We’ve been so busy with team sports over the past month or so (stretch-run baseball, the start of the NFL and college football seasons, the relentless flood of new NHL designs) that I completely ignored the U.S. Open tennis tourney. And that’s a shame, because we happen to have a bona fide Open operative right here in our midst: Gabe Ganot, who’s been working as a ballboy — okay, ballperson — at the Open since 1999, giving him an ideal vantage point for uni-watching. That’s him in the photo shown above.
Gabe sent me a good rundown of observations a few weeks ago, which I’m finally getting around to sharing with the rest of you. Check it out:
- Almost all players wear one outfit per tournament. But Federer this year had two — a “day” and “night” selection. The night attire featured the “Man in Black” look with a black headband, black shirt, shorts, socks and sneakers. This as opposed to the day outfit, with a blue shirt, white shorts, white sneakers, and a blue headband. People were wondering what he was going to do for the final, because it was scheduled to start in the late afternoon and it was still light out. I think he was quoted as saying since the lights would eventually be on, he would go with the Johnny Cash look. Note that his sneakers have the three Swiss flags commemorating his three U.S. Open wins the last three years (I think it also says something on the tongue). Roger also has the tendency to constantly brush imaginary hair from his forehead and adjust his headband.
Nadal, I’m pretty sure, has the worst OCD of anyone on the tour, and not just uni related. Before he serves, just about every point, he has the David Wright-esque habit of picking his wedgie. The other ballpersons and I wonder why he continues to wear the capris if he has to adjust his pants every point. He also adjusts his hair/headband with the same frequency. Other examples of his OCD include placing his drink on the same exact spot during every changeover, and sprinting out to the baseline for warm-ups.
You’d think that the folks at Lacoste would make Andy Roddick a nice-fitting shirt. Instead he has to constantly adjust it, nearly every point, to make the shoulders drape correctly (similar to the way most volleyball players do). This has been happening for several years now. He also has taken a liking to wearing his hat a little sideways, à la Pokey Reese or Mike Cameron. It’s not an accident — I’ve seen him take it off and be very particular about the way he puts it back on.
Its also interesting see how doubles teams dress. Sometimes, teams go all out and match every single part of their outfits, down to the sneakers, like the Bryan brothers. Other teams wear what they would normally wear if they were playing singles, while others come up with a completely different outfit, like Justin Gimelstob in his mixed doubles team with Ashely Harkleroad. Speaking of Gimelstob, he apparently sweats like there’s no tomorrow, so he tends to change shirts around five or six times a match. And speaking of sweating, some players are obsessed with the towel. Nadal, for instance, asks for it pretty frequently on a hot day, and Roddick can be the worst. This ballboy would like to see some sort of integrated towel technology, like certain wide receivers have.
The women have different issues than the men. For starters, many of them wear makeup and jewelry while on the court. I think Jelena Jenkovic even puts her watch on before playing.
It’s also been interesting to note the ball-holding technology for women over the last decade (insert sex joke here). When I first started being a ballboy, most women just asked for one ball to serve instead of two like the men (men have pockets, so they usually ask for two and put one in their pocket in case they fault on their first serve). Some women would ask for two and just shove one of them into the bottom of their underwear, and after a game I’d have to go pick up a slightly damp ball. Others went with the plastic ball holder (famous example: Arantxa Sanchez Vicario), which was essentially a belt that had a little plastic thingie that sat right on top of the butt. These days, the women have slightly longer undergarments, kind of like the compression shorts basketball players wear. These have pockets, so that makes my job a little easier.
When I first started, almost all women wore the simple tennis skirt and some sort of top. Then Serena hit the scene, and now we get horror stories, like look at Bethanie Mattek’s outfit from this year’s Open. She does something like this at every tournament. It also seems like the ladies have a contest to see who can wear the shortest skirt and the like.
It’s also kind of weird to see some players who aren’t sponsored and end up having different parts of their outfits from several manufacturers. I forget who, but someone this year had something like an Adidas shirt, Nike shorts, and Champion socks.
With regards to equipment, there’s nothing too crazy, but some funny stuff. For instance, instead of the traditional shock absorber that most players have on their racket, some players use an ordinary rubber band. Not sure why. No player I saw wore regular glasses, only a handful had sunglasses on (Arnaud Clement and Alexa Glatch come to mind), and a few went with the bright sunscreen on the nose. Also, while most players bring at least five or six rackets with them to the court, I noticed that Mark Knowles liked to just tape on a new grip instead of going with a new racket. Not sure the reasoning for that.
As for our Polo-brand ballperson uniforms, they’re a welcome change from the Fila garbage we had several years ago, which were in outlandish colors and make us look ridiculous (plus you try running around in 90-degree heat in a thick cotton polo that’s too large, shorts that are too tight, and sneakers that can literally blow up if you plant too hard). The new ones are a nice moisture-wicking material with a good form-fitting shape (we don’t have to tuck in anymore!). But we are essentially walking advertisements — in addition to the 6-inch Polo logo on the chest area, we have a full 12-inch logo on the back, making us look like real product whores. Additionally, with around five days to go in the tournament we were mandated to begin wearing Polo wristbands, which was odd, because they never told us to where on the arm to wear them, unlike everything else which is by the book. The only change the Polo unis have had over the years is that they change the color of the vertical striping on the shirt and and shorts (this year it was yellow; in the past it’s been red and white).
Big thanks to Gabe for all that info. Still want more? Vince (who provided several of the photos links above) notes that this tennis blog has lots of fashion coverage.
Research Reqeust Request: I’m working on a column devoted to uni-related typos. I’ve got all the classics covered (Angees, Torotno, Nayv, Nigger Ilsand, etc.), along with the assorted nameplate misspellings that have periodically been called out here on the blog. If you know of any others, old or now, that we haven’t discussed, please let me know. Thanks.
Fall Back (into bed): The annual moving of the clocks is still a month away, but Uni Watch likes to be ahead of the curve, so…. As those of you in the Eastern Time Zone are well aware, I usually get the day’s entry up by 9 a.m., which is an arbitrary deadline that I set back in the site’s early days. Well, not completely arbitrary — I was trying to (a) motivate myself and (b) get you folks used to the idea that you could depend on fresh content being ready for you at the start of each day.
After a year and a half of this, during which it’s now become routine for me to be eating my breakfast in front of the computer while frantically making last-minute changes to the Ticker, I’d like to reclaim a bit of breathing room for my mornings (and, by extension, for my late-night hours). So beginning next week, my new arbitrary self-imposed daily deadline will be 10:15 a.m. Among other things, this should make it much easier for me to catch up on the previous night’s comments, deal with Ticker contributions that come in overnight, and so on.
I know some of you eastern folks have grown accustomed to starting your day (read: goofing off at work) with Uni Watch, but I have faith in your abilities to find other productive uses for the 75-minute window that fate has just handed you. Just pretend I moved to Chicago or something, OK? OK.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Lots of good stuff currently available on eBay, including this patch, this ad, this uniform, and this jersey. … Latest schools to go with the System of Dress: Maryland and Miami (with thanks to Jose Frontanes and Mike Alper, respectively). … Another new NHL mask: Marc Andre Fleury. … Good overview of the NFL captains’ patches — including a shout-out to Uni Watch — here. … Interesting article here about the Rochester Amerks new uniforms. Key quote, from team prexy Steve Donner: “RBK is integrating vertical striping into the jersey, and they wanted to do away with all horizontal striping. It wasn’t our suggestion to remove the stripes.” … Bizarre purple/green/yellow color scheme exhibited by Waukegan High in Illinois (with thanks to AJ Brandt). … Ouch. … Tons of old high school team photos, from a wide range of sports, here (with thanks to Brendon Yarian). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The LPGA has changed its logo from this to this, which strikes me as a major improvement. Details here. … Also from yesterday: The NHL and Reebok held a conference call on Tuesday to address the growing chorus of player complaints about the new uniforms (the latest of which can be found in the middle of this article). Details here. … Good article here about the Sharks’ goalie masks. … Still more All Blacks soap operatics (with thanks to Caleb Borchers). … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The people at New Era are really, uh, outdoing themselves. … Dan Schulman, who’s doing ESPN Radio’s play-by-play for the Bosox/Angels series, mistakenly stated during last night’s game that Jason Varitek is the only current MLB captain to wear a “C.” Schulman forgot about Mike Sweeney.
#1 by Stuckey on 10.04.07 9:02 am |
What does the green dot on the back of the NFL players helmets mean?
#2 by Mack on 10.04.07 9:06 am |
Has anybody seen that Julio Logo has a brown stain on his jersey???
I wonder what it means???
Could he be thwarting counter fitters???
I also saw a player in the Reds-Cubs series wearing a red batting glove on his right hand and a blue one on his left.
I wonder what it means???
I really wish more players would dress like Manny Ramirez. He is the epitome of MLB fashion.
#3 by Mack on 10.04.07 9:06 am |
err Lugo
#4 by CJ on 10.04.07 9:11 am |
[Looks pretty straight to me, but I didn’t do an exhaustive photo search. — PL]
Paul, I don’t think that’s Roddick, which could explain why his hat looks so straight.
#5 by Chris Mewett on 10.04.07 9:11 am |
Paul, the photo that you’ve included with your editorial comment about the straightness of Roddick’s hat is most definitely not Roddick.
#6 by Pat on 10.04.07 9:12 am |
I don’t know who that is with the nicely placed cap… but it’s not Andy Roddick.
#7 by Paul Lukas on 10.04.07 9:13 am |
OK, OK — fixing now.
#8 by dm00n on 10.04.07 9:15 am |
I read an article about Bethanie Mattek and her explanations for what she wears on the court. Basically she will go with whatever strikes her at the moment, sometimes picking stuff up at vintage shops the day before. She sounds like a space-cadet, not someone who is necessarily going through some antics for press, but is just an odd-ball being herself. I think we need more of them in sports.
#9 by Kyle K. on 10.04.07 9:15 am |
Since Indiana is in pretty much “time zone hell” the later posting is going to hit us pretty hard. My county used to be one of the few that didn’t observe DST, but for the last year we’ve been on Central. Now, we just found out we’re moving to Eastern when everone else resets their clocks.
UniWatch implecation (with Paul’s new schedule added in) … a sudden two hour time change! Moving from 8 to 10 am! Ouch.
#10 by al on 10.04.07 9:16 am |
Obligatory Boo … Hiss… for the new 10:15 start.
Final note on the mets … as great as it was to see the blue caps this weekend, i think they are jinxed. Curious to see see what the mets record was this season when they wore them. I know for one thing they had a better record on the road, games in which they alwaus wore a black hat.
#11 by Marc M. on 10.04.07 9:16 am |
Rockies pitcher Manny Corpus apparently doing something he shouldn’t be doing.
#12 by Shane on 10.04.07 9:17 am |
Hey, the Stars look pretty decent on the road. Just needs some bottom striping.
What was in Josh Beckett’s back pocket last night? Looked like a tin of mints or chewing tobacco or something..
#13 by Mike on 10.04.07 9:18 am |
What’s up with TBS’ Ernie Johnson’s dark glasses?
#14 by Marc M. on 10.04.07 9:18 am |
#15 by Big John on 10.04.07 9:21 am |
Waukegan High School is not in Minnesota. Waukegan is a Chicago suburb. I played against them in high school every year, and we always thought they had to be embarrassed to suit up with all of those colors at once.
#16 by dm00n on 10.04.07 9:23 am |
Link
One of the readers spotted this, but good catch on the follow-up article.
#17 by Stuby on 10.04.07 9:23 am |
I don’t know if Mike Sweeney should be considered a current captain (although he was at the end of the season). His days in KC are pretty much over, and its doubtful if he hooks on as a DH somewhere that he would be made the captain.
#18 by Stuby on 10.04.07 9:27 am |
Every time I go to Indiana on business, they’re in a different time zone. Why is it so hard to pick one for the entire state and stick with it?
#19 by Cathy on 10.04.07 9:27 am |
Paul,
I understand your need to push your self imposed deadline back…but damn…I like to get my uni-fix before my 10 a.m. meetings….oh well. I will having something to look forward to at lunch now.
#20 by Charlie on 10.04.07 9:28 am |
I am liking Fleury’s new mask…as a Pens fan I can’t wait for this season! What are the 4 letters on the back of the mask? (E F G T)
#21 by ThresherK on 10.04.07 9:29 am |
It means somewhere a manila folder stands naked of its sticker and is being misfiled. (Really, am I the only one who thinks this?)
King Kaufman has something about a Rox closer and the black tops.
I love that footiemap.com site from yesterday. So there’s 24 teams in London. How many baseball teams in New York? Yankees, Mets, SIYanks, Cyclones, Newark Bears, Bridgeport Bluefish… MLB certainly loves that anti-trust exemption, dunnit?
#22 by hokiebuckeye on 10.04.07 9:30 am |
I was watching the stars/avs game, and it looked to me like both teams had a small decal on the back of the helmet, looked like an Austrian flag or something. Does anyone know what that was?
#23 by Kenny on 10.04.07 9:32 am |
MLBPDX - my post was directed more towards the style of pants not the socks/stirrups…i’m all for solid socks as long as the pants are up, but a little baggy…not biker shorts like Soriano
#24 by Pat on 10.04.07 9:32 am |
My bad, when I posted there was no other mention of it. But it does appear to be straight.
And then there’s this picture. Looks a little crooked to me.
Maybe he does it both ways.
#25 by Shaftman on 10.04.07 9:32 am |
I second the “boo”. I like to start my goofing off early in the day.
On the Met’s Blues. I don’t believe they had a great record in them, but if you recall, they only broke them out when the HAD to win. And the Mets never win anything they HAVE to. They only win games that aren’t important.
#26 by Paul P on 10.04.07 9:33 am |
Interesting Decal on the Senators helmets
http://us.i1.yimg.co...
But man, are those socks horrible, especially when compared to the Leafs socks!
http://sports.yahoo....
#27 by Keith on 10.04.07 9:34 am |
Lugo’s brown spot is excess pine tar.
#28 by Chris Mewett on 10.04.07 9:36 am |
There actually IS bottom striping on the Stars road jersey — gold then green, like the sleeve stripes, as you can see here.
#29 by Shaftman on 10.04.07 9:36 am |
On the socks…I agree. I don’t really care for the angled look, but if you are going to angle it, why not make the stripes go completely around? Why have that big white space on the back of the leg?
#30 by Adam on 10.04.07 9:39 am |
This probably doesn’t help much, but at some point in the early 90s (I seem to recall that it was one of the first games at New Comiskey Park, but I could be wrong), a Tigers player had “Detriot” on his uniform.
#31 by hott rodd on 10.04.07 9:41 am |
Just to chime in, AZ doesnt observe that wacky fun that is daylight savings time, so i just got hit with a two hour change (from 6am to 8am).
But my feeling is as long as Paul continues to provide free content, he can post whenever he needs to!
#32 by Chris Mewett on 10.04.07 9:41 am |
Try this for the Stars hemline striping.
Also: not sure if I just wasn’t paying attention when those Sens jerseys came out, but I love the number typeface and think the rear-view of those shirts looks pretty damn good.
#33 by Scott on 10.04.07 9:42 am |
Roddick probably wears his hat pointed slightly to the left to conceals his eyes from his opponent’s view in his service games. Being right-handed, his left shoulder will be pointed in the direction of his opponent before every serve, so it’s actually a pretty shrewd move.
As a former tennis player myself, I could go on for hours about how superstitious and ritualistic they can be. The quirkiest was probably Art “Tappy” Larsen, a (possibly post-traumatic) WWII vet who tapped his racket compulsively on just about anything, even his opponent during changeovers. One legend has it that one opponent crossed on the opposite side of the net, and Larsen chased him all over the court trying to tap him. Another time he showed up at a match with the wire hanger from his shirt still sticking out the back.
#34 by al on 10.04.07 9:43 am |
I did some quick research regarding the mets blues, and based on the photo on each game page (some did not appear), record in some form of black hat was at least 30-22, and the record in the blues was 9-16 (missed 4 games).
#35 by Matt B on 10.04.07 9:43 am |
A follow up from yesterday. This comment may have been directed towards me (I wrote that teams would do well to drop “club” from their monikers):
Many English football organizations are called “clubs” because they are more than one team. You might have your top Pro side, but you’ll also have any number of junior teams as well under the same umbrella. Also, look at the dictionary definition of club: a group of persons organized for a social, literary, athletic, political, or other purpose.
Agreed 100%. I was referring to North American major league outfits. Football Club Barcelona is a club, with a voting membership, etc. The “Milwaukee Brewers Baseball Club, Inc.” is not.
#36 by Rich on 10.04.07 9:50 am |
mmmmm, a slightly damp, women’s-underwear tennis ball..hello, eBay?
#37 by john on 10.04.07 9:57 am |
Aside from shrinking the logo to fit the new jersey make-up, it looks like the Ducks shrunk the Captain and Alternate designations (06-07 comparison). Take this from 06-07 and this from this season. Part of me says that it’s an illusion because Scott Niedermayer is an average height human and Chris Pronger is gi-friggin-normous.
Check out the badass hat. I guess when the Kings switched their logos around they also thinned the shoulder yoke striping.
Jason Labarbera has a new Metallica-themed mask (at least from the last time I checked).
#38 by Chance on 10.04.07 10:01 am |
True, I suppose, but it’s traditional.
“Ballclub” is a great way to refer to our aggregations. Then there’s “clubhouse.”
Besides, the Milwaukee Brewers is “a group of persons organized for a(n) social, literary, athletic, political, or other purpose”….
#39 by todd krevanchi on 10.04.07 10:04 am |
man…
between yesterday and this morning a major sports talk radio topic has been mlb division series start times and how they dont accomodate everyone. i think id go crazy if mike and mike, colin, tirico and van pelt (that should be van pelts show by himself), et al, were to talk about the new start time for uniwatchblog.com…
i still think PL should have a weekly segment on the network, i mean, they put sage steele on the air (nice to look at, but my god, does she have any talent?) and jason krause (im sorry that your sister has cancer, but that doesnt qualify you for shit). PL has relevant content, contacts within the genre, and has been writing for years…
wake up espn…
#40 by denverjason on 10.04.07 10:07 am |
People always talk about naming a team to appeal to a regional fanbase (i.e. yesterday’s “Golden State” discussion). Out of curiosity has anyone here ever been attracted or deterred from a team for the reason? Has anyone in Walla Walla decided “I just can’t watch the Mariners, because I am excluded, offended, and obviously the regional fanbase is not important to the team!”? Do Inland Empire folks refuse to watch the Angees or the Dodgers?
In my mind Minnesota teams have good reason to be named for a state — & the Twins have done a great job of showing us why with their nickname — but other than that. . .
OK, maybe the Texas Rangers and Colorado Rockies, because their team names are combos of words that already existed before the teams.
#41 by Ian on 10.04.07 10:09 am |
Prexy? PREXY?
Hey Paul, have you been writing for Variety?
#42 by badly drawn boykins on 10.04.07 10:09 am |
I guess the major difference with American and, for the lack of a better descriptor, “European” leagues and teams is that the former is a top-down structure, with the league granting entrance to “franchises”, while with the latter, hundreds of “clubs” of various sizes and import form an association, and leagues are just a way of organizing those disparate clubs.
So in American sports, each franchise is the representative of a single market, and the league would avoid putting multiple teams in a single market lest they cannibalize each other’s share (obvious exceptions being larger cities like NY or LA). Soccer clubs basically represent only themselves, and exist independent of the league.
Also, it’s important to note that many clubs play multiple sports - Real Madrid and FC Barcelona both have successful basketball teams, and Bayer Leverkusen is just one out of teams in many sports supported by the Bayer pharmaceuticals.
#43 by Teebz on 10.04.07 10:09 am |
They are the initals of his grandparents - a nice tribute to family.
#44 by Teebz on 10.04.07 10:12 am |
As a followup, they stand for Estelle, Francois, Gaston and Therese. If I’m gonna answer a question, I need to answer it in full to get full marks. :o)
#45 by Ferdinand Cesarano on 10.04.07 10:13 am |
If Paul originally posted that Waukegan was in Wisconsin rather than Illinois (it is correct now), then he must have just temporarily forgotten that Waukegan, Ill. is well-known as the hometown of the greatest entertainer who ever lived.
As to those uniforms: as the man himself would say, “Well!”
#46 by Elena E on 10.04.07 10:14 am |
I didn’t see anything in Beckett’s back pocket last night, but if it was round, most likely a smokeless tobacco tin. Anyone know the story on the triangular ivory pendant he wears that stays glued to the right side of his chest, never moves when he does?
#47 by Chance on 10.04.07 10:15 am |
That’s the same way the various American sports leagues started. I guess I don’t see the difference there.
#48 by Marty Met on 10.04.07 10:17 am |
I live in New Jersey and will not root for the Rangers, Knicks or Icelanders. And if the Nets move to Brooklyn I will no longer root for them.
I am a Mets fan but if we were to ever get a team in NJ that called themselves the New Jersey Whatevers, I would probably root for them.
#49 by Graf Zeppelin on 10.04.07 10:17 am |
That may be so (poor record in blue caps), but one should also bear in mind that they wore the blue caps significantly less often this year than they did last year. Not that I’ve been counting, but last year we saw the blue caps on almost every home stand, and often in consecutive games; more than any other season since ‘97. I remember thinking that they may have finally been phasing out the road-cap-at-home travesty and would return the blue cap to home prominence. They even announced that they’d be wearing black less often, or something to that effect. But alas, frustratingly, it was not to be; in 2007 they went right back to wearing the road (black/blue) cap over the solid white uniform in practically every home game.
If this team wants to make a positive change, and wash away the disgrace of this season, a step in the right direction would be to get the uniform fixed, i.e., revert to the 1995-97 design both home and away. Aesthetics aside, this absurd smorgasbord of uniform combinations (7 at home, 2 on the road) is an inefficient and unnecessary distraction for an organization which clearly needs to eliminate distractions and concentrate on winning. Even the de minimis time, effort, energy and thought that goes into selecting a uniform combination from night to night is something this suddenly-dysfunctional team cannot afford.
Enough of this nonsense. No more choreographed celebrations, no more dancing, no more radio shows, no more multiple caps and alternate uniforms. One home uniform (either the pinstripes or solid whites, I don’t care, just PICK ONE), one road uniform (grey), one cap (blue). Period.
#50 by dm00n on 10.04.07 10:17 am |
USA Today has a round-up of the top selling NBA jerseys in Europe.
#51 by dm00n on 10.04.07 10:21 am |
Detroit Free Press finds new logo creep:
I missed that part of the game.
#52 by Matt D. on 10.04.07 10:22 am |
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! How could you do it Maryland?! My heart is broken!
#53 by Shane on 10.04.07 10:23 am |
Getting into the AHL, I’m really disappointed with the P-Bruins, especially compared to what Boston’s wearing this year, and also with the great third sweater Providence wore last year (at the bottom of the link).
Thanks for pointing out the striping on Dallas’ aways, guys. Really subtle. I would’ve never noticed that.
#54 by Joba Chamberlain on 10.04.07 10:24 am |
Looks like some kind of nightmarish, Halloween Mardi Gras in Waukegan.
#55 by dm00n on 10.04.07 10:24 am |
Miami Hurricanes are sporting the new Nike capri pants
#56 by Low Impact Development on 10.04.07 10:26 am |
The captain “C” has gone the way of the dinosaur. Isn’t Paul Konerko of the White Sox a team captain who refuses to wear the “C?”
#57 by SWC Susan (aka Tex) on 10.04.07 10:26 am |
obilgatory boo, hiss - bleh, although I kind of like the funny elbow stripes. Oh,and I guess maybe Turco should go with gold pads… he sucked ass in the green ones! A hat trick from a toothless rookie type,really???
#58 by Jeff on 10.04.07 10:27 am |
You have to cut Schulman some slack, since being given the “C” Sweeney has spent more time on the DL than on the field. My office had a pool on when he would make his first trip to the DL this past year. A few predicted before Opening Day.
#59 by Bob on 10.04.07 10:28 am |
The Waukegan colors are hideous. They are the Bulldogs, but they Bulldog seems to have an eye patch. Vision problems might be the reason for the color scheme.
#60 by denverjason on 10.04.07 10:30 am |
Good point. But, that jives becasue there are so many teams in the area, that they need to distinguish themselves. But a NJ/NYC distiction is different from a AZ/Phx one. The former actually has a lot to do with location, while the latter does not NJ/NYC is a natural rivalry. AZ/Phx is not. Do the Lightning and Panthers have specific fabases because of place names?
#61 by Billy D on 10.04.07 10:30 am |
One of my favorite things about hockey is the hockey masks. The personality and intimidation factor of the masks always interests me
#62 by Andy on 10.04.07 10:33 am |
It means all the players’ helmets are wired for radio communication.
#63 by Ryan B. on 10.04.07 10:33 am |
I remember reading long ago that Eric Davis, former Reds’ centerfielder, came to bat sometime during his rookie year with “CINCINNATI” misspelled on his road uniform. I don’t remember the spelling, and I’ve never seen a pic.
I did, however, see the pic back in 2005 when Reds’ pitcher Aaron Harang had “CINCINNATI” misspelled on his uniform. I can’t find it…any help?
#64 by Ryan B. on 10.04.07 10:34 am |
Never mind…found the Harang misspelling pic.
#65 by Mike K on 10.04.07 10:36 am |
Waukegan’s color scheme is the result of the merging of two schools. Waukegan West (Green and Gold) and Waukegan East (Purple and Gold). What a hideous compromise!
#66 by Shane on 10.04.07 10:37 am |
I think when you’re Peter Stastny’s kid, you’re supposed to score tons of goals.
#67 by Rich on 10.04.07 10:43 am |
“Enough of this nonsense. No more choreographed celebrations, no more dancing, no more radio shows, no more multiple caps and alternate uniforms. One home uniform (either the pinstripes or solid whites, I don’t care, just PICK ONE), one road uniform (grey), one cap (blue). Period.”
Can I get an “Amen”?….”AMEN”!!!
#68 by Tricia on 10.04.07 10:43 am |
That’s a Hockey Fights Cancer sticker that all the players were wearing.
Anton Volchenkov Sporting It
#69 by GoTerriers on 10.04.07 10:46 am |
“Captain Clutch”, Derek Jeter, too.
#70 by diz on 10.04.07 10:47 am |
That New Zealand article is a complete non-story. The problems with Scotland were to do with one side in grey with black bits, and the other in dark blue with white bits.
The current French strip is Dark blue with a curvy blue sash. The away is white with the same. Wish I could find decent pictures of both kits - might have to settle for taking a screenshot of Rugby ‘08…
#71 by diz on 10.04.07 10:48 am |
#72 by diz on 10.04.07 10:48 am |
hmm
#73 by Team C. on 10.04.07 10:51 am |
Can’t believe this wasn’t mentioned yet.
Actually - It might have been in yesterday’s comments, but I was too lazy to check.
Cole Hamels started the Rox vs. Phils game w/long sleeves and then came back into the 3rd w/a short sleeve undershirt.
Article here.
#74 by Adam on 10.04.07 10:54 am |
I’m not sure we know exactly what went on with that. He didn’t want to wear the “C”, but Ozzie Guillen said that he would make him wear it. But then, no “C”. I don’t know if it ever came out who decided that.
#75 by dm00n on 10.04.07 10:56 am |
Another pink jersey auction.
And a fix for the comments, I hope.
#76 by dm00n on 10.04.07 10:58 am |
Well, I screwed up the story link, but the more important part worked.
#77 by The Ol Goaler on 10.04.07 11:00 am |
After watching last night’s NHL doubleheader, I thought the “Ree-box” unis didn’t look as bad as I had feared… Of course, part of the reason for that may have been that the Wings and Ducks stayed with the basic designs they wore last year; and the Stars’ road unis harken back to the days before they went to that beautiful “Star” design.
The “Bettman Bib”, however, looks as B-A-D as I was afraid it would…
I’ll not be a-buyin’ any new “sweaters” until the “Bettman Bib” goes away; now my Blues “replica” is a “vintage” sweater! (wink)
#78 by Joe S on 10.04.07 11:02 am |
Hey everyone. My NFL Uniform Tournament was pretty stagnant yesterday, so I’m guessing everyone has voted that is going to. Just in case anyone missed it before, this is your final warning: GO VOTE! We’ll be moving on to the next round some time this weekend (unlike PL, I do not hold myself to arbitrary deadlines, so no guarantee exactly when).
Thanks to everyone who voted!
#79 by Jonathon Tillis on 10.04.07 11:03 am |
Waukegan High School was originally one school like it is now. The reason why Waukegan High has a weird color scheme (Yellow, Purple, Green) is that Waukegan High spilt unto two schools for a while. One was Waukegan East High School Bulldogs their colors were Yellow and Purple, that one was the original high school and it is located where Waukegan High’s Ninth Grade Center is now. The other was called Waukegan West High School Raiders and their colors were yellow and green. West is where the 10th through 12th grades are held. Around 1991 the schools merged back together. They couldn’t eliminate the purple without upsetting the East students and the same for the green with the West students. So they kept all three colors. But they dropped the Raiders nickname and kept Bulldogs but they added an eyepatch to the bulldog. My mother graduated from East and my dad graduated from West, but I went to the high school in the next town Warren Township High School in Gurnee.
#80 by KT on 10.04.07 11:08 am |
Major League Soccer’s reborn San Jose Earthquakes unveiled their new logo and uniforms for 2008 yesterday. Ironic that the home shirt says “SAN JOSE” when they’re unlikely to actually PLAY a game in San Jose for the next two years while they try to get a stadium built. They’re supposedly going to play at various venues around the Bay Area, but not Spartan Stadium in San Jose, their ancestral home.
#81 by Joe S on 10.04.07 11:15 am |
That is an interesting story. It just makes me wonder though, now that there are no more students that went to either East or West (hopefully they’ve all graduated by now!), why don’t they adjust their color scheme? I guess I can imagine the attachment the students had when they first re-merged, but I can’t imagine that all the current students are really that attached to yellow, green and purple.
Also, why not go to green and purple when they merged? Ugly, yes, but does throwing yellow into the mix really help.
Final thought, the bulldog with the eyepatch is a really cool way to mix the mascots. I think they should have just done that and picked some decent colors.
#82 by KT on 10.04.07 11:20 am |
Also, MLS’ Columbus Crew will unveil a shirt sponsor today, becoming the sixth/seventh team in the league to do so (depending on whether you consider Red Bull’s ownership of the team and the placing of their logo on the jersey to be a similar enough deal to count).
#83 by Kevin M on 10.04.07 11:23 am |
Updated link to the Darren Dreger NHL uniform column.
#84 by bighokie09 on 10.04.07 11:23 am |
As someone who normally hates Maryland, i am surprised to see the change. The System of Dress is a decent look for them, but they should’ve stuck with the older look. That’s more than I can say for Miami’s look. the wordmark on the shorts throw me off.
#85 by E Ro on 10.04.07 11:27 am |
I know there have been a lot of complaints about the Senators’ and Lightning’s socks, but has anyone seen the new Milwaukee Admiral socks? They have an actual virtical stripe. I only know from playing NHL 08.
“The guy who designed the jerseys hasn’t played hockey,” - Chris Chelios
#86 by Rob Curtin on 10.04.07 11:33 am |
I commented on this a few weeks ago, and I was thinking that this morning seeing the new Rochester sweaters. I would think the P-Bruins would pick up the clasiness of their big team’s jersey…. just change the logo, and maybe make the shoulder patches say “Providence” instead. A shame….
#87 by bj in gainesville on 10.04.07 11:34 am |
Had to mention it again since it was cited in the Ticker:
Florida’s version of the System of Dress uniform is one of Paul’s so-called “One-Hit Wonders.” The #4 Gators unveiled their horrific Blue-Gatorskin SoD unis during an equally horrific performance against Tennessee (infamous for a more horrific Pat-Summitt-as-Cheerleader incident). The unis were summarily canned, and the Gators rolled to a second straight national title wearing the same NikeWorld-design home white’s they’d worn the entire season.
However, Eastbay is already selling the Gators System of Dress 2.0 shorts on their site: in blue w/ orange gatorprint stripe
#88 by Rob Curtin on 10.04.07 11:40 am |
and P.S.
I think the new Nike “System of Dress” looks pretty sharp, but that’s just me.
#89 by Teebz on 10.04.07 11:41 am |
As a sign of courtesy to Paul, can you not hijack his blog with your advertisements for your own blog? Would you appreciate someone advertising on yours in the comment section?
#90 by Broker75 on 10.04.07 11:43 am |
In last night’s Cubs D’Backs game, relief pitcher Carlos Marmol for the Cubs had something on his pant, right under his belt on the upper left side. Anybody catch a screen shot. Just wondering if it was a pin or something sewn on..
#91 by Chad G on 10.04.07 11:44 am |
Teebz, you’re being a hypocrite. You do that all the time. Plus your name links to your blog, how is that any different.
#92 by AB on 10.04.07 11:45 am |
Jeter doesnt wear a “C” b/c the Yankees Uniforms are as simple as they were the day they debuted in 1936…no crappy patches, just pinstripes, numbers and the original NY interlocking. Unless of course a team / organization member has passed)
#93 by Matt Dub on 10.04.07 11:46 am |
Penn State is making another school change their logo because it is too similar
#94 by Teebz on 10.04.07 11:47 am |
My name does link, but I do not comment specifically on “go to my blog” nor do I refer to it constantly with updates and “GO VOTE” options.
Can you point out the last time I said “go to my blog”? If someone is looking for something hockey-related, I’ll send them that way so they can find the information. Otherwise, I do not post each and everyday with the “GO HERE” message.
Big difference.
#95 by Shaftman on 10.04.07 11:48 am |
Teebz, I’m not speaking for PL but in my opinion, Joe S. was informing us of a site which most people on this board would appreciate. It happens to be his own and you see a conflict in that. You have, on occasion, linked to your site in the same manner when speaking about hockey and I appreciate the fact that you do. I would never have been to your site without you linking to it.
I also think that PL is a big boy and never seems to have an issue telling people when they are wrong. So let’s leave it up to PL to decide what should and shouldn’t be appropriate.
Still love ya Teebz, even if you do love the Fishstick jersey.
#96 by dm00n on 10.04.07 11:55 am |
At first I thought the uni poll was borderline spam, because it seemed to go on forever. But some people seemed to enjoy discussing it.
#97 by Chance&nbs