well done.
#82 by Adam in Chicago on 01.05.07 12:51 pm |
Maccabi Tel Aviv has top-flight teams in both basketball (’04 & ‘05 Euroleage champions, as well as 23 straight Israeli titles between ‘70 & ‘92) and soccer (’92/’93 & ‘98/’99 InterToto Cup champs - which admittedly is a little like winning the NIT).
To be fair, their reputation in Israel is a bit Yankees-esque…
#83 by Rich Bruns on 01.05.07 12:55 pm |
After seeing these pictures, I’m reminded of the comments from one of the past few days, I can’t remember if it was yesterday or when and I don’t feel like scanning them to find out. But the culprit in this example of nameplates of varying size is Adidas. If you look at any of the Adidas supplied teams from this past World Cup you’d notice the same thing. I don’t have any photographic evidence but I know that if you find pictures of Spain you’ll see that Cesc Fabregas had “Cesc” across the back of his jersey in similar fashion and the players with the longer names were similar to Takahara’s.
#84 by Patrick Gaughan on 01.05.07 12:58 pm |
I was looking for some helmet logos, and I came across this site that sells Ohio high school mini helmets. It isn’t a complete list, but is still pretty cool.
I have not lived in Cleveland for a few years now, so I just found out about Obie not being on Massillon’s helmet anymore. That is crazy! I hate Massillon, but I can still give credit where credit is due, and Obie gets all the credit in the world. I am also a fan of McKinley’s logo, although neither comes close to this.
Also, has anyone ever seen helmet striping like this?
#85 by Kerry on 01.05.07 1:00 pm |
OK, being a southern boy from way down here in Louisiana, I may need a little help from you “yanks” as to what some of these references mean.
When did the Kings change color-scheme? Is he talking about the addition of purple to the black & silver?
Was that actually “on the table” as a proposed name for the Nordiques once moving to Colorado?!
They weren’t always red-white-and-black?
Yeah, that makes sense…a team named the CAPITALS in Washington, DC shouldn’t be in red-white-and-blue?!?!
Hmmmm, looks like a hurricane and wildcat head to me. And it’s not too hard to see all of the other things in the Wild logo.
FINALLY, something I can agree with.
HUH?!
Someone get this guy to the Museum of Natural History.
NEWS FLASH: Sabretooth Tigers had pretty damn long teeth!!!
#86 by Jason B. on 01.05.07 1:03 pm |
So me and some friends are starting up our own little sports blog (just what the Internets need!) Anyway, did a post today about the sock stylings of the Indianapolis Colts. I tried contacting the Colts’ PR department about the switch but no luck getting any information. Alas. Anyway, for anyone who is curious here’s the link.
http://www.charliewe...
#87 by dgc on 01.05.07 1:05 pm |
Yeah, I believe most older Caps fans like myself want a return to the red, white and blue. Although I did have a new appreciation for black when I got a ketchup stain on my white jersey.
#88 by PFGuay on 01.05.07 1:10 pm |
Coach Mike Holmgren said he hates those Spiderman-like receivers gloves in Seahawks green. That hasn’t stopped Deion Branch from wearing them in practice. When Holmgren was a member of the NFL’s competition committee, members would try on the gloves the league was planning to market to teams the following season, pass them around, and laugh at the garish colors. Holmgren would always give the gloves the thumbs-down.
– Seattle Times
#89 by Jon in SLC on 01.05.07 1:17 pm |
Reading SI.com’s Scorecard Daily today and in the NFL section they quoted this -
Coach Mike Holmgren said he hates those Spiderman-like receivers gloves in Seahawks green. That hasn’t stopped Deion Branch from wearing them in practice. When Holmgren was a member of the NFL’s competition committee, members would try on the gloves the league was planning to market to teams the following season, pass them around, and laugh at the garish colors. Holmgren would always give the gloves the thumbs-down.
– Seattle Times
I thought it was interesting.
#90 by Shane on 01.05.07 1:17 pm |
They added black in 92-93. Before that, they wore red and green.
#91 by Teebz on 01.05.07 1:21 pm |
In lieu of Terry Frei’s obvious colour-blindness, he did a decent job of ranking them on his own personal tastes.
- the Kings should be further down the list, as should the Panthers. Neither have very good jerseys, and their sales reflect that.
- move the Rangers up. Simple and timeless. The Lady Liberty jersey is ok, but they should stick to the diagonal lettered jersey as their home uniform.
- the Capitals jerseys are nice, but they are in the nation’s Capitol. Move them back to the nation’s colours. The logo can stay as long as the colours are amended as well.
- the Canucks’ logo will be changing in the next five years. New ownership means the Orca Bay logo is out. Look for a new colour scheme with the new logo.
- the Original 6 teams do have the best jersey designs. Terry didn’t cop out; rather, he stated what hockey fans already know.
Terry should have included third jerseys, though. That was a cop out.