Archive for March, 2008
LeBron James, the all-powerful and all-mighty will answer your questions in due time, my pretties, but first you must answer his:
1. Why did Notre Dame wear black basketball uniforms on Saturday night?
2a. Why can’t Lew Ford hold onto his bat … or a job in the majors?
2b. How awesome is it that both the Athletics and Hanshin Tigers wore white?
3. Why are the Celtics still wearing their green and gold jerseys on the road?
Finally (less of a question and more of a statement) …
4. Godzilla! Godzilla! Wait, that’s just Jack Cust. Throw a curveball.
– Bryan
March 23rd, 2008
One of the hotter topics swirling in the daily comments section is the NCAA patch present on all teams by supreme mandate from above … or from Indianapolis. As is often the case when applying a supreme mandate across a broad spectrum, the results aren’t always pleasing to the eye.
Probably the textbook case is Boise State, which has those sweet Nike collar/horn thingers, a bronco-head logo above “Boise”, a flag patch, the “LP” patch for senior administrator Lisa Parker, who is battling cancer, and — finally — the NCAA patch. That’s a lot going on above the nipple line. (Never thought you’d see “nipple line” on Uni Watch, huh? Well it’s gonna happen more often, I assure you. While Paul’s using the time away from Uni Watch for things like “rest” and “a social life” and “sleep” (oh, please), I’m going to find more ways to work in things like “nipple line.”)
But what can we do about above-the-nipple-line clutter? We have two choices: go shirtless (and shave your chest — no clutter) or eliminate Boise State from the tournament. Wait … what’s this? Louisville 79, Boise State 61? Whew. That would have been messy. — Bryan
March 22nd, 2008
Today is my birthday, and I’m pleased to report that I have lots of things to be happy about. Two of those things will have an effect on this site, and that’s what I’d like to talk about today.
The first happy thing is that ESPN gave me an early birthday present last week, in the form of a two-year contract that will increase my level of responsibility at Page 2. The other thing is that a personal situation has come up that will require more of my attention. I’d rather not get into specifics, but I assure you it’s a very positive development (translation: I’m not sick, nobody in my family is sick, my name didn’t turn up in any of Elliot Spitzer’s e-mails, nothing like that).
Both of these developments will place some new demands on my time, and that in turn has led me to make some decisions about the site — decisions I had already been pondering anyway. Don’t worry, Uni Watch isn’t disappearing. But after nearly two years of posting new material on a near-daily basis (plus coordinating all the advertising, raffles, membership details, keeping up with the flood of e-mails and comments, whipping those slacker interns into shape, etc.), I realize I’ve created a monster. The site’s growth has been phenomenal, and I’m extremely proud of it, but it’s reached the point where Uni Watch has become the tail that wags the dog of my life, and that was never what I’d intended.
So here are some new policies, effective pronto:
• Unless there’s breaking uni-related news, I will no longer be posting a main entry on days when I have an ESPN column running. I may still run a Ticker on these days, or maybe just a placeholder photo (like on weekends), or maybe just a “See you over on ESPN today” note. Commenting will be fully enabled, so the discussion can continue as usual.
• There may also be occasional days when I simply close up shop and turn off the commenting function, as I did last Friday when I was in Seattle. Call it a mental health day, call me lazy, call it whatever you like. This won’t happen frequently, but I assure you it will happen. I’d like everyone — myself included — to get used to the idea that a day without Uni Watch isn’t the end of the world (although it’s certainly close).
• When I go on vacation — something I’ve done exactly once since the site debuted 22 months ago — the site will go on hiatus too. Case in point: I’m gonna be in New Orleans during the week of April 28th (attending the mighty Ponderosa Stomp, among other fun stuff). Instead of stockpiling material in advance to post while I’m away, as I did during last summer’s vacation, I plan to post a “Uni Watch is taking a break this week” note and turn off the comments. I realize this may create a gaping lifestyle void for some of you, but I have faith in your ability to persevere during my absence.
• When I created the membership program last year, the idea was to generate extra revenue. It’s been a huge success, both financially and creatively — seriously, I can’t thank you all enough. But my new ESPN contract has provided me with a much higher level of security, and it’s no longer necessary or fair for me to ask for outside support. My initial thought was to shut down the program completely, but then I thought that everyone seems to enjoy the membership cards. So starting now, there will be only one membership level, and its only benefit will be the membership card itself. Enrollment will cost $15 (a fair price for the labor of designing and producing the cards) and will last forever, or until you decide you want a new card design, which will cost another $15.
Allow me to anticipate a few of your questions:
That sucked when you turned off the comments last Friday. If you need to take a day off now and then, or go on vacation, that’s fine, but why can’t you leave the commenting on for the rest of us while you’re recharging your batteries?
If the comments section is live, it’s not a day off, because the comments have to be monitored for abusive posts, childish spats, spam filter problems, etc. And even if Bryan handles all of those things, as he does on weekends, I still have to catch up on about 200 comments when the day is over. (Yeah, I know, I could just ignore them, but of course I’m way too obsessive to do that.) If I shut down the site for a day, it means I don’t even want to think about Uni Watch that day. I realize the site has become part of the daily routine for many of you — believe me, I take a lot of pride in that. But there are days when you’ll just have to learn to live without it. Think of it as a way for me to stop being your enabler (and, in turn, for you to stop being mine).
I’m one of your current or potential advertisers. What happens to my ad when you shut down the site to go on vacation?
I’ll pro-rate your ad charges to reflect time when I’m vacationing.
Haven’t you always had a contract with ESPN?
No. Up until now, I’ve been contributing, and being paid, on an article-by-article basis — no security, no guarantees. Under our new arrangement, I’ll be paid a flat annual stipend for a variety of services (primarily writing my column, but also a few other things). This doesn’t mean I’m an employee — I’m still technically a freelancer, still have to pay for my own health insurance, etc. — but now I know my column will still be running for at least the next two years, and the stipend is much more generous than what I was getting paid before.
Does the contract place any restrictions on the blog?
No. In fact, the contract specifically gives me permission to keep doing the blog. The new policies I’m announcing here today are strictly of my own volition and have nothing to do with any requests or stipulations from ESPN.
What are these new responsibilities you’ll have at ESPN?
Some of them won’t be all that visible — contributing to group projects that won’t have my name on them, stuff like that. In terms of my byline, I’ll probably be doing a few more non-uni-related pieces. Oh, and they want me to start doing some live web chats, which I’m looking forward to. Looks like the first one may be next Thursday or Friday — stay tuned.
Will you still be allowed to write for other publications, and about non-sports stuff?
Yes. But the nice thing about the new contract is that I’ll now have enough security to be much choosier about my other writing.
How will the changes in the membership program affect those of us who are already members? What about my Charter Member status? What about the T-shirts?
I promise to address all of this in the next week or two.
How old are you turning today?
Forty-four. Bryan, incidentally, sent me a package with a bunch of presents, including this book, this book, and these socks (which are actually red, not orange — blame my scanner), and you don’t want him to feel like the only sucker who gave me stuff, so feel free to send presents, cakes, strippers, etc. to the usual address.
That’s it, at least for now. Thanks for listening.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The “NCAA” patches being worn by every friggin’ team in the tournament look ridiculous (plus it looks like some of them were affixed with nothing more than a glue stick). … Yesterday’s Ticker linked to some Florida Gators photos that showed a new blue helmet stripe. But Bob Jaye has the story behind that one: “Those photos show freshmen, who all begin practice with a stripe and have to earn the right to have it removed by their effort on the field. Urban Meyer implemented this when he arrived in ’05. It doesn’t represent a change in the Gators’ game-day helmet design.” … A little birdie tells me that the following NBA teams will have new home and road uniforms next season: the Nuggets, Timberwolves, Magic, Kings, and Hornets, plus the Bucks will be getting a new alternate design. … While researching something else, I stumbled across a photo of Chief Wahoo made out of Lego. … Tony Esposito is auditioning for Friday the 13th Part 17 wore his old mask during a pregame ceremony the other day. … Forgive my brain-lock here, but aside from the Reds’ Joe Nuxhall patch, are any other MLB teams wearing memorial patches or armbands this season? I can’t think of any others, but I also can’t think of a recent season that didn’t have several uni-borne memorials, so I’m wondering if there are a couple for this year that I’m forgetting. … Thanks to everyone who entered the NCAA Tourney contest. Vince reports that we have about twice as many entries this year as last year.
March 21st, 2008
Last Friday’s Uni Watch party in Seattle was a big success, with about 20 people showing up — an impressive turnout for a not-too-big city. Here’s rundown of the evening’s active roster:
• This is Jerry Cohen, founder/owner of Ebbets Field Flannels, the company that pretty much invented the throwback craze. Jerry was the whole reason I came to Seattle — I was doing a video shoot at his shop, for an upcoming ESPN column. It turned out great, and I was really pleased that he accepted my invitation to come to the party.
• My favorite jersey of the night was Jason Abbey’s game-worn 1972 Seattle Totems sweater, complete with a WHL 25th-anniversary patch. And check out all the sleeve repairs!
• Gary Fox showed up wearing a game-worn Huskies jersey (and I didn’t give him any shit about the color because, after all, it’s a local team), which led to an interesting question: As you can see, the jersey fits Gary pretty snugly, even though he’s not wearing pads. How come gamers are tailored this way, but even small-sized retail authentics are still loose and baggy? Why can’t Nike/Reebok/etc. make the retail versions fit like normal shirts, like the one Gary’s wearing? (Incidentally, although it’s not baggy, it’s very long.)
• Here’s Mike Burke wearing a Hollywood Stars reproduction by Ebbets Field Flannels. Dig the chenille stitching on the insignia and uni number.
• Another person wearing Ebbets Field product was Dave Sizer, who wore a 1920 Rock Island Independents reproduction. As for the cap, my initial thought was that it was Oregon, but it’s actually a 1904 Baltimore Orioles minor league design.
• Steve Sayre wore a 1968 Norm Cash repro and had many good stories to tell about Detroit, plus he never let my beer glass stay empty (thanks, Steve). His wife, Linda Sayre, thought she’d make me feel welcome by wearing a New York-based design (complete with sleeve patch), not realizing that I despise the Yankees. Fortunately, she made up for it with her awesome All-American Girls Baseball League jacket.
• The most interesting garment of the night was worn by Jim Hamerlinck, who says he got this Connie Hawkins tee way back when he was 13 — more than 30 years ago. Impressive that he’s kept it all that time, and even more so that it still fits him. Jim also turned out to be a peach of a guy and said some of the nicest and most insightful things about Uni Watch that anyone’s ever told me — thanks, man.
• Terry Creighton wore this really cool gaelic football jersey — love that sublimated Space Needle. He also became, to my knowledge, the first person ever to attend a Uni Watch party while wearing one of those titanium necklace thingies.
• Here’s a nice full-circle story: A year ago, Eric Smallman won the Uni Watch NCAA tournament raffle and was rewarded with a $200 Distant Replays gift card, which he used to buy an authentic jersey. On Friday, he wore that very jersey (with a personalized NOB) to the party.
• Deb Meehan also wore Bosox colors, but hers was a replica with all kinds of problems on the back — wrong number font, should be NNOB, etc. She blamed it on a well-meaning but misguided Mother’s Day gift. We’ll let it slide since she and her husband, Paul Meehan, were so great to talk to.
• Mark Campbell wore this really nice 1990 Calgary Flames gamer (here’s a rear view, plus the totally boss anniversary patch). Look closely and you’ll see that although the front crest is only two colors, it was applied in three layers. Mark says that’s because the team’s stitcher was fanatical about putting down a white layer to serve as a base, even on a white jersey.
• Brian Terreson didn’t wear a jersey per se, but I really liked his Washington State ferries shirt.
• Here’s Sean Wilson, whose Mexican soccer jersey was the subject of much interest. Lots of interesting details here: the cement company sponsor, the Johnny collar with the embroidered “CA” initials, the raised/puffy lettering, the truly disastrous rear design, and the parade of logos on the tag.
• David Frantz simply wore a T-shirt featuring the logo of a certain media company. Maybe he was hoping to impress some ESPN bigwigs who I might be bringing with me..? No such luck.
• Brian Bonham wore nothing sports- or logo-related at all but was still a conversational force to be reckoned with, spitting out hilarious opinions at a prodigious rate. Dude, next time I’m in town, we’ve gotta talk some more.
Thanks again to all attendees. And for those who couldn’t make it, I may be back in the northwest in August — stay tuned.
Contest Update: As most of you saw yesterday, Vince and I are running an NCAA Tourney contest (if you missed it, scroll down to the middle of yesterday’s entry; the deadline for entries is noon today). Here’s a rundown of prizes from which the five winners will be able to choose:
1) A pair of 1983 Houston Cougars warm-up pants (Caitlin not included; rear view here, side view here). These were recently contributed by reader Bob Andrews, who writes:
My best friend, now deceased, whom I worked with at the University of Houston, passed along to me items from the UH basketball program, including these game-used Phi Slamma Jamma warm-ups (I guess it would be “pregame-used”), which were worn by guard Alvin
Franklin in 1983. The pants are 34 waist with a 35-inch inseam, so they don’t come close to fitting either me or my sons (who you can see here wearing the matching warm-up top and custom PSJ jacket [sorry, those aren't included in the contest -- PL]. The pants are in near-perfect condition and have Franklin’s initials on the tag.
I have gotten a great deal of enjoyment from your writing, both on the blog and on ESPN. I bought a membership, but not at the level I would have liked (having three college kids makes disposable income hard to come by). If this item prompts a reader to become a member then I’ll be happy.
Wow — what a generous contribution! I’m proud to offer this as part of our March Madness contest.
2) An “I Saw the Short Shorts” T-shirt, size XL (Caitlin still not included). This tee, which refers to the Lakers’ recent throwback game against the Celtics, was contributed by Mike Cooperman, who attended the game. Now you can pretend you did, too.
3) A Reebok Edge press kit, complete with “The History of Hockey Equipment” booklet, promotional DVD, and a lot of hyperbolic propaganda that we now know to be untrue. The perfect document of everything that’s wrong with the Bettman era.
4) A copy of Jon Springer’s newly published Mets by the Numbers book, based on his excellent web site of the same name but beefed up with lots of sidebars, interviews, and stories. Essential reading for Mets fans and addictive uni-numerological arcana for everyone else.
5) Another copy of Mets by the Numbers.
Pretty good for a free contest, right? If you haven’t already sent your picks to Vince, send them in pronto.
Uni Watch News Ticker: When I see something like this, it’s hard not to think that maybe we should just accelerate the rate of global warming and drown the whole damn human race. Best comments I’ve heard so far, both from ESPN.com editor Mike Philbrick: “Is it made out of Kevlar”? and “When are they coming out with the Len Bias model?” My own comment: Punk Rock 4 Life(style). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Good article here about newfangled track suits being worn by a Baltimore-area high school. … Also from yesterday: Last few grafs on the first page of this story address the status of Terry Francona’s pullover. … Still more from the comments section: Looks like the Florida Gators may be adding a blue helmet stripe (additional view here). … Look closely at this photo and you’ll see that both teams (the Mankato West Scarlets and the Willmar Cardinals, both from Minnesota) are both wearing a version of the Wisconsin “motion W” logo on their shorts (with thanks to Sam McCullough). … Chris Falvey is the latest reader to have taken pics at the World War II Museum’s “When Baseball Went to War” exhibit. While there, he saw this program and noticed this pair of mug shots — note the cap on the left. Never seen that one before. Anyone know what’s up with that? A slideshow of Chris’s other photos (including some women’s uniforms and some great wartime propaganda posters, among other cool stuff) is available here). … The NBA has set up a dance team bracket, which allows everyone to see just how embarrassing each cheerleading squad’s uniforms are (with thanks to David Rawson). … We’ve had lots of discussion lately of hearing-impaired athletes, but how about visually impaired? (Thanks, Vince.) … This 1970 video clip begins with Jonathan Winters pantomiming a pitcher on the mound (while wearing some killer striped stirrups) and then proceeds without warning to some really cool factory footage showing how baseball gloves are made (great find by Mark Coale). … Good analysis here of hockey’s color-at-home problem. … Allen Iverson gave a shout-out to Philly last night. … Meanwhile, over in Toronto, Andrea Bargnani was doing the Hannibal Lechter thing.
March 20th, 2008
The Yankees played an exhibition game up at Virginia Tech yesterday, and there were lots of uni-related oddities. Dig:
• Both teams wore their home pinstripes. This reminds me of when the Yankees and Devil Rays opened the 2004 season in Japan and the Yanks wore their home uni for both games even though Tampa was technically the home team, as if the foreign fans somehow “deserved” to see the famous pinstripes. Fuck that — if you’re the road team, even against a college team, show some respect and wear your road uni.
• The Yankees wore “VT”-emblazoned caps, similar to the ones they wore for one game last year after the shootings on the Tech campus.
• In a rather confusing development, Tech returned the favor by wearing “NY” caps rendered in Hokies colors (the Yankees themselves wore them in a pregame press conference; here’s a closer view). Am I the only one who finds this a bit odd? I mean, the home team wearing the opponent’s logo front and center, with their own logo bumped to the side? That’s nuts. It’s so nuts, in fact, that I started wondering if the Hokies normally wear pinstripes, or if that was just another way of honoring the Yankees. And after a quick check, sure enough, it appears that Tech’s normal home uni looks like this, although I suppose it’s possible that they might also have a pinstriped alternate. Anyone know if the pinstripes are one of their regular wardrobe options, or just a one-time thing? (Bizarre aside: While most of the Yankees were in Virginia, Mike Mussina was pitching a minor league game back in Tampa, and his kid — who really needs to ditch the mandals — was carrying one of the Hokie “NY” caps afterward.)
• Was Bobby Abreu was wearing Mariano Rivera’s cleats, or did his cleats just happen to be “42″-imprinted? As Matt Powers noted in last night’s comments, Abreu was wearing a different pair the day before.
• The batboys had special uniforms for the occasion.
And now a word from Intern Emeritus Vince Grzegorek: It’s time for the 2nd Annual Uni Watch March Madness Pool. It’s time for the 2nd Annual Uni Watch March Madness Pool. The pool will work the same way it did last year: Pick any six of the 64 teams in the NCAA tournament. You will receive points correlating to each team’s seed for each game that team wins. For example, a Number 1 seed will receive 1 point for each game it wins, a Number 5 seed will receive 5 points for each game it wins, a Number 12 seed will receive 12 points for each game it wins, and so on. Highest score wins. Please include a total score for the final game as a tiebreaker.
Paul says he’s got a backlog of stuff to give away [I'll announce what the stuff is tomorrow -- need to photograph some of it first. -- PL], so we’ll have five winners. First place will get first choice of the prizes, second place will get to choose from the four remaining prizes, and so on.
To enter, e-mail your six teams and your name here (NOT to the usual Uni Watch address) by noon eastern time on Thursday. Only one entry per person, and don’t bother trying to cheat because you know we’ll figure it out. Also, note that this is a contest of skill, not a raffle, so no extra entries for membership program enrollees.
Good luck to all, and to all a happy sick day tomorrow. Here’s Paul again with today’s Ticker.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Classic NOB typo last night in Detroit — check it out. He switched to a proper jersey midway through the first quarter. … This is about the funniest thing I’ve ever seen on eBay. I bid on it but didn’t win — dang (great find by Thomas Langan). … An eBay counterfeiter is amusingly brought to task via some ace typeface detective work here (with thanks to Bill Walsh). … “The Fukuoka Softbank Hawks will be wearing two throwback uniforms this year,” reports Jeremy Brahm. “This one is from the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 2003 season (even though the uniform was used from 1993-2004), when the Hawks won the Japanese title, and this one is from 1964, when the Nankai Hawks were based in Osaka before moving to Fukuoka in 1988.” … Last week I ran some pics of soccer players with unusual tape jobs. As many of you informed me, this is kinesio taping, and now Frank Mercogliano has found an excellent article about the technique. … Gorgeous number typography here. The team is the Staten Island Stapletons, a pro team from the late 1920s and early ’30s (nice find by Marc Rabinowitz). … Remember our recent discussion of hearing-impaired athletes? Good article here on the NBA’s first deaf player, Lance Allred (thanks, Vince). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: One other team wore green jerseys on Monday — the Cardinals. … Ronnie Poore has a friend who was an extra in the upcoming Leatherheads flick and sent along two awesome pics — check ’em out here and here. … Awesome old girls baseball uni here — who knew uni numbers were appearing on pant legs way back when? … About two years ago, my pal Rob Walker wrote this column about a guy who’d created a Nike tribute brand, called Mike — read that column. And then read this follow-up from Rob’s blog. Todd Krevanchi, the follow-up item mentions your web site — care to weigh in on this? … Not uni-related, but there’s a great video clip here showing my Page 2 colleague Jim Caple discussing knuckleballs with Mariners pitcher R.A. Dickey. … Cool old Notre Dame patch here (with thanks to Michael Kimmins). … Good story here about Canadiens goalie Carey Price’s pads. Additional photos here, and there’s a great gallery of Habs netminders through the decades here (courtesy of Casey Barcomb). … Chris Mycoskie reports that LSU will wear these throwback uniforms for today’s game against Tulane. Video clip available here. … Ryan Raburn on Monday; Jacque Jones yesterday. I’d pay money to see Dontrelle Willis do it next. … I didn’t know this, but according to this page, last year the Devil Rays “made professional sports history, becoming the first team to wear less green on St. Patrick’s Day” (note the white cap). Now that’s a great factoid! … The Bucks retired Brian Winters’s number way back in 1983. But for reasons that only the team’s marketing department knows, they “rededicated” his number last night, whatever that means, complete with the whole framed jersey routine. “Problem is, that’s the current jersey and this guy never wore it,” notes Nicole Haase, who attended the game and took that photo. … Love the striped socks (and the height disparity), but c’mon, wear shorts that are at least slightly short (with thanks to Bryan Grupp).
March 18th, 2008
So last night Kirsten and I are walking to the IFC Center in Manhattan (to see this), and there’s this guy standing there on the sidewalk, wearing one of those cheapo green molded-plastic “Irish” hats, waving his arms, and yelling, “Three-dollar beers! Cheap beer! Three-dollar beers!”
Ah, St. Paddy’s Day in New York — what a total frat party from hell charming ritual. I wore green, naturally. The fact that I also wear green on many — indeed, most — of the other 364 days of the year is of little consequence, for March 17th is a day when we can all embrace our inner drunk Irishman, a day when the world’s most deliciously verdant hue is in gratifyingly ample supply. And nowhere was this more true yesterday than at a few gazillion genuinely awful New York bars in the world of uniforms.
(And yes, smart guy, I realize there are actually 365 non-St. Paddy’s Day days this year, but that just wouldn’t have sounded right in a sentence, y’know?)
Herewith, a survey of the day’s emerald events:
• In San Antonio, the Celtics broke out their green-and-golds again. I refuse to believe Sam Cassell is truly Irish until the DNA tests come back, but it’s still a good look, no? After the game, Paul Pierce treated everyone to a Shamrock Shake at Mickey D’s.
• I’m less fond of the Bulls’ jade attire, mainly because the black trim reminds me too much of those annoying Celtics alternates (which they should just ditch in favor of the green-and-golds, am I right?).
• The Knicks’ St. Paddy’s day uni has always struck me as a bit odd. One the one hand, I love green and orange as a color combo. But it’s an autumnal color combo, and it just doesn’t feel right as we’re moving into spring (except maybe on David Lee, what with his red hair and all). Let’s just blame it on Isiah, like everything else, and go back to the drawing board.
• Did you know that Toronto has a big Irish population? Neither did anyone in Salt Lake City, until the Raptors showed up dressed like this (additional views here and here). And look, they even had celtic dancers on hand, or at least that’s what the AP caption says. I think it’s actually all the wives from Big Love.
• The Sonics — no, wait, that’s just their regular green uni.
• Over on the diamond, the Reds are the team that pioneered the special St. Paddy’s Day uni, but they couldn’t be bothered yesterday. Fortunately, several others did, but most of them went the lazy route, just using green caps (most of which had nasty logo creep and adjusta-straps) and/or green bases. Pfeh.
• I believe only two teams went with green jerseys: the Phillies and Twins. And after seeing them, the lazy route is looking better all the time, no?
And lest we forget, one team made a very special St. Patrick’s Day gesture: Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the — uh, see for yourself (additional jaw-dropping views here and here).
Uni Watch News Ticker: Tommy Lasorda must’ve read yesterday’s post. He switched to stirrups! … Really interesting little piece here about how Govs. Spitzer and McGreevey and their respective wives wore virtually identical “uniforms” when announcing their resignations. … Bill Turianski has created the latest in his series of sports maps, this one showing the location of the NCAA Tournament teams. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: A bunch of new pics from the upcoming George Clooney flick Leatherheads have hit the web, and goddamn do those uniforms look sweet (additional pics here, here, here, here, and here). And check out the refs. … “I went to the SPHL game between the Huntsville (Alabama) Havoc and the Columbus (Georgia) Cottonmouths on Saturday night and took along my camera to snap some shots of the Havoc’s St. Paddy’s Day uni,” writes Zack Bennett). “Instead, I found Columbus wearing one of the more unique number fonts I’ve ever seen [additional examples here and here].” I think we should get all animal-named teams to go this route — imagine the Dolphins wearing dolphin-patterned numbers. … Cleveland news from Vince, who says a local radio station is reporting that the Browns will wear white helmets for one game next season, to honor the 1946-49 squads that won the AAFC championship four years in a row. No comment yet from the team. … Mark Milner sent along some pics of a few vintage curling sweaters and jackets, as seen hereand here. … Looks like Curtis Granderson was wearing navy tights over black socks the other day (good spot by Christian Bitto). … MLB umpire Rob Drake has a blog, and this recent entry includes some info on the umps’ uniforms (nice find by David Arnott). … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Great photo here of Saginaw High in Michigan (here’s the rear view). Now they just need a seven-footer and Spud Webb to complete the effect. … Would someone please buy this man a regular cap? … Jesus, just shoot me now and get it over with.
March 18th, 2008
Last month I ran this ESPN column about the evolution of football helmet innovation. The column was primarily about counterintuitive historical developments but also made prominent (and playfully derisive) mention of the Gladiator helmet, an exterior-padded helmet that’s the latest innovation from Protective Sports Equipment — the same folks who brought us the ProCap back in the 1990s.
Until now, the most extensive article about the Gladiator was a this piece, which ran last fall in Machine Design, a trade magazine. The article contains lots of quotes from Protective Sports Equipment’s founder and president, Bert Straus, but I didn’t quote him in my ESPN column. Why? I had hoped to interview him, but he didn’t return my first call (turns out he was traveling), and then the column shaped up as being more history-oriented than future-oriented, plus I was up against a tight deadline, blah-blah-blah. Bottom line: I discussed his helmet but didn’t get any perspective from him, and that was shoddy reporting on my part.
Better late than never, though. I recently conducted the following interview with Straus, who turns out to be a really interesting guy. His tiny company and his self-effacing, sort of loopy manner are pretty much the diametric opposite of the stiff, corporate-ish feel permeating almost everything NFL-related nowadays, and of course his designs aren’t exactly in the mainstream of the league’s aesthetic either (Straus himself readily acknowledges that the ProCap was “dorky-looking”). Toss in his single-minded fixation on outer-padded headgear and it would be easy to write Strauss off as a Quixotic figure.
But I think that would be a mistake. Sure, you can make fun of the ProCap, but how many things have you designed that made it onto an NFL field? Not many people can make that claim. Strauss fully expects the Gladiator to make its mark on the NFL as well. If he pulls it off, it would be a huge coup, consider how Riddell and Schutt currently dominate the helmet market.
Uni Watch: What’s your background, and how’d you get into this type of work?
Bert Straus: I’m an industrial designer. I had a consulting office in product design for 40 years, working for clients like GE, Universal-Rundle, and so on.
UW: What sorts of things were you designing?
BS: For GE, we worked on light rail vehicle design. Universal-Rundle, we did bathroom fixtures. For Midmark, it was dental units.
UW: You mean toothbrushes?
BS: No, all the stuff you see around the chair at a dental office.
UW: The drills and the rinse mechanisms and all that?
BS: Yeah, and the caddies for ’em [additional dental examples here and here, and non-dental projects here and here]. All that stuff. Anyway, in the process, about 20 years ago, as a football fan, I saw a college game where a couple of players went down from a head-to-head hit. And I thought, “Gee, what if you could insert a giant pillow in between the two helmets.” That notion kind of stuck with me, and I pursued it when I had rainy day time — it wasn’t a project that anyone asked me to do. I had a lot of experience with materials and processes, so I started to work on the concept of getting padding on the outside of a helmet.
UW: And that’s how the ProCap came about?
BS: Yes. The tests worked out, and investors got really excited about it and pooled their money, bought stock, and a corporation was born. Like I said, that was about 20 years ago. So ProCap goes into the market and has a seven-year history in the NFL — a real positive history.
UW: I’ve heard conflicting accounts about who wore the ProCap. I know Steve Wallace and Mark Kelso wore it, because I’ve seen photos and even remember seeing them wearing it back in the day. What about Steve Tasker?
BS: He never wore it, but Don Beebe did. And Randy Dixon of the Colts as well. Those are the guys who wore it pretty regularly. You should talk to them, especially Steve Wallace — maybe you can find out why his ProCap was all beat up in that one photo. That turned my stomach when I saw that.
UW: Yeah, that must have been like seeing your child getting beaten up in a fight or something.
BS: I think it would turn the stomach of a more dispassionate observer too, because that just looks like a crap material. And we’re proud of our material — in fact, our general manager gives me hell because he says they don’t wear out fast enough so we don’t get enough repeat sales.
UW: Not enough planned obsolescence, eh?
BS: That’s it, that’s it!
UW: Did you ever do any work with Riddell or any of the other helmet manufacturers, back in your pre-ProCap days?
BS: No. But we’ve had a relationship with Riddell and Schutt more recently. I mean, here we were, we come on the field with this new accessory that basically says, “Your helmet isn’t doing such a great job.” So it’s an adversarial relationship. Now, they were never too concerned about us in terms of competition, because we’re small and weren’t much of a factor. But we made them nervous from a product liability perspective, and the two companies took two different approaches in terms of how to handle that.
UW: And what were those approaches?
BS: With Riddell, it was mostly dirty tricks and politics — floating ugly rumors about us, none of them substantiated by science, that sort of thing. With Schutt, if anyone approached them and said, “We’re thinking of using the ProCap accessory, what do you think about that?,” their response was, “We don’t recommend its use — our helmet’s plenty good. However, if you want to find out more, here’s their 800 number.” So they were actually giving out our 800 number.
UW: Wow — that’s the Miracle on 34th Street approach. Did Riddell or Schutt ever express any interest in buying the ProCap concept from you?
BS: No. And eventually I made the decision that for our company to survive, we needed to have this technology integrated into a full system [instead of a separate accessory].
UW: So that’s the Gladiator — all the benefits of the ProCap in a fully integrated helmet system.
BS: Right. And all the data supporting this approach is there on our web site, conducted by respected institutions, and we paid for none of it, incidentally — it was all done independently.
UW: Did the other companies ever express any interest in buying the Gladiator concept?
BS: I actually went out to see Schutt about four years ago, when the Gladiator was still in its developmental stages. They expressed some interest — everything was on the table, and it still is. I think they’re kinda watching to see how we do when we actually bring the product to market. Riddell, meanwhile, has called us. “Understand you’ve got a new helmet under development with pretty good performance. But what about market acceptance?” I’m condensing what they said, of course. And I said, “You’re absolutely right, that’s why we’re having a market research firm look at that right now. Maybe we should talk after that’s done.” And they said, “Yeah, that makes sense.” I’ve basically held them off at arm’s length for over a year now, but I’m expecting we’ll talk again soon. They could get religion!
UW: Let’s talk about your company, Protective Sports Equipment. Is the company essentially just you, or do you have a staff, or what?
BS: It’s a small company, but we’re backed up by about 50 shareholders, and financing also comes through the Ben Franklin Technology Partnership of Pennsylvania.
UW: Does the company have any other products, besides the ProCap?
BS: No. But if the Gladiator meets our projections, we plan to go into a whole bunch of other helmets.
UW: You mean like lacrosse, hockey, and so on?
BS: We’re also gonna look at recreational markets.
UW: Let’s go back to the ProCap. Is it technically still approved for NFL use?
BS: Back in the mid-’90s, when I frankly don’t think the league was very serious about concussions, they got bad biomechanical advice from a consultant, who told them he believed the ProCap could cause serious injury or even death. He didn’t have any science at all to back that up, no testing, just conjecture, against a whole series of tests that were done by the Penn State biomechanical lab. Anyway, all of a sudden the ProCap disappeared from the field of play because of this memo that was sent out. And Riddell got hold of that memo and distributed it themselves, and there was a big brouhaha over that.
UW: But whether or not it’s recommended, is it still technically approved for use? If an NFL player wants to wear the ProCap today, can he?
BS: I believe so, yes. But if you do so, it’s totally at your own risk [because Schutt and Riddell’s position is that if you wear the ProCap, you void the helmet’s warranty], and no player in his right mind is going to do that. Especially since the average player doesn’t want to wear the dorky-looking thing to begin with.
UW: Now let’s talk about the Gladiator. Its basic concept is to have a soft exterior, instead of a hard shell. But some of the archival articles I linked to in my recent ESPN column described a outer-padded helmet from the 1960s…
BS: Yes, MacGregor had one.
UW: Spalding, too. But as I understand it, one problem they discovered with that approach was that the soft exterior led to more friction — either helmet-on-helmet or helmet-on-ground — which increased the risk of neck injuries.
BS: We were well aware of that when we were developing the ProCap. And all of that criticism was correct. But the big difference is that the materials and technologies that were available in the 1960s were a helluva lot different that what we had access to 30 years later. We use a reaction-molded polyurethane, which is primarily what automobile bumpers are made from now, and there’s all kinds of give at the point of impact. That’s why they don’t use hard bumpers anymore. That basic analogy holds true for head protection. And someday — I may not end up as the guy who makes it happen, but someday, trust me, all helmets are going to have a resilient outer surface.
UW: So you’re saying that in addition to the resilience, it’s slick enough so that you don’t have that friction problem?
BS: Exactly.
UW: So what’s the Gladiator’s current status? That article in Machine Design said it was approved for NFL use next year, but you’ve told me that’s not true.
BS: Yeah, the article got that wrong. We’re working with the NFL. We’ve made presentations to their medical committee.
UW: So they know what you’re up to.
BS: Oh, yeah. We’ve gotten out of that adversarial relationship. The turning point was when they hired Dr. David Viano as their biomechanical and medical consultant. He does good science, he’s a dispassionate scientist, and he says numbers are what they are.
UW: Do you have a timetable for when the Gladiator would be approved for use, and when it would be available for retail?
BS: We’re in the final stages of development right now, so we’re hopeful we can get onto the field in 2008.
UW: This fall?
BS: We hope so, yeah. After we do all the certification, we’re going to do a field survey at the high school level. We’d like to have that in process, so it’s demonstrated that field experience backs up lab numbers. We’d like to have that underway before we introduce it to the NFL or at retail.
UW: Do you consult with the NCAA as well?
BS: Only to the point where we’d show them the certification and ask if they have any problems with putting it on the field.
UW: But you don’t work with them like you do with the NFL?
BS: Right. There’s no real structure for that, actually. When the NFL contracted with Biomechanics in Canada, we resubmitted the ProCap for their consideration, and it showed all the good results it always had. But there were three issues: It was still dorky-looking, it didn’t cover the complete helmet, and it did add weight to the helmet, albeit only 14 or 15 ounces.
UW: But that can be a lot to the player wearing it.
BS: Yes, it can. So that’s one of our goals with the Gladiator, for no other helmet on the market to be lighter than ours.
UW: What do you say to people who think the Gladiator looks dorky, or uncool, or whatever?
BS: I listen to ’em. Our main emphasis is on performance, but we always have an eye on aesthetics, because of the ProCap lesson. Quite frankly, we’re getting a whole lot more positive response on the Gladiator’s look than negative response. Kelso shows it to his high school players and they think it’s cool. I personally showed it to the players at St. Albans in DC, and they thought it was cool. Just last Friday we were up to Penn State, talking to their equipment people, and they were excited about it. In fact, they threw a Riddell Revolution and a Schutt DNA on a table alongside a Gladiator [additional views here and here], and they thought it compared well. And we’ve hired an independent market resarch company to get feedback. But I listen to people when they say, “Well maybe if the facemask matched the color of the helmet shell…”
UW: That’s the comment I’ve heard most frequently. Can you address that?
BS: Oh, absolutely — we can make the whole thing match. Our marketing people are saying we should market this as a “system,” so people can order whatever shell color they want, whatever mask color they want, whatever chin cup color they want, and so on — the interior pads, the straps…
UW: Mix and match.
BS: Right, to suit your own tastes.
UW: A lot of your prototyping is executed in Buffalo Bills motifs. Do you have a connection with the Bills?
BS: We’ve always had a good relationship. They’ve always been very supportive. You know, this is gonna be hard for you to believe, Paul, but we had an earlier version of the ProCap that was uglier yet! I wish I could show you the rest of my portfolio, because I really am a good designer. Anyway, Kelso was wearing this earlier version in practice and was taking all kinds of crap from his teammates, and they sat down with us to help revise it, and that’s how we got to ProCap 2, which was still a dorky-looking thing but at least it was more acceptable. Also, we’re headquartered in Erie, Pennsylvania, which is close to Buffalo. They actually have a ProCap in their trophy case in the lobby of their stadium.
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All very interesting. Big thanks to Bert for sharing his story, and for working to make football players’ craniums a bit safer.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Seattle trip went really well. Thanks to everyone who came down to the party — I’ll post photos soon, maybe tomorrow. … In case you missed Joe Skiba’s recent online chat, the transcript is available here. … The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes are going to be holding an American Gladiators Night on May 17th, and will wear this jersey design for the occasion. … This is really great: The Rays are fining all players and other employees $1 each time they refer to the team as the Devil Rays. No word on what the fine is for referring to them as “that suck-ass franchise that can’t get out of its own way” (with thanks to Dominick Carfello). … Arkansas State, which had to drop its “Indians” name because of the recent NCAA rule, has unveiled its new team name and logo (with thanks to Larz Roberts). … Awesome story here about Larry Kwong, the NHL’s first Chinese-American player, who made his debut 60 years ago. Killer photo gallery, too (nice find by Alan Kreit). … Good observation by Caleb Borchers, who writes: “Every time I see a logo for Cellular South, I wonder when Adidas is going to sue them.” … Promising report from Brian Erni, who writes: “I was in the Mets Clubhouse Shop on Thursday and there may be blue news. The premiere jacket for 2008 that has been released to most outlets is black. But when I went in they had a black-and-blue version. I asked about it and apparently the Mets will be wearing one at home and one on the road. Now, the blue jacket does have black in it, but it makes me wonder if maybe the Mets are finally going to use the blue caps as their primary home cap, given Charlie Samuels’s longstanding distaste for pairing the blue caps with back jackets.” … Reprinted from last Thursday’s comments: Bob Probert makes a cameo in the upcoming Mike Myers movie, and they had him wear a Tie Domi jersey, much to Probert’s bemusement. Details (but no photo, alas) here. … The weird thing about the Lake Erie Monsters’ recent Tie-Dye Night game was that it didn’t include the goalies (thanks to AJ Brandt for the photo). … Did they give Shaq a blank jersey or what? (With thanks to Ryan Mellenwood.) … Through a series of machinations, the web site Brooklyn Met Fan recently got Joe Smith and Billy Wagner to wear “Go Big Pelf” T-shirts (in honor of pitcher Mike Pelfrey, natch), and then got Pelfrey himself to pose with a big fan (big thanks to Marc Rabinowitz). … The Mets appear likely to host the 2013 All-Star Game, which will be a mere 49 years since the last time they hosted it. … The Red Sox released Doug Mirabelli last Thursday, which means non-roster invitee Kevin Cash — one of the few catchers who habitually wear their helmets with the brim facing forward — has apparently made the team. Cash even wears a forward facing cap during drills. … Al Cummings sent along a scan of the tickets from the upcoming A’s/Bosox season opener in Japan. … After seven Cuban soccer players deserted the team, Leonel Duarte had to wear a makeshift captain’s armband (thanks, Vince). … LSU’s baseball team will be wearing throwbacks on Wednesday (as forwarded by Bryan Stelmack). … The Dodgers/Padres exhibition games in China were, of course, an excuse to trot out a new cap patch (Dodgers, Padres, closer view) and sleeve patch (Dodgers, Padres, closer view). … “In Sidney Crosby’s new Gatorade commercial, he is wearing the Pens’ new jersey the whole time,” writes Matthew Mangis. “And then in the end, when he’s celebrating, he’s wearing last season’s jersey with a ‘C’ on his chest.” … Pretty wild batting gloves being worn by Tadahito Iguchi (as spotted by, of course, Jeremy Brahm). … Louis Olah, who was famous for tending and cleaning the jockeys’ silks at Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga, has died. … The Celtics wore their St. Paddy’s Day green-’n'-golds on Friday. … No stirrups?! Et tu, Tommy?
March 17th, 2008
Jockey Michael Baze rode Georgie Boy to a win at the San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita Park on Saturday. Yay — good for him, and the horse, too. But dig the silks: USC colors. Baze is based in Southern California, though it’s not clear if he actually goes to USC.
But if you were wondering if the silks are just a coincidence, check the back. No doubt there. But what is the significance? Anybody know anything about the ponies? My quick Google-type work didn’t find much, other than George Schwary owns the horse, and it’s his name on the back of Baze’s helmet. But what of the trojan?
So let’s get this figured out, huh? I’ll be on the couch eating Doritos and drinking Wild Cherry Pepsi. Let me know how it turns out. — Bryan
March 16th, 2008
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