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Posts filed under 'Boxing'
Calling me merely “not a boxing guy” doesn’t do justice to my lack of knowledge about the Sweet Science. I get why people dig it, but it’s just not for me. Therefore, I must appeal to the Uni Watch audience on this image from the Hopkins-Calzaghe fight, for a couple of reasons:
1. What’s with the fringes? Is that a new thing or just limited to most of the shots of the various bouts that occurred yesterday?
2. I’m assuming whatever is written on the tape on the cuffs of each boxer’s gloves is an OK from the sanctioning body in terms of gloves?
3. Any idea why the referee is wearing what I would describe as a police officer’s shirt? Standard apparel?
4. By calling it the Sweet Science, am I further exposing myself as a 30-year-old guy who knows nothing about the sport? As in, “Great, you know the ‘nickname’ but little else, moron.”
If you know the answers to any or all of these questions, pipe up. Of course, if the spam filter is still being persnickety, it might not matter what you say. But I’m checking in on the comments every so often and setting them free, so say it anyway. Just make sure to keep your comment easy to spot among the porn links, OK? — Bryan
April 20th, 2008
I don’t know if it was the lighting at Ford Field, the Lions’ awful black alternate jerseys, or the contrast between Detroit’s true silver pants and Dallas’s blue-tinted silver, but the Cowboys’ pants looked absolutely putrid yesterday. Seriously, did you watch that game, or see the highlights? Every time I caught a glimpse of that game on the TV screen, the Cowboys looked like this. Bizarre.
But not quite as bizarre as the sight of the officials wearing their cold-weather slacks for an indoor game. I’ve gotta believe this was a case of one official misplacing his regular pants and the whole crew therefore having to go with the Foot Locker look, but I’ll put in a call to the NFL today to get the scoop.
In other NFL news from yesterday:
• Some teams were still wearing the Sean Taylor memorial decal, others weren’t. There were even variations within individual teams: Most of the Chargers didn’t wear the decal, but a few of them did, including LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Cromartie. Oh, and this guy was still memorializing Taylor too.
• One team that didn’t wear the memorial decal — or any other rear-helmet adornment — was the Bills. They were wearing their gorgeous throwbacks, which always feature completely blank rear helmets — no flag, no league logo, no nothing (a phenomenon I first identified early last season). I’m told WR Roscoe Parrish wore the Sean Taylor decal, however. Couldn’t find a photo of that, but I did find a shot of his Taylor-ized eye black.
• It’s hard to see, but the “Riddell” logo on Plaxico Burress’s helmet was raised, just like the the “ny” on the team’s non-Riddell helmets.
• More lower-leg shenanigans from Al Harris.
• And in our weekly Flag Watch feature, Dallas Clark’s flag decal was still missing. No photo yet.
Friendly Reminder: I’ll be presenting a historical survey of the Brooklyn Dodgers’ uniforms tonight at Automotive High School’s gorgeous auditorium (which is located here), as part of the City Reliquary’s annual fund-raising gala. I can honestly say that I think anyone reading this would learn a few things from the presentation — I learned quite a bit myself while researching it. For $30, you get to see me, author extraordinaire Lawrence Weschler, live performances from Los Bomberos de Brooklyn and a live drum corps, and excerpts from a documentary film about a very specific Brooklyn subculture (I’ll let that part be a surprise), plus you’ll be supporting an extremely worthy cause that’s very dear to me. I hope some of you NYCers will show up. The event starts at 7 p.m., and I’m told that my segment will begin a little after 8 p.m.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The AHL’s All-Star Game jerseys will look like this (with thanks to Eric Hawkins). … Last Monday I mentioned that Braylon Edwards was playing bare-legged at the beginning of the Browns/Cards game, but I didn’t have a photo. Now, thanks to Jeffrey Nye, I do. … Interesting note from Andrew MacNamee, who writes: “When I first saw the Phillies’ new alternates, I knew they reminded me of something, but I couldn’t put my finger on it until a couple days ago. I remembered that they appeared on a couple baseball cards I had — namely, Mariano Duncan’s and Bob Ayrault’s 1993 Topps cards. Notable differences between these and the new alternates: The ‘P’ on the cap is in the Whiz Kids-era font, as opposed to the current ‘P’ on the new caps; the stars on the chest insignia are red, not blue; and no Cool Base jersey. According to a team source I e-mailed, this was a one-time uniform used for a throwback promotion against the Reds in 1992.” … “Mark Dodge, a linebacker for Texas A&M, wore his mother’s family name for his NOB during the A&M/Texas game,” writes Dustin Qualls. “He had to get special permission from the NCAA to do this. He was honoring his grandmother and aunt, who had both recently passed away. So his nameplate had ‘Thomas’ on it instead of ‘Dodge.’ I can’t find a picture, but here’s a story about it.” … Tons of great old stadium photos here (with thanks to Dave Soline). … Mike Lindsey notes that Bears punter Brad Maynard was wearing his chinstrap under his jaw on Thursday night. … The Reds will memorialize Joe Nuxhall with a sleeve patch next season. … Great find by Brian Castile, who writes: “Back in 1977, when Iowa State and the University of Iowa played football for the first time in 43 years, ISU wore ‘BEAT IOWA’ on the front of their jerseys, as you can see in this video clip. Unfortunately they lost the game. Later in the year, ISU played North Carolina State in the Peach Bowl and they altered the letters on the jerseys to read ‘PEACH BOWL.’ Again, they lost the game.” … The single-A Yakima Bears have unveiled a new identity system. I’m particularly fond of this. Full slideshow here (with thanks to Travis McGuire). … Further ursine-themed minor league action in Fresno, where the Grizzlies have released an updated design scheme. Details here. … We’ve all seen late-career photos of Yaz wearing an enlarged earhole, but I’d never seen the hole hollowed out to the extent seen here and here until Nicholas Bean sent me those two photos the other day. … Some seriously busy youth league unis being worn by the Staten Island Hurricanes — five kids, five different sock styles, plus check out the facemaks stripes on No. 6. And that’s not counting their other pants design (as found by Jeff Cooperman). … Lots of NBA throwback action over the weekend, as seen here, here, here, and here. … Speaking of which, good breakdown of the distinctions between the Lakers’ past and current uniforms here (with thanks to Ty Nowell). … Aaron Bolerjack reports that Man U will wear special non-sponsored uniforms on February 10th, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Munich air crash disaster. … By now most of you know that the libero on a volleyball team wears a different-colored jersey. But Jeremy Brahm notes that the liberos in Italy also have different sponsors. The most extreme example is the Pallavolo Modena team, whose libero is sponsored by Marvel Comics (additional pics here). … Jeremy also sent along this article about Sadaharu Oh, in which the Japanese slugger opines, “They (Japanese players) like to wear their pants too long like American players, where you can’t even see their shoes. I don’t like that. Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but the old Cincinnati Reds uniforms would be nice.” … Jonas Feit notes that the official in this shot is wearing only one glove, which I guess means he’s a fan of either Michael Jackson or Jay Gibbons. … Jared Blank notes that Fred Jones of the Knicks recently had an NOB glitch. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Monta Ellis appears to have tape on the soles of his sneakers. … Alex Auld made his Bruins debut Saturday night but was still wearing his Coyotes gear. … Good treatment of the situation regarding visors in the NHL here (with thanks to Karl Anderson). … Missouri is hinting that they may wear solid gold in the Cotton Bowl (as reported by Drew Wagner). … According to this listing of unusual MLB conract clauses, Dice-K is contractually guaranteed to wear No. 18 — which, as some of you may know, is considered a prestige number of pitchers in Japan (nice find by Scott Weicksel). … Anyone else think it was a bit odd that Floyd Mayweather’s operative color on Saturday night was gray?
December 10th, 2007
Major typo in the English Premier League yesterday, as David Bentley of Blackburn played an entire match with “Betnley” on his back (plus it wasn’t exactly the most graceful arc). As Dan Winkler explains, “David Bentley is one of Blackburn’s best players. He’s been with them for a few years and, in fact, scored a hat trick against Man U a few years ago, so it’s not like he’s the soccer equivalent of a September call-up or was just acquired in a trade. That’s what makes this mistake especially odd.”
By coincidence, there’s another EPL typo of sorts unfolding these days. It involves West Ham’s John Paintsil. Reader Iain Landon explains:
When Paintsil signed with West Ham from the Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv, all of his documentation, including his UK travel paperwork and work permit, had his name as ‘Pantsil’ — note the missing ‘i.’ According to English FA regulations, the name on his shirt has to match his registration, so John Paintsil has become John Pantsil. He only has a handful of appearances for West Ham so far this season, so I haven’t been able to find a photo, but the details of the story are verified here and here.
Meanwhile, back on our side of the pond:
• The Chargers’ season-long streak of having at least one player without an American flag decal was kept intact, as Chris Chambers was flag-free for the third week in a row. LaDainian Tomlinson, however, was flag-clad for the second consecutive week.
• Speaking of the Chargers, someone needs to tell Antonio Cromartie that men don’t look good in sheer hose.
• And speaking of hosiery, Dwight Smith had some serious sock layers going on.
• Charles Woodson, who’s been pushing the uni-related envelope all season, really outdid himself yesterday. Was he wearing tzitzit or what?
• I remain opposed to this look for the Giants, but there were a few interesting details. As Joe Skiba had promised, the “ny” nose bumper logo, which is usually blue outlined in red, was red outlined in blue. And yeah, okay, I can deal with red gloves, red shoelaces, and red undersleeves, but red spats? Enough already. (That player, incidentally, was Kawika Mitchell, and the screen grab comes courtesy of Randy Williams.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Where do college football uniforms go after they’ve been used? Often to Europe, as seen with this Mississippi State jersey being used by the London Olympians, and this Duke jersey worn by the Coventry Cassidy Jets (also note the personalized “MOM” memorial, all found by Stefan Schubert). … Tons of great historical baseball pics in the New York Public Library’s A.G. Spalding Collection (with thanks to John Ervin). … I’m trying to figure out how they’re going to screw this up. … Hannah Krug notes that the Princeton women’s hoops team has their logo in an interesting spot. “The worst part is that it doesn’t even look like a tiger,” she says. “I’m more reminded of a mole rat.” She also notes that Maryland’s jerseys have a normal back, but Marissa Coleman ties her up into a faux racer back. … The Kitchener Rangers wore special Remembrance Day jerseys on Sunday (with thanks to AJ Brandt). … And CFL teams wore poppy decals yesterday (with thanks to Tim Capper for the screen grab). … Not positive about this, but I think Miguel Cotto is the first fighter I’ve seen with a boxing glove depicted on his waistband (it’s on the back, too). … Cal wore really nice throwbacks (which are now being auctioned off) on Saturday. …Mild hilarity on Saturday night, as Trevor Fulkerson wrote to tell me that an Angels turn-ahead-the-clock jersey was up for auction on eBay. Exactly 21 minutes later, David Linder wrote to tell me that he was the winning (and, incredibly, only) bidder. … “I was browsing through a photo gallery of the 1930 World Cup and ran across this picture of the team from Bolivia,” writes Chuck Nolan Jr. “I assumed they were just wearing special shirts for the team portrait, but then I saw this photo , which would seem to confirm that they wore the shirts during the game.” … It’s amazing how Georgia’s black jersey (which I was fine with) really accentuated the black pants stripe, which up until now I’d barely even noticed. … Awesome socks being worn by Dorchester High in Boston (with thanks to Skott Daltonic). … Duke wore throwback jerseys and helmets on Saturday but ruined it by going monochromatic. … Sure didn’t take long for eye-black messages to go from this to this (that’s Mississippi State’s Eric Butler, as spotted by John Wilmoth). … Mark Graban found an interesting old pic of Donny Baseball with mismatched numerals on his helmet brim. Not only that, but look closer at it appears that the “3″ was applied over the “2.” … Jeremy Kaufman notes that Michigan State’s Mark Dell has “Focus” written on his wrist tape. … not a good idea. … The 49ers are already wearing a memorial helmet decal for Bill Walsh. Will they add another one tonight for former coach Dick Nolan, who died yesterday? … Fascinating note from Morris Levin, who writes: ” Topps just released its 2007 Update & Highlights set (it’s what used to be “Topps Traded”). Check out the cards for Francisco Rosario and Kyle Lohse. They must not have had game pics in Phillies jerseys because the uniforms are clearly airbrushed. Rosario is wearing his black Blue
Jays cleats, but more telling is the team wordmark on the front. The Topps art department placed a Phillies logo in there and neglected to remove the underline, which is part of the official logo but does not appear on the jerseys.”
Long-Overdue Thanks: About two months ago, after we changed web-hosting companies, I asked for volunteers to help fix all the non-ASCII characters that had gotten garbled during the server changeover. Six readers answered the call, which was great — and I failed to publicly acknowledge them until now, which is not so great. So for the record, I owe a big debt of gratitude to Chris Schoenthal, Chris Roberts, Mark McGinnis, Matt Edwards, Forrest Carpenter, and Kyle Joecken. Mea culpa for not thanking them until now.
November 12th, 2007
The e-mails started arriving at Uni Watch HQ right after the end of Saturday’s Kentucky/LSU game. While the rest of the country was buzzing about Kentucky’s upset victory, Uni Watch readers were puzzling over something that had briefly appeared on their TV screens. Of the dozen or so readers who got in touch, Rob Kustal summed it up best:
With :02 left in regulation, before the big field goal missed by LSU, CBS showed vintage footage of Kentucky, circa 1950 or so. I didn’t even catch the specific story, because I was so distracted by what I thought I saw: I swear it was a player wearing a jersey number reading ‘1A.’ My friend thought he saw the same thing. It could’ve been a funky-looking 14, or maybe 17, but it certainly looked like 1A.
And that’s exactly what it was. What was this all about? The answer is buried on this page, devoted to Kentucky football history. The pertinent passage reads as follows:
During the course of his legendary career, Coach Paul “Bear” Bryant was known as an innovator of introducing changes in the game of football. One change Bryant introduced during his tenure at Kentucky was the use of a unique number system to identify twins Harry and Larry Jones, who both lettered three years (1950-52) with the Wildcats. Harry wore 1A and Larry wore 1B. Harry led the Wildcats in all-purpose yardage in 1951 with 964 while Larry led UK in kickoff returns (21.1 avg) in 952.
Maybe someone should have said, “Yo, Bear, here’s an innovation for ya: If you want to tell them apart, howzabout giving them No. 1 and No. 2?” or something like that. In any event, this wasn’t the only time a team used numbers and letters in tandem. In 1952, LSU used an alpha-numberic system based on the players’ positions. And then there’s this YMCA basketball team, circa 1900, which Vince wrote about back in January.
But the Kentucky situation is unique because, as far as I can tell, it’s the only time that an alpha-numeric format — or any non-standard numbering format — was used for just a couple of players, instead of team-wide. A silly idea at the time, but great Uni Watch fodder half a century later.
(Special thanks to Jeremy Brahm, who provided the “1A” screen shot.)
Flap Follow-Up: Last Thursday’s entry on Earl Battey and his improvised earflap led to a nice shout-out from Blake Meyer, who runs the superb TwinsCards.com site. He put out the call among his people, one of whom, Pat Bones, came up with those two elusive Battey photos from the 1963 Twins yearbook. The pics aren’t great, but the flap is there if you’re looking for it. Big thanks to Blake, Pat, and the TwinsCards.com network for coming up with these.
Now let’s see if we can return the favor: Blake and his people want to know what’s up with this 1968 baseball card. It appears to have been taken at an all-star game, but the ’67 game was in Anaheim, so the A.L. players would have been wearing home whites and the N.L. would have worn road grays, instead of the other way around. Maybe it’s from the ’66 game..? Insights welcome.
Research Project: I’m trying to compile a list of uniform quirks and eccentricities that aren’t part of a team’s official uni specs but have nonetheless become part of the team’s established protocol. Examples would include the Cowboys’ Dymo Tape helmet nameplates (as seen at right) and jersey tie-downs, the Giants’ rounded nameplates, the Bears’ horizontal shoulder darts, the Steelers’ heavily ribbed socks, the Red Wings’ preseason use of straight nameplates, and so on. Care to contribute some additional examples? You know what to do.
Uni Watch News Ticker: We’ve often talked about city flags appearing on sleeve patches or serving as the basis of team color schemes. Now Scott Greene has found a page featuring dozens of city flags, most of which I’d never seen before. Did you know Detroit’s flag looked like this? Or that Long Beach’s looked like this? Fascinating stuff — highly recommended. … Speaking of flags, last week I asked if anyone had a shot of the American flag flanked by an Adidas flag during the singing of “God Bless America” at Yankee Stadium. Now Tim Walsh has provided this, which must surely rank among the most offensive examples of logo creep ever. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: David Carr’s penchant for wearing gloves has led to a new blog. … Susan N. Freeman found an amazing 1929 photo featuring these totally rad Texas Tech uniforms. … Nate Allen lost his shoe the other day (good spot by Greg Riffenburgh). … Last week I linked to a great Sports Business Journal article about the NFL cracking down on uniform violations, but you had to register for a free trial subscription in order to access the story. Now I’ve got a scan of the print version of the article — print quality isn’t top-notch, but it’s legible. Highly recommended reading. … Great catch by Dennis Gray, who noticed that Manny Fernandez’s lace-up collar didn’t have any laces the other night. He doesn’t always go lace-free, so it’s not clear if this was a matter of personal preference or just an oversight. … Dave Eskinazi sent along this old Spalding Tour photo. At first glance the most salient details are the classy chest insignia, the white belt, and the colored pants. But take a closer look at the detailing on the sleeve cuffs. “Never seen anything like it,” says Eskinazi, and neither have I. … “There is so much wrong with this photo, I don’t know where to begin,” writes Jordan Cutler. For the record, that’s Geo Soto playing for the triple-A Iowa Cubs. … In the “Oh. My. God.” department, the Wisconsin hoops team will honor their 1941 NCAA championship squad by wearing throwbacks on December 3rd, and I may just have to fly out to Madison for that one, because we’re talking about some serious striped-sock action (with thanks to Damion Beth and Karl G. Anderson). … Thomas Langan reports that the Hofstra lacrosse team honored former teammate Nick Colleluori, who recently died of lymphoma, by wearing lime green uniforms (the color of the lymphoma ribbon), all with No. 27 (Colleluori’s number), back on October 7th. … Has Dartmouth always had these weird helmet stripes? (As spotted by Zevi Lowenberg.) … Old Dominion will return to football competition in 2009, and their just-unveiled uniforms appear to be a total rehash of the current Miami design. Of course, Miami will have moved on to a new uni by 2009, so ODU is basically getting sloppy seconds here (with thanks to Charles Pritt). … Here’s something I don’t recall having seen before: Evander Holyfield had his surname on his shoes during Saturday night’s bout against Sultan Ibragimov. … No comment. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Western New Mexico has taken the very odd step of putting their helmet decal on the back of the helmet. … Reprinted from Saturday night’s comments: Lots of inconsistencies in Auburn’s nameplate typography (as noted by Kris McInnis). … Since the NFL fines players for having their jerseys untucked, can’t the NHL do something about Jaromir Jagr, who keeps wearing his jersey tucked in? Looks like crap. … Rutgers wore black pants on Saturday. Doesn’t look bad, but also doesn’t look like Rutgers. … The Jets’ Titans throwbacks looked nice, but oddly collegiate, no? (First person to comment, “That’s appropriate, since the Jets play like a college team” gets tossed from the site, so please be more creative than that.) … Major wardrobe malfunction yesterday in Chicago, where Adrian Peterson of the Vikings had his pants come down in the fourth quarter (nice work by Aaron Etshokin). … According to Dressed to the Nines, in 1974 the Red Sox wore an alternate uniform, featuring a multicolored cap and non-striped stirrups. Not sure I’d ever seen a photo of this design until Andy Given came up with this shot of El Tiante (which he found in this excellent gallery of Red Sox pics). … Not sure why, but the Chargers’ new powder-blue alts didn’t quite wow me. I think it’s because the blue panel on the pants creates a blue overload. … Meanwhile, guess whose American flag helmet decal was missing yet again. … Attention all fans of design (which pretty much means everyone reading this): This is National Design Week, which among other things means free admission at the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum here in NYC. … Several readers think Santana Moss was wearing a collared shirt under his jersey yesterday. Personally, I’m dubious, but you can kinda see it here. If this sounds familiar, it’s because we went through a similar discussion regarding the Saints’ Will Smith last year. … Interesting volleyball hosiery here (with thanks to Steven Trujillo). … Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero was wearing a ski cap under his mask last night. … Brandon Bowker works at a book store where a copy of this title recently came through. “Check out those socks!” he says. Indeed. … Remember our recent examination of Todd Helton and his Mizuno-ized Nike cleats? Here’s a great close-up from last night’s Rockies/D-backs game. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Nice little video clip here about Martin Gerber’s new mask.
October 15th, 2007
The big uni-related news in the NFL yesterday had nothing to do with the players. It was the pink ribbons being worn by most coaches, owners, and other sideline personnel (although a few coaches went ribbon-free, including one guy who obviously didn’t want a ribbon messing up his carefully manicured look). The officials got involved too, wearing pink wristbands (here’s a closer look) and ribbons, although the zebras’ ribbons didn’t have the litle NFL logo pin.
Speaking of which: Isn’t a little offensive to turn cancer into a branding opportunity? Like, why use that NFL logo pin in the first place? MLB does this with their Mothers Day and Fathers Day ribbons, too. Similarly, despite what this decal says, hockey doesn’t fight cancer — chemo and radiation do. Why not have a decal that says, “Find a Cure” or “Support Cancer Research,” instead of a message that’s essentially self-aggrandizing?
Meanwhile, in non-cancer developments:
• Can’t say I was in love with the Titans’ blue-on-blue look, but I didn’t hate it either. The more of it I saw, the more it started to grow on me. Hmmmmmmm.
• The Rams, on the other hand….
• As discussed in yesterday’s comments: Although it’s not a new thing for him, John Kasay was wearing a watch and his wedding band while kicking yesterday.
• The Falcons logo on Alge Crumpler’s left sleeve was facing the wrong way (it should look like this.
• No photo yet, but LaDainian Tomlinson’s American flag decal was still missing. (In a related item: The Bills will be wearing their throwbacks tonight, and I’m wondering if their helmets will be completely blank in the back, as they were last year).
Research Reminder: I’m still very much in the market for examples of typos and misspellings on uniforms. In particular, I’m having trouble finding a photo of Wayne Gretzky from his first game with the Rangers, when he wore “Gretkzy” on his back, but non-superstar typos are fine too. Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Several readers have noted that Jimmy Rollins wears a Cool-Flo hemet when batting right-handed but a conventional lid when swinging from the left side. … Ryan Purdie notes that the TV numbers on Utah’s uniforms have been doing a slow fade. In 2005 they were on both the home and road unis; in 2006, still on the road set but not on the home design; and this year, they’re missing from both the home and road unis. … Mike Alper notes that the Blackhawks’ sleeve numbers seem to have been cut rather sloppily, without enough white space. Additional examples here, here, here, and here. … Marquette will have some rad throwback alternate jerseys this season (with thanks to Jon Aubry). … Reprinted from last Thursday’s comments but still worth a look: A surprisingly in-depth article devoted to Cole Hamels switching undershirts during Game 1 of the Phils/Rockies series. … Remember last week’s discussion of negative space? Markus Kamp found another good example in this Seahawks 12th man pin. … The National Federation of State High School Associations has enacted a bunch of new lacrosse uniform regulations (with thanks to Ryan Burns). … The Islanders’ Stanley Cup stripes were missing from Bill Guerin’s shoulder the other day (good spot by Tim Hudson). … Not truly uni-related, but there’s a spectacular slideshow devoted to photos of old Comiskey Park here — highly recommended (great find by Michael Gargano). … Check out the unsightly gap between Daniel Sedin’s right sock and pant cuff (as spotted by Daniel Sherman). … Marhsall’s basketball team has entered NikeWorld (that depressing news courtesy of Jake Keys). … “During Friday night’s Pens/Ducks game, the announcers were talking about these special pads that hang over the laces of the skates,” writes Nate Budziszewski. “They said most players don’t like to wear them because they’re embarrassed, so they wear a more cosmetic version that’s hidden under the laces.” … The NFL has enlisted Chelsea FC to help promote the upcoming Giants/Dolphins game in London. First visible evidence of this: Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora wearing Chelsea jerseys. … Jeff Tripodi found a 1987 SportsCenter highlight clip in which George Hendrick is referred to as “He With the Long Pants.” … Manny Pacquiao and Marco Antonio Barrera both wore red trunks for their super featherweight title bout Saturday night. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Illinois players are wearing “Team” on their nose bumpers — a staple of Ron Zook-coached teams. … Bugs and baseball? Nothing new about that. … Hey, speaking of Friday’s bug-a-thon, here’s some recommended movie viewing for Yankees fans and Joba Chamberlain: Them (1954), which features huge nuclear-irradiated ants, and Starship Troopers (1997), in which the military forces of Earth wage intergalactic war against giant alien bugs. Both offer comforting reassurance that humans really can overcome insects. … Auburn’s 1957 throwbacks didn’t do much for me, given that they left so much contemporary clutter on the jersey’s upper chest. … Kent State University wideout Derek McBryde’s right TV number has been backwards for the team’s past two home games (good catch by Brad Foster). … The Japan Basketball League has introduced a new mascot. And his name — I kid not — is Hoopy. This is so fucking great, I don’t even mind that he’s not wearing striped tube socks (big thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Our own Vince Grzegorek was quoted extensively in this article about the Indians’ uniform history, which ran in yesterday’s Cleveland Plain Dealer. The printed article included additional quotes from Vince, plus photos, so Ohio readers should fish their copies of the Sunday paper out of the recycling pile. … The striped belt phenomenon has trickled down all the way to high school (good spot by Jack Krabbe). … Susan Freeman attended the Stars’ home opener in Dallas on Friday and reports that “the new slimmer jerseys [kept getting] caught in the shorts, leaving half the numbers obscured” (but she didn’t mind so much cuz she got a pair of jersey beer cozies). The next day she checked out the traveling “Baseball as America” exhibit and took dozens of photos, which are available in a slideshow here. … Wisconsin’s women’s hockey team has won two national championships wearing this design, so Nicole Haase was surprised to attend a game on Saturday and see the team skating out looking like this, which is essentially the same design that the men’s team wears. “I asked a girl who was working the bench about the jerseys,” says Nicole, “and she said they were new and she thought they were permanent.” … During the preseason, the Lightning’s road jerseys had uni numbers on the front but the home jerseys didn’t. Now that the season has started, the numbers are appearing on the home set as well. According to a small item buried on this page (sent my way by Doug Mooney), “The team decided to make the change near the end of the preseason and sewed the numbers on after getting permission from the league.”
October 8th, 2007
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: Last night I worked a volunteer shift at the very wonderful City Reliquary, where the gift shop featured a book I hadn’t noticed before: Mark Rucker’s Brooklyn Dodgers, a pictorial history of my home borough’s most storied franchise. After flipping through the pages for a few minutes, it became apparent that this was a mandatory purchase. Here are some of the reasons why:
• This shot, taken in 1868, shows something I haven’t seen before: Look closely and you’ll see that the players are wearing little cuff clips on their trousers, much like what urban cyclists sometimes wear.
• Check out the neckties on display in this 1884 team portrait. And this page shows contrasting neckwear styles.
• Somehow the lace-up jersey style always looks better on guys with bushy moustaches, no?
• Wanna learn something amazing? Read the caption to this illustration.
• Excellent view here of the old style of wearing your fielding glove on your belt while batting.
• I would give anything for this sleeve style to come back into vogue.
• Here’s the best view I’ve ever seen of the Dodgers’ 1916 tattersall plaid design from 1916.
• Think this sleeve logo is big? How about two of them!
• Here’s the earliest photo I’ve ever seen of a player wearing a windbreaker under his jersey (or maybe just the earliest windbreaker photo I’ve ever seen, period).
• Spectacular view here of the white slacks that umps wore on Sundays and holidays in the early 1940s.
And as long as we’re talking about historical stuff: You know how old fruit crates used to have really amazing labels? Roger Faso has turned up an artist named Ben Sakoguchi, who creates baseball-themed paintings in the style of those old fruit designs. Check out Sakoguchi’s full web site here.
Membership Update: Big day yesterday, as we topped 100 memberships — check out the ever-expanding active roster here. My thanks again (and again and again) to all who’ve signed up. If you’ve been thinking about getting on board, full details are available here.
Regarding benefits: T-shirts for those who’ve signed up at Level Two or above have been ordered and should start arriving right about now. Membership cards, fridge magnets, and digital art CDs will begin shipping this weekend. By this time next week, I hope to be completely caught up on everything. Thanks again (and again and again) for your patience.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Wednesday’s note regarding the Diamonbacks’ uniform schedule led to this communiqué from a source with the Astros: “Now, the ’Stros are wearing the brick red jerseys almost exclusively on the road as opposed to the gray. The road brick red is the only Cool Base we have and the owner likes the red. There has been a trend as we get down the stretch in previous years that we would wear them for certain games that did not fit the usual alternate jersey schedule. Red was usually only worn on Sunday. However, last road trip the owner asked for red on the road. BUT, we played the DBs and they had wore their red jerseys on Sunday… making us switch to gray for one game. Luckily we don’t change helmets or caps or pants.” … Good catch by Willet Hossfeld, who notes that Tyler Clippard appears to have removed the button from the top of his cap. … My two cents regarding the disastrous London Olympics logo: It reminds me of this. … The minor league Elmira Jackals have unveiled new home and road unis (much to the disgust of Bryan Long, who quips, “How boring are these things?”). … Reprinted from Wednesday’s comments: Randy Moss was asked about his temporary practice jersey number (6) and had this to say: “Sometimes you can be able to go back and get your number and sometimes you can’t. They really told me 6 was the available number that they have back in the equipment room, so I said, ‘Just give me a number and I’ll make it.’ I guess there is a little buzz around right now with me and number 6. I don’t really care about a number, all I care about is suiting up and going out here and winning on Sundays.†His official roster/jersey number is still to be determined. … Meanwhile, Todd Krevanchi notes that Moss has been getting rather creative with his gloves. … Latest Japanese baseball weirdness contributed by Jeremy Brahm: Hichori Morimoto in stilts. … Good view here of Rafael Nadal’s personalized sneakers (as spotted by Brinke Guthrie). … Good little comedy video here, showing what the NHL’s “super-sleek” third jerseys might look like (nice find by Jeremy Brahm). … Follow-up to Vince’s tattoo entry yesterday: Ryan Howard has a huge brand on his arm. Full details here (with thanks to Michael Milici). … Very nice early uniform catalog (extremely similar to one that I already have, so I won’t be bidding on it) here, and some great vintage unis and accessories up for auction here, here, here, and here. … Meanwhile, here’s a vintage print ad and a uniform company uniform print ad that I bought. … All NASCAR cars will feature a memorial decal for Bill France this week (with thanks to Adam Denobriga). … Steve Robeson reports that the Caps are having a fire sale of old merch. … Photo of the day (courtesy of Jon Klevorn). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The Orioles will wear Negro Leagues uniform on September 6th. Details here. … Yancy Yeater reports that the Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League will be wearing 1979 Cubs-inspired throwbacks tomorrow night. … It’s really small and hard to see, but it looks like Santa Clara had some killer basketball unis back in 1911 (taken from this article, which was forwarded by Tim Sheehan). … Today’s installment of the always-entertaining No Mas blog featured this shot of the first Hagler/Antuofermo, and you know damn well what part of the photo I immediately fixated on.
June 8th, 2007
By Vince Grzegorek
While tattoos were once the domain of sailors and ne’er do wells, you’re now likely to see a tattooed bride or altar boy. — Rachel Weingarten
The stigma of tattoos has been mellowed in the last ten to twenty years, especially in the world of sports. Everyone from swimmers to female boxers seem to have a little something inked somewhere on their bodies, and arms, legs, neck, hands, and even faces get decorated on a regular basis. Tattoos in certain places might still be taboo in mainstream society and might be a barrier to employment in certain sectors, but certainly that kind of corporate, buttoned-down mentality wouldn’t apply to our freewheeling athletes, would it?
Actually, it does, because many leagues consider tattoos to be part of the uniform. In fact, in many sports tattoos are covered in collective bargaining agreements, league committees, and official rulebooks. Take Major League Baseball, which, like the Marines, frowns upon “sleeve” tattoos. Justin Miller of the Florida Marlins (the same guy who has “I [heart] Billy Koch” tattooed on his rear end) has been told to wear long sleeves while pitching because his many tattoos could distract the batter. His response: “For me, my left arm shouldn’t even be counted as a distraction. It’s not part of my uniform, it’s part of me.”
Joel Zumaya and Felipe Lopez usually wear at least semi-long sleeves while playing, although it’s not clear whether they do so based on a higher directive from MLB to cover their arm tattoos (Zumaya, Lopez, Lopez again), or because they just enjoy that style.
As with most things in sports, sponsorship, advertising. and money come into the equation as well. Mike Juhasz of the Calgary Stampeders was told by his coach to cover his Nike swoosh tattoo since Nike was a competing sponsor of the league. One has to wonder if something similar would have to be done if this young man ever made it to the NBA. (Incidentally, LeBron James had to cover his tattoos while playing during high school.)
You wouldn’t think tattoos would be a huge deal in the world of auto racing, right? But Kimi Raikkonen took some heat for a tattoo of a little sun he got on his wrist. Nothing much came of it, but the media fixated on the topic, and Ferrari boss Jean Todt finally said that if a sponsor was that upset about the tattoo then they would just change sponsors.
Then there’s the strange world of temporary tattoo advertising, which has grown into the even stranger world of real tattoo advertising — and which, of course, got its start in sports. Bernard Hopkins collected an extra $100,000 paycheck for putting a GoldenPalace.com temporary tattoo on his back during his 2001 bout against Felix Trinidad, and soon the boxing world was up in arms about the prospect of fighters dancing around the squared circle like sweaty billboards. (Temporary tattoos in the ring were eventually banned since they could be a distraction to the judges and because the ink could come off and get in the opponent’s eye.)
Soon, the juggernaut of sports marketing jumped on board and a New York man planned to ambush the NBA with selected players wearing temporary tattoo advertisements during three selected games in 2001. After hearing about the plan, the NBA quickly put an end to the plans while threatening fines and suspensions. Rasheed Wallace also considered wearing a temporary tattoo for a candy company but eventually backed out because he “didn’t want to use his body as a billboard.” I’m sure it had nothing to do with David Stern at all. Really. The league maintains that players are not allowed to wear any stray corporate insignia on any parts of their bodies, which are considered part of the uniform.
One of the few places that temporary tattoo advertising has survived is in beach volleyball, where players can often be seen wearing multiple corporate logos while diving around in the sand. Having concentrated on, um, other aspects of women’s beach volleyball, it didn’t occur to me until lately that they were wearing temporary tattoos on their arms. Having not watched any men’s volleyball, I had to do a quick search just to make sure that they were taking part in the “Body For Sale” trend as well.
Tangential Bonus Material: Don’t forget, these are wonderful Father’s Day gifts… Bet you didn’t know that Sean Salisbury has/had a “No Fear” tattoo on his ankle (bottom of page)… Check out this article for all the legal ramifications of NBA players wearing temporary tattoo advertising… Many Japanese sports clubs forbid tattoos altogether because they are associated with gangsters, but they tend to let them slide if they are not visible to the other members… According to a very informal survey, the Harley-Davidson logo is the most popular trademark tattoo on the west coast. For more tidbits about logos and tattoos read this… Still interested in NBA players and temporary tattoo advertisements? Listen to this NPR interview from 2001… Sweet looking American flag tattoo on some player in the upcoming video game The Bigs… Here’s a transcript from an Outside the Lines episode where they discussed tattoo advertising… Gallery of athletes and their tattoos here… Another gallery of athletes and their tattoos here (6 and 10 are personal favorites).
June 7th, 2007
You probably know that the Devil Rays played a few “home” games in Orlando last week at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex, which, despite having only 9000 seats, was no doubt an upgrade over Tropicana Field (and where, as you can see at right, Richard Petty threw out the first ball for one of the games). Reader Andrew Ranck attended one of the games and documented some interesting factoids regarding the 246th stadium to host an MLB game:
The field in front of the dugouts had logos commemorating the 10th anniversary of the complex (who knew). The on deck circles had MLB logos on them, and they seemed pretty worn. I’m guessing they may have been spring training holdovers, but they didn’t seem to get much use anyway.
Left field had a collection of pennants representing some of the Rays’ regular sponsors. Also the area beyond the left field fence was grassy, with families spread out on blankets and kids running around.
Center field was pretty bare, and the scoreboard gave little batter information. Besides the line score and the current count, we only saw the batter’s uniform number and batting average. Right field had a temporary Jumbotron, which only displayed the basic graphics from the player intros and whatnot. In the foreground of that last photo, you can see the soft drink race, which took place after the 4th inning.
The only beers for sale that I could find were 24-ounce cans (for $8.50!). The Anheiser-Busch products had Rays logos on them. This surprised me, because Disney is known for not selling that much in the way of A-B products, because Busch Gardens and Sea World are main competitors.
Thanks to Andrew for the first-hand report. Meanwhile, if anyone wants to give a similar account of the proceedings at the Trop, that might be amusing.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Big kudos and thanks to Trevor Williams of the Brainerd Dispatch, who attended the Uni Watch party in Minneapolis two Saturdays ago and then wrote this very nice article about it. … Lotsa stuff you might have missed over the weekend, beginning with Boise State’s new football jerseys, which were unveiled late on Friday. They’ll look like this, this, this, and this. Further details here. … Also from Friday: Roger Clemens warmed up for his minor league season debut wearing high cuffs and white-striped Adidas cleats but later switched shoes and pant styles. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Friday’s blog entry about Chris Sampson being told to remove his hospital bracelet (in case you missed it, look here) should have included a reference to Rob Mackowiak, who hit two home runs while still wearing his hospital bracelet on the day his baby was born back in 2004 (full details here). … It was Armed Forces Night in Milwaukee on Saturday, with the Brewers and Twins wearing military-themed caps. … Interesting thread on the Chris Creamer boards regarding the Cincinnati Jungle Kats, an AF2 team with a pretty innovative helmet design. … More arena football news from Michael Alper, who notes that Kenny Higgins of the Nashville Kats (again with the stoopid spelling) is wearing red shoes, even though there’s virtually no red in the team’s uniform. … The Orioles are denying reports that they’ll put “Baltimore” on their road jerseys next year (as forwarded by Jason Reddish). … Antiques Roadshow recently had a nice little segment on this medal. Details here (with thanks to Jeremiah Conway). … Anyone know why a manufacturer would refer to this pant style as a “Clemson Cut”? Also, who knew there was a hidden interior stirrup in there? (Good find by Rick Subrizio.) … Grant Emerson notes that Angel Pagan’s helmet logo appliqué has been crooked lately. … Club Deportivo Chivas USA has a new jersey sponsor. Full details here (with thanks to Jeffrey Israel). … If you’re interested in Tennessee high school uniforms, tons of photos are available here (courtesy of Marc Walls). … Texans cornerback Jason Simmons came up with a novel way to sell his uniform number to new teammate Ahman Green. … Ronnie Poore noticed something interesting in this photo of the 1965 NFL draft: The little figurines on each desk are wearing stirrups, instead of football-style socks. Most NFL players did wear stirrups in those days, but they also wore shin-length white socks over them — odd that the figurines didn’t get that final finishing hosiery touch. … Good story here about this Texas company, which makes varsity/letterman jackets. Further background info here. (With thanks to Matt Mitchell.) … Follow-up report from Jen Muller, who recently provided the photo of Dane Richards with his name misspelled: “At a Red Bulls ‘meet the team’ event on Saturday, I had a chance to ask Richards if he knew his name was spelled incorrectly on his jersey. He said he had no idea until he saw it later on the internet. Maybe he’s a Uni Watch fan.” … Check out the socks on Dong Tam Long An of the Vietnamese soccer league, who’s been playing in the AFC Champions League this year (as spotted by Jeremy Brahm). … Can’t say I thought much of Cory Spinks’s trunks or glove colors during his fight against Jermain Taylor on Saturday night. Weirdest bit: When Spinks’s trunks started slipping down, his corner tried to secure them with tape around the waistband — never seen that maneuver before. Meanwhile, check out the fringe on Taylor’s trunks. … Former Knick John Starks is promoting a new line of basketball warm-up pants, which are supposedly easier to pull off in one motion. Details in the “Starks to NBA” section about two-thirds of the way down this page (with thanks to Eric Stangel). … Lots of great stripes on display in this rugby photo, taken by Rick Collins. … Odd logo/number format being worn by the Texas City Stings (good catch by Seth Harris). … A little birdie tells me that the U. of Texas hoops team will go to Nike’s tight-fit jerseys next season. … Matthew Lepke notes that as of yesterday, Ron Gardenhire was still wearing his Mother’s Day ribbon on his windbreaker. … Matt Meltzer and I both want to know what’s printed on Dice-K’s left undersleeve. … Seth Horowitz forwards the following, from yesterday’s NY Post: “Tom Nieto, the Mets’ catching instructor, now has a tilde over the ‘N’ in ‘ÑIETO’ on the back of his jersey. He didn’t have one in his previous two years with the Mets but had it switched this season so that it would be properly pronounced.” … Nike’s latest brainstorm: a new and “improved” design, featuring a black jersey, for the Miami baseball team. … Awesome stirrup display by Brian Garman of the UC Bearcats (with thanks to Buckeye Mike, who says he’s known Garman since they were both about five years old). … Uni Watch design director Scott M.X. Turner and I attended last night’s Yanks/Mets debacle. The shameful truth: I was cold, tired, and depressed by the game’s proceedings, so I left in the middle of the 8th inning. Let the record show that Scott stayed to the bitter end.
May 21st, 2007
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