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Archive for November, 2008
Thirty years ago, this past week, The Fumble happened. No, not Earnest Byner’s boo-boo in Denver, The Original Fumble. The “Miracle at the Meadowlands” may be the term used by sportscasters for the fumble recovery that cornerback Herman Edwards returned for a touchdown on November 19, 1978. It may be known to Eagle fans as the “Miracle At The Meadowlands,” but to fans of Big Blue, it’s simply “The Fumble.”
With the game safely in hand at 17-12, the Giants were easily capable of running out the game’s final seconds — all they had to do was take a kneel-down. (The Giants had the ball, the Eagles had no timeouts remaining, and the clock had about 30 seconds.) Everyone watching expected quarterback Joe Pisarcik to simply take the snap and down the ball, running out the clock and preserving a G-Men victory. Instead, he inexplicably attempted to hand it off to fullback Larry Csonka and botched it, allowing Edwards to pick up the ball and run 26 yards for the winning score and a shocking 19-17 victory. The sickening footage can be seen here.
I remember watching this one with my dad, and when it was over and the shock had worn off, I don’t know who was more upset. The Giants had endured many years of futility and pop seemed to think this was just another disappointing loss and bad karma for moving to Jersey. I wanted to punch a nun. Well, it was bad, really bad at the time, and it would take several years for the Giants to recover from this type of ineptitude. It would eventually lead to the dumping of then-head coach John McVay, which paved the way for the hiring of Ray Perkins, and his able assistant Bill Parcells. Pisarcik, Edwards and Csonka will forever be inextricably woven together by The Fumble. For the Iggles, they’d use this play to propel them to playoff births that year and the following year, and eventually a trip to the Big Dance following the 1980 season.
Thirty years and three Super Bowl Victories later, the Giants fan still looks back on this play as perhaps the darkest day in franchise history, but in many respects, it became the catalyst for the good things that followed. (A full analysis of this play and its aftermath is available at Wikipedia.)
Interesting, but not really earth shattering, were the uniforms sported that season. The Giants sported their standard, post-New York, Meadowlands fare, with the “GIANTS” on their helmets (after their 1975 disastrous change to this), and blue jerseys for home games and white for the road. The Eagles were resplendent in their green home jerseys, white aways, matched with silver pants. Their helmets were at this time green with silver wings.
Got a similar “lowlight” in your team’s history? Lets hear it.
“On any given Sunday you’re gonna win or you’re gonna lose. The point is, can you win or lose like a man?” – Phil
November 22nd, 2008
As many of you are already aware, there was a major development in online archiving the other day, as Google announced that they’ll be making Life magazine’s photo archive available on the web. This is kinda like having the key to Ricko’s file cabinet — it’s a bottomless rabbit hole of spectacular imagery.
Having already spent several hours clicking through the pics (which you can access through this portal), I can affirm that the photos — most of which were never published, and many more of which will soon be uploaded — are amazing. To take a simple, random example, look at this. The composition, the angles, the lighting, the expression — it’s a minor masterpiece.
And of course there are tons of great sports photos. I’ve chosen a bunch of them and divided them up into two groups: baseball-related and everything else. And since baseball usually gets top billing around here, let’s turn the tables and start with the non-baseball material for a change.
One logistical note: I’ve linked to smaller versions of the photos, so you can see the captions (which are minimal but usually provide at least the date the photo was shot), but I strongly recommend checking out the larger versions as well, which you can see simply by clicking on the smaller version; in fact, in many cases you’ll have to view the larger versions in order to see some of the details I’m talking about.
Now then (with thanks to the many readers who’ve sent in their faves over the past few days):
• There’s a great sequence of photos that shows these masks being made and worn. Additional pics here, here, and here.
• I’ve frequently run old catalog scans of stripe-adorned basketball shorts, but it’s rare that you see photos of them in action (or, OK, just standing there).
• Interesting uni number placement here. And dig that chenille numbering and lettering!
• Rare to see Muhammad Ali not wearing Everlast trunks.
• There’s a surprising number of photos showing girls playing football (additional shots here, here, here, here, here, and, in a surprisingly racy shot for Life, here).
• Love this shot of SMU’s team plane.
• Always amusing to see football refs wearing button-cuff sleeves.
• The team wearing white in this 1952 shot is Georgia Tech. The other team is Duke, who were doing the monochrome thing way ahead of their time.
• Check out the yard markers here. The line and numerals aren’t chalked over the grass — they were cut down to the dirt and then chalked (or maybe painted).
• Best paper route photo ever.
• Awesome artifact here: a post-game radio script.
• Not sure I’d ever seen a hockey photo with this type of headgear before. Apparently it was common in the college ranks.
• Awesome youth roller hockey photo here, and an even better one here. Honorable mention here.
• I don’t know who this kid was, but he sure was a natural in front of the camera. This must have been one of his teammates — love all the threads dangling of the letters. Mom must have sewn them on in a hurry!
• Now that’s a hockey fight photo.
• Love the handwritten seating sections visible in this shot.
• Great bowling scoreboard here, and some really nice bowling shirt embroidery here and here.
• Softball is almost baseball, but not quite, so we’ll put the softball pics in this entry, beginning with these shirts, which look more like bowling shirts — until you see the uni numbers. And check out the rear-shirt designs here, here, here, and here, plus this zebrafied umpire.
• OK, this is just weird.
• How great is it that Vince Lombardi’s jacket simply said this?
• This is so awesome, on several different levels.
• These kids must have been mascots or junior captains or something like that. Love the fractional uni numbers, but couldn’t they have at least used the same font?
• Must have been a hot day on the gridiron, because the Villanova players were wearing pith helmets!
• Note the plain referee’s shirt here.
• Man, there’s a lot of questionable activity going on in this photo.
• Life must have done a story on basketball ref Jim Enright (no relation, I’m assuming to this Jim Enright), who cut a rather unusual figure in zebra stripes and high-top sneakers. Additional pics here and here.
• Note the differing umpire jacket styles here.
• Sleeved hoops jersey alert! That’s Clemson, essentially wearing T-shirts against a very good-looking NC State team.
• Pure gold here: Roger Staubach with SNOB.
• Here’s a nice one to go out on — thing of beauty.
That’s enough for today. I’ll run the baseball pics in the near future, plus there’s a small group of basketball shots that are presenting such a mystery that I’m planning to give them their own entry, huzzah!
NBA Update: I have a short item about this year’s NBA throwbacks appearing today on Page 2.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I’m a little behind on NHL unveilings, so here are your alts for the Senators (ugh), Kings (doesn’t home plate belong in baseball?), Stars, and Flyers (here’s the rear view). … If you go here, look in the “Multimedia” listing in the right-hand rail, and scroll down to “Michigan’s Throwback Jersey,” you’ll find a nice little video clip on the Michigan hockey team’s new retro threads (thanks to Michael Davis). … Magnificent-looking 1920s basketball uniform catalog available here, and you’ve gotta like this sweater. … Latest Gene Upshaw memorial: Kyle Orton’s cap (courtesy of Paul Mazzarella). … At the risk of offending some of you, family stickers sound like precisely the kind of hellish suburban trope I live in the city to avoid. Or at least that’s what I thought until Brett Crane sent me this. … This very short home movie clip shot at the L.A. Coliseum in 1954 concludes with a shot of this poster. Don’t let the solid-yellow uni make you overlook the white-for-night ball (very nice find by Paul Wiederecht). … “My alma mater, Ohio, celebrated the 40th anniversary of their last MAC championship with 1968 throwback helmets last Saturday against Bowling Green,” writes Tim Burke. Wow — those are my-t-fine, no? … Nicole Haase stumbled across this great archival Wisconsin hockey photo — nice. … Wednesday’s comments featured some discussion of Oregon’s mallard helmet, with several readers suggesting that the duck-ish effect would be more pronounced if the helmet was paired with a yellow facemask, to match the mallard’s bill. Jeremy Brahm points out that the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks used a beak/bill treatment (along with the rest of the hawk’s head, natch) on their batting helmets from 1989-92. … Spectacular article here about the signage and typography in the New York City subway system — high recommended reading (big thanks to Bill Sodeman). … According to this item (sent my way by Dan Thaler), three Dallas players were fined for sock-related uni violations in last Sunday’s Cowboys/’Skins game. One of them was Kevin Burnett (No. 57), who was apparently flagged for wearing high whites. Another was Tony Romo, who you can see here and here — did they really fine him five grand for having a sliver of exposed kneecap, or was it because he appears to have had a small logo of some sort on his right sock? … Some great 1958 Colts/Giants footage (from the regular season, not the championship game) here. … Mizzou is supposedly planning to wear gold against KU (with thanks to Chris Mycoskie). … The Cowboys will be wearing throwbacks against the Niners this weekend. They will not be wearing throwbacks on Thanksgiving — just their regular home whites. … My ESPN colleague Eric Neel has a great new article about the 1958 Buffalo football team (which declined a bowl invitation rather than play without their two black players), and it includes some nice old Buffalo football cover designs. … Laurence Brussels says he recalls a 1970s SI article that mentioned that the Tampa Bay Bucs originally wanted their color scheme to be light green and orange. Anyone know more about this? … “Not sure how many teams across the country do this but Under Armour provides South Carolina with practice jerseys in every opposing team’s color for the scout squad in practice,” writes Beau Franklin. “Gamecocks are off this week, preparing for upstate rival Clemson, so the scout squad is wearing orange.” … The Twins will wear 1982 throwbacks for Saturday home games next year (with thanks to Hugh Gitlin). … Color-vs.-color last night, as Tulsa played Oklahoma State (thanks, Phil). … Trey Phillips notes that Ball State players are wearing an “86″ decal — what’s that about? … Speaking of Ball State, Central Michigan wore gold jerseys while playing against them the other night, and it didn’t look as bad as I’d expected. … Jonathon Binet found some unsual shots of Mike Mussina: as a collegiate, as a minor leaguer, not wearing his usual No. 35, and running the bases. Interestingly, he’s wearing a left-handed batting helmet in that last shot, which I initially thought must have been an equipment snafu, but it turns out he batted lefty. … Upside-down “8″ alert: Dice-K, from his Fenway debut (good spot by Steve Michaels, who also sent along this). … Mike Regan reports that the Kitchener Rangers had special jerseys and trading cards for Remembrance Day (a nicer treatment than last year’s, I’d say). “This ‘Valour’ jersey is based on the jersey that armed forces personnel wore in Europe during and after WWII,” he writes. “The three stripes that replicate the stripes on the ribbon of the Medal of Military Valour, which is awarded to members of the Canadian Forces (or allied forces serving in conjunction with Canadian Forces) for ‘an act of valour or devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy.’” … There are just too many uni-related things going on in this photo for my poor little brain to process. … Spent yesterday afternoon eating oysters and drinking beer with R&B DJ extraordinaire Mr. Finewine out in Sheepshead Bay, where I was surprised to see one of these signs on the kitchen wall.
November 21st, 2008
OK, so it’s not really snowing (at least not in Brooklyn), but I’m calling a snow day anyway. Site’s closed until tomorrow morning — no content, no comments, no fooling. Use the time to do something productive (like checking out our advertisers for some early holiday shopping). I’ll see you tomorrow. — Paul
November 20th, 2008
Editor’s Note: I’ve made it pretty clear what I think about Nike’s Oregon shenanigans. But what about fans who actually live in Oregon? Happily, our own Jeremy Brahm hails from the Beaver State and has generously offered to provide the local perspective. I’ll have more Oregon info after his report. — PL]
By Jeremy Brahm
I will start with the following: I am a native of this great state, did not attend Oregon or Oregon State but have friends who attended both, have seen games at Reser (Parker) Stadium and Autzen Stadium, followed both programs growing up, and have lived and died with their challenges.
When I was a child, the Blazers were at the top of people’s sports priorities in Oregon, because they’d won the 1977 NBA title. The Ducks’ track program was dominant and the Beavers’ basketball program was a contender, but the both schools’ football teams were atrocious. Between 1964 and 1988, the Ducks managed five six-win seasons — in an 11-game season, that meant few bowl games. The Beavers were just as bad: After winning seven games in 1970, they didn’t win seven again until 1999.
1989 was the beginning of a rebirth of the Ducks program, with a trip to the Independence Bowl after a 7-4 season. In 1994, the Ducks did the impossible and went to the Rose Bowl against Penn State. I attended the Civil War game that year at then-Parker Stadium to see the Ducks win in the cold and rain, 17-13. I was there with one Japanese friend, who was studying at OSU, along with Oregon classmates from my time in Japan. The colors of the two schools are very distinct, and at the game you could see Ducks fans in the yellow and green the Beavers fans in their orange and black (more of the latter, of course, since the game was played in the Beavers’ stadium).
This is what the Ducks wore at that Rose Bowl — very traditional, as you can see. Several years later, in 1998, the Ducks and Nike introduced the mallard helmet with its single O (at the time, they didn’t know they’d put it on both sides of the helmet). Most people outside of the state don’t realize that the O is for two different homes of the Ducks — Hayward Field for the inner O and Autzen, after expansion, for the outer O.
Since then, the Ducks have worn all sorts of unusual designs. I will say this: As an Oregonian, I know which team I’m watching when I see a Ducks game on television. And when I was growing up, you wouldn’t see people wearing much Oregon gear, except for the obligatory college sweatshirt. Now you see it all over.
I’ll admit that Nike does go too far with the Ducks at times, but younger fans like it because they’re always looking for what they’ll come out with next, and older fans could care less, they just want the Ducks to win. The all-yellow look probably made most people here cringe, but one of the slogans for the Ducks is “Yell-O” (scream, “O” for Oregon, get it?). As for what others might think about the uniforms, I’d say Oregonians could care less about that too, which is probably a trait of this state, because we’re so distant from the rest of the country and major markets. We like seeing that we’re getting some recognition for something other than rain and Tonya Harding.
The ones who are bothered the most by Oregon’s uniforms are probably Oregon State and their fans, who resent that the Ducks get so much attention at the beginning of the season and love to watch them fail as the season progresses. The Beavers also believe the Ducks get things from Nike without earning them, such as unveiling a new uniform design when your team has three loses into a season for football. I would agree with this one.
As for Nike, Oregonians generally love the company because it’s a local brand gone global. I’ve worn Nikes since I was a kid and I still buy them — not all the time, but it’s one of my preferred brands. Most Oregonians realize that the university and Nike are joined at Phil Knight’s hip, which at times can make for strange circumstances. For example, Kevin Love, who’s from the Oregon town of Lake Oswego, actually chose not to attend Oregon because he had the audacity (in Nike’s opinion) to play at an Adidas camp because it had better players. After that incident, he went to UCLA and has worn Adidas since. He was one of the best high school players in Oregon history but he crossed the swoosh and the Ducks, and people here have not forgiven him. We like to see our own stay here and succeed, but it doesn’t always happen that way.
If it quacks like a douchebag duck…: Paul here. Big thanks to Jeremy for giving us the local take on all this, and for his countless contributions to the site.
Meanwhile, here’s yet more Oregon news: Ducks coach Mike Bellotti participated in a conference call yesterday, during which Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Bud Withers asked several questions about the Oregon/Nike design process. I wasn’t on the call, but reader Travis Demers had access to the audio and sent it to me as an MP3 file, which I’ve transcribed as follows:
Bud Withers: Mike, since your game last week wasn’t on TV, as you pointed out, did you guys wear the black helmets, or are those still in the box?
Mike Bellotti: We did, we wore ’em. We wore the black helmets and the black uniforms. Too bad you didn’t get a chance to see it, it looked awesome.
Withers: Huh, OK. Are these things, these innovations, just gonna keep on coming, or is there a limit to this?
Bellotti: No, they’re gonna keep on coming. You know, our tradition is innovation. So that’s become the buzzword, and I think the new uniforms are the lightest ever made, they’re reinforced in the shoulders, because of the lightness, to allow them to be usable over a longer period of time. The uniform we unveiled [this past Saturday] was sort of a special uniform. I think we’ll have this set for one more year, and then we’ll go into production for some new — y’know, a whole revamping for 2010. And now we have four helmets to choose from.
Withers: Can you explain what the process is? Does someone from Nike come to you and say, “Here’s the latest thing we’re looking at,” and then you screen them or something?
Bellotti: Yeah. We actually, uh — y’know, this was kind of a surprise to everyone. This was more of a one-shot deal that Nike wanted to do, and we had a chance to have input to it. And this was not with our players — this was just me as a coach. And we, I said some certain things, suggested this and that, and they came back with a prototype, and we said, “Yeah, that’s awesome, let’s go with it.” But when we go to the full uniform line, we involve our players. There’s a group right now, of younger players, freshmen and sophomores, who are meeting with the design people at Nike on a regular basis to kind of put ideas together for our future uniforms. And that’s a combination of color ideas, style ideas, just the whole look. And that will be the geneis, or — the next wave.
Withers: And your sense, I think, in the past has been that this is important to the players, correct?
Bellotti: Yeah — well — yeah, I think it’s imp.. — they, they love having some ownership in it. They love having some creative input. The reality is that they’re helping to design what they’re gonna wear, sort of like picking your own clothes. The other thing is that it does appeal to other people out there. And even if it doesn’t [appeal] to some, they’re talkin’ about it.
First, let’s all chip in and buy Bud Withers a computer and an internet connection, so he can see photos of games that he can’t get on his wind-up TV machine. Second: Whoa, “picking your own clothes” — revolutionary! Third: So the moral of the story is that even if something’s very, very stupid, all that really matters is that everyone’s talking about it. Hey, it worked (read: didn’t work) for Sarah Palin, so why not?
But what interested me most is that Withers and Bellotti both described last Saturday’s helmet as being black. And yeah, while it was technically a very dark green, c’mon, for practical purposes it’s black. Which is very interesting considering what Nike’s Tinker Hatfield told me back in 2006: “[A black helmet for the Ducks] was discussed — some players thought it’d be pretty cool. But I didn’t think it would be right, out of respect for Oregon State, because they have black helmets. So I vetoed any black helmet.” I’ve e-mailed Hatfield to ask him why he’s changed his tune on this one (and no, Matt Powers, you cannot have his e-mail address), but so far no response.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Canterbury, a New Zealand-based outfitter specializing in high-tech rugby gear, is moving into the soccer market (with thanks to Matt Brukman). … Gorgeous game-used 1950s Pirates uniform available here (with thanks to Ryan Connelly). … Iowa high school football observations from Jesse Gavin: (1) This guy’s name isn’t Pride. That’s Sioux City Heelan’s team, and they all wear “Pride” nameplates. (2) Between the hip, the shoulder, the helmet, and the pride stickers, West Lyon is bordering on paw print overload. … Steve May reports that The Vancouver Sun recently held a contest in which they invited kids to design an alternate Canucks jersey. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: We missed yet another Gene Upshaw sleeve tribute, this time by Tennessee’s David Thornton. … Great illustration from last week’s New Yorker. … In yesterday’s comments, someone asked about the connection between Jerry West and the NBA logo. As I explained in a comment of my own, a very good story on that subject was written a few years ago. Oddly, it’s no longer on the web, but I have a printout of it and made a scan of it yesterday — you can read it by clicking through the six images shown here (for each page, click on the thumbnail and then click on “All Sizes” on the resulting screen to get a legible-sized version — a hassle, but it’s worth it). Contrary to what the article implies, however, the NBA logo isn’t based on this photo — it’s based on this one. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The Niners are making a green dot switcheroo. … Not sure exactly what’s going on here, but Ryan Perkins sent it my way. … Brendon Yarian notes that Da’Rel Scott has “Faith” written on his wrist tape. … What do you do if your basketball program’s in the toilet, your most famous uniform element was your coach’s sweater, and your team is called the Red Storm? You do the same damn thing as everyone else: break out the black uniforms. Additional evidence of the world losing its mind here. … When the Cowboys acquired their second Roy Williams, we all started wondering what they’d do about the two players’ jersey nameplates. And the answer, of course, was nothing — they both just wore “Williams.” But Gordon Reid appears to have found a spot where their names are styled differently: on their helmet nameplates. Dig: The Williams who plays on offense has an unusually long Dymo Tape name label on his helmet — too long for just his surname. Compare that to this preseason shot of the other Williams. Looks like the new Williams must have his first and middle initials on the label, or some other identifier. … Speaking of Oregon, they did the blank-uni thing last night.
November 19th, 2008
Remember Matt Stover’s Gene Upshaw memorial sleeve band/patch thingie? It was pointed out in yesterday morning’s comments that Brian Dawkins was wearing an Upshaw armband (or maybe just a sleeve patch on a black undershirt) this past Sunday, as you can see above. Much later in the day, someone said Dawkins (who, like Stover, is a union rep) had been wearing the arm-borne memorial all season. And sure enough, he has, as seen in these pics from September 21st and 28th, October 5th, 12th, and 26th, and November 2nd. How is it possible that none of us pointed this out until now? We’re all slipping, people.
New ESPN column today — here’s the link. Meanwhile, here’s your Ticker, which for a change doesn’t even include the word “douchebag.”
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Trail Blazers will retire the No. 30 twice in December, honoring Terry Porter and Bobby Gross. This is apparently only the third time an NBA team has retired a number on behalf of two players: The Knicks retired No. 15 in honor of Dick McGuire and Earl Monroe, and the Celtics retired No. 18, worn by Dave Cowens and Jim Loscutoff (with thanks to Dane Drutis). … Bob Wilzbach reports that the Dayton Bombers wore Troy Bruins throwbacks on Friday (note the very small “A” designation). “The Troy Bruins were an IHL team that played at Hobart Arena, where the Bombers now play, from 1951-1959.” He also notes that the Johnstown Chiefs now have ads on their chests (not unusual for minor league hockey) and their rear shirttails — ugh. … Yesterday I mentioned that the Padres had made uniforms for their proposed 1974 move to DC and asked if anyone knew what those uniforms looked like. Todd Radom to the rescue! … Best Onion cover ever (thanks, Phil). … Lots of helmet oddities in this photo of a Pinewood Prep (S.C.) player. Michael Orr says he doesn’t know why the helmet number doesn’t match the jersey number, or what the “POP” or “LM” decals are for, but he says this guy, from the same team, was clearly wearing his mismatched socks and leg bands on purpose. … Like the looks of this? Bid on it here. … Additional very nice letterman jackets here, here, here (that’s a women’s jacket), and here (ditto), plus some really nice varsity sweaters here, here, here, and here. And here’s the kicker: Check out the amazing little metal pins here. … The New York Times is shuttering its quarterly sports mag, Play, which reminds me of the following tale: When the Vikings were slated to be designing what is now their uniform — this was at least a year before the uni was actually unveiled — I approached the Play folks with the idea of a behind-the-scenes feature in which I’d follow the design process each step of the way (obviously, I’d have needed access to be granted by the team, league, and Reebok) and show how a new NFL uniform design comes to fruition. An editor — I don’t recall which one, alas — wrote back to me with the following: “That sounds great — assuming anyone actually cares how a uniform is designed.” He passed on the story. … We’ve all seen plenty of old baseball jerseys with a sun collar or cadet collar, but it’s rare that you see a piping-clad sun collar. Details here. … I’m so biased and mean toward poor, innocent little Nike that I’m going to link to this mean, biased article about Nike soccer cleats that smell like cat pee after they get wet (really!), even though I wouldn’t have known anything about it if Craig Ackers hadn’t sent the article my way, so I guess he’s a Nike-basher too, whee! … Dave Gardner notes that the Canadiens’ 1947-48 throwbacks don’t have the scoop hemline. … Great interview here with the guy who signals for the TV timeouts at Browns home games (thanks, Vince). … During last season’s Winter Classic, the Pens wore navy helmets with navy straps. But now that they’ve unveiled essentially that same jersey as an alternate, they’re pairing it with navy helmets with white straps. … Speaking of the Pens’ alts, here’s a schedule of when they’ll be worn (with thanks to Doug Keklak). … Morris Levin sent along his favorite shot from the Phils’ victory parade. … The Rangers had a kid from the Garden of Dreams Foundation drop the first puck last night, and check out his NOB, complete with small caps for the “of” (with thanks to A.J. Frey). … Brady Quinn’s green dot was missing last night. … Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson briefly lost his mask last night (thanks, Phil). … An Italian soccer team is trying a new uni-related strategy (with thanks to Roger Faso). … The Kings’ alt jersey has been leaked.
November 18th, 2008
The weather is getting colder, which means we’re once again seeing lots of helmet decal problems. The poster boy for this phenomenon yesterday was Lance Briggs, whose “C” was flapping in the breeze during Sunday’s Bears/Packers game.
But that’s nothing compared to what happened on Saturday to Minnesota RB Shady Salamon, whose helmet decal was literally knocked clean off of his hat by a vicious head-to-head hit. The play in question has been preserved for posterity here — wait for the slo-mo replay to see a piece of Salamon’s brain Salamon’s decal landing several feet away from the point of impact. This ranks up there with this all-time great photo (here’s another view of the same play — the flying numeral is near the ball-carrier’s hands) in the knocked-his-block-off sweepstakes.
Please join me in thanking reader John Okray, who provided all of the Briggs and Salamon screen grabs and video captures. Great work, Johnny.
Vuke Revisited: No explanation yet regarding Pete Vuckovich’s mismatched cleats, but two readers had some interesting uni-related stories to tell about Vuke. First, from Jeff Ash:
I worked on the sports desk at the Wisconsin State Journal newspaper in Madison in the ’80s. One night, we ran a picture of Vuke from spring training. We picked the photo from a negative and didn’t see it full-size until the paper came up.
Unseen on the negative was that Vuke had drawn the finger on his glove. He was flipping our readers the bird in full color.
It is the only time in my 30 years in the business that we ever stopped the presses, but we stopped them immediately. One of our production guys grabbed the plates and etched out the finger as best we could. Those were the more primitive days before Photoshop. Wish I’d kept the papers as proof.
And then there’s this from Doug Keklak:
One of the things I always remember from Vuke’s days as the Pirates’ pitching coach was that no matter the weather, he always, ALWAYS wore that dugout jacket. And this was before all those breezers and windshirts and stuff were around — this was the heavy, quilted/lined Starter/Majestic jacket. One of the cool parts of this story was something his son once told me (we both worked at the Pirates clubhouse store in a Johnstown mall): The only time Pete went sans jacket was when they wore Homestead Grays Negro League throwbacks. He said that out of respect he didn’t wear the jacket and cover the jersey. Pretty cool.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Great 1937 Idaho Vandals team portrait here. Really interesting stripe patterns there (with thanks to Geoff Baker). … The Flyers will unveil their third jersey tomorrow. … Turns out I’m not the only one who thinks the words “Nike” and “toilet paper” belong together (courtesy of Brinke Guthrie). … Auburn’s Virgil Starks memorial decal, first worn on Saturday, looks like this. … While vintage-shopping over the weekend, I came across this beautiful nurse’s cape, which featured a really wonderful shoulder patch. … “I was at the Arkansas/Southeastern Louisiana basketball game last night and saw something I’d never seen before,” writes Charlie Shields. “SLU’s starting five wore uniform Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.” … Oh goodie, the first down line is now a vehicle for corporate advertising, hoo-fucking-ray (with thanks to Michael Romero). … Some very cool old footage in this video tribute to Herb Score (with thanks to Mike Menner). … Douchebags. … Good article here about the Pens’ light-blue alternates (with thanks to Chris Hilf). … Arizona State wore late-’70s throwback helmets on Saturday. Here’s a close-up, courtesy of Randy Policar. … ” Please, please, find a photo of the Mississippi Valley State basketball warm-ups,” writes Brian Cobb. “They are short-sleeve hooded (yes, HOODED) sweatshirts with ‘VALLEY’ printed midway down the back. They’re the most ridiculous garments I’ve ever seen grace a basketball court.” If anyone has pics, let’s see ’em. … Super-wide nameplate lettering on 1980s Giants center Jim Clack (as captured by Jere Smith, who says he spotted something similar on the jersey of Green Bay’s Randy Scott in footage of a 1985 game but wan’t able to get a screen shot). … Two nice finds by Josh Handler, both from Game 3 of the 1997 ALCS: Jeff Juden wearing No. 7 on the mound and Brady Anderson wearing a helmet-borne shout-out to teammate Eric Davis, who was battling colon cancer at the time. … My friend Rob Walker (who runs the excellent Murketing site) had a good column about logo creep in yesterday’s New York Times Magazine. … How does a placekicker’s jersey become a hot-selling item? When a rock star wears it (with thanks to Chris Flinn). … Jonathan Sluss reports an interesting detail regarding the Virginia Tech women’s soccer team: “It appears they wear merit decals on their right sleeves. I am not aware of any other soccer teams that do this. The decal they use is what’s known as ‘Hokie Tracks’ — basically turkey footprints, which are used around campus and by some club teams, but this is the first instance I can think of them being used by a varsity team.” … Rather rote video treatment of personalized eye black messages here (with thanks to Trey Phillips). … We all know the Padres almost moved to DC in 1974, which is why Topps made cards like this one. What you might not know — and what I didn’t know until Morris Levin told me about it yesterday — is that new uniforms had been made for the team’s new locale: “In the first edition of Total Baseball (published in 1989 and edited by John Thorn and Pete Palmer), the Padres team history on page 88 reads: ‘Owner C. Arnholt Smith decided early in 1974 to sell the franchise to a buyer who planned to move the team to Washington, DC. New uniforms had been manufactured and the club’s files were packed for the move…” Anyone know more about these uniforms? … New Sens alts have been leaked. … One of major problems in American pop culture right now is that every good idea gets overdone to death until you no longer remember that it was a good idea to begin with. Case in point: This was clever, but this is asinine, and you just know he’s gonna keep doing it every fucking week now. Way to go, Jevon — you’ve gone from creative to lame-o in the space of seven days. … Nice eBay find by Jared Peterson. Note the chain-stitched NOB! … The Pirates wore NOBs in 1991, so Doug Keklak want to know why Jim Leyland going NNOB on the day they clinched the ’91 N.L. East title. And in case you’re wondering: The right-sleeve patch is a memorial H for former equipment manager John Hallahan, and the left-sleeve patch is a now-forgotten alternate logo based on the team’s 1987 centennial patch.
November 17th, 2008
…uniform. This is mine. Got it in, oh…1972-ish.
It’s a beauty, eh? Having been birthed a Mets fan, I got into baseball as soon as I could talk. Used to watch Mets games at my pop’s knee on the old WOR Channel 9 here on Long Island. Loved it then, love it now…despite the dearth of World Series titles (two in my life: 1969 and 1986 — the first of which I don’t even remember, although Dad was at Game 4 at Shea — you know, the game where Ron Swoboda announced himself to the world).
So, roundabout 1972, I begged and pleaded with mom and dad to pleeeeeeease get me a New York Mets uniform for Christmas. Actually, I think I begged Santa to do the dirty work (as I was still a believer then). Whenever I mentioned Santa to dad, he always chuckled, and told me the “jolly old man” would see what he could do. He also told me Santa was always jolly because he knew “where all the bad girls lived.” Apples don’t fall far from the tree.
So, I awoke one December morning to find this under the fake tree. And, what a happy young man I was. In fact, the only time I was happier is when I beat Michael J. Fox at Jenga. I couldn’t wait for spring so I could parade my new duds on the field … and wear that beauty to Shea.
I can’t remember the day or the date of my first 1973 game, but I do know it was warm enough to wear the uniform. I arrived early with my dad, but not early enough to catch BP or get autographs. No matter, I was at Shea, in my gear, and I was in heaven — until about the 7th inning.
You see, there was this black-haired kid, probably about two years older than me, a couple of rows away. He was wearing a “McGovern 72″ T-shirt, sweatpants, and had a lefty glove. And he took one look at me and pointed out that there were, um, certain inconsistencies in my uniform. My jersey AND the pants both contained piping. And, of course, neither the 1972 nor the 1973 Mets uniforms had this feature (on the homes). I was also not properly stirruped. *Sigh* Also, at the time, the uniform was lacking the left shoulder patch.
So I set about to remedy the uniform sitch as best as possible. I found a patch in a catalog, which I made mom sew on. I located a pair of stirrups in a sporting goods store (yes, they’re not proper royal Mets blue, but they were as close as I could find). And I begged mom to take the piping off the uniform, but she refused, explaining that would render the uniform more worthless than reichmarks at the end of World War II. So, I made do the best I could.
I’ll always remember that first uniform (and I thank god mom saw fit so somehow keep it all these years … who knew it’d come in so handy for a UW column?). Of course, I still love my Mets gear, even own a couple jerseys and a boatload of T-shirts. But you already knew that.
So what about you guys? You got a “first uniform”? Love to hear about it.
And if I ever run into that kid from Shea, I don’t know whether to punch him in the mouth, or thank him for continuing my uniform obsession.
The rose goes in the front, big guy. — Phil Hecken
November 16th, 2008
We’re here today to bring you the annual Uni Watch changing of the god guard. As you know, Bryan Redemske has just completed his tour of duty and Phil Hecken is beginning his. With that, UW brings you an excerpt of Bryan’s exit interview with new intern bench coach Phil.
PH: Bryan, thanks for all your work. How’s this thing work?
BR: When relevant content is short, you can make fun of most anything. It helps when Carlos Guillen is around, but in a pinch you can go with Miguel Cabrera or pretty much any NBA player.
PH: No, I mean, THIS thing…the “ban” button
BR: OH, that…
PH: I can ban people, right?
BR: Not only can you ban people, you can look up IP addresses and e-mail accounts. And from there, you can find out where they live, how much they make and through which bank they got a car loan.
PH: Frikkin’ sweet. Should I be careful of making fun of people?
BR: For maximum impact, a finding a high schooler is key. First, they’ll almost always look like idiots (I know I did). Second, it totally drives up the page hits. And that’s called “value-added content.”
PH: Does Mr. Lukas like heavy starch, and cream or sugar?
BR: Actually, you’ll find it interesting to know that Paul exists mostly on brisket, pulled pork and Diet Coke. By the way, I schedule my brisket deliveries for Tuesdays.
PH: Is it true you once won a bicycle race with only one tire and no chain?
BR: Totally untrue. I won it without a bike. And I was wearing flip-flops at the time.
PH: What’s this hockey thing I keep hearing aboot?
BR: It’s like soccer, only with sticks and shit.
PH: Soccer?
BR: Yeah, soccer. It’s big in Japan, apparently.
PH: Will the Cubs ever win a World Series?
BR: Yes. Simple law of averages. If the Phillies can win two, while also being the losingest team in sports history, surely one of two teams with 10,000 wins can win another.
PH: Well, sounds like fun. Any last words, before we send this off to the readers?
BR: Yeah, clowns suck at football. Remember that.
And so begins Phil’s reign of terror tenure as bench coach. Be nice, he still has his training wheels.
Stay gold, pony boy…
– Phil Hecken
November 15th, 2008
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