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Posts filed under 'Cycling'
By Bryan Redemske
As expected, the Tour of California unleashed a new wave of champions kits from various countries. Rather than detail every one, because even I don’t have the patience for that, I pulled a few of interest.
First there’s the unfortunate fall from grace of the last two U.S. road champions, George Hincapie and Levi Leipheimer. Both members of Discovery Channel last year, they looked like this and this. Since Hincapie is on High Road now (formerly T-Mobile) and Leipheimer is on Astana, they wear this and this now. Ouch.
David Zabriskie wore this last year with CSC as the U.S. time trial champion. Now he’s in this as a member of Slipstream-Chipotle. I can’t decide if it’s good or bad, or if he’s trying to look like Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday.
And here’s Paolo Bettini, proving again that if you’re Italian, you can wear anything.
Black Plague: If you’re not a weekend comments reader — and I gotta say you’re missing a huge party — Oregon’s black System of Dress uniform was the hot topic. I’ve had my say (baaaaad), but I’m sure Paul will have something for us tomorrow. Of course, there’s always the possibility he’ll refuse to say anything at all, and that wouldn’t be a bad thing, either. Actually, that might be better.
 Travel and Membership News: Paul here. I’m on the road today (so be nice to Bryan) but wanted to check in on a few things. First, as you can see at right, we’ve done our first vertical membership card design, based on the scarf worn by the Penn State mascot. I frankly didn’t know Penn State even had a mascot, or that he wears a scarf, or that the scarf is adorned with buttons, or that the messages on the buttons are always changing (here’s a larger view of the card, so you can see the specific buttons we were asked to reproduce). The buttons even have their own web site! This was all news to me — if anyone knows more about this phenomenon, feel free to share.
The vertical design, incidentally, was a source of intense deliberation and negotiation between Scott and myself. In the end, I decided going with the portrait orientation was the best way to do justice to the scarf concept (if we’d stuck with horizontal, the buttons would’ve been either too small to read or not as spread out as they are in real life). For now, we’re treating this as a one-time exception to our usual rule — a special design challege that required a special solution. So don’t all start asking for regular jersey-based designs to be vertically oriented.
Meanwhile: Looks like I’m gonna be in Seattle next month, and I’ll definitely convene a Uni Watch party while I’m there. Not sure of the exact dates yet, but it’ll probably be on the 12th, 13th, 17th, or 18th. (Actually, when it comes to Really Bad Ideas, holding a party in a bar on St. Paddy’s Day is probably right up there with shoving a lit M-80 up your ass, so strike the 17th from that list.) I’ll keep you posted as my plans firm up.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Today’s Ticker is a joint effort between Paul and Bryan. … Tremendous little video clip here about the Cardinals’ spring training laundry staff (with thanks to Elena Elms). … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Add Chris Brown to the list of MLBers who’ve worn mask attachments on their helmets. … In a vaguely related item, Brian Giles was running around in a Chargers helmet the other day — and look, it turns out that Giles is still mourning Sean Taylor. No word on whether he had an American flag decal. … Oregon’s continued use of green NOB on a green jersey is baffling. … Mets by the Numbers editor Jon Springer has conducted a great numbers-centric interview with longtime Mets beat reporter Marty Noble. Check it out here. … Mike Monaghan was recently checking out some old Sabres footage and came across a fight between Shjon Podein and Dane Jackson from March 29, 1996. “Podein actually ripped the nameplate off Jacksons jersey and ended up holding it in his hand,” he writes. … I don’t mind purple so much when it represents grape junk food (with thanks to Robert Purvis). … Broncos founder and former Reds exec Bob Howsam died last Tuesday. The last four paragraphs of this obit are of uni interest. … Scroll down to the “Blue Jersey?” section of this page for some Braves rumor-mongering. … UMich swimming caps: blue with gold wings or gold with blue wings (good find by Daniel Weimann). … Here’s a drop-shadow configuration you don’t often see: ten o’clock (with thanks to Marc Rabinowitz). … “I was in New Orleans for the NBA All-Star weekend,” writes Ben Kramer. “They had a little exhibit from the Hall of Fame. I paticularly loved the 1967 East All-Star jersey, based on ‘The City.’ I also think you’d like the old Celtics championship sweater.” … On the logo front — this one corporate — a good, quick read here on how Google got its iconic wordmark. … Here’s ManRam reporting for duty, still wearing his snood thinger from the World Series. Thanks to Mark Mihalik. … Luke Pellegra has checked in with a look at Tennessee’s new hats and batting helmets, the latter changing from black to orange. “If that isn’t just atrocious, I don’t know what is,” Luke writes. Also, the Vols will go from black hats to white. Kentrail Davis needs a tutor to get that bill rounded into shape. … David Arnott took in Friday’s Winthrop-Davidson basketball game, complete with refs in mismatched tops. … Pro wrestling alert: San Diego native Rey Mysterio Jr. had Chargers-style lightning bolts on his pants on Friday in his hometown. Good spot by Cory Lewis. … Tricia Polley notes the Cardinals will be wearing the letter “K” on their lids during Wednesday’s exhibition against St. Louis University in honor of the victims of the city council shooting in Kirkwood, Mo. … Tom Glavine and John Smoltz were spotted wearing throwbacks for some promo shots last week. Hope those shots are only waist-up — they’re both wearing the regular road pants. Good find by Mike Rich. … Pretty cool program from the 1940 College All-Americans vs. Green Bay Packers matchup up for auction here. And here’s a closer look, with thanks to Richard Canulli. … Numerous mentions about the Canadiens retiring Bob Gainey’s No. 23 on Saturday night. Gainey suited up — in the period-correct CCM jersey — and took a few turns around the ice during the ceremony. … Notre Dame honored its 1978 Final Four team on Sunday. Digger Phelps probably should have left the jersey wearing to the players, though. Speaking of the players, the members of the 1978 team wore their old jerseys, while team managers and support staff wore the No. 78 like Digger. That’d be Michael Alper on that find. … Les Holmlund found a couple of cool eBay auctions. The first is a team photo of the 1936-37 Philadelphia Ramblers hockey team, though a color version would be cooler. The second, however, is awesome.
February 25th, 2008
By Bryan Redemske
The Giants won the Super Bowl, and all they’ll have to show for it — aside from the shiny trophy — is a jersey patch. Maybe. The Red Sox won the World Series in the fall. They may wear a cap patch or jersey patch for their first home series, but they won’t have any other overt, uni-borne tribute to their championship. Contrast that with cycling, where a national or world championship is worth a year of bragging rights, right on your chest.
Everybody knows about the Tour de France and the maillot jaune — the yellow jersey. But it’s far from the only jersey to be won over the course of the year. While all professional — and many amateur — stage races have leader’s jerseys, world championship and national championship jerseys are precious commodities.
The rainbow jersey, awarded to the UCI (cycling’s international governing body) world champion in a number of cycling disciplines, pretty much always looks like this. Depending upon the budget, some teams choose to outfit their rider in a full kit of stripes. But the rules attached to the jersey are arguably more important than the jersey itself:
A world champion must wear the jersey when competing in the same discipline, category and speciality for which the title was won. For example, the world road race champion would wear the garment while competing in stage races and one-day races, but would not be entitled to wear it during time trials. Similarly, on the track, the world individual pursuit champion would only wear the jersey when competing in other individual pursuit events.
Also, after a rider’s year-long reign, he gets to keep the stripes:
After the end of a rider’s championship year, they are eligible to wear piping in the same rainbow pattern on the collar and cuffs of their jersey. They retain this right for the remainder of their career, and like the jersey it can only be worn in the same discipline and speciality in which the title was won.
Additionally, if the world champion leads a stage race, he or she must wear that race’s leader’s jersey instead of the rainbow stripes. Also, failure to wear the stripes when required results in a fine. Damn.
Aside from the world champion, the pro peloton is also dotted with various national champions. The deal here is the same — wear your national championship gear for the event in which you won it. Here’s 2006 U.S. champion George Hincapie in his road race kit and time trial suit. When teammate Levi Leipheimer won the 2007 U.S. championship, he took over the stars and stripes and Hincapie went back to Discovery Channel’s black-and-blue kit. That’s Leipheimer on the left and Hincapie in the Tour of Missouri leader’s jersey.
This year, Leipheimer is riding for Astana, since Discovery Channel disbanded. His new kit leaves a little to be desired. I really hope that’s just a rough version. Hincapie, now riding for Team High Road (formerly T-Mobile), can wear the U.S. champion’s stripes on his cuffs and collar if he chooses.
And here’s what the rest of the world looks like. The plain-looking ones (no sponsors) are podium jerseys, awarded immediately after the championship race. Those with sponsors are the rider’s kit for the year. Those countries with multiple jerseys have a number of disciplines shown. “RR” is road race, while “CLM” is time trial and “U23″ is the under-23 competition. “CC” is cyclocross, but I haven’t the slightest idea what “ST” is.
Though most of that site is in German, it’s worth exploring a little further. Almost every pro team — on a number of levels — is represented, from 2000 to 2007. When the Tour of California gets underway on Feb. 17, we’ll get a look at some of the new versions of the national champions jerseys — including Leipheimer’s. Many stay similar year to year, but if there’s something particularly interesting, I’ll try to grab it.
Next time you think somebody’s jersey patch is a little much, just remember it could look like this.
And now over to Paul for today’s Ticker…
Uni Watch News Ticker: It takes a good 10 or 15 minutes to digest, but there’s a fascinatingly detailed authentication analysis of a Babe Ruth jersey here (with thanks to Dave Grob). … Yikes (with “thanks” to Glenn Chamberlain). … Bryan Packer reports that the Utes have kicked Nike to the curb. … Yesterday’s comments included a link to an eBay auction for this amazing photo, which shows Larry Doby wearing the kind of wraparound helmet that I had to wear while running the bases in Little League. Incredible. When I showed the photo to Todd Radom, he responded with this, which shows Jimmie Foxx posing with the A.L. and N.L. batboys at the 1936 All-Star Game. … Some wise-ass says this made him think of Uni Watch. … The pink thing has really gotten out of hand. … Ohio University has taken the unusual step of changing its hockey uni in the middle of the season, going from this to this. “They just make me want to throw up when I see them out there on the ice,” says Patrick LaBute, who brought the situation to my attention. “The fact that the base color is gray is bad enough, followed by the ’shiny’ material you would find on a basketball team. Oh, and the ugly giant green stripe that’s WAY too big at the bottom. AND the different colored piping, black on the bottom stripes and sleeve stripes, and white on the numbers and crest??? (I was told this was a mistake by the team manager.)” Yeah, but Patrick, how do you really feel about them? … Scroll down to the sixth paragraph of this page for some interesting info on Marc-Andre Fleury’s switch from yellow goalie pads to white.
February 8th, 2008
By Bryan Redemske
There’s a guy in my office who rattles off lineups and stats when you start talking about baseball teams from the 1950s and ’60s. There’s another guy who talks about the various stadiums teams played in. Me, of course, I think of uniforms. And not just uniforms, but the way they were styled in particular eras. While the first guy’s mental Rolodex is fluttering from stat to stat, I’m picturing Al Kaline (right). While the second guy talks about the the monuments at Yankee Stadium, I think about the Mick, and how totally awesome he looked in pinstripes.
At this point, both guys usually leave because I’m rubbing my fingers together, eyes closed, and mumbling, “Wool flannel … so pretty … so scratchy … so baggy… .” And so on.
All weirdness on my part aside, this is actually how I think of different eras in sports. Pre-WWII baseball? Longish sleeves soft-crowned hats. And then there’s the ’70s. It’s like a long, tight, polyester nightmare. Things toned down in the ’80s, but the Straw pops into my head every time. Lots of sock, still tight, still slightly garish. For the current era, it’s Manny. Sigh.
Take a minute and consider your own mental filing system. Is your old-school football reference point this guy? The sleeves shortened for Unitas’s era, then the pads got really big in the ’70s. The college kids thought it necessary to show off their abs during that same period, something that continued well through the ’80s and into the ’90s. And that’s how I think of college football through the era — a faceless, teamless guy in big pads with exposed abs.
Three hockey images come to mind: Original Six, expansion/Gretzky, Crosby.
Basketball? Short and tight to longer to ridiculous. And also, unfortunately, shiny. I now generalize the entire high school basketball-playing population because of nylon dazzle fabric.
As a cyclist, I’m forced to render that sport’s past in uniform-based context as well. Really old guys (pre-mid-’50s) all look like this, Eddy Merckx represents almost every rider through the ’70s, and then there’s the tragic ’80s and early ’90s. And then there’s this. He has a category to himself.
Research Projects: Paul here. Earlier this week I posted pics of Marquette’s untucked jerseys. But as someone on the Chris Creamer board pointed out the next day, De Paul also went untucked back around 1981, as seen here and here — I hadn’t been aware of that. Aside from the pajama-era White Sox, have there been any other untucked teams? Obviously, I’m not counting hockey or other sports where the jerseys are meant to be untucked — I’m talking about teams that showed off their shirttails in an otherwise tucked-in league.
Also: Yesterday’s comments included a link to this pink helmet, which is essentially a scarlet letter that has to be worn by the player who comes up on the short end of a scoring game during practice (full details about halfway down this page). So it’s sort of like the pink knapsack routine in baseball, except it’s more uni-based. Can anyone think of any other uni-based scarlet letters?
Raffle Reminder: You know the drill — $250 Distant Replays gift card. E-mail your entry here by 10 p.m. tonight. One e-mail per person. Winner announced on Monday.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “Two CBA teams, the Oklahoma Cavalry and Great Falls Explorers, have had their road uniforms disappear this season,” writes Chuck Miller. “In Oklahoma’s case, fired head coach Micheal Ray Richardson simply took the road unis until he was rehired a week later; in the Great Falls situation, the circumstances are unknown. Anyway, this caused both the Cavalry and Explorers, on the road, to wear the road uniforms of their host teams, as can be seen by these photos of Albany versus Oklahoma (Albany is in the yellow) and Albany hosting Great Falls (ditto).” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Great gallery of New Jersey high school hockey jerseys here. … We’ve all seen plenty of shots of Cleveland’s elfin mascot, Brownie. Until now, though, I hadn’t seen one where he had spikes on his stockings (with thanks to Brendon Yarian, who also passed along this shot of a Bears jersey with what appears to be an upside-down “3″). … As I mentioned in my ESPN column a few weeks ago, I don’t like uni memorials that include the deceased’s signature — seems a bit creepy. But Motherwall FC in Scotland apparently feels differently, as they’ve just tributed Phil O’Donnell by embroidering his autograph onto their jersey. Full details here (with thanks to Patrick O’Donnell). … Interesting note from Travis Edwards, who writes: “My boss and I were talking about football jerseys, and he had told me about some team (unsure who they were) who used to have footballs on the sides of their jerseys. They used to run the wing offense and when they would run, everyone would have their hands to their sides acting as though they had the ball. Now, was he jerking me around, or can you help me to identify who that team was?” … The Central Hockey League held their All-Star Game a few nights ago, and Scotty Hockey sent along a pic of both uniforms. … Hmmm, separated at birth? (Good find by Ronnie Poore.) … Good note from Steve Shanabruch, who writes: “Twins pitcher Pat Neshek has a blog, and he often has auctions for game-used items. The funny thing is, the winner isn’t the person who bids the most money, it’s the person who offers the best baseball cards (he’s a huge collector). Anyway, one of the recent auctions was for a luggage strap that he used for road games last season, inscribed with the last name ‘Dahmer.’ I figured he was using the name of a serial killer as his alias, but it turns out his alias was ‘Cy Dahmer,’ because if you say it fast, it sounds like ’side-armer,’ which is how he pitches.” … LeBron James has a new sneaker, and Vince has written his take on them. … Yesterday’s lead item regarding prototypes prompted Andrew Schimmel to send in n this shot from the Florida Panthers’ uni unveiling back in May of 1993. “Note that the red sweater has blue numbers with a yellow outline,” he writes. “The Panthers never used this color combo for the red sweater at any point. Also, the gloves have claws printed on them. I would tend to think they weren’t serious about actually using such gloves — I believe it was only for the unveiling ceremony.” A shame, because I think the claws look pretty cool! … Very unusual hoops jersey being worn by Fairfax High in L.A. Here’s another view, with a T-shirt underneath (with thanks to Hunter Franks). … We all know the Lakers wore short shorts a few weeks back. But until now, I didn’t know that there was an “I saw the short shorts” T-shirt, which you can have for your very own (nice find by Matt Shervin). … Latest reason to love Wisconsin. … “Formula 1’s Red Bull Racing unveiled their 2008 car on Wednesday,” reports Dane Drutis. “You can also see David Coulthard and Mark Webber wearing their new fire suits. I believe this is the first time F1 drivers have worn their car numbers on their driving gear. It’s somewhat odd that Coulthard will drive car No 9 but is wearing 09 — why the zero, I wonder? As for the stripe running from right shoulder to right ankle, you be the judge.” Personally, I dig the stripe, but I’m sure that’s no surprise to anyone here. … Latest installment of “Equipped with Joe Skiba” is up on the Giants’ home page, and it’s a really good one — enjoy. … Lots of crazy helmet decal action in this Shrine Game practice photo gallery (with thanks to Nick Noyes). … Latest example of handwritten uni numbers on socks: Denison Cabral of the Baltimore Blast (courtesy of Jen Muller). … Alarming news from Jere Smith, who writes: “I work for a children’s book publisher. One of the books slated to come out in ’09, for kindergartners, is about getting dressed for a baseball game. It shows your basic T-ball outfit, and each page shows a different piece of the uni. When it gets to the all-important ankle-ish area, they’ve put the poor girl in those white socks with the blue vertical stripe down the sides that end at the shoe line. The climactic scene shows the dad appearing, also in full identical uni, right down the fake stirrups.” … I’m going to be out off the grid again for most of today, so contact Bryan if you have any major site problems. I’ll be back on Monday.
January 18th, 2008
[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
By Bryan Redemske
Of the hundreds of posts here on Uni Watch, the ones I find most interesting deal with the unique tweaks and modifications athletes make to their equipment.
Todd Helton’s Mizuno-clad Nikes were a revelation, much like the first time I saw Nomar was wearing Reeboks in disguise. The Bill Buckner lucky batting glove thing caught everybody by surprise. I think what makes those things so interesting is that every athlete — pro or otherwise — does little things to their uniforms or equipment to make them their own. It’s just that most of them aren’t noticeable until you take a closer look.
With that in mind, I remembered something a guy at the local bike shop told me when I walked in with my Lance Armstrong model cycling shoes: “You know, those things are so uncomfortable, Lance actually had Shimano soles glued on.”
Brief cycling lesson for those not in the know: Shimano is a Japanese component giant — it makes all of the individual parts on most of the bikes in America. Shoes are one of the company’s specialties as well. Before Lance joined NikeWorld, he wore Shimano shoes for several years.
So what the guy was getting at was this: Lance has Nike uppers glued onto a Shimano sole, which is like gluing a Nike running upper to an Adidas sole. We’ve seen disguised shoes and equipment before, but Frankenstein-style gear is hard to come by.
Here’s what the bottom of the production Lance shoe looks like. The cloudy white area just to the right of the toe is an air vent. That will be important later.
According to this article (first item), Lance ordered custom soles for the 2005 tour — ones with more curve to them than the standard Nike sole. Provided with a good look at both, they’re clearly different. The standard sole is pretty much straight where it attaches to the upper, but the custom version curves up.
The article makes it sound like something Lance did for the 2005 tour, but evidence proves otherwise. He had similar soles — if not identical ones — in 2003, possibly earlier. The curve where the sole and upper meet is present here. For comparison’s sake, here’s the production version, featuring a pretty straight joint.
And what about the vent? Take a look at this one again. On the sole, just to the right of the black toe piece, are two slit-shaped vents. Here’s a similar shot from 2004. Vents are nothing new — many shoes have them. But Shimano soles generally only have one vent, and the Nike production vent is a completely different shape.
There’s one more thing, too. Note the cleat — white with blue tips. For mere mortals, Shimano only has two choices: black with yellow or black with red.
So what’s the deal with the white cleats? And exactly where did those soles come from? They don’t match up with any Shimanos I’ve found, and they’re definitely not standard Nike issue.
Perhaps more importantly, though — who else is doing this? Given the pickiness of athletes in every sport, Lance can’t be the only one, right? If you know of any other Frankenstein-style equipment out there, send info here.
And for what it’s worth, I think basic Lance production model fits fine. But it’s possible that Lance might have slightly higher standards than I do.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Paul here. Greetings from Austin, where a small but enthusiastic group showed up last night for a Uni Watch gathering. Unfortunately, I left my camera back at the hotel, so no pics. At some point in the evening, Devin Curry asked if I’d noticed that the Nebraska football team wears “Huskers” on their chinstraps. This was news to me, so he sent me photographic proof after he got home. … The Phillies will unveil their new alternate uniform (already leaked months ago) tomorrow at noon. … Very odd NOB format for the Tunisia volleyball team, which uses the player’s last name, then a space, then a period, and then first initial (additional view here, with thanks to Jeremy Brahm).
November 28th, 2007
A few weeks ago I ran an entry about players who’ve worn their full names on their jerseys (or FNOB, short for “full name on back”). That post prompted so many contributions that I’ve decided to do a follow-up entry today.
The most interesting case study comes our way courtesy of Les Holmlund, who wrote in to tell me that the WHA’s Alberta Oilers — forerunners of today’s Edmonton Oilers — had the entire team wearing FNOB during their inaugural 1972-73 season. Now, that Oilers team was already uni-notable for a few other reasons. According to WHAUniforms.com (usually a pretty dependable resource), they began the season wearing “ALBERTA” on their backs and then switched to round-cornered nameplates with an unusual font. But there was nothing on the site about them wearing FNOB. Fortunately, Les came up with several photos to back up his point, as seen here, here, and here. So there you have it: The Alberta Oilers, who began by wearing PNOB (province name on back) and then switched to FNOB, almost certainly making them the most eccentrically nameplated team in sports history.
As for additional FNOB examples (aside from those already listed in my previous FNOB post), I’m only listing them if we have photos confirming them. I realize the list is still very incomplete, but here are the latest additions:
Football: Todd Johnson, Andra Davis (also shown here), Andre Davis, Dexter Reid, and Rob Moore.
Hockey: Ron Sutter (with the Flyers, too), Rich Sutter, Bobby Smith, Neal Broten (from his U. of Minnesota days), and Aaron Broten (ditto).
Soccer: Derek Young and Darren Young.
Finally, a few related categories that aren’t quite FNOB but still belong in this discussion:
• Several readers suggested coming up with a separate list for players who wear more than their first initial but less than FNOB, like Michael and Martellus Bennett. If anyone wants to contribute additional examples, I’m game.
• And here’s a unique situation, as explained by reader Roy Ellingsen: “Norwegian former hockey star Carl Oscar Bøe Andersen’s name was so long that he prefered to wear just his initials on the nameplate.”
Big thanks to all who’ve contributed — we’re building a nice little nameplate database here. And if anyone wants to start building a physical collection instead of a virtual one, look what’s up for sale on eBay.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Many readers wrote in last night to report that Virginia Tech’s Victor “Macho” Harris’s left-sleeve uni number was orange last night, while his right-sleeve number (and all his teammates’ sleeve numbers) was white. No photo yet. Anyone TiVo the game? … I’ve written before about umpires being forced to wear civvies after their uniforms got lost in transit. Now Richard Koh has come up with a video clip of Eric Gregg struggling to find adequately sized gear during just such a situation. Bill Murray’s doing the color commentary, too. … Minnesota’s women’s hockey team will wear a memorial helmet decal for the rest of this season in honor of equipment manager Bonnie Olein, who recently passed away. Details here (with thanks to Mike Nachreiner). … Andy Head notes that the Saskatoon Blades wear uni numbers is a very unusual spot (plus they’ll be wearing one weird-ass jersey for Emergency Services Night next month). … Drew McKay reports that the Slipstream cycling team recently invited fans to submit designs for next year’s uniform. The team is apparently for its argyle motif, so most of the submissions were very argyle-centric (including this one, which is Drew’s favorite). You can see all 613 submissions here. … The Trenton Thunder have unveiled a 15th-season patch (as forwarded by Ted Kerwin). … Much better, even if the stirrups are backwards. … And you can see the stirrups’ laundry tag peaking out here. … When it comes to baggy pants, like father, like son. … Remember when Mike Timlin (who probably thinks the term “World Series” is a U.N. plot) wanted to wear the American flag patch on his cap full-time? He lost that battle, but he’s got a flag on his BP cap — closer view here (great catch by Bryan Redemske). … Steve Necaster reports that the Sabres will be wearing white at home for several games in November. … Further evidence here and here of the Rangers having apparently modified their hemlines to eliminate Reebok’s scooped shirttail. … The Mid-Atlantic Hockey League recently unveiled new uniforms for the Indiana Ice Miners (dark, white), Jamestown Vikings (dark, white), Mon Valley Thunder (dark, light), Valley Forge Freedom (dark, white), and Wooster Warriors (dark, white). “We all know the MAHL is minor league hockey, but I’ve seen roller hockey uniforms that look more professional,” says Zak McGinniss, who provided the links. … “At the Mellon Arena they have a High School Hall of Champions,” writes Doug Keklak. “It’s a hallway in the arena adorned with framed high school hockey jerseys, mostly from western PA schools but there are a few West Virginia schools included in the mix.” Doug’s taken photos of many of them, which you can see here. … The Devils’ new arena opened last night with a Bon Jovi concert, and Chris Flinn noticed something interesting in the men’s room: “Every single urinal had the Devils logo engraved into the metal.” I’m not sure which is more embarrassing — admitting that you attended a Bon Jovi concert or taking a photo in the bathroom, but either way let’s all salute Chris for his devotion to the Uni Watch cause.
October 26th, 2007
Man, I go away for a week and an entire league goes down the toilet.
The trouble started just a few hours after I put up the “Gone Fishing” sign, when the Predators unveiled their new jerseys. I don’t mind the stripes on the sleeves so much (indeed, I’m on record as being a fan of this), but the piping down the front of the jersey is ridiculous. Even worse, check out the back. Oh, great — as if a big Reebok logo weren’t bad enough, now it has to be showcased in its own contrast-colored panel (you can bet someone at Reebok got a nice Christmas bonus for coming up with that one). What an embarrassment.
Bad went to worse a few days ago, when the new Panthers jerseys were bestowed upon an unwitting populace. Hmmm, look familiar? Same utterly pointless piping down the front, same contrast-colored logo creep on the back. And can someone please explain the point of having horizontal sleeve stripes that don’t even wrap all the way around the sleeve?
Unfortunately, there’s more to come. I’ve seen another team’s new design that’s based on exactly the same template (sorry, I’m not at liberty to disclose which team, but it’ll be unveiled soon enough). When I first saw it, I thought, “Man, you’ve gotta work pretty hard to come up with something that stupid,” but that was before I’d seen the new Preds and Panthers jerseys.
The thing that makes all of this unforgivable is that it’s empirically unnecessary — despite Reebok’s new tailoring, the Bruins are going with an old-school design, and the Blue Jackets concept is a case study in how to modern can still be tasteful. So don’t blame this one on Reebok. Blame the teams for being too weak and lemming-like to come up with anything decent, and blame the league for allowing this template nonsense.
Oh what the hell, let’s blame Reebok too.
I’d like to come up with a good name for this front piping. Some folks are already referring to it as an “apron,” but I think we can do better than that. Anyone care to contribute another term?
![842976[1].gif](http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1263/939708218_fb62fa86d3_t.jpg)
Uni Watch Demographic Study: Many of you folks are apparently very nosy curious about each other, so Joe Drennan has generously volunteered to compile a Rolodex-style spreadsheet of the site’s readership. Completely voluntary, natch. If you’d like to participate, please list your name, the name you use when posting comments (if applicable), occupation, and location. If you want to include your e-mail address, and/or if you have a personal web site, feel free to include that info as well. Send all of this data to Joe (not to me, please) at jpdren99 at smumn dot edu. A copy of the resulting file will be sold to every marketing firm I can think of made available to all participants.
Indy Frock: Got an interesting membership card request the other day from Dan Netser, who wants his design patterned after the 1973 Indiana Pacers. This presented something of a challenge: Should the center and outer stripes be truncated (which matches their height on the actual jersey but looks kinda weird on a rectangular card) or extended (which looks less awkward but doesn’t really match the original design)? Scott prefers the former, I’d go with the latter, but we both agree that each option has its pros and cons, so we’ve decided to get input from you folks. What say ye, people — which option do you prefer? Is there some other solution we’re overlooking?
As long as we’re on the topic: Last week’s travels have left me a bit behind on mailing out membership kits, but I expect to catch up this week — thanks in advance for your patience. Meanwhile, there’s lots of good new stuff in the membership design gallery, including this (based on the early-’60s Reds) and this (mid-’90s Canucks alt, don’tcha know). Check out the full gallery here, and remember, you can click on any design to add a comment, read others’ comments, or explain what the design is based on.
Meanwhile, congrats to Vernona Elms, who on Friday became our 300th member. We probably won’t get to 500 before A-Rod does, but maybe we can beat him to 756. Friendly reminder: If you join by tomorrow (or if your snail-mailed order is postmarked by then), you’ll have a “Charter Member” seal added to your card when you renew next year.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Remember our rundown of all-stars who wore the wrong helmet? Here’s another one: Johnny Callison of the Phillies wearing a Mets helmet while winning the 1964 ASG with a 9th-inning homer. … Spectacular shot here of the 1921 Seattle Metropolitans. Dig that chest insignia! … Good two-minute video segment here about how the Tour de France jerseys are stocked with drugs in secret pockets prepared for each rider (with thanks to Brendan Hunt). … Big surprise. … Annual AIDS awareness game in San Francisco last Friday, with the Giants and Marlins wearing red ribbons. … Reprinted from Saturday: The Pirates style John Van Benschoten’s two-word surname as one word on his nameplate (presumably because they don’t have room to add a space). Turns out they’ve done this consistently throughout his career, as seen here and here. Poor guy can’t even have his accurate name on his jersey. … In a related item, check out this note from Todd Davis (reprinted from yesterday’s comments): “[According to] the Cubs/Reds WGN broadcast, Reds SS Dave Concepcion was issued jersey number 57 when he came up in 1970, but they couldn’t fit his name around the 57 (the Reds had those massive name letters) so they changed it to 13 in order to have enough room.” The thing is, lots of other Venezuelan players have worn 13 in honor of Concepcion (including Edgardo Alfonzo, Ozzie Guillen, several others), so the Reds’ early-’70s player-name typography had a ripple effect that was felt for decades. … Matthew Lepke notes that the Vikings are wearing gray facemasks, but it’s just a training camp thing. In a related item, the Vikes will be wearing throwback attire on Sept. 30th, to coincide with Chuck Foreman’s induction into the team’s ring of honor. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Looks like Vlad Guerrero is slitting his right sleeve. … Ken Tobler reports that the U. of North Texas will have a new uniform this season. They’re revealing the various components one element at a time, and gee, do you think you can figure out who the manufacturer is? … “Eat my bike shorts!” (Thanks, Vince.) … Vince also found this photo of Liverpool goaltender Bruce Grobbleaar, who wore a mask when he played with Southampton after breaking his nose. … Yesterday’s Mariners/A’s throwback game was a mix of good and bad (additional pics here, here, here, here, and here, plus Beau Lynott sent along a bunch of screen grabs, which you can see in this slideshow). Most obvious mistake: Both teams should’ve been wearing elasticized waistbands, not belts. Subtlest mistake: The A’s player names should have been straight, not arched. Nicest touch: The A’s coaches wore white caps. … NFL note from Lee Wilds, who writes: “The Titans have added a fourth jersey color this year [for training camp]. They have previously worn navy for defense and white for the offense while QBs wore red, but this year the defensive unit is rotating in a light blue version.” And yes, that’s an advertising patch on the Titans’ practice attire — nothing new there, as they’ve been wearing it for several years now. … Tom K notes that Alex Cintron had helmet decal issues yesterday (and that was his first at-bat, which means the equipment staff was totally asleep at the switch). … The always excellent Helmet Hut has just come out with a line of Florida State reproductions, including several designs I’d never seen before. The full listing is here.
July 30th, 2007
For years, if I’ve needed an old Astros photo, the first place I’ve looked has been Astros Daily, an excellent blog with loads of great images. What I hadn’t realized, however, until reader James Poisso recently pointed it out to me, is that the site includes a page of video links, which provide a priceless historical survey of what is arguably MLB’s most visually interesting franchise. There’s too much material to describe fully, but here are a few highlights:
- If, like myself, you’ve only seen Colt .45s uniforms in still photos, check out the very first video link on the page, which features lots of footage showing the Colts’ basic uni plus jackets, ushers’ uniforms, and related merch.
- You probably know that the Astrodome’s roof had to be painted when outfielders couldn’t pick up the ball against the original ceiling design (which in turn led to the development of Astroturf, because the facility’s original grass wilted and died when sunlight could no longer shine through the painted roof). One of the videos actually shows the roof being painted!
- As you might imagine, there’s plenty of footage showing the tequila sunrise design, including some good shots of the original bullseye version.
- According to Dressed to the Nines, the tequila sunrise jerseys were always paired with dark stirrups. But check out this shot of Larry Dierker — he’s definitely wearing orange hose, and they appear to be striped to boot.
And there’s a lot more. Recommended viewing.
Membership Announcement: Lots of you have asked if an additional column can be added to the membership roster, indicating the team and era that each card design was patterned after. I didn’t originally think we’d need to include that kind of info, since I figured the card designs would all be based on familiar uniform designs and that their sources would therefore be self-explanatory. But of course it hasn’t worked out that way — we’ve got throwback designs (the one shown above is a 1970 Indians treatment), minor league designs, soccer and cycling designs, etc. So yes, I now see it would be a nice idea to include this information, so everyone can see what a given card design was based on.
But here’s the thing: The roster chart is already pretty big and unwieldy — I don’t want to add another column to it. But if you go to the card design gallery and click on a given card design, you’ll get the Flickr page for that design — and you can add comments to that page. So I hereby invite all members to click on their own card designs and add an explanation for your design inspiration (turns out member Anthony Giaccone already did this several weeks ago). If all goes well, we’ll have all the team-based card pages annotated in short order.
You may have to register with Flickr in order to leave a comment. But it’s easy and free, and Flickr is a cool site that you really ought to be part of anyway, so it’s a win-win.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Scroll down to the end of this Q&A session with a Cardinals beat writer to see what the Redbirds think of the new BP caps (good find by Jordan Hirschfield). … Excellent catch by Avi Berliner, who spotted the following tidbit buried within this Wall Street Journal article: “Alex Marvez, president of the Pro Football Writers Association … winces at the new [NFL] rule requiring photographers to wear red vests with small Canon and Reebok logos. Mr. Marvez calls the idea of using working press members as advertising vehicles ‘really alarming.’ Neither company is paying a specific fee for the vests, but Canon Inc. is an official sponsor of the league (it pays a rights fee to be associated with the NFL) and Reebok International Ltd., owned by Adidas AG, is a league licensee (it makes merchandise with NFL logos, including jerseys, pants and photo vests).” … Always good to hear from Mike from Queens, who notes that USA Softball has some very odd batting helmets (additional views here and here). … Tour de France note from member Mike Edgerly, who writes: “Members of Team CSC are sporting black Live Strong-style wristbands that say ‘Harden the fuck up.’” Details toward the bottom of this page (and I swear, if today’s comments section devolves into a series erection jokes, I’m gonna pull the plug on the site, so don’t even think about it). … It’s well documented that Bob Feller will do anything for a buck, but this seems like a bit much. … “Could there be an uglier uni matchup?” asks Vince, referring to yesterday’s Brazil/Nicaragua contest at the Pan Am Games. … A reader who didn’t give his full name notes that Matt Holliday appeared to have one sleeve shorter than the other last night. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: With the Sharks and Ducks having added orange to their color schemes, Kris McInnis figures it’s time for every NHL team to go orange.
July 17th, 2007
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