Sunday Open Thread

Very interesting day in the world of college football uniforms yesterday, starting with the LSU/Tulane hurricane relief ensembles shown above. I didn’t mind the white helmets, and I was actually impressed with how sharp the pelican/rising phoenix design looked, but the quotation mark flags on the LSU side looked a little ridiculous.

Of course, the most ridiculous outfit of the day was thrown on by the Minnesota Golden Gophers, who decided to go pee on themselves all yellow/gold against OSU. I know we talk about the Wisconsin all-red, the Syracuse all-orange, and the numerous all-black outfits being bad, but Minnesota takes the cake as the worst ever. –Vince

141 comments September 30th, 2007

Saturday Open Thread

Taurus Johnson of the University of South Florida had a message for the rest of the Big East and the nation during last night’s victory against #5 West Virginia. –Vince

142 comments September 29th, 2007

Or as Chad Johnson Would Put It, León Negro

Aside from conference logos and the like, it’s not often that you see two players on different teams wearing the same jersey patch. But that’s the case with Kansas State’s Ian Campbell and Army’s Mike Viti. What are they wearing? A Kansas State fan who prefers to remain anonymous explains:

K-State is very near Fort Riley, home of the Big Red One and now the 28th Infantry, known as the Black Lions. The football team has been partnering with them in several ways since Coach Ron Prince arrived last year. The latest is the Black Lion Award, which traditionally has been given to high schools all over the country. It is currently given to only two universities: the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and, now, Kansas State.

What is the award? It honors Don Holleder, a West Point All-American who was asked (and agreed) to change positions his senior year despite losing any chance at individual honors. He later was killed in Vietnam while attempting to rescue other members of his unit — the Black Lions. The award is given to one player each year who represents this unselfishness, courage, leadership, and the act of putting the team before the individual.

When you win the award, you get a certificate and also a jersey patch. Our winner at K-State this year was Ian Campbell, a very successful defensive end for us who’d been asked (and agreed) to change positions for this year. He will be wearing a Black Lions patch on his jersey all season. In addition, coach Prince has been wearing a Black Lion collar pin.

Interesting stuff. But listen, while I’m sure all the recipients of this award have been very deserving, could someone please explain exactly what’s so remarkable about changing positions when your coach tells you to? Like, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? Just askin’.

Iggles Exposed as Dangerous Left-Wing Radicals: As has been discussed here several times, last Sunday’s Eagles throwbacks were based on the Philly city flag, which was in turn based on the colors of the Swedish national flag — or at least that’s what I thought. But reader Jonathan Nussbaum has just contributed some new insights, courtesy of a recent lecture in his American history class:

In 1933, one of the first acts of the New Deal was to establish the National Recovery Administration, which sought to stem unemployment by coordinating prices and wages in certain industries. Participation was voluntary, and companies who did participate would display the Blue Eagle symbol of the NRA.

That year, over 250,000 people marched in Philadelphia to support the NRA. Lud Wray and Bert Bell, who had just bought and resurrected a Philadelphia football team, were so inspired that they named the team the Eagles in honor of that Blue Eagle symbol. The blue and yellow on the NRA symbol happened to match the city flag, so that is how the team’s uniform was designed.

Big thanks to Jonathan for that insight. Now let’s sit back and see how many malcontents complain about the New Deal reference constituting “inappropriate political content” on the site.

(Oh, and speaking of the Eagles’ throwbacks, they’re the basis for a little video rant currently running on Yahoo Sports.)

Raffle Reminder: You’ve got until Tuesday, 10 p.m. eastern, to get in on the raffle for the game-used futuristic Royals jersey. To enter, send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (please note that this is not the usual Uni Watch address). One e-mail per person, but everyone enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program at the time of the drawing automatically gets three bonus entries. I’ll announce the winner next Wednesday.

Membership News: We had a software glitch yesterday on the membership roster. I’ll spare you the details, but the practical result is that about 90 enrollees got wiped off the page. We are (read: John is) restoring them, but it may take a few days, so don’t be alarmed if you suddenly don’t see your name listed. Actually, that brings up a question I’ve been pondering: I know people like to keep up with the latest additions to the card design gallery, but does anyone even look at the membership roster? Or do you just check it once to see that your name is there and then never look at it again? Just wonderin’.

Uni Watch News Ticker: As you can see at the top of the page, we have a new sponsor, Jersey-Joe, which is offering a discount to Uni Watch readers. A fine operation that I’m proud to have represented on the site, just like our other display advertisers. Check out their stuff. … The Hornets unveiled a new alternate logo yesterday — not bad. It will be worn as a patch on the team’s uniforms and will be called — wait for it — the Fleur de Bee. Read-it-to-believe-it details here. … Who knew there was an NFL Alumni logo? (Robert Eden did, actually.) … UGA linebacker Dannell Ellerbe’s helmet has gone askew or come off completely several times this year, so he plans to wear a different helmet model this weekend (with thanks to Brent Hardman). … Amazing case of logo creep discovered by Andy Head: “My wife is taking an online business course through a local community college, and she just got her textbook yesterday. Look what’s on the cover! And the spine, too! I thought, well, surely the author is somehow connected to that company, but no, she’s a proffessor at Lehigh U. Well, maybe there’s a major Nike business case discussed inside, right? It’s a business book, so they are discussed, but the sections on, say Starbucks and Wal-Mart are much, much more substantial.” Incredible. … Not hard to guess what Sunday’s Open Thread photo will be, because New Mexico State will be wearing pink tomorrow. … Throwbacks aren’t limited to sports: James Yeh reports that the Navy is testing some old-school khakis that haven’t been used since the Vietnam era. … Jason Marquis’s helmet logo was AWOL on Wednesday night (with thanks to Ryan Kendall). … Spectacular article here on the varied styles of pinstriping. Although written with the collectors’ market in mind, it’s filled with worthwhile info for any Uni Watch reader — highly recommended (with thanks to Todd Radom, who sent me the link over a month ago but it got buried in my in-box until I discovered it yesterday — sorry, Todd!). … The Astros have been wearing their brick red road jerseys on the road for months now, because owner Drayton McLane prefers them. But last night was the final road game of Craig Biggio’s career, so the team honored his request to wear the road grays one last time. A team source tells me they had to make road jerseys for all the September call-ups — just for this one game. … Speaking of the ’Stros, Brian Crisp attended a recent game at Minute Maid park and noticed that the ushers had ad patches on their right sleeves. And what was the ad for? Here’s a closer look. “And just so you don’t think it is a coincidence, that dealership is owned by THE Alex Rodriguez,” says Brian. “It’s a good thing he doesn’t own dealerships in Boston. Can you think of another active player sponsoring another team?” … The Vikings will be wearing 1970s throwbacks this Sunday. … Yusuke Toyoda notes that Chivas de Guadalajara has been wearing off-center uni numbers. … Here’s a better (i.e., non-Photoshopped) look at the new Iowa State helmet (with thanks to James Ferguson). … By the time you read this, I’ll be headed upstate for a long-weekend getaway on the lovely shores of Lake Seneca. Vince will be minding the store until Monday, so if you have any site-related issues (spam filter acting up, abusive commenters, etc.), let him know. Ticker contributions can still come to me. See you Monday.

232 comments September 28th, 2007

None of the Above

New ESPN column today — here’s the link.

Meanwhile: The people were encouraged to vote, they let their voices be heard, and then a bunch of higher-ups decided to hijack the results and impose their own solution.

But enough about the 2000 presidential election — instead let’s talk about Iowa State’s new football uniforms. As you may recall, the Cyclones made a big fuss about letting fans vote on the school’s new helmet. But when the new uniforms were unveiled yesterday, none of the white helmets made the cut. Instead, the team will be wearing a red-on-red helmet, which seems like a major mistake, especially since it just accentuates the home uniform’s similarity to USC’s design. The road uni is better, especially when executed with red pants (yes, I know they’re actually “cardinal” — whatever). All in all, not a bad makeover, but it could’ve been a lot better without the red-on-red helmet.

Meanwhile, why encourage people to vote on three white helmets if you’re not going to use any of those designs? That question somehow goes unaddressed in the FAQ that the school put out. But I was told a few days ago that the three choices that were put up for voting all turned out to be wildly unpopular. So maybe going in a different direction really does reflect the will of the people. But in a sports world where so many things seem predetermined and calculated, it’s too bad that Iowa State appeared to be setting up a mechanism to give people a voice and now appears to have moved the goalposts. At the very least, it seems like there were some serious miscalculations made along the way here.

Membership News: Lots of new designs now on display in the membership card gallery, with more to come in the next day or so. Comments encouraged, as always.

Uni Watch News Ticker: According to a small item on this page, Jose Reyes now has his own Nike-designed logo, “represented by his uniform number 7 interwoven with his initials and sports a crown on top.” Given Reyes’s recent level of play, maybe this would have been more appropriate. … Good interview here with the guy who runs EyeBlack.com. … Some examples of logo creep are worse than others (as spotted by Rob Montoya). … Lots of MLB division champion T-shirts available, regardless of who wins. … Bryan Redemske and I both want to know what’s printed on next to the CCM logo on the jersey shown in this photo from Bobby Hull’s number-retirement ceremony. … The Indians were technically the home team in the first game of yesterday’s Tribe/M’s doubleheader (they batted last, even though the twinbill was played in Seattle), but they wore road uniforms anyway. … As previously reported, the All Blacks didn’t wear black last weekend. Compounding the problem, they wore a uniform fairly similar to their opponents’ design, which was apparently rather confusing to the players, as noted in the last several paragraphs of this article (with thanks to Caleb Borchers). … Funny item on the Chris Creamer boards about Mississippi Attorney General candidate Al Hopkins, whose star icon appears to have been taken straight off a Cowboys helmet, plus his “Hopkins” wordmark is borrowed to boot.

188 comments September 27th, 2007

Future Shock Schlock Smock

Remember back in July when I wrote about the “futuristic” Royals/Mariners game from 1998, which led to all the similarly themed games in 1999? I’m happy to announce that one of the game-used Royals jerseys from that game is now in my possession. And within a week, one of you will have it in your possession.

I’ll get to the jersey in a minute. But first, that entry back in July led to a lot of interesting responses regarding that futuristic game, beginning with a missive from Mariners marketing VP Kevin Martinez, who’s a regular Uni Watch reader. He corrected one of my points (I had written that the umps wore their regular uniforms, but Martinez noted that they actually had metallic silver shirts) and then provided some backgound info:

It was Ken Griffey Jr.’s decision to wear the jerseys untucked and caps backward. Junior also spray-painted several teammates’ shoes and gloves silver. The uniforms, while certainly bold, got even more out of control when our players decided to cut the sleeves off the undershirts. The photo of Dan Wilson, who did not cut his sleeves, is a better representation of how the unis were supposed to look.

Our intent with the promotion was to simply to do something fun for one of our 81 home games and try something that had never been done. We drew over 42,000 for a game against the Royals — a fairly successful promotion. MLB took the idea and sold it to Century 21 the next season. We did not participate at home, only on the road. We did it once in ’98 and we were done with it.

Working in this game for 16 seasons now, it remains one the most memorable (and strangest) nights in my career. Watching the players in the clubhouse alter their jerseys and spray-paint shoes and gloves is something I will never forget … or repeat.

Reader Tim Conley offered some additional recollections:

I actually watched that game live. The M’s did wear their jerseys untucked for awhile, but [Royals manager] Tony Muser complained to the umpires and eventually got the umps to force Seattle to tuck in their jerseys. His reasoning was that an M batting with his jersey untucked was more easily hit by a pitch and could earn a cheap trip to first base.

But the most intriguing response came from my ESPN.com colleague (and massive Royals fan) Rob Neyer. Not only had he attended the game, but he’d bid on — and won — one of the Royals jerseys that were auctioned off after the game. “It’s just been hanging in my closet ever since,” he wrote, “and it’s so Godawful-ugly that I really don’t know why I still have it.” Then, in an incredibly magnanimous gesture, he offered to donate the jersey for me to raffle off, as long as I let him write a small accompanying essay. This is sort of like saying, “I’ll do this really nice thing for you, but only if you also let me do this other really nice thing.” So course I said yes. With no further ado, I hereby turn the floor over to Rob:

Ah, the summer of 1998. I was crazy in love, I wasn’t burdened with a job that occupied a great deal of my time, and, for perhaps the first time in my adult life, I was blessed with a small bit of discretionary income.

I was living in Seattle then. It was the 18th of July, and the Royals were in town. The Royals were my team. For that game, the Mariners came up with what they called “Turn Ahead to the Future” — 2027, supposedly — and the most visible feature would be “futuristic” uniforms. And I have to say, from my perch in the upper deck the Royals’ jerseys really didn’t look so bad. They were sleeveless, which I’ve always liked, and nicely complemented by coordinated undershirts. I don’t mind canary yellow when it’s accompanied by Royal blue. So you’ll understand why I bid $75 on Jose Rosado’s jersey.

Why Rosado? Because I didn’t figure I could afford Johnny Damon’s jersey, and because I didn’t know just how good Sal Fasano would someday become (yes, that’s a joke). Rosado, meanwhile, was only 23, and just one year earlier he’d been Kansas City’s lone All-Star. On a generally boring, veteran-laden team, Rosado was one of the few interesting players.

So I bid on Rosado’s jersey, as well as that of coach Frank White (a reminder of better seasons). Then I waited. A few weeks later, a notice arrived in the mail: I had won! A check was dispatched, and soon a package arrived.

OMFG. Trust me: As bad as those jerseys might look in the photos, when you’re holding one in your hands it looks much, much worse. Oh, there’s nothing terribly wrong with the basic design, especially if you’re not averse to bright yellow and Royal blue. But what I couldn’t see from my upper-deck perch was that all the emblems and numbers on the jerseys were ironed on, just like cheap T-shirts. I couldn’t see that the fabric was some beastly synthetic not designed for laying against one’s skin [that would be nylon Dazzle, more commonly found in the NBA — PL]. What I also didn’t know is that my $75 didn’t get me the Royal blue undershirt. And let me tell you, without the undershirt the jersey was not only unwearable, but practically unbearable, too.

Which I suppose is why it’s not been worn since the 18th of July, and instead rested on a hanger in various closets — Seattle, Boston, Seattle again, and finally Portland — for nearly a decade. If you enter the raffle, I wish you only the best of luck. But I have to say something I wish somebody’d said to me, way back in the summer of ’98: caveat victor.

Rob’s being a little too harsh there. For starters, while most of the graphics are indeed screen-printed (including, ugh, a replica-esque Majestic logo on the back), the numbers and “ROSADO” lettering are sewn, not screened. And hey, it doesn’t look so ba – okay, yes it does. But in a cool, “so bad it’s good” sort of way. It’s tagged as a size 44, but it fits bigger than that (it fit nicely on Uni Watch design director Scott M.X. Turner, who’s a 48).

This fine garment — a one-of-a-kind artifact from one of baseball’s oddest chapters — is being raffled off as of right now. To enter, send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (please note that this is not the usual Uni Watch address) by next Tuesday night, October, 2nd, at 10 p.m. eastern. One e-mail per person, please, but everyone enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program at the time of the drawing will automatically get three bonus entries (and if ever there was a good reason to sign up, this raffle is it). I’ll announce the winner a week from today.

Big thanks to Rob for his generosity, and good luck to all raffle entrants. I hope you’re as jazzed about this as I am.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Japanese throwback jerseys are now available here (with thanks to Eric Stangel). … Lots of good non-wire-service pics of the Eagles’ throwbacks here. … Nice little gallery of Schutt Ion pics here. Not sure what school that is, but I’m sure lots of you folks do (with thanks to Matt Olson). … Iowa State will unveil its new uniforms today. A little birdie tells me that none of these helmets made the cut. … We’ve talked many times about how an American flag sleeve patch should always be positioned with the blue field facing forward. Some teams get this wrong, but you wouldn’t expect one of them to be the Air Force Academy women’s soccer team (with thanks to Frank Mercogliano). … The 49ers have signed Michael Lewis. Thing is, as David Robins notes, they already have another Michael Lewis (plus Keith Lewis), which should make for an interesting nameplate decision. Last time I can remember this happening was when the Mets had two Bobby Joneses a few years back. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Great Bruins goalie mask photo gallery here. Be sure to click through to the last image, which shows Gerry Cheevers wearing a Massachusetts Bicentennial patch. … Speaking of which, comments section stalwart Teebz has a great series of NHL patch roundups on his blog — look here, here, and here. … Decent NHL uni-history gallery here, including one of the best Cooperalls shots ever. … … Jere Smith reports that the Fenway 8 is back, and is now right-side up! … Did you know American Indians have a distinctive foot shape? Nike did (as jointly spotted by Vince and Minna H.).

256 comments September 26th, 2007

Your Tax Dollars at Work

I could probably do an entire entry just on this photo. Where to begin? The upturned collar, the number on the sleeve, the vertical placket insignia, the amazing crest, the off-center belt buckle, the striped undersleeves — it’s a visual feast.

That shot (along with this one, which shows the same player with a different uni number) was turned up by reader Jeff Lindquist, who found it while poking around the Library of Congress’s George Grantham Bain Collection, a mother lode of old news agency pics. I’ve always meant to spend more time exploring the LoC’s archive, but it’s a daunting task, because the collection is so big that it can seem overwhelming. So it’s nice when someone else sifts through everything and comes up with some gems, as Lindquist has done. Here are some more pics he turned up:

• Another great vertical insignia here.

• Always good to see more shots of the Giants’ plaid uniforms from 1916.

• Here’s a player from the St. Louis Terriers, one of the early Federal League teams. Note the Federal League logo on the sleeve — “kinda reminds you of a recently redesigned logo from some other league, doesn’t it?” notes Lindquist. Interestingly, the league logo was similar to the team’s logo, which is visible on this sweater. Not sure if all the other Federal League teams had similar logos.

• Speaking of sweaters: As many of you know, I have a serious thing for old baseball sweaters, so I’m totally drooling over this, this, this, and this.

• I’d previously seen this Cubs logo in the Dressed to the Nines templates but never in an actual photo — nice.

• Here’s something from our old uniform cameo project: Babe Ruth as a New York Giant, from an off-season exhibition.

• Check out the American flag patch that the Dodgers wore in 1917, to support the war effort.

• The Yankees didn’t start wearing pinstriped uniforms until 1912, but they appear to have had a pinstriped jacket of some sort in 1909.

• Here’s a Chinese baseball team, from 1910. Almost looks like they’re wearing conventional collared business shirts.

• Bizarre shots here of the Yankees and Tigers doing drill exercises — with rifles!

Uni Watch News Ticker: I’ve recently made the acquaintance of the thoroughly enjoyable Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co., whose frontman, Michael McMahon, was kind enough to loan me a pair of gorgeous vintage baseball pants (which didn’t have that big grass stain when he last saw them — oops), complete with nice side piping, even nicer belt tunnels and flap pockets, and — my favorite detail — gold braid on the inner waistband. I paired the pants with a chromatically compatible vintage jersey for my Sunday softball game, where my buddy Joel Wilhelmi snapped some fore and aft shots. The grass stains were the result of two sliding catches in left field (one of which shouldn’t have necessitated a slide — I got a really bad jump). … Reader Ryan Goldstein, who plays club tennis at Georgetown, recently asked me for advice about having an “MEJ” notation added to the club’s shirt sleeves, in memory of former teammate MIke Jurist. Since Georgetown is in DC, I put Ryan in touch with Baltimore’s Joe Hilseberg, who fixed them up right. “We were able to wear them at a tournament two weekends ago in NYC at the National Tennis Center, as well as last weekend at the University of Maryland Invitational,” writes Ryan. … The family that plays together stays together — especially if they’re wearing stirrups. That’s the message from Paul Wiederecht, who sent along a veritable family albums of pics of his father (here and here), his brothers (here, here, and here), and himself (here and here). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The Reds played a pants prank on Norris Hopper the other day. … Also from yesterday: Scott Player’s famously loose-bolted single-bar facemask (which has resulted in a good nickname) was seriously askew on the last play of Sunday’s Browns/Raiders game (something that’s happened to him before). … Eric Westover was at Utah/UNLV game the other day and got a shot of Eddie Wide III, whose nameplate includes a roman-numeral ordinal. … Rob Montoya notes that DeSean Jackson had his jersey tucked into his belt the other day. … Laura Frye reports that the Missouri women’s soccer team wore pink jerseys (for breast cancer research) and black wristbands (in memory of former teammate Meggie Malm, who’d been killed in a car accident the night before) on Friday. … LSU will be wearing special Katrina uniforms on Saturday against Tulane (which will mark their first use of white helmets since the 1997 Independence Bowl). Lots of additional images here, full details are here, and there’s a video report here. … According to a small entry buried on this Q&A page, the Patriots will ditch their silver alternate jersey in 2009 and go with a red throwback jersey instead (with thanks to Ryan Van Buskirk). … I’m going to be visiting the ESPN mother ship up in Bristol for most of today, so talk among yourselves and play nice. Meanwhile, I have something very special planned for tomorrow — see you then.

226 comments September 25th, 2007

Monday Morning Uni Watch

I didn’t intend to use the same headline for the third consecutive Monday, but it’s not often that a simple mid-season NFL gameday offers as many uni-related observations as yesterday did.

• Loved those Redskins throwbacks, especially the nice, thin pants piping and, of course, the striped socks. And lookie here — an actual sleeve! But why was Clinton Portis wearing white shoes?

• I’m more conflicted about the Eagles’ throwbacks. I loved the striped hose, natch (although a few players took them a bit too far), and I like the basic graphic scheme, but I’ve gotta believe this design looked a lot better when it wasn’t rendered in shiny fabric. Also, it’s hard not to notice that a uniform with such pale colors works a lot better when worn by someone with, um, pale skin. Compare this to this and you’ll see what I mean. Remember, these uniforms were based on a design created back in the 1930s, when the league was almost completely white. Also, the color scheme was based on the Philadelphia city flag, which was in turn based on the Swedish national flag, and Swedes are pretty much the palest people on earth. No surprise, then, that the design looks a bit odd on black players, who currently comprise about 70 percent of the league. (And please: I know there are some people who can’t read anything about any aspect of race without getting bent out of shape, but there’s absolutely nothing in the preceding paragraph that’s even remotely racist.)

• Speaking of striped socks, good to see the Browns going with this look again. Additional views here, here, here, and — just barely, but effectively — here.

• The Patriots wore those stupid silver alternates yesterday, which just look like they need another spin in the washing machine.

• The Rams broke out their rarely seen white pants. And so did the Bucs. In the same game (which also featured an interesting hosiery malfunction).

• At first I thought Marvin Harrison had a little piece of black tape on his lower-right chinstrap hookup (his right, our left). Then I looked at photos from last week and saw that it’s actually a little pice of rubber tubing with either “89″ or “68″ written on it. Anyone know what that’s about?

• Another week, another game with LaDainian Tomlinson not wearing the American flag on his helmet (it’s tough to see there, but trust me). Willie Parker, however, appears to be back among the flag-clad.

• Chad Johnson, who wore black chinstraps for the season’s first two games, went with standard white yesterday.

• As expected, Morten Andersen made his 2007 debut with his old Dungard facemask present and accounted for.

• Antonio Pierce usually wears a red “ny” on his chinstrap. Yesterday it was blue (”Just to change it up,” says Jints equipment director Joe Skiba). No photo yet.

Membership News: Some new designs in the membership card gallery, with more to follow later today. Incidentally, if you’re looking for something unique, the following numbers aren’t yet represented on the membership roster: 48, 62, 64, 69 (!), 70, 73, 74, 82, 84, 85, 90, 91, 95, and 96.

Research Project: I’m thinking of doing a column that will basically be a Uni Watch glossary — definitions and explanations of uni-related terminology. Entries could include everything from fabric and embroidery terms (tackle twill, soutache) to striping designations (UCLA inserts, Northwestern stripes), typographic terms (vertical arching), uniform and equipment element names (nose bumper, nameplate), and slang-ish terms that have gained parlance here on Uni Watch (logo creep, Ree-box). Most of these are already familiar to people who read this site ,natch, but I think it’ll make a good topic for the larger ESPN audience, which isn’t quite as savvy (yet).

If you’d like to nominate a term for inclusion in the glossary, let me know. Please don’t invent any new terms — what I’m looking for here are words and terms that are already somewhat established. Thanks.

Uni Watch News Ticker: “I was watching Little Big League (the movie where the kid inherits the Twins from his dead grandfather) on cable the other day,” writes Matt Usedom. “I noticed that they actually made a ‘TH’ sleeve patch for their ‘dead owner,’ Thomas Heywood.” … Decent article on jersey-wearing protocol here (with thanks to Alan Kreit). … Several readers have noted that Nike’s recent NFL-related commercials (first the one with the Chargers and the Bears, and now the “Leave Nothing” clip with Shane Merriman and Stephen Jackson) are very strange, because the Reebok logo is clearly visible on the uniforms. Now Austin Cochoon has picked up another uni-related oddity: “In the ‘Leave Nothing’ spot [available on YouTube here], at about the 47-second mark, while Jackson is running against the Seahawks, the second Seahawks player coming off the block is wearing #80. It’s hard to see in the YouTube version, but trust me, it’s clearly visible on the television [indeed it is — PL]. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? The only person allowed to wear number 80 for the Seahawks is Steve Largent. I don’t count the brief Jerry Rice stint. Not only is the number 80 retired for the Seahawks, but he player appears to be a defensive back, which makes the number choice even more ludicrous.” … “There’s a change in the official patch licensee for MLB,” reports patch maven Brad Bierman. “The new company is a Dallas company called the Emblem Source [taking over for National Emblem — PL]. They work directly with Majestic, and did the RFK stadium-closing patch, for example. I have assisted them in lending original patches from my collection that are being replicated to the exact detail.” … Here’s something the NHL and Reebok apparently didn’t count on: Many of the Penguins (and, presumably, other teams) are complaining that the new water-resistant jerseys are repelling moisture so well that all the sweat and ice spray ends up in the players’ gloves and skates. Details here. … Still more NHL problems: The red part of Scott Gomez’s “A” began peeling off and then vanished completely the other night. … And speaking of the Rangers, what’s with the inconsistent name typography? Also, note that Steve Hutchinson and Mike Rupp are wearing tape on their socks — wasn’t that supposed to be unnecessary with the new hose? (With thanks to Jesse Spector, who took that photo himself.) … Remember the upside-down 8 on Fenway Park’s exterior wall? Greg Niforos reports that it’s now missing. Maybe someone in the Sox front office is a Uni Watch reader..? … No photo, but Joe Skiba reports that USC linebacker Keith Rivers was wearing a “10″ helmet decal the other night, presumably in honor of injured teammate Brian Cushing.

278 comments September 24th, 2007

Sunday Open Thread

Marseille arrived for their match with Auxerre with only their white and blue jerseys. These were too similar to Auxerre’s home colors, so Marseille was forced to borrow one of Auxerre’s alternates - that wonderful brown and pink number on the right.

In case you couldn’t guess it already, Marseille was so embarrassed by looking like this they ended up losing 2-0. (Pointed out by SQL in yesterday’s comments section.) –Vince

158 comments September 23rd, 2007