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Posts filed under 'College Football'
Still Bryan here. Sorry, Paul fans. He’ll be back on Thursday.
But now, it’s … Tuesday. And Chase Daniel wore No. 25 on Saturday. You’re late.
Yeah, I know. I have my reasons (note: they’re all lame). I’ve received more than a few emails about the Chase Daniel thing, so here’s the deal:
From Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel, after a game earlier this season — “Every week the captains will select a player to wear his number and represent Aaron O’Neil (who died July 12, 2005, after a voluntary conditioning workout, due to causes later identified as lymphocytic (viral) meningitis. - br) in his senior year. We just think that’s a great way of honoring him, not only for the fans and for the players but certainly to honor him for his family. The seniors came up with that idea and I think it was an excellent one.”
A good idea in both spirit and execution. The result is more jarring when Daniel wears it compared to, say, the backup wedge buster on special teams, but I like it regardless.
Now, on to other things. I’ve had a few good ticker submissions that needed a little more explanation, so here are a few of them before the actual ticker. (And I’ll have more on Thursday.)
Michael DeAloia has been doing some research for his Cleveland history blog when he came across these two photos. The first is of the 1908 East Tech High team. “Love the turtlenecks with the big “E” on the front. And check out the various striped socks. Very cool.” The second photo is of the 1932 East Tech High squad. Michael says he wishes the photos were in color — I agree. Thanks for the note, Michael.
Greg Netherwood was out bowling the other night and … eh, I’ll let him tell the story: “in the bowling alley they have one of the New York State Lottery scratch off game vending machines. Since I had gone to the bowling alley wearing my authentic David Wright jersey, I thought it fitting that the scratch off I bought should be the all new “New York Mets” scratch off, showing a beautifully lit up Shea Stadium in the background. As I perused the game’s rules on the card, I noticed something peculiar. One of the instant win options was, and I quote, “Reveal a glove symbol, win DOUBLE the prize shown.” The glove symbol shown was none other than the old Milwaukee Brewers logo. The website even shows an example of the ticket, and in the explanation, shows the Brewers logo as well.”
Caleb Borchers checks in with some South African logo shenanigans. “For years the debate over keeping the Springbok logo in South Africa has been raging. For many the Springbok is still a symbol of the apartheid era. Now, the official decision (until a billion appeals) to axe the logo on any national team has come. The government claims this is final, but I promise the crap will hit the fan if this is actually enforced.” More info here and here.
Uni Watch news ticker: Some insight into the rugby question from yesterday, courtesty of Don Montgomery: “Ireland beat Scotland on Feb. 23, 2008, by a 34-13 score. It was their last 6 Nations victory, as they lost to Wales, then England after that. My assumption is that they’re simply wearing their last 6 Nations victory on their kit. Other than that, I don’t know. The Scotland match, other than the victory, didn’t have anything else so memorable about it.” We thank you for the info, Don. … Wow. Sweet. Thanks, Steve Lega. … Good idea, bad execution. Mark Kaplowitz on the tip. … Very, very interesting helmet decal on Ferndale High School in Michigan. Thank you for the note, Arden Smith. … Hey, you know that nasty one-day 49ers logo? A helmet with that decal was on eBay recently. Robert Eden had the tip on that one. … Following up on the cancer awareness item from yesterday, Jose Palacios reports that the Mexican soccer league uses a pink ball all through October. … Pee-wee football action from UVA-ECU last week. Dave Forbes thought both teams were in black. Turns out, one of them is Michigan, minus the yellow pants. … John Muir was at the Islanders’ season opener and spotted a custom blade on the stick of St. Louis goalie Chris Mason. Patrick Lalime has a customized stick, too. … This was in my paper today, and I missed it. David McGee did not. … Funny Team of 18,000 commercial here, with thanks to Mark Coale.
October 14th, 2008
With NCAA football back in full swing, this is a good time to talk about a really great book series that some of you may already know about: the College Vault series, an ongoing program of volumes, each one devoted to the history of a particular school’s football program. It’s a pretty damn impressive series, for reasons that go way beyond the quality of the writing (not bad) and photos (quite good).
Here’s the deal: The College Vault books aren’t just books — they’re more like scrapbooks, only really high-end ones. Each edition comes in a clipcase. Once you start paging through the book, you’ll find that almost every spread has some sort of bonus memorabilia item: old tickets inside of pasted-in envelopes, schedules tucked into pockets (all of which can be removed and fondled, natch), postcards (here’s another view, and here are some additional examples), hidden slots that reveal old brochures (here’s the flip side), taped clippings, more tickets, and even a mini-pennant (here’s a full view).
Naturally, none of it is original, but the reproductions appear to have been done with a good eye for detail, and it’s fun to discover all the different treasures waiting in the various pockets and slots. It’s more like a toy than a book. And as a former book editor, I can tell you that all those pockets and envelopes and inserts must have been a total beast to produce. I’m frankly surprised that the books list for only $50 (and go for more like $35 to $39 on Amazon).
All the pics shown above are from the Notre Dame Vault. I also have Michigan (here’s a slideshow) and Ohio State (sorry, no photos, but you get the idea). They’re all very nice, but I’m not a huge fan of any of those teams — or of any other college football team, frankly — so I’ve decided to unload them. Let’s try this: If we can get 20 new enrollees in the membership program by the end of next week, I’ll raffle all three of them off (oh, and for what it’s worth, we’re just a few enrollees away from our 600th member, which means someone will be getting a special seal on his or her card); if not, I’ll offer them for sale at a discounted price. Cool? Cool.
Research Project: “Went to the Mariners game on Tuesday night with Neyer,” says Jeff Bower. “One question that came up was this: “Who was the first ballplayer to have a tilde used in his NOB? We figured you would know the answer or be insane enough to track it down. I guessed Alex Treviño.”
I can’t recall if we’ve covered this before, but I agree that Treviño (who according to this page began wearing the tilde in 1980) is a likely candidate. If you know of any earlier examples, speak up.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Several people wrote in to tell me that one of the officials in Sunday’s Browns/Cowboys game appeared to be wearing non-standard socks, but only Brendon Yarian came up with a photo. … Tons — and I mean tons — of great old Shea Stadium photos (including lots of Jets-related images, and a link to some 1964 amateur film footage) can be found in this thread. … Good uni-related content on this U. of Wisconsin Q&A page (with thanks to Matt Brukman). … Alternately fascinating and horrifying article here about the Collegiate Licensing Company’s product-screening process (with thanks to Nathan Gemignani). … The Colts PR dept. has informed me that the patch they wore on Sunday night was a one-time deal to mark the opening of the stadium. It won’t be worn again (which means enough space to erect a small office tower will now open up on the team’s jersey). … Here’s the latest re: Devin Hester’s number. … Speaking of the Bears, according to this item, “A source said [Bears] players lobbied Lovie Smith to wear the [white-on-white] combination all season on the road instead of their blue pants,” although it’s not clear if Smith has granted the request. Personally, I have no probably with the white pants, but they need to wear them with the proper socks, instead of these (with thanks for Bob Stokas). … If you’re dying to have a game-worn Cerveceros jersey, look here (with thanks to Jeff Ash, who’s also put together a photo gallery from a 1941 Packers/Lions game). … New Xavier logo style sheets here (with thanks to Adam McCracken). … Pretty damn complete overview of the NFL’s captaincy situation here (with thanks to Trevor Williams). … Awesome-looking (but overpriced) catalog here. … Here’s a good look at the patch that college football officials are wearing (it’s just barely visible on the ref’s left sleeve; thanks to Conor Clougherty for the patch photo). … Interesting find by Matt Powers, who stumbled across this shot of a kid wearing a DNA facemask on a non-DNA helmet. … FNOB alert: Joe Washington (thanks, Ricko). … What the hell is this? It’s the Single Speed [biking] World Championship, of course. Details here, photo gallery here, and literally hundreds of additional photos here. … Here’s something I’d forgotten about until I stumbled across it in an old yearbook: Ralph Kiner, in addition to broadcasting Mets game, also served on occasion as a spring training hitting instructor, complete with a Mets uniform. That shot is from 1971. Dig the fancy-shmancy “video replay machine.” … The White Sox hosted “Blackhawks Night” on Tuesday, resulting in this scene. … Further evidence of Cool Base armpit yellowing (as documented by eagle-eyed Nicole Haase). … James Ballow just “won” — if you can call it that — this futuristic Angels jersey. … Totally stinkin’ rich guys Warren Buffet and Jack Welch bought and sold the entire fucking country while you weren’t looking threw and caught the first pitch at Fenway the other night (video clip here). Buffet wore a No. 1/16 jersey for the occasion, which refers to the fraction of his net worth that would be needed to purchase the Red Sox, Fenway, and Theo Epstein’s gorilla costume. … New Maple Leafs center ice treatment here. … Here’s a new (to Uni Watch) shot of Dave Kingman wearing white shoes. … And check out Seaver and Gentry inspecting the field after the postgame carnage following the 1969 World Series win. … My Page 2 colleague Kurt Snibbe did some fun logo tweaking the other day. … Someone Doesn’t Get It™ (but Stu Taylor does). …The Hurricanes have unveiled their new third jersey, which will look like this. John Muir wonders if they got their inspiration from Team Canada. … Should’ve mentioned earlier this week that last weekend’s Virginia Tech throwbacks looked great (thanks to K. Zane Tuck for the reminder). … Expect MLB teams to be wearing the star-spangled caps tonight. But the Mets have an off day, so they wore the caps last night. … Surprising that nobody had mentioned this until now, but Matt Powers notes that Ladainian Tomlinson’s new facemask is arguably even scarier than the one he wore last year. … Remember how the NFL said Chad Whatshisname had to settle “a financial obligation to Reebok” before he could wear his new name on his jersey? Turns out that obligation is huge (thanks to Minna H.). … Yet another example of a minor league team wearing shorts. “The team is Ft. Worth Cats,” writes Josh Jarmon. “The team wore the shorts during a few exhibition games prior to the 1950 season. The player in the picture is future MLB manager Dick Williams. The photo is from the book Baseball in Ft. Worth, by Mark Presswood and Chris Holaday.
September 11th, 2008
We often talk discuss yearbooks and programs, but we don’t often talk about media guides, in large part because they’re not documented very well on the web. But now someone has put together an online exhibit of Nebraska football media guides from 1964 through 1990, and there’s a ton of great stuff. Here’s a sampling:
1964: Even in black-and-white, the two Ns — one on the field, one in the stands — is pretty inspiring.
1965: Even though I know the ’Huskers wore that cutesy number font back in the ’60s, I still have a hard time wrapping my brain around it.
1967: I’m frankly a bit astonished that they had a black player pose next to a blonde white cheerleader for this cover shot in 1967.
1969: Interesting shot here. As you can see, the helmet shows the NCAA’s 100th-anniversary decal, which many teams wore that year. The thing is, Nebraska didn’t wear that decal on the side of their helmet — they wore it on the front (as seen, ironically, in several photos from the following year’s media guide cover).
1970: This year’s guide featured a cool little gallery of logos, many of which I hadn’t seen before.
1973: Some pretty cool typography and illustration here.
1974: This was the year Herbie Husker was ready for his close-up. Inside there was a page explaining his evolution.
1975: After two years of putting illustrations on the cover, they switched to one of history’s most boring photos. Seriously, does that look like a bad high school yearbook photo or what?
1976: That’s more like it.
1977: I like the de facto Big Eight helmet gallery. Less fond of the de facto cap ad they ran the following year.
1980: “By far my favorite,” says reader Ethan Rowley (who works in the Nebraska athletic dept.), and it’s hard to argue with him. Is this a media guide or a poster for a Richard Pryor film?
1982: The bare midriff was in full force in the early and mid-’80s.
1987: Very odd front cover. Almost feels more like a back cover, no? Also, note that the bare midriff is now covered by a T-shirt.
1989: The season hasn’t even started and they’re already lobbying for the Heisman. That’s pretty standard stuff nowadays, but I think it was much more “innovative” in 1989. Is this when the whole Heisman process started going down the crapper?
(Thanks to the aforementioned Ethan Rowley and also to Brian Hansen, who both told me about this online exhibit a few days ago.)
Raffle Results: The winner of the $100 gift card from SoccerPro.com is JK Chaney, who should contact me asap to claim his prize. And as for everyone who didn’t win…
Yet Another August Raffle: Here’s something you don’t see every day: a banner from the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. It currently belongs to reader Mike Burnett, who explains how he acquired it:
These banners were all over the place in Atlanta, with different corporate logos on them, and in different colors. I was working at a theatre there at the time. As the games were drawing to a close, they started disappearing — even the bigger ones off the freeway. Knowing what my group had to do to get ours (several scout vehicles at the ends of streets, headset walkie-talkies, a pickup, an 18-foot extension ladder, and some quick legwork by our greaseman), I can only imagine how big a hassle it was getting one of the freeway models.
Anyway, it’s 8′6″ long and two feet wide — too large for my home, and it’s been making move after move with me. Seeing as the Olympics are coming up, and those things clutter — err, dcorate — the towns of the Olympics, I thought it might make a nice raffle prize.
Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know what to say. It’s not every day a reader offers to raffle off something he stole from the Olympics (nor is it every day I run a raffle listing that includes the word “greaseman”). If you’re as stirred by Michael’s generosity as I am, and if you’d like him to hand off this treasured item to you like a veritable 4-by-400 relay baton, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to the raffle address (not to the usual Uni Watch e-mail address, please) by 10pm eastern this Wednesday — that’s the day after tomorrow, August 13th.
I liked the way we handled the entries for the soccer raffle, so let’s try that again: If you’re enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program, you can send in up to four e-mails; everyone else gets one e-mail (and I’ll be checking multiple e-mailers against the membership roster, so don’t bother trying to cheat). The winner will be announced this Thursday.
Uni Watch News Ticker: According to the second graf of this story, the Dodgers will soon be marketing Manny Ramirez caps with built-in dreadlocks. … Scott Mason sent along some photos of pages from this book. I’ve gathered them into a slideshow here. … Awesome hockey facemask here. … Here’s a good video report on the new Michigan uniforms. Depressing to see that even the equipment manager gets stuck with the triple-stripe treatment (with thanks to David Horn). … Judging by the way Phil Hughes has been dressing during his rehab stint in Scranton, the Yankees need to reactivate him quick (with thanks to Jeff Landset). … “Baylor’s new coach, Art Briles, had the the Bears in Packers pants last week,” reports Matt Mitchell. “Up until two-a-days, they had been strictly old gold for the past 15 years or so. No word as to whether these will see game use. If so, it would certainly look better with coordinated headgear.” … “There’s gottta be a point-shaving joke here somewhere,” says Todd Fisher. … “I’m a sucker for the old minor league uniforms with a name down the placket,” writes Pacific northwest baseball guru Dave Eskenazi. “The 1911 Western League St. Joe Drummers not only had the vertical nickname on the shirt, but also the stylized ‘SJ’ on the chest, and ‘St Joe’ on the hat (quite unusual). I’d never seen this uniform until I stumbled across this series of real photo postcards.” … Do you know what the Boston Cannons have in common with the Dallas Cowboys? (More to the point, do you even know what sport the Boston Cannons play?) Look here (with thanks to Travis Holland). … We’d previously seen USF’s new road jersey, but here are the homes. Lots more pics in this gallery. … Kelvin Torve will forever be the answer to a trivia question (with thanks to Alan Kreit). … Lots of game-used jerseys and helmets were on sale at LSU’s annual fan day (with thanks to Derek Ponamsky). … Potentially disturbing news from Jerime Wargo, who writes: “My friend’s brother works for Reebok. He’s in production, not design, so I usually don’t get any design info from him that I haven’t seen somewhere else first. But this afternoon the following nugget was passed along to me: ‘So, word in Reebok/Adidas world is that the Miami Dolphins contacted them today to totally reimage them. We’re talking new logo, new color scheme, and new uniforms. Why? Because, according to their front office, they want to be “tough,” and unfortunately orange and teal don’t go along with tough.’ It seems to me this is bound to end in disaster.” It also sounds like yet another reason (as if any were needed) to hate Bill Parcells. … Check out what Houston’s football jersey looked like in 1946 (awesome find by Susan Freeman). … In Friday’s comments, someone noted that the mesh on the Giants’ jerseys is now running all the way to the collar, instead of just up to the yoke seam. I asked Joe Skiba about it, and he said, “That’s a permanent change. I’ll have some more goodies up my sleeve as the season goes on.” … Kinda weird to see a team wearing throwbacks in a preseason game. Not unprecedented, but pretty unusual nonetheless. … Two new jersey patches on display in Saturday’s Rams/Titans game: The Rams’ Georgia Frontiere memorial (sure would’ve been a lot smaller if she’d had a less flashy signature), and the Titans’ 10th-season patch (which was missing from a few jerseys, but that’s the preseason for ya). … Wearing red can give you an advantage with the refs (with thanks to Doug Mooney). …
August 11th, 2008
Last month I ran an entry about Michael Princip and his clear-shell helmet tribute to Joe Washington. That piece was of particular interest to reader Jeff Fedenko, who wrote in to let me know that he has a big collection of clear-shells. Even better, Jeff lives in Brooklyn, just a few miles from my apartment, so a few weeks ago I went over to his place, where he and his daughters (that’s Micah on the left and Taitu on the right) welcomed me for a very enlightening evening of football helmet show-and-tell.
Clear-shell helmets are painted and decaled from the inside. The original idea was that they wouldn’t need to be repainted so often, although they turned out to be susceptible to other problems, like scuffing and breakage. Jeff has collected lots of them (that’s just a sampling of his collection) and says he can spot them a mile away, although I found it difficult to get a photo that captures their visual distinctiveness. Jeff also creates his own custom helmets by stripping the paint off of old-clear shell models and then adding his own paint and decals. This one will be a Rice design, and he’s prepping this one for a UMich paint job.
Jeff, who works as a phys ed teacher in the New York City school system (and is also a big NBA jersey collector), also has a massive library of football-related books, magazines, and catalogs. I could spend hours poring over his stuff, and he’s invited me to do just that at a later date — an invitation I will certainly accept. For now, though, here’s a look at a few things I documented during last week’s visit:
• This book is a treasure trove of great photos (the caption reads, “Fur-bearing businessmen rom Oshkosh check their fuel supplies before entering City Stadium for the Championship Game”) and illustrations (here’s another). Here’s a rare shot of the Vikings’ seldom-seen purple pants, and check out all the different goalpost striping patterns here, here, and here. Also, a small mystery: Jeff grew up in Wisconsin but isn’t sure why the scoreboard at City Stadium (Lambeau’s predecessor) featured two feathers. Anyone know?
• Here’s another one of those padded-cown helmets (and a closer view). According to this catalog, MacGregor’s version was called the Absorblo.
• Here’s another MacGregor catalog, with a good explanation of the clear-shell product.
• I never found the helmet section of this catalog, because I got distracted along the way.
Major, major thanks to Jeff for graciously welcoming me into his home and sharing his wonderful collection with me. I think we’ll be featuring him again in the not-too-distant future.
Yo buddy, ya want a cheap watch?: I’ve got a couple of electronics-y items to sell — one old, one new, both functional. I could put them on Craigslist, but I want to give Uni Watch readers first crack at them. Here’s the inventory:
• Epson C120 ink-jet printer: Basic ink-jet printer. Mac- and Windows-compatible. Still in box, never opened (got it as a freebie for buying something else, but I have no need for it). Lists for $90, sells on Amazon for $40. Yours for $35 if you want to show up at my door and pick it up; if you want me to ship it, you’ll have to pay the freight (the box weighs 11 pounds). Oh, and in addition to the ink cartridges that come with the printer, I’ve got an extra black cartridge that fits this printer, so I’ll throw that in too.
• Apple eMac computer: Purchased in 2004, used heavily up until a few months ago, but still works fine (I just wanted to upgrade). This machine produced most of the material on this site, so think of it as the blogging equivalent of a game-used jersey (I’ll even autograph it if you want). … Specs: Mac OS 10.3.9; 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4 processor; 512 MB memory; 40 GB hard drive; optical drive plays and burns CDs and DVDs but burns CDs only; MS Office 2004 and Photoshop Elements are installed, along with all the usual Mac stuff; does not have a wireless card; power cord, keyboard, and mouse included (duh). … Way too bulky and heavy for me to ship (I don’t feel like finding a box, wrestling with an acre of bubble wrap, etc.), so this one is a pickup-only deal — swing by Uni Watch HQ, slip a cool C-note into my hands, and it’s yours.
If you’re interested in either of these, please get in touch pronto.
Santana Update: No word yet from Russ Gompers regarding Johan Santana’s sleeve piping. Several readers have pointed out that lots of players have frayed piping (indeed, Steve Hicks notes that Prince Fielder was allowed to wear remarkably shoddy piping for a Sporting News cover shoot just a few weeks ago), but I’m not yet convinced that Santana’s piping was frayed — this looks like extra stitching to me, esp. on the right sleeve. Bryan found this and this look like fraying, but I’m not sold on that — I think they could be those little extra-embroidered spangle thingies. Still hoping Russ can provide us with the definitive word soon.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “You’ve probably already seen this article about the VW ads on DC United jerseys,” writes Matthew Algeo (actually, no, I hadn’t). “It made me think of another soccer team that had ads on their jerseys: the Pennsylvania Stoners of the American Soccer League. Back in 1980, the Allentown-based team wore jerseys with the name of a local business on the front: Alpo, the dog-food maker. It made for a lot of bad jokes, which was ironic, because the Stoners were good — they won the ASL championship that year. The Stoners (love that name) were one of the first U.S. pro sports teams to do this. (I think the only one that did it before was that minor league hockey team in Buffalo that incorporated a Pepsi logo into their uniform design.) Also, I’d forgotten — or maybe never realized — that all the jerseys had ‘Stoners’ on the back, instead of player names.” … “I followed a link off of Shorpy that lead me to this vintage poster site,” writes John Ervin. “This crew poster might be of particular Uni Watch relevance.” … Don Cherry is fighting breast cancer (great find by John Muir). … Look at the thumbnails on this page to see a good video about how the Cowboys assign uni numbers and equipmenet to rookies. “In case you hadn’t heard, Mike Jenkins is taking over Roy Williams’s 31,” says Stu Taylor, who brought the video to my attention. “It will be weird to see #31 actually covering somebody.” … It’s been reported for years that Dontrelle Willis has “Have Fun” and “Joyce” (his mother’s name) written on his underbill, but until now the only photos I had were this (hard to see) and this (easier to see, but not on his head). Now I also have this, which I found in a 2006 Rawlings catalog. … Jared Wheeler sent along this awesome 1939 photo of (L to R) Pepper Martin, Mickey Owen. and Lon Warneke chewing tobacco “Pepper Martin seems to be preparing to let out a bee line of spit,” he notes. … We often talk about players with long surnames. But the Indians have just signed a minor leaguer with a real mouthful of a middle name (thanks, Vince). … Some cool old USFL footage here, including some shots of refs in shorts (with thanks to Doug Keklak). … Lots of great old A’s mustache footage — and a bit of commentary from me (misidentified as “Paul Lucas,” but it’s hardly the first time that’s happened) here. … “Hiroshima Toyo Carp player Go Kida is going FNOB, even though there are no other Kidas on the team,” reports Jeremy Brahm. … Numerological note from Adam deNobriga, who writes: “On Monday Night’s Sports South coverage of the Braves/Padres game, the Braves announcers were discussing Mark Kotsay’s number choice, and they mentioned that he likes to wear increments of 7. He was 21 in Oakland, 14 in San Diego, 7 in Florida, and even 7 at Cal State. When he came to Atlanta, he wanted 28. However, he saw a picture of Darren Bragg wearing #28 ‘crumpled against the wall in center field’ and decided he didn’t want to wear 28. So he went to two guys (I’m guessing the equipment managers) to decide on a number. They recommended #11 based on the fact that two former Braves, who were also former Marlins, had success in Atlanta wearing that number: Edgar renteria and Gary Sheffield (even though I’m finding pictures of Sheffield wearing 10 in Florida). Therefore, Kotsay chose #11.”
May 7th, 2008
By Bryan Redemske
It’s springtime in Nebraska, which can mean only one thing: football. Actually, every season — and every situation you could possibly encounter in Nebraska — means football. I’m not kidding.
The big news of the past five months has been Bill Callahan’s firing and Bo Pelini’s return as the head coach of the Huskers. Big changes have come with Pelini, including reviving the tradition of not pissing off everybody in the entire state on a daily basis. But what about uniform changes? I originally called Nebraska equipment manager Jay Terry to see if anything different was planned, starting with the spring game, but ended up with something else entirely. First, though, here’s the deal at the dawn of the Pelini era:
• Up until 2005, Nebraska wore practice jerseys and pants for the spring game. That year, the Huskers went with game jerseys. The change came from Callahan’s practice regimen: offense in white, defense in red. Always. None of the offensive players had red jerseys anymore, so game jerseys had to be used to facilitate the random switching of sides that are a hallmark of spring scrimmages. “There’s no need to order a white jersey for someone who might never use it,” Terry explained. This year, they’ll still wear game jerseys but Pelini will go back to standard clothing procedure in the fall. The offense will wear either home or away practice jerseys each week.
• Pre-2006, helmets and decals for the spring game were pretty random. Some were completely blank, some had stripes but no N (almost all from 2005 were like this), some had it all. Since then, they’ve all been game-ready. This year, the Huskers spent the first week of spring practice breaking in new helmets, decals and all. They were collected at the end of the week and will be used in the spring game. In the fall, those helmets will be the practice set. “We’ll be scrubbing them for the game, and then they’ll be ready to go for the fall,” Terry said.
• Everybody wears white pants for the scrimmage. Again, it’s for easy switches during the game.
• Notice how some jerseys still have the bowl patches? There’s a reason for that. “I keep all of the players’ jerseys, and once they graduate, they get all of them,” Terry said. “So when they’re done they have their Cotton Bowl or Alamo Bowl jerseys. They’d rather have that patch than have us strip them off for a spring game.”
Of course, most schools probably do something similar, but imagine being in a program for four or five years and leaving with all of your jerseys. That’s pretty cool.
But this is where things take a detour. That’s Jammal Lord from 2001, and that’s a lot of numbers. The 201 on the right side is the area code of his hometown, Bayonne, N.J. The 10 above that is his jersey number. The 19 above his eyes actually wraps around to say 1981, which is the year he was born. Sadly, I can’t find any pics of the left side of the helmet. I’m sure there’s something going on there, too.
But what’s stumping both Terry and myself is the blue-and-red sticker above the 2 in 201. We’ve figured out what it isn’t. It’s not an Alamo Bowl sticker — they didn’t have them for the 2000 game. It’s not the NCAA pennant logo — Nebraska wore all-red pennant logos in 2000 and 2001. So what is it? And as a bonus, here are two more Huskers with extra helmet adornment, both from 2001. Wild times in Lincoln. Wild times, indeed.
Other quick spring practice things:
• Iowa State still has the old logo on its helmets. It will change to this theme in the fall.
• Both Auburn and Missisippi State have already had spring games — both wore game uniforms.
• Penn State really, really would like you to not hit some of its players, though I guess it’s possible those are special prayer jerseys.
• Word on the street in Minneapolis is that the Golden Gophers will break out their new uniforms during the April 25 spring game.
• Contrary to what most people seem to think, Michigan is still a Nike school, at least until the end of the current academic year, so don’t let the occasional omnipresent swoosh throw you off.
Why is this ad different from all other ads?: Paul here. As baseball and Passover approach their annual confluence, my heart is heavy with grief: The fabled Streit’s factory is shutting down, Manischewitz is facing a Tam Tam shortage (which could prompt the Jewish version of the Irish Potato Famine), and MLB’s longtime reigning Hebe, Shawn Green, got no contract offers over the winter and has chosen to hang up his spikes (mainly so he won’t track mud on his mother’s nice clean floor — such a good boy).
But all is not lost, my children. As you can see to the right of today’s headline, our friends at PopJudaica.com are celebrating the holy commingling of the chosen game and the chosen people with their swanky Jews for Jeter T-shirt (available here, and don’t forget their other sports-related products). Now, granted, as all New Yorkers know, the Yankees are actually the Catholic team in this town (think about it: DiMaggio, Rizzuto, Crosetti, Lazzeri, Pepitone, Cerone, Righetti, Torre, Martin, Girardi, Giuliani, Francessa, etc., plus the Pope held mass at Yankee Stadium and even has a plaque in Monument Park), while the Jewish fan base leans more toward the Mets (do a yarmulke count at Shea and compare it to what you’d see in the Bronx — no contest), but hey, I’d happily make a batch of matzo brei for Derek Jeter anytime. Just don’t push it by asking me to make an extra batch for A-Rod.
Anyway: Cool shirt, cool company, really cool that they’re celebrating the season by advertising with Uni Watch. Please give them a look.
NCAA Contest Update: At this very moment, Vince is hard at work, tabulating the results of the college hoops tourney contest. Winners to be announced tomorrow.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “I wanted to send you some pics of the Cup Stacking Championship [which is actually called the World Sport Stacking Championships — PL],” writes David Chisholm. “Teams wear jerseys or T-shirts. Also note the eye black being worn by one of the teams, and while this team had logo creep, an American flag, and the Texas state flag. The referees wear yellow T-shirts with zebra-striped bibs. The cups themselves have the Speed Stacks logo on them.” Looks like these kids all have bright futures as waitresses, busboys, and the like, which works out perfectly, since that’s the only kind of job our service-oriented economy creates anymore. … The mystery of the Rangers’ red-T road cap, which is never worn even though it’s still listed as the team’s official road headwear, deepens: Yesterday I quoted a source saying that the team doesn’t even bother to keep any of the red-T caps on hand. But now Bryan has come up with this shot, taken during the press conference to announce the signing of pitcher Kazuo Fukumori. So apparently they had at least one road cap lying around. But why would they use that design to introduce their latest acquisition? … And then there’s this, from Jeff Brantley (no, not that Jeff Brantley): “The Rangers have had serious ‘T’ issues for years. Back in the ’90s when the Texas Rangers first switched from blue to red, I went to the store to get one of the new caps. The first ones available were red with a blue T shadowed in white. But the team was actually using a white T shadowed in blue, and they never used the blue T. After I realized that, I took it back to Foot Locker and they gave me my money back.” The bigger story here, of course, is that Jeff actually admits to having shopped at Foot Locker. … Bryan also confirms that the Twins’ navy alts did indeed have red outlining around the nameplate lettering on Sunday. … A few people complained that the photo of me at the pig-butchery class was too small, so here’s full-size version. … Really interesting query from Brian Carroll, who writes: “I’m watching highlights of the Houston Cougars teams of the ’80s, which reminds me that the uniform numbers on their red away uniforms were one higher than the ones on their white home uniforms. So Akeem (as it was spelled then) was 34 at home and 35 on the road. Do you know why that was, and whether any other teams have done that?” Actually, I was unaware of this (as many of you know, college hoops isn’t my strong suit). Anyone know more? … The White Sox and Blackhawks have formed a marketing partnership, and check out the photo accompanying the announcement (nice find by Sam McCullough). … Seattle’s new MLS team is up and running: Ladies and gentlemen, your Seattle Sounders. … Comments section stalwart Teebz has an NHL playoff pool running on his blog. Details here. … Word I’m hearing is that the Phillies may wear green BP jerseys for Earth Day. As you may recall, the Astros have already announced that they’ll be wearing green caps that day. … The Pirates waited until yesterday to announce that they’ll be wearing a jersey patch to celebrate Pittsburgh’s 250th anniversary. … Meanwhile, Pirtes catcher Ronnie Paulino has become a Power Ranger. … Brilliant connect-the-dots work by Steven Brown, who was looking through this book and stumbled upon the apparent inspiration for Oregon’s uniforms. … Interesting custom figurine site here, featuring several rather atypical designs (nice find by Casey Bloom). … Ever wonder about that patch being worn by the San Francisco Seals soccer team? Yeah, me neither, but here’s lot of info about it anyway (with thanks to the self-exiled Kenn Tomasch). … Some more pics of those awesome NC State baseball unis here, here, and here (courtesy of the team’s equipment director, Jodie Cahoon). … Joseph Marchio was inspired by yesterday’s mashup entry to create an all-purpose Cleveland sports logo. “The ‘Cleveland’ wordmark is from the Indians, 1944-1957,” he writes. “The sword in the Dawg’s mouth is a combination of two current alternate Cavs logos. Obviously, the Dawg is a current alternate logo for the Browns, although I did add the teeth to it. And the 10 stars represent the Cleveland championships — eight for the Browns (four AAFC, four NFL) and two for the Indians.” But shouldn’t the Dawg have a black collar or something in memory of the Barons? … I don’t much care about the current league calling itself the ABA, and you probably don’t either. Fortunately, Kris Fulton does: “On March 14th/15th, Halifax had two home games against the Bahama All-Pro Show to close out their inaugural ABA season. The day before the first game, the visiting team cancelled, so the Halifax owner called Atlanta and flew in their team for the two-game set (at his own expense), rescheduling for Saturday/Sunday instead of Friday/Saturday. Naturally, bags get lost on the short-notice trip, and Atlanta ended up taking the floor in black Team Canada hockey T-shirts [and mismatched shorts — PL] with masking tape numbers [my favorite of which is this — PL]. Predictably, the numbers began falling off as the game went on. The team was properly equipped the following night for the second game. Shortly thereafter, Halifax’s owner announced that the team is leaving the ABA and is looking for another league, with his sights set on the D-League.” Lots of additional info and photos here. … Steve Johnston was at yesterday’s White Sox game and snapped this shot. “Obviously homemade,” notes Steve. “He said he’d been to all the places on the jacket.” … Assuming the combined forces of the Secret Service, the bouncers from Irving Plaza, and Superman can protect the Olympic flame from being extinguished, the American team will be outfitted by Ralph Lauren, whose concept sketch looks like this. Note that the shorts are slightly above the knee, which should be a revelation for most of the American basketball players (as forwarded by Nick Waters). … Speaking of the Olympic torch, some French participants in the torch relay may have broken the rules regarding attire. … Cool photo gallery here of the Georgia Dome being repainted (with thanks to Brent Hardman). … OK, that’s it: I am sick of seeing the noble sport of bowling repeatedly besmirched by Presidential politics. Memo to all candidates: You are not worthy of the lanes. Please stick to cup stacking.
April 8th, 2008
Coincidences freak me out. Case in point: Reader Ryan Meyer recently got in touch to say that he was watching an old Cowboys/Redskins game and noticed that the football had white stripes, just like in the NCAA. Okay, good observation, something worth investigating.
Then, a day or two later, Kenn Tomasch told me he’d blogged about his visit to the NFL Experience exhibit at this year’s Super Bowl. And the exhibit apparently included this football, which Kenn described thusly: “Notice anything different about this ball? It has the white stripes often used in the 1940s and 1950s for improved visibility under less-than-optimal lighting conditions. This one was from Super Bowl VIII, but by SB IX the stripes were gone.”
A bit of research reveals that ball in Super Bowl VIII was indeed striped — something I’d never noticed before. But it wasn’t striped in Super Bowls I, II, III, IV, V, VI, or VII, or for any subsequent Super Bowls (trust me, I checked), so why did they use a striped ball for that one game?
All this reminded me of one of my most prized possessions: this “NFL Playbook,” which my father got as a promotional giveaway from American Express back around 1972. It’s filled with gorgeous illustrations, and I seemed to recall that at least one of them included a striped ball. Sure enough — look.
I now realize that I’ve never given much thought to the striped ball. I’ve just kinda instinctively thought of it as “one of those college football things,” like only needing one foot in bounds for an official catch, or stopping the clock to move the chains after a first down. But now that I’ve started to think about it, I have a lot of questions regarding this topic. To wit:
• Early college footballs were stripe-free. So when were the stripes added to the ball, and why? When did they become a permanent fixture on the college gridiron?
• Why was a striped ball used in Super Bowl VIII?
• To what extent have striped balls been used at the pro level aside from SB VIII? That Cowboys/Redskins game is one example, and the “NFL Playbook” illustration was presumably based on a photo of a Chargers game with a striped ball — are there other examples? Tomasch’s photo caption indicates that striped balls were “often used in the 1940s and 1950s,” but I haven’t yet found any evidence of that. All the old images I’ve looked at in the past few days (admittedly not a huge number) show a stripeless ball.
• Well, almost all of them. In the course of researching, I came across two photos of Bob Waterfield holding a black-striped ball. It also looks like the ball itself may be paler, almost white, but that may be an illusion caused by the contrast of the black stripes. In any case, I’d never seen a black-striped ball before. What’s the story there? Were black-striped balls ever used in games?
• What’s the point of the white stripes anyway? Tomasch’s blog states that the stripes were designed to create “improved visibility under less-than-optimal lighting conditions. But if that’s the case, why would Waterfield be using that black-striped model? Also: I recall reading or hearing at some point that the two white stripes represented the offensive and defensive lines of scrimmage, and that the space in between them was the neutral zone. Where did I hear this? I can’t remember, but it was when I was pretty young. Any truth to it?
I have a feeling several of you out there know the answers to these questions. Let’s have ’em.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “On Sunday Ohio State gave the three seniors on the team commemorative jerseys hung in a frame,” writes Cody Poppaw. “The odd thing is that they gave them the only jerseys that they never wore for a whole season. They were home jerseys that the team wore for the first half of last season before they switched to the Nike SOD unis.” … Fun piece here about sports-themed lingerie (with thanks to Anthony Atencio). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Last graf of this story has some interesting info regarding UNC’s number-retirement protocols. … Also from yesterday: The little patch under the “V” in this photo is dot dot dot dash, which is morse code for V. … Awesome find by Erkki W. Corpuz, who passed along this photo of Sammy Baugh. Didn’t realize the Redskins had ever worn a Blackhawks-ish jersey design. … Erkki also sent along this classic UNC photo — uni-numbered stirrups!. … Authors sometimes buy large quantities of their own books on Amazon, to increase their position on the best-seller lists. Here’s the sports equivalent of that. … Jake Shaw reports that the Brewers have a minor league shortstop in their system named — wait for it — Brent Brewer. The mind fairly boggles.
March 12th, 2008
Last fall I ran a rundown of old uni-related New York Times articles, which made it clear that uniform coverage was alive and well decades before the advent of Uni Watch. Now Doug Mooney, who did the archival research for that piece, has come up with a bunch of additional old articles from a variety of newspaper sources. There’s some great stuff in this batch — here’s a chronological breakdown:
• October 18, 1931, The New York Times, John Kieran’s “Sports of the Times” column: This column is a hodgepodge of disparate items, the first of which is about the Army football team’s uniforms (the practice unis were heavier than the game-day attire, so the team would feel lighter and faster) and footwear. Details here.
• January 24, 1937, The New York Times, “First Basketball Game of 1892 to Be Reproduced at the Garden”: Could this have been the first throwback game? The story describes plans to celebrate basketball’s 45th anniversary by staging a re-enactment of the first game ever played. According to the article, “The players will be garbed just as they were first that first game — turtle-neck sweaters, handle-bar mustaches, shin guards and the like, while peach baskets will serve as the targets.” Full text here.
• July 30, 1943, The Sheboygan Press, “Sports Uniforms of Nylon Will Be Used After War”: Nylon was hard to come by during World War II, because most of it was reserved for making parachutes, tents, ropes, and other military provisions. In this article, the DuPont company, which developed nylon, forecasts that the material will become common in sports uniforms once the war is over — a prediction that turned out to be correct.
• December 14, 1946, The New York Times, “Expanding Demand Seen for Uniforms”: This article describes a speech given at the annual dinner of the National Association of Uniform Manufacturers (could someone please build me a time machine, so I can attend?), where an industry executive predicted that uniforms would gain great prominence in coming years. He was mostly talking about service uniforms, for repairmen and the like, not sports unis, but it’s still pretty interesting. Look here.
• August 30, 1959, The New York Times, Letter to the Editor: Hilarious letter from a recent immigrant who “[can’t] help wondering why the umpires are forced to carry out their respective duties dressed in black suits that look heavy, uncomfortable and — pardon me — somewhat silly in the grueling heat of a three-hour game.” It would be another decade before umps stopped wearing neckties, and much longer before the letter-writer’s suggestion (”a lightweight, loose-weave shirt and summer slacks”) became the standard that we now see today. Full text of the letter is here.
• January 11, 1961, Ironwood Daily Globe, “Tigers Change Uniform Style”: We’ve discussed several times how the Cardinals’ birds-on-the-bat logo took a one-year hiatus in 1956. A similar situation unfolded in Detroit in 1960, when the Tigers replaced their old English “D” with a “Tigers” insignia. That experiment lasted only one year, and this article describes the move back to the “D” logo. Look here.
• July 30, 1972, The Odessa American, “Bellard Here to Charge Aggie Batteries”: This article is about Emory Ballard, then the new football coach at Texas A&M. Amidst lots of other Aggie chatter, there are two paragraphs devoted to the team’s new uniforms, including news that the team would be wearing white helmets, because “maroon is a hard color to duplicate.” Full text here.
• February 7, 1973, Sheboygan Press, “Football Uniforms Fashion Items”: Fun article about the latest in “modern” football attire. Key quote: “Striped kneesocks are big, and so are terrycloth wrist bands, originally intended to just soak up sweat.” Full amusing details here.
• February 5, 1974, Winnipeg Free Press, “Als Will Try Popular Colors”: Really interesting article about how the CFL’s Montreal Alouettes planned to switch their color scheme to red, white, and blue, because that’s what the city’s more popular teams — the Canadiens and Expos — were wearing. Kind of amazing to think that the Expos were more popular than, uh, anything. Also discussed in the article: the Als’ new logo (apparently this one). Full text here.
My continued thanks to Doug for all his great archival research.
Seattle Update: Next week’s Uni Watch gathering in Seattle will take place on Friday, March 14th, 7:30pm, at the Pyramid Alehouse. Looking forward to meeting lots of you there.
In other administrative news, you may have noticed that we have a new advertiser at the top of the page: Black Fives. In what I consider to be very classy move, Black Fives prexy Claude Johnson has configured the ad to link to the company’s home page, not to its merch page, so he’s looking to spread awareness, not just to sell stuff (although he’s certainly got plenty of stuff to sell). Claude’s Black Fives blog is a consistently good read, and I’ve been very impressed by my interactions with him. He’s documenting an important and overlooked chapter in sports history, and I hope more people will get hip to what he’s doing.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Brett Favre tribute-a-thon has spun so far out of control that I’m half-expecting the Packers to be wearing a memorial patch for him next season. … Fun rumination on NFL typography here … A Cleveland inventor has come up with a visor designed to keep your eyes focused on the rim, not on the ball. Details here, and the inventor’s site is here (thanks, Vince). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Is a Colts soap dispenser the one thing that’s really been missing from your life? Then the NFL Hardlines VI Trade Show is for you. Details here, and there’s a photo gallery of dubious products here. … Stirrups alert from Yankees camp: Ian Kennedy. … Speaking of the Yankees, they played a navy-vs.-navy game against the Twins yesterday, while the Rockies and Chisox went black vs. black. … If you don’t like mandatory helmets for baseball coaches, you might not like this either (with thanks to Ryan Connelly). … “I received an e-mail today telling me I could order a commemorative jersey for the 20th anniversary of the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure (GOBA),” writes David Ballenger. “I don’t even know where to start with this horrid design. How long do you have to be riding directly behind someone to have the time to read a paragraph on the back?” … Good video here on the Canadiens’ equipment manager and arena staff. Only catch: It’s in French. Still, there’s some pretty cool visual footage (with thanks to Jean Gagnier). … align=”right” padding-left=”10px” FREE!: this and this. Naturally, I approve of all the green, although I kinda miss the silver. Additional details here and here. … This year’s MLB undershirt template from Nike will apparently look like this. … According to this page, “[Tiger] Woods donned a batting helmet and Braves jersey (tucked into shorts) and stepped into the batter’s box when [John] Smoltz threw three simulated innings at Disney’s Wide World of Sports.” No word on whether Woods insisted on a swoosh-emblazoned helmet. … Nick Waters took some photos of Georgetown’s new SOD uni (additional pics here). “Not sure if they’ll debut them on Saturday or at the Big East Tournament next week,” he writes. … Minna H. reports that the Minnesota high school state hockey tourney is underway, with plenty of interesting uni designs. There’s a full gallery here. … Yee-IKES (horrifying find by David Sonny). … Shorpy continues to delivery the goods. Note the lack of uni numbers and the ump’s backwards cap. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The Yankees’ official retired numbers page shows Yogi Berra wearing a Mets cap (which of course pleases me no end).
March 6th, 2008
A few weeks ago I ran a Ticker item linking to this photo of Jim Kyte blow-drying his hearing aid. That led Teebz to post a comment linking to the photo you see at right — Kyte’s specially modified helmet, with ear coverings to protect his hearing aids. And that in turn led me to ask if anyone knew of other deaf athletes with specialized equipment needs.
The response was fascinating. Here’s a sampling:
• From Brad Larocque: “I remember Jim Kyte coming to our school and talking to us about playing with his impairment. He told about his trick of watching the reflections in the glass to see where everyone was on the ice, since he couldn’t hear them very well.”
• From Joe Falender: “I wear hearing aids, as I can hear about 50% in both ears. I used to play a lot of hockey, all the way up to high school. For my hearing aids, I wore the behind-the-ear model. But by the third period, or even the second period, the sweat would get into the hearing aid and it would have to be dried out, which takes about an hour or two, so I would give the hearing aid to my dad and play the rest of the game without them. Finally after being fed up with this, we got these rubbery covers that would slide over the hearing aid and protect it from the sweat. It worked like a miracle. (Nowadays I wear the in-the-cannal aids that are very small and I don’t have to worry about the sweat at all.)
• From Travis Waldron: “Not sure about the rules and regulations on hearing aids, but the University of Kentucky football team had a deaf defensive lineman, Terry Clayton, for the past four years. He couldn’t wear his hearing aids on the field because the crowd noise was magnified over everything else, creating background noise that kept him from hearing anything on the field.”
• From David Kendrick: “I am hearing-impaired and play ice hockey in a regular recreational league. I always let the refs know before the game that I don’t hear very well and ask them to cut me some slack when giving verbal commands (for example, look directly at me so I can try to read your lips). Some do, some don’t. Most of the other players have been around a few seasons and know about it. I’ve played in deaf leagues and tournaments as well. I don’t wear a hearing aid as the Jets player did, but I do wear my eyeglasses when I play. I’ve got the double smackdown: partially deaf and 20-600 nearsightedness.”
• From: Daniel Weimann: “I go to the Rochester Institute of Technology, which has the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, one of the two largest deaf schools in the country. I’m a member of the swim team and we have several deaf students, as well as a former swimmer and now a coach who are deaf or hard of hearing, ranging from cochlear implants to hearing aids. They always take their hearing aids off before they swim, of course. Sometimes they forget to turn them off in their lockers and they make high-pitched squealing sounds.”
• From: Mark Doescher: “Defensive back Martel Van Zant plays for the Oklahoma State football and is completely deaf. He has an interpreter who stays on the sidelines during practice and games and communicates between both the coaches and the player. There’s more information here”
• From Christian Bitto: “Steve Downie of the Flyers wears a hearing aid. His has a disorder caused by a car accident from when he was younger. On January 22nd, he fought David Clarkson, and at the end of the fight, as he was skating off the ice, the ref gave him his hearing aid that was knocked out. Unfortunately, I can’t find any video of the fight that goes past the refs breaking them up.”
• From: Vince Grzegorek: “Just found this article on an all-deaf soccer team in Iraq. Refs at their games have to wave a flag instead of using a whistle.”
• From Eric Hodges: “Interesting article here about the way Gallaudet University in DC used a drum to help time the snaps and how a new coach shifted things up.” [You can see the drum on the sidelines here, and there’s additional info here. — PL]
• From Joshua Wagner: “When playing football in high school, I never once considered wearing my hearing aids, because they are highly fragile machines worth thousands of dollars. As a cornerback, I merely learned the defensive signals and read them from the defensive coordinator as he was signaling to the middle linebacker in the huddle. Also, I had worked out some hand signals with my fellow players. I had an interpreter on the sidelines at all times, but I was on my own on the field. Being deaf actually made me a better player, because it forced me to be more observant by noticing subtle things, like the pressure on people’s feet and hands signaling their intent to drop back or run forward. Similarly, when running track, sometimes I would have the starter stand directly behind my starter blocks, because then they would be close enough for me to feel the starting gun rather than hearing it. In basketball, I was a point guard and my interpreter would sit next to my coach and sign what he was telling me as I dribbled the ball up. My coach would also signal a play number to me.”
Tremendous stuff. Big thanks to all who contributed, and especially to those who shared their personal experiences.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Kevin Millar shattered a pink bat the other day. … While working on last Friday’s ESPN column about the ABA, I happened upon a few shots of the Nets wearing memorial “4″ patches on their warm-up shirts. Anyone know who that was for? … Pueblo Central High in Colorado pulled some major throwback action last week — dig those belts! Too bad they ruined it with those period-inappropriate headbands (with thanks to Patrick Chippeaux). … Hmmm, do the Walsh University Cavaliers look just a bit familiar? (Thanks, Vince.) … This page has a nice little video showing Mizuno reps making glove repairs and modifications for some of the Astros in spring training (with thanks to Matt Englander). … Larry Bowa is being diplomatic, as always. … OHL report from Brian Thompson, who writes: “Wanted to point your attention to last Thursday night’s game between the Belleville Bulls and the Windsor Spitfires, which was the Spitfires’ first game since captain Mickey Renaud passed away last Monday. Not only did the Spitfires come out in Mickey Renaud warmup jerseys, but so did the Bulls. After the warmups concluded, the Spitfires had a ceremony laying their Renaud jerseys on a table, revealing their game jerseys with a small memorial chest patch.” … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Jose Reyes appears to have been stretching his pants under his heel (which got Pedro Martinez fined in 2006) the other day. … Really interesting story here about Jaromir Jagr using logo-free sticks. … We’ve talked before about the inconsistencies among teams mistaking their 10th season for their 10th anniversary (or 20th, or 30th, or whatever). But Eric Iwamoto has noticed a particularly amusing anomaly: The Giants wore this patch in 1997, but they’re now wearing this one in 2008 — 11 years later, not 10. … FC Dallas unveiled new uniforms last week (with thanks to Mark Dancer). … Wouldn’t it be better if Stephen Valiquette wore this on the front of his mask? (Thanks to Michael Romero.) … Interesting racer-back girls’ hoops jersey concept here — note the team name on the rear neckline (with thanks to Michael Orr). … According to Chad Back, Kentucky will have new hoops unis next season, as seen here and here. “Nike is calling the design ‘Secretariat,’” says Chad, “because the checkerboard design on the new unis is reminiscent of the silks that Secretariat’s jockey wore.” Yeah, patterning a uniform worn by the sports world’s tallest athletes after a design worn by the smallest athletes — that sounds like a really great idea. … AJ Brandt reports that the Flames are wearing an 18 decal in tribute to their draft pick Mickey Renaud, who passed away last week. … Georgia Tech’s women’s hoops team wore throwbacks the other day. Not as cool as this, but still pretty good (with thanks to Richard Musterer and Sean Bedford). … Aside from the obvious button issues, how does an A.L. pitcher end up with such a big dirt stain while pitching at home? (Card provided by Stuart Greenlee.) … Jeremy Brahm sent along this 2001 photo of Yakult Swallows catcher Atsushi Furuta wearing a knee brace outside his pants. Never seen that before. … Characteristically eagle-eyed branding report from Mark Mihalik: “Last year I noticed that Gary Sheffield, a longtime Nike guy, had started wearing non-Nike cleats, and he also had a unique logo on some of his gear–particularly his wristbands. In this photo, you’ll see something that looked like an S or a 3. I figured it was some kind of signature logo, but it turns out it’s actually a signature company called GS3. Even though there’s apparently absolutely nothing on the internet about this brand, I found an auction for a pair of his game-used cleats that confirms it. It’s also what his Tigers teammate Carlos Guillen was wearing through parts of last season, and both he and Sheffield have been wearing the same model so far this spring.” … Just because it was called the MLB Urban Invitational, did Southern’s coach have to leave the sticker on his brim? (Screen grab courtesy of Randy Williams.) … Buncha good spring training pics from Kenn Tomasch: Flapless helmets being worn by coaches Roberto Kelly, Mike Quade, and Ivan DeJesus (good to see that the Cubbie coaches get to wear the team’s standard embroidered felt logo appliqués), and a vendor who knows a thing or two about striped socks. … Wren Wrangler notes that Andres Nocioni was wearing tights yesterday. As you may recall, these were banned except for instances of medical necessity — can’t wait to hear if Nocioni had a doctor’s note for this one. … Last week I ran this photo of the new Oregon State baseball uniforms, but I didn’t realize they were using striped stirrups (with thanks to Mark Snider). … Numerological observation from Duncan Gee, who writes: “In the third quarter Friday night against the Sixers, the Golden State Warriors had Stephen Jackson, Mickael Pietrus, Al Harrington, Chris Webber, and Baron Davis on the court for a few minutes — Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively. Consecutive numbers maybe an East Bay thing — last year, the Oakland A’s on many occassions had Mike Piazza (#31), Jack Cust (#32), and Nick Swisher (#33) as the 3-4-5 heart of the batting order.” … On Friday I ran Paul Wiederecht’s analysis of that old Yankee Stadium vendor’s uniform, including his mother’s recollection that the stadium’s dominant color had been green until Lou Dorfsman had the facade painted white and had the seats changed to blue. Now he’s provided a bunch of old shots that show the stadium’s green phase, as seen here, here, and here. … I’ll be on the road today, so please play nice while I’m gone. Thanks.
March 3rd, 2008
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