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Posts filed under 'College Hoops'
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!
December 21st, 2007
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.
December 19th, 2007
What’s been the biggest change in pro football over the past 30 years? A lot of things come to mind: modern training methods, the increased size of linemen, the overall increase in athleticism and speed, the advent of video review, the increasing dominance of African-American players, the disappearance of jersey sleeves, the utter joylessness of head coaches.
But if you ask me, the biggest development — and easily the most underrated one — is the ubiquity of gloves. Almost everyone wears them now, even quarterbacks, and it’s no exaggeration to say that most of the acrobatic catches you see receivers making these days wouldn’t be possible without them. Yeah, some players in the pre-glove era wore stickum, but I saw Lester Hayes and Fred Biletnikoff in their primes, and they couldn’t make any of these one-handed catches that you routinely see guys making today. Gloves have completely redefined the passing game.
All of which came to mind during yesterday’s Cowboys/Eagles game, which featured something I’d never seen before: Philly WR Kevin Curtis took a spill along the sideline, and at first it looked like his glove had come off during the play. But as he got up, it became apparent that the glove had actually fallen apart — the upper part was still on his wrist while the lower part had been ripped right off of his hand, much to Curtis’s own confusion.
In other developments from yesterday:
• Jason Taylor’s captaincy patch was coming loose by the end of the Dolphins/Ravens game.
• As has been noted here several times in recent weeks, the “Ravens” wordmark has been missing from Willis McGahee’s black jersey in recent weeks, but it was present and accounted for on his purple jersey yesterday.
• The Redskins usually wear these socks with their burgundy pants, but they went with these — ugh.
• Now that’s a football game. But if Derek Anderson was playing with a sewn-in pocket, why did he need an oven mitt?
(Big thanks to Chad Todd and Randy Williams from the Kevin Curtis screen grabs.)
Research Project: My ESPN colleague Mary Buckheit is working on a piece about women’s volleyball uniforms — why they’re so skimpy, why some players have issues with them, why they’re so different from the men’s uniforms, whether they’re so revealing that they’ve actually led some players to develop eating disorders, that sort of thing. Here’s a note from her:
The sport of volleyball has seen it all — unitards, mesh shorts, bun huggers, long sleeves, racerback jerseys, tall socks, no socks — what’s the deal? What is the functionality of volleyball uniforms, specifically the super-short spandex? Are women really inhibited by “cumbersome” traditional athletic shorts? You know, the ones that are perfectly suitable for soccer and basketball. Do the minis really make you perform better? Would men’s statistics spike if they dared ditch their mesh or board shorts in favor of a biker boxer brief type uni? Would they tally more digs that way? C’mon.
When you see volleyball on TV, do you stop and watch for an extra second to scope out the 6-foot college coeds in 3-inch spandex shorts? If so, any feelings on what it would be like as a father of a high school volleyball player knowing guys in the gym are doing the same thing to your 16-year-old sophomore setter?
If anyone has any thoughts on this, please feel free to contact me. Thanks!
I know at least a few of you know a lot more about volleyball than I do, so please share your knowledge with Mary. Thanks.
Raffle Reminder: In case you missed it on Friday, I’m currently raffling off a bunch of stuff. 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.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out this photo of Lou Gehrig, Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb, and Babe Ruth. Odd to see that the insignia on Ruth’s jacket is “N.Y.,” but on Gehrig’s it appears to be just “NY” — no periods (with thanks to Bruce Menard). … A member of the Winthrop women’s hoops team has changed her uni number to honor her late fiancé (as forwarded by Jonathan Carone). … A reader who prefers not to give his real name has gotten some good pics showing exactly how the Rangers are hemming their jerseys. … Yikes. … Northwest Missouri State safety Aldwin Foster-Rettig (who already has a lengthy NOB) tore his jersey on Saturday, leading to a rather makeshift repair (with thanks to Chris Wheeler). … Michael Poplawski reports that German Bundesliga club Werder Bremen modified their jersey crest to look like a Christmas tree on Saturday. Here’s a closer view. … Reprinted from Sunday’s comments: Wisconsin-Whitewater’s jerseys have a “Warhawks” wordmark, but it was missing from Justin Beaver’s jersey. … The Dayton hoops team has unveiled some alternate throwbacks (with thanks to Todd Herzog). … This has resulted in this. … More NFL fines assessed here. … Doug Weight, making his Ducks debut last night, was wearing a pair of Brad May’s gloves (good catch by Alex Warner). … Remember the recent Ticker item about the missing stripes on Bill Guerin’s jersey? Here’s a follow-up (with thanks to Michael Schuerlein).
December 17th, 2007
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: While the rest of the baseball world focused on the hot stove league, the real story was on the uniform scene, where MLB exec Bob Watson announced “the Francona Rule,” which according to Watson means, “You can only wear your uniform top or jacket.” In a truly inspired elaboration that will go down as the uni-related quote of the year, Watson added, “You can’t wear your nightshirt, or whatever it is. You can wear it before games, or after games, but not during games. You have to have your uniform top at all times.”
Watson’s commentary on sleepwear notwithstanding, this means no more sweatshirt for Francona (among others), no more smock for John Gibbons, and I think Buck Showalter just cancelled his latest comeback plans.
There’s a lot of confusion and misinformation about this story and the history surrounding it. I can’t clear up all of that confusion, but I can help with some of it, FAQ-style:
Didn’t MLB and Francona butt heads over this issue a few months ago?
Yes, back in August.
So if they were already enforcing the rule then, why did they have to enact a new rule now?
Good question.
Doesn’t the rulebook already require the manager to wear a uniform, at least if he leaves the dugout and goes onto the field of play?
No. Rule 3.15 states: “No person shall be allowed on the playing field during a game except players and coaches in uniform, managers, news photographers authorized by the home team, umpires, officers of the law in uniform and watchmen or other employees of the home club.” Note that the “in uniform” stipulation is applied to coaches but not to managers.
On the other hand, I recently came across this page, which tells the story of how two beat reporters — George Lederer and Phli Collier — managed a Dodgers intrasquad game during spring training in 1964. Lederer actually donned a Dodgers uniform, but Collier skippered in civvies (you can see them both here). As the account of the game then explains:
Collier, dressed in street clothes … broke the rules when he charged onto the field to argue an umpire’s decision at second base. At this stage of the game, with the score still 1-1, Lederer was sharp enough to remind the umpires that Collier had no right to be on the field.
So this suggests that non-uniformed managers were understood to be barred from the field of play at least as early as 1964, even if the rulebook doesn’t specify this. Why? In going back over my research files, I found a 2005 listserv post by Frank Vaccaro of the Society for American Baseball Research that may shed some light on the subject:
Nearly all non-playing managers before 1900 wore civilian clothes. … [T]here was a [National League] rule in place from 1879 to 1891 preventing non-playing managers from appearing on the field. This was referred to as the “Harry Wright rule.” After he won the championship in 1878 — his sixth in seven years — this rule passed, I suppose, to give other teams a chance. Wright used to stand on the sidelines shouting orders to his players: “WAIT” to take pitches and “FACING” to hit to the opposite field, as well as the names of players who should catch flies, etc. Other teams were in a panic.
So the “Terry Francona rule” is apparently the latest version of the 128-year-old “Harry Wright rule.” I have a feeling Bob Watson doesn’t know this.
Why do managers wear uniforms anyway?
In baseball’s early days, many managers were also active players, and player/managers persisted longer than most people realize. There were three three of them as recently as the 1970s (Frank Robinson, Don Kessenger, and Joe Torre), and one in the 1980s (Pete Rose).
But Connie Mack wore a suit while managing, didn’t he?
Yes. Mack’s a bit of a red herring, though — he owned the A’s, so he wore a suit in large part because he saw himself as a businessman/executive type and dressed accordingly. For a broader analysis, let’s turn once again to Frank Vacarro’s 2005 SABR listserv post:
[T]he interesting question is “How did baseball managers evolve to become the only team leaders in sports with the tradition of wearing the team uniform?” The answer is four-fold. Nearly all managers in the 1890s were playing managers, but a 1900-1920 manager could manage in civilian clothes if:
1) He embraced the style created by the [Harry Wright rule].
2) He wanted to exude the authority of a magnate.
3) He did not want to play or to appear as a base coach.
4) He had never played baseball professionally.
By 1940 these reasons became archaic. The 1880s NL style was forgotten; managers “like magnates” did poorly; teams carried enough coaches (and players — roster sizes grew) to do all delegatable tasks; and all managers had at least some professional playing experience. Offsetting these [factors] were the layout of the grass and the diamond and the fact that a manager could participate, on any corner of the field, in pre-game activities that were low on effort but high on skill, such as hitting grounders or fungos, bullpen catching, or even pitching BP. All these contrast sharply with activities high on athleticism that characterize pre-game practice in the other sports. It’s sometimes said, rightly or wrongly, that baseball is more a game than a sport.
For good measure, Vacarro provided a list of 20th-century managers who skippered in civvies (an asterisk indicates that the manager was known to don a uniform on occasion):
• Bob Allen, Reds, 1900
• Connie Mack, A’s, 1901-1950
• Horace Fogel, Giants, 1902
• Tom Loftus, Senators, 1902-1903
• Bill Armour, Indians, 1902-1904; Tigers, 1905-1906
• Frank Selee, Cubs, 1902-1905
• Ed Barrow, Tigers, 1903-1904; Red Sox, 1918-1920
• John McClosky, Cardinals, 1906-1908*
• Hank O’Day, Reds, 1912; Cubs, 1914
• George Stallings, Braves, 1913-1920
• Hugo Bezdek, Pirates, 1917-1919
• Clark Griffith, Nationals, 1917-1920*
• Branch Rickey, Cardinals, 1919-1925*
• John McGraw, Giants, 1921-1932* (although he usually wore a uniform prior to 1921)
• Wilbert Robinson, Dodgers 1928-1931*
• Burt Shotton, Dodgers, 1947-1950* (additional pics here, here, here, and here, plus here’s one of his game-worn dugout jackets)
It’s not clear how many of these skippers, if any, went onto the field of play during a game, but this photo shows Hank O’Day wearing spikes with his suit while managing the Cubs, suggesting that he went onto the field at some point.
But MLB doesn’t want Francona wearing a pullover even in the dugout. So when did not wearing a full uniform go from being rare to being banned?
I haven’t figured that part out yet.
Couldn’t MLB have avoided this whole mess with Francona if they hadn’t created so many different kinds of officially licensed outerwear for him and other managers to try on?
Gee, what do you think?
Membership Update: Remember, today is the last day for ordering a gift membership at discounted holiday rates.
Today’s showcase card is based on the “shineboy,” the shirt worn by Alpha Phi Omega members when they run the Texas flag onto the field before Texas Longhorns football games.
Beantown Reminder: Uni Watch party tomorrow, 8:30 p.m., at Boston Beer Works. The gathering got a little preview write-up in today’s Boston Herald, plus Randy Moss is gonna stop by and explain why he keeps wearing those upside-down 8s, so come by and join us.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Wisconsin wore their long-awaited throwbacks on Monday night, and man did they look sweet, although it turns out that the beat writer for Madison’s Capital Times totally Doesn’t Get It™ (with thanks to Nicole Haase). … Expect to see lots of NBA throwbacks beginning this Friday. Details here. … Duke guard DeMarcus Nelson is wearing some interesting kicks. Details here (with thanks to intern emeritus Vince Grzegorek). … Awesome female Black Fives photo and info here. … Spectacular discovery by Jared Wheeler, who found a shot of Magic Johnson from the 1980 NBA All-Star Game with two initials on his NOB! … Jeff Meyers, who works for the independent Ft. Worth Cats, informs me that the team has a cat eyes alternate jersey. Look closely and you’ll see that the pupils actually spell out “F” and “W.”
December 5th, 2007
Big uni-related story in the NFL yesterday was the range of Sean Taylor memorials. Here’s a quick rundown:
• The Redskins wore a “21″ jersey patch. The Redskins’ coaching staff and owner wore it, too.
• In addition, Clinton Portis wore a Taylor tribute T-shirt under his jersey (here’s another view).
• John Eubanks wore a Taylor do-rag. At first I thought this was one of the towels that fans were given, but now I think it was actually the sleeve from a Taylor jersey.
• All teams wore a “21″ helmet decal. This led to some pretty crowded rear-helmet groupings, especially for the Broncos (who already had their dual memorial for Darrent Williams and Damien Nash) and Browns (who added that “BW” decal this week in memory of Hall of Famer Bill Willis — not to be confused with the “BW” decal for Bill Walsh that the 49ers have been wearing all year).
• I was hoping we’d see some facemask stripes, like Taylor sometimes wore. Didn’t happen, but Antonio Pierce of the Giants did something similar: He taped Taylor’s uniform number onto his mask. This was the only personalized tribute to Taylor that I spotted. (Special thanks to Ryan Perkins for the screen grab.)
Meanwhile, in non-Taylor developments:
• Tommie Harris had “Psalms 91″ (which also happens to be his uniform number) written on his Breathe Right strip.
• The Jets took the unusual step of wearing their Titans throwbacks on the road in Miami.
• Joseph Addai was showing some serious skin in the 2nd quarter.
• No photo yet, but I saw for myself that Dallas Clark’s American flag decal was still missing — a particularly egregious omission when you consider that the equipment staff had to add the Sean Taylor decal to his helmet, so you’d think they would’ve noticed the missing flag. Bryan, whose wife went to high school with Clark, is still working on getting the full story on this one.
• Also no photo, but several readers reported that Braylon Edwards was wearing white shoes and going bare-calved, NCAA-style, early in the Browns/Cards game. Then he added brown socks but still had white shoes. He eventually switched to black shoes like the rest of the Browns.
Uni Watch Calendar Update: Several meet/greet opportunities coming up over the next week. Here’s the deal:
• December 6th: Marc Spears of the Boston Globe and I will be fielding questions from students in a media seminar class this Thursday at Boston University. I’ll be convening a Uni Watch party at 8:30 that evening at Boston Beer Works, which is right across from Fenway Park. Meanwhile, if anyone wants to attend the seminar class, which begins at 6:30, the professor has graciously agreed to accommodate a few extra people. If you’re interested, get in touch and I’ll let you know where to go.
• December 10th: The completely wonderful City Reliquary, of which I am a proud card-carrying member, will be holding its annual benefit gala at the Automotive High School Auditorium, and I’m one of the two featured speakers this year. I’ll be doing a Power Point presentation about Brooklyn Dodgers uniform history, but the real attraction is the other speaker: Lawrence Weschler, author of Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder and Boggs. The evening will also feature a short documentary film, a live samba band, and — if you shell out a lot of extra $$$ — dinner at Bamonte’s, one of Brooklyn’s oldest and most storied red-sauce Italian restaurants. Full details here.
• Sometime in January: I’m going to be one of four presenters at the inaugural edition of a new speaking series called “Adult Education,” which is being curated by my longtime pal Carrie McLaren (editrix of the excellent consumer-culture magazine Stay Free), who describes the series as “sort of grownup show-and-tell,” complete with visual aids. The theme of this first installment will be “Micro-Genres”: Carrie, who’s mildly obsessed with chimps, will be talking about people who’ve tried to raise chimps as part of the family; longtime Uni Watch pal Liz Clayton will talk about painfully obvious fast-food restaurant conversions (she has an entire site devoted to this phenomenon); Jim Hanas will talk about “meta tourism” (i.e., photos of tourists taking photos); and I’ll be talking about the strange world of trade magazines (Elevator World, Hay and Forage Grower, American Funeral Director, Demolition, and so on, each of which is as obsessively subject-specific as Uni Watch is). The exact date is still TBA, but it’s definitely going to be on a Tuesday in January, and the venue will be Union Hall, which is conveniently located around the corner from Uni Watch HQ. Further details on this one as they become available.
Membership News: I’m happy to announce that we’ve now gone over 500 enrollees. But I can’t announce who the 500th member is because that was a gift membership and the gift-giver has asked that I keep the order secret until Christmas.
Speaking of which, remember, this Wednesday is the deadline for ordering a discounted gift membership for the holidays.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Lots of pics here from the upcoming hoops movie Semi-Pro (with thanks to Mike Nachreiner). … Bizarre uniform sighting here (courtesy of Eric Trager). … Looking for new and creative ways to lace up your cleats or sneakers? Look here (with thanks to Mike Blinn). … Roman numeral alert: Charlie Coley III of Charlotte (with thanks to intern emeritus Vince Grzegorek). … “Once upon a time, Marquette had a football team,” writes proud Badger State booster Nicole Haase. “Here’s a pretty cool collection of 1940s program covers.” … “Check out the difference in the helmet stripe thickness for the two players in green, who play for Mentor Lake Catholic High in Ohio,” writes Tim Snyder. “I figure it’s some kind of merit award, but they also use more conventional merit decals.” Anyone know more about this? … Paul Bridge reports that Utah Valley University, which will have D-1A status by 2009, has some new logos. Details here. … Very odd NOB typography being for Jonathan Zebina of Juventus (and, presumably for the rest of their players): The “Z” and the “E” look like a “2″ and a backwards “3.” It’s apparently so fraught with confusion that the “E” ended up being applied backwards for Saturday’s game against AC Milan (all this courtesy of Jeremy Brahm). … Mizzou’s Stryker Sulak had some sleeve patch problems on Saturday (with thanks to James Wortham for the screen grab). … Nice little recap of Lakers uniform history here (as forwarded by Matthew Wolfram). … Ryan Perkins notes that R.W. McQuarters of the Giants had some helmet decal issues yesterday. … Several readers noted that Wabash wore some ill-advised pants in Saturday’s D-III quarterfinal game. … Georgia will wear black in the Sugar Bowl. … Speaking of black, Texas A&M’s hoops team wore their black alts yesterday. … “The Barbarians, an invitation-only rugby club that plays a handful of matches per year, took on the newly-crowned world champions South Africa,” writes Eric Bangeman. In addition to wearing classic black-and-white uniforms, the Barbarians ask each player to wear the socks from his home club, which makes for some interesting hosiery contrasts.”
December 3rd, 2007
My friends, yesterday marked the end of an era. For the first time this season, every member of the San Diego Chargers was wearing an American flag helmet decal.
Or at least I assume that was the case. One thing I know for sure is that LaDainian Tomlinson was wearing one. No surprise there, since he’d also worn the flag decal for San Diego’s two previous games. The big news is that Chris Chambers, who’d been flag-free for the past new weeks, was properly flag-accessorized yesterday, marking the first time this year that Tomlinson and Chambers were both wearing the decal. As for the other fifty-some players on the Chargers’ roster, I’m gonna take it on faith that they were all flag-clad. If anyone knows otherwise, speak up.
In other NFL notes from yesterday:
• Chad Johnson dusted off his orange chinstrap.
• The Jets retired Curtis Martin’s number.
• Hard to know what looked worse in the Jets/Steelers game: the Jets or the slacks-clad officials.
• The officials in the Bears/Seahawks game were wearing the cold-weather slacks too, as you can barely see here.
• Radically distinct sock stylings here. Here, too.
• That’s a right purty game right there.
• There, too.
• Several readers reported that Roy Williams of the Cowboys had a yellow dot on the back of his helmet, similar to the green dot that the QBs wear. No photo yet. If we can get visual confirmation, I’ll ask the team for an explanation.
• I’ve said it before and I’ll keep on saying it: This is the league’s most underrated design, and a classic in the making.
Uni Watch Calendar: Lots of opportunities for gatherings and such over the next few weeks. Here’s the breakdown:
• November 27th: I’m going to be in Austin, Texas. Is there any Uni Watch readership to speak of in that town? If so, any such readers should get in touch. If the response is large enough, I’ll set up a gathering for that evening.
• December 6th: Marc Spears of the Boston Globe and I will be guests of a media seminar class at Boston University. I’ll convene a Uni Watch party at 8:30 that evening at Boston Beer Works, which is right across from Fenway Park. Meanwhile, if anyone wants to attend the seminar class, which begins at 6:30, the professor tells me he can probably accommodate a few extra people. If you’re interested, get in touch and I’ll fill you in.
• December 10th: The completely wonderful City Reliquary, of which I am a proud card-carrying member, will be holding its annual benefit gala at the Automotive High School Auditorium, and I’m one of the two featured speakers this year. I’ll be doing a Power Point presentation on some topic or other (might be uni-related or might not — haven’t decided yet), but the real attraction is the other speaker: Lawrence Weschler, author of such crucial must-reads as Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder and Boggs. In other words, I’m like some puny little indie band opening for the Rolling Stones. The evening will feature lots of additional stuff, including a short documentary film, a live samba band, and dinner at Bamonte’s (one of Brooklyn’s oldest and best red-sauce Italian restaurants). Full details here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I’m a week late with this, but it’s still pretty funny (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm and Timothy Sheehan). … Speaking of the intersection of fan and uniform, David Soline sent along this. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Really interesting article here about Cal’s recent throwbacks. … Chris Mycoskie notes that Louisiana-Lafayette’s women’s hoops team has some, uh, innovative uniforms. … Photo archivist David Eskinazi has come up with something interesting: a 1911 photo of the Wichita Falls Irish Lads. “I found it very unusual that they chose to have EVERYTHING spelled out on their jerseys — team nickname, city, and state,” he writes. “Quite odd, especially for a pro team.” … Good catch by Andrew White, who notes that UNC’s walk-on players were all photographed wearing the same jersey, as seen here, here, and here. … Here’s our first look at the Indians’ new throwback alternate uni. Additional views here. … The CBA’s Albany Patroons had to play in practice uniforms on Friday night because their new unis weren’t ready yet. … Really great two-minute audio slideshow here about the Indiana equipment staff prepping the helmets for last Saturday’s throwback game. … And speaking of that game, there’s a good photo gallery here. … Brazil has a new soccer kit. Note that the five stars, representing the team’s five World Cup championships, are shown not only on the chest but also on the socks. Details here and here. … Matthew Strauss noticed something odd: According to SI.com, this photo was taken during a Cowboys/Redskins game in Dallas. But the ’Skins are wearing white, so was Dallas wearing blue at home? The turf looks artificial, which would seem to support the notion that the game was played at Texas Stadium, not at RFK. Can anyone shed more light on this? … Lots of solid-red action on the gridiron on Saturday, as Minnesota and FSU went monochromatic. … Casey Hart reports that Harvard’s nordic skiing team uniforms feature a map of the Harvard area. … Speaking of Harvard, someone on the Chris Creamer board spotted Crimson head football coach Tim Murphy wearing an NFLL pullover on Saturday. … Interesting critique of presidential campaign logos here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: I went to a European advertising conference and a hockey game broke out. … USF is switching to Under Armour. … I’ve listed lots of uniform typos in my recent ESPN columns. But Matt Lindner found something you don’t often see: a typo on a replica jersey. … Latest analysis of the NHL jersey debacle here (with thanks to Doug Mooney, who also reports that South Georgia Tech’s men’s and women’s hoops teams wore a “W” patch on Saturday in remembrance of instructor Willy Mathis). … New sleeveless unis for the American men’s volleyball team (as reported by Jeremy Brahm). … Two soccer notes from Jeremy as well: new uniforms for Germany, and quite the flamboyant ball during the U.S. vs. South Africa friendly match.
November 19th, 2007
The FNOB phenomenon (for those of you who just got on board, that’s short for “full name on back”) is shaping up as one of our most durable subject areas, as contributions continue to pour in.
If you missed our two previous two examinations of this topic, they can be found here and here. Once you catch up on those, check out the latest additions to the list, which break down like so (with the caveat that I’m only listing examples for which we have photographic evidence):
College Football: John Houlik (note the very unusual cap/small-cap style of his first name); Brian Jackson; Breon Jackson (and in addition to those last two, Louisiana Tech also has a Brannon Jackson, but no photo of him yet); DJ Hall (assuming you consider “DJ” to be a legitimate first name; also, note that the Tennessee player, Henley, appears to have a double-layered nameplate); and Kevin Burrus (whose brother Keith also goes FNOB, but I haven’t found a photo of him yet).
NFL: Darrell Reid (we had already listed teammate Dexter Reid last time around); Randal Williams; Bracy and Brian Walker; Tank Williams; Aaron Brooks (who apparently only wore FNOB during the 2004 preseason); Ricky Williams (I believe also just a preseason thing, from 2001); Rudi Johnson; Jon Ogden (although this seems a bit suspect, since he usually went by Jonathan); and — here’s the pick of the litter — Clarence Weathers.
NHL: Rich Sutter (up until now, all I had for him was this).
Meanwhile, as we continue to compile FNOB examples, here’s something that showed up in yesterday’s comments: John Yarno of the USFL’s Denver Gold, whose NOB featured a first initial after the surname. Teammate/brother George Yarno (No. 66 in the photo) presumably had a similar nameplate, but I haven’t yet found a rear-view photo of that. Anyone..?
Membership News: Remember, for the next two weeks we’re still offering special discounted rates on gift memberships for the holidays. Full details here.
Meanwhile, if you look at the membership roster, you’ll see that many members’ uniform numbers are now shown in boldface type. That’s to distinguish the charter members (i.e., those who joined during the first two months of the membership program). I’ve been meaning to add this designation to the roster page for months now but have been too busy to do it. Fortunately, this is precisely the sort of stupefyingly tedious task important job that special Uni Watch assistant Nina Dubin was hired to do, and she’s working on it now even as we speak. Thanks, Nina.
As for today’s showcase card, it’s patterned after the UMich marching band. I think you’ll all agree that Scott kicked some serious ass on this one.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Another badly Photoshopped baseball card here. “The Sox don’t wear Cool Flo helmets, and even if they did, it wouldn’t be in that shade of blue,” writes Kellan Walski, who contributed this item. “And a blue belt? C’mon!!” … If it’s really been bugging you that you can’t get the University of Georgia logo on your casket or toilet seat, here’s the news you’ve been waiting for (with thanks to Alan Chewning). … Bench coach Bryan Redemske notes that N.C. Central has what may be the nation’s coolest side panels. … Faaaascinating note from Ross DiLiegro, who writes: ” Take a look at the back of Syracuse freshman forward Donte Greene’s jersey. Due to a miscommunication between the Orange’s equipment guy and Nike, Donte’s last name was originally sewn onto the jersey as ‘Green.’ Once the mistake was noticed, the ‘e’ was added to the end of the name, but now it’s noticeably off-center and has been that way for all of Syracuse’s match-ups so far this season. It’ll be interesting to see what happens when the orange road unis and blue alternates roll out, which could be as early as next Wednesday or Friday at MSG for the preseason NIT.” Actually, it looks to me like it was a bit off-center even before the extra letter was added. … Scott Clay attended Wednesday night’s Auburn/Troy women’s hoops game and noticed something odd: ” Every single one of the Troy players had the same mark on their left arm in the deltoid area.” Looks like a temporary tattoo. Anyone know more about this? … Fort Scott Community College in Kansas has some seriously plain uniforms. That little smudge above the uni number is a greyhound.
November 16th, 2007
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: As we all know by now, baseball has fallen out of favor with black Americans, at least as a participatory sport. And now former MLBer Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd is trying to do something about it. He and former teammate Delino DeShields recently formed the Urban Baseball League. Billed as the “Rebirth of the Negro Leagues,” the UBL is slated to begin games next year, with a focus on encouraging young black players to participate. No uniforms yet, but they’ve got team logos for the four charter teams: the Blackbirds, Black Tops, Afros, and Stacks.
Well. I think it’s fair to say that if a white-run league came up with something like those last two logos, many people would find it in poor taste at best, flat-out racist at worst. And how different are those logos from, say, this or this? Is it suddenly okay if a black-run enterprise uses this type of imagery? Is it all about intent, not content? What’s the line separating stereotype from cultural expression? Does the passing of time recontextualize things? Can these logos now be considered “cool” in the same way 1970s blaxploitation movies are? If so, isn’t it worth remembering that the arbiters of this coolness have primarily been white culture geeks doing what white culture geeks always do (i.e., cherrypicking the aspects of black culture they find most appealing)? Isn’t “blaxploitation” a clever term whose cleverness obscures its pejorative meaning?
Okay, so I’m veering off-topic there. Race is such a messed-up element in American life, and it tends to distort everything it touches, so it’s hard to pin down a discussion like this one. The fact that Uni Watch’s readership is, as far as I can tell, about 98% white doesn’t exactly help matters.
But here’s the thing: People forget that the Negro Leagues themselves should never have existed in the first place. But they did, and now we celebrate them as worthy outgrowth of an unjust time. Seems like a shaky premise for starting a new league today, though.
And here’s something else: These are all essentially throwback logos. I mean, for a venture aimed at contemporary black youth, it’s amazing how completely devoid of hip-hop influence these designs are. Shouldn’t the teams be called the Bling or something like that? Granted, I’m neither young nor black, but it seems to me that black kids are gonna view these logos as just the latest evidence that baseball is that boring old game that their grandfathers used to play.
(Special thanks to Ronnie Poore for bringing the UBL to my attention.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: A nonplussed Dominic J. Litten reports: “The Italian national soccer team has unveiled its new, hideous away strip with gold detailing on the collar, which they will debut in Saturday’s Euro 2008 qualifier against Scotland.” … Another season-opening MLB series in Japan — does that mean another round of uniform advertisements, like in 2000 and 2004? … St. Louis University guard Tommie Liddell is now going by Tommie Lidell III, complete with the roman numeral on his jersey. Details here (with thanks to Jeff Hood). … Turns out that Eric Stangel, a semi-frequent commenter and Ticker contributor, is also the head writer/producer for David Letterman — which means he’s been out on strike for the past week and a half. “Something happened today that made me think of Uni Watch,” he writes. “Bill Scheft is a writer on the show and also the Late Show Strike Captain. What better way to designate his captainhood than by giving him a Jason Varitek-style ‘C’ on his chest.” So there you have it, people: Uni Watch, the official sports web site of the American labor movement. … “So proud of the Missouri Valley Conference,” writes bench coach Bryan Redemske. “They left last year’s patches on. … Check out this totally boss jersey I won on eBay yesterday (with extra-big thanks to Scott Turner, who brought the item to my attention). … “Last weekend I visited the new Ripley’s Believe It or Not! tourist trap in Times Square,” writes Steve Flack. “They mention how Robert Ripley’s second passion, beyond the oddities featured in his newspaper strip, was baseball. They have a complete set of uniforms from a charity baseball game he put together in 1939. His team was called the Believe It Or Nots and featured such legends as Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, and Jack Dempsey. The weirdest thing was that the uniform were Turkish harem-style, complete with turbans, completely unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.” … If only this were true. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Nice breakdown of Georgetown basketball uniform history here.
November 15th, 2007
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