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Posts filed under 'Equipment/Accessories'
Got an interesting note the other day from reader Matthew Strauss, who attended last Sunday’s Pats/Titans game. I’ll let him explain:
I was lucky enough to get field-level seats right next to the tunnel where the Patriots ran in and out of. After the game, when the team was running off the field, I felt something go splat next to my foot. When I looked down, it was a game-worn glove from one of the players. Naturally I scooped it right up. The only catch is that I have no idea whose it is.
This is the glove model in question. The two players I could immediately recognize running off the field around the time I grabbed it were Julian Edelman and Junior Seau, but it wasn’t from either of them. I didn’t see any RBs, LBs, or WRs wearing anything quite like it. It’s a size 5XL, so I’m assuming it came of a pretty big dude.
I’d be curious to see if we can narrow down where it came from. Perhaps the collective power of Uni Watch can solve the mystery of the glove’s owner, given the size, style, color, etc.
Now, I could cheat by asking a few people at Reebok, who could probably give me the answer in 20 seconds. But where’s the fun in that? Get crackin’, people — I’ll give a free membership card to the first person who can solve the mystery of the Matthew’s glove.
Membership Update: Speaking of memberships, new batch of cards mailed out yesterday, including Alan Borock’s Dolphins treatment, shown at right. Somewhat incredibly, this is the first card we’ve done with Miami’s current aqua design. Surprised it hasn’t been requested more often.
As always, you can see the full gallery of card designs here, and you can sign up to get your own card here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Some patent applications are more interesting than others (big thanks to my buddy Jon Hammer). … Want to vote on the best hockey mask in the NHL? Do it here (with thanks to Tim O’Connor). … Major historical find by Dan McCue, who sent along this item about the first football game west of the Mississippi, played in 1889 between Grinnell and the University of Iowa. Look at those hats! … Oh. My. God. Further info on the Trail Smoke Eaters here (big thanks to Ryan Connelly). … Very odd two-tone shoes being worn by Kevin Durant the other night (with thanks to Matt Mitchell). … Titans coach Jeff Fisher wore a Peyton Manning jersey while introducing Tony Dungy at a function. … Congrats to webmaster John Ekdahl and his wife Amy, who just got back from their honeymoon in Ireland. Lots of pics here. … The Cowboys have added a practice jersey sponsor (with thanks to Mitchell Goodman). … Craig Dodge wore his vertically striped socks to the Broncos/Pats game two Sundays ago. That photo is from his full-on game report. … Powerful article about the Redskins’ sideline mascot here — recommended reading. … Here’s a Halloween costume idea worth stealing: You can go as the ghost of Ted Williams. Note the throat scar and icicles (as modeled by Adam Fritzen). … Oregon will reportedly be going with this look on Saturday. … Pacific will wear a special “Stockton” jersey on December 9th. “As a Pacific alum, I’m not a fan of this,” says Aaron Davis. “It seems like a desperate attempt at fixing a rift between a community and the university it houses, a relationship that’s always been strained in Stockton.” … Check out this photo — simple but gorgeous. “My buddy took the photo during Expos spring training West Plam Beach in 1982,” says Joel Kirstein. “Pretty funny seeing a very young Terry Francona and a very young Cal Ripken Jr., both with full heads or hair!” … Phillies prospect Dominick Brown has been playing for the Scottsdale Scorpions in the Arizona Fall League, and boy does he Get It™ (with thanks to Josh Miller). … Wow, look at that gorgeous sea of green gridiron. That’s from Vince Lombardi’s first game as Packers head coach in 1959. … What does this helmet logo stand for? Jacob Reed explains: “This is the helmet for Cherokee High School in Cherokee, North Carolina. The school system is operated by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, a sovereign governing nation (susceptible to Federal Laws, and some state laws). On their helmets, they use the Cherokee syllabary. The letters on the helmet are pronounced tsa-la-gi (roll the t and s together), so it sounds like sssa-la-gee. It means Cherokee.”
Weekend Update: Uni Watch will be closed on Friday in memory of my friend Charlie, whose funeral I’ll be attending tomorrow afternoon. As soon as the services are over, I’m off to Louisiana, where I’ll be spending the rest of the weekend reporting an ESPN story that I think you’ll all enjoy once it’s finished. Phil will be running things over the weekend, as usual, and I should be back by Monday (which, incidentally, is when my annual NBA season-preview column will be running on ESPN). See you then.
October 22nd, 2009
My recent ESPN column about goalie pads prompted an interesting note from Mark Coale. “I was listening to HNIC radio the other day and they said goalie pads next season will be based on the goalies’ individual measurements,” he wrote. “They said former goalie and now league employee Kay Whitmore will spend the season going around and getting metrics on every goalie, so things will be custom-made for next year.”
This was news to me, so I went back to Tyler Hull, who works for Bauer and is the guy who provided me with all the info for that ESPN column to begin with. Here’s his very informative response:
Mark is correct. In 2003 the league limited the size of a goalie pad to 38 inches high, but goalies can use that size any way they want. Pads are measured from the inside of your ankle to your knee and then from your knee to the top of your thigh, so goalies often add “thigh rise” (i.e., extra pad) to the top to get to the 38-inch limit if they want them that high. A shorter goalie might use a 33+5 pad, or a taller goalie might use 37+1, depending on the original size of the pad and how tall the goalie is (or at least how long his legs are). The end result is that Chris Osgood and Steve Valiquette end up using the same size pad, even though one of them is 5′11″ and the other one is 6′5″.
That’s just plain goofy, so starting next year goalies will be required to use pads that are measured and fitted to them by the NHL. It won’t be a big change for the bigger guys, but smaller goalies who’ve been using bigger pads will feel the crunch.
Faaaaascinating. On the one hand, this makes sense: Smaller goalie, smaller pads. On the other hand, a shorter goalie already has a built-in disadvantage, since there’s literally less of him to cover the net, and now that shorter goalie will have the bonus disadvantage of having less pad coverage. Hmmmm — discuss.
Culinary Corner: I’m going to let you in on a little secret today, people. It’s such a good secret, you won’t believe you never thought of it yourself. It’s such a good secret, you won’t believe it isn’t available on supermarket shelves. It’s such a good secret, you won’t believe it hasn’t become the basis for a national restaurant chain.
It’s a really good secret.
The secret is this: When you’re heating up maple syrup for your pancakes, waffles, or French toast, spike it with an ounce or two of bourbon.
It’s so simple, so obvious, and soooooo good. Most of the alcohol vaporizes as you heat up the syrup, so the end result isn’t overly boozy — it just imbues the syrup with that great bourbon flavor and complexity.
You can try the same thing with other whiskeys, or with rum, but I’ve found bourbon works best. It doesn’t blend in properly unless you heat up the syrup, so don’t be lazy about that. And don’t bother adding bourbon to non-maple syrups like Aunt Jemima or Mrs. Butterworth — nothing can make those taste good.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Hey, speaking of food, check out this class I’ll be taking on Saturday. Guess what T-shirt I’ll be wearing. … The Broncos players who Twizzler-twisted their sock stripes on Sunday will not be fined. … Some additional images have been added to Mako Mameli’s collection of screen shots from Showtime’s AFL history series. I especially love the Raiders’ shield-themed yard markers and red sideline hashmarks. … Also from Mako: More info on Maurice Jones-Drew’s number and NOB. … Chris Mitchel recently visited the prison museum at the state penitentiary in Anamosa, Iowa. “They had a collection of some sweet prison baseball and football team photos, some of which you can see here,” he says. “There are also some cool other pictures of various uniforms worn by the inmates (sorry, ‘offenders,’ per the warden). Stripes are not the only pattern used.” … Nike is exploiting honoring the 100th anniversary of UNC hoops by producing a series of throwback replicas, including the red-trimmed jersey and shorts (with thanks to Jordan Woodson). … The horror, the horror (postgame shot courtesy of John Romero). … Rick Ankiel was cleaning out his locker yesterday — including an Adrian Peterson jersey (as spotted by Ben Traxel). … On Saturday Kirsten and I attended a very special party where, among other things, we were forced to don rabbit ears and pose alongside a giant bunny, which was even more terrifying than it appears in the photos. … Amazing Charleston Charlies jersey available here (great find by Dan Cichalski). … Cliff Lee didn’t have the blue squatchee on his cap last night (as noted by sharp-eyed Jay Fanelli). … Hey, remember Frozen Coke? No, of course you don’t. Ricko doesn’t even remember it, and he’s eleventeen hundred years old. But if you did remember it, you might also remember this (major find by Brinke Guthrie). … The Bunkie (La.) High School chain gang has some, uh, unique uniforms, complete with NOBs (with thanks to Chris LaHaye). … Hmm, subtle. … Braylon Edwards, making his Jets debut, went double-sock-striped last night. … There’s a guy out there who’s making super-cool hand-crafted footballs. Further details here (with thanks to Bill Austin). … Get better soon, Bizkit.
October 13th, 2009
As you may have noticed, there was an extra color on NFL gridirons yesterday. We all knew it was coming, and it was pretty much what we expected. In other words: snoozers.
My general feeling was: (1) It looked like crap, and (2) I didn’t really care because it was 75 degrees and sunny here in NYC, so there was no way I was gonna spend the day watching teevee. Caught about 15 mins. of the Giants game before going hiking in Staten Island. (Yes, hiking in Staten Island — it exists! We even saw three whitetail deer. In Staten Island!)
Anyway: It could have been pinker, because Chad Johnson/Ochocinco had been toying with the idea of a pink chinstrap, but instead he just went with standard white — something of a surprise, because at various points in the past he’s gone with a black version and an orange version (most recently during a preseason game a little over a month ago, which earned him a fine).
Ochocinco’s chinstrap maneuverings have been of particular interest to reader Henry Chan. I’ll let him explain:
In 2007, I came up with the idea to make Johnson an orange and black “Bengal-striped” chinstrap. The idea didn’t come completely out of the blue: Back when I was in University in the late ’90s, I created a company called “Strap It On Sports” — “SioSports” for short — with the idea of making custom-painted chinstraps for NCAA football teams (I figured I would start with college and hopefully work my way up to the NFL). I made a couple of prototypes based on my hometown CFL Calgary Stampeders and then sent letters with hand-drawn mock-ups to various NCAA schools. The chinstraps were customized with the school logo on the chin cup, along with the player’s name and/or number. Unfortunately, I received no response and the idea kind of faded. I no longer have the mock-ups, either.
Anyway, back to Chad Johnson. I figured if he was willing to wear an orange chinstrap (which incidentally was an Adams 50 “youth” model and not a Adams 100 “pro” model), then he might be willing to wear one with black tiger stripes, so I ordered an orange chinstrap and began to customize it. Unfortunately, the paint didn’t adhere very well to the plastic chin cup or the straps, and the idea again faded.
However, this past summer I tried using a black Sharpie instead of paint, and it worked perfectly. After experimenting with a few different designs, I was able to come up with the first Bengal-striped chinstrap, customized for Chad Ochocinco. On September 17th I sent the chinstrap to Chad, c/o of the Bengals, in the hopes that he might wear it for a game (hopefully he won’t make me pay for the fine), or at least a practice.
Very cool. Personally, I’m surprised the NFL has been so tight-assed about chinstrap colors and designs. They already allow bright-colored gloves and color-trimmed shoes, yet they cling to plain white chinstraps. I’m not saying I want them to allow other colors and patterns; I’m just saying I’m surprised they haven’t done it. And I bet the eventually do it in the not-too-distant future, whether Ochocinco wears Henry’s chinstrap or not.
Research Reminder: In case you missed it last week, I’m trying to gather as many different hockey red line designs as possible. I’m not talking about the center ice logo — I mean the red line itself, which is sometimes solid, sometimes checkered, and sometimes imprinted with little icons relating to the home team. If you have any red line designs to contribute, please send them here. Thanks.
Culinary Corner: Why pay 50¢ at the convenience store for a bag of chips when you could spend far more time, energy, and money making your own, as Kirsten and I did on Saturday? The great thing about cooking them yourself is that you can make them as dark as you want — and believe me, I want.
So here’s what you do: Go buy a few nice-sized baking potatoes (preferably russets, but any tuber will do). No need to peel them — just slice them really thin with a mandoline or food processor or whatever. Soak the slices in water for two hours and then dry them as best you can. A salad spinner is ideal for this, but only losers eat salads so I assume you don’t have one of those. Just use paper towels.
Meanwhile, take the widest pot you own, pour in a few inches of vegetable oil, and heat it until it registers 380º on a candy thermometer (if you don’t have a candy thermometer, just stick your finger in the oil until nothing’s left but the bone). Working in batches, put the spud slices in the oil. Don’t crowd them in the pot — if they touch, they’ll stick together. When the chips reach your desired shade of golden brown (figure three-ish minutes), use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a rack or paper towel. Let the oil heat back up to 380º and then start the next batch. While those slices are cooking, transfer the first batch of cooked chips to a big bowl.
Repeat all steps until the bowl is full or you run out of potato slices. Toss cooked chips with salt. Transfer chips and self to sofa in time for Monday Night Football. Serves 1.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Padres wore jersey patches promoting their charitable foundation yesterday. … New masks for Jonas Gustavsson and Dan Ellis (with thanks to Matthew Gahm and Dirk Hoag, respectively). … Jeremy Lewis reports that Pearl Jam’s current tour features team-based T-shirts for each stop on the tour. “The number corresponds to the date the show was played,” he explains. … Sanchez-o-rama! That’s Jonathan at bat and Freddy on deck, as recently snapped by James Allen at Dodger Stadium. … Totally gorgeous basketball warm-up shirt available here. … Man, if you’re gonna steal an NFL team’s design, why would you choose the Bengals? Those are the Lincoln University Blue Tigers, a historically black college in Jefferson City, Missouri (with thanks to Jason Walker). … So now Adidas logo creep has spread to deodorant. “Guess which brand was on sale?” says Timothy McGlone. … And speaking of Adisas logo creep (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … More NOB inconsistencies, this time for Pitt (with thanks to Chris Hilf). … Mike Menner notes that the Twins have already produced a printed version of their 2010 schedule, and that it includes this logo. A sensible person might reasonably conclude that this logo will be worn as a sleeve patch next season, but of course I can’t confirm anything of that sort. … How do you make the lame-o blackout thing even lamer? Put a nickname on your jersey and color-reverse your helmet stripe (as noted by Brian Davis). … One one-handed D1 hoops player? Sure, why not? (With thanks to Chad Todd). … Chris Speakman, who runs the excellent Sports Propaganda operation, has a new line of screen prints available from Topps. … Hmmm, is hockey headed for its own Gazoo helmet? The funny thing about using Messier as your helmet spokesguy is that he looks the same without a helmet as he does when he’s wearing one (with thanks to Ryan Harrington). … Interesting NOB available here. “Looks like a FNOB, but it’s actually the jersey of Ovince Saint Preux — who, according to my research, is now an MMA star,” says Nathan Haas. … Four of Southern’s football jerseys were stolen prior to Saturday’s game against Jackson State, prompting a quick uni switcheroo (with thanks to Prentice James). … Now that the UFL has unveiled its helmet designs, Bill Jones has gumball-ized them. “Also,” he adds, “I have been working on sets of NCAA helmets. I have recently uploaded some the FCS and D2 sets that I have completed, as well as the Asian baseball sets that Jeremy Brahm helped me with, to my Flickr stream. I hope to have my FBS and FCS throwbacks uploaded this month, and then I will start on a D3 set.” … Showtime has aired the third installment of its AFL series, so Mako Mameli has added new images to his screen shot set. Dig the alternating-color yard line numbers in KC! … Also from Mako: Really interesting article here about the Broncos’ throwback field design. Highly recommended reading. … Texas A&M went with white helmets on Saturday. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The Rochester Amerks wore some awesome throwbacks on Saturday. … “I was browsing eBay today when I came across a photo slide being sold by the Topps Vault,” writes Paul Carr. “The picture shows Don Zimmer, supposedly from 1972, wearing a very strange Padres cap I have never seen before. The cap is similar to the one they wore for most of the 70s, but the yellow panel in front is HUGE, going all the way back to Zimmer’s ears.” Anyone know more about this? … It’s gotta be the shoes, or something. … Hmmm, is this a hint of what the 2010 BP caps will look like? … Classy move by David Wright, who closed out the season by wearing blue stirrups yesterday — nice (pics courtesy of Steve Wojtowicz). … Kellan Walski spotted this guy at yesterday’s Pats game. “Turns out the guy knew someone who worked at a sporting goods store and was willing to put in the work on the custom job,” he says. “The numbers were custom-cut to be able to fit three across without looking too squished. Beneath all of that customization is a Lawyer Milloy jersey.” … Apple (the computer company, not the record label) is suing Woolworths (the Australian supermarket chain, not the defunct five and dime retailer) due to some logo similarities, although that seems like a stretch to me (with thanks to John Muir). … The Capitals have made changes to their banners and retired numbers (with thanks to William Yurasko). … NOB of the year, right? And yes, it’s his real name, although maybe he should change it to “Ah, Shit,” given the state of the Rams this year (nice find by Tyler Hull). … Hey, did you know there’s a blog that’s tracking the demolition of Yankee Stadium? Love the straightforward URL (with thanks to Kevin Rozell).
October 5th, 2009
By Phil Hecken, with Rick Pearson
Back again with more NFL uni tweaks, but this first section, entirely envisioned and described by Ricko, is, in a word, “brilliant.” Whereas our previous “tweaks” were designed to solve our own misgivings about certain teams uni-choices, these are actual practical solutions to real problems. What is that real problem? Well, unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past decade, you’ve most likely noticed that the sleeve on the football uniform, with the exception of a few quarterbacks, a wide receiver or two, and kickers, is basically a vestigial element now. While this may not be such a big deal in the overall scheme of uniform design, it is a MAJOR headache for teams who still choose to put stripes on what were once full sleeves. You’ve seen the half-assed solutions being proffered by designers who are admittedly clueless apparently at a loss for ways around the new uniform cuts. Some have apparently no stripes at all. Or they end up stretched onto the chest. I mean, c’mon. This is getting ridiculous.
Enter Ricko. What he’s about to offer up is a simple, straightforward and logical answer to the “disappearing sleeve” on the NFL uniform. And with that, I give you Ricko:
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 Talk About Wearing Things On Your Sleeve
by Rick Pearson
First of all, this is NOT about re-designing anyone’s unis, so let’s not get our hackles up. This is about what to do with sleeve stripes when you have no sleeves to put them on.
A while ago on UW I asked, not altogether rhetorically, Why not put the stripes on the sleeves of the compression shirts? That makes this about an “Apparel Innovation.” Nothing more.
The central notion, then is: Let’s give up trying to make stripes work on today’s shortie jersey sleeves, shall we? The hell with it; put ‘em somewhere else. Say, where they belong? That way, TV numbers and logos could move back to (when appropriate or desired) the more traditional position on the sleeves. Also, TVs could return to the customary 4-inch size…in some cases in the past, even larger.
This idea WOULD require development of a half-sleeve compression shirt in addition to the full-length and “armpit”-length versions typically produced. Secondly, it would be nice if the NFL adopted a Uni Rule reading: “Shoulder pads and armpits must be completely covered by the player’s jersey and/or under sleeves”. But that’s not realistic, I suppose. I think today’s players really get off on showing their guns. “Chicks Dig It” is the rationale, I imagine.
So, without a lot of explanation of what you’re about to see, here’s what you’d get (presented in no particular order)…Redskins, Packers, Giants white, 49ers, Browns (yes, I added stripes to the brown pants; couldn’t help myself [white socks too -- that pic was taken from last year's preseason game when the Brown's first broke out the Brown pants with Brown leggings -- they have since switched to white socks [--PH]), Steelers, Vikings throwbacks and Bears.
I did mess around with Cardinals, taking elements of their St. Louis and early Arizona unis (especially the whites) to show how a team could to do some unique things with the compression sleeve stripes. The “5-stripes same width” look is derivative of their throwback socks from 1994. Taken to the dark uni, it’s interesting, but a bit much. This combination — more like the 1980’s — for home and road may look old-fashioned to some, but it’s clean…and interesting. A sort of “minimalist” spin on their St. Louis duds.
And, yes, I did the Bengals, not to criticize their current uni, but to show that a team could really go nuts, actually making the compression sleeves the uni’s “signature element“. I certainly could have done the same concept for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats or Princeton University, so please don’t take it as slam on the Bengals. No white version of these sleeves with this one. Imagine them, black sleeves and colored stripes, with a white jersey. Yowsa.
Conclusion (mine, anyway)? It could work.
BAD news for fans: Two separate garments needed to get “official” game day look.
But that’s the GOOD news for the NFL merchandising arm (no pun intended). Plus, they’d probably sell a boatload of just the striped compression shirts, too.
Okay, I’m done.
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Phil here. Great job with that Ricko. You may have seen some of these designs in the comments section before, but never in a full-blown post. This is an idea the NFL should seriously consider, especially for teams who still, ya know, wear striped jersey sleeves.
After Ricko came to me (and you via the comments) with the idea of the comp sleeves, one of UW’s readers, Patrick “pflava” Woody provided me with a graphic set of Ricko’s proposals, which I’ll present here, and which gives another idea of how both the long and short sleeved comp sleeves could look (in a couple of cases, Patrick’s template designs differ from Ricko’s, but the idea is the same): Redskins, (which is more of a throwback look than Rick’s compression sleeve idea for the current uniform) Vikings (throwback), Steelers, Browns, 49ers, Giants (road), and Bears.
Fantastic job with those Patrick. I also wanted to show you the same concept, brought to you by Fred Strom, who took Ricko’s Packers idea and made this mockup. But he didn’t stop there: Fred also mocked up the Steelers, da Bears, and (my favorite), the Browns. Great job Fred. (By the way, Fred is the guy who gave us one of the first neon snot green Seahawks — created shortly after Paul’s April Fool’s Day post — and who saw my piece on them last weekend, but whose work I wasn’t familiar with at the time). So, I’m including Fred’s Neon Green Seahawks concepts here.
I’m sure I’ll be featuring more great works from Patrick and Fred as the season wears on. But props to them for helping to bring Ricko’s Comp Sleeve proposals to us today as well.
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Getting Loopy On You
by Phil & Rick
Moving along to a joint effort between Ricko and myself, we’re sure you’ve noticed that not only have sleeves disappeared on NFL jerseys, so too have the once prevalent and beautiful shoulder loops (or “arches” as Ricko refers to them) that at one time once graced NFL uniforms in varying degrees. Whether their disappearance into truncated stubs like this, this and this is a function of the new jersey cuts, or simply manufacturer’s sloth isn’t really important. What is important is that even teams who sport truncated loops still have players who wear full loops with the current jersey.
Obviously, then, there is no real reason why the loop has basically disappeared. Sure, the newer cuts might make it a tad more difficult to design a uniform with actual loops but this truncated garbage is horrible. Ricko and I differ a bit on solutions to this, since technically, most teams “loops” weren’t actually full loops (as I like) but “arches” (as Ricko calls them), which are more approximations of loops, as seen in the UCLA style guide (although some teams did use full loops and some were full but tapered). I prefer the full loop, whereas Rick would prefer to end them under (or close to) the armpit, but either way, the appearance of a full loop is what is needed.
So, in my tweak, the Colts get full loops whereas in Ricko’s redesign, he gives them “arches” and ends them at the armpit. The New York Jets get the full treatment in redesign as do The Titans of New York, whereas Ricko would again end the loop (arch) under the arm. After looking at both of those options, perhaps neither one is perfect, but both are better than the truncated loop. As a compromise, we’d both move to taper the loops as they pass under the arm, yielding a look like this. Much better, no?
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OK. That’s it for today on this bit of uniform fixing. But you gotta give big ups to Rick Pearson for the Comp Sleeve idea. Seriously, Mr. Goodell … Are you listening?
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UW’s biggest Seahawks fan, Michael Princip has a fantastic ongoing project over at his Illustrated NFL site. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. Mike recently added a few more illustrations over in the Artists Section. Most notably, a new entry for Lon Keller and his amazing true vintage football illustrations. Michael totally digs this one of Tom Fears (80) & Elroy (Crazylegs) Hirsch (40).
Great stuff! Be sure to check that out if you haven’t already!
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UW Mystery Jersey “square” — My doubles partner and UW West Coast Correspondent Brinke Guthrie has found the latest UW mystery. Check out this Huskie…what in god’s name is that dark square on his belly? I first thought it was a sweat stain, due to the new jersey cuts (which are giving unis a weird two-tone look), but now I’m pretty sure there is more to it than that. Different material? Anyone wanna take any guesses? Neither Brinke nor I can ever remember seeing anything like that before.
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I don’t usually pay much mind to “top 10 best” or “worst” lists of uniforms. I mean, we here on UW should have the final word on that sort of thing anyway, right? But Ricko sent me this one. This one is a head shaker. Plus the guy who wrote it is either a homophobe or a bad comedian. Probably both. But check out the choices and the rationales. Here’s a typical quote: “The Dolphins uniforms should be San Fransisco’s uniforms. It’s hard to imagine a uniform that better represents fruit than these.” Right. Not quite sure how old it is, but it’s definitely not from this season. Still, this gets a huge “WTF?”
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 Our man in the street, Jim Vilk brings you his “Top 5″ Best and one WORST college football uni matchup from yesterday:
5. Wyoming/Colorado – Throwbacks save the day.
4. Florida State/BYU – Cougars matched up well with FSU…well, looks-wise, that is.
3. Florida Atlantic/South Carolina – If FAU played as good as they looked, they’d be champs.
2. Southern California/Washington – Upset game; uniforms not upsetting at all.
1. Giants vs. Colts Duke/Kansas – The greatest game ever played…in Lawrence, Kansas…this weekend.
And the baddie worst uni matchup of the weekend: Cincinnati/Oregon State – A veritable black hole.
Nice work Jim. How you couldn’t put the throwback Buff’s higher is beyond me, but hey…at least they made the list. Those helmets are the bomb.
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 Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Got another scoreboard submission from SlimandSlam today. Not quite sure about the level of difficulty, but you guys should be able to get it without too much difficulty. Stadium should be obvious, as are the teams — it only comes down to the date and the final score. Might be tricky. Ready? Guess The Game. As always, please link to the answer thru Retrosheet or Baseball Almanac. Thanks for the submission, Slim!
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 Well, the football season is in full gear now…and the boys of Benchies are back on the gridiron. I asked Rick how come Mike wears adidas, Mick wears Nike, and the defender in this clip wears Puma. Rick’s answer? “It’s just until I get my shoe contract.” Of course. Anyway, enjoy your Sunday Benchies. Bonus points to anyone who can name the sweatband manufacturer.
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And that’s a wrap for this Sunday folks. If you missed yesterday, there was a “Design A Cap Contest” you all should check out. Keep those submissions coming!
Please make sure to compliment Patrick & Fred for their efforts as today as well. Good stuff there. And for the love of god…can somebody get the NFL front offices on the line and convince them that Ricko has the answer to the disappearing sleeve? Not only would the comp sleeves solve the disappearing/shrinking stripe problems, but they’ll be able to move one more piece of merch in the process. It’s a win-win! Cheers.
September 20th, 2009
In late July I got a note from longtime reader Richard Craig, who’d stumbled upon an interesting uni-related attraction in an unlikely place:
Last weekend I was cruising through the wine country out here in California, doing a few tastings but mostly just enjoying the scenery. Driving along the Silverado Trail in Calistoga, I was just about to sail on past the Silver Rose Winery when at the last moment I noticed a little sign near the driveway. I did a double-take, hit the brakes and went inside.
It turns out that the guy who runs the winery has a private collection of football helmets that he’s recently put on display in the lobby of the winery. He’s got old leather helmets and NFL “helmet evolution” sets (check out the Redskins, Eagles, and Giants progressions at left). He also has helmets from the USFL, the CFL, the Arena league, even the XFL.
It was a surprise to find this in a winery (though if you own a winery, I’m sure you can afford a helmet collection). I got the guy’s contact info in case you’re interested in talking to him.
And that’s how I recently found myself speaking with Derrick Dumont, who, I think it’s safe to say, is the only vintner in America who also has a world-class football helmet collection. Here’s how our discussion went down:
Uni Watch: You’re obviously a football fan. Did you play football when you were younger?
Derrick Dumont: I did play Division II college, back I the early ’80s. Always loved the sport.
UW: What position?
DD: I was a receiver. Even after college, I was always looking for flag football leagues to play in. I think the last time I played in an organized flag league was about 12 years ago, when I was 37.
UW: How long have you been in the winery biz?
DD: We’ve had the property since 1985, and I joined the family business in ’93. We’re what you call a resort winery — we have a small hotel on-site with 20 guestrooms, as well as a small winery where we produce less than 2000 cases a year.
UW: And how’d you get into the helmet thing?
DD: Prior to joining the family business, I had another job that involved a lot of travel, and — well, actually, to tell the story properly, you have go back to fourth grade, when I was on my first team and my dad helped me paint all the helmets so they all matched.
UW: A Pop Warner team?
DD: This was actually just organizing our own little group to play against another elementary school. Even in our pick-up games when I was a little kid, I’d paint my own jersey out of a T-shirt so I could pretend to be a particular player.
UW: So you were thinking in uni-related terms very early on. Was that important to you, to have your helmet be just so?
DD: Yes, definitely.
UW: And when your dad helped you paint your team’s helmets, did you ask him to help you, or was it his idea? Like, was he saying that you kids needed to look good out there?
DD: No, it was me asking for his help, because I wasn’t very good at spray-painting. I designed a little “A” for our logo, because our school was called Addison. So we made a stencil, sprayed it on, and sprayed a stripe. He showed me how to do that.
UW: It must have killed you when the paint got chipped or got dirty during the game, right?
DD: No, it held up fine. Our collisions weren’t that intense.
UW: Do you still have that original helmet?
DD: No. But that’s how I got started.
UW: Did you also collect the little mini gumball helmets?
DD: Yeah, I had those for a while. And football cards. I don’t know what happened to all that stuff. Then, a few years after I got out of college, I went to visit one of my old roommates. And he had his high school helmet, plus our college helmet. And I said, “Wow, how did you get that? That is so cool!” And I thought, “I’ve gotta do that. I need to make replica helmets for all the teams I played for.”
UW: So he had made these helmets himself? He hadn’t gotten them from the schools?
DD: Exactly, he did it himself. And I thought that was the greatest thing, so I started with that, making my Pop Warner, high school junior college, and college helmets, and from there it just kinda went crazy.
UW: So all the helmets that you have displayed at the winery — you made all of those?
DD: A few of them were bought. But 95% of them I’ve made. Some of them were beat-up old helmets I found garage sales and flea markets. And when I was traveling for my old job, whenever I was in a town I’d look up the oldest sporting goods store, tell them about my project, and we’d go down in the basement and find these brand-new helmets that were 20, 30 years old.
UW: And you’d buy those?
DD: Sometimes they just gave them to me! Most of the time they’d charge me a little, almost nothing, because they didn’t know what to do with ’em. And they knew I wasn’t going to be using them on my head, or on anyone else’s head, so they felt comfortable letting them go like that. So then I’d sand them down, repaint them, and then I either painted the logo, made the logo, or was able to obtain the logo.
UW: When you say “obtain,” you mean you got a decal?
DD: Yeah. Because those are usually pretty readily available. And I’ve always tried to keep things matched up, so that I’m using the right helmet for the era of a particular logo.
UW: In other words, you wouldn’t use a 1990s Riddell helmet for a 1960s Redskins design.
DD: Exactly.
UW: And I can see from the photos that you obviously keep the facemasks era-appropriate as well.
DD: Yes. So, slowly but surely, I’ve been able to keep the collection growing, adding the USFL designs, and then the WFL from the ’70s, and the XFL. And since I was born in Canada, I’ve added the Canadian Football League, back to the ’60s. Now I’ve gotta look at this new UFL. I haven’t done any of the girls’ leagues yet.
UW: I’ve gotta get you talking with Bill Jones. He’s this guy in Texas who’s the king of gumball helmets — he makes them himself, and he’s found every obscure league you can imagine. Like, if there’s a women’s over-50 league in Australia, he’s done their helmets. And he’s always looking for more — it’s like an addiction with him. I think that’s where you’re headed.
DD: Possibly, yeah.
UW: How many helmets do you have displayed there at the winery?
DD: About 250. And I have a few hundred helmets on hand that I can make into new designs. I still have some gaps to fill — I don’t have all of the 1960 designs from the AFL, for example, and I’ve only done about half of the arena league. So it’s still a work in progress.
UW: What’s the story with the leather helmets?
DD: Those aren’t replicas — those are old, original helmets that I’ve managed to acquire. I’ve got one for every decade that leather helmets were used.
UW: When did you start displaying your helmets at the winery?
DD: In early June.
UW: Oh, so it’s a very new thing.
DD: Yes.
UW: So up until now, you’ve just been pursuing this privately, in your basement or whatever.
DD: Exactly.
UW: Did you have them displayed, like in your rec room or something like that?
DD: Some of them. But most of them were just sitting in boxes until we decided, “Well, we need something to attract people to our winery.” You know, we’re a small operation here in Napa Valley, and we need a reason for people to come to our tasting room instead of all the other ones out there.
UW: So you saw a way for your collector obsession to be put to use as a bit of marketing.
DD: Yeah, that’s what we’re hoping. Actually, we’re going through a bit of a transition here, because our goal is to become more of a wine sports bar.
UW: Does your helmet museum have an official name?
DD: Right now we’re just saying, “Silver Rose Presents 100 Years of Pro Football History.”
UW: You don’t charge admission for this, do you?
DD: No.
UW: Have you tried to promote via the local media?
DD: One of the local papers wrote something, but I haven’t really had a chance yet to publicize it. But we’ve updated our sign out front — originally it just said, “Football Helmet Museum,” but now it includes a blue helmet.
UW: So how has the response been so far? Has anyone come in specifically to see the helmets?
DD: There have definitely been people who’ve come in because they saw the sign. And a few of the locals came by when that article ran in the local paper.
UW: What about people who were coming for the wine and didn’t realize that they’d be surrounded by all these football helmets?
DD: It’s been amazingly great. People are pretty impressed — they think it’s cool. Some of them are a bit confused, they’ll say, “Why football helmets?” And we’ll just say, “Well, we want to be different than everyone else.” Other wineries might have some fancy artwork or Ansel Adams photos, but we’re kind of bucking the trend with our sweaty football helmets.
UW: I guess it really is bucking the trend, or even somewhat counterintuitive, because the standard perception is that the intersection of football and alcohol begins and ends with beer. You think of football fans drinking beer, sports bars serving beer, and obviously there’s lots of beer advertising during NFL games. When you think about football fans, you don’t usually think about wine. For that matter, when you think of wine, you don’t generally think about football.
DD: We haven’t had any problem in that regard. When people see how many helmets we have and the history behind them, they appreciate it. And I’ve put together a catalog that has a picture of every helmet on our wall, the story behind it, what style it is…
UW: Oh, you’ve put together a guide to the museum, sort of a program?
DD: Right. I’ve put together a catalog, in a binder, so people can take a look and get more information about the helmets.
UW: What about women? I’d think that the wine demographic has a higher concentration of women than you’d normally find among football fans. If a couple comes in, does the guy get all excited when he sees the helmets and then the woman is sitting there rolling her eyes?
DD: Not really. I mean, maybe a couple of times, but overall it’s been really well received. A lot better than I expected, in fact. That’s what’s been so exciting.
UW: You were worried it might not go over so well?
DD: I wasn’t 100% sure how people would take it. But I’ve been very pleasantly surprised. It’s made me proud of what I’ve accomplished.
UW: You should be! What about your family, what do they think? Are you married?
DD: Yes, and I have four boys. They all play football. In fact, everyone in the family is a football fan, including my wife.
UW: And what has she thought of your hobby over the years?
DD: She’s been pretty supportive. She’s just glad to have a little more room in the house now that I’ve moved the helmets over to the winery.
UW: What about your kids? Do they share your passion for getting a uniform just right?
DD: Yeah, when they’re getting ready for game, they have their little rituals, just like I did when I played.
UW: What sort of rituals did you have?
DD: When I was in high school, I always had to tape my shoes so they looked nice and white. I’d tape ’em up and then repaint the stripes on ’em. And I always used knee pads for my hip pads, before they got a little stricter about the padding. If I could’ve gone without padding, I probably would have.
UW: How much money would you estimate you’ve spent on this hobby over the years?
DD: Hmmmm… [Long pause.]
UW: Ballpark.
DD: I’d say I average about $30 a helmet. So that figure, times 250 helmets, means about $7500. Actually, it could have been a lot more — I’m kind of a stickler about price, so I’ve turned down some helmets that I’ve seen for sale, because I thought they were overpriced.
UW: And do those helmets now haunt your memory?
DD: Yeah. I passed up some beat-up old Riddell helmets, and now you don’t see those anymore, even on eBay.
UW: What about college football helmets? You have lots of pro leagues represented in your collection, but not much in the way of college.
DD: I’ve done a few college helmets, but only ones were I really liked the logo or the history, like the Michigan and Texas. Air Force, too. But I’ve really concentrated on pro football.
UW: What if you want to expand the museum? How much more room for on the walls do you have?
DD: I still have some open hooks…
UW: Yeah, how’d you come up with that hook system? It looks ingeniously simple.
DD: I saw something similar somewhere — where was that? Anyway, I saw something where they just had the hook in the earhole, and it gives it just a little tip especially when you’re looking up, so it works really well. I haven’t counted exactly how many open hooks I still have, but my guess would be about 20 or so.
UW: And you mentioned that you wanted to have a wine sports bar. Would that be in this same space, where the helmets are now?
DD: Yeah.
UW: And do you envision expanding that concept, where you’d have maybe a chain of these wine sports bars or something ike that?
DD: That is a possibility — replicating this concept. Especially when you have companies like Helmet Hut creating such amazing helmet product. I think I’m pretty fussy, but I think the Helmet Hut product is absolutely perfect.
UW: Do you know those guys personally?
DD: No.
UW: They’re really amazing people, and they’re such sticklers for historical details.
DD: Yeah, I’ve bought some of their helmets and have really been blown away by how authentic they are. And it’s great that they sell the old facemasks, and even the old clips for the facemasks, because those can get brittle and break, so it’s great to have a place to buy those. For someone like me, it’s a dream come true. And, actually, it’s helped me start my own custom-helmet business, which is called Your Helmet Your Way.
UW: And how is that different from Gridiron Memories?
DD: They aren’t taking the logo thing as far as I am. If someone wants to do a replica of their high school or Pop Warner helmet, I’m willing to do just one, as long as they can get me a photo. No one was really doing that, so I’ve got a little niche there. I started that a little over a year ago.
UW: And how has that gone?
DD: Surprisingly well, considering how the economy has gone. Some corporations have actually hired me to do helmets for them.
UW: You mean, like a company’s logo on a football helmet, as a promotional item, even if they never had anything to do with football?
DD: Right.
UW: Wow, you’re gonna be way past the wine business before you know it. That’s really interesting. And do you promote this operation of yours within the museum at the winery?
DD: I do have one small display for the business, yes.
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Faaaaascinating. Big thanks to Derrick for sharing his collection, and to Richard Craig for tipping me wise to this great story. But I’m still sticking with beer.
Uni Watch Stirrup Club Update: Comrade Robert Marshall has just returned from the front lines of the stirrup revolution. He offers this report of the proceedings:
1) Our third-party supplier fed me some misinformation. Turns out the cardinal stirrup is not a “standard” design but a special order, and as such it takes four weeks to produce, not two. When this is coupled with the upcoming Uni Watch vacation, we need to offer up the next selection before our current order arrives in order to stay on our monthly schedule.
2) My disappointment with our previous dealer (for numerous reasons) has led me to take steps to ensure we have a direct connection with Twin City Knitting. How will that affect things? First and foremost, it means cheaper hosiery for all, and I should also be able to accommodate a wider variation of size requests. But most importantly, it means I now have TCK’s ear, and I am already trying to work on new offerings to better satisfy the people. No matter how abstract the message may sometimes be here, do not doubt my commitment to the spread of right proper hosiery through direct action.
3) This months choices are pure chicago, with four separate offerings. That’s right, we were able to handle two, so I am going to try to offer four per month from now on. So what with the increased choices, and the previously stated changes, I beg of you, even if you think you know what to do, please read the abbreviated instructions carefully, and follow the directions precisely.
Raffle Results: The 10 winners of the Bill Henderson MLB jersey guide are Brennan Barber, Eric Buettner, Bryan Duklewski, David Frost, Rob Ullman, Chris Stoppel, Bill Sour, Chris Milea, David Jackson, and Jerry Meyerowitz. All of you should contact me asap with your shipping addresses. Thanks!
Uni Watch News Ticker: A New Jersey politician doesn’t like the Nets’ new road jersey (with thanks to Timothy Collins). … Oooh, check out the cool cartoon on the cover of this year’s Patriots media guide (with thanks to Yancy Yeater). … New Bobcats unis visible in this video clip. Apparently they’ll have pinstripes. … New logo for the 2009 FIVB Men’s Club World Volleyball Championship, to be played in Qatar in November (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … The Red Sox had to buy a vowel over the weekend (great find by Tom Mulgrew). … More slop from the UFL here (with thanks to Marc Altieri). … It’s tough to see for sure, but Gabe Greenbaum says this minor leaguer is wearing stirrups with no sannies! … Are you an artist? Wanna create something for the Marlins’ new ballpark? Then you’ll wanna take a look at this page (thanks, Kirsten). … Ray Emery’s new mask is a tribute to Philadelphia boxing (with thanks to Enrico Campitelli Jr.). … Great article saluting single-bar facemasks here (big thanks to Larry Kurtze). … Here’s one guy’s assessment of the best Steelers by uni number (with thanks to David Potter). … The saga of the A’s helmet decals continues. Looks like Adam Kennedy is back to the old helmet style, plus his decal appears to be sitting a bit low (good spot by Brandon Davis). … The Massachusetts lottery has introduced a new Patriots-themed scratch-off ticket, and Bob Kraft presented a jersey to Massachusetts State Treasurer Timothy Cahill with a “Massachusetts” NOB and the number 351, for all of the cities and towns in the state (with thanks to Scott Davis). … Excellent spot from Brent Hardman, who notes that Bengie Molina appears to have a small pocket, or something like that, sewn into the chest of his jersey. … Brent also sent along this great shot of himself and his son at Falcons training camp. “One fan dressed in full uniform (old logo) in the 90-degree heat, while the actual team was practicing in helmets and shorts,” he says.
Nineteen days isn’t so long: Beginning tomorrow, Uni Watch will go on summer hiatus through the end of August. We’ll be open for business again on September 1st. No need to send Ticker contributions during this period, although college football news is very welcome. I’ll have at least two ESPN columns running while the blog is inactive. If you want to stay up to date, sign up for my mailing list, which will keep you in the loop.
Enjoy the break — see you in a few weeks.
August 12th, 2009
 By Phil Hecken, with Rick Pearson
We haven’t heard from Ricko in a while. Well, we hear from him everyday on the boards with his anachronistic tirades and bad jokes sage advice and well placed humor. But, we haven’t had him help out with an entry in a while. He’s got a few opinions, ya know — of course, when you’re been on earth long enough to have caught the first two acts of Our American Cousin in ‘65, you tend to look at certain things and just know there’s a “right way” and a “wrong way” to do things. And then, there’s Ricko’s way. In this installment, we’re going to look at “Ricko’s Rules” as they apply to stirrups, pant lengths, cleats, alternates, and other things about the great game of baseball. As you will see below, Rick’s got his opinions on the way things should be. I may agree with some, and I may disagree with some, but you gotta admit — the man has a point. I’ll be back after you read the rules with my thoughts on this. Here’s Ricko:
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Ah, rules, don’t you hate ‘em.
So let’s call these “Rules of Thumb,” some of them anyway. Or maybe “Perspective on What Was Cool and Not Cool in the Era When Stirrups Weren’t an Optional Part of an MLB Uniform”. For this discussion, we’ll focus largely on the ‘60’s and ‘70s’, since that’s when players started individualizing the way they chose to wear their hose and britches.
From there, they’ll morph (or maybe that’s “devolve”) into some that apply to Today’s Style Guide or Lack Thereof.
Okay…
1. The Lower the Stirrup the Higher the Pants Can, and Should, Be. Exhibit A: Big Red Machine. Exhibit B: Mr. Cub. Exhibit c: Brendan Ryan (although his pants are just a smidge too short).
2. If You Pull Your Stirrups Up High, Your Pants Should Come Down to Meet Them (or even overlap them a bit). The Outman look, or Arizona State in recent CWS would have been considered Geekdom of the highest order in the waning days of the Stirrup Era. Very Little League. Hawk Harrelson, one of the earliest proponents of high stirrups and tight pants did it very well, most of the time. Even he pushed “geeky” from time to time, though. Same could be said for Vida Blue, who came along a few seasons later, who most times did the whole high stirrups/short pants thing to too much of an extreme.
3. Pants Rarely Look Good (with Stirrups) Lower Than Mid Calf. This was sorta of the routine look for a lot of nondescript MLBers at the time. Oh, some great players opted for it, but visually was just kinda “I put on my uniform and don’t care about how I look.”
4. Black Cleats Look Better With White Laces. Exceptions: Shoes with large, obvious logo identifiers, or if solid black footwear has become a team trademark. Exhibit B: Big Red Machine.
5. High or Medium Cut Cleats Should Never Be Worn With Stirrups. See Buckner, Bill, 1986 World Series (Stooooopid). If you do wear ‘em, wear stirrup-less high socks of a similar or identical color so the big, clunky things aren’t so obvious …or cover ‘em up with the pajama bottoms look. Think of your image. And if the whites are HIGH TOPS, well, cover ‘em or get over to the basketball court where you belong.
6. White Cleats Look Good Only with Stirrups and Lighter-Colored Sanitaries…or with Pajama Pants…and are Best When Part of an Overall Uni Design. Examples: Oakland A’s beginning in late ‘60s, Tequila Sunrise Astros, Padres, both Taco and pre-Taco. Marginal: Giants orange sanis with white cleats (home only) in late ‘70s, early 80’s. Bad: 1975 Phillies, 1970’s Angels and last Senators keeping regular unis and just switching to white cleats for the hell of it.
7. Sanis NEVER NEVER NEVER Darker Than (or Similar Degree of Light-to Dark as) Stirrups. As much as I enjoyed the White Sox taking a shot at it in ’69 and ’70, it still looks like they’re wearing galoshes (rubber rain boots, for those who don’t know “galoshes”).
8. Do NOT Let Stirrup-less Dark Socks Show With Light Colored Shoes. Unless you LIKE looking like an 80-year-old working in his yard in Boca Raton. Or the girls phy. ed class at Our Lady of the Perpetual Self-Gratification. Then, hey, go for it. But you really should go with pajama pants or stirrups (with light-colored sanis). I mean, seriously, think of your image.
9. Pants Way, Way High (the football pants look) is Okay But Not Let’s Get Ridiculous About It. If your pants don’t overlap your socks (which should only be low, low stirrups or stirrup-less, btw), then you should you should be playing corner for the Packers.
10. You’re Either a Sleeveless Team or You’re Not. Stop with the alternate “vests,” already. And for the love of God, if you MUST wear a vest, at least make sure the undershirt is a different color from the vest. (Although even purple sleeves don’t save that thing.)
11. Pitchers Don’t Get to Pick the Jersey du Jour. Oh, please, wear the frickin’ uniform the team says to wear. Can you imagine the havoc if such nonsense had been around during the nine-basic-combos bumblebee Pirates era, or the A’s white-gold-seafoam days? Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together… mass hysteria!
12. NEVER Dark-on-Dark. Alts appear to be here to stay. So, could we at least always have one of the teams in any game be in white or gray (depending on who’s the home team, of course)? Would avoiding this be so hard?
13. Blue Jays and Royals Need to Lose the Powder Blues at Home. Yeah, they’re fun, but — hello — those were ROAD uniforms. Says something about that era, though, doesn’t it…that many teams’ road unis were more memorable than their homes.
There you go, 13, a good place to stop.
Now, don’t beat me up too badly. This is just to give some perspective on today’s styles…based on the way things went in the years when color TV, double knit and logos-on-cleats changed the way baseball looked.
And that photo of me? At 55+ softball a couple years ago, I decided to wear as many colors as possible on my birthday. Hey, if you can’t have fun…
= = =
Other than that, how was the play? Thanks Rick, for this installment of “Ricko’s Rules.” Gotta say, I am wont to agree with almost all of your points. Although I grew up in the “high stirrup” era, I have since come around to liking the style of the generation of players immediately preceding that. Perfect example being Ernie Banks, who, no matter what year uniform he’s wearing, the stirrups were always perfect. Today’s players would do well not only to wear stirrups, but to emulate Mr. Cub.
I note Rick didn’t address some things I’d consider “my rules,” although if anyone were to ask me, (but no one did), I’ll tell you a couple anyway. 1) PINSTRIPES do NOT belong on a road uni. Period. No exceptions. As a codicil to this rule, I would add also that pinstripes do not belong on vests. 2) “Vests” as they exist today should be eliminated. They are not vests, but rather sleeveless jerseys. And, 3) A uniform is just that — Those wearing it should also be uniform. I know I’m in the minority, but I don’t mind if a team has a certain “look,” but I hate it when individual players feel they can go styling every which way — you say it’s individuality, and you’re right — but it’s a team game. Dress like a team, not 25 individuals who happen to roughly resemble each other. I’d rather 25 guys ALL dressed like ManRam than to have 25 different stylists all dressing as they see fit. I’m sure most of you disagree with me on that one, but that’s my rule. The aforepictured Colorado Rockies violate all three of these rules in one fell swoop. In fact, if I were to ever have to nominate a “worst baseball uniform ever,” that would certainly be a nominee. I have more rules, but I’ll leave you with those three.
So what do you guys think? Do you agree or disagree with the sage prophet of Uni Watch? Do you have any “rules” of your own? Let’s hear it. I’m sure Ricko will be back with more rules for other sports too, so if baseball stirrups and cleats aren’t your thing, fear not.
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 Research Request: In working on Ricko’s Rules, Mr. Pearson told me he’s 99.99% certain that during an All Star Game, at least one Cleveland Indians player sported a monochrome blue uniform(!). Now, most of you are aware that during the 1970’s, the Indians did sport the infamous all-red uniform from 1975 thru 1977. However, I was unaware they ever wore an all-blue get up. If they did wear such a thing, it most likely would have been during the same years, although the Indians wore a blue jersey from 1975 through 1985. What I’m looking for, particularly from you guys who have past All Star Games on tape or dvd, or anyone who may remember this, is photographic evidence of the all-blue uniform. If such a beast does exist, please either post it in the comments or shoot me an e-mail. Thanks!
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Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: In honor of today’s “guest speaker,” I actually found a scoreboard that may predate Ricko. While you can probably easily figure out the year and the location, the actual date of the game may prove more difficult. As always, date, location & final score please, and do let us know how you went about figuring it out. OK? Guess The Game.
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And, since today’s topic deals with, among other things, the wrong way to wear stirrups, today’s “Benchies” is rather apropos. Check out Mick — he’s the one on the right — and his lower leg stylings, which are in stark contrast to the big guy, Mike, seated next to him. Here’s Today’s Benchies. Enjoy.
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 It’s almost that time again, as we head for the homestretch of the final third of the season — the time when you know whether your team is a contender or a pretender. Sadly, it looks like the Mets are playing the role of pretender this year. And I, for one, lay partial blame on the uniforms. As of last night, they had worn the black caps and jerseys six straight games, dropping five. Tell me there’s not bad karma there. Of course, they could have worn orange unis and the results would probably have been the same. They’ve also decided to drop their practice of wearing the pinstripes on Sundays. Don’t ask me why, it’s only their “official” home uniform. But there is probably some cause and effect thing going on there too. Or maybe not. But hey, that’s why the OCD among us track the uniforms. And now it’s time for the second round. Response to the first call for “uni trackers” was tremendous, and I’m interested to see how everyone’s team is faring now that we’re almost 2/3rds of the way through the season. So, if you’re one of the many insane dedicated people who put yourselves through this exercise, contact me this week and I’ll think about how we’ll go about round 2 of the tracking. I think we need to keep the “replies” a bit shorter, but we still need the important info. I’ll come up with “guidelines” in the next week, and let you know when the next round (figure the second weekend in August) will transpire. Thanks to everyone who has participated thus far. I look forward to your updated tracking and trends. When you send me your email, please put Uni Tracking in the “subject” line. OK? OK.
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Have a great Saturday everyone! Sic semper tyrannis!
July 25th, 2009
Back in 1998 I began writing a travel column for Money magazine, called “Lost in America,” and one of the first columns I wrote was about regional bowling subcultures scattered across the country.
I focused on candlepin bowling in New England, duckpin bowling in Baltimore (yes, I know it’s also played in a few other areas; we’ll get to that in a minute), and feather bowling in Detroit. If I’d had more room, I would have included mini-bowling in Milwaukee. And if the column’s concept hadn’t been restricted to American travel, I also would have included Canadian five-pin bowling.
Or to put it another way, I know a thing or two about regional bowling variations (look, I even have this little display in my living room). But I sure don’t know everything, a point that was driven home when reader Tom Konecny recently sent me an article from the May issue of Texas Co-op Power magazine, which featured an article on a variety of pin-bashing I hadn’t been aware of: kingpins, also known as Texas ninepins.
Ninepins is actually an older game than our more familiar tenpins. Aesthetically speaking, the game is distinguished by its diamond-shaped rack of pins with a red pin in the center, or sometimes just a red-necked pin. As you can see in that last shot, the pins don’t line up on the traditional tenpin spots; this, along with the necessity of having the red pin in the center, means that the pins always have to be racked by hand, not by machine.
According to the article Tom sent me, which you can read here (just click on each thumbnail and then click on “All Sizes” for a full-size version of each page; for additional info on the game’s background and rules, look here and here), the game is played at exactly 19 venues in the central Texas region that was settled by Germans two centuries ago. I knew we had these people to thank for the wonderful hot links featured at Texas barbecue joints, but I didn’t know one of their early forms of bowling was still being played today.
Anyone out there ever bowled at one of these establishments? Details, please.
Meanwhile, as long as we’re talking about regional bowling variations, here’s something interesting: Doug Keklak recently sent me a video link for some local TV coverage of a duckpins tournament near his hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Seemed routine enough, until I clicked on the link and found that this wasn’t regular duckpins — it was rubber band duckpins, a ducks variation I’d read about but never actually seen. The rubber bands are never used in Baltimore; are they standard-issue for ducks in western PA (and/or in Indiana, another ducks mini-scene)?
As you may have noticed in one of the earlier photos I linked to, rubber bands are also used in Canadian fivepins. In both cases, the idea is to make the pins bouncier and lead to higher scores, because both games are extremely difficult (fivepins because there are only five pins, duckpins because the ball and pins are so small). Candlepins is just as tricky, but to my knowledge there’s never any use of rubber bands or anything else to boost scoring.
All of which is to say: There’s a lot more to bowling than just drinking beer while you hurl a ball at a bunch of innocent little pins. Okay, maybe not a lot more, but probably more than most folks realize.
Uni Watch Road Trip Update, Hon: Hey, speaking of regional bowling scenes, Kirsten and I are gonna be swinging through Baltimore next month, so the long-promised Charm City Uni Watch party will finally take place. Mark it down for June 17th, 7pm. Haven’t settled on a venue yet; ideally, I’d like it to be at an old duckpins house (not one of those newfangled AMF facilities). This place dates back to 1927 and looks good from the outside, but I was disappointed to see how they’ve updated it with all sorts of nonsense on the inside. What I’m basically looking for is a place like the old Southway Lanes, which is now gone. Are there any places like that still left?
Fool’s Gold, continued: Reader Jonathan Eskridge recently visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame and took lots of photos — including, of course, a shot of Doak Walker’s 1953 uniform, complete with the controversial gold helmet. Two other people have weighed in with new thoughts on that one:
• From Helmet Hut historian Jim Parker: “After reviewing [Larry Bodnovich's] screen grabs [which showed lots of gold helmets in a 1953 Lions game], it seems to me that many of the helmets in these photos do indeed appear silver, as I would have expected. If you look closely, you will find that the silver helmets are not Riddell model ‘RT’ helmets and as such are painted on the exterior or outside surface.” In other words, Jim believes — and I agree — that all the helmets were painted silver, but the Riddell RTs were painted on the inside and ended up appearing gold as the plastic helmet shells yellowed with age.
• From clear-helmet expert/DIYer Jeff Fedenko (who was profiled on the site a year ago): “I concur with your thoughts that the clear-shell helmets look gold regardless of what was intended, but I also agree with Jim Parker (a native of Detroit who saw the Lions helmets in person) that the helmets were actually silver. I know that more recent (1970s) clear shells provide a definite change of hue, which is evident in person and in photos or on TV. For example, if you compare a photo of Roger Staubach’s MaxPro clear shell helmet in Super Bowl XII with a painted helmet, there is a luminous effect with the clear shell. Another good example, discussed in the comments, was New Englad’s Pat Patriot-era MacGregor helmets, which also gave off a luminous or grayish hue compared to the painted and impregnated helmets. Also, I have heard that Riddell’s tenite plastic had an initial yellowish tint that only became stronger over time.”
So I think we’ve settled this one: The Lions never intended to wear gold helmets, but many of their players in the early 1950s nonetheless wore gold (or gold-seeming) helmets anyway, because they were painted from the inside on clear shells that yellowed with age. Okay? Okay.
Hey, remember these?: Things have been slow-ish over at the Uni Watch Membership Program lately, and that’s been fine with me, because I was mildly berserk with the Candela project. Now that that’s settled, this is a good time to remind you that you too can have your card proudly displayed in the membership card gallery if you sign up now. Or later, actually.
Also, don’t forget that the Uni Watch Classifieds page remains open for business. Okay (again)? Okay (again).
Uni Watch News Ticker: We begin today with several Japanese baseball items from Jeremy Brahm. First, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters have just released their “We Love Hokkaido” uniform, which will be worn in nine games, six of which are in cities outside Sapporo in Hokkaido (it’s normal for teams to play home games in nearby cities to promote the game). … Next, the Tokyo Yakult Swallows are celebrating the 40th anniversary of Yakult buying the team in 1969 by wearing Kokutetsu Swallows throwbacks (the team’s original name) for six home interleague games. Here’s the cap and rear view. … Third, the Yomiuri Giants are running an interesting promotion on June 7th. The first 5,000 fans who wear the team’s uniform to the game will receive this sticker sheet. … And finally, Jeremy has found more photos of early Japanese baseball teams in Seattle, dating back to 1920, 1919, 1917, 1912 (here’s another from that same year), 1911, 1910, and even 1907. Also, note the amazing sweaters worn by this squad. … Oh, and in that same photo archive, Jeremy found a cool shot of this 1908 women’s baseball team. … Do the NY Giants know that another team is wearing their socks? (As spotted by Brendon Yarian). … Now that’s a doozy (with thanks to James Crossman). … If you liked these, you love these (with thanks to John Muir). … New uni set for the Janaese national volleyball team (Jeremy Brahm again, as if you didn’t know). … FNOB alert (with thanks to Eric Stangel). … Always interesting to see softball faceguards. That’s Glen Oak High in North Canton, Ohio (with thanks to Brandon Yarian). … Not positive, but I think I linked to this page of “creative” softball pants a month or two ago. I didn’t realize, however, that the site also includes some much more outlandish concepts (with thanks to Brian Flynn-Kocourek). … Brett Klopp was in DC last weekend and caught a few of the Phils/Nats games. “Before Sunday’s game I noticed that the tarp covering the mound was emblazoned with a Miller Lite ad — first time I’ve seen something like that,” he says. “Also, the Nats have large banners above their CF pavlion area with the team logos for each league. At first glance they appear to be in alphabetical order by city name, but both signs have alphabetizing errors. On the NL side, Cincinnati should be before Colorado and San Diego should be before San Francisco. And for the AL, Chicago should be before Cleveland and Tampa Bay should be before Toronto. Can’t the Nats get anything right?” … Did anyone wonder what the Steelers would look like if they wore a white helmet like the one Ryan Connelly DIY’d? Ronnie Poore did. … Awesome 1917 military baseball uni, with detachable sleeves, here. … You’ve heard of media whores? How about media-savvy whores? (Big thanks to my Page 2 colleague DJ Gallo.) … Hey look, MLB equipment managers have their own association (with thanks to Jason Van Noord). … Hmmm, subtle. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Check out the awesome Zack Greinke T-shirt the Royals will be giving away on June 16th. … A while back I wrote about how Milwaukee Braves fans were allowed to bring beer into the ballpark. Here’s a Pirates fan doing the same at Forbes Field (with thanks to Lance Smith). … Uniform historian Marc Okkonen has just released his latest book (not uni-related but still fascinating): 2,000 Cups of Coffee 1900-1949: Players Who Appeared in 10 Games or Less in the Major Leagues in the First Half of the 20th Century. At present it’s only available as a PDF download for SABR members. Not sure if/when it’ll get wider distribution. … More Japanese baseball news from Jeremy: The Rakuten Golden Eagles will wear this design for interleague games. … Tyler Kepner noticed a small paint adjustment at Yankee Stadium (although he later e-mailed me to say, “Techinically, it’s vinyl, not paint”). … A new swimming record may not count, because the swimmer’s suit may be against the rules (that’s it, I’m just turning over the whole Ticker to Jeremy). … Brad Wasserman spotted my namesake on a movie poster. … Daniel Murphy had to borrow a first baseman’s mitt last night. … Two items of note here: (1) Apotrophe catastrophe-o-rama. Seriously, are these people illiterate or what? And (2) Look at the lining of that jacket.
May 21st, 2009
Back on April 27th, I ran a Ticker item about this page from a 1958 MacGregor catalog. “Dig item G914,” I wrote. “Who’s Ted Sowle?” A reader helped fill in some of the blanks with this comment, but that didn’t address the question of the headgear shown in the old catalog. Had Sowle designed it, or had it been named after him for some other reason?
I got an answer a few days later, when I received an e-mail from one Ted Sowle. But no, not that Ted Sowle. Here’s what the note said:
Ted Sowle was my grandfather. He passed away in 1971, just before I was born. I was researching his past when I came across your question about him. … He holds many patents regarding the safety of, primarily, football athletes. A very creative guy and a hell of a football coach (was asked to coach for Notre Dame but turned it down, or so I’m told).
Ted offered to send me some of his grandfather’s patents — an offer I readily accepted. And sure enough, he designed the eyewear protector shown in the old catalog page (you can see the rest of that patent’s paperwork here). That design was apparently a refinement of a similar contraption he’d patented nine years earlier (full paperwork here).
Ted sent me nine patents in all, and they fell into three broad categories. The two designs I just showed you related to eyewear protection. There were also two harnesses, patented less than a year apart, that were designed to provide hip and body protection for football players, although the gear kinda looks more like S&M fetishwear (full paperwork here and here).
The other five patents were all faceguard-related, and that’s where things got interesting. Remember these photos from the Life archive? That’s the first thing I thought of when I saw this (paperwork), this (paperwork), and this (paperwork). But the Life photo sequence is from 1951, while Sowle’s patents are from several years later (and, as I eventually discovered when I read the fine print, are not based on a plexiglass concept).
Sowle’s other two facemask patents, which he received in the 1960s, featured pivoting action — one for a single pivot-mounted bar (paperwork) and the other for a slightly more elaborate assembly (paperwork).
Looks like ol’ Ted was quite the inventer. Had he been a trained engineer or designer, or did he just link to tinker? “Not an engineer — just a coach who cared, I guess,” said the younger Ted.
Amazing stuff, right? Very DIY, when you think about it. Meanwhile, I had lots of additional questions: Did Sowle patent other inventions? Did any of his designs gain widespread acceptance? Were there any designs that he felt were unjustly ignored or underrated? Did he design any non-sports items?
At this point Ted referred me to his father (the elder Ted’s son), who he said would be better equipped to answer these queries. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard back from him yet, but I’ll post some follow-up material if and when he responds. Until then, enjoy these beautiful patent drawings and be on the lookout for other mentions of Ted Sowle in vintage equipment listings.
The advertiser I’ve always dreamed of: As you may have noticed, we now have a dedicated stirrup and sock vendor selling quality hosiery over in the left rail. That would be the aptly named Socks Rock, and I don’t mind saying this is pretty much my dream come true in terms of site sponsorship. Please welcome them aboard and give them a look. Thanks.
Bobble Shoppe Reminder: In case you missed it last week, the amazing Robert Marshall is now offering hand-casted, custom-painted bobblehead dolls to Uni Watch readers. For details, look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Our friends at Ebbets Field Flannels have started a new blog devoted to uni-related issues. Best of luck with the new venture, Jerry. … Small item buried within this column: “Man of the Weekend was Red Bulls forward John Wolyniec. As seen on MSG, the Staten Island native and former Fordham star was set to enter as a sub, Friday, when he removed his warm-up jacket to reveal a red jersey. His team, however, was wearing its white jerseys. Wolyniec quickly changed, entered” (with thanks to Joshua Paster). … Reprinted from Monday’s comments: This must have been a very odd ballgame. Additional info here. … Good find by Gabe Butler, who writes: “I was browsing on eBay this morning when I stumbled across this replica jersey for a team that played in my hometown in the late 1960s and ’70s. My dad actually played for their junior team before they folded and still has his jersey hanging up at home! Anyway, I read the thread and the guy said he got the jersey made at this site. I poked around it looks like they have some pretty cool stuff.” Indeed — worth investigating. … Those Yankees, nothing but class. … Interesting background info on the 49ers’ new sleeve stripes here (with thanks to Tim Fesmire). … Ryan Connelly recently realized one of his longtime dreams by playing — and scoring a goal! — on the Mellon Arena ice. Photos here. … And so it has come to this: The swoosh has infiltrated the Presidential sock drawer. … Y’know, there are some problems that even striped stirrups can’t solve (with thanks to Chris Chaussee). … Lots of apostrophe catastrophe action over on NHL.com (as spotted by James Huening). … The IFAF (that’s World Federation of American Football) is will be holding its Junior World Championship tournament in Canton, starting in late June. Lots of not-very-inspiring uni photos here (with thanks to Tom Pachuta). … Menswear designer Paul Smith is a cycling enthusiast, and he L.A. shop now has an exhibition of cycling jerseys. Addition info in the second graf of this story (thanks, Vince). … If you’ve always wanted to see Alex Ovechkin in a football helmet, this is your lucky day (with thanks to Ethan Crooks). … Here’s a major, major find: Over 60 photos from the Expos’ very first game (über-thanks to Jean Gagnier). … Here’s Rob Ullman’s latest, a portrait of Tyler Kulasza’s girlfriend, Emily. Love the low-rise Chucks! … Maybe this is common knowledge, but not to me: For a while, Rick DePietro’s mask featured a depiction of Madison Square Garden (left photo, the ear panel). Apparently the mask was later sent back for a touch-up (good spot by Joe DeAngelis). … Really wonderful slideshow of vintage baseball photos here — highly recommended (big thanks to Mike Couillard). … Pricey, but possibly probably worth it. … Nice mash note to the old Bengals identity program here. … Great article in yesterday’s Ausin American-Statesman about Len Barrell’s 1914 uniform (with thanks to Martin Kohout). … New football uniforms for South Alabama (with thanks to Doug Simpson). … New Celtic International away kit (with thanks to JK Chaney). … What happened to the ball that Bobby Thompson hit for his famous home run in 1951? We’ll never know for sure, but there’s a new book that explores the likely answer, and Ken Davidoff has written a very interesting review of it. … Uni number news for the Patriots (with thanks to Tom Adjemian). … Lots of interesting sock action and the Mid-Penn Conference Track and Field Championships (with thanks to Ryan Farrell). … Hey, guess what, some uniforms are ugly (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Petersburg, Indiana, is the hometown of Gil Hodges, and now it’s also the home of a big Hodges mural. Those pics were taken by Ryan Bowman, who notes that the mural appears to show Hodges wearing a white Dodgers jersey with blue placket piping, which is a design the Dodgers never wore during Hodges’s tenure, although they did wear a road grays with that design. Further info on the mural here. … Look, it’s a bunch of new Bundesliga kits (with thanks to Alex Peerenboom). … Fun rundown of “mistaken identity” baseball cards here. … Hey, check this out: stirrups vs. stirrups! That’s Cleveland pitcher Jeremy Sowers (whose hosiery heroics were first mentioned here last week) and Corky Miller of the Chisox (whose membership in Stirrup Nation is news to me) facing each other last night. … And if that weren’t enough, Luke Hochevar made his debut with the Royals last night, and look what he was wearing. There’s definitely a little trendlet at work here — I think the hosiery pendulum may finally be ready to start swing back the other way (thanks, Phil). … Also from Phil: Alex Cora played first base in the 10th inning of last night’s Mets/Braves game and apparently didn’t have a first baseman’s glove of his own to wear. Phil breaks down the proceedings: “He warmed up with a light brown mitt, then got handed a darker brown mitt, which he didn’t like and threw back. After that, he motioned to the dugout to look for his glove and then called time as the first batter (Chipper) was stepping in. Then he jogged to the dugout and came back with a regular fielder’s glove, which he wore for the entire inning, including while holding Chipper on at first.”
May 13th, 2009
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