When I attended the National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland earlier this summer, I spent plenty of time lingering over the basketball jerseys shown at the Grey Flannel Auctions booth. Now a lot of those jerseys — along with a bunch of other good stuff — have shown up in Grey Flannel’s latest auction, which is tied to the upcoming inductions at the Basketball Hall of Fame. Here’s a rundown of some of the more notable items:

• Never knew the ABA’s iconic striped basketball was once depicted on a championship ring (here’s the full listing, which has additional photos and info).

• So much to like about this James “Fly” Williams jersey, including the nickNOB (full listing).

• I spent a few minutes fondling this old USC jersey at the National. The photos I took at the time do a better job of showing the lettering’s gorgeous texture (full listing).

• I suspect a closer view would also show some nice textural details in this old Philly Warriors jersey (full listing).

• If you’re a fan of the Nuggets’ old rainbow jerseys, you can get the original design and the late-’80s update in this auction (full listings here and here, respectively).

• A Globetrotters jersey is always fun, but this warm-up jacket is even better (full listings here and here, respectively).

• I looooove this 1970-71 Sixers design. Dig the Pearson tag, too (full listing).

• Speaking of tags, look at this! Not sure what “Minnesota inspired” means, but it’s an awesome tag design. It’s from this old St. Louis Bombers jacket from the late 1940s (full listing).

• Finally, I was intrigued by this listing of signed checks from Hall of Famer Cliff Hagan. Check out his handwriting — it’s impeccable! Looks more like checks from an elementary school teacher, not an athlete. Interesting.

Discount Reminder: Remember, Bill Henderson is offering his latest MLB jersey reference guide at a $5 discount to Uni Watch readers. Just go to the Bill’s store and use the discount code “paulhatespurple” when checking out.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Speaking of auctions, here’s a pretty rare item (with thanks to Bruce Menard). … Awesome yard sale find by Craig Bates, who came across this Japanese baseball jersey. Nice tag, too. Jeremy, can you shed any light on this one? … Notice anything different about these uniforms? That’s Crown College, a D3 school, and Eric Bangeman notes that their uni appears to be completely free of manufacturers’ logos. … What kind of socks was Pacman Jones wearing here? (As spotted by Kenneth Ritz.) … Kudos to the folks at The Oregonian, who’ve created a Ducks mix-and-match uni page. … Well, that didn’t take long. … Who’s that holding up the ball? It’s Ted Kennedy, believe it or not. But of greater interest for our purposes is the fact that the Yale players have Northwestern-striped sleeves while others have triple-stripes (good spot by Dan Cichalski). … As expected, David Wright wore the new S100 helmet after coming off the DL last night. Despite all the chatter about the helmet looking too big (including some excruciating exchanges between Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez on TV), I think it looks fine. … Luis Castillo tried the S100 during BP but went with his usual Cool-Flo lid during the game. … OK, maybe it looks a little big, but it kinda depends on the angle at which you’re viewing it. In case you missed my ESPN column about all of this, look here. … Jon Strauss was at Gillette Stadium for the New England Revolution’s annual “Meet the Revs” event the other day and got pics of some really great stuff on the wall…. Robert Marshall’s latest project: painting this 1960s Orioles helmet for reader David Reeder. “He was putting together an authentic ’60’s O’s flannel uniform to play ball in,” Robert explains. “The snag: Rawlings was going to make him buy 50 Orioles helmets to get one. He had done me a favour, so I offered to paint it for him. Spent 13 hours painting and sanding, painting and sanding. Then I topped it off with the same varnish they used on the cows that lined Chicago a few years ago.”

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.

• And here’s a junior police team uniform, circa 1944, worn by a young player whose high school didn’t have a team.

• 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!

• The football section included an entire wall of letterman jackets and sweaters. But my favorite jacket was this one. That chest patch is near-perfection.

• I really liked this display showing a ref’s jersey, whistles, score sheet, and flags.

• Another highlight: This Steelers cheerleaders display. Additional pics here.

• I was happy to see they had a small mention of L.C. Greenwood’s gold shoes.

• This was a local football team called the Oilers. I love that there’s an oil derrick in the background.

• And here’s an all-black football team, wearing a jersey style I’ve never seen before.

• You know those old-fashioned football nose guards? Here’s an early patent drawing.

• 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.

• I love the soccer jacket shown on the right. Here’s a close-up.

• And it won’t surprise anyone to hear that I also love this Pop Warner jacket, rendered in green and gold.

• Unusual artifact here. The United Black Front was a local activist organization, and you’ve gotta love an activist agenda that includes softball.

• The museum even features some swimming exhibits, including a tremendous Olympic time trails patch, a photo of the 1932 U.S. Olympic team, and a shot of some rather revealing swimwear.

• 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:

1. A free Uni Watch membership.

2. A free T-shirt from our friends at Pennant Race Gear.

3. An MLB logo wristwatch. (Full disclosure: Although it’s never been used, it appears to need a new battery. — PL)

4. A Bimbo Mexican soccer jersey, size large (contributed to the cause by reader Jeremy Deason — PL).

5. A copy of the new book Cubs by the Numbers.

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?

Okay, so the Pittsburgh party report will have to wait, because something really interesting happened late on Monday night (too late for me to write about it in time for yesterday). I promise we’ll get to all the Pittsburgh stuff tomorrow, but today I want to deal with this scene that went down in Texas two nights ago.

Here’s the deal: We all know college and high school coaches, across all sports, sometimes like to “punish” their players and/or emphasize team unity by going NNOB (Illinois hoops coach Bruce Weber has already announced his intention to keep the team NNOB next season). Back in 2000, Colorado football coach Gary Barnett went further, removing the team logo from the players’ helmets after an 0-4 start.

All of which is easy enough when it’s just a matter of peeling off a helmet decal or tearing off a nameplate. But what do you do if you want to go NNOB in the middle of the season and your NOB lettering is direct-sewn?

The answer was on display in Monday night’s Baylor/Texas basketball game, as the Bears — who normally have gold NOBs — wore blank green nameplate strips that covered up their NOBs (you can see several additional photos here).

The move was initiated by coach Scott Drew after the team lost eight out of nine during a one-month stretch that ended last Tuesday. Their first NNOB game was apparently a home game on Saturday against Colorado, although I can’t tell if they used blank white nameplates or had new NNOB jerseys produced for the occasion (here’s another inconclusive view). In any case, they won that game, but they lost the game against the Longhorns, so they’re now 1-1 in their NNOB phase. Their next game is Saturday afternoon, at home, so let’s see if we can get a better view of those white jerseys.

Personally, I think the cover-up nameplates look like shit. But it’s worth noting that eight of the team’s 14 players have surnames of five letters or fewer, so at least most of the green strips are mercifully small.

(Big thanks to Glenn Stern, Glenn Chavez, and Peter Mastrella for tipping me wise to this one.)

On a serious note…: As you may be aware, the newspaper industry is in even worse condition than the rest of the economy. That situation dealt a body blow to the Uni Watch family yesterday, as bench coach emeritus Bryan Redemske was a casualty of the latest staff reduction at the Omaha World-Herald.

Bryan’s a talented writer and editor, plus he has a teaching degree (along with an 18-month-old son and a mortgage, if you get my drift). He’s also a totally stand-up guy, a kick-ass cyclist, and my friend. I’m pretty sure he’ll land on his feet, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t welcome a helping hand along the way. If you have any work opportunities for him or want to see his résumé, please give him a holler. Thanks.

Uni Watch News Ticker: The glossary of uni-centric terms that first appeared in my most recent ESPN column now has its own page here on this site (go ahead and bookmark it, because at the moment there’s nothing else linking to it). I’ve added a few additional terms to it and will continue to add to it as new terms present themselves. … I’ve also recently updated the FAQ page, which was badly out of date. … Here’s the awesome 1974 NHL bedsheet I recently won on eBay. Nice of them to render the Kings’ logo in blue instead of purple, just for me. … Small gallery of soccer NOB typos, several of which we’ve covered before, here (with thanks to Denis Hurley). … In honor of the Steelers’ sixth Super Bowl championship, Heinz has come out with a commemorative ketchup six-pack. Interesting that they designated each championship by its regular-season calendar year, rather than by its Super Bowl number, which I’m guessing is because they didn’t want to pay the added licensing fee. If you’re dying to spend $35 plus shipping on six bottles of ketchup, you can do so here until the beginning of the next NFL season (big thanks to Pittsburgh’s own Jennifer Baron). … Also from Jennifer: The economic stimulus package apparently includes funds targeted to help preserve Tiger Stadium. … In a related item, did you know that the economic recovery effort now has its own logo? The stars on the white field symbolize, of course, the NFL, while the green sprout represents legalized marijuana and the gears stand for the triumph of mechanized socialism, wheee! I’m not quite sure how anyone could design a logo for a $787 billion program and neglect to include a dollar sign, but maybe that symbolizes the fact that we’re all broke. Say what you want, but it’s a shitload better than this. … There’s someone on Flickr who reeaallly likes Umbro. He’s got an excellent logo gallery and a ton of jersey photos (with thanks to Jeremy Gooch). … And the same guy has an Umbro blog (with thanks to Timothy O’Malley). … Interesting article here about the merchandising of basketball jerseys in general, and Purdue’s in particular (with thanks to Tyson Vaughn). … Yesterday I linked to two photos of Mike Williams and his unusual NOB. Here’s the other Williams from that squad, Clarence. So now we have three examples of the late-’70s Chargers using the “Name, Initial” format: the two Williamses and Gary “Big Hands” Johnson. I’ve gotta say, I had no idea they were doing this until these images recently surfaced (with thanks to Eric Stangel for the Clarence Williams shot). … Here’s something I hadn’t seen before: a prep school hockey player with a Windows logo jersey. “I’m guessing this is for a traveling team,” says Nick Houser, “because his high school colors are blue and silver and their mascot is the Patriots.” … Also from Nick: According to this page, the Blue Jackets have been wearing green St. Patty’s Day practice jerseys with “shamrock patches and Irish-themed nameplates.” I don’t even want to ask what that last part means. … Jon McCue notes that Seton Hall’s baseball team uses white type on a grey jersey — unusual. … Yesterday I linked to some pics from the Gaelic Athletic Association’s museum in Ireland, which prompted John Moist to remember that he’d taken a bunch of his own photos while visiting there last year. He got some really good jersey photos, which I’ve grouped into this short slideshow. … Great stirrups, even if they’re backwards. That’s Dodgers prospect Ivan DeJesus, who, unfortunately, is done for the year (with thanks to Dylan Horowitz). … Really nice old Montana stadium blanket here. … What’s that on the left sleeve of the Canadian WBC team? It’s an ad patch for Canadian hardware chain — and it’s bigger than their WBC logo patch. … Lots of great old Hershey Bears photos available if you click through the pages of this book (with thanks to Jerry Wolper). … You probably know that the Indians wore these jerseys in 1921. Interestingly, most of the Tribe players in this team portrait had their arms folded, obscuring the word “Champions” (good find by Kenny Crookston). … After Johnny “Red” Kerr and Norm Van Lier both died last Thursday, the Bulls added a black shoulder band. But now they’ve ditched the black band and replaced it with a patch, which I think we can all agree looks pretty nice. … Cliff Rancho pointed me toward this baseball card. Note the stats on the back — “B.H.” presumably stands for base hits, but what does “P.C.” stand for? Oh, and that same blog has some great old Kingdome program scans. … Jesse Gavin checked in with some observations from the Iowa High School Girls’ State Basketball Tourney, including one team wearing white-on-white type, a game featuring two teams with black sneakers and black socks (boy does that look like crap), a girls’ team called the Norsemen, and a pep band with killer socks. … Remember the Party Posse episode of The Simpsons? That’s the first thing I thought of when Dan Baer showed me this. … The Lakers did the Los Lakers thing last night against Memphis. … The Sixers are returning to the Spectrum for one last game, complete with a throwback court design (with thanks to Michael Lipinski).

Lots of folks have been sending in additional examples of basketball teams wearing untucked jerseys. The best story comes from reader Todd Tompkins, who recently checked in with the following:

This is a picture of my high school basketball team from 1991 at Washington Union High in Fresno. Our coach was so pissed off at us during my freshman year because we kept un-tucking our jerseys when we would get into games. He got tired of yelling at us, I guess, because the next year we wore these. We hated them! We thought they were girls’ uniforms.

We were the only team we saw in California to have these. If I remember correctly, they were micro-mesh and made by Wilson. They only lasted two seasons.

Ah, but if Todd had gone to high school 10 years earlier, he might have seen these uniforms, which were worn by Simi Valley High School (about three and a half hours from Fresno) in the early 1980s. Those shots were sent in by Simi Valley alum Dwayne Archuleta.

As for additional examples:

• If you watch this video clip (contributed by Dwayne Archuleta), you’ll see (a) a really nasty collision that they show over and over and over, and (b) UTEP wearing untucked jerseys. Interestingly, the hemline stripes almost look like a striped waistband on the shorts when viewed from the front, but their true nature becomes easier to see from the side.

• As we’ve seen before, many girls’ and women’s teams went untucked in the late 1970s and early ’80s. For example, Brad Eenhuis notes that the Iowa women’s team went untucked and sleeved in the late ’70s too (as did their opponent in that photo). And they were still untucked in the late 1980s.

• And on the girls’ high school level, Doug Keklak found lots of examples from Bishop McCort High School in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. “My brother and I went to the public school (Greater Johnstown), and he recalls a lot of teams in our area using this style in the girls’ game,” says Doug. “Greater Johnstown used them when he was in school (Class of ’87).”

Thanks to all the contributors. I’ll keep running untucked updates as circumstances warrant.

Pittsburgh Party Update: Schedule change for the Pittsburgh get-together. It will now take place on Sunday, March 1st, at 1pm. As for the venue, a very large computer is even now preparing a sophisticated algorithm to help determine the optimal site, but at the moment the front-runners are Max’s, Sarney’s, and Pollock’s. Stay tuned.

Raffle Reminder: Today’s the last day for the Colors raffle. Details here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Major find here: More than 30 years before the green dot, there was the yellow dot. “That’s a screen grab from the 1976 ’Skins highlight film,” says Larry Wiederecht. “Knowing George Allen, he probably handed them out as motivation to beat Dallas that day.” Either that or it was a play on Gerry Ford’s “WIN” buttons, which were in vogue around that time. … Super-cool old Plexiglas faceguard was auctioned off yesterday (with thanks to Brendon Yarian). … Michael Orr spotted these socks at a high school basketball state playoff game between R.B. Stall High (North Charleston) and Dreher High (Columbia, SC). … Remember the proposed new Eagle County logo from yesterday? Doug Brei notes that it looks familiar. … Hmmmm, this is interesting. That less-offensive Citi Field logo was supposedly only going to be used on merch sold at Citi Field, but hey, maybe MLB.com has a server tucked away on the press level or something. And no, I don’t think this means they’re changing the sleeve patch on the jerseys (with thanks to Brian Erni). … Would you shave off all your hair and wear an ad tattoo on your scalp, just for a plane ticket to New Zealand? These people did. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Loads of cool old Orioles spring training pics here. … Sigh. … More old-school NYC letterboxes here (with thanks to Ken Clark, although I really should have known about that page, since I’m a big fan of the Forgotten NY site and its editor, Kevin Walsh, who’s a longtime Uni Watch fan). … Did you know stop signs used to be yellow? I didn’t (but I do now, thanks to Don Montgomery). … Here’s a good view of the Joe Robbie memorial band and 25th-anniversary patch that the Dolphins wore in 1990 (with thanks to Alan Borock). … Also from Alan: Good view of NC State’s front helmet decals, circa mid-1980s. … Serious sock stripes on display here (with thanks to Thomas Turner). … “Beleaguered Habs goalie Casey Price is switching his leg pads back to white from the red he has worn since the All-Star Game,” reports Casey Barcomb. “Since donning the red pillows, he has allowed 32 goals in eight games for a 4.00 GAA. In the season prior to switching to the red pads, his GAA was 2.35.” … Very nice Brad Van Pelt photo gallery here. “Aside from being the rare linebacker who got to keep his No. 10 (as mentioned in this obit), I think he was the only Giant to have gone through all five of the ’70s-’80s uniform incarnations,” notes Fran Fried. … Some British railroad uniforms had to be returned to the manufacturer because they were too revealing. No photo, alas (with thanks to Brendan Tarpey). … Jonee Eisen has scanned a bunch of pages from a 1975 New England Whalers program. “I love the wacky illustrations, especially the weird one on the coaches’ page — what the hell is that about?” he writes. “Also, it’s great that the ‘tough guys’ are celebrated, complete with fight photos. There are also a couple photos showing Toronto Toros players, who appear to have TNOS (team name on sleeves), as well as a center stripe on the helmet.” There’s more, too — for the full slideshow, look here. … I don’t really care about this sort of stuff, but I know many of you do. … Took a while, but Justine DeCotis finally came up with a photo of Milica Paligoric, the Iona player who was wearing eye black a few weeks ago. … I’m fairly certain this is a first: A Phoenix-area high school basketball team had to borrow another school’s uniforms due to a mercury spill (special Uni Watch hazmat suit now on its way to Jason Molina). … See what happens when there are too many “Think Pink” banners in the arena? (That’s Phil’s wisecrack, just for the record.) … The Chicago Wolves (AHL) wore their home whites with the wolf’s head on the front last night — except for goalie Ondrej Pavelec, who wore the team’s maroon-shouldered alternate with “Wolves” across the chest. “Apparently there was some kind of laundry problem when the team came back from their road trip, or at least that’s what the announcers said,” reports Jonathan Cain. “The back-up goalie wore the alternate too.” … The Australian Football League’s Melbourne Demons will wear a special Red Cross relief pitch on Saturday, complete with a phone number, to help victims of the recent brush fires (with thanks to Drew Douglas). … Remember my post a few months ago about the Phillips 66ers and their penchant for double-numbered players? Erik Morris found a non-double-number example. … If you scroll down to the “Fool’s Swag” section near the bottom of this page, you’ll find an interesting story about NFL players keeping their helmets (good find by Brinke Guthrie). … The 10th photo in this gallery shows Iowa State hoops player Craig Brackins wearing one knee-high sock and one shorter sock in last night’s game against Kansas (with thanks to Shane Baker). … Yesterday’s Ticker included an item about Paul Bielewicz and his attempts to document the uniforms worn by the 1932 Rochester Red Wings (he now thinks they looked like one of these). If you can help him with this, or with any other Red Wings-related research, contact him here.

I wasn’t planning on running a regular lead entry today. With the holiday and all, I figured I’d just put up a placeholder photo at the top of the page and then proceed directly to the Ticker. Had a fun little topic picked out for that photo, too. Everything was good to go.

But then a story started circulating that was too annoying to just bury in the Ticker. To wit: Word leaked out that the Memphis hoops team was planning to wear an orange/purple jersey this Wednesday as part of a “FedEx Appreciation Night” at the FedEx Forum. Fortunately, the news prompted such a shitstorm of reaction that the plans were quickly scrapped (although, appallingly, the NCAA had apparently green-lighted the whole thing, at least according to this report).

Listen closely, because you may never hear me say this again: Purple was not the main issue here. Neither was the prospect of Memphis wearing the orange hue of arch-rival Tennessee (although that apparently pissed off a lot of fans). The big issue, of course, was glorifying a corporate entity that already has its name plastered on the side of your building. This would be inappropriate enough for a pro team, but it’s completely offensive for a collegiate program — doubly so for a public university like Memphis.

According to this story, Memphis coach John Calipari was all in favor of the uniform tribute. Maybe that’s because, according to this article, FedEx has helped ensure “that John Calipari’s salary is one of the best, if not THE best, in the country.” Or hey, maybe that’s just a coincidence.

I realize FedEx has done a lot for the university and the city. If they did that out of the goodness of their hearts, good for them; if they did it because what’s good for the university and the city is also good for FedEx, that’s fine too; if they did it because they’re required to do it as part of their naming-rights contract, well, at least they know how to live up to their end of an agreement. But none of that justifies a “FedEx Appreciation Night,” and it certainly doesn’t justify having 20-year-old amateur athletes at a public university dressing up in corporate colors.

I know there are a handful of you out there who think this is no big deal. And to you I say: Fine, then let’s rename the city of Memphis as “Memphis, Delivered by FedEx.” Because there’s really no difference between that and what the Memphis hoops team was planning here. Once you sell out your civic institutions to corporate interests, it’s like that story about the million dollar hooker versus the $50 hooker — just a matter of degree. Either way, you’re a whore.

Uni Watch News Ticker: NBA all-star weekend thoughts, in no particular order: Holy fuck! Or, to put it another way — no, there is no other way. Holy fuck! Didn’t exactly help that Michael Beasley wore mismatched sneakers. I mean, jeez, holy fuck (screen grabs courtesy of Jonee Eisen). … Arguably even weirder: For the celebrity challenge game, players wore Adidas-branded 1995 all-star jerseys and, in some cases, pink sneakers. In addition, Rick Fox wore black tights, and they used a orange/purple version of that ball design that was briefly used and then rejected a few years back (hey, orange and purple — what was this, FedEx Appreciation Night?). But the weirdest thing is that each team’s roster included a Harlem Globetrotter, so there were usually three uniforms on the court at any given moment. Anyone know who the Globetrotters’ memorial patch was for? … Oh, and you see that ref’s jersey in the background? Don’t be surprised if you see all NBA refs wearing something like that next season. … Meanwhile, the three-point contest was defiled by Foot Locker ad patches, and the skills contest was similarly marred by Playstation ad patches (although at least those were harder to read). … And of course there was lots of freaky-deaky shit going on during the slam dunk contest, but I’m not even gonna pretend to have kept up with all of that. … As for the All-Star Game itself: When the NBA honchos gave me a sneak peek at the ASG jerseys back in October, they assured me that although the Adidas logo appeared on the prototypes they showed me, it would not appear on the actual game jerseys. Sure enough, the video game screen grabs that surfaced a few months later were logo-free. So why were last night’s jerseys logo-infested? Between this and the ad patches in the three-point and skills competitions, this was a very bad weekend for David Stern’s reputation as a bulwark against logo creep. … Aside from that, I thought the ASG uniforms looked pretty good, and I confess that I kinda liked the socks (whose stripe patterns ran all the way to the toes). … This is probably old news to all you sneakerheads, but I was surprised to see that Shaq has uni numbered soles. … Love this photo of Sam McDowell — the old-school spike pattern, the textured inseam, and, yes, the stirrups. … What’s that collar logo? … Check this out: Pete Rose wearing red low-cut Chucks and a grey windbreaker. … If you skip ahead to the 1:15 mark of this video report, you’ll see several members of Dunlap High School in Illinois wearing long-sleeved undershirts beneath their basketball tank tops (with thanks to Ben Zoss). … Paul Ricciardi sent along some scans from some 1971 Flyers programs. Check them out here. … I recently scored something very, very cool: this 1942 booklet published by the men’s clothier Hart Schaffner & Marx. It has an odd format — each two-page spread profiles a past or present baseball great on the left page and then has information on HS&M suits on the right. Gorgeous illos all around. I’ve scanned the whole thing and put it in this slideshow. … A Japanese airline is abolishing its uniforms (thanks, Jeremy). … Lots of pics of Reds and Bengals players playing basketball against each other here (with thanks to Steven Wyder). … Here are the uniforms for this year’s U.S. Open marshals and volunteers. … If you scroll down a bit on this page, you’ll see this 1926-27 New York Americans jersey with an unusual detail — an NOB. Was there really an NOB team playing way back then? Seems very odd (with thanks to Terry Proctor). … A little late, but David Kessler made these cookies for his Super Bowl party. … Hmmm, I’m guessing these guys didn’t give Jackie Robinson a tryout (with thanks to Frank Hanney). … Two Virginia high school basketball teams showed up for a game with white uniforms, so the visitors had to wear the home team’s road unis. Details here. … I think we’ve covered this before — maybe last season, even — but Robert Becker notes that Cristobal Huet’s black stripes are thicker than those of his teammates. … We’ve finally got a photo of Trent Dilfer wearing Terry Bradshaw’s mask. You can see him wearing it during the postgame handshake (great work by Benjamin Guest). … That Sears catalog sure made a lot of kids happy. That’s Jake Elwell, circa 1972, “with my cool grandfather from out west.” … The Philadelphia Phantoms are gonna wear Broad Street Bullies jerseys on Friday. … Chien-Ming Wang has a new glove design (with thanks to Alan Borock). … Sooooo nice. … Two notes from Grant Ramey regarding Saturday’s Tennessee/Vanderbilt game: “Tyler Smith had two messages inscribed on his shoes. ‘RIP POPS’ is in honor of his father, who passed away due to cancer in 2007, and I would assume the ‘AWARE’ pertains to cancer awareness.

 Also: Previously, only coach Bruce Pearl would don the orange blazer against rivals Kentucky and Vanderbilt, but on Saturday the entire coaching staff wore orange.” … Speaking of coaching staff attire, Matt Mitchell thinks Colorado coach Jeff Bzdelik and his staff “look like they should be (a) delivering freight, (b) working the counter at Auto Zone, (c) curling, and (d) embarrassed.” … Butler wore a black shoulder band on Friday, in memory of their director of basketball operations’ girlfriend who died in the plane crash in Buffalo (with thanks to Brian Parchem). … Cities hoping to land the 2016 Olympics have released details of their bids, as seen in these packages submitted by Madrid, Tokyo, and Chicago (with thanks to Harvey Lee). … “The Washington Capitals have had two rookie goaltenders start (and win) this season, Michal Neuvirth and Simeon Varlamov,” writes Steven Robeson. “They’re so new, they only have plain white masks.” As a result, Varlamov has been dubbed “the White Russian” and Neuvirth “the Blank Czech.” Details in the last two grafs of this story. … My ESPN colleague Thomas Neumann sent along some scans of an old New York Nets ticket stub. There’s a lot to like about the front of the ticket — the old Nets logo, the engravers’ union chop, the misaligned “1″ and “7″ at the bottom, etc. — but the real prize is the ad that appears to have been rubber-stamped onto the back. … Went to Ba Xuyen in Sunset Park for some killer bánh mi on Saturday. On the way there, I was saddened to see that the Rainbow Café, which has long boasted some of Brooklyn’s best neon signage, is no longer an ongoing concern. Then again, the Rainbow was never as cool on the inside as its exterior suggested, so this is a great opportunity for someone with vision to redo the space in a manner that befits its majestic visage. I’m sure many of you NYC-area people have oodles of capital on hand to devote to a worthy project like this, so get crackin’. … New baseball uniforms for Oregon State (with thanks to Travis McGuire). … Francisco Rodriguez is reportedly wearing those red-tinted contact lenses. … “Was watching a WKRP in Cincinnati DVD the other night and caught an interesting typo,” writes Matthew Algeo. “In the episode ‘Fish Story’ (the one where Herb dresses up like the ’KRP carp), Venus Flytrap is wearing a Reds jacket with an obvious misspelling.” … Matt Watkins found a really cool web exhibit devoted to the history of the Tigers’ spring training camps in Lakeland, Florida. Among the highlights: Ted Williams in cricket gear and history’s most literal Grapefruit League photo (which would go well with this, right?). … Really good interactive feature here on the U.S. Navy’s new uniforms (great find by Tris Wykes). … Neil Bisman reports that the USF basketball team’s uniforms were lost in transit on the way to South Bend, so USF had to wear their practice uniforms in yesterday’s game against Notre Dame. … The Canadian Olympic hockey jersey impasse appears to have been settled (with thanks to Joe Pelletier). … Teebz has put together a great treatise on hockey goalie numbers. … Here’s a look at the new Syracuse lacrosse uniform. “There seems to be a growing trend of putting the important stuff under the numbers,” notes Alex Ozenberger). … The Pond Hockey National Championships took place over the weekend in Wisconsin. There’s a great photo gallery here (with thanks to Nicole Haase).

By Phil Hecken

It’s that time of year again. The annual barrage of teams wearing pink in support of breast cancer research and funding, or in support of The American Cancer Society, with proceeds used for cancer research. The prevailing trend now though, is Think Pink, which seeks to raise breast cancer awareness.

Just Google “pink uniforms” and you’ll see page after page of stories on teams who dress themselves in the color pink to promote some form of cancer prevention, research, or other endeavor. Especially with the recent passing of Kay Yow, many of the “Think Pink” cancer prevention efforts are now moving to to raise awareness for the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. Worthy causes, all. And in all seriousness, who would be against cancer funding and awareness raising? But, does every team (seemingly) have to don pink? Is the trend getting to be, if not counter-productive, certainly watering-down the whole ‘uniqueness’ of the cause? That’s debatable of course, but lets focus instead on the actual uniforms and the myriad and sundry accoutrements surrounding the pink phenomenon.

Of course, wearing pink as an accent color has been around since at least the 1990s, and of course Andre Agassi, the ‘rebel’ himself, was at the forefront. At the time, though, there was no ’cause’ associated with it. Other athletes in non-team sports are still quite fond of pink, including Paula Creamer, self-proclaimed “Pink Panther”, who not only wears pink outfits but is also the only professional golfer to stroke a pink ball.

Moving onto team sports, however, the sartorial splendor of pink-clad squads is debatable. Again, for the purpose of this exercise, we will not debate the rationale or cause behind the donning of the pink, but merely the performance and appearance of the uniform and accessories. Kind of a skewed take on the Uni Watch dictum of “Is it good or is it stupid?”. In this case, the qualifications are merely, “Is the uniform good or stupid just really pink?”.

It seems like women’s college hoop teams are the primary wearers of pink. Personally, I don’t mind this, although there are certainly different shades of pink to be worn (which is nice — I’d hate to think they were all just one shade). I’m definitely less fond of the lighter pink sported here (yet, with different lighting, it appears slightly darker) or here. The brighter, hotter and deeper pinks seem to jump out more (since they’re less akin to pastels), and when accented with black, stand out. Course, it could just be the lighting, but this looks less pink and more ’salmon’ to me. And don’t forget to match the sneakers to the uniforms.

Women’s basketball is far from the only sport which has jumped into the pink craze. Both men’s and women’s hockey have entered the fray. “Pink at the Rink” is the new battlecry, featuring pink ice, pink-accented unis, pink sticks, pink-accented gloves, and, of course, pink uniforms for both the ladies and the guys. Even the refs have gotten into the act. Not a big fan of the pink at the rink myself, although it looks much better when the socks are coordinated with the sweaters, and the pants are in a complementary color.

Both men’s and women’s soccer sport the pink uniforms (although the Sevilla player is wearing, I believe, a change kit, and certainly not anything related to breast cancer causes) as well. Palermo also sports pink, as do several women’s colleges, with the latter donning the pink for cause-related reasons. Of course, you gotta start ‘em young.

In other, somewhat “individual” sports such as the triathlon and cycling, pink can always be found. Other semi-team sports like gymnastics will also find the pink in small numbers. Not to be forgotten, USA Softball has also gone pink for a good cause.

OK, that’s enough of the uniforms, but what about the accessories? The NFL got into the act by having the refs don pink ribbons to support breast cancer awareness week in October. Nice touch. Not to be forgotten outdone, the AFL used a pink-accented ball. I’m not sure this is official, but the Cowboys seem to have dabbled in pink, and this is always a welcome Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. But will her boyfriend QB ever slip on a pair of these?

You already they manufacture pink golf balls, but you gotta put your balls on one of these, right? Of course, if you’re gonna play with pink balls, well then, shouldn’t you stroke them with pink clubs? And what better place to keep your clubs than in a pink bag? Of course, tennis players can also hit a pink ball too.

And what of those soccer players? Well, the pink clad ones can certainly kick a pink ball with their shiny pink boots. And the sport of boxing? Sure, why not use pink gloves.

Coaches and fans? Sure, dye your hair pink or put on some pink Chucks. May as well pile on the pink bodypaint for the cause, too.

But surely, surely, the greatest sport of all, which gives millions of dollars to multiple charities, supports many causes, and provides entertainment for millions, would never resort to a gimmick? Surely, baseball would never resort to the pinkification of sport, would it? I think you know the answer to that question. At least they haven’t introduced pink gloves…yet. But they’ll never make the uniforms pink, right? You never know — once you stop taking roids, nothing is out of the question.

Happy Valentine’s Day. Remember, think pink.

Dave Parsons is the sports info director at Mount Vernon Nazarene University in Ohio. He checked in the other day with a tale of a classic uni-related mishap:

We had a funny incident on Tuesday night when the Cedarville University men’s basketball team arrived for a big conference game and then first-year head coach Pat Estepp realized that they hadn’t packed their uniforms.

So they ended up wearing our old blue road uniforms [creating a Cougars vs. Cougars situation] and ended up winning, 70-68, in OT. (They’re 19-1 on the season and ranked No. 5 in NAIA Division II.) Supposedly, someone was racing to the game to get the right uniforms to their team at the half, but they never arrived in time, or maybe never arrived at all.

Our crowd was a little hesitant to use our standard “Let’s go Cougars,” chant, since both teams were wearing Cougars jerseys, but they had a nice “Where’s your jersey?” chant early in the game. We also had several fans tell us to give them our women’s uniforms.

I was doing stats for the game and my spotter and I spent the whole time treating Cedarville like it was our former players who’d worn those exact uniforms.

Great story. For those who want a refresher course on such incidents, I did an ESPN column a little over a year ago on the subject of lost, stolen, and otherwise missing uniforms, and the makeshift solutions to such situations.

Bonus January Raffle: Our friends at Historic Football Posters have invited me to raffle off a framed poster — your choice — from their vast collection. To enter, 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 next Wednesday, January 21st, at 10pm eastern. One entry per person, but anyone enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program at the time of the drawing can send four entries. I’ll announce the winner on the 22nd.

“Look at me!” Reminder: If you’ve been dying to venture out into the bitter cold to watch a pair of misfits sitting in very tall chairs while giving PowerPoint-assisted lectures on eccentric subject matter that will make your friends scratch their heads when you try to describe it to them later (so you may as well just bring them along to avoid confusion later), then tonight’s your lucky night, because my side project is performing here this evening at 8pm. Admission is free. First two Uni Watch readers to show up will get one of my extracted wisdom teeth to sit next to the hot steam pipe and thaw out.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out this gorgeous team portrait showing the Sonics’ original uni design (with thanks to Jeff Demerly). … The official White House photo of the new prexy shows him wearing a flag pin. … Another untucked team: Old Dominion women, early 1980s (with thanks to Jason Craft). … Two cool Hartford Whalers patches available here (credit Stan Olechowski). … Sheah McMahon reports that his kid brother Clark McMahon, who plays basketball at Ohio Wesleyan, inscribed a Ricardo Montalban memorial tribute on his sneakers for Wednesday night’s game against Wabash College. … Oh. My. God (awesome find by Ben Wideman). … Yesterday’s Ticker photo of the Oilers’ barnstorming hoops team prompted a note from sporting goods scholar Terry Proctor: “Those uniforms were made by Southland Athletic Mfg. Co. of Terrell, Texas. That was one of a series of knitted-in striping patterns that Southland came up with in the early 1970s to compete with Sand-Knit. These particular uniforms were columbia blue, with the pants striping and neck/arm trim being white with a red feather-edge on a columbia blue background. Southland still offers that pattern today — it’s used primarily for warm-up pants and baseball pants.” … Someone on the Chris Creamer boards has noticed an interesting inconsistency with the Cavs’ blue uniforms. Look at the sequence of the color stripes on the shorts piping. As you look downward, the color sequence runs gold, red, blue. I’m not talking about the first color just below the waistband or the last one just before the him — I’m simply talking about the order in which the colors appear. And it’s always gold, red, blue (additional examples here and here). The one exception: LeBron, whose color sequence is gold, blue, red. There are similar inconsistencies in the armhole striping, but that’s a more complex situation, because the stripes loop around 360 degrees. The shorts striping is simpler to assess, because it simply runs in a vertical line. … Another day, another soccer ball design (thanks, Jeremy). … Remember that Etch A Sketch artist? Here’s a new video that shows him creating an Obama portrait. He’s also offering a free Obama print on his site. … “I was watching the Cavs at Bulls [on Thursday night] and noticed Craig Sager doing a segment outdoors,” writes Eric Guthier. “He was clearly wearing an MLB logo on his coat during an NBA game.” … Reprinted from last night’s comments: In addition to the Flames’ memorial decal for Doc Seaman, the team’s coaches are wearing lapel memorials. … Also from last night: 2009/10 MLS jersey designs are shown here. … Bryan Justman has just completed his latest DIY hockey sweater — a Stan Mikita treatment. “I’m very proud of how the shoulder patches came out,” he says. “I used scraps of felt to piece these together. Black fabric paint made the ‘x’ on the tomahawks. Also, I finally figured out how to reinforce the neck, which enabled me to get eyelets in.” … What’s the deal with that black butt stripe on Baylor’s shorts? (As spotted by Matt Mitchell.) … While looking for something else, I came across this. I once owned this pin, as part of a set of nine pins devoted to the nine Super Bowl winners as of 1975. The pins were mounted on a large football-shaped cardboard display, which hung in my bedroom. Not sure what happened to it. Did anyone else have this? … Ridicule of the Mets’ sleeve patch has really gone viral over the past week, and last night it reached its logical conclusion: a segment on The Colbert Report. I think my work here is done.

When I was in fourth grade, I signed up for a local youth basketball league. I remember the uniform very clearly, because it was so disappointing: plain red shorts with no piping or other adornments (and they were really short) and a plain yellow T-shirt with a red number on the back. The T-shirt really bugged me — why couldn’t we wear tank tops, like real basketball players? Sleeves were for amateurs.

Those memories came flooding back the other day, when reader Cory Wright alerted me to the situation at Proviso East, an Illinois high school with an interesting visual signature: Their basketball jerseys have sleeves. You might think the sleeves were part of an old-school look, but the uniform graphics are actually pretty contemporary, with modern side piping and Nike-ish collarbone horns. The jerseys just happen to be T-shirts, not tank tops.

I wondered if this was a new design for this season, so I started poking around and discovered that Proviso East has been wearing sleeves for a while, as you can see in these pics from March 2007 (that shot is a capture from this video clip), December 2005, and January 2005 (here’s another shot from the same game). I also found this and this, but I’m unsure of the dates.

Sleeved hoops jerseys are rare phenomenon. Has any NBA team ever worn them? In the college ranks, the only school that comes to mind is Evansville, but they switched to tank tops a few years ago. Then again, basketball isn’t my strongest suit, so maybe there are lots of other sleeved examples out there — please feel free to bring me up to speed.

Anyway, the Proviso thing got me thinking: Have basketball jerseys always been tank tops? I figured the earliest ones must have had sleeves, if only because cultural standards of modesty were much more conservative back in those days. But if you google “early basketball team,” you get images (many of them spectacular) like this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, and this — not a sleeve in sight. The earliest photo I found was this one, from 1895, featuring a mix of tanks and tees. The only fully sleeved team I found was this one — from 1950, surprisingly. (Think they intentionally alternated the sneaker colors in the front row, or did it just work out that way?)

So it looks like basketball has almost always been sleeve-free. Which makes Proviso East’s sleeve-iness all the more puzzling. This is definitely a topic I’d like to explore in more detail — contributions welcome.

Research Reminder: In case you missed it late last week, I’m currently compiling examples of interesting uni-borne memorial gestures. Not just the standard black armband or uni number inside a black circle — I’m looking for things a bit more inspired. Historical precedents are good, too. Send likely suspects here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Looks like Shaun Cody’s trying (and failing) to keep his jersey snapped into his pants (good catch by Donald Moe). … Danny Kroll was recently given a pair of game-used Miami Dolphins cleats (additional pics here, here, and here) but can’t figure out who they belonged to. Anyone..? … Dustin Burns reports that one of the officials in last night’s Blues/Red Wings game apparently lost his gear and was forced to wear a generic, numberless jersey and skates borrowed from a player. … Here’s the very definition of a flagrant foul.

Got a note the other day from reader Chris Hurley, who describes himself as a lifelong Indiana University basketball fan and appears to have discovered an interesting detail on the team’s footwear. Here’s the scoop, in his own words:

Some of Indiana’s players wear what appears to be adidas’s “Lightspeed” line of shoes (mostly white with some red accents), and these players seem to have a replication of Indiana national championship banners on the inside of the right heel.

I first noticed it when I was reading the most recent copy of Sports Illustrated, which has a shot from the Indiana/Kentucky game from 12/8/07. If you look at Lance Stemler’s shoe here, you can see what looks like a rectangle with one side as an arrow pointing down.

Although the shape isn’t an exact replica of the banners they have hanging in Assembly Hall, it does match the oft-seen composite banner of the five championships.

I’ve never seen a college team commemorate its championships like this, but I’m pretty sure that’s what’s on the white shoes. In contrast, the players who wear the all-red adidas shoes do not appear to have a similar image.

I’ve never seen anything like this either, but then I’m neither a sneakerhead nor a particularly big college hoops fan, so I may be behind the curve on this one. In any case, I contacted Indiana’s athletic department, where media relations director J.D. Campbell confirmed that the graphic on the white sneakers is indeed the composite banner that Chris was referring to, and that the sneaker design was just introduced for this season.

Of course, the graphic on the sneaker isn’t an exact match of the banner. Just to refresh your memory, the banner design is here — and here’s a close-up of the sneaker. As you can see, there are several differences, but I trust you can all guess which one I find most interesting.

Research Project: I’m looking to compile a list of interesting memorial patches (or memorial decals, or other memorial gestures). No simple black armbands or anything routine like that — I’m looking for things that were more inspired. Historical examples are good, too. All contributions welcome here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Fun article here about old NASL jerseys (with thanks to Joseph Spak). … Speaking of NASL jerseys, there’s a good site devoted to them here (as found by Harry Roth). … Good query from Bernie Langer, who writes: “The Phillies just signed free agent Chad Durbin. Since they already have J.D. Durbin on the team, this probably means a first initial on the back for Chad. But what about J.D.? One initial or two?” Hmmmmm. … Meanwhile, Steve Francis notes that brothers Andrei and Sergei Kostitsyn, who play for the Canadiens, are both initial-free. … The Rams retired Marshall Faulk’s jersey last night. Unfortunately, he chose purple neckwear for the occasion. … Ryan Burns sent along this shot of Donnie Baseball. “My best guess is it’s the 1984 International League all-star game,” he says. Anyone know more about it? … All this speculation about the Browns supposedly getting new unis next year (occasioned by a Kellen Winslow interview in Penthouse, which I’d say are a source and a venue of roughly equal repute) is getting out of hand. It’s all bullshit — the Brownies got new unis last season, which means they’re locked into their current design for at least three more years. But since we have a Clevelander on the non-payroll: Hey, Vince, could you please get an official comment from the team? … Great view here of the differing sleeve stripe treatments worn by the Redskins’ two QBs (thanks, Bryan). … Here’s something you don’t see every day: Ben Wallace wearing Zeljko Rebraca’s warm-ups (good find by Doug Mooney). … Think logo creep is inevitable? Then check out this article about a store specializing in unbranded, label-free products. … Latest installment of Joe Skiba’s video series, devoted to cold-weather preparations, is available on the Giants home page. … There’s a bit of a controversy about Roberto Luongo’s pads. … Here’s a first: The Grizzlies are going to wear a patch on their warm-ups in support of their mascot actor, who’s out with lymphoma. Details toward the end of this page (with thanks to Jon McKay). … If you need a last-minute Xmas gift idea, you could do a lot worse than this.

Holiday Schedule: We’ll have our usual weekend discussion sessions, and an open disucssion on Christmas Day as well (mainly so all the Jewish readers can post comments about movies and Chinese food). Not sure yet about Monday — might post a regular entry, might just toss up a discussion photo, depending on how my weekend goes. Either way, regular content will definitely resume on the 26th. Okay? Okay!

The nice thing about co-owning an NBA team is that you can work out with the players whenever you want. And of course you’ll get an official team practice jersey to wear — hey, you’re a part owner, you can raid the pro shop for whatever gear you want. High-five! But wait, the practice jersey features the logo of the company that manufactured it, and you have a longstanding promotional arrangement with a rival company. That’s a slight dilemma, but everyone knows what a savvy businessman you are, so you’ll come up with a smart and elegant solution.

That was the situation facing Michael Jordan yesterday. And here was his smart and elegant solution: He slapped a piece of white tape over the Adidas logo on his chest, although I think it’s fair to say that this maneuver went straight into the “Not fooling anybody” file, especially since he didn’t bother covering up the Adidas stripe treatment (presumably because they ran out of white tape).

I don’t know if Jordan’s still contractually forbidden to wear non-Nike gear, or if the very idea of flashing a non-swoosh logo simply gives him a rash, but this little episode really highlights the continuing absurdity of how sportswear companies have become entangled with leagues and athletes. Did Jordan really think nobody would notice the piece of tape, or understand why it was there? Didn’t this actually draw more attention to the fact that he was wearing Adidas gear than if he hadn’t worn the tape to begin with? Couldn’t he have avoided this problem altogether if he’d just turned the shirt inside-out or worn a some other shirt? Oh, but then the Bobcats logo wouldn’t have been visible, so he wouldn’t have been promoting his team and its merch. What a mess — the whole situation reeks.

I’ll have more to say about logo creep tomorrow. Meanwhile, how much you wanna bet that some kid out there is gonna start wearing a piece of tape over the Adidas logo on his Bobcats jersey, just like his idol, MJ?

Raffle Reminder: Today’s the last day to enter the holiday raffle. For details, scroll down to the middle of Friday’s entry. As always, you can increase your odds of winning by joining the Uni Watch membership program. I’ll announce the winners tomorrow.

And hey, speaking of raffles: Are you excited about the Pro Bowl? Right, me neither. But the NFL is raffling off a free trip to its annual snooze-a-thon all-star game, and let’s face it, a free trip to Hawaii is a free trip to Hawaii, even if it does entail watching the world’s lamest football game. Plus the Pro Bowl is a uni watcher’s dream (assuming you dream about the really bad design), so it’s a win-win. To enter, look here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: The Vikings’ solid-purple look will not be repeated (that good news brought our way by Chad Burma). … Weird sequence of events yesterday, beginning when Kenn Tomasch sent me a note reporting that Steve Young’s orange jersey didn’t have stripes in 1985 like the rest of the Bucs had. Upon further investigation I discovered several other anomalies, to wit: Young appears to have ghosted sleeve stripes here and here; some of Tampa’s linemen didn’t have sleeve stripes either; kicker Donald Igwebuike (one of my all-time favorite sports names) had stripes, but his sleeve connected to his jersey down around his belly; if you factor in the sleeves, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen another NFL jersey look as mesh-y as this. … Michael Vick may not be in the NFL anymore, but he’s leaving quite a trail in his wake. … Looks like a Georgia Southern player was wearing a one-sleeved undershirt the other day (with thanks to Bob Jaye). … The Rutgers football team’s equipment manager is retiring (with thanks to Bruce Soltys). … Greg Riffenburgh notes that Minnesota’s Anthony Herrera appeared to be violating the NFL’s “only one footwear trim color allowed” rule the other night. … If you can’t prevent a concussion, at least you can know if you’ve gotten one. … Todd Krevanchi notes that Houston is using different font sets for its front and back uni numbers, and you can see in the 2s here. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Awesome old newsreel footage shot in the Red Wings and Rangers locker rooms here.