Today is the 35th anniversary of a seminal sports event: the Rumble in the Jungle, which pitted George Foreman against Muhummad Ali in Kinshasa, Zaire. And No Mas honcho Chris Isenberg is marking the occasion with some seriously gorgeous video animation.
Some quick background: Most of you probably think of No Mas as a T-shirt brand, but it’s actually a multi-faceted media project — a project that was born out of Isenberg’s fascination with Ali. That fascination eventually blossomed into Isenberg becoming an official Ali licensee (you can read more about the unusual route he took to that destination here), and he’s used that connection to commission three short animations to commemorate the Rumble anniversary.
The first one, called Zaire, is by watercolorist David Rathman and is sort of a gray-wash time capsule that juxtaposes iconic Rumble sound bites with Rathman’s spectacular brushwork. You can see additional stills here, or just watch the video below.
Next up: Round Zero by oil painter Jerome Lagarrigue. No Mas describe this one thusly: “Lagarrigue draws inspiration from Ali’s own zoological poetry (’I done wrassled with an alligator/Tussled with a whale’) in exploring Ali’s mental and spiritual transformation in the moments before the bell sounds round one.” OK, so that sounds a tad pretentious, but the imagery is magnificent, all the more so when you see it in motion. Check it out:
The third video is by pen-and-ink illustrator James Blagden, is a hoot. As you may know, James Brown was headlining an all-star soul concert in Zaire that was organized in conjunction with the Rumble (and was also the subject of a recent documentary). So with the Godfather of Soul and the Greatest of All Time having been in the same place at the same time, Blagden has imagined a fictitious showdown between the two of them, set to JB’s “Cold Blooded.” Dig:
Great stuff, three great takes on a seminal event, and three potent reminders that boxing is still the most aesthetically potent sport of them all. Chris is going to be making some of the original animation artwork available for sale, and there may be an exhibit at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville. You can keep track of all that news on the No Mas site.
I love these short films, and I certainly don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade here, but I do feel a reality check is in order regarding the Rumble. To wit: It was a bad fight, and a boring one. Forget all the When We Were Kings mythologizing and just watch the fight. If you do, one thing quickly becomes apparent: Foreman looks like an amateur. No balance, no leverage, no nothing. Watch how he often he has his palms awkwardly extended and open in front of him, like a two-bit street pug. He doesn’t even look like a credible slugger — more like a third-rate Tough Man contestant. Seriously, there are multiple points in the fight where it’s embarrassing to watch him. Meanwhile, Ali’s rope-a-dope tactics, while canny, make for a snooze of a bout. Even the eventual knockout is unsatisfying — more of a cumulative meltdown than major punch-and-drop.
And yet the legend of the Rumble has endured. Why? (1) Foreman had built up an aura of invincibility in his previous fights, so the result was seen as a huge upset. (2) This was the fight in which Ali reclaimed the heavyweight title, something that had only been done once before (by Floyd Patterson, don’tcha know). (3) Ali, as was his habit, used the buildup to the fight as a backdrop for addressing powerful themes of race and culture — particularly powerful in this case, since the fight was in Africa. (4) Fight fans love epic themes, even if they’re more rooted in myth than in fact, and this fight had lots of powerful thematic elements. (5) “Rumble in the Jungle” is a catchy slogan.
None of which makes the No Mas videos any less compelling. Like I said, I’m just trying to provide a nugget of reality amidst the mythmaking.
Finally, one interesting uni-related note from the Rumble: Referee Zack Clayton wore zebra stripes — not something you often see in the boxing ring.
Bonus Column: I’ll have a short piece on World Series rings up on ESPN today. I won’t be around to add the link when it goes live, but it should be at this URL (that link will give an error message until the piece goes live, probably around 12:30pm eastern).
College Hoops Home Stretch: I’m currently working on my annual college basketball season-preview column for ESPN. Compiling one of these columns for college sports is different than doing it for one of the pro leagues, because there’s no central database of all the new uniforms, no league PR office or single manufacturer to go over things with. Basically, it’s a free-for-all, so I just try to stay alert and keep track of all the new designs and patches as I become aware of them.
Here’s what I have so far: Alabama, Auburn, Cal, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Creighton, Georgia Tech, Grand Canyon, Iowa State, Kentucky (rumors of something Lebron-ish, but no confirmation yet), Louisville, Miami (Ohio), Missouri State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio U., Oregon (I think — not yet confirmed), Pacific (alternate uni for the Dec. 9 game against Cal), Pitt, San Diego State, South Carolina, UNC (1957 throwback), UNLV, Utah, Vanderbilt, Washington (new black alt), Washington State, and WVU (black alt).
I’m sure there are others I’ve missed — not just new uniforms, but also patches, court designs, etc. — and that’s where you come in. If you know of any college hoops unveilings not listed above, or if you become aware of any over the next week or so, please speak up. Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The single-bar facemask lives! That’s our old friend Scott Player, now plying his trade in the UFL (with thanks to Doug Keklak and Mike Rigby). … The 49ers are changing who gets to wear the green dot on defense (with thanks to Mark Snider). … Some great uniform shots in this video tribute to the late NHL ref Bill Chadwick (with thanks to Alan Kreit). … England’s new rugby kit is my favorite color, with a poppy thrown in for Armistice Day (with thanks to Michael Orr). … Striped stirrups sighting in yesterday’s “Family Circus” (big thanks to Vernona Elms). … Insert joke about one white hockey glove here (with thanks to Mark Snider). … Not uni-related, but if you wanna see something really beautiful — I mean really beautiful — click on the embedded video here (thanks, Kirsten). … You’ve heard of FNOB, but how about FNOF? That’s the Raja, of course, wearing a Chicago youth organization uni (great find by Paul Wiederecht). … Good article about early Red Wings mask history here (with thanks to Tim Shay). … New uniforms for the Jacksonville Suns. … For next year’s April Fool, maybe I’ll start a rumor that the Seahawks are gonna be wearing this (bizarre find by Matthew Weber). … New World Cup kit for Ivory Coast. I don’t like that diagonal shoulder treatment, but I love their new crest (with thanks to Coachie Ballgames). … Tremendous batch of old 1940s Washington Huskies photos here (big thanks to John Doodigian). … According to the fourth graf of this story, Avs goalie Craig Anderson once “lived in Sweden and inserted a double-s in the middle of his surname to to fit in. When he played for the Blackhawks, he had an incorrect [double-s] spelling on the name bar of his jersey until the NHL, as he says, ‘questioned the legality of it.’” I don’t like to post watermarked Getty photos (and I ask that none of you do so either), but you can see the single-s and double-s versions of Anders(s)on’s Blackhawks NOB if you go to Getty’s main page and search on “Craig Anderson 2003 Chicago” (with thanks to Paul Richard Cook). … I like socks as much as the next guy — probably more — but this is going overboard. … I’m heading to Cooperstown later today and will be there throughout the weekend (good place to be during the Series, right?). See you on Monday.
I know, I know, cake designs often feature things we wouldn’t normally eat, like flowers and, um, well mostly flowers. Still, I can’t imagine the sight of a giant vinyl belt is particularly appetizing, even if rendered confectionarily. Is that even a word? It is now.
Hey, speaking of boxing, I’ve said this before, but not recently, so it bears repeating: No Mas boxing scribe Dave “Large” Larzelere is producing some world-class sportswriting that would no doubt be garnering wide acclaim if he weren’t writing about a niche sport on a low-profile blog. And you don’t have to be a boxing fan to appreciate his ace wordsmithery — in fact, his prose is so good that it might convert some non-fans. In his breakdown of the Pacquiao/Hatton and Dawson/Tarver bouts, there’s a great bit where he explains how the Rocky scenario (i.e., effort and commitment can trump talent) is largely a crock. Dig:
I love Rocky as much as the next guy … but the Rocky mythology, when transferred to the real world, does [boxing] a disservice. This game is no more a contest of guts and heart and balls than is basketball or Olympic table tennis. In other words, guts and heart and balls matter greatly, but only, ONLY, if you have the talent and the skill set to compete at the highest level. Otherwise, it’s just you with all your guts and heart standing there like a retard while all those crazy-ass Chinese motherfuckers rocket Ping Pong balls past your face at like a thousand miles an hour.
Later in the same piece, he makes some brilliant comparisons between boxing and tennis. Not to be missed.
And that’s all for today, because I’ve got a bunch of non-uni fires to put out. No comments, sorry. Back tomorrow with some good stuff, promise. — Paul
I don’t often write about boxing, even though I’m a fairly big fight fan. But as you may be aware, HBO is running a documentary tomorrow night about the third Ali/Frazier fight, and I was able to get a DVD screener of the film, so that’s what we’re going to talk about today.
Let me get the yea-or-nay verdict out of the way right at the start: It’s a good film — you should see it. It captures many of Ali’s flaws (his womanizing, his truly reprehensible race-baiting, his constant need for attention, his casual cruelty, etc.) and provides some sad evidence of how Ali is still under Frazier’s skin today. There’s one scene toward the end that’s flat-out shocking.
But the film also falls prey to some pervasive problems that tend to afflict boxing coverage in general and Ali/Frazier coverage in particular. The biggest of these is what I call the “epic factor,” by which I mean the lazy tendency to fall back on melodramatic language like “epic battle,” “gladiator,” “battle of wills,” “heroic effort,” “punishing punches,” and so on. The HBO film is full of overheated clichés like this (although they don’t sound quite so bad because the narrator is Lieb Schreiber).
Boxing writers love to use terms like these, dressing the sport in the language of literary theatrics. They do this in part because boxing is high drama but also, I think, because it’s easier to ignore boxing’s inevitable moral questions if you drape it in grandiose language. Or to put it another way, if you express yourself in the most highly civilized manner, it’s easier to rationalize the fact that boxing really has no place in a civilized society. That’s why everyone loves it when bigshot intellectuals like George Plimpton or Joyce Carol Oates write about boxing — if they’re into it, it basically gives the rest of us tacit permission to be into it. That’s why the producers chose Schreiber, a well-regarded stage actor, as the narrator here: His job is to provide the moral cover, the artistic seal of approval, that lets the rest of us enjoy the guilty pleasure of watching two naked guys punching the shit out of each other.
This leads us to another problem with boxing coverage: “facts” that aren’t always so factual. Because boxing people love to create heroic, Homeric storylines, they tend to embellish things. Toss in the fact that the boxing world isn’t exactly full of the most honest or reliable people (or as Bob Arum once said, with a straight face, “Yesterday I was lying; today I’m telling the truth”) and you end up with a lot of myths, misinformation, exaggerations, and flat-out lies, the most prosaic of which get repeated and entrenched as part of the sport’s lore.
The Thrilla in Manila is a particularly rich source of such lore, much of which is parroted in the HBO production. I want to address two things mentioned in the film — one large, one small:
The party line: The Thrilla was a very close fight. In fact, when Frazier’s corner stopped the bout after the 14th, Frazier might have been ahead on points. The HBO film quotes several observers who say that if Frazier had gotten through the final round, the final result could easily have been a draw.
The lure of the lore: A close fight makes for a better legend. And remember, this was the third Ali/Frazier fight, and they had split the first two, so this was the “tiebreaker.” As dramatic storylines go, what could be better than a tiebreaker that could end in a tie? Makes for great theater.
The truth: Have you ever watched this fight? I have, many times, and I watched it again on Wednesday afternoon (if you don’t have it on tape or DVD, it’s easy to find on YouTube; here are the first two rounds, and the remaining rounds can be found in the “related videos” listing on the right). And this time, just to make sure my memory was accurate, I scored it. Now, Frazier was always a tough fighter to score, because he did so much body work, and body punches aren’t as visually evident or dramatic as head punches, so I made sure to pay extra attention to Frazier’s body shots while watching the bout this time around. Even so, I still gave only three rounds to Frazier — the sixth, ninth, and tenth. You could also make a case for Frazier, or at least for an even round, in the fifth and eighth. But Ali clearly won at least nine rounds. And two of those rounds — the 13th and 14th — were arguably two-point rounds, because Ali dominated so thoroughly. In short: This was not a close fight.
That’s the big issue. Here’s a small one:
The party line: By the end of the fight, Frazier was “fighting blind.” He’d suffered a training accident in 1964 that resulted in a cataract and had never gotten corrective eye surgery, so he’d always had very limited vision in that eye, and his good eye was swollen shut toward the end of the fight. That’s why he was staggered so badly in the 13th and 14th rounds — he couldn’t see. And that’s why his corner stopped the fight.
The lure of the lore: Obviously, the notion of Frazier gamely fighting on, despite not being able to see, makes for an extremely compelling narrative.
The truth: The cataract in Frazier’s left eye was real (it’s mentioned in this article and this article, among many other places). One reason he developed his big left hook, in fact, was to keep opponents from moving to his left, where he’d have a harder time seeing them. But take a look at these shots of Frazier immediately after the Thrilla. Which eye is swollen shut and which eye looks okay, at least by comparison? As you can see, it was Frazier’s left eye — the one that already had very limited vision — that swelled shut. His good eye was okay. Either way, his vision was compromised during the fight, but the truth of the matter has been embellished and exaggerated over the years, because a guy “fighting blind” makes for a better story than a guy “fighting half-blind.”
Just once, I’d like to see some boxing coverage that debunks the lore instead of reinforcing it. But hey, at least this HBO film didn’t have lots of face time from Bert Sugar, so I guess I should be happy.
Okay, now that I’ve got all of that off my chest, let’s check out some uni-related tidbits from the film (with apologies for the crappy image quality):
• I knew Ali had constantly called Frazier a gorilla and even carried around a little toy gorilla prop. I didn’t know, however, that Ali and his entourage wore this T-shirt.
• I’d forgotten that the pre-Thrilla festivities included the presentation of a trophy, which would be awarded to the winner of the fight. As you might expect, Ali tried to make off with it before the fight even started.
• One of the film’s biggest coups is that the producers got Imelda Marcos to speak on camera. She’s, uh, still Imelda.
• Frazier’s former cornerman George Benton is one suave dude. I found it somewhat poignant that he got all dressed up to be interviewed in his own kitchen yet left a battered saucepan and this note within the camera’s view.
• Here’s something I didn’t know: The Nation of Islam (which Ali was a part of, natch) and the Ku Klux Klan used to maintain back-channel communications, because they both believed in ethnic purity and racial separatism. Ali even spoke at a Klan rally! So the film includes some footage of this uniform. Isn’t this about the saddest, scariest thing you’ve ever seen?
• Eagles great Chuck Bednarik comes up in the film, because he was on the Pennsylvania athletic commission and was under pressure to grant Ali a boxing license during his exile (he refused). They show two shots of him: a standard file photo and a bizarre shot that shows him smoking and smoking.
And so on. The most surreal thing in the film is a running series of shots of Frazier, now in his 60s, wearing one of his old robes, complete with NOB. They even have him work the speed bag. I understand the rationale — it’s still in his blood, he’s still a warrior, blah-blah-blah — but it’s a little sad.
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Sorry, ma’am, that’s classified: Still only one ad up and running in the Uni Watch Classifieds. For what it’s worth, that one advertiser tells me he’s had lots of response already. So based on that massive sample size, the classifieds are clearly a good way to go. You know what to do.Raffle Reminder: I’m currently raffling off a jersey from SoccerPro.com. For details, look here.NCAA Contest winners, where are you?: Still haven’t heard from the 3rd- and 4th-place winners, Chuck Nottheshow and Tequila Sunrise. Guys, please step forward to claim your prizes!
Uni Watch News Ticker (mostly compiled by Phil, with some stuff toward the end from Paul): FIFA just released the new logo for the Club World Cup, writes Jeremy Brahm. The press release states, “The newly unveiled FIFA Club World Cup UAE 2009 Official Emblem features authentic Arabic calligraphy of the words The Emirates contained within a dome of red and orange hues to symbolically represent the combination of football with the warmth of the Arabian sun and the nation’s celebrated heritage.” … John Muir states Ryan Miller debuted a new mask for the Sabres’ 3rd jersey, but it looks like he’s breaking it in on the road in the regular white … Dan Snyder writes, “As I was watching the Yanks v Orioles this afternoon I came upon Nick Markakis’ personalized batting gloves. They are a little subdued with the NM21 on the inside of the wrist instead of the outside.” … This funny NOB mistake was pointed out by Michael Lipinski … Interesting and kind of funny, points out Alex Willis, that an SI host follows around the equipment manager all day … Whhhhaaaaaaa? The heck is this about? asks Jan Dambom — Good question … Spin Hansen saw someone linked to the awful mixed-typography logo of the new AAA baseball club in his area, the Gwinnett Braves. Spin just saw their uniforms and he thinks they look like complete dogs, “at least paired with the undershirts that they are wearing. But that might just be the traditionalist in me, seeing the Braves tomahawk with a block-print typeface.” … Stewart Joyner notes there is logo creep at the Masters — even on the leaderboard — he just wants to see scores, not whether or not they play Titleist … David Pickett didn’t like the Rangers’ mixed red-blue look, but explains: (1) They wore red during the division championship days of the late 90s, so many fans have long been clamoring for a return to red, and (2) they are now 3-0 with red caps this season. … Speaking of which, for now the plan is for the team not to wear red on the road — maybe. For details, see the 1:27 entry in Evan Grant’s game blog … Hockey Wing President Teebz is covering this event on his blog the next two weekends. He’ll grab some photos for us, but for now here’s a sneak peek at Team Canada … Brock Towler is a big bobblehead guy, so he was perusing the new offerings on the mlb.com shop. Amazingly, the Mets decided to further immortalize the abomination that is their Inaugural Citi Field Patch (the Domino’s sleeve version) on every last new bobblehead they are releasing for 2009. So, if you love Johan, David Wright, Frankie, or Jo-se Jo-se Jo-se Jo-se, you can purchase not only a representation of your team spirit, but also a little piece of history — the worst patch in history cast in ceramic. Even the Mr. Met bobblehead has the sleeve patch … Did you know Walter Johnson had four arms? (With thanks to John Muir.) … Now that the Albuquerque Isotopes are affiliated with the Dodgers again, they have a new Dodgers-themed Sunday jersey (with thanks to Steve Silva). … The Bowie Baysox’s jersey appear to be leftover MLB BP jerseys from several years ago (as spotted by Zac Neubauer). … Yesterday’s Ticker included a link to this logo quiz by Joe DeAngelis. As promised, here’s the answer key. … Major douchebaggery at the Garden, where a very annoying ad is now appearing on the glass behind each goal and between the benches (screen shots courtesy of Terence Kearns). … Bill Jones may be the undisputed king of gumball helmets, but he’s not the only DIY gumballer out there, as you can see in this story by Jim Ransdell. … Latest NBA team to wear green Earth Week uniforms: the Bulls. But wouldn’t it have made more sense if they’d recycled these green uniforms? … Last night was Don Koharski’s final game as an NHL official. He was working the Caps/Lightning game, and all the other officials in his crew wore his number 12. “He was interviewed on the ice after the game and said he didn’t even notice the other guys were wearing 12 until about five minutes into the game,” says AJ Brandt. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Chris Falvey provided us all with a better look at A.J. Pierzynski’s vented helmet, which isn’t exactly a Cool-Flo — never seen that vent design before. Jonathon Binet says it appears to be a Wilson model (apparently this one), not a Rawlings. Wonder if that’s kosher, as Rawlings is MLB’s official helmet brand. … The Pirates will wear Pittsburgh Police caps at their home opener on Monday, in honor of the three Pittsburgh cops recently killed in the line of duty. … DIY note from Mark Collins, who writes: “Wednesday’s post on the backyard football league was interesting because my younger brother and I did the same thing. But our big sport was baseball, and we went so far as to make uniforms we could actually wear. They weren’t anything special — just a logo drawn on a rec league cap that we got that summer. That team was called the Charleston Shockwaves. (They were originally called the Waves, but during one of our seasons they came under new ownership and went through a name change.)” … Lots more stuff from Jeremy Brahm, including new logos for beach handball (details here) and women’s handball (details here), a cheerleader controversy in Israel, and a new branding campaign for Basketball Australia (download their new style guide, which covers everything from uniforms to letterhead, here). … Dig this: Footage of Wilt Chamberlain in high school (big thanks to my ESPN editor Dave Schoenfield). … Faaaaascintating find by Nicholas Roznovsky, who writes: “My son and I went to the Texas A&M vs. Univ. of Houston baseball game this past Tuesday and I saw something I hadn’t seen before: the Cougars’ catcher (Chris Wallace) was wearing a Rip Hamilton-esque clear plastic face shield underneath his regular catcher’s mask.” That’s a new one for me. Anyone else ever seen this?
One of the highlights of my recent trip to Pittsburgh was a visit to the Heinz History Center, which includes the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum. I took a lot of photos here, so let’s get right to it (with apologies for the inevitable problems with glare and reflection when photographing things in glass cases):
• Here’s a great factory team uniform, circa 1955 (details here), along with a jacket from the same team, different year.
• This is an autographed 1960 Dick Groat jersey, notable primarily for its tagging.
• Would you believe that a big league GM gave a player a raise in 1948 without the player even asking for it? It’s true, at least according to this letter.
• May favorite thing in the entire museum was this display, devoted to a local marble-shooting champion. Yeah, I know, marbles, but c’mon — look at that jersey and patch!
• If you’ve spent any time looking at Negro Leagues photos, you know it’s practically an iron-clad rule that one player was always wearing last year’s uniform, or another team’s uniform, or something out of step with the rest of the team.
• Here’s a really great story: In 1949, a local schoolgirl embroidered this shirt with the likenesses of Ralph Kiner, Wally Westlake, and Babe Ruth, and then sent it to Kiner and Westlake for them to autograph (the Babe had already died, alas). Kiner not only autographed it but sent it back with this cover letter. Dig that stationery!
• Apparently the Pittsburgh boxing community is still pissed off about the Louis/Conn fight (Conn was a local hero). I didn’t get any pics of the Conn memorabilia at the museum, but I did get a shot of this great robe and accompanying set of trunks. Not sure why a Pittsburgh fighter had “NY” on his trunks, but whatever — gorgeous.
• This is Chuck Cooper’s All-American uniform. Note the photo at lower-right — I didn’t realize the Celtics had once worn uni numbers on their shorts. And why doesn’t the shorts number match the jersey number?
• Several excellent old basketball uniforms here.
• Finally, there’s this. I’ll let it speak for itself.
Phew! It’s worth noting, incidentally, that the Heinz facility also features a really great exhibit that documents the history of the Heinz company itself, including a photo of the Heinz baseball team, circa 1907 (note that they’re even using Heinz baseball bats), and a display showing the uniforms worn by female workers at the Heinz plant. Just goes to show that all roads lead back to uniforms.
And now a word from Vince Grzegorek: If I have one lasting legacy at Uni Watch, it probably won’t be writing about Brownie the Elf at every opportunity, or for being Paul’s first intern. No, it most likely will be for running the site’s annual NCAA tournament contest.
So let’s get this going. In the past I’ve come up with convoluted point systems and spent a lot of time scoring each entry by hand. But I’m much too busy for that this year, so screw that. Instead, we’re going to run a normal bracket challenge. To sign up, go to this site. Our group name is Uni Watch, our group ID is 68140, and our password is stirrups (all lowercase).
The top five winners will get to choose from the following prizes, all provided by Paul:
Top winner gets his or her choice of prizes, second-place winner gets to choose from the remaining four prizes, and so on.
Hey, how about that economy?: Paul here again. As some of you are aware, changes are afoot at Distant Replays. Here’s a quick imaginary press conference about what this means from a Uni Watch perspective:
New enrollees in the membership program used to get a $10 Distant Replays gift code. Are you still offering that benefit?
No, effective immediately.
I ordered my membership card a few weeks ago but haven’t received it yet. I thought I was getting the $10 gift code. What happens to me?
There are 16 of you out there who fit this description (some of you have been waiting way too long for your cards, and I’m sorry about that — life has been hectic lately). Those 16 cards will mail out this week, and unfortunately they will not be accompanied by Distant Replays gift codes. If you feel gypped or baited-and-switched, get in touch and we’ll work something out.
I received my Distant Replays gift code with my membership two months ago but haven’t redeemed the $10 code yet. Will I still be able to redeem it when the company goes back online?
Good question. I’ve asked Andy and Rav about this, and so far they haven’t responded. I know them well enough to know they aren’t just blowing me off — I think they just have much bigger things to worry about at the moment. If I had to guess, my hunch would be that old gift codes will not be honored when DR resurfaces. But we’ll have to wait and see.
Sorry for the hassle. Feel free to be in touch if you have further questions about any of this.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Thrashers appear to have a 10th-anniversary logo slated for next season, and holy shit is it a stinker. … Negro Leagues shorts alert! That’s Prince Joe Henry, the Detroit Clowns player who often had some, uh, unique uniform stylings (but not always). Those pics were contributed by Jared Wheeler, who also sent along shots of an old Houston warm-up jacket from the Slama era, a 1940s Harvard hoops jersey, a Senators jersey with a Jerry Cosby tag (”Never seen his tag on a baseball uniform,” says Jared), a Willie Stargell cap (that’s the closest look I’ve ever gotten of the stars — note that only the one on the right appears to be properly oriented), and — the real prize — a sleeve patch from the 1944 minor league Orioles. Thing of beauty, no? … This is really cool (nice find by Charles Neiswender). … But this is just ridiculous (blame Mark Doescher). … Jordan Wiley has created an interesting project: He’s created an a listing of the best logo treatment for each letter of the alphabet. In other words, this is A, this is B, etc. I don’t agree with most of his choices, but that’s kinda beside the point, cuz it’s an interesting little project. I wish he’d put all his letter choices side by side in one big composite alphabet (get working on that pronto, Jordan!), but for now you can check out his breakdown here. … On Friday I mentioned that I’d been surprised to learn that the Milwaukee Braves had offered stock to the public. That prompted the following from Terry Paffenroth: “The stock was a huge issue when the team’s new ownership started making the plans to move the team out of Milwaukee, because they had buy up that remaining stock from people, most of whom who were not about to sell and lose the team. The plan that eventually took shape was that minority stockholders who would not sell were given a letter saying that their shares were being voided in exchange for a voucher for season tickets — in Atlanta. And just for the first season. Next time I see my grandparents, I’ll try and find their old stock certificate, along with the letter and voucher. They small stockholders and were given two tickets. The largest number I have come across was for six tickets.” … Kentucky wore black uniforms on Friday. … The Fresno Grizzlies have some new alt/promo jerseys (with thanks to William Paul Barrett). … Check out this square-formatted NOB (nice find by Robert Saietta). … Tequila sundrise over Blacksburg. … Brett Crane notes that Kevin Youkilis is wearing his #20 elbow guard in the WBC, even though his WBC uni number is 21. … Maybe we’ve covered this before and I’m just suffering from brain-lock, but what’s up with the ‘Pops’ patch? … Here’s the logo for the 2011 Pan-Am games (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Bob Ruffolo was inside the new Yankee Stadium on Saturday and took a bunch of photos. … The Rangers’ two-tone helmet lives on, at least for now, in a team commercial (screen grab courtesy of Josh Jarmon). … Lots of college basketball uni musings here. … Greg Riffenburgh notes that Arsenal’s Russian signee, Andrei Arshavin, has been wearing at least two different kinds of cleats, as seen here and here (that’s him in the background). … Soccer note from Joe DeLong, who writes: “I was watching Serie A soccer highlights on Sunday and saw that Filippo Inzaghi of AC Milan scored his 300th career goal and was immediately presented with a No. 300 jersey.” Details here. … Doug Keklak sent along this shot from the 1956 Johnstown High School yearbook. Weird to see that the whole team had uni numbers in the 70s and 80s — I realize those numbers were legal in h.s. hoops back then, but it’s still odd that they’d only use numbers in that range. … Luke Mohamed reports that Sidney Crosby, who normally wears a visor, was visor-free during part the first period of yesterday’s Pens game. … The 1898 Spalding Ice Hockey and Ice Polo Guide, which is believed to be the earliest hockey guidebook, is now accessible online — complete with ads. … Interesting 2005 story here about bunting — this kind, not this kind (nice find by Mike Ortman). … St. Paddy’s Week has officially arrived, as the Raptors wore green last night. … As promised, supercross racer Kevin Windham wore Saints-themed gear on Saturday (with thanks to Sean Clancy). … Don D. snapped this shot of an adult league hockey team called the Charlie Browns. “The uniform also has a shoulder patch with Snoopy biting through a hockey stick, à la the Sharks,” he adds. … Only in America, or so I’d assume (thanks, Phil). … Also from Phil: Think this guy’s got enough swooshes?
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
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.
• 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.
• 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?
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.
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.
