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Archive for January, 2008
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: Everyone loves to hear about unusual NOBs, like Andy Messersmith’s “Channel” or Elvin Hayes’s “E” (complete with history’s biggest quote marks). Photos, however, aren’t always so easy to come by. I’ve read (and written) abut Jim Grant’s “Mudcat” jersey, for example, but I’ve never actually seen it. Same goes for Ken Harrelson’s “Hawk,” Dick Allen’s “Wampum,” and most of the oddities worn by the 1976 Braves (Jimmy Wynn’s “Cannon,” Ralph Garr’s “Roadrunner,” Jerry Royster’s “Rooster,” and several more).
One of the most storied of these examples is the case of Giants infielder Johnnie LeMaster, who in 1979 was getting booed so vociferously by the Candlestick fans that he wore “Boo” on the back of his jersey for one game. The crowd supposedly laughed when they saw it — and then booed again. Or least that’s the story I’d always heard, but there were never any photos. This page, for example, notes that LeMaster “showed some gallows humor for the Giants, once stitching the word ‘Boo’ on the back of his jersey,” but the photo doesn’t show the NOB (and isn’t even from the right season).
Then, a few days ago, Ethan Rowley sent me this — paydirt! It remains a mystery how fans could boo anyone with such picture-perfect stirrups, but the universe can be inscrutable like that sometimes. Another mystery: How did LeMaster get the equipment manager to go along with this little scheme?
Ethan found the photo, incidentally, in a book — specifically, this book, which as you can see is available almost for free at Amazon.
Danger, Will Robinson!: Be forewarned: The link I’m about to give you is so addictive, and has so much great stuff, it will probably shoot your entire day to hell. It’s for photographer Steve Dewing’s site, and it’s a friggin’ mother lode of MLB pics from the 1960s and ’70s. This period, of course, straddled the changeover from flannels to double-knits, so on the one hand you’ve got fuzzy jerseys and classic stirrups (often striped!), and on the other hand you’ve also got lots of fodder for the “What were they thinking?” file. I’m particularly fond of this shot — not just a haloed helmet, but dig those color-blocked stirrups. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a good photo of them.
As you can see, the image quality is sensational, the colors are super-saturated, and most of the pics are ones I’ve never seen before. I’m tellin’ ya, people, this site is like crack — once you enter, kiss the rest of your day buh-bye. Check it out here, if you dare, but don’t blame me if you end up swimming in a puddle of your own drool. (Feel free, however, to blame Don Sherman, who brought the site to my attention.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Tragedy, tragedy. … Beau Stahnke attended the Giants/Packers playoff game two Sundays ago and has finally thawed out enough to send along some photos. Among the highlights: Korey Hall with a big chip off of his helmet; Vernand Morency with maybe a few too many handwarmers in his pocket; Koren Robinson looking macho stupid with his socks down; and the Pack’s cheerleading squad. … Dan Richardson has contributed what I believe is our first-ever Ticker item about lacrosse throwbacks. The team in question is the New Westminster Sr Salmonbellies — North America’s oldest established lacrosse club, going back to 1889 — who play in the Western Lacrosse Association in British Columbia. They’ve taken the team’s 1950s uni (also seen here) and used it as the basis for a throwback design, as seen here. Lots of additional pics in this photo gallery. … Last week I ran a Ticker item linking to this photo. Will Shepard informs me that this is actually part of a series of manipulated brand-centric images by the artist Hank Willis Thomas. They’re part of Thomas’s “B®anded” series, which you can access on his site. And if you think I don’t like Nike, wait until you see his stuff. … Here’s something I’ve never seen before: Billy Bucks with his uni number inscribed on his sunglasses (good find by Greg Riffenburgh). … Did you know Jackie Robinson also played basketball? Full details here. … What’s he smoking, and where can I get some?
January 31st, 2008
Ah, Super Bowl Media Day — otherwise known as “the price we pay for having a free press.” I’m sure there are sillier rituals out there, but thinking of them would just be too depressing. Here’s a quick rundown of thoughts from the latest edition of this annual exercise in pointlessness:
• What exactly — exactly — is the rationale for having the players arrive in their full uniforms? And are these regular game jerseys, or do they wear smaller jerseys prepared specifically for Media Day, since they won’t be wearing pads?
• Those director-style chairs always strike me as somewhat infantilizing, like the players are little boys perched on high stools. I realize the idea is to get them up high where everyone can see them, but couldn’t they just dig a trench or a moat for the media to stand in instead?
• Mandals are almost always a bad idea, but I kinda like how they underscore the idiocy of the whole affair here.
• How come this guy didn’t wear his regular uniform?
• The Super Bowl patch looks pretty good on both teams’ jerseys this year.
• I don’t even wanna know.
• I had a hunch that they might use the Super Bowl to trot out the revised NFL logo on the field. But I was wrong.
If you want less jaundiced analysis, I heartily recommend this high-larious piece, which I bet was a big hit in Junior Seau’s hotel room.
Multi-Media Day: I’ve got a really fun article in today’s New York Times that I’m pretty proud of, plus I did the voiceover narration for an accompanying video (embedded in the same page). It’s not uni-related, but don’t let that stop you — it’s probably the coolest thing I’ve worked on since the Bill Buckner column back in the fall of ’06. Enjoy.
IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT (for a handful of you): Due to some scheduling complications, the starting time for this Saturday’s Uni Watch party at Sheep Station has been changed. Festivities will now commence at 4:30 p.m., not at the time I had previously announced (which I won’t even mention here, since its now moot). Update your datebooks, PDAs, scribblings on the back of your hand, or wherever you keep track of important events.
Among those in attendance, by the way, will be Jon Springer, who hopes to bring along a few advance copies of his upcoming book, Mets by the Numbers (based, of course, on his awesome web site of the same name, which has recently been revamped and relaunched after an all-too-lengthy period of inactivity). We may have a few copies to raffle off as well.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday morning, about an hour after my post about those vintage curling sweaters went up, I got a note from Nolan Thiessen, who’s actually a member of the team that wore the sweaters! “I’m a huge fan of the site and check it out regularly, so I was very happy to see that you picked up on the curling from last weekend,” he wrote. “The whole outfit ended up being a huge hit throughout the curling community. The guy on eBay had four sweaters — XL, L, M, M — which are exactly the four sizes we wear, so no tailoring was needed. We wanted to wear them sooner but couldn’t find pants to complete the look until recently. We plan on wearing them again, probably at an event in Victoria and our Players Championships in April.” At my request, Nolan also sent along a photo of his sweater’s inner label, which is a gorgeous piece of art in itself. … The Portland Beavers unveiled their new uniforms yesterday. The bad news is (a) they’re using the same sand/urine tone as their parent club, the Padres, and (b) they’re going to wear it at home. The good news is that the road grays are solid. The weird news is that they’re referring to their solid-color alternate design as “vintage,” even though there’s nothing vintage about wearing a solid jersey with white pants. As for the new logo, I like it well enough, although I’d prefer it if the top of the bat overlapped the lettering instead of the other way around (with thanks to Travis Demers for the graphics). … The U.S. soccer team will unveil new uniforms today, and the jersey will apparently look like this. Not bad, except it sucks that the sleeve stripes don’t wrap all the way around. Meanwhile, David Robins sent along an excellent video clip about the team’s training gear — recommended viewing. … If for some reason you’ve been dying to own an AHL all-star warm-up jersey, here’s your big chance (courtesy of Mark Coale).
January 30th, 2008
I like curling. The rocks (striped!), the brooms, the target (very mod, don’tcha know). Too bad the uniforms are so lame-o.
Ah, but it didn’t used to be that way. Curlers used to wear special sweaters. And as Canadian readers Nick Maibroda and Aram Sarkisian both informed me yesterday, curling sweaters made a comeback of sorts last weekend. Aram explains:
I was watching the Grand Slam of Curling on CBC and noticed one of the teams had these absolutely fabulous sweaters. Turns out they had done badly in a previous tournament and wanted to change up their uniforms for good luck, so one of them logged onto eBay and found a set of vintage 1950s curling sweaters. Someone’s grandfather had worn them in the ’50s for about a dozen tournaments and they’d been mothballed for 50 years since then.
The team bought them all, matched them with checked pants, and wore them for the Grand Slam. At various points the sweaters proved a little warm, so a few of the guys took them off to reveal rather boring white Under Armour shirts. Aside from that, their only complaint about the duds was that they smelled really, really bad. Looked great, though. It’s all the CBC commentators talked about for a good 10 minutes at one point.
Awesome sweaters, awesome story. I especially like the cuff stripes and the upper sleeve patch. Seriously, which team would you rather be on? No contest. (There are more photos here, and some background on curling attire here.)
The sad news: Koe lost. The even sadder part: Look closely at the scoreboard and you’ll see the World Curling Tour logo. Not so bad if viewed in a vacuum, but c’mon, isn’t that design concept just a little played out? And why would a Canadian league stick to the red/white/blue color scheme? Odd.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Ohio State’s basketball team wore football-patterned shorts on Saturday. … Baseball Hall of Fame researcher Tom Shieber just turned up another instance of stolen uniforms necessitating makeshift solutions. Now we just need some photos. … Several readers noted that Tomas Kaberle appeared to be wearing a set of Atlanta Thrashers gloves during the skilils competition last weekend. Nick Hepburn quickly deduced that they must have been borrowed from Marian Hossa — except for that big “18″ on the thumb. Then Nick found this shot, which makes it clear that Hossa had taped over the number. … The Portland Beavers will be unveiling new uniforms today.
January 29th, 2008
The NHL All-Star Game was last night, but I found the uniforms to be unremarkable at best (and besides, I was busy participating in Soup Night for most of the game). Fortunately, reader Chuck Miller has a report on another all-star game that recently took place — one that featured many more interesting uni-related moments that the NHL game did. Here’s the scoop:
The Continental Basketball Association held its annual All-Star Game last Tuesday. The players wore their regular team uniforms, like in the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, so there was a wide variety of designs on display. For star-spangled style, the Butte Daredevils pay homage to Butte native Evel Knievel by wearing jerseys inspired by Knievel’s leather jumpsuits. The Minot Skyrockets’ road jerseys may be hard to read from the front, but there’s no problem identifying the player from the back. The Albany Patroons’ road jerseys are also hard to read, as the jersey front looks more like abstract art than a team name.
Due to some last-minute player replacements, some all-stars didn’t arrive with their proper uniforms. Zach Marbury of the Atlanta Krunk was forced to wear an All-Star Game T-shirt and practice shorts. Despite the Oklahoma Cavalry playing as members of the “home” team and wearing their white jerseys, Oklahoma’s Marvin Phillips brought his blue road Cavalry gear, which could have caused confusion on the court.
Meanwhile, the Pittsburgh Xplosion, who wear white at home and black on the road, chose to wear their yellow alternates (and yes, all three jerseys have the words “PITTSBURGH XPLOSION” as contrasting side seams). However, the National Conference squad was designated as the home team, which meant that the Yakama Sun Kings (four of whose players were in the game) wore their home yellow jerseys, meaning that you had, for a time, yellow defending against yellow.
Several players found unique ways to accentuate their sweatbands. Nat Burton of the Albany Patroons chose to wear the official All-Star Game logo pin on his headband, while Atlanta’s Zach Marbury wore armband with a Sharpie-inscribed tribute to his father, who passed away earlier in the season.
Native American influence was felt throughout the game. When the Butte Daredevils’ Odell Bradley was named the game’s MVP, he was given a special jacket, with artwork inspired by Native American culture.
Big thanks to Chuck for what I’m fairly certain is the longest report ever written about a CBA game.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Some nice old uniforms up for auction here, here, and here. And check out this one, which features dotted-line embroidery, an unusual belt style, and an awesome sleeve patch. … Nice feature of Super Bowl rings here. … News flash: Hockey fans like wearing hockey jerseys. … Interesting piece here about presidential campaign logos (with thanks to Justine DeCotis). … Jeremy Brahm reports that several Puma-outfitted teams at the African Cup of Nations soccer tourney are wearing bitmapped uni numbers (additional examples here, here, here) and that the 2008 Beijing Olympics soccer ball will look like this (only, y’know, a little bit smaller). Jeremy also sees some similarities between Monty Python’s classic “I’m a lumberjack” skit and very embarrassing U.S. figure skaters Tanith Belbin and Benjamin Agosto. … College hoops note from Brian Rice, who writes: “Here are the new Tennessee basketball warmups, which debuted for the beginning of SEC play earlier this month. They’re throwbacks to the warmups worn during the era of legendary coach Ray Mears, who passed away last June. One down note: These are worn during pre-game only — when the team returns for introductions, they’re back in the standard Adidas shooting shirts and warmups, as the contract requires.” … Hawaii is angling for a new apparel contract. … Randy Miller reports that USF has switched to Under Armour and will apparently be wearing this jersey next season. Interesting to see that the design includes a football version of the NikeWorld collarbone horns we’re used to seeing in college basketball. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: According to this Chicago Tribune blog entry, the White Sox will be wearing camouflage jerseys on the 4th of July, which I think is really overdoing it. Independence Day is about a lot of patriotic things, not just militarism. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: LSU players in the Senior Bowl wore white helmets to match the South squad’s white jerseys. … And speaking of the Senior Bowl, Colt Brennan was wearing a sunburst visor. … If you like stripes as much as I do, then De Paul vs. Marquette is about as good as it gets (additional pics here and here). … You know the pink/breast cancer thing has gotten out of hand when even the refs are getting into the act (with thanks to David Soline, whose full album of pink-themed Indiana Ice photos is available here). … Also going pink in recent days: the Johnstown Chiefs (wtih thanks to Doug Keklak) and the Purdue women’s hoops team. … As many of you are already aware, the A’s have been showcasing their hideous new alternate jerseys in recent days. … Randy Williams was watching How It’s Made on the Science Channel and was surprised to see a segment on the Riddell helmet factory. He alertly snapped some nice screen grabs, as seen here, here, and here. … Jeff Barak attended the annual Twins Fest over the weekend. “They had a wonderful historical display of Twins jerseys,” he reports. “They were in two rows, going chronologically left to right across the top [as seen in sequence here, here, here, and here]. The top row started with the earliest 1961-71 style, followed by the 1972-73 button-down, 1974-86 pullovers, and 1987-present styles. Then they had the red alternates, blue alts, vest alts, St. Patrick’s spring training, Senators throwback, a St. Paul Negro League throwback, and 1970s and 1960s throwbacks. The bottom row had the fabulous turn ahead the clock [here's the back view], a Jackie Robinson reproduction (for some unknown reason), a pair of batting practice jerseys, a No. 71 worn by Joe Mauer when he first signed, a No. 20 worn in the movie Little Big League, a pair of jackets (one of which was a six-foot-long bullpen jacket for cold weather), another more modern pair of jackets, and a sampling of jerseys with commemorative patches.” … Great blog post by Kenn Tomasch about his visit to the NFL Experience exhibit in Phoenix. … A UNC hoops museum is set to open today (with thanks to Tom Arnel).
January 28th, 2008
I know what you’re thinking, Antonio Pierce. You want to wear that visor in the Super Bowl. “It’s just for practice,” you say. Sure it is. Indoor practice, where added UV protection is a must. Don’t play coy, Antonio Pierce — you know the rules. Clear visors only, unless you’re LaDainian Tomlinson approved by the NFL for an eye condition, be it astigmatism, night blindness, glaucoma, cataracts or just plain being LaDainian Tomlinson sensitive eyes.
Your clear visor is fine, sure. If you get knocked out, the doctors will be able to check your pupils to make the dead or alive call — and that’s important. Being dead probably sucks. You see, Antonio Pierce, it’s a safety call. Roger Goodell is just trying to save you from yourself.
That tinted visor, while awesome and no doubt beneficial during indoor practices, could lead to your early demise if worn in the Super Bowl. And there’s simply not enough time to organize the proper white-number-on-a-black-circle helmet/jersey tributes, add two or three extra guys to the Pro Bowl so they can wear your number, hold a candlelight vigil in front of the Oakley factory, or post a really stirring video tribute on YouTube. Plus you’ll have to wait, like, seven months for your moment of silence, and by then the one for Sean Taylor will just be getting done, and everybody will be tired of moments of silence.
So choose wisely, Antonio Pierce. You could get fined, which isn’t a big deal. You’d cover up Joe Skiba’s excellent raised nose bumper, which would be a shame. Or you could be dead. Do what you gotta do, I guess. — Bryan
January 27th, 2008
Perhaps it’s because I’m old(ish), never really played basketball, and lack enthusiasm in general, but I’ve never figured out the jersey-popping thing. Yes, we know you play for the Celtics. Yes, we’re also quite excited about the way you stole the ball in the closing seconds on Friday to seal the win against your former team. And yes, again, we know you play for the Celtics.
Still, though, those jerseys are stretchy, almost impressively so. I tried that with my T-shirt (American Apparel 50/50) after we got the newspaper in on time last night. It was disappointingly lacking the snap-back I’m sure Garnett got with his performance-engineered fabric. It was a real sad scene all around … (sigh).
I’m gonna go watch my Matlock DVDs now. — Bryan
January 26th, 2008
Three readers have gotten in touch over the past few days to tell me that they attended the U.S. Pond Hockey Championships, which took place last weekend in Minneapolis. If you’re not familiar with this event, allow Anna Rajdl to explain:
Pond hockey is played outdoors with teams of six (four on the ice at a time) playing a condensed version of hockey. There are no goalies or nets; instead, there are small boxes on both ends with two holes. To score, you must shoot the puck into one of the two small holes. It’s pretty popular here in Minnesota, but teams from all around the country and Canada come to play in this tournament — it’s kind of like the World Series or Super Bowl of pond hockey. To add to the excitement, the average high last weekend was minus-3, so it was darn cold.
Anna took a bunch of excellent photos that capture the range of uniforms in the tourney, some of them fairly traditional, others less so. You can see the full set in this slideshow. That’s her shot at the top of today’s page, too. (The tournament’s web site has its own photo gallery, but their pics frankly aren’t as good as Anna’s.)
Jeff Barak attended the tournament, too. He didn’t take any pics (”With a wind chill of minus-19, I wasn’t about to take my gloves off to hold a metal camera”), but he did point me toward this great video clip, which nicely captures the homespun feel of the pond hockey scene. (For those who want more, there’s an additional video here, but it’s not as good.)
Also on hand was Carl Schneeman, who created this collage of photos from the tournament.
Meanwhile, I just learned that there’s another kind of pond hockey, which involves playing under the ice. The “What the fuck..?” factor is pretty much off the scale on this one, so I’ll just shut up and let you see for yourself in this video report.
Uni Watch News Ticker: We now have photos of the NBA All-Star Game uniforms, as seen here, here, here, and here. What the photos don’t show, of course, is the two-toned front/back concept that both teams will be wearing. … Holy shit. Details here (with thanks to Richard Fleck). … The Pirates have unveiled a spring training logo that looks like it was designed by a 12-year old (as spotted by Yancy Yeater). … Jeremy Brahm reports that the Dodgers and Padres will be playing some spring training games in China, which of course calls for a new logo. … Also from Jeremy: Japan’s Football (i.e., soccer) Association has just announced their new uniforms for the next two years. … The A’s have unveiled a 40th-anniversary logo (for 40 years in Oakland, that is — the franchise itself is much older than that), but my understanding is that it will not be worn as a sleeve patch. … The Rangers retired Brian Leetch’s number last night. As per standard Rangers protocol, the commemorative jersey patch for the occasion was worn on the shoulder, not on the chest. … IUPUI coach Ron Hunter, as promised, coached barefoot last night, in order to raise awareness of foot odor African poverty. … Back in November, Scott Nuzum contributed a photo of Fort Scott Community College’s very plain uniforms. Now he’s one-upped himself by sending in a photo of Fort Scott playing against Labette Community College, which wore black jerseys and white shorts. … Jeremy Brahm reports that the Orix Buffaloes are selling a baseball cap-shaped backpack.
January 25th, 2008
By Vince Grzegorek
About a week ago, I wrote a blog for my humble little alternative weekly in Cleveland about why no reasonable fan should care that LeBron’s new Nike kicks are inspired by the Bronx Bombers. Even after the flak Bron Bron caught for wearing a Yankees cap at Jacobs Progressive Field during the Indians’ divisional series against the Yankees, I didn’t think the new shoes, replete with pinstripes, would be such a big deal. At least, I didn’t think they should be.
Of course, as the days went by and news from the blogs reached those who write for our daily newspapers, and those who produce our local daily news shows, James’s new shoes became quite the story yesterday. Locally, the Plain Dealer dedicated almost a full page of the sports section to comments received about the footwear (check out the full list of the “eloquent” comments here). Nationally, the story got play on SportsCenter, and the boys at PTI debated whether LeBron has taken his love of all things pinstriped too far, ultimately declaring that the King should have reigned in that love a little bit. [Sounds like a slow news day to me. -- PL]
My take: Ideally, we’d all like our hometown athletes to be beacons of our city in all regards. So it would be great if LeBron was a rep for the Indians, Browns, Lake Erie Monsters, and even the new Cleveland Gladiators. Hell, he should be out pimping the Cleveland Orchestra and the Cleveland Museum of Art too! Instead, LeBron parties with Jay-Z in Vegas, Tom Brady wears a Yankees hat, and Paul Pierce shows his support for the New York Giants.
Still, I think LeBron’s new shoe is nothing to get upset about. In fact, LeBron and Nike have made many shoes together. There’s an entire site dedicated to his shoes. And that’s where I found that Nike and LeBron have also made an OSU style shoe. As you can read here, that doesn’t mean James is heading off to OSU after this year to play for Thad Matta. It doesn’t mean he’s slighting his hometown Akron Zips in any way. In fact, Nike and LeBron made another shoe that has a map of Akron on the sole!
LeBron is at the point of his career where his role as a Nike-sponsored businessman is fast approaching or surpassing his role as basketball player. He’s made no secret of his desire to be a billionaire, and if he’s going to get there, Nike will play a big role in that, which means this is hardly the last set of sneakers they’ll collaborate on. Would I prefer that LeBron didn’t love the Yankees and instead made a shoe based on the Tribe? Sure. But the sad truth is that our athletes owe us nothing outside of the sports they play. I’m in no mood to watch the Cavs cross their fingers over some ping pong balls in the lottery, so I want LeBron here, no matter whose baseball cap or shoes he’s wearing.
Research Request: Paul here. Many, many people over the years have told me about the time the Patriots held a logo “election” during halftime of a game back around the late ’80s, when Pat Patriot was still the man. They supposedly had one guy dressed up as Pat, someone else dressed up as a proposed newfangled spokescharacter (not Flying Elvis), paraded them both around the field, and had the fans vote by applauding. Or maybe they had giant cardboard cutouts of the two logos, instead of live actors (I’ve heard the story told both ways). Either way, the new logo was booed off the field.
I’ve heard this story enough times to believe that it’s true. Only problem is that nobody has ever provided a photo of the losing logo. If anyone can provide any visuals on this, please get in touch. Thanks.
While we’re at it: Another prototype that I’ve often heard about but never seen is the new Chiefs helmet that a play-by-play man supposedly held up in front the camera during a game about 20 years ago. If you’ve got it, let’s see it!
Uni Watch News Ticker: Good article here about how the Chargers’ equipment manager tried to prepare for the cold weather in Foxboro (with thanks to Eric Stangel). … The Sean Taylor mourn-athon continues. … Check out the third “news” item at Thebrushback.com (good find by Mike Nachreiner). … A set of 1936 White Sox pants — plus the accompanying belt! — were just up for sale on eBay (with thanks to Jason Libes). … Check out the collar on the guy on the right in this shot. “Looks like Count Chocula,” opines Greg Riffenburgh. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The Dallas Stars are wearing an “MM” decal on their helmets and backplates in memory of front office employee Matt McKee, who died of cancer last week. … Marc Rabinowitz was watching a replay of the 1996 NHL All-Star Game and noticed that John Vanbiesbrouck’s mask-mounted camera was actually painted to match his mask. … As many of you are already aware, the NBA All-Star Game uniforms will look like this and this. Definitely looks like one of those designs that can’t be properly assessed via an illustration — I’ll reserve judgment until I see some photographs Ah, screw it, let’s just beat the rush and start hating them now. … Meanwhile, the Chinese Basketball Association recently had its own all-star game (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … This just in: All players in the Pro Bowl will wear Sean Taylor’s No. 21, plus the competition committee will consider a proposal to have the entire league wear No. 21 next season, and the American flag will be redesigned to have 21 stars and 21 stripes. … Speaking of memorial gestures, I know everyone’s upset about Heath Ledger, but these brokeback moments are getting out of hand. … Awesome audio slideshow here about a 1952 game in which the Harlem Globetrotters suffered a rare loss — at the hands of a sleeve-clad Seattle Chieftains team (spectacular find by Sam Wasson). … Speaking of the Chieftains, we’ve all seen football jerseys with crotch extensions, but I’d never seen one on a basketball jersey until Warren Humphrey showed me this page — scroll down to the bottom for the horrible truth, then check out the rest of the pics for lots of sleeve-o-rama action. … Really interesting high schhool football helmet discovered by Jimmy Neilly. “The team is the Mount Diablo Red Devils,” he writes. “Two of the three prongs of a pitchfork are wrapped around the sides of the helmet, and then the middle prong is used as their helmet stripe.”
January 24th, 2008
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