What’s that red hankie with the handwritten note? It’s Packers coach Mike McCarthy’s challenge flag, which is apparently inscribed with a personal note from his wife (or let’s hope that’s who it’s from). Green Bay Press-Gazette photographer Corey Wilson got a few shots of the red flag and then blogged about it — great stuff. As you may recall, McCarthy is also in the habit of wearing a Sharpie clipped to his cap, so let’s close out 2009 by naming him the Uni Watch Coach of the Year. (Special thanks to Brennan Feldhausen for bringing this one to my attention.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: All my life I’ve been waiting for striped socks for chairs and didn’t even realize it (big thanks to Steven Brown). … Fred Jackson “D III” eye black has earned him a $5000 fine (with thanks to Casey Barcomb). … Here’s something you don’t often see for sale: a men’s roller derby uniform. … And here’s a real prize: a Colts marching band uniform! That’s gonna go for big bucks, methinks. … Don’t think I’ve ever seen corduroy basketball shorts before. They don’t appear to match the jersey, but whatever — still an interesting find. … Love the blue/yellow striping on this old leather football helmet. … And I’m a sucker for this kind of basketball uni. … Last graf of this story indicates that Cincy will be wearing white helmets in the Sugar Bowl. … What do the Blue Jackets and the Arizona football team have in common? Their NOBs feature a mix of capital and lowercase letters (as pointed out separately by Phil and Alan Kreit). … Bob Loblaw really needs to get this cap, no? Part of this collection (big thanks to my old pal Christine Freeman). … Jamie Bassett’s grandmother got these Texas Tech salt and pepper shakers for Xmas. … Cool craft project by Nate Budziszewski, who used perler beads to make these Tecmo icons. “So far I’ve only made the Tecmo Bos that Nike recently put on its trainer shoe,” he says. “But next I’ll make some logos and stuff, and I’m going to try to make NHL93 players. Its fairly easy to do and the end result is pretty cool.” … Ted Craig says he was on line to buy Nats tickets back in 2008 when he bumped into a guy with this tattoo. … I had heard that several Wisconsin players were wearing Adidas’s new Powerweb pants the other night (that’s the same technology they’re using for a lot of the World Cup uniforms), but I hadn’t seen any visuals until Barry Moss sent this screen shot.
Holiday Schedule: Phil has a special entry planned for New Year’s Day, so he’ll take a rare Friday turn at the helm tomorrow and also have his usual Saturday entry. I’ll be covering for him on Sunday, which happens to be his birthday. Would you believe he’s turning 29?
As for the impending turn of the calendar, a few thoughts: First, as most of you know, this has been a tough year for my family, and I’ve recently had to deal with a few other difficult situations as well. I’m hardly unique in that regard, of course — lots of people go through tough stretches. But most of those other people don’t have a bunch of of wonderful readers offering all sorts of kind words and moral support. It’s no exaggeration to say that the Uni Watch community helped get me through this year, and that’s on top of your daily contributions and observations that make this project so great. My sincere thanks to all of you.
That brings me to my second point, which is this: Eleven years ago tomorrow, I made the only new year’s resolution of my life, which was to create and sell a column devoted to uniforms. Just goes to show that it’s entirely possible to keep a resolution, as long as it’s not something absurd like losing 10 pounds or cleaning out the garage. Repeat after me: “This year I will create a media project that totally changes my life.” See how easy?
Finally, boys and girls, please remember New Year’s Eve is for amateurs. See you in 2010.
“I am not going to lie,” says Robert Marshall. “I worked my ass of cobbling and bobbling to make sure everybody got their bobbleheads in time for the holidays.” Shown above is video of a special Rollie Fingers model he made — love the ’stache.
“I have stopped even trying to keep the cats out of the videos,” Robert says, and that’s fine by me. Here’s one with kitty Jesco, who hopped up on Robert’s old tube radio because it offered some warmth on a cold winter’s night:
For more bobble vids, look here and click on “see all” under the thumbnails.
New ESPN column today — the obligatory “Decade in Review” piece, and I don’t mind saying it’s pretty damn killer. Check it out.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Temple wore early-1990s throwbacks on Monday night. “They also played the game in their old athletic facility, McGonigle Hall, which they haven’t called home since 1997,” says Michael Tucci. … Here’s another cool wedding item — customized Louisville Sluggers from Larry Wiederecht’s ceremony in 1993. “He was working at the National Association at the time and was involved with the winter meetings trade show, which featured exhibitors such as Louisville Slugger,” explains brother Paul Wiederecht. “So he had them make miniature bats for everyone at the reception, and also had full-size versions of our father’s Slugger model from his playing days for everyone in the wedding party.” … Ian Anderson’s sister had a Redskins jersey turned into a purse. … Second graf of this item implies that NHL teams can’t sell game-worn jerseys. That can’t be right, can it? Details, please (as noted by Kenn Tomasch). … Even the Bengals’ cheerleaders are memorializing Chris Henry (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Back in a 2005 ESPN column, I wrote that “Ara Parseghian added [stenciled] blue stars to [Notre Dame's] helmets in the early 1970s for making outstanding plays.” But now Dan Cichalski, having read Jim Dent’s book Resurrection, reports that Parseghian actually began the practice in 1964, for players who made interceptions. … Ridiculously detailed analysis of the UNC hoops team’s shoes here, with a photo gallery here. … Bizarre scene in last night’s Miami/Wisconsin bowl game (sorry, I can’t bring myself to say the official name), as Miami players were wearing one orange/white shoe and one green/white (thanks, Phil). … The Chicago Wolves, an AHL team, will wear special jerseys to honor the local police and fire departments next mont (with thanks to Jonathan Cain). … A few weeks ago I mentioned that Tris Wykes was hoping to get this old football, originally used in the 1903 Dartmouth/Harvard game, restored. He’s now written an extensive account of the ball’s history and the lore surrounding it. Check it out here.
Classic Auctions is different than the other auction houses whose wares I’ve recently covered. They’re based in Delson, Quebec, so most of what they offer is either hockey- or Canada-related. They’ve had some absolutely spectacular items up for bid lately. Here’s a sampling (in each case, click on the thumbnails for much larger photos):
• This 1930s hockey jersey features something I’d never seen before: a curved northwestern stripe!
• There’s something extremely endearing about the simplicity of this fish crest. Oddly, the team was called the Fishermen, so shouldn’t the fish be hooked on a line, or hauled up in a net, or something along those lines?
• Oooh, how sweet is this old New York Americans jacket? Looks like it would be too big for me, but I’d happily gain weight and have arm-lengthening surgery for a chance to wear that baby out in public.
• I’ve seen throwback reproductions of the old Quebec Aces design, but I think this is the first time I’ve seen an authentic vintage example.
• Something really nice about the simplicity of this pennant.
• This Canadiens jacket and this Bruins cardigan are both a little generic-feeling for my tastes, but I love how the swash under each team name script has “N.H.L.” — like, just in case you weren’t sure.
• I would’ve bought a lot more hockey cards as a kid if they’d come in this wrapper.
(Special thanks to Paul Wiederecht, who first tipped me wise to Classic Auctions.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Birthday boy Jack Krabbe recently found himself on an airplane sitting next to a kid with an Orioles logo tattoo. It’s tough to be sure, but it looks like it includes the team’s upside-down apostrophe. … Color-on-color alert! “That’s Here’s the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL in their red Canadian Olympic-themed ‘home’ uniforms, taking on the Alaska Aces in Victoria, BC, on Sunday, Dec. 27,” says Mark Snider. “Normally, the home team wears white during the first half of the ECHL season, then they shift to the dark uniforms at home after the league’s all-star game. But the Salmon Kings introduced their red alternate duds in honor of the upcoming Olympics.” … Several of the Vikings’ NOBs were riding seriously low last night (as noted by Jackson Bungart). … The Pennsylvania Dept. of Transportation is using a new, more legible font for their highway signage (with thanks to Todd Bingman). … Terry Proctor is gonna flip when he sees what I just won on eBay. … According to a sentence in the middle of this page, Miami will be wearing their riflery uniforms for their bowl game tonight (with thanks to Sam Miret).
Quiet day in the NFL yesterday, at least uni-wise, so let’s skip the football today and look at something else. To wit: Back in January I wrote an entry about the excellent Vintage Minnesota Hockey site. I hadn’t visited that site in a while, but a few days ago I learned that they’d uncovered something pretty fascinating. Here — take a look.
As you can see, the logo on those jerseys is different from the standard North Stars logo. Different TV number font, too. So was that a minor league team wearing a knockoff logo? Nope — those were your Minnesota North Stars, as they looked during their inaugural preseason in 1967. They apparently went to the more familiar logo when the regular season started, but the preseason logo variation ended up appearing on magazine covers, hockey cards, publicity stills, and so on.
Maybe this is old news to serious hockey fans (and to Ricko, who no doubt attended several of those 1967 preseason games), but it was an absolute revelation to me. According to the Vintage Minnesota Hockey site’s analysis of the situation (which you can find in the middle of this page):
We are not 100% [sure] as to how long this style of logo was used but think it may have only been for the Stars’ pre-season games from October 11-16. In looking at other early photos of the Stars 1967 season, one can see that the players’ crests appear to be adhered or taped onto the jerseys loosely. We think that the public, owners, or graphic artist hired to produce the N-Stars logo and number font hated the appearance of the early jerseys [and] stripped them off and re-worked the logo and numbers and re-cut twill for these jerseys that was then later sewn on.
Faaaascinating. So amazing to think that a team could just tweak its logo on the fly back in those days. Reminds me of the ’62 Mets, who announced that their uniform would look like this on 1/19/62 and then eliminated the script’s tail and the striped socks in time for spring training a month later.
Anyway, did everyone else already know about this early version of the North Stars’ logo? Fill me in, people.
One final note: If you go back to that first photo I linked to, you can see that the pants had lace-up flies. Don’t think we’ve ever discussed that element of hockey pants. Was it common in the late ’60s?
Deep Freeze Update: If you’re planning on attending the Uni Watch Deep Freeze in Minneapolis next month (Jan. 22-24), Ricko and Teebz need to hear from you so they can confirm a block of rooms at the local Ramada, which is currently quoting a rate of $71.20 per night. If you want in, please e-mail Teebz immediately and let him know how many nights you’re in for, how many people, etc.
Research Project: I’m currently working on my “Most Unusual Uni Moments of the Decade” column, which will run on ESPN on Wednesday. It’s shaping up as a doozy (so many interesting incidents I’d forgotten about until I went back through my archives), but contributions and nominations are still welcome. If you have any suggestions, contact me asap.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Here are some ideas for next season’s Winter Classic. … Cooperstown Ballcap Co. has gone belly-up (sad news delivered by Paul Ziobro). … Missouri and Illinois went color-on-color last Weds. night. “I was having a lot of trouble distinguishing the gold from orange,” says Kevin Zdancewicz. … Joey Morris notes that some of NC State’s NOBs are radially arched, while others are straight. “It appears that all the freshmen’s NOBs are straight, while the returning players’ are arched,” he says. “I wonder if this is related to their aborted jersey redesign, which they decided to scrap, and then they just kept the jerseys from last year instead of ordering new ones. Of course the freshmen wouldn’t have had jerseys last year.” … Over two dozen new images — mostly from bowl games — have been added to Andy Moursund’s set of vintage program covers. … Barely two minutes into Friday’s Chargers/Titans game, Kris Dielman already had a busted bolt (screen shot courtesy of Rob Ullman). … Big Ben dressed up as his QB coach the other day. … This shot is from a 2008 Wisconsin semi-pro game between the Fox Valley Force vs. the West Bend Junkyard Dogs. Note that the defender has begun to peel off the ball-carrier’s uni number. A moment later, he was left clutching a shred of the numeral and the runner was left with a partial 2 (with thanks to Caleb Bentz). … Good video of UCLA’s football gear being packed for the team’s upcoming bowl game (with thanks to Erkki Corpuz). … Interesting soccer incident described by Dave Cappel, who writes: “In the late stages of a game, the Pohang Steelers goalie was issued a red card. Having already used up all of their substitutions, the team couldn’t bring in a reserve goalie, so they had to put a field player in goal. However, he had to wear a goalkeeper’s jersey, and I guess the team didn’t have an extra one since they had to stop the game for quite a while to go into the locker room and get the jersey from the ejected goalkeeper. Not only was the replacement keeper wearing the wrong nameplate, he was wearing a jersey previously worn by a teammate in the same game.” … Terence Kearns’s latest DIY project: a Tottenham Hotspur retro track jacket. “You’ll be happy to know I de-swooshed a Nike track jacket to make it,” he says. “I fear Powers might be mad, but I think it is spot on!” … Excellent NJ Devils observation from Zak McGinniss, who writes: “Unless a player joining the Devils is already an established all-star, he’ll be assigned a number from 1 to 30. This has led to three different players wearing the same number in a year, or a player being sent down to the minors and his replacement immediately taking his number. Numbers 3 and 4 are retired, and 13 has never been issued since the Devils moved to New Jersey. This finally reached a breaking point this year, and now defenseman Matt Corrente is sporting number 32, the first player to wear a number over 30 since Stephane Richer did in it the year 2000.” … Coupla screen shots from Shaun Tunick: First, check out Dan Marino with some rather sloppily cut-off sleeves. And who is No. 84 in this shot? Is that a McNOB with a space between the “Mc” and the rest of the surname, or is that a pair of initials, or what? … Granted, it’s just one sentence in a Wikipedia entry, so take with a grain of seasoning, but this page says the 1929 Newark Tornadoes “experimented with using letters instead of numbers on player jerseys.” Anyone know more about this? (As forwarded by Rob Leavell.) … Phil isn’t the only one who likes to play “Guess the Scoreboard.” Over on the always-excellent Fleer Sticker Project site, webmaster Jon Helfenstein recently found an old slide his father had shot decades earlier. He describes how he figured out which game it was here. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Mickel Yantz scanned a super-cool 1952 Tacoma Rockets program.
Classic line, classic movie. Said by Crash Davis to Nuke Laloosh in “Bull Durham.” Great baseball movie, nice unis. Some sports movies just strike a chord in us, and we can recite them perhaps better than we can the Pledge of Allegiance. But just how well do we know these movies? Let’s find out.
As we close my 2009 posting out, it’s time for the annual end of year Uni Watch uni quiz. I’ll be joined by the man who’s seen every one of these movies, sometimes twice, sometimes more, and the man who brings you Benchies every weekend, Rick Pearson, aka, “Ricko”. We collaborated on this set of 21 sports movie quotes and the uniforms from those movies — some you will know, some you may not — but can you reconcile the UNIFORMS from those movies with those classic (and not so classic) quotes? Here’s Rick:
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Movies, movies, movies. So much a part of the Holidays. Traditional films to watch every year. Some to watch over and over and over. And many of us give, and get, DVD’s as gifts (I, for example, got all 66 Hopalong Cassidy films in a nifty Hoppy lunchbox from my daughter).
Many times, though, those gifts are classic sports films or histories such as When It Was A Game or Ken Burns’s Baseball.
So, we figured we’d play “Match The Movie Line To The Movie Uniform” — but with a twist — on the last day before most everyone heads back to work.
Simple enough, right? But, instead of just a google-able “movie quote”, you need to know the unis worn in the films in question. And that’s all the clue you’re gonna get.
~~~
Thanks Rick. So there you go. We’ll give you the quote, and you get to guess the movie — by matching it to the “uni clue” listed separately. So, if Quote 1 matches up with Uni Clue F, then you’d say “1-F”.
So get a pencil and a piece of paper — first ID the movie by quote. Then, in the second section, find the still from that movie — and match them up. At the end of this section, we’ll give you one answer, just to get you started. Probably somewhere around mid-day, depending on how things are going, we’ll even give you a list of the movies we’re looking for. And then, we’ll post the answers at 8:00 pm Eastern, so be sure to check back at that time.
Ready? GO!
QUOTES:
1. I am choosing to win this fucking game.
2. All the way up with a red hot poker. I can play anywhere now.
3. Say, boy – does you do this constantly?
“No, suh. I does it all the time.”
4. Man, this is baseball, you gotta stop thinking! Just have fun.
5. Hey, that’s weird. No college given, no high school. It just says he’s been a resident of the state of Maryland for the last two years and two months, and that he likes to embroider.
6. I play hockey and I fornicate, ’cause those are the two most fun things to do in cold weather.
7. I know everything there is to know about the greatest game ever invented.
8. Just so you know, we really suck.
“Hey, I’ll decide who sucks around here.”
9. Every night, every morning…and sometimes during arithmetic.
10. See! I told you I broke his fuckin’ neck!
11. Holy shit. Talk about your all time backfires.
12. We don’t have a cow. We have a bull.
13. Kiss my Armani ass!
14. Those Yankees are real turds.
15. You trying to say Jesus Christ can’t hit a curveball?
16. You do speak Canadian, don’t you?
17. You’re not God, Nickerson. You’re just a typing teacher.
18. This young man has had a very trying rookie season, with the litigation, the notoriety, his subsequent deportation to Canada and that country’s refusal to accept him.
19. I’m playing for Rio Grande Short-Haul Trucking, Briggs and Brown Sanitation, First State Bank of Salome, Woody’s Smokehouse…
20. Charlie, here comes the deuce.
21. I guess some mistakes you never stop paying for.
And now that you’ve seen all the “Uni Clues” Here’s a full page grouping of them all, for easier reference. Happy hunting.
~~~
Well there you have it. Not so easy is it now. But you uniform geniuses should be able to narrow it down, via the process of elimination, until you get a perfect score. We’ll even give you one toughie to help narrow it down.
Here’s your first answer: 3-E [The quote “Say, boy - does you do this constantly?” ... “No, suh. I does it all the time.” -- is spoken by Leon Carter (James Earl Jones) and Esquire Joe Callaway (Stan Shaw) after the latter bowled over the former at home plate, and comes from the movie, "BINGO LONG’S TRAVELING ALL-STARS & MOTOR KINGS"]. Technically, you don’t need to know the name of the movie [but bonus points if you do, plus the character(s) and actor(s) who spoke the quote(s)].
Play along, see how you do. We’ll have some hints in the afternoon hour and the full rundown for you later tonight.
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In case you missed it, Paul has a project for us. Here’s Mr. Lukas to explain:
Research Project: I’m compiling a list of the most unusual uni-related moments of the past decade. This can include typos, players wearing the wrong uni, teams being forced to improvise when their uniforms are lost or stolen, torn uniforms, broken equipment, etc. — anything out of the ordinary. I already have a pretty good list, but I’d welcome your nominations (esp. from earlier in the decade), so feel free to chime in. Thanks.
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Our next round of NFL uniform tweaks/revisions
and concepts is upon us.
~~~
Our first submission comes from Santonio Williams,
who has a modern update for the Colts:
Hello,
I chose to change the Colts uni design. My main reason for doing this is not because I’m a Colts fan (or hater)…just because I’ve always found their uniform to be kind of boring, I know alot of people consider this design to be a classic, and to a certain extent, I agree, I love the simplicity (I’m also a fan of white on white uni combinations), but at the same time, the fact that there’s only two colors makes it kind of boring, so I made a few minor adjustments.
First, I noticed that alot of the official sideline merchandise for the Colts this year has included black elements, I personally like this addition, so I’ve added black to the color palette.
I also tried to make the overall uni feel a bit more contemporary by adding the horseshoe logo to the front (similar to the Giants), I also changed the typeface for the numbers, it’s a pretty similar style, but I rounded the numerals out a bit and added the black and white borders to make the numbers appear less “flat”. I also did the same thing to the team wordmark. I then changed the collar of the jersey to blue (I just feel it makes it a little more interesting without ruining the overall “classic feel”) I also made the stripes on the helmet doubled to match the stripes on the jersey and pants (it has always bothered me that the Colts have one stripe on their helmet, and two on everything else).
Finally I changed the stripes from blue to black on the jersey, pants, and helmet, I also made the face mask black aswell.
I also redesigned the Colts Home uniforms, I think this one more closesly follows the elements of the current home Colts unis…although one touch I am particularly fond of is the slight black outlines on the shoulder stripes.
Thanks for taking the time to check out my design,
Santino Williams
~~~
Our next submission comes from Mark Meeks, and this is a new one for me. It’s for the Panthers. I’ll let Mark explain:
I saw Brad Keppler’s suggestion for the Tweaked Panthers uniform in the 12/12 blog and it reminded me of these. I’ve got some Kenner Starting Lineup figures from the late 90’s of Panthers players. All the ones in white jerseys are wearing black pants like Brad suggested. I guess Kenner was working off a uniform prototype or something as the Panthers have never worn black pants. No excuse for Kenner though, Kevin Greene didn’t join the team until their second year (‘96) and he’s shown in black pants too. Sorry for the low-res pic. My iphone was all I had handy.
Thanks for the great work.
Mark Meeks
~~~
Up next is Andrew Greenwood, who you may famously remember for his Bills tweak, is back and is tackling the Jaguars:
Hey Phil,
Took a me a while to finish this one, but I think it’s decent for what it is. Redesign of the Jaguars. They need to dump the teal. Went with orange, a tan/sand and deep chocolate. Sorta based on the new Anaheim Ducks colors, but at least much more realistic for a Jaguar. That blue tongue always weirded me out. Helps to balance out some colors in the AFC South, I think. Colts, Titans, and Texans all use blue, so getting away from that is good for the Jags as well.
Andrew W. Greenwood
~~~
Our last submission today comes from Caleb Borchers, who would love to tweak the Lions:
Phil,
I’m not great with graphics, but I have been playing around a bit with the Detroit Lions. I was born in Detroit, and thus blessed/cursed to be a fan of that sad franchise. The current set seems a little stuck in between tradition and a revamp. I would like to see them go backwards, or forwards. I’ve attached a couple of tweaks I’ve tried. Mostly I’ve played with the color scheme to integrate black more thoroughly. I don’t so much like the black, but if they are going to use it they shouldn’t just toss it on randomly. I wouldn’t mind a new logo, but that’s beyond my capabilities.
~~~
That will do it for this next round of uni tweaks. If you have a team or teams who you think can use a change, whether it be a tweak or a wholescale reworking, I’d love to hear from you.
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What happens when Ricko forgets his color markers and instead of giving us a full color Benchies, he helps me with a post? Here’s Ricko:
Six frames, no color? Ummm…let’s just say it snowed. A lot. No…wait…even better, the Benchies are having a white out. Yeah, that’s it, they’re having a white out.
Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: It may be football season, but there’s always action in the hot stove league, so today, we’re jumping back to the diamond. I’m sure some of you will know this game from sight — hell, some of you may have even been there. Say what you will, and blame a certain Notre Dame High School For Boys grad for making this game necessary, but the real goat will always be Alex Gonzalez. Nuff hint? Guess The Game. Please link to you answer. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!
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In the final few days before the Rose Bowl, I’m again joined by tOSU’s biggest fan Larry Bodnovich and the man who’s been bringing you the Ducktracker all season long, Michael Princip, in a weekly look at some fun Ohio State University and University of Oregon factoids, uni histories and other fun stuff. Larry, of course, will be tackling the Buckeyes, and Michael will handle the Ducks.
Per custom, Larry will be starting off the show, so here’s Mr. Bodnovich:
In the 1960’s Ohio State had more helmet changes than any decade ever. Starting with the gray padded helmets in 1960. The padding did not go all the way to the back in 1961. The silver and red padding in 1962-63. Slight changes the following years. 1966-67 went with red helmets. 1967 first Buckeyes used. 1968 silver helmet used with a couple of gray ones.
Ohio State played Duke September 26, 1959. Duke had the padded helmets. 3 weeks later vs Purdue at least 1 Buckeye helmet had padding. See the 1st b&w pic. Woody Hayes later adopted those in 1960.
The helmets changed a little each year. Helmet Hut describes the manufacturers for the next few years.
1961 Helmet. 1960 and 61 helmets were mostly all gray with red padding. 1962 on were mostly silver with red padding.
We next move on to Michael. As always, Michael’s contribution to this portion of the column isn’t so much his words, but his expertise and creativity in updating his “Oregon Rose Bowl” history page. He’s updated that page even further with some wonderful vintage Ducks/Webfoots uniform history.
1920s Last Worn Blue & Yellow Jersey: Former UO archivist, Keith Richard, speculates that this jersey in the archives is from the 1920s. It would have been from one of the last years before the Ducks switched to green and yellow by vote of the student body, which wanted the team to abide by the official school colors.
1899 Oregon Ducks/Webfoots: The Ducks went 3-2-1, including a 38-0 win over the Beavers. Eugene fans will recognize this photo as the one used for the Billboard near Ferry Street bridge (2003).
1915 Ducks – Orville Monteith:Orville played from 1914 to 1916, when the Ducks still wore blue and yellow uniforms. In 1916 the Ducks went 7-0-1, beating Pennsylvania 14-0 in the Rose Bowl.
1945 Ducks – Yellow Eared ‘8 Strap’ Style Helmet: In 1939, it was mandatory that all NCAA football players be required to wear helmets. Thus, the creative color schemes of yellow and green upon the Duck heads began. Here, Bob Reynolds (left) and Robert Koch (right) wear the ones that started it all, the eight strap style leather helmet with green primarily throughout and yellow ears.
And thank you Michael! Be sure to spend a good amount of time checking out that Rose Bowl Uniform history. Mr. Princip has added a lot of updates and factoids.
Truly outstanding work again, gentlemen. Be sure to join us on New Year’s Day, when Larry and Michael will be joining me for a full-blown Bucks vs. Ducks Rose Bowl Feature.
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And on that note, I conclude my 2009 postings. Thanks to Paul and all of those with whom I have collaborated over the past 52 weekends, and to all you fine readers for your support. It’s been a fun ride so far. I’ll be back with you all as we ring in the New Year of 2010.
Everybody have a great Sunday and a fantastic remainder of 2009. Cheers!
The NBA took centerstage on Christmas Day, in what is becoming an annual holiday tradition. Like the previous year, teams were sporting a Star of Davidsnowflake patch on their unis. The only problem with this is when home teams wore white, rendering the patch practically invisible.
* Knicks and Heat had a red and green color-on-color game, in honor of Christmas. The Knicks (like all the other teams) had their patch on their left shoulder, but the Heat sported their snowflake on the right.
Not a bad effort by the NBA, assuming any of you saw the games. I realize a snowflake, pretty much by definition, is white, but perhaps the NBA might have considered, I don’t know, maybe putting an outline around those teams who put them on white uniforms. Just a thought for next year.
~~~
The NBA ruled the day, but they weren’t the only game in town yesterday — The Titans and Chargers, two of the AFL’s “original eight” franchises, staged a Christmas night battle, but neglected to wear their gorgeous respective throwbacks. Of course, since it was on the NFL Network, no one would have seen them anyway.
Fortunately, no college bowls were played yesterday, or I would have fallen even farther in the “bowl pool” than my already incredibly lame 1-6 record. Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every once a while.
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And now, a word from Paul:
Research Project: I’m compiling a list of the most unusual uni-related moments of the past decade. This can include typos, players wearing the wrong uni, teams being forced to improvise when their uniforms are lost or stolen, torn uniforms, broken equipment, etc. — anything out of the ordinary. I already have a pretty good list, but I’d welcome your nominations (esp. from earlier in the decade), so feel free to chime in. Thanks.
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The Hockey Wing, or at least the “President” of said wing, Teebz, reminds everyone that the World Junior Championships begin today. Teebz likes to rate uniforms on the “good or stupid” scale, only to him, it’s more like “dumb and dumber.” Here’s Teebz:
With the World Junior Championships beginning today — and Canada looking for its record sixth-straight gold medal — in Saskatoon and Regina, Saskatchewan, there are a few things that have changed in terms of the way the teams look.
If you’re looking for WJC information, the IIHF website has a ton of it. If you like hockey, this is one tournament that should never be missed. Especially with the 2011 Championship taking place in Buffalo, NY.
Here are some of the changes you may see this holiday season. Of course, this is only the tip of the iceberg, but these are the ones I have noticed already.
* TV numbers are now closer to the shoulder instead of the upper arm. While there was no reason to move the numbers, it appears that this was a move to ensure the same placement of all the numbers on TV. Except on Sweden who is wearing Reebok. Uniformity trumps tradition. I’d call this a wash in the “good vs. dumb” debate.
* Swedish players have their names across their lower back. This continues in the same fashion as it did last year, but I’m still not a fan of it. I’m not sure why Sweden is the only team that prefers their names under the numbers rather than over them, but they are the only team that to do this thus far. Dumb.
*Sweden has also been outfitted in Reebok which is nicely highlighted for your enjoyment. Any sane person would expect to see the Reebok vector on the back, but there’s no vector there like we find on NHL and AHL jerseys. Instead, Reebok decided to put it under the collar on the front. In a contrasting colour! If Reebok wants to be like Nike and have its logo on the front, it had better be discreet. Otherwise, Reebok is now saying that they are more important than the entire country of Sweden. Insanely stupid.
* Canada will wear green for one game instead of black. Canada’s alternate jersey was black, which I never liked, in keeping with Hockey Canada’s colours. This year, they have introduced a green alternate jersey as they play in Saskatchewan. The same colour green as the only professional team in Saskatchewan. I’m not calling this a “sell-out”, but it seems pretty darn close when you’re trying to sell jerseys to a football-loving, Roughrider-partisan crowd. Dumb.
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We’ve got a name, and we’ve got a logo…. OK, after much deliberation and search, we’re proud to announce the official Uni Watch Deep Freeze, a big event coming up in just a few short weeks in Minnesota — centering around the 2010 U.S. Pond Hockey Championships — but which will include a bunch of sports and uni-related events for anyone who is interested. The event is taking place during January 22, 23 and 24, or 2010, and will include lots of activities for those who want to make the trek.
If you scroll down to the second section (“Uni Watch Winter Classic Advisory”), you’ll see all the details.
Paul will be there, I will be there, and we’re expecting many other UWers traveling from near and far, including, but not limited to: RPM, JTH, Teebz, Ricko, Ben Traxel and several others. Aside from all the activities listed in that link, Paul will be convening a gathering as well. If you’re interested in attending, contact Ricko (his contact info is in the linkie), since those coming in from out of town may want to book a block of rooms at a reduced rate near all the activities.
And who designed the Uni Watch Deep Freeze logo you see here? None other than Ben Traxel, who’ll be attending the festivities. Fantastic job, Ben!
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Guess The Game From The Scoreboard:
The scoreboard may be grainy,
the picture may be old,
enough clues should be present
for the answer to unfold.
Ah…a boxing day Benchies. How apropos. Here’s Rick:
What fun is Christmas if you don’t have really neat new stuff to play with? JimV19 said…”Hope eveyone has a great holiday season, and hope you get something cool this year.” Yeah, what he said.
Our next round of NFL uniform tweaks/revisions and concepts is upon us.
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Starting off the show today is Scott Hogan, who offers
some thoughts on the Vikings:
I’ve been and will be a lifelong Vikings fan. Excuse
the MS Paint work, I just gave the Vikings the reversal look that the Broncos, Panthers, Falcons and numerous more have. I don’t mind the gold if it can be more gold and less bright yellow. Plus I think the purple would look good in the piping. I even played with reversing the road whites. Love Uni Watch and would buy me a membership card if Paul would make it for the Vikings road unis. But I guess that’s too much purple…? I’d settle for a reddish blue.
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Next up is Kenny Jacobson, who feels the Bengals, Seahawks and Ravens can all use an overhaul:
Phil,
Since I’m sure you don’t have enough to do… I’ve done some uni updates for you.
Cincy needs new duds, of course, so here’s home and road. And if you want to get really adventurous, home and road.
Seattle needs to go back to these colors, home and road. If you wanted to stick with a more modern template, maybe home and road.
Baltimore needs to get away from the ‘Darth Vader’ look and make better use of that gold in their trim, like home and road.
That’s all for now. Have an exceptional day.
-Kenny Jacobson
~~~
Interestingly enough, our next submitter, Justin Wang also has some thoughts on Cincinnati’s football team:
I decided to redesign the Bengals unis, as they are generally regarded as one of the worst in the NFL.
A few notes:
1. The shoulder panels were inspired by the Seahawks’ away unis.
2. Sock stripes match the shoulder stripes.
3. Took out the “B” chest logo.
- Justin
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Our next tweak comes from Sam Belk, who has some throwback Buccaneer looks:
Alright, alright, I know what people see when they think of Tampa’s unis, Creamcicle. But as a Bucs fan, since half our wins this year came in the delicious uniforms, I’ve got to love them (alright, I admit, I already did).
I’ve created an alternate for the bucs that mixes the old with the new.
From the new, I’ve kept the number script, the numbers on the shoulders, the ‘Buccaneers’ script on the chest and the alternate logo on the sleeves. The jersey is actually a darker orange if you can notice it, it is from the football on the current logo.
From the old, The pants are essentially the same, though I widened the stripes and added some color to the belt, and I modernized the stripes on the socks.
The helmet has the orange facemask and white helmet color but retains the current helmet logo. There is also an alternate helmet I’ve designed for the sole reason that I am jealous of the Chargers’ alternate with the lightning bolt/player number combo. It’s the swords from the logo with the players’ number over top.
And our final uniform revision today comes from Walter Young, who last weekend tweaked the Jets, and who wanted to follow that up with this:
OK, watching the Cardinals/San Fransisco Monday night game and came up with a fast tweak for the Kurt Warner Cardinals helmet logo. All in good fun.
I’d like to thank everyone for their comments on my four “modernized” Jets uni-tweaks that posted on Saturday (12/19/09). My concepts were not my desired direction that the Jets uniforms should take. They were just a possible direction given current trends, while maintaining some semblance Jets “style”.
When I sent my tweaks I neglected to send in this Logo tweak. It is intended to, at the same time, pay homage to the Jets Kelly Green past, and give the “NY” more prominence, while not minimizing the “JETS” in the logo.
Since my initial uni-tweak submission I decided to stay more within the current Jets uniform framework, and address the shoulder loop segments, along with tendency to diverge into the world of monochrome.
The simplest way to address the monochrome tendency was to go with a pair of pants that is neither Green, nor White. I chose to avoid bright colors like Gold or Yellow, or the typical Grey or Silver (kind of been done already). I chose to lean toward the “Tan” colors. While not a traditional Jets color range, it is an old school football color. I came up with two choices, a sort of Olive/Khaki, and a medium Tan. To me, both seem to work well with the Jets Green and White.
Since the Jets shoulder loops have begun to look more like epaulets, I decide to remove them. I also chose to borrow from Ricko’s “comp sleeves” concept, with a ½ to full-length sleeve compression shirt. While it may not exactly match the Jets earlier sleeve designs, I feel it is fairly representative the of the look.
I worked up uniform sets in the Jets current Hunter/Forest Green (it really is closer to Hunter than Forest ) with either Olive/Khaki, or Tan pants. Since it didn’t require much effort I did the same in the Jets old Kelly Green. All of the striping: helmet, comp-sleeve, pant leg, and sock, are proportional. I did away with the current contrasting sleeve cuff, since it tends to disappear nearly 50% of the time. I included the alternative comp-sleeve in each mock-up, given that if you put something in the toy chest, the equipment manager is going to play with it.
I can’t forget to mention Chris Creamers SportLogos.Net, whose templates I used for my tweaks.
Walt
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Ok, this is all for today’s round. Still have a few more to get to, and there are always new ones coming in. If you have a tweak/suggestion/revamp/whatever, send them to me. Cheers.
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I’ve still yet to speak with Coach Marc Walls, the man who brought to us the “Design A Uniform” contest for the Clarksville Wildcats, but I do have the results of the “Reader Poll” in which many of you voted for your favorite design in the categories of “best uniform” and “best logo”.
Here then, are those results (big thanks to James Huening for compiling them and running the poll):
Whose uniform design do you think is the best?
Ryan Muraro…241 votes…43.35%
Jeff Bahry…142…25.54%
Joe Hilseberg…76…13.67%
Andy Altemus…52…9.35%
Steve Lastname…45…8.09%
Whose individual logo design do you think is the best?
Jeff Bahry…197 votes…35.43%
Chad Stilson…140…25.18%
Ed Westfield…111…19.96%
Kevin Connolly…72…12.95%
Thomas Stafford…36…6.47%
My thanks, once again, to everyone who participated, to everyone who voted, and especially to Coach Walls for coming up with the idea.
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Well, there you have it. A Boxing Day Uni Watch. I hope everyone who celebrates Christmas had a wonderful day, hopefully with family and/or friends. Santa didn’t bring me much in the “uni” department, but that’s OK, because I got to spend another Christmas with my pop, who a year ago at this time, wasn’t doing particularly well in the health department (he was recovering in a nursing home/rehab facility after a particularly bad struggle with west nile virus — a disease which can be fatal). He’s still not anywhere near where he once was (health-wise), but just having him “at home” for one more Christmas was the best present I could ever get. Love ya, pop. Just remember, the greatest presents we can receive are not those found beneath the tree.
I did get a pretty sweet cardigan I plan to use for curling (or maybe for sitting around and screaming “GET OFF MY LAWN” in). Either way, it’ll get some good use.
Santa’s finally here, boys and girls, and he’s packing some serious heat, so don’t get any bright ideas about dipping your hand into into someone else’s stocking, ya dig?
Anyway: Two dozen readers have made the ho-ho-ho scene in a big way, because they’re the winners of the Uni Watch holiday raffle. Here they are, along with the prizes they’ll be receiving:
1. Aaron Stilley (Uni Watch membership)
2. Darryl Pickworth (autographed MLB sleeve patch)
3. Zach Brady (Hebrewers tee)
4. Carl Muranda (I’m Calling It Shea tee)
5. Joel Paylor (sportswear tags)
6. Jeffrey Berman (Ravens/O’s hybrid cap)
7. Jonathan Reinfeld (batting gloves)
8. Jeremiah Tillman (Huskies jersey)
9. James Ortez (49ers mini-pennant)
10. Daniel Tatomyr (Yankee Stadium monograph)
11. Calvin Lasister (Mets belt buckle)
12. Brandon Merchant (Ticket Journal album)
13. Beau Schott (NHL/Reebok eco shirt)
14. Charlie Ryczek (Meats tee)
15. Ben Wideman (I Still Call It the Jake tee)
16. Marc Bowen (Rob Ullman tee)
17. Jason Hijuelos (I Still Call It Mile High tee)
18. Tris Wykes (76ers tee, blank on back)
19. Erik Davila (Astros baseball card book)
20. Joe Wolper (76ers tee w/ logo on back)
21. Josh Eisenberg (Asheville Tourists tee)
22. Dan McCue (Farkas Eye Black tee)
23. Chris Stoppel (I Still Call It Joe Robbie tee)
24. Bob Sughrue (Islanders tee)
I did my best to accommodate people’s prize requests, but a few folks ended up getting stuck with items that weren’t on their wish lists. Eh, whatever, you can always re-gift the item to someone else, right? But if you don’t want the prize you’re slated to receive, please contact me pronto. Otherwise, watch your mailbox over the next week or two, as I’ll be mailing out the prizes in a few batches.
I’m about to head out to Long Island to spend the day with my family (including my brother, whose birthday is today). My sincerest best wishes to all Uni Watch readers for a swell holiday season. Hope Santa brought you exactly what you wished for and that you got a little under-the-mistletoe action to boot. I don’t care how naughty or nice you’ve been — you’re all aces in my book.
And to close us out, here’s Phil with his annual holiday address:
Does the logo shown above look familiar? No? What about now?
The first design is actually an early version of the mark that eventually became the Hartford Whalers logo. In fact, the triple-pointed design was presented to the team and accepted, but the designer, Peter Good, thought he could improve upon it, so he went back to the drawing board. You can see the progression from that first mark to the final design in these sketches, and Good’s creative process is described in this text.
All of that comes from an early edition of this book, which the pseudonymous Hungry Hungry Hipster was kind enough to scan for me, providing us with a rare look at the evolution of a great logo.
Research Project: I’m compiling a list of the most unusual uni-related moments of the past decade. This can include typos, players wearing the wrong uni, teams being forced to improvise when their uniforms are lost or stolen, torn uniforms, broken equipment, etc. — anything out of the ordinary. I already have a pretty good list, but I’d welcome your nominations (esp. from earlier in the decade), so feel free to chime in. Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Arizona’s white helmet is apparently more than a rumor (with thanks to Kenny Abbey). … Here’s a classic — Casey and the Lip lighting up. That’s from a small assortment of baseball-themed tobacco ads that Bruce Menard sent me. Bruce’s favorite is this one. “There’s so many things wrong with that ad, but a kid in bell-hop uni extolling the virtues of ‘No cigarette hangover’ to the Yankee Clipper is just too funny (or sad, depending on your point of view).” … Worst soccer uniforms of the decade listed here (with thanks to Benjamin Graff). … Completely cringe-inducing yet oddly compelling video clip about Bill Belichick’s cut-off sweatshirt sleeves here (with thanks to Dave Montgomery). … A small item at the bottom of this page notes that Bowling Green will be wearing white over white in the Humanitarian Bowl (with thanks to Tom Konecny). … Whoa — the Swinging Friar lives! Pretty good likeness, eh? The logo version dates back at least to the 1950s, when the Padres were a minor league team, while the photo is from 1966, so this is a case of life imitating art, not the other way around (amazing find by Bryan Grupp). … RNOB in last night’s Poinsettia Bowl (thanks, Phil). … If you go to this page and scroll or drag the content so you can see the right-hand side of the page, you’ll find an article about the Phillies’ 1986 St. Paddy’s Day uniforms. It’s hard to be sure, but the article sort of implies that the green unis were a new thing for that year, which doesn’t jibe with what Morris Levin had always thought: “I thought the Phillies had first worn these in 1981. That’s how Mitchell & Ness dates theirs, although I’m not positive that was accurate. Tug McGraw is often anecdotally credited with introducing this to the Phillies when he dyed his uniform, but in this article they say Phillies owner Bill Giles had the idea.” Hmmmmm. … The Oral Roberts hoops team has added an “OR” memorial patch for the school’s founder (with thanks to Ryan Atkinson). … Five NBA games on tap for tomorrow. All teams will be wearing the snowflake patch, plus the Knicks and Heat will wear green and red, respectively. Not positive, but I think several teams may be wearing red/green sneakers too.
Holiday Schedule: The site will be open for chatter tomorrow, and Phil will have his usual multi-course feast on the weekend. Uni Xmas to all, and to all a striped stocking.
In case you missed it, Paul has a project for us. Here’s Mr. Lukas to explain:
Our next round of NFL uniform tweaks/revisions
What happens when Ricko forgets his color markers and instead of giving us a full color Benchies, he helps me with a post? Here’s Ricko:
Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: It may be football season, but there’s always action in the hot stove league, so today, we’re jumping back to the diamond. I’m sure some of you will know this game from sight — hell, some of you may have even been there. Say what you will, and blame a certain Notre Dame High School For Boys grad for making this game necessary, but the real goat will always be Alex Gonzalez. Nuff hint? 
In the final few days before the Rose Bowl, I’m again joined by tOSU’s biggest fan Larry Bodnovich and the man who’s been bringing you the Ducktracker all season long, Michael Princip, in a weekly look at some fun Ohio State University and University of Oregon factoids, uni histories and other fun stuff. Larry, of course, will be tackling the Buckeyes, and Michael will handle the Ducks. 
We’ve got a name, and we’ve got a logo…. OK, after much deliberation and search, we’re proud to announce the official Uni Watch Deep Freeze, a big event coming up in just a few short weeks in Minnesota — centering around the 2010 U.S. Pond Hockey Championships — but which will include a bunch of sports and uni-related events for anyone who is interested. The event is taking place during January 22, 23 and 24, or 2010, and will include lots of activities for those who want to make the trek. 
