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Archive for February, 2008
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: I love how throwaway-ish Ticker items can sometimes take on lives of their own. Case in point: On Wednesday I linked to the Yankee Stadium vendor’s uniform shown at right (here’s a larger view); on Thursday I followed up with this photo, which shows vendors actually wearing the outfit; and now reader Paul Wiederecht has provided a wealth of interesting background info.
Wiederecht is a graphic designer who’s worked a lot in TV news and televised sports. And what does that background have to do with the vendor’s uniform? I’ll let him explain it himself:
I saw that vendor’s shirt used from 1968-72 at games I attended. Sorry, no pics, but I think I may be able to shed some light on the shirt’s design history.
Much of the Yankees’ look during the team’s CBS ownership era can be attributed to Lou Dorfsman, who was CBS’s creative director for more than 25 years. Except for the eye logo, which was the inspiration of his predecessor, William Golden, Dorfsman was responsible for CBS’s corporate and on-air look. His contribution to graphic/interior and set/broadcast/advertising design is legendary, he set the high standard that artists like me have trying to measure up to our whole careers.
Anyway, back to the shirt: If you look here, you’ll see an example of the three-dimensional wall treatment in the CBS employee cafeteria, which was executed by Herb Lubalin (a typographer of note in his own right). You will see many design similarities [between the wall treatment and the vendor's uniform], and similar design treatments can been seen in many Yankees publications from that era. I would not be surprised if Dorfsman used Lubalin’s design studio for many Yankees projects, possibly even this shirt.
Dorfsman sas also responsible for the “look” of the stadium — the blue seats, the use of Helvetica for signage around the building, plus he had the walls and facade painted white. My mom, who worked in the club offices from 1953-57, said the previous paint color was “[Dan] Topping money green,” which can be seen in the scenes shot at the stadium in the 1959 film “The FBI Story.”
I know I’ve gone on a bit here, but I don’t think Mr. Dorfsman has gotten his due for his efforts on this subject. If you look at Yankees material since, it dosen’t measure up.
As a big graphic design fan geek myself, I already knew about Dorfsman’s role at CBS. And of course I knew that CBS had owned the Yankees. Until now, however, I’d never connected the dots to see the obvious link between the Dorfsman and team. But now it seems obvious — just look at this again, and then look at this.
Awesome work by Wiederecht to flesh out the details of this story — nicely done.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Did you know Colorado State’s basketball court design featured ram horns? I didn’t, until Jeff Bethune alerted me to the second two photos in this gallery. … Pete Carroll now has his own clothing line. … Josh Miller reports that the Suns will be wearing “Los Suns” jerseys for a Latino Heritage game next month. … David Tyree refuses to take off his helmet. … I think Tom O’Grady mentioned this a few weeks ago, but it bears repeating: The Blackhawks’ red and black sleeve stripes are supposed to be of equal thickness, but the team’s goalies have thicker black stripes — weird (with thanks to J D Vercett for the latest round of pics). … Yesterday I asked why lacrosse players were wearing green shoelaces. The answer is here (courtesy of Chris Drouin). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Good article here about the UGA football team’s uni number selection process. … Who’s that big guy in the sidecar? It’s Big Papi on his way to the White House the other day, riding with the police escort (with thanks to Matt Englander). … Jimmy Neilly notes that Mike Smith was still wearing his Stars mask when making his Lightning debut on Wednesday. … Dontrelle Willis was wearing the Tigers’ home cap with the road uni the other day (good spot by James Yeh). … “The Arena League commissioner was on the radio today, and he mentioned that their refs would be wearing helmets this year,” reports Chris Flinn. “He also said he thought it might carry over to the NFL.” … In response to the recent City Hall shooting in Kirkwood, Missouri, the Cardinals wore Kirkwood caps the other day. … A reader who prefers to remain anonymous informs me that today is the 48th anniversary of the opening of the first Playboy Club, featuring what Wikipedia describes as “the first service uniform registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.” … Several readers are reporting that the Bruins have come up with four competing designs for next season’s alternate jersey, and that one of the designs was briefly shown during the broadcast of last night’s game (big thanks to Jeffrey Israel for the video clip). … Great article here about Butch Goring’s old helmet (with thanks to Craig MacHenry).
February 29th, 2008
Rob Ullman likes to draw girls. Slinky girls, hipster girls, rocker girls, hairy girls. Tough girls, nasty girls, superheroine girls, naked girls.
All of which is great, but it wouldn’t much matter from a Uni Watch perspective if not for a unique sub-niche that Ullman’s developed along the way: He specializes in drawing pin-up girls wearing hockey jerseys.
Ullman’s hockey girls are sexy, for sure. But like most classic pin-up art, they’re fun, playful girl-next-door cuties, not sex-bomb porno vixen types. The key element: They’re always smiling, which usually makes them look endearingly wholesome. And yes, their charms are definitely enhanced by the jerseys they’re wearing.
Ullman, who works as an illustrator and cartoonist, has been a Uni Watch reader for some time, but I only became aware of his sports-themed cheesecake material a few weeks ago. If you’re a comics or illustration fan, you’ll spot lots of classic and contemporary influences in his work; if you don’t know anything about that world, that’s a pity, but Rob’s jersey-clad gals are an ideal introduction. Cheesecake and uniforms: two great tastes that taste great together.
Rob recently stepped away from his drafting board long enough to chat about his work. Here’s the scoop:
Uni Watch: How old are you, and where do you live?
Rob Ullman: I’m 36, and I live in Richmond, Virginia, with my wife and our baby daughter.
UW: Where’d you grow up?
RU: In northeast Ohio, around the Akron area, about halfway between Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
UW: And how long have you been an illustrator?
RU: I’ve been drawing forever. I’ve been doing professional illustration for about 10 years now, and I’ve been working at it full-time for about four years.
UW: So you make a living at it?
RU: Pretty much, yeah.
UW: What kind of sports fan are you?
RU: I’m a big NFL fan, big hockey fan. I always get excited about Opening Day for baseball, and I’ll watch a little bit of the NBA playoffs. My favorite part of the year is probably the NHL playoffs.
UW: Have you always been into uniforms?
RU: Pretty much, yeah. I still have an old Lynn Swann jersey I had when I was a little kid. And I was always fascinated by football helmets, and I’d draw them, draw the logos.
UW: That was my next question: Were you doodling logos in the margins of your notebooks and stuff like that?
RU: Yeah, always, always. The Steelers’ hypocycloids were especially hard to master, but I eventually did. The Pirates’ “P” was a lot easier.
UW: Did you save that stuff?
RU: Some of it, yeah. In 1989, when I was in high school, the Steelers finally got back to the playoffs for the first time in years, and I was so jazzed that I made a little Steelers-vs.-Oilers sign that I hung in my room [Rob couldn't find that one, but he did turn up a similar piece from his youth -- PL]. I drew the helmets all meticulously, drew the logos exactly how they were supposed to look — so, uh, yeah, I guess I was a little obsessive.
UW: In addition to liking uniforms, you also clearly have a fondness for classic girlie pin-up art. How’d you get into that specialty niche?
RU: It was an aptitude that just sort of developed. There’s this sex advice column by Dan Savage, called “Savage Love,” which runs in a lot of alt-weeklies, and I started illustrating that for City Paper in Washington, D.C. in 2000 or so…
UW: Here in New York, “Savage Love” runs in the Village Voice, but they don’t run any illustrations with it.
RU: It’s so much better with illustrations — not necessarily mine, but anyone’s, just to provide some visual interest. Anyway, if you’re familiar with the column, it tends to be pretty raw, and it basically gave me the opportunity to draw lots of women in various ridiculous situations.
UW: Okay, but there are lots of different ways to draw women. How’d you come up with that classic pin-up style? Were you consciously patterning your work on that look?
RU: Kind of. I’ve always described my style as Archie Comics gone bad. Dan DeCarlo, who was an Archie Comics artist for years and years [and who also did lots of pin-up work of his own -- PL], my style sort of went that way. It wasn’t really a conscious choice. It’s just sort of the way it developed.
UW: Are there any other artists who’ve been particularly big influences on you, like Vargas or anyone like that?
RU: Gil Elvgren is my favorite of those guys. Fritz Willis is another one whose style I always liked. There are also a couple of comic artists, like Bruce Timm — he developed the look of the Batman cartoon from around 1992. Real simple, kinda Art Deco cartoon-y sort of style. Another guy who worked on that show, named Shane Glines — I like him too. Oh, and I should probably mention Coop.
UW: Yeah, I was gonna ask if he was on your list.
RU: Definitely.
UW: So how did you hit upon the notion of combining your artwork with your passion for sports and uniforms?
RU: I’m not sure exactly, but at some point I just thought that a girl wearing a hockey sweater, and very little else, seemed very appealing to me.
UW: As it might be to many of us.
RU: Right. It seems kind of, uh, obvious, I guess. So I drew that. And as an artist, your first attempt at something is usually pretty rough, and you say, “Okay, I’ll try it again and do better this time, and do better the time after that,” and I just kept on going back to it.
UW: Do you recall when that first one was?
RU: Yeah, back around 1993 or so. I just saw that Devils jersey and thought of the whole concept of the devil, and being sinful, being lustful, that sort of thing — it just seemed like a no-brainer. I’ve gone back to that Devils idea several times. And it’s a good way to keep people interested if I want to talk about hockey on my blog, since most of the people who come to my site probably haven’t watched a hockey game in their entire lives. But they’ll stay for the cheesecake pictures and maybe end up reading my little Western Conference preview or whatever.
UW: You’ve just touched upon something I’ve written about before, namely that most artists and creative people and alterna-people, or whatever you want to call them, aren’t into sports at all.
RU: Exactly.
UW: So do you, as an artist and a sports fan, sometimes feel a bit isolated in that regard?
RU: Sometimes. In high school, I ran with the arty crowd, and those people all hated jocks, hated sports. … Recently I was posting a bunch of knocks on the Patriots on my blog, and a lot of people were saying, “Okay, enough of that. Enough pigskin — more skin.” That sort of thing.
UW: So it’s been about 15 years now — do you have any idea how many of these uniform-related cheesecake pieces you’ve done?
RU: I’ve probably done a girl in a hockey sweater at least 30 times.
UW: Do you know how many teams you’ve depicted?
RU: Maybe half the league. It pretty much comes down to the fact that there are certain logos I like better, that are more fun to draw.
UW: Which logos are your favorites?
RU: I think the Devils have a great logo. Same goes for the Bruins and the Penguins — love that skatin’ penguin.
UW: Are there any that you particularly dislike?
RU: Being from Ohio, I really want to like the Columbus Blue Jackets, but they just cannot seem to get it together with their logo. The one they have now is an improvement over their first one, but there’s still nothing I really like about it. Florida is another one that seems very forgettable, nothing special. That seems to be the case with most new logos over the past 10 years or so. They just don’t have that iconic quality.
UW: What about other sports? You sent me two versions of a girl wearing an Indians jersey, but have you done many other non-hockey pieces?
RU: Not many. I’ve done a couple of football ones, including one that was a commission for a fan — he’s a graduate of Vanderbilt and wanted a girl dressed in a Vanderbilt jersey. And I’ve done a few baseball pieces — that Indians one is the most successful example. But hockey seems to be the one that gets the most play.
UW: Whatever the sport, do you try to get the uniform details exactly right, or do you tend to take some liberties?
RU: I try to get them as right as I can. I probably wouldn’t sacrifice an artistic choice just for the sake of some little detail, but I try to be as accurate as possible in terms of piping, logos, and all that.
UW: Like that NHL Winter Classic patch that you included on that Penguins jersey.
RU: Yeah, exactly.
UW: But on that Indians illustration, it appears that you depicted the jersey as zipper-front, and I don’t think the Indians ever had a zip-front jersey with that logo on it.
RU: Actually, that was more a matter of just leaving the buttons out. It’s supposed to be a button-front. I did consider all of that, and I basically decided that including the buttons would get in the way of the pleasing lines of the jersey. So that was a case of artistic license. The buttons are more implied.
UW: When you’re doing these, do you use actual jerseys on a live model?
RU: No. I pretty much draw ’em out of my head. Sometimes I’ll use some visual reference for the figure, but about 80% of the time I just come up with a pose and then try to drape the jersey onto it. It’s tough, because a real hockey jersey probably wouldn’t sit on a woman’s body the way I draw it.
UW: So you’re not using a live model, and you’re also not using a real jersey on a mannequin or something like that?
RU: Right. Just out of my head, and matching the jersey to what’s shown on NFLshop.com or some place like that.
UW: Have you ever tried to depict an older vintage design with more textured fabric, back from the days when hockey sweaters really were sweaters?
RU: I did a comic a few years ago called Old-Timey Hockey Tales, and in that I tried to go for a tighter-fitting, woolen jersey.
UW: But have you ever tried to get that effect with the pin-up art?
RU: Not so much, no.
UW: Have you done any other sports-oriented comics?
RU: A couple summers ago I did a piece called “Brave Old World” for Richmond magazine. Basically, I can’t stand the shape that baseball’s in here in Richmond, and I wanted to vent about it. Our stadium is ugly and our team looks exactly like the Atlanta Braves, which strikes me as preposterous for a city with Richmond’s identity. A few weeks ago, the R-Braves announced that they’re moving after this season, but I don’t think my comic had anything to do with it.
UW: I know you are the perfect person for me to pose this question to: Would you care to hold forth on the greatness of striped socks?
RU: Things are so much more visually interesting when they have stripes on them. You can’t go wrong with them. It says sports.
UW: Plus a sexy girl looks even sexier with striped socks.
RU: That’s something I just recently added to the girl in a hockey shirt paradigm — to put the socks on her. And let me tell you, man, it makes all the difference. It’s too much. I actually bought some striped socks for my wife — she was going to her office Halloween party as Poison Ivy, the Batman villain. So I got her these long striped socks from American Apparel, thigh-high. And they’re, like, kelly green with white stripes — they just look awesome. It’s just the coolest thing. It’s kinda weird, taking something that looks good on a really tough-ass hockey player and putting in a more feminine context. I don’t know why it works both ways, but it really does.
=======
Of course, Poison Ivy doesn’t actually wear striped socks, but chalk that up to artistic license.
Postscript: Shortly after our interview, Rob surprised me by whipping up a special baseball-themed illo that he knew I’d like. Interested in commissioning him to give the pin-up treatment to your favorite team? Contact him here.
It sucks that I even have to say this… but don’t interpret today’s mildly racy content as an excuse (much less an invitation) for an outbreak of the stupids in the comments section. If the discussion takes a turn for the juvenile, I’ll simply turn off the commenting function. Maybe for a few days. But I’m sure that won’t be necessary because you’ll all keep things on an intelligent level, right? Right.
Uni Watch Travel Update: Looks like the the Uni Watch party in Seattle will take place on the night of March 14th. Time and place details to follow shortly.
Meanwhile, here’s a little nugget for you to chew on: Imagine if a minor league team held a Uni Watch Night promotion, with the home team wearing stirrups and yours truly throwing out the first pitch. Sound preposterous? Actually, yeah, it does, but it’s in the works anyway. Still very provisional at this point, but the wheels are turning. Stay tuned.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Joe Skiba’s upcoming live chat on Giants.com is next Friday, March 7th (not this Friday, as I initially reported yesterday before correcting the text). You still have to register here. … Yesterday I wondered aloud whether Yankee Stadium vendors actually wore this thing in the 1970s. Now Todd Radom has provided this photo of Jackie O at the ballpark in 1967– note the vendor behind the usher behind Jackie. … New baseball uniforms this season for the Florida Gators, plus an ice cream man alternate cap (with thanks to Josh Coney). … “During the the Mets’ spring game versus the U of Michigan on Tuesday, I noticed that the Michigan catcher had the school’s standard ‘wings’ logo on his catcher’s helmet,” writes Cork Gaines. “What’s great about is that the wings are facing forward even though he’s wearing the helmet backwards.” … ” I’ve noticed that teams across D1 NCAA lacrosse are wearing bright green shoelaces,” writes Andrew Matthews. “Is this part of the whole ‘going green’ phenomenon? What’s the deal?” Anyone..? … Jere Smith has stumbled upon an oddity: According to this page, the Cincy Reds’ uni numbers in 1938 were all 35 or higher. “Everything was normal the years before and after,” he writes. “I came across this because I’ve been trying to figure out why no Reds players wore Nos. 1 through 4, from basically the ’40s to the ’90s. And they’re not retired. I figure they may have been reserved for coaches.” Anyone know more about either of these mysteries? … Interesting note from Ariel Shosan, who writes: “I just returned from a Cubs practice at Hohokam in Mesa. The main gate now features 6 ‘batting circles’ — one is a Cubs logo, and the others are Santo 10, Banks 14, Sandberg 23, Williams 26, and … Jenkins 31. The thing is, the Cubs haven’t retired Fergie Jenkins’ number. Fans have long thought that they would retire 31 for Fergie and Maddux when the time came, à la Berra and Dickey.” Hmmmm. … It’s no surprise that many teams still have old, gray-underbrimmed 5950s in stock. But check out Rajai Davis yesterday — he was wearing an old 5950 and a Russell jersey, which is several years out of date (great catch by Bryan). … Looks like the stirrups policy adopted by the Giants’ starting pitchers is trickling down to the club’s younger hurlers. Check out double-A prospect Eugene Espineli (with thanks to Jameson Costello). … Steelers broadcaster Myron Cope, inventor of the Terrible Towel, died yesterday. A memorial helmet decal seems likely, although I’m hoping for a towel-shaped jersey patch with “Myron” in stencil lettering (or, really, anything involving the word, “Myron,” which would be the single greatest word to adorn an NFL uni in league history). … The White Sox wore NIU caps yesterday.
February 28th, 2008
Did you know there was such a thing as organized competitive snowball fighting? Not only does this sport exist, but last weekend in Japan was the 20th annual edition of the Showa-Shinzan International Yukigassen, which roughly translates to snow (yuki), gather (ga), fight (sen).
That translation comes from, of course, our resident Japanese sports obsessive, Jeremy Brahm, who brought the snowball event to my attention. Here’s his report:
I didn’t realize there were uniforms for snowball fights, but this tournament requires that teams have matching uniforms or bibs. They had 155 teams participate this past weekend (128 men’s, 27 women’s). It takes seven people to play in a match, but nine are permitted on each team.
The small number on the right side of the bib is the team number; the large number is the player’s uniform number. Seven are to play in a match, but nine are permitted on each team. They even use roughly uniform snowballs!
Here are some posters from the 1996 and 2002 tournaments (that’s a phoenix clutching snowballs in its talons), and some uniform cartoons from 2003.
Amazing. And if you think snowball fighting is an odd sport, check out the pie-throwing pics and video here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Giants equipment director Joe Skiba will be doing a live chat next Friday, March 7th, at 2pm eastern. In order to participate, you have to be a register at Giants.com, which you can do here. … Speaking of the Giants, I’m a month late with this, but here’s a good article about the guy who does all the stitching on their uniforms (with thanks to Eric Stangel). … The Yankees-centric blog Sliding into Home is claiming that Yankee Stadium vendors wore this in the 1970s (note the Yanks logo on the left chest). Is that really possible? Doesn’t seem very, y’know, Yankee-like. … Unusual hosiery configuration being sported by the Cal State Stanislaus Warriors: Bosox-style stirrups with black sanitaries (with thanks to Travis McGuire, who also sent along a shot of the new Oregon State baseball unis). … According to the next-to-last graf on this page, the Nats will be selling “W”-shaped pretzels to match the team’s curly-W logo this season. … Good work by AJ Brandt, who writes: “I was watching trade deadline stuff on NHL Network, and they had a guy in the studio making up new jerseys for players as they were traded. As they were talking to Martin Lapointe via phone about his trade, they were running video of someone assembling his nameplate.” … Never noticed before that Joe Frazier wore peekaboo-vented trunks during his second fight with Ali. … Yesterday I linked to this photo, showing a Virginia Tech memorial strip on an FSU baseball cap. Now decal maven Chris Willis reports that the Seminoles have also ordered memorial strip decals to wear on their batting helmets. I know Chris provides a quality product, but couldn’t they just have used some black electrical tape? … In case you didn’t realize the Mets were now a wholly owned subsidiary of Citibank, they underscored the point the other day by wearing Citi Field caps, which is so utterly nauseating that I think Mr. Met just popped a few stitches on his head. … NIU’s sports program has returned to action, with what may be history’s lengthiest memorial ribbon. But at least it appears to be a genuine ribbon, not a graphic depiction of same — they get bonus points for that. … Mike Rich notes that Mark Teixeira’s been wearing red shoelaces. … More Iowa girls’ hoops tourney action from Jesse Gavin: “The one thing that really struck me today was Treynor’s shooting shirts. I don’t know how old they are, but they still have the ‘100th Anniversary of Basketball’ patch from 1991-92. Also, Davenport Assumption checked in with the tourney’s first racerback sighting.”
February 27th, 2008
For years there’s been a juicy uni mystery that I’ve neglected to pursue. To wit: What was the deal with the WFL’s position-based pants back in the 1970s?
In case this is new to you: The WFL briefly experimented with the having distinct pants designs for each major position category (linemen, receivers, etc.). Yes, that’s a really stupid-ass idea, but so was the entire WFL itself, so whaddaya gonna do. Anyway: Whenever this topic comes up, someone always links to the photo shown at right, which until recently was the only image of the pants that I’d seen. But then Kenn Tomasch dug up a DVD with some old WFL footage and made some screen grabs. Here’s his analysis:
I think it went like this: quarterbacks, white pants with stars; running backs, green; offensive linemen, purple; defensive linemen, blue; linebackers, red; tight ends and receivers, orange; defensive backs, yellow. I’m not sure what the kickers wore.
I don’t even know what game this video is from. It might have been a scrimmage of some sort, because the two teams (Southern California for sure, and maybe that’s Philadelphia?) didn’t go all out. Looked like they were just going through the motions. But it was televised somewhere and I have no idea where or why.
As a bonus, here’s a shot where you can see the awful outfit worn by TVS announcer Alex Hawkins.
Yowza — looks like ol’ Alex wanted to get in on the crazy pants action, no?
Anyone know what game this might have been? And does anyone know more about the WFL’s ill-advised attempt at trouser innovation? Was this idea part of the league’s first season or the second season? How long did they try it for, and why did they abandon it? If anyone knows more about the bizarre chapter in pro football history, please clue us in.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I spent the last three days road-tripping through New Jersey and Pennsylvania and haven’t yet caught up on everything, so forgive me if any of the stuff in today’s Ticker has already been discussed. … One of my stops along the way, incidentally, was the classic roadside stop Hot Dog Johnny’s (whose featured beverages are birch beer and buttermilk, don’tcha know), where I was surprised to see an old photo of the company hoops team in a display case. … Good news out of Pittsburgh, where the Pirates’ red vest’s days appear to be numbered. Details toward the bottom of this page. … Morris Levin reports that the Dodgers held an unusual white-on-white intrasquad game the other day. … The impending return of the Oregon baseball program after a nearly three-decade hiatus prompted Scott Little to send along pics of an old Oregon helmet that he has in his collection (additional pics here, here, here, and here). … Nice to see that the Mets have patterned their new stadium logo after the world’s worst pizza. … An assortment of White Sox uni promotions are listed here. … Texas A&M’s baseball team has replaced this with this (lots of additional pics here). Not even stirrups can save that jersey design. … Speaking of stirrups, check out the beauties being worn by Oklahoma State and New Mexico State (here’s another view; thanks to Brian Ray and Sam Wasson, respectively). … And according to the third item on this page, an increasing number of Pirates players are wearing and showing their stirrups (with thanks to Tom Cotter). … Still more stirrup action (reprinted from Sunday’s comments): the Great One. … U. of Hawaii has inked a big deal with Under Armour (with thanks to Joshua Huff). … Nicole Haase’s recent tale about being on the field during Super Bowl prompted Susan Freeman to recall her own experience in the Super Bowl XXXVIII pregame show. Full details here. … What does a lion’s penis have to do with uniforms? Look here (courtesy of J.R. Tracy). … Virginia Tech acknowledging the shootings at Northern Illinois by wearing an NIU logo jersey patch, as you can see in the 13th photo of this gallery. … Weird to see UGA wearing white batting helmets (as spotted by Paul Radetsky) … “South Carolina has added a new baseball jersey,” writes Chris Rodgers. “This is in addition to at least three other tops and probably five to eight total combinations.” … USF’s new football jerseys will look like this and this. … Good article here about MLB coaches wearing helmets (with thanks to Morris Levin). … Jared Wheeler, who does uni research for Mitchell & Ness, recently sent along pics of two great historical pieces he came upon. The first one is an Indianapolis Olympians short-sleeve basketball jersey (”worn by Rex Groza — Lou’s brother,” says Jared), and the other is an Episcopal Academy football jersey (additional views here, here, and here). … Underbrim update, Japanese style (with thanks to, of course, Jeremy Brahm, who says the message translates to “All-out play”). … I’m not a big college hoops fan, which gives me enough emotional breathing room to find this rather amusing. Stupid, mind you, but still amusing. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Here’s something you don’t see very often — Manny Ramirez’s helmet all shiny and clean. … “There’s usually not that much to report on the uni front from the Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament, but there were some odd sights during Monday’s first set of quarterfinal games,” writes Jesse Gavin. “Some very weird shorts striping for Southeast Webster Grand; a very odd protective facemask on Paige Heesch from Woden-Crystal Lake-Titonka; an odd piping pattern for Lawton-Bronson; and it looks like Springville decided to wear Oregon State’s football jerseys upside-down for their shorts.” … Looks like the ACC’s use of black Virginia Tech memorial strips is now extending to baseball caps (excellent catch by Walker Hicken)
February 26th, 2008
By Bryan Redemske
As expected, the Tour of California unleashed a new wave of champions kits from various countries. Rather than detail every one, because even I don’t have the patience for that, I pulled a few of interest.
First there’s the unfortunate fall from grace of the last two U.S. road champions, George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer. Both members of Discovery Channel last year, they looked like this and this. Since Hincapie is on High Road now (formerly T-Mobile) and Leipheimer is on Astana, they wear this and this now. Ouch.
David Zabriskie wore this last year with CSC as the U.S. time trial champion. Now he’s in this as a member of Slipstream-Chipotle. I can’t decide if it’s good or bad, or if he’s trying to look like Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday.
And here’s Paolo Bettini, proving again that if you’re Italian, you can wear anything.
Black Plague: If you’re not a weekend comments reader — and I gotta say you’re missing a huge party — Oregon’s black System of Dress uniform was the hot topic. I’ve had my say (baaaaad), but I’m sure Paul will have something for us tomorrow. Of course, there’s always the possibility he’ll refuse to say anything at all, and that wouldn’t be a bad thing, either. Actually, that might be better.
 Travel and Membership News: Paul here. I’m on the road today (so be nice to Bryan) but wanted to check in on a few things. First, as you can see at right, we’ve done our first vertical membership card design, based on the scarf worn by the Penn State mascot. I frankly didn’t know Penn State even had a mascot, or that he wears a scarf, or that the scarf is adorned with buttons, or that the messages on the buttons are always changing (here’s a larger view of the card, so you can see the specific buttons we were asked to reproduce). The buttons even have their own web site! This was all news to me — if anyone knows more about this phenomenon, feel free to share.
The vertical design, incidentally, was a source of intense deliberation and negotiation between Scott and myself. In the end, I decided going with the portrait orientation was the best way to do justice to the scarf concept (if we’d stuck with horizontal, the buttons would’ve been either too small to read or not as spread out as they are in real life). For now, we’re treating this as a one-time exception to our usual rule — a special design challege that required a special solution. So don’t all start asking for regular jersey-based designs to be vertically oriented.
Meanwhile: Looks like I’m gonna be in Seattle next month, and I’ll definitely convene a Uni Watch party while I’m there. Not sure of the exact dates yet, but it’ll probably be on the 12th, 13th, 17th, or 18th. (Actually, when it comes to Really Bad Ideas, holding a party in a bar on St. Paddy’s Day is probably right up there with shoving a lit M-80 up your ass, so strike the 17th from that list.) I’ll keep you posted as my plans firm up.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Today’s Ticker is a joint effort between Paul and Bryan. … Tremendous little video clip here about the Cardinals’ spring training laundry staff (with thanks to Elena Elms). … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Add Chris Brown to the list of MLBers who’ve worn mask attachments on their helmets. … In a vaguely related item, Brian Giles was running around in a Chargers helmet the other day — and look, it turns out that Giles is still mourning Sean Taylor. No word on whether he had an American flag decal. … Oregon’s continued use of green NOB on a green jersey is baffling. … Mets by the Numbers editor Jon Springer has conducted a great numbers-centric interview with longtime Mets beat reporter Marty Noble. Check it out here. … Mike Monaghan was recently checking out some old Sabres footage and came across a fight between Shjon Podein and Dane Jackson from March 29, 1996. “Podein actually ripped the nameplate off Jacksons jersey and ended up holding it in his hand,” he writes. … I don’t mind purple so much when it represents grape junk food (with thanks to Robert Purvis). … Broncos founder and former Reds exec Bob Howsam died last Tuesday. The last four paragraphs of this obit are of uni interest. … Scroll down to the “Blue Jersey?” section of this page for some Braves rumor-mongering. … UMich swimming caps: blue with gold wings or gold with blue wings (good find by Daniel Weimann). … Here’s a drop-shadow configuration you don’t often see: ten o’clock (with thanks to Marc Rabinowitz). … “I was in New Orleans for the NBA All-Star weekend,” writes Ben Kramer. “They had a little exhibit from the Hall of Fame. I paticularly loved the 1967 East All-Star jersey, based on ‘The City.’ I also think you’d like the old Celtics championship sweater.” … On the logo front — this one corporate — a good, quick read here on how Google got its iconic wordmark. … Here’s ManRam reporting for duty, still wearing his snood thinger from the World Series. Thanks to Mark Mihalik. … Luke Pellegra has checked in with a look at Tennessee’s new hats and batting helmets, the latter changing from black to orange. “If that isn’t just atrocious, I don’t know what is,” Luke writes. Also, the Vols will go from black hats to white. Kentrail Davis needs a tutor to get that bill rounded into shape. … David Arnott took in Friday’s Winthrop-Davidson basketball game, complete with refs in mismatched tops. … Pro wrestling alert: San Diego native Rey Mysterio Jr. had Chargers-style lightning bolts on his pants on Friday in his hometown. Good spot by Cory Lewis. … Tricia Polley notes the Cardinals will be wearing the letter “K” on their lids during Wednesday’s exhibition against St. Louis University in honor of the victims of the city council shooting in Kirkwood, Mo. … Tom Glavine and John Smoltz were spotted wearing throwbacks for some promo shots last week. Hope those shots are only waist-up — they’re both wearing the regular road pants. Good find by Mike Rich. … Pretty cool program from the 1940 College All-Americans vs. Green Bay Packers matchup up for auction here. And here’s a closer look, with thanks to Richard Canulli. … Numerous mentions about the Canadiens retiring Bob Gainey’s No. 23 on Saturday night. Gainey suited up — in the period-correct CCM jersey — and took a few turns around the ice during the ceremony. … Notre Dame honored its 1978 Final Four team on Sunday. Digger Phelps probably should have left the jersey wearing to the players, though. Speaking of the players, the members of the 1978 team wore their old jerseys, while team managers and support staff wore the No. 78 like Digger. That’d be Michael Alper on that find. … Les Holmlund found a couple of cool eBay auctions. The first is a team photo of the 1936-37 Philadelphia Ramblers hockey team, though a color version would be cooler. The second, however, is awesome.
February 25th, 2008
Maybe I expect too much. Maybe I don’t get it. (Though I do Get It™.) Maybe it’s harder than it looks. I don’t know.
But why, why, did the new Bulls, obtained at the trade deadline on Thursday, not suit up? Shaq sat around for a few days a couple of weeks ago, and it seems like it happens most often in the NBA. If a trade of this significance is made, wouldn’t you think the teams involved would like to get the new guys on the court as soon as possible? “Hey, we’re addressing our needs with this trade … but our needs can wait a few nights.”
In 2004, when Nomar Garciaparra was traded to the Cubs at the deadline (a Saturday afternoon), he was in the lineup the next afternoon for a 1:20 start at Wrigley Field … where he promptly grounded into a double play in his first at-bat. I know baseball players do it all the time. Traded on Tuesday, in the lineup for a different team on Wednesday.
So what’s the deal? Don’t tell me it’s the “plays.” Come on — there are no plays being run in the NBA. Besides, baseball players have to learn new signs, and you don’t see them sitting for a few days to get it figured out. Are they waiting for their posses to get into town? Out of team-colored arm sleeves?
Anbody have any theories? Let ’er rip. — Bryan
February 23rd, 2008
Got a note a little while back from reader Andy Edelson, who’d investigated an interesting phenomenon. I’ll let him tell the tale in his own words:
During a recent Rangers/Canucks broadcast, the New York announcers were interviewing Vancouver captain Trevor Linden between periods and noted that he’s worn 11 of the franchise’s 13 NHL jerseys — quite the impressive feat. Being the uni aficionado that I am, I had to research this peculiar stat.
By my count, it’s actually nine of 13 [one, two, three (very similar to the previous one, just slight color changes), four, five, six, seven (very similar to number five, the main change being the shoulder patches in the latter version and the switch in '03-'04 to wear the dark jerseys at home), eight, nine -- PL]. Still impressive (or nauseating, depending on your view of Vancouver’s constant uni overhauls), as Linden has spent all or part of 15 seasons with the Canucks during his 20-year career.
As if wearing some of history’s ugliest jersey’s weren’t enough, “Captain Canuck” spent a few seasons in exile, during which he wore the Islanders’ “wave” design. All in all, in 20 years, Linden has worn 13 different sweaters for five teams, including stints with the aforementioned Islanders (who went back to their classic design in Linden’s final season with them), the Canadiens, and the Caps.
Not including journeymen who’ve been traded eight or nine times, can you think of any other player in all of North American pro sports who’s been the canvass for so many jersey styles, especially while for the most part being the face of a single franchise?
Good question. Can anyone think of a relatively non-itinerant player who can give Linden a run for his money in the “Most Jerseys” sweepstakes?
Super Bowl Tales, Continued: Yesterday’s guest entry by Nicole Haase about her experience as a security guard in Super Bowl XXXVI prompted reader Ryan Patrick to share his own story as a Super Bowl employee:
Through an old friend of my dad’s, I got a sweet gig working for Entertainment Tonight at Super Bowl XXXVIII. They needed someone from Houston who knew how to get around and where all the clubs were, since they covered all that stuff. I was in my first semester in law school and it was an easy $500/day (plus I got to go to the Play Station, Maxim, Playboy, SI, ESPN, and MTV parties).
Entertainment Tonight also covered the pregame and halftime shows, so when we were on the field I had to wear this vest, along with all my credentials that hung around my neck [here's the rear view and tagging]. Depending on what kind of access you had, you had a different color. You HAD to have it on you, so it was weird to see the on-air people with it tucked into the waist of their jeans so they didn’t look like total idiots on TV with these things on.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Kudos to the oh-so-clever reader who came up with the first caption listed beneath the photo here. … More coverage of Wednesday night’s Va.Tech/Maryland vomiting incident, complete with video, here. … According to the last sentence of this page, newly signed Astros pitcher Shawn Chacon will be wearing uni No. 1, thus doubling the current contingent of single-digitized MLB pitchers (the only other one is Josh Towers). … Jennifer Hayden notes that John Paxson had his head placed in a suggestive position the other day. … Jimmy Rollins now has his own signature sneaker design (with thanks to Korryn Mozisek). … Adam Vaggalis and I would both like to know why the Lakers were represented by a giraffe on this card. … The Cubs, who stopped wearing their blue alternate jersey last season, are reviving it for a handful of games this year. … Scroll down to the “Fashion Police” item toward the end of this page for info on Ichiro’s new line of jeans, and his thoughts on what his teammates wear (with thanks to Jason Cruz). … I’ve previously reported that some of the White Sox have been wearing Northen Illinois caps since the shootings on the NIU campus. And now they’ve announced that the entire team will wear NIU caps for the team’s first spring training game. … After a hiatus of nearly three decades, Oregon is reviving its baseball program next year, which means Nike will get to design a new set of uniforms for its favorite guinea pig school. Key excerpt from this article (forwarded by Jon V. Buerstatte): “[Manager George] Horton describes himself as ‘a little bit of a traditionalist,’ and Nike designers haven’t been, and so it will be interesting to see what this clash of cultures produces. ‘They’ve made some suggestions that at least in my opinion might be a little far out there,’ he said, ‘but who am I to argue against the geniuses at Nike for style and color and presentation and all the things that they’re brilliant at? I think that’s the exciting thing, to come up with a common ground where we like the look and they like the marketing part of it.’” Boy does that ever sound like a train wreck in the making.
February 22nd, 2008
[Editor's Note: Last week I mentioned that Joe Skiba had sent me some Super Bowl confetti. That prompted longtime reader Nicole Haase to recall her own Super Bowl experience, which included a lot more than confetti. Here's her story -- I'll rejoin you down at the Ticker.]
By Nicole Haase
I went to college in New Orleans, which was the site of Super Bowl XXXVI in 2002. A few months prior to the game, I learned that they were hiring security personnel to work during the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, with a chance to work at events on gameday and possibly even at the game itself. I don’t exactly project the kind of imposing presence that security people usually have (I’m 5′4″ on a good day), but it sounded cool, so I applied and ended up getting hired.
Remember, this game took place a few months after September 11th, so we had to go through some pretty serious background checks to be allowed to work. Once I passed that, I was asked to come to an orientation at a local hotel. I sat through a slide show that basically said to look for things that might be suspicious and to behave professionally. I had my picture taken and was given an official I.D. badge, which I was told to wear at all times.
Whenever we arrived for a shift, we were given a shirt/windbreaker/jacket to wear, which we had to turn in at the end of the shift. I had two serious problems with this policy: First, the hand-out windbreakers were always some combination of mustardy yellow and navy, and we were always required to wear black pants and black shoes, and I’m the staunchest member of the No Navy and Black battalion. As far as I’m concerned, there is absolutely no time when you should EVER wear these two colors together. EVER. Also, I’m certain the windbreakers weren’t washed after every shift. If ever.
I worked somewhere between seven and ten shifts (they’ve blurred together in my head) during the two-week period leading up to the game. The first few shifts I worked were from 7pm to 7am, around the perimeter of the Superdome itself. The whole thing was fenced off, and there were helicopter patrols as well as police and dogs, but they wanted a “security” person at every bank of doors. In case you were wondering, there aren’t many things more boring than sitting outside the Superdome around 2am staring at the sky.
I also spent a couple of days working at the NFL Experience, an interactive fan thing held at the Convention Center. My most notable encounter here was the day I was “security” for the MTV Rock N’ Jock football game that took place. This mostly meant I stood between the two sections of bleachers. Ostensibly I was ensuring that no one jumped Tara Reid, but mostly I just stood there. A lot.
When I checked in on Super Bowl Sunday, we were given new polos that we were told we could keep. They were long-sleeved with white and another color block, dependant on which area you’d be working in. Unfortunately, mine was lime green and white — talk about a bad color combination! As you can see, they were also screen-printed with the new Super Bowl logo (because of September 11th, the logo had been changed from earth tones in a vaguely Survivor-ish theme to a big red-white-and-blue extravaganza) and lots of confetti-ish fanfare.
So that’s what I had to wear this to the “Owner’s Tailgate,” which is basically a big free food and drink concert to keep all the big shots entertained until they head over to the game. I mostly watched the loading dock, which turned out to be cool because I met the Barenaked Ladies and Gwen Stefani, who were performing. The downside was that the loading dock was open and it was chilly and we weren’t issued any coats.
After the tailgate I was sent over to the Superdome, where I had to check in again and this time I was given mustard windbreaker (here’s the back view), complete with NFL tagging. I was also given all sorts of laminated maps and information cards to wear around my neck, as well as a bigger and brighter I.D. badge.
They put me in a holding room and I was waiting for an assignment when a guy came and said I was going to work outside. I was still shivering from my previous assignment outside and basically told him, “Look, I was just outside for four hours without a coat and now you’re going to put me out there in this flimsy windbreaker thing? No way.”
He was taken aback and told me to sit down and eat and warm up. The food sucked, and as I was sitting there in the depths of the Superdome, bored senseless and a little indignant, I realized I was the only one in the holding room. I also realized I had complete security clearance, so I got up and started poking around.
When I got to a ramp that led to the field, I was a little nervous, but I wanted to see, so I kind of peeked my head down the tunnel and looked around. Another security guy approached me and I figured I was totally busted. Instead he asked, “Are you here for the post?” For a second I was confused, but then I realized he was asking me if I was there to work. So I looked left, I looked right, and then I said, “Sure!” And I hoped no one would catch me.
So he walks me down the tunnel, places me at the 15-yard line, tells me to always have my front to the seats and my back to the sideline, and leaves me there. Right, like if some crazed fan were to bum-rush the field, I’d be able to do anything about it. The security guys stationed on either side of me were in the 6′6″, 300-pound range. Then there was me!
It was a little more than an hour before kickoff and the Fox guys were doing their pregame show about 100 feet from me. Eventually, once they were off the air, they stood on either side of me, taking notes and chatting. Let me say that Chris Collinsworth felt about seven feet tall. And Terry Bradshaw does look as doofy in person.
Turns out being a loudmouth and nosy pays off. I watched the whole game over my shoulder. There was a spectacular pass to the near corner of my end zone that was crazy to watch. The game-winning field goal was also on my end of the field.
But it wasn’t all fun and games. The halftime show was by U2 and of course was a tribute to the victims of September 11th — they used a projector to scroll the names of those who’d died in the attacks. Because of where I was standing and the way the stage was situated, those names also ended up scrolling down me! It was the most poignant, simple remembrance and for me, and it was very moving. I was frozen in place — I couldn’t have moved if I wanted to — and I had tears in my eyes.
After the game, those of us who’d been working the sidelines were taken to the area where they set up police barricades to create a path from the tunnel up to stage where they present the Lombardi Trophy. We quickly shuffled over there and we stood inside the barricades with our backs to the aisle, making sure that only players and team personnel were in this area. The whole Patriots team and the trophy passed within inches of me.
Of course there was tons of confetti, those fake newspaper front pages, etc., and I pocketed a bit for posterity.
I’ve never worn the windbreaker since, mostly because I hate the color. Plus, I guess I figured it would be really pretentious — kind of along the lines of wearing the T-shirt of the band to the concert. All of the Super Bowl items have been in a tub in my basement pretty much since I got them.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Victory Pennants prexy Morris Levin has a new projedt: Obama of Dreams, a series of baseball-themed Barack Obama T-shirts. “One of my underlying goals is to marry Obama with mainstream culture through baseball,” explains Morris, and I’d like to think that everyone here can appreciate the results, regardless of your political affiliation. … Lightning players like to hold onto their battered gear (with thanks to Ryan Connelly). … Interesting story here about the name of Toledo’s new minor league hockey team (courtesy of Tom Konecny). … Interesting piece here on the evolution of car logos (with thanks to Mike Cooperman). … More about Adidas and Dale Jr. here (with thanks to Scott Steele). … “The Blue Jays have changed the font on their BP jerseys to coincide with their new road jersey font,” writes Ben Wideman. “Compare last year with this year and you see a direct correlation between last year’s road font and this year’s.” … “I work as a media coordinator for the USA Sevens Rugby Tournament and Festival, the largest commercial rugby tournament in the States,” writes Blake Mannion. “As a Uni Watch fan, I’ve compiled a gallery of all 16 international uniforms, some oddities, and some images of rare occurences (New Zealand wearing white, the rarely seen South African away jersey, etc.).” … Several readers reported that Virginia Tech’s Dorenzo Hudson, who normally wears No. 2, threw up on the court and on his jersey during last night’s Maryland/Tech game. After a clean-up break, he returned wearing No. 4 and NNOB (nice job by Hannah Krug with the screen grab). … Earlier this season, UConn unveiled a gray alternate set. Now the women’s team has done likewise (with thanks to Ed DiPrimio).
February 21st, 2008
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