Editor’s Note: Reader Mario Fontana recently alerted me to a unique project he’s involved in. When I invited him to tell me more, he whipped up a full-fledged blog post, complete with photo links. I’m happy to present it here as a guest-written entry on the site. — PL
By Mario Fontana
In August I played in the sixth annual Travis Roy Foundation Wiffle Ball Tournament in Essex, Vermont. The tournament was created to help benefit the foundation which helps support victims of spinal cord injuries. You may remember Roy as the Boston University hockey player who was paralyzed in 1995 during his first shift on the ice.
The tournament is unique for a number of reasons. First and foremost, it’s played at Fenway Park! Little Fenway is extremely intricate in design, featuring a manually operated scoreboard, the Pesky Pole, bullpens, the centerfield flagpole, retired numbers, netting (this is classic Fenway, so no Monster Seats), and even a Citgo Sign. The sign used to reside in a dead tree beyond left field, but when field owner Pat O’Connor was going to put it up this season, the tree fell over, almost killing Pat in the process. The sign is now held up by a steel pole, though we’re all pushing Pat to get Barnes and Noble to build a shop beyond the wall so we can mount the sign on the top of it (kidding!).
In 2002, when the event was first held, it was a rainy one-day affair featuring seven teams. Since then the tournament has exploded in popularity and anticipation, with seven teams turning into 10, then 12 and finally 16.
With more teams chomping at the bit to get in and a field that couldn’t possibly stand any more games in a three-day stretch (the tournament is held from Friday to Sunday on the second weekend of August), Pat O’Connor decided a second field needed to be built in order to keep the tournament growing. The result: Little Wrigley.
Wrigley has proved itself a worthy brother to Fenway. Pat stenciled on a painted brick wall, and ivy will soon grow over it. Baskets were put up in order to catch home runs (they played a pivotal role in a semifinal game this year), and look at that scoreboard! Additional images here, here, and here.
As if the two amazing fields weren’t enough, the TRF Wiffle Tourney has become a uni extravaganza. The first year, all teams came in extremely unprepared (especially my team, HOTDAM). After being slightly better equipped for year two (also shown here), we decided to completely overhaul our unis for year four by paying homage to the greatest unis ever, the 1960s San Diego Chargers (and not that bogus new powder blue they’re trying to play off as a replacement this year).
HOTDAM was created during a night of inebriated Scrabble (do we Vermonters know how to party or what?), so we based our front graphic on a Scrabble design (also note also the quality effort by a new team this year, the New York Knights — they wanted to go with full-scale Roy Hobbs pinstripes but couldn’t get it together quickly enough). Every year we add something new. First it was shorts, then caps. We hear you can get socks with horizontal stripes at the top custom-made on some web sites, so that’s likely the 2008 add. (Stirrups don’t look good with shorts.) [I beg to differ. — PL]
Unfortunately we’re running out of new things to add, so this year, to commemorate our first game on little Wrigley, we went with our old jerseys, now known as our throwbacks. Unfortunately, we didn’t know our opponent was also going to be wearing gray for this game, so the pictures look a tad confusing. After game one we ditched our throwbacks and went with the powder blues for the rest of the weekend.
As for other teams’ uniforms, the Juggernauts were a new team this year and quickly established themselves as formidable foes in the “best uni” department. More shots here, here, and here (and yes, I definitely scooped up one of those hats).
Not to be outdone, Jim Bergstrom came to the tournament all the way from Indiana and took taboo to a whole new level with his Banana Hammocks squad. In addition to matching HOTDAM in overall uni brightness, they also had their own fan club. As you can see, their logo is indeed a banana in a hammock.
Joe Momma, a returning team, decided to go Hawaiian. The Staten Island Yankees, who typically look like this, added red caps. The Blue Bulls, Hockey Monkeys, and Turf Monsters tend to come out with the same look every year (simple and effective). Other teams like the Buckners see what they’re up against in one year and improve thereafter. And some sponsored teams come up with thematic formats. For example, Temperature Controls of Vermont decided that every name on the back of the jersey should have something to do with temperature.
Every team member of the Comets Express team wears number four and the name “Garrett.” Team owner Benton Burgess’s son Garrett is a paraplegic and the team plays “for Garret” — hence the number. It’s a fantastic tribute.
What’s most important about the tournament, however, is the cause. The Travis Roy Foundation has raised millions of dollars over the years to help those in need. Insurance does not cover expensive items such as electric wheelchairs and handicap-accessible vans. People who have spinal cord injuries can write to the Foundation asking for grants to help live their lives as normally as possible. You have no idea how important the right equipment is until you see somebody in a wheelchair struggle with the little things in life.
This year’s tournament raised nearly $150,000, but we’d like to do better. So if you’d be willing to donate to the Foundation on my team’s behalf, please click here. If you want further information, feel free to e-mail me. And if you need to be convinced of how special this project is, check out this trailer from a documentary on the tournament:
Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday I linked to this photo and asked about the hardware on the pants, which led to this response from Brian Jackson: “Under the original rules of football, there was no ‘down by contact’ and play continued until all forward movement by the offensive player was stopped. In those days handles would be attached to a player’s pants and jersey and he would be dragged along by his teammates after getting knocked down. I would guess these grommets [in the photo] are a holdover from the reinforcing material needed to attach the handles. I have read stories (no link, sorry) of smaller players being tossed over the line on short-yardage plays. Serious injuries could occur, as the only way to stop a player from being dragged was by piling on. Here’s an old article detailing the consequences of such a play.” … “I was at a preseason game and Kevin Garnett had some sort of large finger accessory,” writes Gus Holcomb. He’s apparently worn it for awhile (additional photo here) — what is it? … “Sean Taylor was wearing an Adidas World Cup cleat two games ago,” says Derek Stucker. “He took off the front cleat to make it look like a football cleat.” … Joe Skiba checked in yesterday afternoon with a buncha Giants-related clarifications. First, regarding Brandon Jacobs’s disappearing jersey patch: “Jacobs switched his jersey at halftime. The first jersey was an utter mess. We didn’t patch the back-up set of jerseys, since the back-up set will now be the first set when we play Detroit.” Next, regarding Michael Strahan’s red shoelaces: “Shoelace color and shoe tongue color have to be the same.” Wow — first time I’ve heard that rule spelled out like that. And finally, regarding Lawrence Tynes’s Umbro cleats: “Pay more attention next time, he kicks in Umbros every week.” … The pink jersey phenomenon has extended all the way to rodeo, as seen here and here (sorry about the small pics, which come courtesy of Shane M. Jorgenson). … Disturbing note from Greg Riffenburgh, who writes: “I was in New Orleans for the weekend and came across this stencil on the corner of a sidewalk in the Garden District. Creepy.” Indeed. … Remember this? Jon Kitna does.
Meanwhile: For months now people have been telling me to pick up a copy of The Football Book, part of a series of coffee table books produced by Sports Illustrated. Last week I finally got around to getting a copy, and sure enough, it’s loaded with great uni-related photos. The only problem is that the book is too big to fit in my scanner, so I had to take photos of the pages. Here’s a sampling:
• The book features two spectacular footwear close-ups, beginning with one of the most famous shoes in NFL history: Tom Dempsey’s special kicking shoe, which he used to boot his record-setting 63-yard field goal in 1970. Less celebrated but still fascinating is Doak Walker’s kicking shoe, which included a zipper as well as laces, because he played both ways and had to be able to switch footwear quickly. I love that heavily taped zipper tab.
• Before there were electric heaters on the sideline, some players kept warm by wearing burlap sacks, or by indulging their pyromaniacal tendencies.
• Speaking of the Browns, check out the team-colored goalpost, shown here in the aftermath of the 1964 championship game.
• Two photos of officials caught my eye. Note how the two zebras in this shot have slightly different stripe widths and sleeve cuff patterns. Meanwhile, anyone know who this memorial armband was honoring?
• Good view here of how Jim Burt had his jersey custom-tied for maximum tightness.
• And before footballs themselves were manufactured to standard specs, officials kept a special ball caliper on hand to make sure game balls were the proper size and shape.
• Gorgeous gallery of WWII-era game programs here.
• What’s up with the grommets — or are they snaps? — on the pants?
• And finally, this isn’t uni-related, but it brings up something I’ve always wondered about: When I was a kid, every team huddled up in a circle — except for the Chiefs, who set up like this, with the quarterback facing the rest of the offense. I remember being fascinated by this protocol when I was little, and then they stopped doing it and I forgot all about it until I saw this photo in the book. Anyone know more about this? Was it a Len Dawson thing or a Hank Stram thing? If the latter, did the Saints use the same huddle format when Stram coached them?
And so on — plenty more where all of that came from. Highly recommended.
Tomlinson Update: Sure enough, as several people noted in yesterday’s comments, Ladainian Tomlinson’s flag decal was missing yet again on Sunday. Dude’s been in violation of a league uniform guideline for nearly half a season now! Is it really possible that nobody else has noticed? Or is he making some kind of statement? Seems unlikely, given his antics during the Chargers’ home opener, but LT is clearly a complex character, so who knows what’s running through his head.
I talked about this with Giants equipment director Joe Skiba when I was out at Giants Stadium two Fridays ago. He gave me a flag decal and suggested that I FedEx it to Tomlinson along with a short, well-worded note (maybe just “Are we missing something?”). It’s a tempting thought — but what if he slapped the decal on his helmet? Then the game would be over. I’ve come to enjoy the weekly “Will he or won’t he?” anticipation surrounding LT’s flag. Why ruin it?
Then again, I love the FedEx idea — I’m torn. And so I turn, my brothers and sisters, to you: Should I sit on my hands and let the weekly game play out, or should I send the flag decal to LT? And if the latter, what sort of note should I include? Cast your vote by sending an e-mail to unipoll at earthlink dot net (not the usual Uni Watch address) and I’ll take the readership’s wishes under advisement.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Not sure how I missed this, since I was watching the Giants/Dolphins game, but Brandon Jacobs’s jersey patch apparently fell off at some point in the second half (with thanks to Eric Stangel, who says he first saw this mentioned on GameUsedForum.com). … Remember back in the late ’80s, when several NBA teams used socks with the team name knit into the hose? Rob Montoya notes that several Albuquerque high school football teams are using that sock style, including Eldorado High and Cibola High. In addition, Highland High’s socks have stripes, vertical lettering, and a team logo. Albuquerque: the unlikely athletic sock capital of America! … Speaking of sock adornment, check out this photo (forwarded by Russ Yurk), which was taken during Cardinals training camp in 1981. What’s with the number-stenciled socks? Anyone ever seen that before? … “South Africa, the recent Rugby World Cup champions, unveiled their 2008 strips this past weekend,” writes Dominic Litten. “It’s quite different from the jerseys they wore in the World Cup. Another interesting quirk about South African rugby is the awesome suit jacket worn by the head coaches (who, by the way, aren’t on the sidelines during games).” … “Dress to the Nines” curator Tom Shieber checks in with the following observation: “Is this a first? The Rockies wore different uniforms in each game of their four-game World Series loss to the Red Sox. Game One: black vest with gray pinstripe pants. Game Two: gray pinstripe jersey and pants. Game Three: black vest (same as Game One) with white pinstripe pants. Game Four: white pinstripe jersey and pants. Maybe they figured they’d keep switching uniforms until they won. Didn’t seem to work.” … Nice find by Jeff Barak: a web page that lists every NHL player to have worn a given uni number. … Neil Berger was looking through some old photos and found some shots of a Bucks uni-history gallery that he took a few years back at the Bradley Center. Additional pics here, here, and here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Before an NFL game, the game footballs are inspected by the referee, who puts a mark or stamp on them to ensure that there’s no switcheroo. You can see those marks on the tip of the balls used in Sunday’s Niners/Saints game. … The Hershey Bears wore pink breast cancer awareness jerseys during pregame warm-ups on Sunday. … The concept of naming rights has gotten seriously out of hand. … While researching something else I came across a photo of Lance Rentzel wearing a really crude-looking facemask, similar to the cheapo-looking one that Gale Sayers used to wear. … Michael Rich was at the Georgia Tech/Clemson game a few weeks ago and spotted a fan wearing a custom Tech jersey. … Interesting interlocking “X” and “V” being used by the Charlotte Checkers for their anniversary patch (with thanks to Kyle Ostendorf). … Any article that includes the quotes “People would make fun of us and stuff” and “Like if we travel around, people are going to give us a lot of crap” has got to be worth your while — and it is (nice find by Todd Davis). … More lower-leg shenanigans for the Packers secondary last night, as seen here, here, and here.
It’s good to see that all the finest aspects of pro football were on display yesterday in London, where the Giants and Dolphins sloshed around in the mud for three hours before adjourning for fish and chips.
But Mark Roberts (or, as the wire service captions identified him, “serial streaker Mark Roberts”) gave us plenty of Uni Watch fodder, even with his abbreviated attire. Consider: NFL officials wear socks with two white stripes, but college and high school zebras wear socks with Northwestern stripes — and that’s what Roberts was wearing. Note that his cap also lacked the NFL logo. So I’m assuming that he was disguised as a member of the chain gang (typically comprised of local college officials, although I’m not sure what would qualify as “local” in London), not as an actual on-field official. If I’m wrong about that — i.e., if he was posing as a game official — then the security staff really blew it by not picking up on his incorrect hose and headwear. Any Uni Watch reader would’ve noticed that in less time than it takes Sebastian Janikowski to run the 40-yard dash scarf down three hot dogs.
• Something really needs to be done about the increasing prominence of red in Big Blue’s color scheme. The latest incursion: Michael Strahan wore red shoelaces.
• Jints kicker Lawrence Tynes was wearing Umbro cleats yesterday — particularly interesting since Umbro’s diamond-shaped logo echoed the diamond logo used to promote the game itself. I’ll be curious to see if Tynes sticks with the Umbros next week or if it was just a one-game thing. Hey, Joe Skiba, care to fill us in on that?
• As I’d been told, the jersey patches worn for the game did not feature the Bridgestone logo (unlike the patch worn by that giant Jason Taylor robot last week). Instead, they included the word “London” in red type, although it was really hard to make out.
Unfortunately, a corporate advertising logo did appear on a uniform over the weekend — but not in London. It was in Newark, where the Devils played their first name in their new arena on Saturday night. It’s bad enough that corporations get to buy the naming rights for such facilities, but the corporate flimflammery on the jersey patch that the Devils wore for the occasion really scaled new heights in offensiveness. Let’s take a little inventory here: The name of an insurance company appears four times on the patch, and the company’s logo appears six times. And nobody affiliated with the Devils or the NHL had the integrity or the courage to say no to this? Shame on everyone involved.
Staph Infection Staff Addition: The search for Vince’s replacement continues (more on that in a sec), but meanwhile I’ve taken on a new assistant: Meet Nina Dubin, who’s generously offered to help me with administrative tasks, membership processing, and other clerical-ish stuff. Right now, for example, she’s checking the original membership orders against the roster page, so I can finally fill in the remaining 15 or so names that got wiped out by that software hiccup a few weeks back.
Nina hails from Atlanta (big Braves, Thrashers, and Falcons fan) but goes to school here in Brooklyn at Pratt Institute, where she’s studying advertising design. She reports that Pratt’s teams (which she says “mostly play against other art schools”) are called the Cannoneers, because there’s a big-ass cannon near the campus gates. The school’s mascot has variously been depicted like this and this, but I fully expect Nina to come up with a comprehensive redesign before she graduates. Please join me in welcoming her to the Uni Watch team.
As for Vince’s position, thanks again to everyone who expressed interest. I’ve now identified and contacted several finalists, so if you applied and haven’t heard back from me yet, I’m sorry to say you didn’t make the cut. But seriously, I was blown away by the quantity and quality of the applicants — wish I could work with all of you.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Nothing I’ve ever written has resulted in such amusing hate mail as last Thursday’s ESPN column about the Cowboys. About 30% of the respondents said I must be gay (bonus points for the guy who wrote, “Admit it, your boyfriend wrote this article for you, didn’t he?”), another 20% advised me to go into another line of work “since this writing thing obviously isn’t gonna work out,” and about 10% apiece informed me that I was (a) a douchebag, (b) a “BITCH!” (always in all-caps, always with an exclamation point), (c) simply jealous, (d) unfit to utter the words “Tom” and “Landry” in the same sentence, and (e) the biggest waste of space in ESPN history. My in-box hasn’t been this entertaining since I made fun of Ron Santo. … The swoosh is once again permitted on NFL fields — at least on gloves — and players wasted no time showcasing it yesterday. … It’s also making high school inroads. … It’s also showing up on glove palms now (as depressingly noted by Chris Andringa). … Remember how Reebok and the NHL had to scramble into damage-control mode last Thursday after the Boston Globe reported that the new jerseys would be scrapped? Here’s a press release that was issued from Reebok HQ on Friday afternoon, pretty much confirming what the NHL said. I feel a little bad for the league and Reebok here, because what the Globe reporter implied — i.e., that the new jerseys were being abandoned altogether — turned out to be inaccurate. On the other hand, it’s hard to feel too much sympathy for people who’ve so much to screw up a once-glorious sport. … Amazing find by Phil Johnson: This article about the 1918 influenza pandemic features this photo, which shows the batter wearing a surgical mask during the flu outbreak (and maybe the catcher and/or the ump too, although it’s tough to tell for sure). Also, note that the catcher appears to be wearing his cap with the brim forward and the ump has his truncated brim facing backward. … Looks like Primoz Brezec may have Velcro strips to keep his jersey tucked in, although it apparently didn’t work the other night (good spot by Alex Chiu). … Jeremy Brahm reports that Phiten — the company that makes those annoying titanium necklaces — is now in the uniform biz, thanks to “a patented technology developed in Japan, which allows the embedding of Aqua-Titanium” into clothing. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Someone has created an incredible design gallery based on those little gumball machine football helmets. … Good Blackhawks sweater gallery, plus a link to the team’s all-time roster as broken down by uni number, here (with thanks to David Soline). … The Altoona Curve have unveiled a gorgeous throwback design to celebrate their 10th anniversary. It’ll be worn for Sunday home games next year. Details here. … Very good article here about a new football helmet concept, with an interactive sidebar here. … And in a related item, studies indicating that the Riddell Revolution can decrease concussions have been called into question. … Bizarre side piping — or is it simply scales? — being worn by Barlow High School in Portland, Oregon (as spotted by Travis Demers). … Looks like McAlester High in Oklahoma is outfitting its football team with soccer socks (nice spot by Kenny Adkins). … Let’s hope this never happens again. … Latest sign that Kim Jong-il is a total crackpot: Jeremy Brahm was watching an Olympic qualifying soccer match between Iraq and North Korea the other night and noticed that the North Koreans had inconsistent typography on their front uni numbers and NOBs (compare this to this). … Corey Paske notes that the logo creep at UGA extends to the team’s mascot. … Spectacularly detail-attentive catch by Justin Kadis, who noticed that South Carolina DE Eric Norwood’s nameplate was not sewn down properly on Saturday night. … “Todd Helton went through two pairs of his Mizuno-ized Nike’s in Game 3 of the World Series,” writes footwear studies guru Mark Mihalik. “He started off the game in his molded Clippers, then shifted to a metal pair later in the game.” … “Best cheerleader outfits ever,” says Dave Soline, and I’m inclined to agree. … Speaking of cheerleaders, several NFL cheer squads wore Halloween costumes yesterday. … According to this article, Edmonton Oilers president Cal Nichols doesn’t like the team’s new uniforms (with thanks to Colin MacIntyre). … Score one for the fores of advertising in public spaces. … Last month I interviewed pocket schedule collector Claude Jacques. He’s now provided some photos from a recent skedder convention (that’s Claude in the foreground). “I wanted you to see just how much stuff there is to go through,” he says. “And this is with 15 people showing up. Imagine the Harrisburg show, when 40 to 50 skedders get together!” Quite the raucous caucus, no doubt. … The Bears broke out their orange alts yesterday. … UNC DE Hilee Taylor’s jersey tore in an unusual spot on Saturday (with thanks to Zach Smith). … “My beloved Wake Forest Demon Deacons have white goalposts in their home stadium,” writes A.J. Spring. “I haven’t been able to find any other major college football stadium that doesn’t have yellow goalposts.” Anyone know of any others? … Haven’t been able to find a rear-view photo of Ladainian Tomlinson from yesterday. Anyone know if his flag decal was still MIA? … Many, many readers have pointed out that Jonathan Papelbon’s been wearing a gray-underbilled cap (and is also a raving lunatic). Coupla thoughts: (1) He’s been wearing it all year. (2) Although we’ve been equating gray underbills with last year’s wool caps, it ain’t necessarily so. Back when all the underbills were gray, there were a few players who preferred to wear black (Orel Hersheiser, e.g., had New Era make black-underbilled caps for him throughout his career). So it’s possible that Papelbon simply prefers gray and is having special gray-trimmed polyester models made for him.
There’ll be plenty of college football stuff to go over tomorrow, but for the moment I wanted to let it be known that Manny’s habit of flipping off his batting helmet when he runs is getting to be beyond annoying. MLB should start fining him every time he does it. I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up making a “suggestion” to him since the helmet is there for his safety.
It is hilarious, however, to watch it hit his feet as he flips it off and continues running. It’s also fun to see how far it goes and where it lands. Usually, the umps go pick it up because it ends up in the basepaths and what might be comfortable to Manny might also be a little dangerous for runners following in his path. –Vince
Why figure skating today? Because there’s little to no chance you’ll find appropriate Halloween costumes in any other sports this weekend. Have fun, be safe, and remember, striped socks go with everything. –Vince
A few weeks ago I ran an entry about players who’ve worn their full names on their jerseys (or FNOB, short for “full name on back”). That post prompted so many contributions that I’ve decided to do a follow-up entry today.
The most interesting case study comes our way courtesy of Les Holmlund, who wrote in to tell me that the WHA’s Alberta Oilers — forerunners of today’s Edmonton Oilers — had the entire team wearing FNOB during their inaugural 1972-73 season. Now, that Oilers team was already uni-notable for a few other reasons. According to WHAUniforms.com (usually a pretty dependable resource), they began the season wearing “ALBERTA” on their backs and then switched to round-cornered nameplates with an unusual font. But there was nothing on the site about them wearing FNOB. Fortunately, Les came up with several photos to back up his point, as seen here, here, and here. So there you have it: The Alberta Oilers, who began by wearing PNOB (province name on back) and then switched to FNOB, almost certainly making them the most eccentrically nameplated team in sports history.
As for additional FNOB examples (aside from those already listed in my previous FNOB post), I’m only listing them if we have photos confirming them. I realize the list is still very incomplete, but here are the latest additions:
Finally, a few related categories that aren’t quite FNOB but still belong in this discussion:
• Several readers suggested coming up with a separate list for players who wear more than their first initial but less than FNOB, like Michael and Martellus Bennett. If anyone wants to contribute additional examples, I’m game.
• And here’s a unique situation, as explained by reader Roy Ellingsen: “Norwegian former hockey star Carl Oscar Bøe Andersen’s name was so long that he prefered to wear just his initials on the nameplate.”
Big thanks to all who’ve contributed — we’re building a nice little nameplate database here. And if anyone wants to start building a physical collection instead of a virtual one, look what’s up for sale on eBay.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Many readers wrote in last night to report that Virginia Tech’s Victor “Macho” Harris’s left-sleeve uni number was orange last night, while his right-sleeve number (and all his teammates’ sleeve numbers) was white. No photo yet. Anyone TiVo the game? … I’ve written before about umpires being forced to wear civvies after their uniforms got lost in transit. Now Richard Koh has come up with a video clip of Eric Gregg struggling to find adequately sized gear during just such a situation. Bill Murray’s doing the color commentary, too. … Minnesota’s women’s hockey team will wear a memorial helmet decal for the rest of this season in honor of equipment manager Bonnie Olein, who recently passed away. Details here (with thanks to Mike Nachreiner). … Andy Head notes that the Saskatoon Blades wear uni numbers is a very unusual spot (plus they’ll be wearing one weird-ass jersey for Emergency Services Night next month). … Drew McKay reports that the Slipstream cycling team recently invited fans to submit designs for next year’s uniform. The team is apparently for its argyle motif, so most of the submissions were very argyle-centric (including this one, which is Drew’s favorite). You can see all 613 submissions here. … The Trenton Thunder have unveiled a 15th-season patch (as forwarded by Ted Kerwin). … Much better, even if the stirrups are backwards. … And you can see the stirrups’ laundry tag peaking out here. … When it comes to baggy pants, like father, like son. … Remember when Mike Timlin (who probably thinks the term “World Series” is a U.N. plot) wanted to wear the American flag patch on his cap full-time? He lost that battle, but he’s got a flag on his BP cap — closer view here (great catch by Bryan Redemske). … Steve Necaster reports that the Sabres will be wearing white at home for several games in November. … Further evidence here and here of the Rangers having apparently modified their hemlines to eliminate Reebok’s scooped shirttail. … The Mid-Atlantic Hockey League recently unveiled new uniforms for the Indiana Ice Miners (dark, white), Jamestown Vikings (dark, white), Mon Valley Thunder (dark, light), Valley Forge Freedom (dark, white), and Wooster Warriors (dark, white). “We all know the MAHL is minor league hockey, but I’ve seen roller hockey uniforms that look more professional,” says Zak McGinniss, who provided the links. … “At the Mellon Arena they have a High School Hall of Champions,” writes Doug Keklak. “It’s a hallway in the arena adorned with framed high school hockey jerseys, mostly from western PA schools but there are a few West Virginia schools included in the mix.” Doug’s taken photos of many of them, which you can see here. … The Devils’ new arena opened last night with a Bon Jovi concert, and Chris Flinn noticed something interesting in the men’s room: “Every single urinal had the Devils logo engraved into the metal.” I’m not sure which is more embarrassing — admitting that you attended a Bon Jovi concert or taking a photo in the bathroom, but either way let’s all salute Chris for his devotion to the Uni Watch cause.
And then there was the matter of the logo’s placement on the Rockies’ vests. There’s a long tradition of vested teams wearing sleeve patches jersey torsos, natch. The problem is that there’s no set protocol for where on the torso they should be worn, as demonstrated by the variety of placements shown here, here, and here. The Rockies’ placement is as good as any — the problem is that the patch is so damn big.
Batting helmets were logo-less as well. Or were they? Manny’s helmet had a logo decal during his first at-bat, but it was apparently removed after that. I didn’t notice anyone else wearing the helmet decal.
In short: Could’ve been worse. And tonight we should see real stirrups on the mound and, just maybe, real road grays too.
(Special thanks to Bryan Redemske, Michael Romero, Randy Williams, and Ben Nickerson for their contributions to today’s entry.)
Uni Watch News Flash: This just in: According to this item in today’s Boston Herald, Reebok’s new NHL jerseys may be on the way out. Here’s the relevant passage (which was brought to my attention by Doug Mooney):
According to sources in the [Bruins] dressing room, Reebok has been unable to correct problems with the new jerseys introduced this season across the NHL and will replace them at the company’s expense with new uniforms made of the old materials.
Players have complained since training camp that the new jerseys, which are supposed to be lighter and allow sweat to evaporate out through the shirts, have instead trapped water inside and gotten heavier.
I’ve got calls in to the NHL and Reebok as we speak. More details as I get them.
Update, 12:55pm: Just spoke with an NHL spokesperson, who told me that the Boston Herald report is incorrect. As it was explained to me, Reebok has informed each team that players who have “moisture issues” with the new jerseys (i.e., lots of water ending up in their gloves and/or skates) will be given the option to have the option to wear a jersey with a new front panel made of a different high-tech material. The spokesperson maintained that there was no league-wide move to scrap the new jerseys, nor was there any move back to “old materials.”
When I asked if the league had any sense of how many players were requesting this option, I was told to direct that question to Reebok. I’m still waiting to hear back from them.
Uni Watch News Ticker: If you thought this was problematic, wait until you see this (as found by Ella Moran and Pete Bonavita). “What is it about the 49ers and the sweaters they inspire?” asks Scott Turner. “Certainly not the legacy of Dick Nolan.” … Nice article here on MLB rituals, uni-related and otherwise. … The Birmingham Barons have new uniforms. … Chris Laughman has come up with a bunch of cool high school football unis, including Vernon Hills in Illinois (note how the “VH” helmet logo appears to have been swiped from an unlikely source), Heritage High in California (here’s another shot), and my favorite, San Pasqual in California (if not for the side panel on the jersey, they’d be damn near perfect!). … Early X-Y-Z victim, or just a fold of fabric? (As found by Vince, who also passed along this.) … This type of story seems to come up like clockwork once or twice a year, but it’s still a good read. … Brady Quinn lost a bet and had to wear a USC jersey for an interview (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). … According to the first paragraph of this story, Troy Tulowitzki’s name was misspelled on his new bats last night (as forwarded by Joe Ramos). … Soccer note from Roy Ellingsen, who writes: “Erling Knudtzon (show here behind goal scorer Kim Holmen) managed to wear the wrong socks for a Tippeliga soccer game (Norway’s premier division)!” … Ray Bergman asked me what LT is wearing here. Apparently, it’s this.
See that photo of Jason Taylor over there? It’s not really him — it’s an “8-metre, animatronic version of [him], the biggest animated human figure ever made,” at least according to the photo’s caption. That photo and this one (also of the “animatronic version”) began circulating on the AP wire on Monday, in advance of this weekend’s Giants/Dolphins game in London.
As you can see in the pics, the jersey features a patch — presumably the one that the two teams will be wearing on Sunday. But I couldn’t make out the wording underneath the NFL logo until Tuesday, when the New York Times ran a much larger version of one of the photos. That’s when I saw this.
I knew Bridgestone was sponsoring the game, but would the teams actually be wearing the company’s wordmark this Sunday? If so, it would mark the first appearance of uniform advertising in an NFL game. Temples pounding, palms sweating, I checked with Giants equipment director Joe Skiba, who reassured me that the teams would indeed be wearing a patch similar to the one shown in the photos but that it would not feature the Bridgestone logo.
After I got back down off the ledge, I wondered why games played overseas always seem to present these sorts of problems. Remember, the only time advertising has appeared in MLB uniforms was when regular-season games were played in Japan — first in 2000, when the Mets and Cubs wore AIU sleeve patches and am/pm helmet decals, and then again in 2004, when the Yankees and Devil Rays wore the Ricoh logo on their sleeves and helmets.
The answer, of course, is that most other parts of the world are much more comfortable with uniform advertising than we are here in North America. Hell, the ad patches used in the now-defunct NFL Europe make that Bridgestone patch look almost quaint by comparison (additional examples here, here, here, and here).
I suppose you could say there’s a “When in Rome…” factor at work here, but I think it should be the other way around. The whole point of playing these games overseas is to help promote our culture in foreign lands, right? So as long as we’re teaching them about football (or baseball, or whatever), why not teach them that ads have no place on a team uniform — even when it’s on an 8-metre animatronic figure.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Big congrats to longtime Uni Watch contributor Joe Hilseberg, who recently got married and, as promised, prepared uniform-style vests for himself and his groomsmen. “And on my honeymoon in Aruba,” he adds, “we rode a party bus one night and you have to see the sock action on this crazy woman who was the guide!” … On Monday I passed along a reader query about Kevin Youkilis possibly having the Majestic wordmark under his Majestic sleeve logo. Upon closer inspection, however, it appears that it was just a shadow. … There’s been a discussion of helmet memorial decals over on the Chris Creamer board, including a link to something I had completely forgotten about: the Pete Rozelle memorial worn in Super Bowl XXXI. … The Nationals have unveiled a new radio network logo (with thanks to Kyle Donnelly). … Minor league hockey note from Jeff Seals, who writes: “I went to the Las Vegas Wranglers’ home opener on Sunday night and they broke out their new home jerseys. The front features a poker chip design with the individual player’s number inside the chip. On the outside of the chip it says, ‘Las Vegas Wranglers.’ What’s different is that the left shoulder has big TV numbers, but the numbers are non-existent on the right arm. The back of the jersey has a black nameplate with white lettering.” … Blake Meyer, who runs the superb TwinsCards.com site, informs me that several of his contributors have banded together to create the very similar (and similarly excellent) VikingsCards.com, which features all sorts of old cards, old photos, and so on. Highly recommended. … WFAN radio clown Chris Russo, who’s already shown himself to have a single-digit IQ on umpteen occasions, further undermined his own credibility yesterday when he opined that Joe Giarardi might not be the right guy for the Yankees managerial job because “he’s one of those managers that worry about how the players wear their socks.” … Sure is weird to see Big Papi with a glove. … Speaking of gloves, Kaz Matsui was using at least two different ones during yesterday’s workouts, as seen here and here (with thanks to Bryan Redemske). … Kudos to the Missouri State High School Activities Association, which recently determined that “it is evident there is a problem with numerous schools wearing illegally-styled uniforms” and then prepared “[a]n extensive power point presentation” to help address the problem. Details here (with thanks to John Vernickas). … Good roundup of San Antonio-area high school football helmets available for download in this PDF file (courtesy of Blain Fowler). … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Looks like some of the Rangers are having their rounded shirttails modified to straight horizontal hems. … Brian Schulz recently reminded me of a phenomenon I’d largely forgotten about: semi-pro football, a subculture comprising over 700 teams nationwide. Some of the uniforms and logos are simply copies from pro or college teams, but others are more original. You can access a bunch of semi-pro helmet designs here, and lots of additional semi-pro info is available here. … Those of you who think I engage in gratuitous Nike-bashing certainly won’t change your minds now (nice find by Jeff Farrell). … The Bears will be wearing their orange alternate jerseys this Sunday.
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