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Archive for October, 2008
Got an interesting note the other day from charter member Mike Lucas, who wanted to let me know about a kitchen project his family had recently undertaken. Check it out:
After seeing your ticker item about the customized Super Bowl table covering, I thought you’d appreciate the effort we recently put into my daughter Sophie’s 10th birthday cake.
The concept was hers — she’s a 4th grade peewee football cheerleader who follows mom and dad’s leads as a Browns fans, and she also likes to draw and paint. So her idea was an artist drawing a football game. The players are over 30 yrs old, from my original electric football game (I don’t have the vibrating field anymore). The green field, palette, goal posts, end zone pylons, midfield helmet and Gatorade cooler were made from fondant, the benches were Hershey’s chocolate bars with chocolate-dipped marshmallow legs (you can see them upside-down here, along with the fondant goalposts and end zone pylons), and the dirt sideline was crushed chocolate graham cracker. The cake itself was chocolate, with chocolate chips and some oatmeal added (fiber is our friend), plus some extra water because of the oatmeal, so the cake was super-moist.
My wife Kathie, my daughter, and I worked on it for three days, but we loved how it turned out — just crooked enough to show we’re amateurs who have more love than talent.
And as an aside, since I know you are a bit of a meat foodie, you may appreciate our bacon mat, a great way to make an open-face BLT for a group.
This is all so great, I’m willing to overlook the fact that Mike dresses his daughter in purple and spells Lukas incorrectly it’s making me hungry. And by coincidence, James Huening just sent me some pics of a Stanley Cup cake (yes, that’s a cake), which was featured on a recent episode of Ace of Cakes (additional photos here, here, here, and here, and there’s a video clip here).
And as long as we’re talking about cooking, it’s worth noting that chef’s attire is one of the world’s most enduring uniforms. I especially like that chef’s toques traditionally have 100 pleats, supposedly to represent the 100 ways in which a chef can cook an egg. Nowadays, though, many chefs — like everyone else in the world — are wearing baseball caps (a trend started by Wolfgang Puck in the 1980s), part of the casual Friday-ization of, well, everything.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Major article in today’s Wall Street Journal about the guy who claims to have created the MLB logo — the first time I’ve seen this designer named. The article explicitly refutes the notion that the logo was based on a photo of Harmon Killebrew (or anyone else), although it neglects to mention the logo’s most sublime aspect, namely that it can be viewed as either a left-handed or right-handed batter. … Wanna have a jersey made out of rabbit fur? Yeah, me neither, but don’t let that stop you (with thanks to Nathan Gemignani). … Here are some good close-up views of the patches being worn by NBA teams for preseason games in China and Europe. As you can see, the Euro patches are each based on the host country’s flag. … Got a really cool present in the mail yesterday: this old 49ers mini-pennant, featuring a logo I’d never seen before. It was a gift from Noel Basnight, acquired it in 1996 at an auction of items from the personal collection of Nate Fine, the longtime official photographer of the Washington Redskins. He included scans of some other pennants from that lot, which you can see here. … The girls volleyball team at Myrtle Beach High School in South Carolina wears argyle socks (with thanks to Mike Miller). … Jesus Christ (no pun intended). … Those of you who buy authentic jerseys probably know this already, but I didn’t: All NBA jerseys have three little lines sewn into the shirttail — just another bit of Adidas branding. … Also, I’m not sure I realized this before, but the NBA logo is slightly altered on the league’s throwback jerseys. Instead of the standard red, white, and blue, it’s a darker red, beige, and a darker blue. … According to Ben Shaulis, Ike Taylor was actually fined for wearing black spats and no whites on Sept. 29th, not for low whites on Oct. 5th. … Awesome police department hockey jersey available here (with thanks to John Muir). … Awesome double-FNOB photo of Jeff and Joe Bostic playing for Clemson in 1978 (awesome find by Adrian Brashier). … This is one of the most amazing hockey fights I’ve ever seen, but that’s not why I’m linking to it. Turns out there’s a uni-related oddity: The linesmen have these thick black center stripes. Never seen that before (good catch by Mark Kaplowitz). … If you look closely at this photo from this week’s SI, you’ll see that his left armband appears to be inscribed with the words “Be An Asshole!” (good spot by Neil Vendetti). … Look at the size of the NBA logo on Oscar Robertson’s shorts! … FNOB alert: Bert Jones from his LSU days (nice find by Mako Mameli). … The problem with titty bars isn’t that they corrupt our youth, or that they’re a breeding ground for drugs and prostitution — it’s that they siphon off crucial uni-related funds. … Matt Campbell spotted a buncha cool stuff in the current Leland’s auction, including a ruptured duck patch, a set of New York Giants season passes, a really interesting 1950s Cuban jersey, and a 1960s Puerto Rican uni worn by Roberto Clemente (note the amazing sleeve patch). … Interesting request from Charlie Usas: “My fiancé agreed to let me ask the organist at our wedding to play ‘Brass Bonanza,’ the theme song of the former Hartford Whalers. The thing is, our wedding is this Saturday and I need the sheet music.” If you just happen to have the sheet music lying around your house, or if you know someone who does, give Charlie a shout.
October 23rd, 2008
Been awhile since we’ve taken a stroll down Ricko Boulevard. Without further ado:
• One question that frequently comes up in the comments is whether the Astros’ tequila sunrise design came in separate home and road versions, or if there was just one — white — version. Answer: Just one, as you can see in these white-uni shots taken at Wrigley.
• Check out these super-cool chevron-patterned shoulders worn by West Virginia in 1961.
• Good view here of Colorado wearing black and silver.
• Speaking of Colorado, here’s a prototype helmet that never made it onto the field, from the disastrous Chuck Fairbanks era.
• Anyone know why Alabama wore gray helmets against USC in 1971?
• Vertically striped sock alert! “That’s Bloomington Lincoln High in 1965 or so,” says Ricko. Note the exterior-padded helmet on the tackler, too. And here’s another shot of Lincoln.
• We’ve all seen football plays diagrammed with Xs and Os. But how about with little plastic models? “That’s from SI, Dec. 24, 1956,” says Ricko. “It’s one of six full-page B&W photos that used these tabletop figures to ‘illustrate’ a key play in each of the six upcoming Jan.1 bowl games. I have them all; this one’s for the Rose Bowl, Iowa vs. Oregon St. The unis had nothing to do with the teams, with the same set of figures used for all six.”
• Always interesting to see Dr. J as a Virginia Squire.
• Here’s Spider Lockhart wearing white shoes in 1970, long before the NFL’s white-shod era.
• Speaking of footwear colors, check out these shots of Joe Washington wearing silver while playing for Oklahoma (is that a training camp strip of name tape on the TCU helmet?) and the Chargers (yes, FNOB, already noted in last week’s ESPN column).
• And here’s one Ricko showed me when I visited his pad two weeks ago: Check out the front-facing TV numbers worn by the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1966.
Speaking of my visit to Ricko World HQ, I hope to share more images and info from that summit meeting shortly. As I mentioned last week, I’m thinking Ricko might be ESPN material, so for now I don’t wanna spill all the beans here on this site, because I might wanna use them over on Page 2. Final decision on this should come in another week or two — will advise.
Sopel Sock Update: Yesterday’s item about Brent Sopel’s low-striped socks prompted lots of interesting responses:
• From Thomas Clark (reprinted from yesterday’s comments): “Many of my college teammates did the same thing (and myself to a lesser extent) because with fitted ankles on hockey socks, the bottoms can be a bit annoying. So we pulled them down to create a more comfortable feel around the upper ankle/lower calf.”
• From Jeff P (ditto): “The old CCM socks were very loose around the pad. I could never wear them myself — I wear something by Twin City or Pearsox, because they’re much tighter and help hold the pad in place. But a lot of guys like the really loose feeling. When the Edge was introduced, socks became a lot tighter, so Sopel probably asks for a couple sizes up to get it looser (regular joes can’t get them in sizes, but pros get Small, Medium, large, XL and so on). And since the Velcro patch to hold it up is at a fixed location, he has to take the extra length off at the bottom. So in effect, this is the baggy baseball pants of hockey. And as for Sopel’s pre-Reebok days, he was probably cutting off the elastic cuff at the bottom.”
• From JD Patch: “I wear my socks the same way, bunched at the bottom. For me, it’s purely habit, I wear my shinguards over the tongues of my skate boots. I suppose it’s more vanity than anything else — I don’t want my shinguards showing at the base if my socks pull up during the course of the game. On a somewhat related note, the new Reebok socks are grade-A crap — cheaply made and not especially more breathable, as Reebok likes to claim.”
• From James Paterson: “I think the reason lies precisely within Garrett Malcolm’s comment that ‘it makes his calves look wide and trunk-like.’ As a defenseman, Sopel has to block shots. But if the shooter thinks Sopel’s legs look wider, he may alter his shot or pass the puck. So while it does look stupid, in this case form COULD follow function.”
• From Jesse Swanko: “In the old days, hockey socks had actual stirrups and you would wear them inside your skates with the tongue of the boot sticking out in the front over your shinguard. That means you put your shinguards on first, then your socks, then your pants (breezers), and then your skates on last over everything. That is how I still wear mine, and so does Alexei Kovalev on the Habs. Now, however, most players put their skates on first before their shinguards and socks. They tighten the tongue down against their shin, then put the shinguard on, then the socks, and the breezers last. That’s why most new breezers have those zippers inside the thighs, so you can loosen them to get them over your skates. But today’s hockey socks have elastic on the bottom so you can slide them down over your skate (like pulling jeans over cowboy boots). However, the elastic is usually too tight, so most players cut if off entirely and just make a ragged edge on the bottom so it fits looser. A lot of players on my college team did that, which was hell on the equipment guy having to buy new socks at the end of every year. Plus the new Reebok socks are more or less Spandex, so they’re really tight around the pads, giving the ‘robocop’ look. So if Sopel wears extra-thick shinguards or some type of ankle protection under his skates, he would need to cut his socks further up the taper to reach an area wide enough to fit over everything. Plus defensemen who block a lot of shots, like Chris Pronger, wear a dummy boot over their skate for added protection. I don’t think Sopel does this, but if he did that would also require cutting the elastic off to fit over it.”
• From Chaz Noerenberg: “Many other players in addition to Sopel have done this. Michael Handzus [as seen with the Kings, Blues, and Blackhawks] and Pavol Demitra [Blues and Wild] come to mind right away.” (For the record, reader Joe Barker, mentioned these same two players, and Kyle Somerville mentioned Garnet Exelby, although his stripes don’t look that low.)
Raffle Results: The winner of the Syracuse helmet is Chad Gilman, who should contact me asap to claim his prize. Congrats to him, and thanks to all who entered. More raffles coming soon.
Uni Watch News Ticker: So these are the socks that reportedly got Ike Taylor fined a few weeks back. All I can say is, if they’re fining everyone who wears low whites like that, they must have a big pile of cash by now. … Meanwhile, Chris Hilf notes that Hines Ward wore gold shoelaces in that game. … Potentially awesome NOB news, but they’ll probably just handle it the way they did in the preseason. … Nobody likes a tease, but I’ll be one anyway: I spent about two hours yesterday at the NBA offices, where I learned about all sorts of interesting uni-related initiatives for this season (most of which I’ll be able to share in my season-preview column next week, although a few are embargoed for another month or two) and next season (sorry, that stuff’s all off the record). … Brian Birkhofer won the $50,000 top prize at last weekends Dirt Track World Championship, and Scott Johnson reports that Birkhofer’s a big Steelers fan and has some Steelers elements on his driving suit. … The Islanders will wear pink tape on their sticks on Thursday, and the coaching staff will wearing “Hockey Fights” cancer neckties and pins. Details here. … This probably isn’t Nike’s fault, at least not completely, but let’s blame it on them anyway cuz it’s so much fun. … Yesterday I mentioned that the Tommie Agee marker at Shea appeared to have been successfully excavated. That led pseudonymous commenter Union Jack to opine, “Looks likely that someone figured out during demo that the stairs landing was hollow, not solid concrete. This probably made extraction feasible (can you imagine trying to carve away a slab if it were solid?).” I spoke with concessionaire Barry Meisel yesterday, and he basically confirmed that. “We were surprised,” he told me. “It came out in one piece really easily, no problem.” He thinks he has a buyer for it, too. … The Nationals are sponsoring a pumpkin carving contest (with thanks to Mark Kluczynski). … The Vero Beach Devil Rays (Tampa’s single-A affiliate) are changing their name and location, and will now be known as the Port Charlotte Stone Crabs. No logo or uni design yet, but they should be good, since stone crabs are so cool-looking (with thanks to Jeff Mayer). … Did you see Mike Smith’s mask on Saturday? Get this — it was a promotional stunt to promote the latest splatterfest flick. Smith was apparently so disgusted by this that he chose to go maskless in protest (with thanks to Dane Drutis). … Here’s the latest obligatory article-plus-video about the endearingly crabby underpaid middle-aged seamstresses who sew patches on uniforms for millionaire athletes (thanks to Mike Edgerley). … Why would you pair a red jersey with an orange helmet? That’s Cherokee High in New Jersey, as sent by Doug Keklak (who also sent this hyphenated NOB shot of LaRod Stephens-Howling). … Under Armour is going to sponsor the NFL combine, which would seem to create a conflict with Reebok (courtesy of Brinke Guthrie). … Bill Heatley has come up with the best photos yet of the black distance numerals that were used on Shea Stadium’s outfield wall for the first homestand of 1967. He took these shots on April 20th, 1967, which was when Tom Seaver got his first career victory.
October 22nd, 2008
We all know how I feel about sock stripes, and we all know what a lousy era this is for them, especially in the baseball, football, and basketball realms. Fortunately, there’s hockey, where every player wears long socks, most of the socks have stripes, and the stripes are right where they belong, at calf level.
But Blackhawks defenseman Brent Sopel apparently has his own ideas about sock stripeage. As reader Garrett Malcolm points out, Sopel’s been wearing his stripes down around his ankles (that’s him at upper-right). “Not only does this put the stripes in an unusual location, but it makes his calves look wide and trunk-like,” notes Garrett. “It also kind of gives the feeling of baseball players who let their pant cuffs cover their shoes.” Indeed.
Sopel’s been in the league for a decade now, so I assumed this must be a new thing with him. But some quick photo research revealed that his sock stripes have been feeling gravity’s pull for a long time, dating back to his days with the Islanders and Canucks, and even his brief training camp stint with the Red Wings. (It’s harder to be sure about his time with the Kings, because their stripes were so wide that he couldn’t have worn them much higher.) Not sure how I never noticed it until now.
When alerting me to these hosiery highjinx, Garrett said Sopel was wearing his sock upside-down, but that doesn’t make sense — if he did that, the stripes would be up on his thighs. Seems more likely that he’s using extra-long hose and cutting off a few inches at the bottom. I plan to call the Blackhawks and ask them about this, but before I do, does anyone know of any practical reasons why Sopel might want to do something like that? Do any other players do it? Details, please.
Raffle Reminder: Today’s the last day to enter the raffle for the Ernie Davis Syracuse helmet from Helmet Hut. So if you haven’t already done so, send 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 tonight. If you’ve enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program, you can send up to four separate e-mail entries; non-members are limited to one entry. I’ll announce the winner in the next day or two.
And Now a Word from Bryan: Back when I was in high school, lo those many years ago, we frequently played a team called the Midgets. Why make note of that? Because it’s an awful team name that nobody should have to be saddled with. Whoever came up with it, what were they thinking?
That’s the gist of an e-mail we recently received from reader Leon LaVigne, who attended a high school whose teams were called the Goslings (yes, baby geese) and suggested that we compile a list of really bad team names from around the country. He even got the ball rolling by contributing some examples from the Division III MIAC, which features the St. Thomas Tommies, St. John’s Johnnies, Augsburg Augies, Gustavus Adolphus Gusties, and St. Olaf Ollies.
So, let ’er rip. Send your worst submissions here (not to Paul’s address) and I’ll try to group them geographically or by high school/college levels or something. And just for the record, I’ve already got the Watersmeet Nimrods and the Sigourney-Keota Savage Cobras (which sounds utterly terrifying).
Uni Watch News Ticker: Stunning sight last night in Foxboro, as Patrick Ramsay’s sleeves were completely logo creep-free. That sound you just heard was someone in Reebok quality control getting fired. … Meanwhile, can anyone explain why Richard Seymour showed up for the postgame interview in a fake military outfit? (Scren grabs courtesy of L.I. Phil.) … Video footage of Kevin McReynolds losing his shoe after hitting the outfield wall here (as first reported by Can’t Stop the Bleeding). … Check out the super-wide number spacing in this old Seahawks photo (with thanks to Douglas Kyed). … Anyone got a photo of the Steelers’ Ike Taylor from October 5th? According to a small item buried in this report, he was fined $5000 for “wearing the wrong socks” in that game (good spot by Chris Hilf). … “I attend Lewis University and worked for their homecoming festivities,” writes Jeff Bethune. “One of the displays had old sweaters, a jersey, patches and a beanie from the 1950s.” Gorgeous stuff, viewable here. … Helmet observations from Matt Powers, who writes: “As long as I’ve been watching college football, I have disliked BC’s uniforms, mainly because they’ve only worn Riddell helmets. Their Saturday-evening game promised to be an all-Riddell matchup, because VaTech is also a Riddell-exclusive team. However, I saw a handful of players wearing Schutt Air XP. Also, Tech QB Tyrod Taylor was wearing the Riddell Revolution Speed.” … Also from Matt: “Jason Kidd’s deal with the Chinese brand Peak is official. He has left Nike.” You can see his new sneakers here and here. … What’s wrong with this picture? Look at the two different 2s (good spot by Drew M. VanNess). … NSFW: Great bowling shoes. My longtime pal Kelly Hogan, who I stayed with after the Forewords show in Madison, gave me that old Playboy tearsheet cuz she knows I love bowling. … Matt Irving sent along these shots of a Peterborough Petes jersey with a front fight strap. What’s that all about? … This is really handy, because you can just hate both of them at once — efficient! … “I photograph the Coolidge High School Colts here in Washington, DC,” writes Michael Starghill Jr. “Last Friday they broke out solid orange unis with black/orange striped socks to complete the ensemble.” … Contrary to what I’d been led to expect, it looks like the Tommie Agee home run marker at Shea was successfully excavated after all (with thanks to Ed Ra). … Max Steinberg sent me this shot of Patrick Roy wearing No. 22. What’s the story there? … Mike Lindsey notes that Patrick Kane has a habit of chewing on his mouthpiece. … The Sports Poster Warehouse folks have a very cool new product: an NFL uniform timeline poster (available for order here). … This short video clip includes a segment that shows how the World Series patch is applied to caps (with thanks to Tim Burke). … Always fun to see a hyphenated NOB (courtesy of L.I. Phil). … The new Wales rugby kit — Under Armour’s first venture into the rugby market — looks like this. “No big catastrophic changes,” says Pat Sokolowski, but it appears that Wales will now be wearing green socks (apparently taken from their logo), a departure from the typical red.” … Mike Rich notes that each name in Clemson’s ring of honor is accompanied by a period-approporiate helmet.
October 21st, 2008
The Bucs had a big halftime tribute to Mike Alstott last night. As is frequently the case in the NFL, they didn’t officially retire his number, although they certainly made sure everyone knew what that number was. Anyway, amidst all the fuss and fiddledeedee, they apparently neglected a bit of quality control regarding Alstott’s nameplate.
Or did they? Reader Brandon Creeger posted this in last night’s comments: “The orange jersey is from his rookie year (1996). For his first two home games, his jersey was misspelled. [So the typo in the retired jersey] was intentional. It was the first jersey he ever wore in the NFL.” That story appears to be confirmed here. I’d never been aware of that typo.
In other uni-related news from the weekend:
• Pink uni elements to support breast cancer research are nothing new, but New Mexico State took things to a new extreme on Saturday, replacing their regular helmet decal with a pink ribbongloves too, although that seems like an afterthought compared to the helmets. (Thanks to Sam Wasson for the pics.)
• The Bears did their annual Tang-fest thing yesterday. Lots of additional pics here.
• The Rams wore white at home, presumably to force Dallas into wearing their bad luck blues.
• Speaking of the Cowboys: Most of the attention regarding Dallas QB fingers was focused on Romo’s wittle boo-boo pinky, but check out the tape on Brad Johnson’s fingers. Never seen that on a QB before. Anyone know what that might be for?
• And Matt Garza was wearing earplugs in the 1st inning last night — unusual for a home starter. He took them out for the rest of the game. (Screen grab courtesy of L.I. Phil.)
Raffle Reminder: I’m currently raffling of an Ernie Davis throwback Syracuse helmet from Helmet Hut, just like the ones used in The Express. For details, look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I was looking through some old files and came across something I’d written back in 2000: a review of a basketball-themed cereal. I’d completely forgotten about this, but it holds up pretty well as quasi-Uni Watch material. … Lots of photos of Shea Stadium’s dismantling (plus an old article that I hadn’t seen until now) here (courtesy of Stan Olechowski), and there’s a video report here. … And wait, still more Shea demolition pics here. … John Muir notes that the “C” on Roberto Luongo’s mask has changed from blue to white, plus his backplate features a Luc Bourdon memorial decal, much like the ones the rest of the Canucks are wearing. … Great video clip here about the woman who sews the World Series patches on the Phillies’ jerseys. … The Coyotes’ alternate jersey has been leaked. … Some Washington Nats uni gossip here (with thanks to David McGee). … Interesting piece here about making hockey helmets more team-centric, much like in football (with thanks to K.C. Kless). … “You know you’re a Uni Watch addict when you notice a Pedro porthole on Seinfeld,” writes Chris Markham. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Great Rhode Island Reds patch here (good find by Ricko). … Lots going on in this Montclair High School football photo. The “44″ is for a teammate who died a few days ago; not sure if any of the other decals are also memorial-related, or if they’re merit decals; and note the SNOB (school name on back). … Jen Muller reports that Bobby Abreu did the ceremonial “first kick” at a Red Bulls game on Saturday and wore a Red Bulls jesey for the occasion. … Justin Jarvis of Boston College has an eagle logo shaved into his head (with thanks to Dan Snider). … Attention Teebz: The inside story behind the Islanders’ fisherman logo is here, courtesy of a blogger who used to be the team’s PR rep.
October 20th, 2008
Something about this photo struck me. I think it was the amount of “three stripes.” Holy crap, it’s everywhere. And speaking of the three stripes, I found a good story here about who owns stripes. Short version: Adidas owns stripes, and because of that, Adidas owns the NBA, WNBA, and MLS. Stripes everywhere. Even swooshes aren’t that bad. — Bryan
October 19th, 2008
This picture is from Thursday night, when the Red Sox rose from the dead and pushed the ALCS back to Tampa. And this is Jonathan Papelbon, who pitched two scoreless innings according to the linescore, but allowed a pair of inherited runners to score to make it 7-0.
But when your team comes all the way back despite your handiwork, you get to run out on the field and do things like this, or whatever Papelbon is doing above. I fear he may be slightly crazy.
Spotted Friday: Jimmy Rollins with a World Series patch. Also, Mike Timlin was here. Of course, he could just be trying to hide from Papelbon. — Bryan
October 18th, 2008
Mets reliever Ambiorix Burgos has been on quite a roll lately. First he allegedly beat up his girlfriend. Next came allegations of a fatal hit-and-run, followed by an arrest warrant and three months in the clink while awaiting trial. And now, as you can see in the photo above (taken nine days ago, although I wasn’t aware of it until Nelson Saint pointed it out to me yesterday), it turns out he’s been wearing the wrong team’s cap — and smiling about it! Of course, Burgos is no stranger to cap shenanigans, but this seems like a major breach of etiquette. Can’t the Mets now terminate his contract on the grounds of cuckolding or something?
New ESPN conlumn today — here’s the link.
Raffle Reminder: I’m currently raffling of an Ernie Davis throwback Syracuse helmet from Helmet Hut, just like the ones used in The Express. For details, look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The brutal Mr. Met decapitation that I reported yesterday is now up on YouTube. … Big news out of Tampa, where the Bucs plan to wear creamsicle throwbacks next season. … And the Titans may wear Oilers throwbacks. … Nicole Haase tipped me wise to this addictive site, which sells calendars and posters featuring vintage college football graphics (additional examples here, here, here, here, and here). … Also from Nicole: a great Chisox patch and a nice vintage MacGregor ad. … If you insist on referring to hockey jerseys as sweaters, then you’ll want to see this and this (with thanks to Jake Elwell). … Shorpy does it again. … Wanna own John Wooden’s car? You can! … The Tigers are selling off a bunch of authentic stuff tomorrow (with thanks to Brett Crane). … The Diamondbacks’ single-A affiliate, the Visalia Oaks, have renamed themselves the Rawhide and have a new identity system. … Kayce Harris was at Wednesday night’s Nuggets/Jazz preseason game and spotted a few Denver players wearing shinguards. … Startling news from the Meadowlands, where Equipped with Joe the Plumber Skiba now has its own theme song! … Texas Southern’s Willie Parker was having some major nameplate problems last Saturday (with thanks to Chris Mycoskie). … Remember those weird minimalist black uniforms that Oregon wore last season? Looks like they might have a white version this year (good find by Jaison Frank). … George Mason appears to be headed for SODLand.
October 17th, 2008
Okay, so I’ve been on the road for most of the past week or so (more on that in a minute), and I was mostly off the grid during that time, but occasional bits of news managed to trickle my way. So I’m aware, as I’m sure most of you are, that people have been chanting “Off with his head!” at some of Sarah Palin’s recent campaign rallies. At first I assumed this sentiment was directed at Barack Obama. Last night, however, the ugly reality became clear.
I direct your attention to this screen shot from last night’s post-debate analysis. As you can see, a certain enormous-headed sports mascot was among those milling about the Hofstra gym. It’s not clear what he was doing there (there’s gotta be an easier way to sell Citi Field season ticket packages, no?), but it appears to have been a set-up. Check it out: As onlookers watch in horror, an assassin brazenly approaches the hapless mascot, lifts off his head and removes it, leaving the mascot to wander off in disgrace. You can see a slideshow animation of the entire sickening sequence here. Off with his head indeed!
Political implications notwithstanding, this raises all sorts of mascot issues: Has anyone ever seen Mr. Met without his head? Will young Mets fans ever recover from the sight of his decapitation? How big a breach of mascotiquette was this? To address these and other burning issues, I immediately consulted my pal Liz Clayton (who, in addition to being my bandmate in the Forewords, runs the excellent Mascot Stalker site). Her reaction was blunt: “Someone should be FIRED.” And I don’t think she was referring to Omar Minaya (even though I am).
All of those screen shots, incidentally, are courtesy of our own latter-day Abraham Zapruder, L.I. Phil, who also points out that America’s latest national celebrity-for-a-day, Joe the Plumber, has already scored a Nike endorsement deal (although I think that might just be a stylized plumber’s crack logo, not a swoosh).
And to think the Rev. Nørb stood me up to watch rollerderby instead: Speaking of the Forewords, I’m happy to report that our world-debut tour was a big success (despite a typo on the marquee in Minneapolis, something I suspect we’re gonna have to get used to). The audiences were receptive and responsive even though they had no idea what they were in for, and the whole thing came off very smoothly. If any Uni Watch readers were in attendance, I’d be interested in hearing your impressions. Sorry, no video — just this photo (taken by Collateral Gammage at the very beginning of the Madison show) and this photo (taken by reader Tod Foley in Minneapolis), neither of which is particularly illuminating — but I’m sure we’ll be doing more of this, so stay tuned. And if anyone wants to book us for future events, feel free to be in touch.
While I was in Minneapolis, I had a summit meeting with Ricko, which was even more of a treat than I’d anticipated. I knew he had loads of archival files, and I knew he’d done lots of personal artwork. I didn’t realize, however, that he’s also done a lot of commercial artwork or that he’s a big uni collector. But the biggest surprise was that he’s a uni modifier. Small example: See the stripes on these pants? Ricko painted them onto the fabric. Seriously.
I have lots more Ricko stuff to share, but I’m gonna hold onto it for now, cuz I think he might be ESPN material. Gotta show some of this stuff to my editors and see what they think. Details to follow shortly.
After the short Forewords tour, Collateral Gammage and I spent a few days knocking around Wisconsin. The highlight was a visitation to the holiest shrine in all of bowling, Milwaukee’s storied Holler House, whose basement is home to America’s oldest pair of league-sanctioned lanes. They still use live pinboys, and normally you have to call ahead so they can make sure to have some kids on pinsetting duty, but we got lucky by walking in unannounced just as a league was wrapping up, so we convinced the kids to work another coupla games for us. As always, proprietress Marcy Skowronski was a total sweetheart. With the National Liquor Bar closed and Art’s Concertina Bar now having been sold and given a makeover, Holler House now assumes the mantle of my favorite bar in Milwaukee, and hence in America (at least until I make it to the Polish Falcons, which was closed when we swung by but whose bar and lanes look extremely promising).
The rest of the trip was a blur of autumn foliage, corn, soybeans, frozen custard, adorable pets (that’s my friend Kelly Hogan’s pooch, Augie — they hosted us at their house after the Madison show), more bowling sightseeing (that place wasn’t open, but it sure was purty), a visit to the octagon house in Watertown (also closed for the day, but we had fun walking around the grounds), chocolate overload (we hit about half of the outlets mentioned in that article), fun lodging, and my friends/heroes Julie and Johnie (they’re currently featured in this exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum, which we checked out on Sunday before staying at their farm in Whitelaw on Monday night).
All in all, a swell trip, and Tucker and Caitlin didn’t even play hard to get when I got back.
October Raffle: Our friends at Helmet Hut produced the vintage helmets used in the new movie The Express (more info on that here), and now they’ve generously chosen to mark the occasion by having me raffle off an Ernie Davis Syracuse helmet. Like all Helmet Hut products, this one is authentic in every detail and is identical to the one Davis actually wore in his Syracuse days.
To get in on this raffle, send 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 next Tuesday, October 21st. If you’ve enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program, you can send up to four separate e-mail entries; non-members are limited to one entry. And that leads us to…
Membership News: In case you missed it late last week, all new membership program enrollees will now receive a $10 gift card from Distant Replays (not good on clearance items, one gift card per enrollee) — a particularly great deal when you consider that the membership fee is only $15 to begin with. Meanwhile, you can see lots of cool new designs in the membership card gallery.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Cheesecake artist extraordinaire Rob Ullman has done some new pin-up commissions for Uni Watch readers. This one was for my friend Carrie Klein (the illo was a wedding present for her brother and new sis-in-law, who’s shown wearing the Big Papi jersey) and this one was for Uni Watch reader David Kendrick. Then there’s this one, which Rob describes as follows: “Given to friends as a wedding present by my friend Alycia Kiley (it was a challenge making that Bengals jersey look decent).” … Boy, the good old days weren’t so good when it came to mascots. That’s Maryland’s Testudo the Terrapin, circa 1950s (nice find by Andrew Tanker). … That Cardinals prototype jersey that was up for auction (but didn’t sell) back in February appears to be back on the block (with thanks to James Poisso). … “I was in Modell’s today and came across these youth shoulder pads, made by Schutt,” writes Matt Powers. “Look familiar?” … Lots of good stuff currently on eBay, including some vintage stirrups (I may bid on those myself), an old baseball uni with a great sleeve patch, another interesting old baseball uni, a cool old band uniform hat, vintage equipment catalogs from Wilson, Rawlings, and Reach, and Reach again (trust me, that last one’s gonna go for a LOT of money). … Vince reports that the Drudge Report featured a pair of Lake Erie Monsters bobbleheads yesterday. … Jim Bullard just tipped me wise to this site, which makes, among other things replica leather helmets. Also old-timey jerseys, old school baseball gloves, even old-fashioned balls. … Looks like bullpen buggies may be making a comeback in 2010, at least if these guys have anything to say about it. If you poke around the site, you’ll find lots of good old photos. … Here’s one I haven’t seen before: A high school coach in Virginia was so disgusted by his team’s play that he had them change uniforms at halftime. Details here (with thanks to Tris Wykes). … I’m sure you’ve all already discussed the fact that the Texans wore blue socks on Sunday, instead of their usual red. While I would’ve preferred a white sock with blue stripes (to cut down on the leotard effect), I still think the blue hose are much preferable to the red. Let’s hope they stick with this. … The Canucks’ alternate jersey will supposedly look like this. Note that there have been several tweaks, none of them good, to the original logo. … Kevin Wang notes that the Stars’ helmet logo decal, which used to be green outline in gold, is now solid gold. … Is that a cedilla on Pierre Garçon’s NOB? If so, it’s an NFL first (great spot by Chad Stegemiller). … Good article here about the U.S. national soccer team’s jersey prep for World Cup Qualifiers (with thanks to Darin Doughty). … NCAA coaches will be wearing a special armband on October 25th to raise awareness of muscular dystrophy. Details here (courtesy of Corey Buck). … I’m sure there’s something out there stupider than this; I just can’t imagine what it would be. … Remember how Shea Stadium’s outfield wall was painted light green with black distance numbers (instead of dark green with white numbers) during the first homestand of the 1967 season, and how this was the only photo documentation we had? Now Bill Heatley has come up with more. “I dug up some color negatives I took as a 12-year-old on April 20, 1967 — Tom Seaver’s first win,” he writes. “As you can see, the outfield fence is painted light green with dark blue numbers.” Actually, the numbers look black to me, but he’s promised several more (and clearer) photos once he digs out all his old negatives, so stay tuned. … Doug Keklak reports the BC Lions of the CFL have turned their entire helmet decal into a memorial for their late CEO Bob Ackles, who died in July. The official text: “The BC Lions Football Club announced today that players will wear the popular and unique black third jersey combination including the distinctive orange helmet for two home games this season beginning with [October 10th's] tilt versus the Edmonton Eskimos. The 2008 version of the orange helmets will feature a stylized paw logo emblazoned with the name ‘Bob’ in honour of late Lions president and who passed away in July. At the conclusion of the 2008 season, the club will auction off the helmets with net proceeds to benefit the BC Football Hall of Fame -– a project that Ackles began before his passing.” The Lions have a decal on the regular helmet, and also a logo on the field. … Referees in the Division III MIAC used pink whistles last weekend for breast cancer awareness. Thanks to Matt Nelson for the pic.
October 16th, 2008
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