|
|
Posts filed under 'Cricket'
[Editor’s Note: Although intern emeritus Vince Grzegorek has moved on to greener pastures, he’s still going to contribute occasional entries — like today’s, for example.]
By Vince Grzegorek
A few weeks ago, there was a mention in the Ticker of the Slipstream cycling team’s search for a new uniform for next season. They invited fans to submit designs, leading to over 600 entries, including some, er, interesting versions (Drew McKay’s favorite). The important thing here is that Slipstream is pretty famous for its use of argyle patterns, going so far as to call their fanbase the Argyle Armada, so almost all of the proposed versions included variations on this design motif.
All of which got me thinking: How often does argyle show up in uniforms? As Slipstream shows, it can look pretty sharp. I figured there had to be some great examples in other sports.
First, a word on the origins of the pattern itself. According to Wikipedia, “The argyle pattern is said to have been derived from the tartan of Clan Campbell, of Argyll in western Scotland.” It was basically a re-appropriation of the pattern that gave birth to argyle socks and, in turn, argyle sweaters, hats, vests, and the whole preppy wardrobe. The elite began to wear the style in their leisure activities, which included sitting around at their clubs, watching horses, and playing golf, marking the evolution of argyle from casual dress to (somewhat) active dress.
When it comes to uniforms, golf is a great place to start, since it that was the sport that brought argyle into the mainstream in America. According to legend, the president of Brooks Brothers saw golfers in Scotland wearing argyle socks and began selling them back on our side of the pond. Argyle socks went from fashionable links attire to a trendy and dressy hosiery option for the masses.
Of course, argyle is still a common sight in golf today (although not as common as it once was). It’s also made its mark in a variety of other sports — and not just in predictable country club pursuits like tennis and horse racing.
In fact, it seems that virtually every sport has dallied with argyle at one time or another. Given all the emphasis on handsome hosiery during the early period of baseball, for example, it’s no surprise that this 1874 Ontario team was sporting argyle hose.
Over on the soccer field, we’re all probably familiar with this example of argyle socks, thanks to a concerted effort by Boca Juniors to bring back classy. But would you guess that argyle socks also showed up in track and field? American sprinter DeAna Carson wore argyle socks while running the 200-meter dash at the Simplot Games in 2006, garnering my nomination for Best Dressed Female Athlete of the Year (the ESPY’s should include this, no?).
On the hardcourt, the most obvious example is the UNC basketball uniform, which in 2000 began featuring an argyle pattern running down the sides — a classic look. While looking for UNC photos, I stumbled upon this gallery — check out Shaw University’s uniforms! More argyle!
I couldn’t find a football example, but I’m betting there’s got to be one out there waiting to be found. I think there’s another database in our future. Post any suggestions in the comments section or e-mail them our way.
 Unfinished Business: (Shivering) Working for Paul Lukas has been good. He is a nice man. Um. I never felt overworked. And every task he assigned me was worthwhile and rewarding. Yeah. The last year has felt like being imprisoned in research hell it went by in the blink of an eye. (Nervously looking over shoulder.)
Seriously, everything was great — Paul was a blast to work for on every project, I loved what I was doing, and whether he admits it or not, he had a lot to do with the progress I made over the last year that has now translated into a full-time writing job. Due to the new employment, the holidays, and an ill-timed and lengthy internet outage at my house, I never got a chance to say that. One other thing I never got to say was congrats to Bryan, who is obviously filling my massive size 10s quite well.
I’m not going anywhere, and as you can see I’ll still be contributing material, at least as much as I can. You guys have been too great and this has been too fun to just stop all together. So, consider me your Senior Assistant Editor (at least that’s the title I’m going to demand if Paul asks). In short, or, at this point, long — thank you for all the support and patience you’ve shown me over the past year.
Call for Research: I’m working on a piece about CFL uniforms and would welcome any suggestions on what to cover. Neither Paul nor I have much expertise in that domain, so any input would be appreciated. One specific question: Anyone know when and why the Canadian flag started showing up as a helmet decal? Pre/post 9/11? E-mail all contributions to me at vincegrzegorek [at] gmail [dot] com. Thanks.
And now over to Paul for the rest of today’s material….
Pennant Grace: Victory Pennants, one of the fine vendors hyped in yesterday’s ESPN column, is offering a 15% discount to readers of this site from now through next Friday, the 14th. When checking out, use the coupon code “UNIWATCH001.” Big thanks to company prexy Morris Levin for extending this benefit to Uni Watch readers.
Boston Reminder: Remember, Uni Watch party tonight, 8:30 p.m., at the Boston Beer Works.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out what Mississippi State’s football uniform used to look like (great find by Scott Turner). … The Mets and White Sox will be playing the Civil Rights game next March 29th. Let’s hope the uniforms are better than last time around. … Big package on goalie masks in yesteray’s USA Today. Look here, here, and here. … Tons of great old White Sox photos here (with thanks to Eriq Jaffe). … Excellent question from Jon Blake, who writes: “This article ranks Floyd Mayweather’s ‘five key fights.’ For his 1998 matchup with Genaro Hernandez, it says, ‘Mayweather, at 17-0, was challenging for his first world title (WBC super featherweight) and was so cocky that he wore a WBC championship patch on his trunks into the ring.’ My question is, who else has worn something commemorating an achievement yet to happen? My friend and I recalled Clemens wearing the ‘300 Wins’ patch against Boston when he got yanked in the 3rd, but who else has done something similar?” Please, let’s not have a jillion comments about “Buffalo Bills Super Bowl Champions” post-game T-shirts and the like — this question is about things worn during the game or match. Anyone..? … The Celtics and Sixers wore throwbacks last night. Note that Boston appeared to have matte jerseys and shiny shorts, just like back in the day. Plus there were retro shooting shirts (complete with retro Adidas logo) and championship patches on their warm-up jackets. … Double play from Frank Mercogliano, who writes: “Pocatello High School [in Idaho] is wearing new racer-back jerseys from Russell, so I snapped a picture of #4 on the bench, who has a horrible off-center number. Sorta like killing two birds with one stone. The JV game was funnier because one of the girls attempted to iron her shorts and burned a huge imprint of the iron on the back of her red shorts. It was priceless.” … The Royals will unveil their powder blue alternate jersey today.
Housekeeping Note: I’ll be off the grid for most of today and tomorrow. If you have any site-related issues (abusive comments, spam filter problems, etc.), please e-mail Bryan. Ticker contributions can still come to me.
December 6th, 2007
A couple of Sunday nights ago at about 10 p.m., someone posted a comment that read, “Women’s Nazi Hockey Team.” It linked to the photo shown at right (here’s a larger view). Since Sunday night is a low-traffic period for the site, nobody responded and the whole thing passed unnoticed.
Coupla things here: First of all, this is not a Nazi team. In fact, this is an Edmonton team called the Swastikas, which played in 1916 — four years before the National Socialist German Workers Party (i.e., the Nazis) adopted the swastika as its symbol. And the Edmonton gals were hardly the only group to make pre-Nazi use of the swastika, which was a fairly common graphic symbol a century ago. It was used by, among many others, the Finnish Air Force, the Boy Scouts (Girl Scouts too, although I can’t find a web reference to it), and many groups that produced good luck promotions or talismans. (For more on the swastika’s background, which dates back to the Stone Age and spans many different socio-ethnic cultures, look here.)
My research on the Edmonton photo led me to this book, written by the Canadian artist/mystic known as ManWoman, who’s spent years trying to rescue the swastika’s image its association with the Nazis. After I got in touch with him, he was kind enough to provide me with several additional examples of pre-Nazi swastika-clad teams:
• Here we have the Windsor Swastikas, circa 1909, who played in Nova Scotia. Note the varied swastika styles on the homemade crests. Here’s a slightly later version of the team.
• The Fernie Swastikas played in British Columbia in the 1920s. If team’s use of the swastika itself doesn’t make you uneasy, then the Golliwogg mascot doll being held by the Fernie player in this photo probably will. (If you’re not familiar with Golliwoggs, look here.)
• Hockey isn’t the only sport with swastikas in its past. Here’s a baseball uniform, which was worn by a 1920s team in Swastika, Ontario. (Yes, there’s actually a town called Swastika, Ontario — look.)
• ManWoman says this baseball cap was originally worn by the 1917 Canyon City Swastikas.
• And here’s a swastika-stamped golf club — not sure of the date.
There are several other books out there that examine the swastika’s graphic history. This one, by the design historian Steve Heller (who happens to be a friend of mine), is particularly good, although it doesn’t have any non-Nazi sports examples.
As Steve and many other writers have noted, the swastika is a spectacularly successful piece of design — elegant, balanced, solid yet fluid. But it’s become so inextricably associated with one particular chapter of history that it’s hard to conceive of it in any other context. In a way, this reaffirms one of Uni Watch’s underlying premises: the notion that logos and symbols can pack an emotional punch that goes beyond any rational reckoning. Intellectually, I know the swastika worn by those Edmonton girls had nothing to do with the Nazis, just as I know the Mets I grew up watching in the early 1970s had nothing to do with the Mets of today. Emotionally, however, the connections seem obvious in both cases, even though the only real connection involves a swastika in one instance and the Mets’ logo and colors in the other. That’s the power of design for ya.
To see how complicated the swastika’s history really is, check out this 1931 photo, which I found while doing photo research for this entry. It shows the basketball team from Freedom High School in Freedom, Pennsylvania, and was published in the school’s yearbook. And what did a town called Freedom use for the title of its high school yearbook in 1931? As you can see if you scroll down beneath the photo, it was called The Swastika.
Research Request: I’m compiling college hoops uni changes for an ESPN column next week. This is always the toughest column of the year, because there’s no single resource or office that keeps track of the college basketball changes. I’ve compiled a pretty good list, but feel free to let me know about any changes you’re aware of. Thanks.
HOLIDAY SALE: Face it, holiday gifts have nothing to do with the recipients. If you’re giving a gift, it’s all about you. And there’s no better way to show how cool you are — and spread the Uni Watch gospel in the process — than to give someone a Uni Watch membership.
With that in mind, I’m offering a discount on gift memberships for the next month. Instead of the usual pricing structure ($25, $60, $100, $250, $500, $1000), you can give the gift of Uni Watch for $20, $50, $90, $225, $450, or $900. These rates are only good for gift memberships, so the name on the card has to be different from your name. They must be ordered by November 15th to ensure delivery in time for Hanukkah, or by December 1st for Christmas.
Allow me to anticipate some of your questions:
Why not extend the discount to all memberships, not just gifts?
I thought about doing that, but I think it wouldn’t be fair to the people who’ve already paid full price.
Will the membership materials be sent to me, or to the gift recipient?
To you. It would get too logistically crazy if I had to keep track of multiple addresses, “Please send it to him exactly three days before the holiday” requests, and so on. I’ll just have everything sent to you, and then you can send or present it to the lucky giftee.
I don’t want the giftee to know about his gift ahead of time. Can you leave his name off of the membership roster and his card design out of the card gallery until after the holiday?
Yes. If you want me to keep the gift membership “private” until a certain date, just say so when placing the order.
For further details, look here.
In other membership news, new Uni Watch assistant Nina Dubin is already paying dividends. She found all the missing names on the membership roster, which is now back up-to-date.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Gamecocks will memorialize the students killed in that beach house fire with a helmet decal. Details here (with thanks to Mike Orr). … Latest evidence that the pink thing has gotten out of hand: Pilot Point High School in Texas wore pink spats the other night (as spotted by Brian Thompson). … Yet another pink-clad team: the Middlesex Cricket Club (courtesy of Jordan Owen). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Good article and video here about the Penguins’ masks. … Jonathan Papelbon is apparently a Dropkick Murphys fan, at least judging by the embroidery at the base of his victory parade kilt (good spot by webmaster John Ekdahl). … The Huntsville Stars have a new logo (with thanks to Zack Bennett). … For a second there, I thought the headband on this baseball card said, “Tits” (a characteristically excellent find by the Rev. Nørb). … Got a note yesterday from Bill Turianski, who specializes in making sports-based maps (a few dozen of which are showcased on his site). Most of them are devoted to soccer, but there’s some baseball, football, and hockey content too. Worth exploring. … Holy-moly! … Several people have written to alert me to this Sports Illustrated photo of Clinton Portis, because it shows that he doesn’t wear socks (or, more likely, wears “no show” socks inside his cleats) and that his football “socks” are actually leg warmers. True enough, but it’s nothing new — he was doing the same thing two years ago (although he obviously had some other sock issues in that infamous game). … Other SI tidbits (courtesy of Greg Riffenburgh): the disturbing ascendance of neon mucous in Seattle and an even more disturbing photo. … The Lakewood Blue Claws have a new alternate logo (with thanks to Ted Kerwin). … I’m gonna be busy for most of today and on the road tomorrow, so if you have any site-related issues (spam filter acting up, abusive commenter, etc.), please tell Vince. Ticker contributions and membership orders can still come to me.
November 1st, 2007
[Editor’s Note: Just learned that this week’s ESPN column, which was originally slated to run on Thursday, is instead running today — here’s the link. Meanwhile, today’s blog entry is written by Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek.]
I recently came across this photo of a House of David baseball team from 1933. Nothing completely unusual, except for the fact that the caption claims that the team is shown receiving one of the first aluminum bats ever made from members of the Aluminum Corporation of America (ALCOA).
The date, 1933, surprised me (and also surprised resident Uni Watch old fogey and aluminum specialist Robert Grzegorek, my father, who has worked at the ALCOA plant in Cleveland for over 25 years). I’d always been under the impression that aluminum bats had a much shorter and more recent history, starting sometime around the late 1960s. Some initial research revealed that the first patent for a metal bat was given to William Shroyer in 1924, so it’s not inconceivable that a primitive version of such a bat would have been made nine years later. Then again, all historical evidence points to the fact that aluminum bats didn’t make an appearance until sometime around 1970, when Hillerich & Bradsby contracted with ALCOA to produce them, or when Worth first made a solid aluminum bat for Llittle League play.
The intriguing gap between the supposed aluminum bat in the House of David picture in 1933 and the rest of the historical begged for further investigation. Perhaps there was a whole cache of evidence — 40 years’ worth — waiting to be unearthed in a file cabinet or photo collection somewhere.
Donning my Sam Spade hat, I decided the best place to begin the investigation was with Joel Hawkins, co-author of The House of David Baseball Team, the book where the 1933 photo and caption are taken from. I sent Mr. Hawkins a short note asking about the origin of the photo and story, and received the following disheartening response:
I was told the story [about the bat] by Tom Dewhirst in 1991. He’s the HOD gentleman in the photo that was receiving the bat. He was quite old at the time and I had to keep him on track. Sometimes his stories contradicted themselves. We were looking at the photo and he told me that it was from the ALCOA people, but could not identify them. I don’t think it was to be used for a game. I asked Tom where the bat was, and he told me that it was sitting behind one of the radiators at his home. Plus, he didn’t remember what it was for.
Another player later on told me that it was not aluminum but solid silver. When I followed up with Tom he was adamant that it was aluminum. That was the story that I was given and that’s what I relayed in our book.
HOWEVER, I was shown an article about a year after our publishing that was from the late 1980s, with Tom Dewhirst and the same bat. This article had a story about how the “bat” was given to the team for winning some tournament. This article stated that the bat was silver and was more of a trophy.
Had I known the conflict at the time, I would have had that part omitted from the caption.
Unfortunately, a new chapter in the history of aluminum bats will not be written. But at least an old chapter will be rewritten correctly.
Tangential Bonus Material: On Joel Hawkins’s House of David research site, he includes a link to a uniform gallery. Highlights include: Awesome circular style lettering from 1916 (closer view here), and jerseys with the “H” and “D” superimposed on an “I.” Not only that, but he shows how you can differentiate between authentic House of David baseball teams and impostor versions based on uniforms. Real. Real. Fake.
Among the House of David’s many other baseball contributions: early night baseball, donkey baseball, and the pepper game.
Want to read all about how aluminum is made into aluminum bats? Check out this helpful article.
Meanwhile, there’s a backlash against aluminum bats these days, because they supposedly lead to harder, faster line drives that can injure or even kill a pitcher before he has time to react. Many leagues and municipalities are moving to ban them, most recently New York City Council.
Bowie’s Greatest Hits, Track Number 1 - “TVC 17″: Former baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn recently passed away. Unsurprisingly, most of the obituaries failed to mention his role in a pair of classic uni-related tales, both involving Braves owner Ted Turner.
In 1976, Turner had many of the Braves wear nicknames, instead of their surnames, on the backs of their jerseys. Ralph Garr wore “Roadrunner,” Joe Neikro wore “Knucksie,” Jimmy Wynn wore “Cannon,” and so on. The wild card was pitcher Andy Messersmith, who wore uniform No. 17 — Turner had him wear a “Channel” nameplate, thereby creating a walking billboard for Turner’s television station. Kuhn was not amused, and eventually the Braves simply used “Andy” on the back of Messersmith’s jersey.
A year later, Turner gave manager Dave Bristol a “vacation,” appointed himself manager, suited up in uniform, and moved from the owner’s box to the dugout. Kuhn, once again, was not amused, and Turner’s managerial stint was terminated after one game (full details here). He remains the last MLB owner to wear a uniform in an official capacity.
Vince’s Uni Watch News Ticker: After Scot Pollard’s “Do Drugs” faux pas, maybe parents should be wary of letting their children imitate his hair styles. … DJ Strawberry, the son of Darryl Strawberry, had his initials and uniform number cut into his hair earlier this month. … Spring training isn’t just for the pros. … Are those bath towels being used in the Baltimore dugout? … Nicole Woody wore a neon green headpiece/hairnet while competing against the boys in Maryland’s state wrestling competition this month. … Think Bermuda’s Dwayne Leverock needs a special tailor for this uniform? … After the Florida Gators gave President Bush a commemorative jersey during their recent visit to the White House, www.sportsnet.ca quipped, “The No. 43 Florida Gators jersey for U.S. President George Bush is symbolic of: A) Bush being the 43rd President; B) the number of times Bush has mispronounced the word ‘nuclear’; C) the number of votes Bush actually received in Florida.” … Most MLB players have their names on their gloves, but Milton Bradley has his initials (his middle name is “Obelle”). … Calvin Brock from the Illinois Fighting Illini seems to be missing an apostrophe in his tattoo.
March 27th, 2007
As many of you have heard by now, Miami will have new football uniforms next season. Naturally, it’s premature to judge a set simply on the basis of an illustration schematic, but that’s never stopped us before, so let’s take a look:
• Jerseys: The uni numbers are supposedly wider, although it’s hard to tell from the illo. The bigger issue is that handlebar piping, which looks pretty bad on the front (where you can bet that it won’t look nearly so slick and streamlined when it’s stretched over a 300-pound lineman’s torso) and totally bogus on the back. Nameplates look kinda small too, although I’ve gotta believe the type will be bigger on the actual jerseys. Meanwhile, count all the seams and panels — it’s a friggin’ crazy quilt!
• Pants: I’m gonna say it right now: I love — love — how the top stripe sort of crosses over the smaller stripe. Looks so damn cool. Did I mention that I love it? I wish the top stripes didn’t wrap all the way around to the butt cheeks, but maybe it’ll create a sort of faux belt effect — need to see it on an actual player before deciding how much to hate it. And what’s that little logo on the rear-center belt loop? Closer inspection reveals it to be the team’s secondary ibis/hurricane logo. I’m generally opposed to putting any logo in that spot (the only other example I can think of is the Rice University baseball team), but having a storm cloud emerging from the players’ butt cracks seems like a particularly bad idea, y’know?
All in all, on a scale of one to five quacks (one being relative normalcy, five being a full-on U. of Oregon nightmare), I’d rate this a fairly tame 2.5.
NBA Raffle Reminder: In case you missed it on Friday, I’m raffling off a Tracy McGrady NBA All-Star jersey. Entries are running fairly slow at the moment, so your odds of winning aren’t too shabby, at least for now. For details, scroll down to the “Yet Another Raffle” section of Friday’s entry.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The player names on the back of the North Texas State jerseys sure are big. … System of Dress undershirt sighting here (good catch by Bryan Redemske). … Fascinating note from Matt Fitzpatrick, who recently took a tour of Chase Field, the Diamondbacks’ stadium: “The tour guide said the team decided last season to add a red Sunday jersey for this year and filed the proper paperwork with MLB. The league responded by asking if the Diamondbacks would instead consider a complete overhaul and sent out a representative to make a presentation to the team. MLB wanted colors that better reflected the region, but the guide noted that Arizona merchandise sales had dropped to 29th in the league last year. He said his info came straight from the team president and he seemed pretty reliable. I know that leagues always have input but I am disturbed by the idea that they are now initiating uniform changes.” … Jeremy Brahm notes that Chunichi Dragons catcher Masaumi Shimizu wears his uni number on this throat protector. … Also from Jeremy: Amusing crackpot-ish article here about cricket team colo(u)rs. … And yet one more from Jeremy: “Hichori Morimoto has been named an ambassador for the Hokkaido Shinkansen Construction Promotion Association. So to enter the field, he wore a special bullet train hat, which matches the one shown on the Association’s home page.” … The Red Sox, who wore green jerseys for St. Patrick’s Day, plan to wear them again on April 12th as a tribute to Red Auerbach. Whatever you think of the symbolism (hmmm, Red Auerbach, Red Sox), I believe this is the first time a team has uni-memorialized someone from another sport since 2000, when the Expos wore that black “9″ for Rocket Richard. … Good news from Flushing, where an inside source reports, “The Mets’ black uniforms are to be used less this season. How much less isn’t yet clear.” … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Good PDF article here about U. of Wisconsin’s seemingly never-ending battle against motion-W logo ripoffs. … Good article here about USC’s Ryan Francis memorial patch. … If you skip ahead about two-thirds of the way through this podcast, you’ll hear some interesting comments about uniform numbers from John Madden (with thanks to Uni Watch ukulele songstress Christine Freeman). … A few days ago there was a good discussion in the comments section about official scorers wearing zebra-striped shirts at college and high school basketball games. But Brian Temke noticed an interesting variation on this theme during the Pitt/VCU game: The scorer was wearing a zebra-striped vest. … For those sad, benighted few who might not get the reference in today’s headline, click here.
March 19th, 2007
I don’t know what the record is for most mentions of chain-stitching in a week, but I think we’re about to break it.
As you may recall, the topic first came up on Monday in my latest ESPN column, when I reported that the Cardinals were the only remaining MLB to chain-stitch their insignia directly onto their jersey, while the Astros and Phillies chain-stitched their logos onto patches that were then sewn onto the garment. (Other MLB teams don’t employ chain-stitching at all.)
That prompted a reply from Kevin Gee, who insisted that the Astros used direct-embroidered chain-stitching, with no patch, and provided visual evidence to support his claim. So I apologized to the good people of Houston and added the ‘Stros to the direct-embroidered camp, along with the Cardinals.
But now Uni Watch Graphics Director Scott M.X. Turner (who, incidentally, has whipped up a nifty design for a Uni Watch temporary tattoo — stay tuned for ordering details soon) has brought an even more esoteric distinction to the debate. Here’s the note he sent me yesterday:
Regardless of whether Houston’s is directly embroidered, it’s a cheaper, crappier chain-stitch. St. Louis’s is the old-fashioned circular (or “swirl”) chain-stitch — i.e., gorgeous. The story is that up until recently, the Cardinals’ uniforms were done by a few older women who’d been chain-stitching commercially forever. The last one retired a few years ago.
Houston’s chain-stitch is a modern, non-circular variety — clunky and mass-produced. That’s why, even though it’s directly embroidered, it feels like a patch rather than direct embroidery.
Here are two pix showing the difference ‘tween old swirl chain-stitch and modern machine chain-stitch. This one is an old Mitchell & Ness Curt Flood jersey (done by one of the old ladies); this one is a Stall & Dean Portland Beavers jacket (made offshore).
Wow, great info. I know you’re all eager to rush off to your sewing machines and knitting bees, so I’ll stop here and let you get on with it.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Footwear fanatics may be interested to learn that Jeremy Brahm has tracked down the company that makes Tsuyoshi Shinjo’s cleats. Looks like they do some pretty rad stuff. “It is an eight-person company in the rural Nara prefecture,” Jeremy reports, “which is kind of surprising, because normally the star players are wearing Mizuno, Asics, SSK, Nike, etc. This one was for Tyrone Woods of the Chunichi Dragons. I guess his goal was to hit 50 home runs, but he finished with 47.” … Jeremy also notes that the Nippon Ham Fighters’ Hichori Morimoto, who as you may recall dressed up like a Martian during the Japanese All-Star Game, celebrated Nippon’s Japan Series victory by donning a speed skating outfit. … Cricket report from Peter Bonnett, who was watching Wednesday’s New Zealand/Pakistan match and noted that the “7″ on James Franklin’s uni number looked like this — a much wider, fatter 7 than the skinnier version worn by several of his teammates. … Excellent tip from Matt Brukman, who reports: “The main library here at NC State has a photo exhibition of the baseball team over the years, going back to 1899. All manner of unis are evident — most notably changes to the school’s name and sock/stirrup design.” Great stuff. … Look for an article about Uni Watch in this Sunday’s Newsday (big thanks to Uni Watch publicist Carrie Klein for helping to make this possible). … In case you missed it in yesterday’s Comments section: Sporting News columnist Dave Kindred goes a bit overboard about Anthony Reyes ironing his cap brim (and also takes a totally uncalled-for potshot at Reyes’s socks) here. … Also from yesterday’s Comments: small uni tweaks upcoming for Duke (with thanks to Richard Grossman), and a quick back-and-forth on Cal’s yellow football unis can be found toward the end of this interview (good catch by Comments section stalwart Minna H.). … Now that Guillaume Latendresse has become the first NHL player ever to wear uni No. 84 (which was the last sub-100 number to have been worn), SI.com’s Brian Cazeneuve has put together a fun article picking the greatest player to wear each number (with thanks to Brian Goff). … What’s the point of wearing knee pads if they don’t even cover your knees? … According to a thread on the Chris Creamer boards, the NBA Live 07 video game indicates that this season’s NBA All-Star Game unis will look like this, this, and this — ugh. … Yesterday’s New York Times featured an amazing locker room photo of the 1968 Cardinals, and it’s hard to know what to focus on — the uniforms or the other clothes. Note that the roster included Elvis Costello, shown second from back right. … Good analysis from Al Saunders, who writes: “In the picture that opens the article about the Staal family in the new Sports Illustrated, none of the three brothers wearing NHL jerseys have the right socks on. Jordan’s [second from right] should have gold/white/black/gold stripes instead of red/white/red, Eric’s [second from left] should have black/white/black stripes instead of being plain, and Marc’s [far left] should have white/red/white instead of white/silver/black. I’d be willing to bet that Marc’s socks are the road version of the Sudbury Wolves socks that his brother Jared [far right] is wearing, as Marc also plays for that team.” (Credit an assist to Greg Capece, who picked up on the same thing.) … Next time Bill O’Reilly or Rush Limbaugh claims there’s a “war against religious expression” in America, kindly direct their attention to John Rodriguez’s batting glove. … Footwear guru Mark Mihalik broke out the slide rule last night and computed that Albert Pujols has worn at least seven different sets of cleats this season.
October 27th, 2006
There are a few jillion sports out there that I know exactly zero about, each with its own uniform protocols and history. So from time to time I want to let a knowledgeable reader fill us in on one of these lesser-known games — think of it as the Uni Watch Underappreciated Sports Program (even though, let’s face it, most of them are probably underappreciated for good reason). Kicking us off is Steve Jarvis, who has this to say on the subject of cricket:
Cricket is played over various formats. The first is test match cricket, or simply test cricket, which is played over five days and is traditionally played in “whites,” consisting of white trousers and a white shirt. Uniforms for test cricket have evolved slightly over the years, going from a standard dress clothes to performance apparel like this and this.
The first cricket world cup was played in 1975, and this is when a newer format, called one-day cricket, went mainstream at the highest level. During that world cup, uniforms were essentially the same as in test cricket. But throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, one-day cricket became a huge hit with fans due to its faster more exciting pace. In an effort to give cricket a “cool” makeover, coloured clothing was introduced, and the traditional red ball was replaced with a white ball. (As an aside, here’s an article on how cricket balls are made.)
As the popularity of one-day cricket has increased, various spin-offs have been invented, the most recent of which is Twenty20 (pronounced “twenty-twenty”), a short, fast-paced game with a finish inside of three hours.
Twenty20 cricket was first introduced in England in 2003. Entrance music for players, fireworks, and other things are being used, which has resulted in record crowds attending matches and increased sponsorship and TV coverage — along with lots of logo creep, sponsorship all over clothing and bats, and lots of very bad uniforms.
Here’s a rundown of the worst offenders for uniform design, in no particular order:
1. Australia, 2005: Check out the KFC patch on the leg!
2. New Zealand, 2004/2005: This was a retro throwback effort for the first international Twenty20 match.
3. Surrey Lions, 2006: What’s with the one brown sleeve?
4. India, 2002: Speaks for itself.
5. New Zealand, 1999: What do you call that colour?
6. South Africa: That’s the Standard Bank logo — surely one of the the biggest sponsor logos ever.
Cricket helmet protection has come a long way, too. Before the mid-1980s, playere were helmet-free. By the late 1980s and early 1990s, helmets became more widely used but generally had no protection for the face. The modern-day helmet has facial protection, and stronger and lighter materials are being used, such as titanium.
Okay, this is Paul again. While the preceding is a good start, it also leaves a lot of ground uncovered. Like, what’s up with those leg pads? What about these cool gloves? And what, pray tell, is the story behind the officials’ hats? If anyone wants to do a follow-up, feel free to send it in.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Several readers have written in with news of a particularly insidious example of logo creep: When the players exchanged jerseys after the France/Portugal World Cup semifinal match two days ago, several French players turned the Portugal jerseys inside-out and then put them on — and guess which Oregon-based company had anticipated this moment by putting its logo on the inside of the Portuguese shirts? (Hint: not this one.) No photo yet, but several image sleuths are working on it. … Here’s my latest vintage uniform catalog find. Lots of great stuff here, including the hosiery page (duh) and the brilliant Lady Champion line. But the real prize is the amazing “Design Your Own Football Jerseys” spread — here’s the left page, and here’s the right. Check out all those striping options! … Footnote to yesterday’s ESPN column about messages written on cap underbrims: I called the Royals to ask about this photo, which appears to show something taped to Ambiorix Burgos’s underbrim, and maybe something written under there too. A team spokeswoman confirmed that Burgos definitely has something taped there (i.e., it’s not the “MLB Authentic” holograph decal, as dozens of you were no doubt about to tell me). But after checking with Burgos, she declined to give any details because “that is personal to Burgos and he wants to keep it to himself.” Dang. … Anyone else find it disturbing that you could Photoshop this face onto this body (and vice-versa) and nobody would be able to tell? … SI.com’s Stewart Mandel just wrote an article outlining the 10 things he’d do if he were the commissioner of college football. Check out item No. 7 on his list (with thanks to Marc Beck). … Good article here about the possible biological basis for tracking team colors (with thanks to longtime Uni Watch pal Dean Chadwin). … Pedro Fund Tote Board: Our collection to help Pedro “Poor House” Martinez pay his pant-leg fine is off and running — okay, off and walking — with current revenues of $4. Only $33.74 to go! Don’t delay — PayPal a buck or two (using paul_lukas@earthlink.net as the payee) today! … And don’t put away your wallet just yet — looks like we may also have to take up a collection for David Ortiz.
July 7th, 2006
|
|
