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Archive for August, 2008
A new mascot was unleashed in Athens, Ga., on Saturday, which is a big deal, I guess. The old one kicked, so this guy gets the official collar and everything.
Unfortunately, “and everything” includes a custom-made Georgia shirt and a nice little doghouse in which to sleep watch the game. Oh, and the damn dog even has to wear a swoosh. I wonder if that’s in the contract, too? — Bryan
*None of John McCain’s limbs were harmed — or even thought about in a lighthearted manner — in the making of this post.
August 31st, 2008
I said this in an earlier Uni Watch story in the spring, but it bears repeating: Do we want a president who’s old, can’t raise his arms very high, and has really only worn one or two uniforms (I’ll give him credit for looking snappy) in his life? Or would you rather have a president who may or may not be able to dunk, but could come a lot closer than the other candidate?
I choose the guy who has game. John McCain must have sensed that, too, because on Friday he went out and got a point guard with a championship pedigree. The democrats have the height, but it looks like Sarah Palin can run between the trees and make things happen. And the game begins … — Bryan
August 30th, 2008
Back in February I started getting notes from a guy in Washington State. His e-mails showed up in my in-box as being from “S burns,” but he signed them as “Scott Little.” By any name, he appeared to be a bit of a character. For example, he claimed to have a monster collection of uniforms, Starter jackets, and Nike sneakers, all culled from thrift stores (”Yeah, $4.99 jerseys for me all day, baby — I can’t afford retail”) and included some photos of his stash to back up his words. “Please note, though,” he added, “I’m underground and want it to stay that way for now, so can we keep this between us? I’m not interested in anyone contacting me looking for stuff. But if you ever make it to the Pacific NW, I’d be happy to let you take a peek.”
Was he legit? I didn’t know and really didn’t care — I enjoyed his communiqués. At one point he sent me some pics of an old Oregon baseball helmet, which he allowed me to post in the Ticker (”I’m not THAT reclusive,” he said). But that same e-mail also included a photo of an astonishing old Oregon football jersey — supposedly part of his collection, but he asked me not to post the photo, which again made me wonder if he was just jerking my chain.
As I’ve now learned, his name is indeed Scott Little (the “S burns” thing is based on a nickname that’s not worth explaining here), and he was the star of the show at the recent Uni Watch party in Portland, where he conducted a very entertaining show-and-tell session (if you missed my recent entry on that gathering, look here).
During that party, Scott repeated his invitation for me to come see his collection in person. So two days later, after road-tripping our way through southwestern Washington (including a visit to Mt. St. Helens, where the visitors’ center had a model volcano with what might be history’s most amusing button), Collateral Gammage and I swung by the town of Longview, where Scott lives and works.
We began at Triangle Bowl, the keggling center that Scott co-owns with his brother and another partner. Very cool place, full of retro graphics and some great original details (although it’s a shame that the gorgeous old Brunswick masking units have been covered by this new-school nonsense). Scott took us behind the lanes, where we got to see the pinsetters — original 1950s models, don’tcha know. Got to climb around on them too, which provided some great views of their inner workings (additional shots here and here). There were boxes of pins and shelves of parts all over the place. Too bad Scott’s 85-year-old mechanic wasn’t around, because he sounds like a real piece of work. “He needed a replacement part earlier today so we looked it up in the catalog and it cost $1.21,” said Scott. “And he yelled, ‘$1.21? I remember when it was a five fucking cents!’”
Naturally, we bowled a game. My form wasn’t bad, although I was stuck using a house ball (always extra-tough for a lefty, since house balls are almost invariably drilled for righties), while Scott had all three of his personal balls. Considering that disparity, plus the fact that I hadn’t bowled in about two months, plus-plus the level of competition, I thought I held my own reasonably well.
After that we drove over to Scott’s house, where I finally got to see his stash — and it did not disappoint. He had two full rooms jam-packed with stuff, the first of which was brimming with Nike sneakers (additional pics here, here, here, and here) and tons of shelves and racks full of jerseys and jackets (one of which had a really great label). And sure enough, lots of them still had their thrift store price tags.
The next room featured baseball jerseys, hockey jerseys, Starter jackets, more sneakers, and some other stuff that I only dimly recall — my head was kinda spinning by this point, and everything was really cramped. I really loved this jersey’s sleeve patch; this one’s, too. And I’d never seen anything like this reversible Knicks jacket. Plus there was a DePaul warmup jacket that was so cool, I had to try it on. Too bad the zipper was broken.
And what have we here? The 1930s Oregon football jersey that Scott had told me about months earlier! It’s got a satin body with knit trim, Wilson tagging, a chain-stitched player name, and lots of hand-sewn mending. With Scott’s permission, I tried it on and wore it for the rest of our visit. One of the most beautiful things I’ve ever had the privilege of wearing, and I don’t mind telling you that it took all my restraint not to conk Scott on the head with a beer bottle just so I could make off with it.
About that player name: As you can see, the jersey was worn by someone named Gammon. “It was in my collection for a couple of years, and then this finally popped up on the web,” says Scott. “It looks like he’s wearing shiny pants and a non-shiny jersey with stripes on the sleeves. Do I have the jersey matching those pants he’s wearing?” Good question. Anyone know more?
Super-duper thanks to Scott for inviting us into his home and bowling emporium, and for being such an entertaining host — next round’s on me, dude. Thanks also to Collateral, who took just about all the photos linked herein and was the best road-trip partner a fella could ever hope for.
Yearbook Sale: A few weeks ago, reader Brinke Guthrie pointed me toward an eBay listing for three old Jets yearbooks — 1970, 1971, and 1972 — which he figured I might be interested in. I thought they might have lots of interesting uni-related photos, so I bought them.
As it turns out, I only found one uni-notable photo (more on that in a sec), but the yearbooks are full of old pics and info that I’m sure would be of great interest to any Jets fan. Sadly, I’m not a Jets fan myself, so I’ve decided to re-sell the yearbooks. I could just put them back on eBay, but I’d rather give Uni Watch readers first crack at them. I’m asking for the same amount that I paid for them: $10 each. If you’re interested in buying one, two, or all three, The 1970 and ’71 editions have already sold; if you’d like to purchase the 1972 edition, get in touch.
As for the one photo that caught my eye, it’s this one. Note the nose guard being worn by the Chiefs player — instead of an open U shape, as was common in that era, the K.C. player has a closed U. Don’t think I’ve seen that before.
Uni Watch News Ticker: University of Detroit Mercy (UDM) has changed its athletics logo from this to this. “Personally I hate the change,” writes UDM alum Jim Thorburn. “Too cartoonish for me. I’m not the biggest fan of the old logo and agree that it needed a change, but this was a downgrade in my book.” … New logo for the University of South Alabama, too (old, new). Details here, and a detailed PDF of specs here (with thanks to Jonathon Binet). … Nice shot here of the day in 1997 when the Indians saluted Jim Thome’s birthday by going high-cuffed (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). … Jeez (as forwarded by John Buckler). … Here’s another video, plus photos and accompanying article, about graphics being applied to a hockey rink (with thanks to Tom Konecny). … New Yankees pitcher Alfredo Aceves is wearing No. 91 in honor of Dennis Rodman (with thanks to Tyler Kepner). … Joseph Senne points out that Auburn and UT Martin, whose uniforms are more or less identical, are slated to play each other on homecoming weekend. … RedEye, one of those freebie commuter newspapers for people who don’t actually like newspapers, asked two designers to create new uniforms for the U. of Illinois and Northwestern. Garish results here (with thanks to Bennett Terwilliger). … Scuttlebutt over on the Chris Creamer board is that the Cubs will scrap their road cap next season. … Carson Palmer’s brother, Jordan, played for the Bengals last night. No initial, though (with thanks to Ross Hazlett). … More Browns training camp observations from Brendan Yarian: Kevin Kasper has been wearing white leggings; Chris Griffin is the latest player to wear shorts over his pants (No. 53, on the left); and Syndric Steptoe (one of the greatest names ever, no?) is wearing NFL logo socks. … Several readers noted that Baylor had two NOBs with Roman numerals last night (thanks to Dana Czerwinski for the screen grabs). … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Hofstra’s helmets have changed from white with a lion logo to blue with a stylized “H” logo. … Big congrats to longtime reader A.J. Zydzik, who got hitched a few weeks ago but still found to create new uniforms for his kickball team: “We were kind of short on ideas, but since I’m a huge soccer fan and like the Dutch national team, and since our team colors are orange and (sorry, it wasn’t my choice) purple, I submitted the idea to base our jerseys on theirs. Our team name is the Vermicious Kenids (some sort of Willa Wonka reference, also not my pick), so instead of the Dutch lion on the crest with KNVB underneath it, we have an Oompa Loompa head with VK underneath. Our socks are also overly purple (sorry again!), and we have a vertical VK on each side of each leg.” Am I the only one who thinks that uni looks like it was pieced together from a Clemson surplus sale? … Turns out the motel where I stayed in Portland is part of a neon-signage strip that may be headed for historic-preservation status (big thanks to Clark Farrand). … The U.S. military is trying to borrow NFL-style helmet technology to reduce concussions (with thanks to James Yeh). … Sigh.
Holiday Schedule: Bryan will handle the weekend and Laborious Day. I’ll be back on Tuesday. See you then.
August 29th, 2008
What you see above is Arizona State’s 50th-anniversary logo. In yesterday’s Ticker, I mentioned that it wouldn’t be worn as a jersey patch. That’s accurate, but what I left out (because I didn’t know about it until yesterday afternoon) is that it will be worn as a helmet decal.
And that’s as good a segue as any for my annual college football season-preview column, which is up now on ESPN — enjoy (and thanks to the many of you who contributed info).
Membership News: We’ve had a nice little bump in membership enrollments this month. There have been some interesting design orders, including Nick Tringale’s card, shown at right (based on, of course, the UGA football helmet). Other notable requests have come from Matt Powers (based on the Wagner helmet he once wore) James Bates (based on this — our first-ever BP jersey request), and Brian Flynn-Kocourek (our longest NOB so far, although not our first hyphenated NOB [that would be this one]). As always, you can see and comment on all the card designs here, and those who haven’t signed up yet can find all the relevant info here.
For those of you waiting for your finished cards, I mailed all of them out yesterday except for James B.’s (I wasn’t happy with how the colors came out, so we’ll tweak them and print a new version in the next batch) and Brian F.-K.’s (because, of course, we misspelled your name, which I didn’t catch until I was about to put the card in the envelope — sorry about that), so watch your mailboxes.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday’s entry on merchandised jerseys prompted an awesome response from Nick Jurista. Check this out: “I don’t like buying team jerseys either. I prefer to make my own variations. I made a Favre ‘jersey’ last year for the playoffs out of a green long-sleeve shirt. I used sewn-on felt for the numbers, fabric paints for the stripes and NOB. And for the Seahawks’ Super Bowl run, I made a blue hoodie into a Seahawks jersey-plus-helmet. I made that one with fabric paints, gave myself a fake name/number, and added a little extra to the front right pocket. I realize I look completely absurd in these, but I really just do it for fun. I am not a Seahawks or Packers fan, and this was the cheapest, most creative way I could think of to support them during their playoff runs. My guess is that I’m not the only person who does something like this, although I haven’t met anyone else who does.” I don’t know if he’s right about that, but I do know this: Nick, you made my day. … While checking a track-back to Kenn Tomasch’s blog, I discovered something he’d apparently just discovered as well: There’s a Flickr group called “Women in a Sports Jersey.” Not quite as cool as Rob Ullman’s illos, but still. … Several Browns observations from Brendon Yarian, including new facemasks for Brady Quinn (going from this to this) and Kellen Winslow (from this to this), and an FNOB alert. … Gallery of U.S. Open outfits here. … Joshua Edney reports that Charlotte’s basketball court design is changing from this to this. … Alex Hill notes that Kevin Cash, who had been wearing No. 36, has given that number to newly acquired Paul Byrd and has switched to No. 30. … Fun piece here about what some of the Titans keep in their lockers (with thanks to Wade Harder). … Oh. My. God. Details here (with thanks to David Cline). … Nice little Nets uni-history timeline here (courtesy of Mike Verna). … Here’s something you don’t often see: an A’s pillbox cap. “My grandpa used to wear one like this daily, and I don’t think I’ve seen one since he passed,” writes Chad Hunt. “My recollection was that we got this hat for him at a Stockton (CA) Ports game sometime in the mid-1980s. The Ports are a Class-A affiliate of the A’s; it may have been a promotional giveaway.” … The Sonics-turned-Thunder will finally make it official next Wednesday. … Here’s an awesome time-lapse video of the Blue Jackets’ ice being prepared with graphics, logos, the red and blue lines, etc. (tremendous find by Matt Lesser). … “This is Latvian cyclist Raivis Belohvosciks in the Eneco Tour time trial,” writes Wim De Dobbeleer. “He’s part of the Saunier Duval team that, after the Tour de France débacle with Ricardo Ricco (who tested positive on third generation EPO), decided to stop its sponsership. Making a new time trial suit with the new sponsor (especially when you’re the national champion, like Belohvosicks), isn’t that obvious. So here goes a pro rider, who’s part of a million-dollar circuit, riding around in a suit where he had to manually obscure the sponsor with black marker.”
August 28th, 2008
Back in April I ran an interview with reader Karen Hibbitt. At one point she asked me, “What’s the etiquette for [fans] wearing jerseys?” and then offered her own thoughts on the subject before I could respond.
As someone immediately pointed out in the comments that day, I never did address the issue myself. True enough. I was happy to let Karen answer her own question, because I don’t have strong feelings on the matter. Fact is, I don’t much care what fans wear, what fans buy, or any of that, mainly because I’m not a jersey collector myself.
This came up again a few weeks ago, when Brinke Guthrie — a longtime reader whose name is probably familiar to many of you from his frequent Ticker contributions — sent me an e-mail asking, “Which would you get: no number on back or choose a number (can’t say I have a favorite player)? Which is cooler to wear?” He seemed mildly stunned when I told him I had no opinion on the matter because I don’t own any current or contemporary jerseys.
And why is that, anyway? People always expect me to have a huge jersey collection, which I agree seems like a reasonable supposition (especially since I collect lots of other things — always have). These interactions with Karen and Brinke got me thinking about this, so I started asking myself why I write about uniforms but have never gotten into collecting them. Here are the answers I found:
• I’m not a big fella — 5′8″, 150 lbs. — and I like my clothing to be fairly close-fitting. In numbered sizes, I wear a 38; for unnumbered, a small or a medium. Most of today’s authentic and replica jerseys are waaaaaay too big for me.
• Even if I could get custom-fitted jerseys, all of today’s jerseys are polyester, and I hate synthetic fabrics. (I’ve often joked that if I ever became a pro ballplayer when I become a pro ballplayer, I’ll have to fake a skin allergy to polyester and insist on a flannel uniform.)
• When I was growing up, the licensed apparel market didn’t exist yet — people couldn’t buy jerseys even if they wanted to. So I never got in the habit.
• Aside from socks, underwear, footwear, and the occasional T-shirt, almost all my clothing is vintage. While I’ll occasionally spend more than $100 on something, that’s pretty rare — most of my shirts, sweaters, jeans, jackets, etc. cost me somewhere in the $15-$75 range. So the idea of spending $230, $245, or more on a shirt just doesn’t compute for me. I realize a jersey is much more than just “a shirt” for many people, and I’ve certainly spent much more than $250 on things that other people would consider frivolous, so I’m not passing judgment on anyone else’s expenditures. I’m just saying merchandised jerseys don’t push my buttons in that particular way.
• One reason I like vintage clothing is that it has a sense of history. I am, at heart, a storyteller, and each used garment is a story. Who wore this before? Where was it first purchased? How did it end up here? How does it reflect the style of its era? So the handful of jerseys I do own are mostly old flannel models from decades past. They appeal to me on a vintage-clothing level as well as a uniform level (plus they’re made of natural fibers, they’re small enough to fit me, etc.). I have about half a dozen of these — all from high school teams, factory teams, and so on — and they’re much more exciting to me than a current Mets jersey could ever be. Frankly, I’ve never much understood the appeal of collecting things that are new (except maybe baseball cards when I was a kid); I’ve always preferred collecting things that are old. That’s why throwback jerseys, like the ones made by Mitchell & Ness or Ebbets Field Flannels, don’t appeal to me either (plus there’s still the sizing problem, the price problem, etc.). I’d even take my vintage obscurities over, say, a game-used Ed Kranepool jersey from 1969, because I already know where that’s been — there’s no mystery about it, no untold story.
• I don’t like what merchandising has done to uniforms. Jersey sales have become the revenue tail that wags the on-field dog, and I prefer not to participate in that system, which I think has been very bad for uni design.
And so on. When I came up with the concept for Uni Watch, it never even occurred to me that people would be interested in what fans wear — the idea, for me, had always been to examine obsess over what the players wear. And that’s still the idea, at least from my perspective. Of course, there are other folks who feel differently, and that’s fine.
Anyway, while I don’t much care about fans wearing jerseys, I know many of you do. So today I’m gonna step back and let you discuss that topic in the comments — knock yourselves out.
(And if you happen to be in a jersey-buying mood, please remember to patronize Uni Watch’s sponsors, Jersey-Joe and Distant Replays. Thanks.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Ben Curtis wore Giants gear at the Barclays the other day (thanks, Vince). … The Canadiens have unveiled their 100th-anniversary logo. … Division I-AA Delaware has new uniforms. … Jim Tressel’s sweater vest is being merchandised in some interesting ways. … If you go to this page, you’ll find an interview with Nats prexy Stan Kasten. Search on the word “uniform” to get his take on upcoming “tweaks” to the team’s uniform set (with thanks to Mark Wolven). … According to this small item, there’s a “great debate” about the color of Arizona State’s road pants (with thanks to Alex Benezra). … More ASU news from Alex: There’s a 50th-anniversary logo for Sun Devil Stadium and for ASU itself (it was a teacher’s college prior to 1958), but it will not be worn on the team’s jerseys. … Oglethorpe University, a D-3 school in Atlanta, recently posted a bunch of archival photos, and there are some real doozies in there. See, for example, this, or this, or this (logo and uni number combined!). You can search by sport within the archives here and here (big thanks to Oglethorpe alum Austin Gillis). … Got a note yesterday from John Hartman, with the subject line “A father’s dream crushed.” It read as follows: “It’s always been my dream to see my twin sons play football — until I saw the uniforms they have to wear (thankfully, their coach told them they could switch the purple socks for black). Sorry for the Nike socks, but their mom bought them, not me! Also notice the Rawlings logo creep on the upper front of the jersey. Sheesh.” Note that the Hartman twins have first initials on their NOBs. … I’m not gonna bid on these, but I hope one of you will. … Interesting piece here on Mets outfielder Nick Evans’s sunglasses. Interestingly, it says minor leaguers in the Mets system aren’t allowed to wear Oakleys, although it doesn’t explain why. … The Blue Jackets will be wearing a memorial patch in honor of team founder John H. McConnell this season. Details here (with thanks to Matt Lesser). … Jason Kidd is leaving Nike (with thanks to Chris Littmann). … Alex Shuman was recently in Europe, where he saw this 1966 sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in Vienna. In a more disturbing discovery, he also visited the Dachau concentration camp and photographed this chart of the patches that “undesirables” were required to wear. … The Pedro porthole was back in effect last night, plus it apparently spread to Aaron Heilman. … Latest MLBer to be wearing those incredibly annoying Phiten socks: Nick Swisher (as pointed out by Steve Johnston). … Yesterday I passed along some rumors regarding possible uni changes next year for the Texas Rangers. Now another source — one who’s passed along solid Rangers-related info in the past — has confirmed those rumors. “I’m not privy to final designs but I do know a red alternate jersey is in the works,” he says. “We’re going to scrap both sleeveless jerseys, and a new cap is in the works — most likely going back to a red T (the design remains the same) with a red bill. Apparently [marketing VP] Dale Petroskey is one of the main men working on this, especially re-branding the jerseys as ‘Texas’ rather than ‘Rangers.’ The team is trying to go back to more red, as many fans want, but they’re not going back completely to red because it would be too similar to the Angels.” … The mighty Fleer Sticker Project site has just posted an entry devoted to the 1985 Fleer Baseball Sticker set, which is unique because, as editor JC Helf explains, “it was the only time Fleer included stickers of each team’s jersey.” Full details here. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The CFL is having a retro week promotion.
August 27th, 2008
The big surprise about Portland, at least for me, is that it turned out to be the best neon signage town I’ve encountered in years, or maybe ever. Everything was beautifully, magically aglow and awash in deco details — not just the stuff you’d expect, like coffee shops, pizzerias and other eateries (also look here, here, here, here, here, and here), theaters (see also here and here), bars (also here, here, here, and here), arcades, bowling alleys, motels (here’s another, and wait until you see the one I stayed in), and hotels (one more here), but also less obvious candidates like bakeries, florists, pharmacies, vacuum cleaner shops, car services, the Salvation Army, the local homeless shelter, hardware stores, rug stores, paint stores (here’s another), sportswear shops, apartment houses, and dry cleaners. Anchoring all of this is the magnificent “Made in Oregon” sign, which stands sentry over the Burnside Bridge (for further details on this sign, look here; to see literally thousands of additional Portland neon photos, look here).
I don’t mind saying, however, that Collateral Gammage and I chose arguably the best neon sign in town for our motel: Behold the Palms. Is that totally the shit or what? And dig that crazy monkey! Go, monkey, go!
Kay’s is also no slouch in the neon department, and that’s where a contingent of Uni Watch readers gathered two Sundays ago. Here’s a quick recap:
• The suggestion to use Kay’s as our venue came my ESPN.com colleague Rob Neyer, who lives just a few blocks away. He wore a Benny Distefano jersey — supposedly game-used, although Rob said he was somewhat dubious of that, since it fits him so well (he’s a small-ish fella, much like myself). Thanks again for choosing such an ideal venue, Rob — much obliged.
• The man, the myth — ladies and gentlemen, this is Jeremy Brahm, and I can honestly say it was a thrill to meet him. He said he wore the Rangers jersey as a welcoming gesture to his NYC guest (i.e., me) — isn’t that nice? He also brought along a ton of Japanese baseball literature, as well as his college volleyball jersey (rear view here). Thanks for everything you do, Jeremy — you make Uni Watch a better place on a near-daily basis.
• Matthew Lindley wore a Spokane Chiefs jersey, flashed his Washington State logo tattoo, and displayed a keen knack for the well-time punchline.
• That wasn’t the only logo tat on display, as Travis Demers lifted up his 1995 Braves jersey (complete with Pedro porthole action!) to reveal a Yankees mark. Travis had interviewed me on his local radio show a few weeks prior to my visit, and it was a treat to meet him in person.
• Jeff Anderson and Keith LaFortune both had the guts to show up wearing regular clothes instead of jerseys — good for them.
• Here’s Ryan Wantland, co-principal of the excellent Pennant Race Gear T-shirt operation, one of Uni Watch’s new sponsors. I invited him to bring some tees along to sell if he wanted, but he declined, explaining that he didn’t want to turn the party into a sales pitch. Classy move, Ryan.
• Matt Parker wore an Ivory Coast soccer shirt because, as he explained, it’s hard not to root for a country that suspends its own civil war for a soccer match.
• This is Rian Davis, wearing a Seattle Rainiers cap.
• These were all really great people, but the star of the show was unquestionably Scott Little, who drove down from Longview, Washington. He supplemented his pillbox Angels cap and U. of Oregon bowling shirt with a No Mas tee, plus he brought along a big box of show-and-tell goodies (see also here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). And here’s the kicker: As we all kept asking, “Whoa, where’d you get that?,” his answer was always the same: “Thrift store. Paid about six bucks for it.” I was a little skeptical about this claim, but I had a follow-up rendezvous with Scott a few days later, and now I’m a believer. More details on that in a subsequent blog installment, probably later this week.
As always, it was a kick and a privilege to be able to meet my readers. Big thanks to all who came out, and for all the kind words — much appreciated.
Duck Season: Speaking of the Pacific Northwest, yesterday I received this photo from reader Matt Dorsch, who said he found it on a Washington Huskies fan site. “Whoa,” I thought, “the diamondplate is now reflective!” Matt said the NOB lettering was supposedly reflective as well. Intriguing, but I hadn’t heard anything about this, so I called Oregon’s athletic dept., where media relations rep Andy McNamara told me the shoulder trim and NOB lettering on this uni design have always been reflective. “Nothing new about it,” he said. “But it usually doesn’t show up unless the light is hitting it just right.”
Hmmmmm. Everything about this feels fishy. On the one hand, I don’t recall seeing or hearing anything about the Oregon uniforms being reflective. Could this be a big surprise they were planning to unveil on Saturday, and now that it’s leaked they’re trying to deny it, just to preserve the surprise? On the other hand, I repeatedly asked Matt to give me the URL of the page where he first saw the photo, and he hasn’t responded, which makes me question the photo’s authenticity. If anyone knows more about any of this, let’s hear it. (Update: Several readers have now confirmed that the jerseys have always been reflective. My bad for not having realized this.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: This has to be filed in the “Rumor” category for now, but Chris Josephson, who’s part of the Rangers’ TV crew in Arlington, checked in last night with the following: “I’ve heard from a few different people in the press box that the Rangers will have a few jersey changes next year. First off, none of the jerseys will say ‘Rangers’ anymore — every jersey will have ‘Texas,’ just like the current road grays and blue alternates. There’s also talk of a red alternate being thrown into the rotation. No word on what it will look like. I personally hate the idea of a red jersey, but fans have been calling for red’s return because the Rangers haven’t made the playoffs since the team got rid of the red about 10 years ago.” … You can see a short video clip of the Twins’ “Minnestoa” typo here. … Odd scene last night in Baltimore: Before the start of the Orioles/Chisox game, the two teams picked up a suspended game from April 28th — except the first 11 innings of that game had been played in Chicago. So the O’s were technically still the road team, but they wore their home uniforms, and the Sox wore their black alts. The two teams wore those same uniforms again for the regularly scheduled game. … This shot shows John McCain and Olympic gold-medalist Misty-May Treanor at Sunday night’s Marlins/Diamondbacks game in Arizona. The weird thing, as Corey Zoldan points out, is that May-Treanor is married to Marlins catcher Matt Treanor, yet she gladly donned the home team’s jersey instead of wearing her hubby’s colors. Pretty weak. … Latest Nike conspiracy theory can be found here (with thanks to Matt Shevin). … Next time you’re pissed off at the postal service, just blame Flying Elvis (great find by Adam Hutchison). … James Blake is a big Mets fan, so he wore this warm-up top while entering the court for his U.S. Open match yesterday and then wore this shirt, complete with a sleeve logo, during the match itself. Very nice, but it’d be even nicer if Blake would ditch the black (big thanks to Brinke Guthrie and Jonee Eisen for the screen shots). … Meanwhile, Blake’s opponent, Donald Young, used a Sharpie to black out a swoosh on his cap (credit L.I. Phil). … Some cheerleading uniforms at an Ohio high school violate the school’s dress code (with thanks once again to Brinke).
August 26th, 2008
Looks like we’re gonna have to give an honorary Uni Watch membership to former MLB player Denny Hocking. While watching Friday night’s Twins/Angels game, he noticed something that almost everyone else missed, namely that Twinkies shortstop Adam Everett had a big typo on his jersey. According to this article, Hocking sent a text message to the visiting clubhouse attendants at Angel Stadium, who in turn notified Minnesota equipment manager Rod McCormick. He had a new jersey waiting for Everett as he came off the field after the 4th inning, so Everett played the rest of the game with a correctly spelled insignia.
Too bad Hocking was such a spoilsport. Wouldn’t it have been better if he’d kept quiet about the typo, just to see if anyone on the field would have noticed? Or would that have poor uni-watching etiquette for someone in his position (i.e., a former player with the ability to notify the proper authorities, as opposed to just a random observer)? And what if Everett had, say, hit a homer his first time up and superstitiously refused to change jerseys once the typo was discovered? Would McCormick have insisted that he change jerseys anyway, just for professionalism’s sake?
It’s worth noting, incidentally, that not all typos are created equal. In this case, the severity was magnified by the fact that the Twins use vertically arched lettering on their insignia, so the mis-sequenced letters disrupted the curvature of the arch, as you can clearly see here and here. All the more surprising, then, that nobody noticed the mistake before Hocking did.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Short article here about Habs coach Guy Carbonneau’s neckties (with thanks to Dan Smith). … Check this out: soccer stirrups! (Thanks to Ryan Yanoshak.) … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: What’s with all the cover-up tape in these photos? For the answer, look here. … Cool gallery of SMU helmets here. … Did you know U.S. soliders have had “uniform envy” regarding the Marine Corps? I didn’t, until Matt Locatelli sent me this. … The Hornets have a new court to go along with their new uniforms (with thanks to Mike Etheridge). … Non-sports logo news from Jon Springer, who reports that Giant Foods has gotten a brand makeover. … Chaz Noerenberg notes that Kyle Orton has been alternating between loose cuffs and tight cuffs during the preseason, and also points out that Kevin Jones had a new take on the double-socked look the other night. … Good article here about track athletes wearing jewelry. … Another uni-related treat from the SI archives: The 4/9/56 issue featured a bunch of uni illustrations for the coming season, as seen here, here, here, and here (with thanks to Jim Cooper). … “I was at the August 14th Mets/Nats game at Nationals Park,” writes John Muir. “Almost every hallway and open space has some sort of old-time DC baseball photo/painting/advert. I managed to grab a few shots on my way out after the game — they’re in this gallery.” … Also from John: Some ex-NHLers are circumventing the smoking bans at various arenas. … My annual college football season-preview column will run later this week on ESPN, but it will only cover Division I-A, so I’ll cover a few smaller schools here, including Idaho State. Last year they dressed like this and home and like this on the road. But now they’ve got new home jerseys, road jerseys, and pants. New helmets, too: That’s the old one on the right and the new one on the left (big thanks to Frank Mercogliano for all of this). … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Several Eagles linemen have reinforced horizontal ribbing on their shoulders, similar to what the Bears have had for several years now. … The Mets did the Hispanic thing on Friday night. … The Blue Jays’ black-jersey insignia usually looks like this (note the blue outline, which actually has a black border, but that blends into the surrounding jersey, so you can’t see it), but Jose Bautista’s insignia had a white outline on Saturday. Michael Priest and Hovan Patey both report that third base coach Nick Leyva has had similar problems this season. … Great collection of old hockey programs here (no need to click — they’ll start flashing automatically; with thanks to Mario Morgado). … Here’s something I’d never seen before: soccer positions listed on shorts (with thanks to Kel Hinkle). … Several readers have noted that Vikings RB Adrian Peterson changed his facemask from this to this on Saturday. For additional details, check out the discussion that ensued in last night’s comments (driven primarily by Matt Powers) here. … Jeff Ash has uploaded some really nice illustrations from this book, which he says taught him how to play baseball when he was a kid. You can see a slideshow of the illos here. … Informative video clip here on Oregon’s equipment room. … Several uni-related items in the new issue of GQ, including a short item on longtime Uni Watch faves No Mas, a “Please redesign the Ravens’ helmet” feature (look here, here, and here), and a stunningly inaccurate Cowboys illustration (with thanks to Matt Powers for the scans). … What the hell was going on with Bob Lily’s armpad? … Here’s a rare color view of the Chargers’ “San Diego All America City” helmet crest from the early ’60s. … The Giants never wore white shoes with their original “ny”-logo helmet. But Spider Lockhart apparently did a bit of footwear freelancing.
August 25th, 2008
Oh, those French. Snooty, snobby and ummm … sassy? Eh, probably not sassy. Regardless, these skinny lads are the medalists in the mountain bike race. The two Frenchmen on the left are not the beneficiaries of a particularly lively kit, are they?
France’s flag is red, white, and blue. These guys are red, white, and blue. Well, that’ll do, I guess. Probably better than these, though. — Bryan
August 24th, 2008
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