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Archive for September, 2008
The long-awaited Oklahoma City Thunder uniforms were finally unveiled yesterzzzzzzzzzzzzzz….
Okay, so I pulled that same joke when the Rays’ uniforms were unveiled, but c’mon — these things are so generic, they might as well just have “Basketball Team” printed on the front and then they could have a cameo scene in Repo Man. It’s not like they’re ugly, mind you. Au contraire, the colors are reasonably pleasing, the road jersey typography would look pretty cool on a 1960s NCAA team, and the whole package is admirably gewgaw-free. But for an NBA team rebranding itself? It’s tempting to call it a joke, except jokes are funny. This is just sad.
The most inexplicable part is the heavy use of sky blue, which is called “sky blue” because it refers to, y’know, the sky. Which you see on a clear day. When there’s no thunder. I mean, seriously, it doesn’t take a meteorology degree to figure out that there’s some sort of disconnect going on here.
Eyesore? Nope. More like eyesnooze. I’ll let you decide which is worse. (Additional pics here and here, and a video of the unveiling is available here.)
Uni Watch Site Protocol Question: As you all know, I tend to list contributors’ names in boldface in the Ticker. Truth to tell, I’ve never been in love with this protocol. I only got in the habit of it because someone at ESPN.com took it upon him- or herself to start bold-ifying the name of any reader mentioned in one of my columns, so I went along with it and stuck with it when I started this site.
But the bold thing has always struck me as visually jarring and borderline pretentious. I’ve started phasing it out of my ESPN columns (where readers no longer get mentioned very often anyway, because most reader contributions end up over here on this site), and nobody seems to have noticed or minded. Should I do away with it here too? Such an earthshaking issue of such monumental import — what to do, what to do.
Here’s what I’ll do: Today I’m going to run a boldface-free Ticker, just to see how it looks. Consider it a provisional experiment. Feedback welcome, although all the usual “This isn’t a democracy” caveats apply. Further policy updates to follow.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Was DeMarcus Ware wearing the wrong pants on Sunday? Sure looks that way (great catch by L.I. Phil). … Michigan Stadium celebrated its 500th game on Saturday and marked the occasion on the field. Craig Barker notes that the typeface for the on-field logo was based on the stadium’s exterior signage. … According to a small item in this article, Reebok will soon unveil a new shoe “called ATR Talkin’ Krazy, which will come with a dry-erase marker that easily wipes clean after writing a message on the shoe” (with thanks to Seth Horowitz). … Casey Wurzbach reports that Jeopardy! recently trotted out a new category, featuring clues only slightly more difficult than “What does a ‘Stop’ sign mean?” The contestants “breezed right through it,” says Casey. … I don’t think I’ve ever written about jai-alai, in large part because I know so little about it (other than it’s wicked fast and even wickeder hard to spell). But here’s a tutorial from Steve Bevacqua: “Years back, before the fronton in Milford, Connecticut, closed for good, I used to love going over there and catching the games. When they switched uniform styles to a new, more modern look, they gave away ALL the old jerseys to the crowd, and I wound up with one of my most favorite items in my closet — a game-worn jai-alai jersey [here’s the rear view]. It’s a Champion nylon mesh. The 5 is on the front, as it is on all black jerseys, 72 is the individual player number. Much like horse racing has standardized color-and-number matching, so does jai-alai — black and 5 always go together, as do red and 1, blue and 2, all the way up to purple and 8 (ick!), so each player would have eight different jerseys depending on which place he drew in the match, with his own number on the back. Does Champion still make jerseys like this?” Good question. Anyone..? … Do-over from yesterday, cuz I botched the link: FNOB being worn by BJ Scott. … Really interesting note from Michael Belling, who writes: “I work for a fireworks company and was up on the roof at Shea for Sunday’s game and ceremonies (no I didn’t jump, although I can’t say anyone would blame me). I got some good pictures from up there, one place most Mets fans never get to see. It’s definitely an experience to be up there. There are no real railings or protection from the edges, and the Mets kind of leave us on our own. Very few people outside of the Mets organization know that during Game 7 of the NLCS in 2006, we were up on the roof setting up an enormous fireworks display all around the stadium, which we would have fired had the Mets been able to clinch a spot in that year’s World Series. I had my finger on the button during Beltran’s game-ending final at-bat in that game. Alas, I was then there until about 3am removing all of the fireworks, repacking them and bringing them home.” Check out his full slideshow here. … Also from Michael: Hanley Ramirez’s batting helmet still had its All-Star Game decal all the way through the end of the season. … eBay stuff: Nice old flannel jerseys here and here, old hoops uniforms here and here, a Tiger Stadium usher’s uni here, and a different kind of tiger here. … New hoops uniforms for Wichita State (men’s on left, women’s on right). “These will also come in black version, which was worn last year, and a yellow version, which will be new,” says Patrick Chippeaux. “Also the school will be placing WU Shock at mid-court.” … The Blazers will wear a memorial strip for Kevin Duckworth this season. Here’s a closer look (with thanks to Travis Demers). … Soccer note from Max Levy, who writes: “West Ham United, who went briefly with blank spots where their bankrupt sponsor’s logo used to be, now have filled the empty space with panels featuring the player’s number. The numbers are in black, on a white panel, which is unusual for two reasons: First, teams typically do not display the player’s number on the front of his shirt in club soccer (although national teams do); and second, the white panel and black type do not have any visual relation to the West Ham United, whose colors are claret and blue with white shorts.” … Most beautiful Jets photo ever? Could be. “It was in the Mets’ final-week program, thoroughly a history-of-Shea publication,” says Scott Turner. “Amazingly for the Mets (their programs have always kinda stunk), there are lots of gorgeous photos in this one.” He promises to feed us more of them in the coming days. … Hahahaha (as forwarded by Jeff Landset). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Maryland has started using merit decals. … Also from yesterday: Michael Huff wore a black chinstrap on Sunday. … Tod Meisner reports that Tulsa stuck with their throwback helmets on Saturday, even though they went back to their regular uniforms. Also: The “TTH” on the nose bumper stands for “Tougher Than Hell” … I want to take a minute to discuss, in all seriousness, the financial crisis. As many of you know, I can actually see Wall Street from the roof of my building, so I feel I have a pretty good grip on the situation. Okay, not really, but I can see my friend Amy’s parents’ house, and they can see Wall Street from the roof of their building (even though they’re old and probably don’t climb up on the roof too often), so I figure that should count for something. Anyway, I’m not too worried, because most of my holdings are in stirrups, which I figure should be the nation’s new monetary unit in another day or three. For those who wish to barter, the going rate is currently 10 gallons of gas per stirrup, which I assure you will seem like a bargain once I’ve cornered what remains of the hosiery market. … Happy New Year to those who are celebrating (esp. Ma & Pa Uni Watch).
September 30th, 2008
If you look at the breakdown of NFL teams wearing white at home recently compiled by reader Tim Brulia, you’ll see that the Raiders and Seahawks are listed as the league’s “only white jersey virgins.”
We’ll have to revise that entry, because the Seahawks now stand alone after the Raiders wore white at home for yesterday’s game against the Chargers — unprecedented! And for an intriguing footnote, check out this page (pointed out by Timothy Fesmire), which suggests that the Raiders may wear white at home all season long next year — with silver numbers! Does this have something to do with next year’s observance of the AFL’s 50th anniversary? Hmmmm, intriguing.
Other notes from yesterday:
• I’ll never get sick of those Titans throwbacks. A little sock stripeage goes a long way, no? Lots of additional pics here.
• Chad Johnson’s orange chinstrap made a reappearance. You can also spot a glimpse of it in the background of this shot.
• Can anyone explain why the officials in the Bears/Eagles game were wearing their cold-weather black slacks? Gametime temp was in the 60s, so there’s really no excuse.
• As for the the events in Flushing, at least my team went down wearing their proper colors (yeah, pins would’ve been nice, but I’m OK with the snow whites; apparently one fan disagreed). The postgame stadium-closing ceremony, for all its flaws (and there were several), nonetheless prompted a few sobs in at least on Brooklyn living room, as lots of Mets old-timers were brought onto the field wearing period-appropriate jerseys. Oddest sight was Nail Dykstra, who apparently is so fully entrenched in his new corporate Dow Jones lifestyle that he’s now incapable of wearing an untucked shirt. Nice bit at the end, as all old-timers stepped on home plate one last time, including Mr. Say Hey, who reached down and touched the plate instead of stepping on it. Our own Scott M.X. Turner was on hand for the events (as you’ll recall, he also attended the final game at Yankee Stadium — wonder how many people can claim that dual status [well, aside from this fella]?) and will have a fuller report in a day or two. And hey, L.I. Phil, thanks for all the screen grabs, esp. given the emotionally trying circumstances. Meanwhile, my congrats to the Crew — if the city I live in couldn’t make it to the dance, then I’m glad my favorite American city did.
In Which I Present a Uni-Related Story About a Certain Political Party and Its Vice-Presidential Candidate Without Making Fun of Anyone, So Now You Can All Stop Calling Me Biased and Partisan and Everything, Thank You Very Much: You may have noticed that Sarah Palin was wearing a Phillies windbreaker-ish thingie during a campaign appearance on Friday, as seen at right. What you probably didn’t know is that a Uni Watch reader played a pivotal role in this wardrobe choice. Here’s the story from the man himself, reader Eric Trager (who was also the source of this 2007 entry):
Sarah Palin came to Philadelphia on Friday to greet a group of supporters at Center City’s Irish Pub before the presidential debate. Through my affiliation with the University of Pennsylvania College Republicans (I’m a graduate student in political science), I had volunteered to drive one of the press vans for the motorcade. Anyway, about two hours before Palin was set to depart for the event, one of her assistants came down to the hotel lobby and said that Palin wanted to wear a fleece with a local team’s insignia to the bar. “Anyone happen to know where we can get that?” she asked the group of volunteers.
It seemed like fate. As a lifelong Republican and avid collector of sports paraphernalia, finding officially licensed team gear for my party’s vice-presidential candidate seemed like the one menial task for which I had unknowingly spent my entire life preparing. So I immediately volunteered, driving Palin’s assistant in one of the campaign’s Chevy Suburbans to the local Modell’s. As a Mets fan, I naturally wanted to steer Palin away from Phillies gear, so I strongly recommended various Flyers and Eagles tops (”This is an Eagles town,” I said with conviction). But, after the assistant said that Palin preferred something red, I relented and picked out a small Phillies windbreaker that Palin wore later that night.
The reason Palin wanted to wear red was almost certainly because she’s signed on for the glorious socialist revolution, as epitomized by our College Vault book raffle. Welcome aboard, Comrade Sarah! It fills my heart with godless pride to announce that Comrade Gregory Holt is the first-place winner of the raffle (he chose the Michigan book), with Comrade Mark Frantz in second place (he opted for the Ohio State volume, no doubt because he supports the concept of socialized education via state universities), and Comrade Robert Erdtmann will get the Notre Dame volume. More glorious state-sponsored giveaways coming soon.
Research Project: My recent mentions of the Tommie Agee home run marker in Shea Stadium and the Ted Williams home run seat at Fenway prompted Ryan Patrick to send this photo of a Jimmy Wynn HR seat in the Astrodome. Let’s compile a list of all such markers, past and present. To contribute, send me a note (but please DON’T tell me about the markers at Vets Stadium, the Metrodome, the Mall of America, or Turner Field, cuz a few bizillion people have already told me about those — thanks).
Uni Watch News Ticker: With the world economy teetering on the brink, the Montreal Canadiens have helpfully agreed to sponsor Canada’s monetary system. … Holy shit do I want this sleeve patch. It comes from this eBay listing (big thanks to Scott Johnson). … We all know Dave Concepcion’s NOB lettering barely fit on his back. But in this shot, the lettering is actually on his sleeve (good spot by Robert Eden). … “Honey, could you make the coffee?” That’s Joe Beimel wearing one of those team robes (as spotted by Mike Petriello). … The 49ers are retiring Steve Young’s number. … Keith Owen has a friend who ordered a Carlos Delgado bobblehead and ended up with this. … According to the second entry on this Q&A page, the Ravens will not be wearing their solid-black uniform this season. … Steal an MLB uniform, get arrested. … Jeremy’s Corner: a new UEFA logo and some new uni-related volleyball regulations from the FIVB. … A few days ago I asked if anyone knew which college football team was the first to wear NOBs. According to the second graf on this page, it was Maryland (excellent work by Matt Shevin). … My ESPN column about Shea Stadium prompted a great story from Andrew Snyder: “My dad worked the hand-operated scoreboard for the Mets’ AA affiliate, the Victoria (TX) Toros, who moved the next year to Jackson, MS to become the Jackson Mets. One day in 1974, a ladder broke and he fell, breaking his collarbone. The Mets sent him an autographed ball as a get-well present (additional photos ). While the 1974 Mets weren’t quite as good as the 1969 Mets, their manager was Yogi Berra, Willie Mays was a coach, and they had Tom Seaver, Jerry Koosman, and Tug McGraw, among others.” My favorite detail in this story is the metered postage strip — look closely and you’ll see that it includes details of the Mets’ upcoming schedule! So cool. … Not sure if we’ve linked to this before, but Tom Wallwork reports that there’s now a Michigan Helmet Project site. I was surprised to see this design — do the Habs know about this? … I assume they gave a bunch of these to Matt Millen on his way out the door (with thanks to Steve Moeller). … And put Chad Pennington down for a box of these (as forwarded by Jeff Johnson). … The Raptors have a new alt jersey (note the maple leaf on the back). Additional details here. … New hoops uniforms for Iowa State (with thanks to Corey Munson). … FNOB alert: Alabama’s BJ Scott (with thanks to Alex Seiver). … Patrick Guay found this at a church bazaar just outside of Montreal. … Interesting video here about the design process behind the Sabres’ new alternate jersey and merchandising line (with thanks to Doug Leake). … David Fitzgerald says this shot of Yaz shows him homering off of Tom Seaver in the 1975 All-Star Game. How could he possibly have been hitting without a helmet? … Latest uni-related cartoon from The New Yorker. … Good slideshow of the new Sacramento Kings jerseys here. … Readers John Freeman and Scotty Banks were poking around the nooks and crannies of the stadium during the UNC/Miami game and came across this helmet cart (additional pics here). “It wasn’t used during the game, and I’ve never seen one at a Hurricanes game, which got us wondering if it’s an old Dolphins cart,” says Freeman. “And no, we didn’t get to drive it around.” … Not uni-related, but I’ve been meaning to mention that I recently made a picnic ham in my smoker, and it turned out so great that I think it’s possibly the single best thing I’ve ever cooked. Looked like a lump of coal from the outside, but it sliced up really nicely. Deee-lish. Although I cooked it more than three weeks ago, the memory of it is so strong that it’s almost enough to keep me from dwelling on the Mets’ collapse. … But not quite.
September 29th, 2008
When I first saw this picture, I nearly crumbled. I was overcome with emotion. It might not be possible to explain the full magnitude of its power, but I’ll give it a shot.
You see, I thought Georgia was hosting a football game and nobody showed up. Then I looked closer at the opposite side of the stadium. “Wait,” I thought, “those are people. Looks like they’re wearing black. Huh.”
Turns out, holding a “blackout” carries all the intimidation of empty seats. And then you get your ass kicked.
I gonna go ahead and guess the Crimson Tide didn’t roll in and say, “Oh, crap! Blackout! No amount of houndstooth is going to save us from this!” Maybe in a tighter arena — and maybe not with black — something like that could work. But for large stadium applications, blackouts are kinda dumb. Yeah, it gets the fans worked up, but when they’ve been drinking Bud Light and cheap liquor all day, a trick squirrel could have the same effect (but be way more entertaining).
Snarkiness aside, I really like the black Georgia jersey. It’s sharp. After Saturday, though, I don’t see it coming out to play in the near future. — Bryan
September 28th, 2008
Well, if nothing else, they at least looked like the Mets. I don’t think it’ll be much consolation to the Mets fans who hang out here, though. And I suppose you could make a doomsday joke about how they really did look like the Mets. (They lost, by the way, and fell a game back in the wild card.)
So skip that part and just look at the uni. No black. Pinstripes. One would hope that particular combo is worn twice more on this Shea-ending homestand, and perhaps even for another week or so. Any longer than that and Ron Santo will lose what’s left of his mind. — Bryan
September 27th, 2008
One of Shea Stadium’s lesser-known details is that there’s a seat positioned directly behind each foul pole in the Loge section, providing just the view you want to have when Ricardo Rincon is coming into the game. Here we find the lovely Collateral Gammage giving the leftfield pole seat a pregame test drive, one of several Shea details in which I was helpfully schooling her last night. (This and many other bits of Shea arcana are covered in today’s ESPN column, complete with video.)
Before the game, we explored the amazing futuristic bus shelters, originally built for the 1964 World’s Fair, located just northwest of the stadium. So incredibly cool. There’s a bunch more photos of these awesome structures here.
Had a blast at the game, not least because reader Eric Garment found me in the stands and sat with us for a few innings. Meanwhile, in another part of the stadium, Uni Watch reader/member Gaylord Fields was sitting next to a guy whose Mets jersey had this on the back. I’d say “Willie 07″ would be a closer parallel to the team’s recent performance, but I guess ya gotta believe and all that.
Glorious Fatherland Raffle Reminder: Remember, today’s the last day to help topple the oppressive capitalist monolith by entering the raffle for the College Vault book welfare-state handout. Oh wait, I forgot, capitalism already fell apart all by itself last week. But the raffle will go on as scheduled, just to show that the Uni Watch state can keep the trains running on time. Details here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: This has officially gotten way the fuck out of hand. … Speaking of which, here’s some more about Prince Fielder’s logo-emblazoned underoos, courtesy of a source in the Mets’ clubouse: “All teams have ‘team-themed’ underwear from a company called Toolshed. We have Mets ones, and I’ve seen other ones from guys who get traded here. I’d say maybe half of our players wear ’em, with the other half wearing major companies (Nike, Rebok, Mizuno, etc.). I wore ’em in ’07 but just used a generic brand this year.” Ah yes, Toolshed — such a wonderful underwear brand name, sort of like Dickferbrainz. … Pillbox caps, a trend that just can’t be stopped (that one was photographed by Adam Walter). … “I couldn’t be more indifferent about soccer if you paid me to be.” No, I didn’t say that (this time) — Jason Hillyer did. And then he said this: “However, this story about soccer shoes caught my eye this morning.” … Remember those cream-colored flannels that several old-timers were wearing at the Yankee Stadium? Several people thought they looked a little too creamy, and several others wondered if flannels are always off-white (and if so, why can’t they just be white?). Our own Scott M.X. Turner checks in with an explanation: “Doubleknits are as white as a sheet of paper, but wool flannels (and later wool/cotton blends) were never bleached white. Is there a dyeing process that could make that so? I don’t know. I believe we’d have seen that before the doubleknit revolution took over. In fact, I suspect that was one of the selling points of the new synthetics — ‘pure’ color renderings.” … Simple but vexing question from Kim Byram: Which was the first college football team to use NOBs? Anyone know? … Paul Ricciardi recently visited the Penn State All Sports Museum and sent along a dozen pics, which I’ve gathered into this slideshow. … According to this article, Utah will wear black uniforms on November 6th against TCU (with thanks to Brett Crane). … Any of you hockey fans know if this guy has any shot at making the Devils? Would make for an awesome NOB (good find by John Vivino). … The new Yankee Stadium is already finished — in Lego (cool find by Paul Ricciardi). … Cool article here about the deflating of the RCA Dome’s roof (with thanks to David Soline). … Coupla days ago I ran an item, but no photo, about Frank Minnifield having his facemask custom-positioned a bit farther back on his helmet, so he face would be closer to the mask. Sure enough (good follow-up by Rick Massimo). … This is such a simple, effective T-shirt approach — why aren’t there more of these? That’s reader Gabe Kleinfeld, as photographed by his galpal Valerie. … Mike Begley notes that with Troy Brown announcing his retirement, Boston.com has put up a slideshow of his career, which essentially functions as a great timeline of Flying Elvis-era Pats uniforms. … Andrew Thomason, who recently created a site documenting the Diamondbacks’ uniform history, has now created a similar one for the Mariners. … Remember when I was trying to establish exactly when the circle-R logo began appearing on the Cubs’ jersey? Guess I should’ve gone straight to Bill Henderson when researching that one. “I’ll forgive you for not bothering to ask the guy who has 63,000 photos of jerseys on his computer,” he says. “1979 was indeed the first year, for sure. You said till someone proved otherwise you’d go with 1980, but trust me on this, it’s 1979.” And let’s face it, it’s hard not to trust someone who also sends you a photo of a sumo wrestler throwing out a first pitch. … See the crossed-cannons forehead logo on this mask? Matt Lesser is wondering if it’s appeared anywhere else, or if this is the only place it’s being used. … What kind of number font is this? Can’t even be sure of those are 1s or 7s (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Also from Jeremy: “The China Sharks, part of the Asia League Ice Hockey (that is how it is on the web site) have just moved their operations to Shanghai and the San Jose Sharks have a working agreement with the team. Here’s San Jose’s mascot, SJ Sharkie, showing off the China Sharks jersey.” … Lots of additional pics of the new Illinois hoops unis here, and this time maybe the players’ poses and hand gestures and hairstyles and the way they tie their shoes will meet with everyone’s approval (if not, blame Andrew Joseph). … Jeremy again: “Seibu Princess Rabbits, a women’s ice hockey team in Japan, has a player named Asami Ōhashi or Ohhashi. But her NOB does not have a macron or the double h — instead, it look like this.
September 26th, 2008
I have a new ESPN feature today, but it’s not uni-related, so we’ll continue here as usual.
So: I generally like Jerry Manuel. He cuffs his pants high, he’s clearly very smart, and he appears to be comfortable with who he is (a stark contrast to Willie Randolph, who always sounded defensive). I hope the Mets bring him back next season, no matter how the rest of this week plays out.
But there’s one aspect to his game — an aspect that’s a crucial part of any manager’s visual repertoire — that’s really been bugging me: I hate the way he changes pitchers.
When Manuel wants to bring in a fresh arm, he hops out of the dugout, starts jogging, and quickly signals to the bullpen by raising his hand and waving it, like he’s hailing a cab or something. When pointing to the ’pen, he waggles his finger around, sort of like an umpire signaling a home run. All the while, he’s still jogging, which he continues to do until he reaches the mound.
Here’s what I don’t like about it:
• Manuel’s too jumpy to leave the dugout. In this shot, you can see that he’s already gone into his trot before the batter (who had walked) has reached first base! Similarly, when Jon Neisse gave up that salami to Jason Marquis on Monday night, Manuel had left the dugout and already signaled to the ’pen before Marquis had reached home plate. Dude, show a little patience and let the batter finish doing his thing before you start doing your thing. Maybe Manuel thinks his quick dash looks decisive, but to me it just makes him look like an overprotective parent scurrying out to rescue a vulnerable child. Which leads us to…
• Once he’s on his way to the mound, he signals to the ’pen way too quickly. He always does it before reaching the baseline chalk (which seems like bad form), and often well before the next hitter has been announced (which is bad strategy). Look, in this shot he’s still on the warning track in front of the dugout — he hasn’t even reached the foul territory grass yet! Leaving aside the question of why anyone would be a big hurry to call for anyone in the Mets ’pen, the whole thing feels too rushed, too premature. Is he afraid that the pitcher or catcher will talk him out of it if he doesn’t make the call before he reaches the mound?
• I hate the little finger-wave signal. It looks bad enough on its own (always makes me think of this or this), but it looks extra-bad when combined with the rush out of the dugout. When my team’s just given up a big hit, the last thing I want to see is the skipper looking panicky. That’s how I always feel when I see Manuel scampering out there and waving his hand — almost seems like he’s waving a white flag instead of just his index finger. What’s wrong with a nice, slow walk to the mound? At a moment like this, I want calm, steady leadership, not a frenzied “Oh my god, the ship is sinking, get me a reliever right away, HEEELLLLLLPP!!!” Looks like amateur hour out there.
Manuel’s particular approach notwithstanding, the act of a manager signaling for a new pitcher is one of those great little visual protocols that are unique to baseball. There’s the overhand method (raise arm about three-quarters and decisively point), the underhand method (half-extend arm at hip level and cock wrist repeatedly), and, my favorite, the crossover method (extend one arm and tap inner forearm with fingers of opposite hand). Next time you’re practicing these moves in the mirror — we all know you do it, just like we know you practice football ref signals, so don’t bother denying it — try Manuel’s delivery and see how it compares. I think you’ll agree that it’s unworthy of serious consideration. Does anyone know if he used to do it this way back when he managed the Chisox?
One other Manuel-related protocol worth mentioning: Soon after he took over for Randolph, Mets pitchers who were being removed from a game got in the habit of waiting on the mound for the new pitcher to arrive before departing for the dugout. The idea was to show solidarity with the next guy and metaphorically hand off the baton to him (or maybe just to say, “If my ERA goes up because you let these runners score, you’re totally paying for my next batch of HGH”). I liked this approach, which I believe was much more common in the 1970s and ’80s, but now the Mets appear to have stopped doing it. Too bad.
Juicy Oregon Scoop Hoax Tease: So two nights ago I got a note from someone named Alex. Mr. Alex said he had some news relating to this recent Ticker item about Nike breaking out a new look for Oregon at some point this season. Here’s what Mr. Alex wrote:
I just graduated from Oregon. During my final class this summer, we had a group project. One of my group members told me about his uncle, who is personal friends with Phil Knight. During dinner one night, Phil told my friend’s uncle and his dad about the Oregon uniforms. They are going to be a solid, one-piece uniform (unitard) with a very space/tech edge. “Very strange-looking” was my friend’s description. And apparently they will be worn at homecoming versus UCLA [which is on October 11th].
Whether it will be all-black, including helmets, as someone mentioned in the comments following that article you posted to, I am not sure. But my friend said that is solid inside information from his uncle.
Hahahahahahahaha. My compliments to Mr. Alex for being able to type that last sentence without, like, rupturing a kidney from laughing so hard. An inside tip from a reader’s friend’s uncle’s close personal friend Phil Knight isn’t quite as good as this, but it’s getting there.
Naturally, I was suspicious, especially since it seems fishy that Phil Knight would have friends over for dinner without inviting me, am I right? So I went ahead and did some checking on Mr. Alex (who has a last name but asked me not to use it), and it appears that he is indeed a recent Oregon grad, so that part of his story checks out. Of course, that doesn’t mean he isn’t pulling my leg, or that the story, even if Mr. Alex is on the square, hasn’t morphed a bit on its way from Phil Knight to the uncle to the friend to Mr. Alex.
But here’s the thing: I’ve predicted for a while now that the advent of a football unitard was only a matter of time, what with the skintight jerseys and the ever-widening superhero design trope. Frankly, I think it makes a lot of sense, at least from a practical standpoint, although it will no doubt look uglier than a festering sore. And if such a one-piece uniform were to debut, who better to showcase it than the Ducks? As completely unconfirmed and unsubstantiated rumors from semi-anonymous readers’ friends’ uncles’ close personal friend Phil Knight go, this one sounds pretty plausible.
If any of you Nike people reading this would like to confirm or deny, I won’t use your name either.
(The added tragedy of all this, of course, is that even if this unsubstantiated rumor turns out to be true, I won’t be able to see the uniforms, because I’ll be on tour with the Forewords on October 11th. Phil Knight’s gonna have to cook me a really good dinner to make up for this one.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: The audio is NSFW, but get a set of headphones or something so you can hear George Brett talking about a very special kind of uniform disaster. … Patrick Ryan notes that Prince Fielder appears to be wearing official Brewers boxers. … New mask designs for Martin Gerber (additional info here) and Patrick Lalime (all pics poached from the Chris Creamer board). … Cute. Details here (with thanks to Matt Bachovchin). … For those who are wondering, Joe Skiba says he’s not sure yet if the Giants will wear a memorial patch or decal for Dick Lynch, but they’ve got a bye this week, so they’ll certainly have enough time to come up with something nice by their next game. … Great old movie poster here (with thanks to Ronnie Poore). … Mike Verna reports that These guys have moved from Tucson to Reno and are now these guys. … Once upon a time, nobody was required to wear white (with thanks to Tim Powers). … The Canadiens have unveiled their centennial initiative, which among other things will feature six different throwback jerseys. There’s a photo gallery here, and an additional gallery here that shows what the 2009 All-Star Game jerseys will look like as well. … Turns out we all missed a great little detail Colorado/CSU game back on August 31st (but fortunately Johnathan Valdez didn’t): Colorado was wearing a helmet decal showing the American and Colorado flag (here’s another view). Not clear whether CSU was wearing it too. … Pretty funny uni-related Minnesota Wild commercial here (even if it’s a total stylistic rip-off of the “This is SportsCenter” campaign, but I won’t blame Jeff Barak for that). … Check out the Sabres’ new ice: no center slug! (Thanks to Mark Kluczynski.) … Still more about Saints punter Steve Weatherford and his wedding band and wristwatch: According to the “Watch Your Jewelry” item in the middle of this page, Weatherford wasn’t wearing the bling during pregame warm-ups, so he apparently puts it on specifically for the game (with thanks to Rachel Bicicchi). … Several cool old high school football pics from Nick Zajicek: Faux stirrups don’t look any better on the gridiron than they do on the diamond; nice helmet logo here; and this is the team from Brownwood, Texas — the stars on the shoulders represent the school’s number of state championships. … Mike Menner was at last night’s Twins/Chisox game and was given a 2009 schedule (apparently next year’s MLB schedule was announced last week, which seems much earlier than usual, no?). As you can see, it does say “Early Schedule,” so maybe it’s preliminary or something. Anyway: “The schedule features a logo for the last year in the Metrdome and a graphic that could be new formal signage for the new ballpark, Target Field.” I’m not supposed to tell you this, or even know about it, but since they’re already pimping it on that schedule I will happily confirm that the Metrodome logo will be worn as a home sleeve patch next season. … Hey, speaking of schedules: The MLB schedule is all done by computer these days. But it used to be done by hand by Henry and Holly Stephenson, a husband-and-wife couple whose daughter Katie happens to be a good friend of my Forewords bandmate Liz Clayton (not quite as good as knowing about the new Oregon uniforms via a reader’s friend’s uncle, but whaddaya gonna do). Upon being introduced to Katie during one of Liz’s social events in 2004 and being told what her parents did for a living, I peppered her with questions about the schedule-making process, her parents’ methodology, etc. She basically ended the conversation by saying, “Everyone thinks it’s really complicated, but it’s not. They do most of it just by sitting down with a bunch of index cards while watching MacGyver.” This was right when the Stephensons were in the process of losing the schedule contract, so I asked Katie for their phone number, because I was certain I could save their gig if I wrote a heart-tugging piece about this adorable couple slavishly working over the MLB schedule (I figured I’d probably leave out the MacGyver part). Unfortunately, they didn’t want to be interviewed, so that was the end of that. A pity…. Collateral Gammage and I will be attending tonight’s Mets/Cubs game, where I’ll probably get to see Jerry Manuel doing the “Oh, waiter, another basket of bread sticks, please!” routine way too many times. Weather’s supposed to be iffy, so please do an anti-rain dance for us. Thanks.
September 25th, 2008
Last thing I expected to be writing about today was the NBA, but there’s news on several fronts, beginning with the Magic, who introduced their new uniforms yesterday. The silver-pinstriped home jersey looks like this and this, although I believe those two photos both show replica jerseys, because the actual pinstripe pattern is much odder, as you can see in these shots of the road jersey. Oddly, although the stripes diverge on the front, they’re straight on the back — weird. Both jerseys carry a 20th-season patch.
The curved pinstriping is interesting — gonna have to wait and see how it looks on the court. But man, for a team that once had such unique typography, the new type is snoozeville. Not a fan of that collar style, either. (Additional info here and here, more photos here, and there’s video of the unveiling here.)
Meanwhile, over in my favorite city, the Bucks now have a new alternate jersey. Love how the text explains that the new alt was “designed by the Bucks, the NBA and Adidas” — lemme get this straight, it took three corporations to design that? Love the classic collar and armholes, hate the giant “E” at the end of “Milwaukee,” never liked the Bucks in red. At moments like this it’s comforting to remember that I almost never watch the NBA anyway.
But the most intriguing uni-related NBA news yesterday wasn’t in the sports section. It was in this news article (helpfully sent my way by Brinke Guthrie) about the new Bay Bridge currently being built in Oakland. Here’s the key passage:
The Golden State Warriors basketball team, often maligned for not identifying its hometown of Oakland in its name, is considering a new uniform design that would incorporate a sketch of the span, much like the classic “The City” uniforms with an image of the Golden Gate Bridge that the team sported as the San Francisco Warriors.
Golden State’s uniforms have been so utterly characterless for so long, almost anything would be an improvement. But if that anything featured a local bridge, and if that bridge was incorporated into the design in a way that evoked the old “The City” look, that would be very cool indeed.
Meanwhile: As mentioned in Monday’s post, Scott M. X. Turner attended Sunday night’s farewell game at Yankee Stadium. Here’s his report:
I went to the game with Jerry Cohen from Ebbets Field Flannels. EFF did the vintage flannel uniforms for the pregame ceremony, so the Yankees comped him a couple of tickets. It’s worth noting that EFF was given just a few weeks to do a job that normally takes months — Jerry churned out three eras’ worth of flannels from ’20s through to the ’60s, different cuts, numbers, and sizes. He was frustrated at not having the time to do more detailed work, like the near-cap-sleeve jerseys of the early ’60s.
There was supposed to be a vintage subway train at Grand Central at 6pm, but the MTA had scheduled its usual weekend repair work on the East Side IRT all weekend long, so the trains were all manner of screwed up. Rode a regular #4 up to the Bronx. Getting off the train at twilight, whether Yankee or Shea, is something to behold. Honestly, there was more electricity in that moment than in the ceremony.
The Yankees, being a classy outfit, knew enough to make the lectern’s logo creep not quite as big as the team logo. That’s Yanks radio announcer John Sterling doing the emcee honors. Coming soon: “Thhhhhhheeeeeeeeeee Yankees — sponsored by MasterCard — winnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!”
Yogi Berra was a sweetheart. He looked good in his flannels and, for a frail old feller, he withstood the rigors of the never-ending ceremony. Here’s a question, though: How come male relatives of deceased Yankees, like Thurman Munson’s son, were given full uniforms, while female relatives, like Elston Howard’s daughter, only got jerseys?
The flannels and doubleknits (the latter of which were current Majestics with the MLB logo on the back) had decidely different looks, cuts, colors and feels, and worked well together — there was a nice divide between the eras. But one of the best uniforms of the night was up in the stands, where this faux Babe Ruth was walking around the Stadium with his adorable homemade uniform.
Scott wanted to say more, but when the field filled with cops after the game, it brought back an acid flashback from that unfortunate incident he had at the ’68 convention in Chicago and, well, you can guess what happened. The dispatch shown above is all he was able to smuggle out from his jail cell. One day — a day approximately 18 to 27 months from now, subject to good behavior — we’ll all look back on this and laugh.
Raffle Reminder: Remember, I’m doing my part to slay the capitalist beast and start a book-driven welfare state by giving away three College Vault books without charging a red cent. Hey, red cent, that’s funny! Raffle details here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: We all know the Jets wear those little belt buckle logo sleeves. But I didn’t know that their cheerleaders wear belt buckle logos until Eric Sing pointed it out to me. … Logo news from Patrick Guay, who writes: ” Musiqueplus (the local video station here in Montreal) recently ‘updated’ their logo from this to this. It’s like a combination of an Expos logo, an inverted middle finger, and the Phillies’ P.” … Nice little article here about a sports design company in St. Looie (with thanks to Tyler Kulasza). … We all know college football teams routinely have multiple players wearing the same uni number (which is kosher as long as they’re not on the same side of the ball), but check out this note from Chris Mycoskie: “LSU’s Josh Jasper is a right-footed punter and normally wears #30. Brady Dalfrey is a left-footed punter who normally wears #38. But Saturday vs. Auburn, both wore 30. They had NOBs, so it couldn’t have been that confusing, but Les Miles apparently did it to confuse the opponent. He’s quoted on this page like so: ‘I think, frankly, I kind of enjoyed the fact that I had a punter who was going to wear No. 30. I didn’t want to get confused, so that I knew that the punter was on the field when he wore 30. That may be the reason. It may not be the reason. I enjoy the fact that one guy kicks right-footed and the other kicks left-footed, and they both wore the same number. It might well have been a cause for an opponent to pause and say, “Hmm, I wonder which one’s kicking.” He may wear No. 38 this week.’” … According to this page, “Back in 1982, supposedly because the University of Colorado Board of Regents wanted to mimic (?) the then-highly successful Pitt program, they moved to change the Buffaloes’ uniform color to ‘Sky Blue’ and represent that Rocky Mountain sky of Colorado. Luckily, the Buffs soon after switched to their black and gold ensemble” (with thanks to Doug Keklak). … Jason Borneman found a great Flickr set devoted to the George Eastman House Museum. Plenty of old baseball shots (additional examples here, here, here, and here), plus some wrestling shots as well. … Some great old Wisconsin football program covers here (with thanks to Nicole Haase). … Jet found something interesting on eBay: a 1968 program showing the Penguins wearing a blue jersey with white socks. Probably a preseason publicity shot. “While looking on the web to try and solve the socks mystery, I found this fascinating history of the first Penguins jerseys, how some of them may have been destroyed but some survived and were used by the University of Pittsburgh hockey team,” he writes. “And from the same website, here’s a history of how the Penguins first logo was designed, with some info about the artist.” … Think it’s appropriate to wear a sports jersey to church? A pastor in Michigan does (with thanks to Mark Kaplowitz). … Yesterday’s Ticker mention of Marion Barber’s face being very close to his facemask led to this from James Bates: “I used to be a ballboy for the Browns, during their training camp days. Frank Minnifield (in later years) developed the theory that most neck injuries came about because of the facemask sticking too far out from the face and messing with depth perception when hitting someone. So he’d try to get his facemask as close to his face as possible. He actually had new holes drilled into his helmet, so that the sides of the facemask would start farther back and the front would sit close to his nose/eyes.” … Here’s the best view yet of Derrell Johnson-Koulianos’s NOB. What should we call this partial abbreviation — PANOB? Suggestions, please (with thanks to John Ervin). … Islanders rookies were forced to wear Bridgeport Sound Tigers alt uniforms the other day. The advertising patch being worn by the opposing team (Moncton Blue Eagles), by the way, is for Cavendish Farms (with thanks to John Muir). … The Red Sox are going to retire Johnny Pesky’s number this weekend. … What the hell is this — Upshaw sleeves? Bizarre (as forwarded by Joe Hilseberg). … Former NBA coach Eric Musselman has a blog entry here in which he uses UGA’s black jersey as a way to talk about uni choices in general (with thanks to David McGee). … Two nice finds by Gabe Varrenti: a mesh pillbox cap, and the best shot yet of Jim Essian’s brimless helmet. … “Flipping through the channels Monday night, I came across the WNBA game and noticed that several, if not all, the NY Liberty players were wearing temporary tattoos of the NY Liberty logo on their body,” writes Mike Miller. Some players had more than one. I don’t know if this was a one-game thing for the playoffs or something they have been doing for a while.” … Michael Princip wants to revive the Redskins’ old feather Mohawk helmet design. “From what I hear, the problem was that it didn’t translate well from a distance or on television. However, I believe with some increased width, flairing of the feather, and added colors, it could work quite well this day and age.” So Princip has created a bunch of proposed revisions to the feather, several of which I think are pretty damn cool. You can click through his concepts here. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Prince Fielder didn’t even wait until the game was over to do the slob routine last night. … Alan Borock asks: Was Art Shell wearing baseball pants here or what? … I’m excited to report a new discovery that makes me completely reconsider my feelings about Nike. Phil Knight, all is forgiven.
September 24th, 2008
Remember this guy, who appeared in this photo and this photo, and how we spent a few days puzzling over who he might be and how he got into those photos?
Now reader Larry Wiederecht may — may — have solved the mystery. The key piece of evidence is in this short video clip from Game 5 of the 1976 American League playoffs. If you look behind jim Wohlford, you see someone lurking in the on deck region who bears at least some resemblance to our previous mystery man (it’s hard to see in the screen grabs, but the KC guy is wearing glasses, just like the ASG guy).
The next batter after Wohlford was George Brett, and that’s obviously not who’s shown in the KC photos. So I showed the screen grabs to Royals fanatic Rob Neyer, who said he didn’t recognize the mystery man. “My guess? Husky batboy.”
That’s Larry Wiederecht’s guess, too. In fact, it was his guess regarding the ASG photo all along (i.e., that a batboy appeared in the photo, probably as a placeholder for a player who wasn’t there). I had resisted that idea for a couple of reasons, but the KC shots definitely add weight to that theory, especially since our batboy — if that’s what he is — is wearing a visiting uniform in both photos.
Mystery solved? I wouldn’t go quite that far. But I’d say we now have a much stronger hypothesis than we had before. And if anyone can come up with other late-’70s Yankee Stadium pics that show a road batboy who fits this profile, then we may be able to put this one in the “Case Closed” file.
Socialist Wealth-Redistribution Raffle: As promised, I’m going to raffle off those three College Vault books. The winner will have his choice of Michigan, Ohio State, or Notre Dame. The second-place winner will have next choice, and the third-place winner will get the remaining book.
To enter, send a check to the Communist Party a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to the raffle address (not to the usual Uni Watch address, please) by 10pm eastern this Friday. If you’ve enrolled in the membership program, you can become eligible for a free tour of the Kremlin send up to four separate e-mail entries; non-members are limited to one entry. I’ll announce the winners next week.
Uni Watch News Ticker — Guaranteed 100% Politics-Free!: The Forewords (my lecture/slideshow collaboration with architectural spy extraordinaire Liz Clayton) finally have a web site. … In a vaguely related item, Liz and I went to Shea last night with the Junior Socialist League a bunch of Can’t Stop the Bleeding people, including webmaster Gerard Cosloy (who wore Mets kicks) and longtime Mets fans Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley (whose band, Yo La Tengo, is named after a Mets anecdote). Best moment in an otherwise dreary evening came when three guys in David Wright jerseys burned an American flag headed for the exits in unison during the 8th inning, allowing me to say, “Ladies and gentlemen, David Wright has really left the building.” … Nike is getting out of the Olympic swimwear biz. … Matt Lesser notes that the Cincinnati Bearcats are wearing a hammer and sickle “Joni” memorial decal in memory of long-time benefactor Joni Herschede. And although we’ve seen this before, Matt also sent along a particularly good shot of the reflective piping on NHL practice jerseys. … Congrats to reader Mike Edgerley, who won Chad Bradford’s jersey in the Rays’ “Jerseys for Allah” “Shirts Off Our Backs” promotion on Sunday. “There’s a piece of Velcro inside the buttonholes that’s supposed to prevent the jersey from saying ‘RAAYS,’ but you know how that works,” he says. … Several good finds by Andy Chalifour: the best photo I’ve seen so far of Terrence Long’s mask; Pete Rose in his Trotsky phase; and Mo Vaughn with a hand-inscribed cap memorial to Reggie Lewis. … If you listen to the first 10 seconds or so of this video clip, you’ll hear Giants radio man Bob Popa reading passages from The Communist Manifesto giving a trenchant analysis of the Bengals’ uniforms (with thanks to Robert Tusso). … The Mets are switching their triple-A affiliation from New Orleans to Buffalo. As a result, according to this article, “The Bisons are expected to go to new uniforms, likely some sort of blue to reflect the Mets’ primary color” (with thanks to Joe Pitzonka). … I haven’t seen the latest episode of The Golden Age of Baseball (the When It Was a Game-esque series currently running on most Fox Sports outlets), but Joe Nocella reports the following: “The latest episode has five- to seven-minute segment on the golden age of baseball uniforms. Nice color shots of old uniforms, and there is a brief glimpse of the Cubs vest jersey. There’s also a mention on how Willie Mays (and another SF Giant player) changed the way pants are now worn. It said how Willie and this other player went to a San Francisco tailor in the mid-’60s and had their pants tailored to a tighter, more form-fitting way, because they did not like the baggy pants that were customary at that time. The commentator said that this caused a change in how players wore their pants.” … Yesterday I mentioned that Martin Gramatica should be watched carefully cuz he has a suspiciously foreign-sounding name was wearing his wedding band on Sunday. But as several readers pointed out in the comments, his holder also wore a wedding band — and a wristwatch for good measure! … Soccer note from Dana Prey, who writes: “I noticed that David Beckham isn’t wearing his traditional #7 playing with the England squad (vs. Croatia) — instead, he’s #17. This might have to do with the fact that he’s been regulated to a sub, but still.. who would take his famous #7 away?” … See this jersey? Steven Samuels spotted someone wearing a road version, with a wishbone-C logo tossed in. … Daniel Pritchard notes that I neglected to mention that Arizona wore red pants on Saturday, which coach Stoops broke out just before gametime. … Finally, a good close-up view of the patch that the Colts wore in Week 1 (big thanks to Brad Bierman). … The Vanderbilt and Auburn soccer teams will wear pink cuz they’re commies and hate America to support breast cancer awareness this weekend. … Here’s something new (at least to me): sports-themed trash cans (thanks, Milesofsparks). … Nice little piece here on giant inflatable sports statues (with thanks to Chris Flinn). … News flash: Dog bites man, wags tail too. … David Arnott reports that the 49ers’ famous one-day prototype helmet design has surfaced on eBay, supposedly autographed by legends like Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, and Mike Cofer (the latter tossed in just to show that legends aren’t what they used to be). … More here about UGA’s black uniforms. … Miles Eakins notes that many NHL teams would make excellent laborers on the commune I’m starting are using non-Edge practice jerseys. “In fact,” he writes, “these jerseys are old CCM models with the old NHL shield from years back.” Some other teams, however, are using Reebok practice jerseys. Anyone know more about this? … Speaking of Reebok and the NHL, John Muir reports that the “RBK” mark on goalie gear has been replaced by the Reebok logo. … Also from John: Curtis Sanford is wearing his new fan-designed mask. … NOB typo for the Bruins. No photo, alas (with thanks to Chris O’Connor). … I have a feeling I may have linked to this before, but just in case: Great archive of old panoramic photos here, including a whole section devoted to sports. Dane Drutis says he’s particularly fond of this one, while I like this and this. … I know about the Texas A&M tradition of chanting “Property is theft!” while shooting all the landlords the 12th man. But is it usually observed like this? I feel like I need a refresher course on this one — someone please bring me up to date (with thanks to Daniel Dingerson for the screen grab). … Yesterday I linked to a photo of this cap, which had this John Gilmore Sporting Goods tag. That prompted the following from reader Dave Gilmore, Jr.: “John Gilmore is my uncle (my dad’s older brother). or many years he had his own sporting goods outfit and was partners with Brooks Robinson. Needless to say, we have a lot of cool stuff around (he’s got one of Brooks’s Gold Gloves). He was also tied to Reebok, worked for the Redskins for many years, and is very connected in the college basketball community. Most of his sports friends know him as ‘The Gov.’ He’s given us a lot of cool stuff over the years: dugout jackets, TONS of hats (most of which, sadly, my little brother and sold on eBay a few years ago). Anyway, he’s not in great health so I just want you to know it was a comforting sign to see someone enjoying his work.” … Check this out: Cal Angels mittens! Brett Crane, clubhouse manager of the Orem Owlz (the Halos’ Pioneer League affiliate) got them from a pitching coach who’d been with the organization since the early 1990s although you’ve gotta wonder about what kind of anti-American wuss would wear mittens. … Ryan Perkins thinks Marion Barber’s helmet/mask is really snug around his face, or his face is really bloated relative to his mask, or something like that (”It looks like he’s a broken nose, black eye or cracked tooth waiting to happen,” he says). He’s spotted the same thing going on with Brandon Jacobs, which of course is where Joe Skiba comes in. His response: “Concerning Barber, it looks as if his dreads are giving the helmet some rise as well as the forward appearance. We had that issue with Amani Toomer and Michael Barrow when they had dreads. As for Jacobs, nothing special at all. I squeeze him into an Air Advantage large with 3/4-inch (smallest) front pads. I like to give him a nice secure fit.” But now Ryan has another question: “Steve Smith’s front helmet pads are riding down a good bit, and it looks disheveled and unnatural. You have two weeks to get on top of this and remedy this aesthetic travesty — make us proud, Skeebs.” Back to Skiba: “That will be a running change on the New Schutt XP. You see this all over football players wearing the helmet — they have to secure that pad down more.” … Idaho is getting new cheerleader uniforms. … Faaascinating item from Jeremy Brahm, who writes: “After the Nankai Hawks sold the team to Daiei, Nankai turned the Osaka Kyujo into a model home center.” Hear that, Steinbrenners? Toss a few model condo units in there and you can branch into the real estate market. Well, once we solve the mortgage crisis.
September 23rd, 2008
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