Athletics aesthetics doesn’t get much better-looking, or more fun, than yesterday’s NHL Winter Classic. The Penguins looked totally friggin’ awesome; the Sabres looked totally friggin’ awesome. You had just enough snow to be beautiful but not enough to ruin the game, you had hockey players wearing eye black, you had officials wearing those not-quite-ski-mask thingies, you had Buffalo goalie Ryan Miller wearing a Sabres sock turned into a toque (apparently by these guys), you had Sergei Gonchar wearing a little towel on the back of his right glove so he could wipe the snow off his visor (kudos to Sean Doherty for catching that one), and you had lots of people smiling (that’s Buffalo’s backup goalie, Joceclyn Thibault). Hell, you even had the gorgeous panorama of Buffalo, and let’s face it, how often are you gonna hear those words in the same sentence?

In short, the whole thing was a hoot. Okay, so the goalies didn’t wear plain brown pads after all, which was a mild letdown, but that’s the only bad thing I have to say about this event. Kudos to all involved, and let’s do it again as soon as possible.

Incidentally, we’ve now had hockey in the snow, football in the snow, and baseball in the snow all within the past nine months. All we need now is a snowy NBA game (which, at the very least, would probably lead to some high-sock action), an idea I offer to David Stern at no extra charge.

Latest Reason to Take the Gas Pipe: I have a friend who recently got a management job with Nike, and she’s been working at the big NikeTown store in Manhattan. She tells me that the sales associates who work the floor (there are about 50 of them) have an interesting ritual before the store opens each morning: They gather around and put their hands together in the center of the bunch, like a football team before a game. Then they chant — and I’m not making this up — “Just do it! Just do it! Just do it! SWOOSH!!” And they raise their arms while saying that last word.

And people wonder why we’re getting our asses kicked in the global economy.

Uni Watch News Ticker: This page has a great video clip of the Lakers talking about their short shorts prior to Sunday night’s game (big thanks to Ty Nowell). … And according to this story, the Lakers had to get the shorts made by a local supplier, because — get this — Adidas “did not have a physical pattern for them.” Good thing Adidas is, y’know, a big-time apparel manufacturer. … Just when you thought you’d seen everything: plaid basketball shorts. The team is the Buchan Bakers, a barnstorming squad from the 1950s. Details here (with thanks to, uh, someone whose e-mail I accidentally deleted — whoever you are, please get in touch so I can give you proper credit). … I love the Packers’ uniforms, but this is a bit much. … Too much information. … Matt Benz notes that one of the refs in Saturday’s Oilers/Wild game had thin white stripes on his pants. “He had no number on back of his jersey either,” writes Matt, “he must have had his bag misplaced by the airlines.” … Michael Romero notes that Chad Henne’s Capital One Bowl patch was coming loose yesterday (plus he sent along a screen grab of New Year’s Day’s best bowl uni). … Michael Rich notes that Fresno State appears to have merit decals in three different colors. Anyone know what their system is all about? … According to this page, Kentucky will have new football uniforms next season (with thanks to Derrick Jewell). … Interesting soccer note from Jeremy Brahm, who writes: ” Normally when a soccer team wins a cup or championship, they will have the trophy ceremony right after the match and the players will still be in uniform to accept their trophy or medal. But the Kashima Antlers did something a little odd on New Year’s Day, when they won the Emperor’s Cup in Japan. During the match, which they won, the Antlers wore their road grays; but for the trophy awarding, they wore their home uniform on top of their road shorts.” … Enough already with all the patches. … Uni Watch mascots Tucker and Caitlin’s new year’s resolution: more snuggling!

There was a classic moment during yesterday’s press conference to unveil the Blue Jays’ new road and alternate uniforms. It came when they trotted out old-timers Lloyd Moseby and John Mayberry to model the team’s new 1979 powder blue throwbacks, which will be worn for Friday home games. At one point Moseby was asked what it felt like when he first wore that uniform back in the day. The prop boy must not have been holding the cue cards high enough for Moseby to see, because instead of giving a scripted reply, he chose to ad lib: “The uniform sucked, okay? So we ain’t gonna go there.”

After a moment of nervous laughter from the audience, followed by a beat or two of silence, Moseby added, “’Course, it was big to put on any uniform,” but it was too late — his point had been made, namely that these things were ugly back then and they’re still ugly now. I know many of you have some sort of nostalgic and/or kitschy fascination with this uniform, but come on — it’s totally minor league. With the centered crest and the pullover style, it looks and feels more like a hockey jersey than a baseball jersey. Plus they’ll be wearing it at home, which means we’ll be treated to blue-vs.-gray games — ugh. (Moseby, incidentally, gave some additional choice comments about the design to a Canadian reporter after the unveiling ceremony.)

While the original design had pants with a double-snap waistband, the throwback has more traditional belted pants (Moseby approved of this change: “When dirt got in your snaps, they wouldn’t work”). The mock-up in the MLB Style Guide shows a striped belt, presumably to simulate the striped waistband, but the belts at the unveiling were solid blue, which is probably for the best. On the other hand, I give them credit for sticking to one aspect of the original design: NNOB.

As for the new road jersey, I like it. Yeah, it doesn’t match the home design, but I count that as a plus, because the home design blows. I see at least four reasons to like this revision: 1) vertically arched lettering; 2) the ascension of blue from trim color to main color; 3) uni numbers finally appearing on the front of the jersey; 4) a pretty cool number font (soooooo much better than the old one). Problems? I count one: They’ve retained the super-clunky NOB typography. But at least it’s blue now, which is mild improvement. Now if we could just get them to wear a blue cap.

Finally, if you believe in omens, there was a bad one: The “N” in “Toronto” is supposed to look like this, with the shadowed side of the bevel down and to the right. But the “N” on the jersey that Jeremy Accardo was wearing was upside-down. Nice going, guys.

(Special thanks to the Chris Creamer board, where many of the above-linked photos were first posted.)

Uni Watch News Ticker: Homeless man update from Mike Hennessy, who writes: “At a news conference sometime over the weekend, Belichick wore his regular sweatshirt with the hood cut off. I think with this he has hit rock bottom.” … Speaking of Belichick, for a few weeks now his headband has featured a Pats logo that I haven’t seen elsewhere. I kinda like it, especially since the “New England” part of the team’s name usually doesn’t get much play. Anyone know more about this logo? … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Steve Smith threw his cleats into the crowd after Sunday’s game. … Great catch by Jeremy Iwen, who noticed that the first “R” in Dominique Barber’s nameplate was backwards a few weeks back. … Ray Lewis memorialized Sean Taylor on his eye black last night.

Major typo in the English Premier League yesterday, as David Bentley of Blackburn played an entire match with “Betnley” on his back (plus it wasn’t exactly the most graceful arc). As Dan Winkler explains, “David Bentley is one of Blackburn’s best players. He’s been with them for a few years and, in fact, scored a hat trick against Man U a few years ago, so it’s not like he’s the soccer equivalent of a September call-up or was just acquired in a trade. That’s what makes this mistake especially odd.”

By coincidence, there’s another EPL typo of sorts unfolding these days. It involves West Ham’s John Paintsil. Reader Iain Landon explains:

When Paintsil signed with West Ham from the Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv, all of his documentation, including his UK travel paperwork and work permit, had his name as ‘Pantsil’ — note the missing ‘i.’ According to English FA regulations, the name on his shirt has to match his registration, so John Paintsil has become John Pantsil. He only has a handful of appearances for West Ham so far this season, so I haven’t been able to find a photo, but the details of the story are verified here and here.

Meanwhile, back on our side of the pond:

• The Chargers’ season-long streak of having at least one player without an American flag decal was kept intact, as Chris Chambers was flag-free for the third week in a row. LaDainian Tomlinson, however, was flag-clad for the second consecutive week.

• Speaking of the Chargers, someone needs to tell Antonio Cromartie that men don’t look good in sheer hose.

• And speaking of hosiery, Dwight Smith had some serious sock layers going on.

• Charles Woodson, who’s been pushing the uni-related envelope all season, really outdid himself yesterday. Was he wearing tzitzit or what?

• I remain opposed to this look for the Giants, but there were a few interesting details. As Joe Skiba had promised, the “ny” nose bumper logo, which is usually blue outlined in red, was red outlined in blue. And yeah, okay, I can deal with red gloves, red shoelaces, and red undersleeves, but red spats? Enough already. (That player, incidentally, was Kawika Mitchell, and the screen grab comes courtesy of Randy Williams.)

Uni Watch News Ticker: Where do college football uniforms go after they’ve been used? Often to Europe, as seen with this Mississippi State jersey being used by the London Olympians, and this Duke jersey worn by the Coventry Cassidy Jets (also note the personalized “MOM” memorial, all found by Stefan Schubert). … Tons of great historical baseball pics in the New York Public Library’s A.G. Spalding Collection (with thanks to John Ervin). … I’m trying to figure out how they’re going to screw this up. … Hannah Krug notes that the Princeton women’s hoops team has their logo in an interesting spot. “The worst part is that it doesn’t even look like a tiger,” she says. “I’m more reminded of a mole rat.” She also notes that Maryland’s jerseys have a normal back, but Marissa Coleman ties her up into a faux racer back. … The Kitchener Rangers wore special Remembrance Day jerseys on Sunday (with thanks to AJ Brandt). … And CFL teams wore poppy decals yesterday (with thanks to Tim Capper for the screen grab). … Not positive about this, but I think Miguel Cotto is the first fighter I’ve seen with a boxing glove depicted on his waistband (it’s on the back, too). … Cal wore really nice throwbacks (which are now being auctioned off) on Saturday. …Mild hilarity on Saturday night, as Trevor Fulkerson wrote to tell me that an Angels turn-ahead-the-clock jersey was up for auction on eBay. Exactly 21 minutes later, David Linder wrote to tell me that he was the winning (and, incredibly, only) bidder. … “I was browsing through a photo gallery of the 1930 World Cup and ran across this picture of the team from Bolivia,” writes Chuck Nolan Jr. “I assumed they were just wearing special shirts for the team portrait, but then I saw this photo , which would seem to confirm that they wore the shirts during the game.” … It’s amazing how Georgia’s black jersey (which I was fine with) really accentuated the black pants stripe, which up until now I’d barely even noticed. … Awesome socks being worn by Dorchester High in Boston (with thanks to Skott Daltonic). … Duke wore throwback jerseys and helmets on Saturday but ruined it by going monochromatic. … Sure didn’t take long for eye-black messages to go from this to this (that’s Mississippi State’s Eric Butler, as spotted by John Wilmoth). … Mark Graban found an interesting old pic of Donny Baseball with mismatched numerals on his helmet brim. Not only that, but look closer at it appears that the “3″ was applied over the “2.” … Jeremy Kaufman notes that Michigan State’s Mark Dell has “Focus” written on his wrist tape. … not a good idea. … The 49ers are already wearing a memorial helmet decal for Bill Walsh. Will they add another one tonight for former coach Dick Nolan, who died yesterday? … Fascinating note from Morris Levin, who writes: ” Topps just released its 2007 Update & Highlights set (it’s what used to be “Topps Traded”). Check out the cards for Francisco Rosario and Kyle Lohse. They must not have had game pics in Phillies jerseys because the uniforms are clearly airbrushed. Rosario is wearing his black Blue
Jays cleats, but more telling is the team wordmark on the front. The Topps art department placed a Phillies logo in there and neglected to remove the underline, which is part of the official logo but does not appear on the jerseys.”

Long-Overdue Thanks: About two months ago, after we changed web-hosting companies, I asked for volunteers to help fix all the non-ASCII characters that had gotten garbled during the server changeover. Six readers answered the call, which was great — and I failed to publicly acknowledge them until now, which is not so great. So for the record, I owe a big debt of gratitude to Chris Schoenthal, Chris Roberts, Mark McGinnis, Matt Edwards, Forrest Carpenter, and Kyle Joecken. Mea culpa for not thanking them until now.

New ESPN column today — here’s the link.

Meanwhile: In Monday’s Ticker I mentioned the Florida State League All-Star Game, where players wore generic all-star unis instead of their regular team designs. That led to a note from Doug TKTK, who informed me that the single-A Carolina and California Leagues have their respective all-stars play each other, with league uniforms. That discovery in turn led me to this page, which has a surprising amount of info about the past few years’ worth of minor league all-star games — and that’s where things got interesting.

For starters, I learned that although the Florida State League wore those awful East and West unis this year (there’s a full gallery here), the FSL stars wore their regular team unis last year and the year before that (which means some idiot had to go out of his way to create those East and West disasters they wore this time around).

That got me curious about some of the other low-level minor league all-star games, so I started combing through the archives. For the most part, the leagues have their players wear their regular team designs, but there were some exceptions and inconsistencies, as follows:

• NY-Penn League (short-season A): Standard team uniforms in 2005. Odd move last year, however, as players wore the jerseys of their parent clubs (this was actually discussed here on the blog at the time, but I’d forgotten about it). This year’s game isn’t until August, so we’ll have to wait and see how they handle it.

• California and Carolina Leagues (A): 2007: As noted above, these leagues had their players wear league-branded uniforms this year (check out the awesome star-patterned uni numbers on the California jerseys, shown at the top of this page and visible at full size in this gallery). It’s not clear what the players wore last year, but in 2005 they had regular team uniforms, so the league unis are apparently a fairly new thing.

It’s worth remembering, incidentally, that the “real” All-Star Game hasn’t always featured regular team uni designs. For the inaugural mid-season classic in 1933, the American League stars wore their regular uniforms, but the National Leaguers wore special all-star attire.

Incidentally, in the course of my research I discovered a historical all-star oddity that I’m currently trying to figure out. More details, I hope, tomorrow.

Raffle Reminder: The drawing for the free copy of the 2001 MLB Style Guide will take place tonight (after I get back from seeing this guy). Entries — one per person, please — can be e-mailed here and will be accepted until 10 pm eastern. I’ll announce the winner tomorrow. And remember, everyone who’s signed up for membership automatically gets three bonus entries.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Give ‘Em an Inch Dept.: First NFL coaches get the right to wear suits, and the next thing you know Rams coach Scott Linehan is walking around in a Russell polo shirt (nice catch by Mike Korczynski). … Haven’t oohed and ahhed about this guy in a while. … A little birdie tells me the 49ers will probably be switching to black shoes this season. … The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yanks will wear Pocono Raceway jerseys next month. … This smeared eye black thing — as shown in these pics of Alfredo Amezaga, both taken yesterday — is getting seriously out of hand (with thanks to Perry Gattegno). … Reprinted from last night’s comments: In response to yesterday’s Ticker item about Reggie Jackson wearing a Mariners uni for the AL team portrait prior to the 1979 All-Star Game, Steve J. Rogers came up with the portrait, and sure enough, there’s Reggie. … Greg Hanson and his buddies play a video game called Forza Motorsport, and some of them have created some pretty cool team-based car designs. As usual, I know zero about video games, but I like the designs, so I’ve put a bunch of them in this gallery. … Lucas Burdick provided these shots of Scott Eyre and Willie Eyre wearing odd Cubs/Rangers combo jerseys, apparently as part of an Illinois Sate Lottery commercial. No script, unfortunately — anyone know the supposedly storyline here? … Jeremy Brahm reports that Brazil’s teams will wear these uniforms in the Pan Am Games. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The NHL has officially decided to stick with dark at home, white on the road (scroll down to the last graf of this page). … Kevin Gee says that when Reggie Willits came to bat left-handed in the bottom of the 7th in last night’s Angels/Astros game, he was initially wearing a right-handed batting helmet (he’d been hitting right-handed all game up to that point, but the ‘Stros had just brought in a righty pitcher). “Brad Ausmus [the Houston catcher] patted him on the head and reminded him he was wearing the wrong helmet, prompting him to go back to the dugout and get another one,” says Kevin. Unfortunately, the Anaheim broadcast, which is the only one I have access to, cut away to an aerial shot while this was happening. Did anyone in Houston happen to Tivo the game?

As you can see, the ticket stub shown at right is from 34 years ago, almost to the day. That date happened to be Father’s Day, 1973 — a day that my family spent at the ballpark.

Looking back, this could not have been much of a treat for my father. Egged on by one of those “Take Dad to Shea for Father’s Day!” ads, I had gotten the bright idea that I would pay for his ticket. But I was so pleased with myself for ponying up the entire $2.75 (no small sum for a nine-year-old whose weekly allowance was a quarter and who wasn’t yet big enough to make extra cash mowing lawns around the neighborhood) that I neglected to consider that he still had to pay for my ticket. And my Mom’s ticket. And parking, and gas, and hot dogs. Plus he had to deal with holiday traffic, which must have been a real bitch. Pop, if you’re reading this, I’m sorry — my heart was in the right place, honest. I just hadn’t thought it all through.

Anyway, the Mets won, thanks in part to recent call-up named Ron Hodges, who hit his first major league homer. I remember reading in the paper the next day that Yogi Berra — then the Mets’ manager — said, “The kid’s got some pop, he’ll hit some more of those,” or words to that effect. And he did — exactly 18 more over the course of a 12-year career, to be exact. To this day, I still don’t understand how such a marginal player managed to stay on a big league roster for more than a decade.

The ticket stub, as you can see, is light blue, which happens to be MLB’s designated Father’s Day color (to promote prostate cancer research, don’tcha know). Among yesterday’s highlights:

• Players have been wearing light blue sweatbands on Father’s Day for years now (I first recall seeing it in either ’99 or 2000), but I think this is the first year that the sweatbands were “DAD”-inscribed — sometimes lengthwise, sometimes crosswise.

• Big Papi really outdid himself with the wristbands: one on the left and two on the right (with a bracelet in between the latter two).

• Many umps wore the blue wristbands too.

• The blue ribbons are old hat by now, but I was mildly surprised to see that they even put one on Terry Francona’s pullover.

• Intern Vince Grzegorek (who took his dad to yesterday’s Indians/Braves game) spotted something I don’t recall having seen before: Santiago Casilla wore a ribbon on his cap.

• As has been the case for the past couple of years, several players also wore blue ribbon temporary tattoos, including Manny Delcarmen, J.D. Drew (who had them on both arms), and Hector Carrasco. (Big thanks to Kelly O’Connor for linking to the Drew and Delcarmen pics in yesterday’s comments.)

That’s all nice enough. But the best thing about this promotion has always been when players wear eye blue instead of eye black. The king of that style yesterday was Felix Pie. If that doesn’t stop prostate cancer, nothing will.

Capital Idea: Here’s a cool opportunity for someone in the DC area. The Capitals will be unveiling their new uniforms this Friday, June 22nd, at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex in Arlington. The event begins at 5:30 pm, with the actual unveiling slated for about 6:40. I’ve been invited to attend but am unable to make it, so Caps media director Nate Ewell has very graciously consented to allow a Uni Watch representative to attend in my stead.

The surrogate in question will be permitted (indeed, required) to take photos and notes, and will then prepare a summary report that I’ll post on the blog the following Monday. If you’d like to represent Uni Watch at this event, send me a note explaining why you’re the right person for the job. Please include your full name, address, phone number, and age. Thanks. No more applications, please — member Mike Forgy, a longtime Caps season ticket holder, has been selected for the job.

June Raffle: I’ve got an extra copy of the 2001 MLB Style Guide, which shows the official specs and colors for each team, and I’m going to raffle it off for free. This particular copy has a great history: It was raffled off once before, at the 2006 Uni Watch Athletics Aesthetics Party in Brooklyn, where it was won by Mets by the Numbers impresario Jon Springer, but he recently gave it back to me so I could give it away again. Since then, the cover has gotten some light scratches from Uni Watch mascot Tucker (I think he was expressing his displeasure with the Rockies’ solid-purple alternates), which is sort of the Uni Watch office equivalent of a grass stain on a game-used jersey.

This is a free raffle: Just send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net by 10 pm eastern on Thursday, June 21st. One entry per person. But everyone who’s signed up for membership by 9 pm Thursday will automatically get three extra entries. If you’re a member and don’t bother to e-mail an entry to the raffle address, you’ll still get three entries. I’ll announce the winner on Friday, OK? OK!

Speaking of membership, Scott is busily catching up on the next batch of cards, and I should be able to add the rear designs to the roster page within a few days. I’ve also created a gallery of all the current back-card designs, which will be updated as Scott creates each new one.

As for the actual cards, just about everyone in the first batch should have received their cards by now. If you still haven’t received yours by, say, Wednesday, let me know. The new batch should start shipping out by the end of this week.

We’ve also decided upon a little bonus benefit that will come into play down the road: All members who join by the end of July will have a special “Charter Member” designation added to their cards when they renew next year.

Uni Watch News Ticker: A few of my recent ESPN columns have mentioned Chuck Kinder, who wore No. 100 for WVU in 1963, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of West Virginia’s statehood. Now Craig Mullen has turned up a video clip about Kinder — nice find. … Really interesting note from Chad Stegemiller, who writes: “Friday’s Indianapolis Star had an article about the 40th year of baseball having a state championship. They included a photo showing Arlington High School and Jasper High School playing in the 1967 state semifinals. I immediately noticed the Jasper players having ‘Jasper’ on their back instead of numbers (plus I am sure you will like their choice in hosiery). Unfortunately, there are no front views of Jasper’s jerseys.” … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Good article here about the history of NASCAR uniforms. … Andrew Daull found some great Cooperalls footage at the 3:10 mark of this video. … On Friday I asked if anyone knew about the little gold circle on the back of Bobby Abreu’s belt. An inside source from an American League clubhouse responded thusly: “It’s a Phiten titanium disc that has become very popular around clubhouses. I’m not sure how well they would work being on the belt (and thus having several layers of clothing between it and the skin) but many players seem to like it, and I even know one photographer who has two on his elbow to help with some pain he was having — he says the stuff works.” And in a related item, several MLB players also believe in Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and Barry Bonds’s negative drug tests. … Faaaaascinating note from Ryan Hemminger, who writes: “As I was sitting in the gallery at the 10th hole at Oakmont watching Tiger Woods line up a shot on the green, I noticed that he was wearing one black sock and one white sock. I thought that it was odd, and I figured it must be some sort of superstitious thing he does. However, later in the afternoon, at hole number 5, I noticed that Vijay Singh was also wearing two different colored socks — one navy blue and one white [as you can sort of see here -- PL]. I can’t confirm with photographic evidence (the USGA is VERY strict about not allowing cameras on the course), but is this some sort of trend among pro golfers, or just an odd coincidence?” Anyone know more about this? … Lots to like in this photo of Dunbar High (Kentucky) baseball team (with thanks to Scot Williams). … Bizarre scene at Steelers fantasy camp, where one of the participants was an amputee with a prosthetic leg, which was emblazoned with a Steelers logo (nice find by Dennis O’Neil). … Redskins long snapper Ethan Albright gave up his uniform number to a teammate in what this article describes as a “private barter transaction” (with thanks to Tim Nichols). … Speaking of the ‘Skins, when Chris Cooley played with his fly unzipped last year, I figured it was an honest mistake. But having now seen the hot pants that he’s wearing during Redskins minicamp, I’m convinced that the guy is a serious fetishist (with thanks to Stewart Snelson). … Kudos to Chris Manes, who found this great old photo of the Suns’ 1960s cheerleading uniforms. … According to the second paragraph on this page (forwarded by Rory Gustison), the Patriots are considering “wearing the team’s throwback red jersey and old helmets for at least one game” in 2009. Yes, three seasons from now. … Very odd scene in Japan, where Warren Cromartie — who first played baseball for the Expos and then for the Yomiuri Giants in Japan — recently participated in a pro wrestling event and wore a Giants-style uniform for the occasion (it said “Samuraiman” across the chest). Afterward, he held a press conference, where, as Jeremy Brahm puts it, “he looked almost just like he did when he played in Japan.” … Fernando Rodney’s cap tag was sticking out yesterday. … Very odd find by Patrick Sharon, who was recently at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton and noticed that a Lee Roy Selmon jersey on display had one orange letter. Just a hunch: I’m guessing that the original heat-pressed white letter peeled off, leaving some discolored fabric in its wake.

From time to time we’ve discussed uni-related issues of trademark infringement and protection. But policing your trademark in lawsuit-happy America is one thing — doing it in a far-off land, where any clown with a heat press can run off a few jillion cheap logo-emblazoned knockoffs of your design, is something else, as reader Eric Trager has discovered. Here’s his long-distance report from the Middle East:

I’ve been living in Cairo since August on an Islamic Civilizations Fulbright grant, which has given me a decent opportunity to travel around the Middle East a bit. It seems like almost anywhere I go, I find familiar-looking caps, none of which are ever official, and almost all of which contain completely incorrect colors. At the famous Khan al-Khalili market in Cairo, for example, I spotted this orange Yankees cap among other mostly Cairo-appropriate headgear. In Casablanca, I spotted this cap stand; you can make out a number of Yankees caps (there’s a proper navy one on the 60 dirham level, though the rest are completely off), along with a 49ers cap, a Florida Gators cap, and a Berkeley cap. [The one I find most amusing is the FBI cap. -- PL] Although the Yankees are, unfortunately, the most prominent in terms of merchandise in the region, I happened to find this cap stand in Sana’a, Yemen, featuring Dodgers caps (again, wrong colors). Finding these things in Yemen was particularly surprising, given that most men there dress like this, i.e., sans baseball cap.

Though caps are the most prominent American sports gear I’ve come across in the region, I spotted kid in Jounieh, Lebanon, wearing a very decent Kobe Bryant jersey when I was there in 2004. It looks like it’s actually officially licensed, unlike this horrific Don Mattingly Yankees jacket I spotted in Rabat [Donnie Baseball never wore his stirrups like that! -- PL] and this awful Rockies T-shirt I found at the Cairo tent market (although Uni Watch probably endorses the shirt’s use of red in place of purple, no matter how inaccurate).

Of course, the most common sports uniforms found in Middle Eastern markets are local soccer jerseys. I spotted these two brothers wearing al-Ahly jerseys in Cairo, and have purchased the jerseys of Maghreb Fez, Wydad (Casablanca), and the Moroccan national team as gifts for friends. Unfortunately, none of these are remotely authentic, though I was finally able to find an official al-Ahly jersey at the posh, Saudi-built mall in Cairo.

This is really just a small sampling of uni-relevant observations from my time in the region. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the hundreds of MLB, NBA, NFL, NCAA, and NHL T-shirts available in Hebrew in virtually any Israeli tourist area (similar to these online examples), though did happen to pick up this Mets yarmulke.

I’ll close with the most surprising uni-related find. Look closely at the religious insignia on the sports club t-shirt of the boy on the left in this photo — it was taken in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank.

Pretty great stuff. The global, hegemonic reach of the baseball cap, even in cultures that wouldn’t know a baseball game if you plopped one down in their front yard, continues to amaze me.

And wait, there’s more: About a week after sending me that first note, Trager checked in with a nice little epilogue:

As I was packing up my things today to leave Egypt after a nine-month stint out here, I noticed that my Mets cap no longer fit. Fitted caps, as you might imagine, are extremely hard finds in Egypt, and all sorts of people — taxi drivers, camel merchants, children, restaurant owners, and tour guides — have asked me many times for some of my fitted caps right off my head, which I have always declined in the past. This time, however, rather than waste precious suitcase space on a Mets cap that didn’t fit, I went downstairs to find a kid to whom I could give it. He was very appreciative, and I think rather surprised. I might have just stumbled across a new mechanism for American public diplomacy.

Now we just have to get the kid to ditch the black.

Three Okay, TWO Blind Mice: Jamie Moyer’s stirrups occasioned lots of oh-so-adorable banter in the Mets’ broadcast booth last night. The chatter started after announcers approvingly noted that Moyer had busted it pretty hard while running out a ground ball. Here’s the transcript:

Gary Cohen: Not only is he running hard, but he’s running hard in stirrups.

Ron Darling: Yes.

Cohen: We’ve gotta get a shot of Moyer’s feet at some point. Nobody wears stirrups anymore! Maybe a couple of old coaches.

Darling: He wears ’em a little bit like you wore ’em, Keith.

Keith Hernandez: I’ll have to give ’em closer, uh, scrutiny. [Camera shows a close-up of Moyer's stirrups.] Oh, I liked to wear ’em a little higher. That’s low. That’s minor league ugly.

Cohen: You didn’t have the Liberty Bell on your stirrups.

Hernandez: No. Those are the stirrups they gave you in the minor leagues.

Darling [struggling for something relevant to say]: Is that like coyote ugly? Minor league ugly.

Hernandez [ignoring Darling]: You had the wool uniforms in the minor leagues back in the early ’70s, and they were just itchy. And you were glad to have ’em, trust me, but I hated the stirrups. [As per usual during these hosiery discussions, the camera shows sacred Shea Stadium photo of Jerry Koosman celebrating the last out of the 1969 World Series.] See, that’s closer. I wore ’em a little bit higher than Kooz right there. [Camera now shows file photo of Hernandez's favorite player.] Ah, there you go.

Cohen: There was a trend for a while there to show none of the top of the stirrup, right? Guys started adding extensions to the bottom so they rose that much higher.

Hernandez: Yes. I never liked that look. When we played for the Cardinals, we had those great socks with the stripes, like the Red Sox. You wanna show the stripes.

Cohen [who has clearly read either Ball Four or Uni Watch]: I guess it was Frank Robinson, wasn’t it, who first started wearing the high stirrups, that just showed white with a stripe on the side?

Darling [utterly lost but trying to sound engaged]: Yes.

Hernandez [also lost]: I think you may be right.

Cohen: Maybe it was someone else before that. I just…

Hernandez [now completely off on the wrong tack]: Was it with Cleveland? Remember those Cleveland uniforms, those red uniforms?

Cohen: Those were awful.

Darling [now barely treading water]: They were hideous!

Cohen: Of course, there were a lot of hideous uniforms in the ’70s. The Pirates…

Hernandez: The bumblebees!

Darling: How about Houston?

Hernandez: Ugh!

Cohen: How about the Padres?

Darling: That’s right, mustard and brown.

Cohen: Mustard and mud!

Hernandez: Contrary to Ron Darling, I love the A’s uniforms, love those swingin’ A’s unis.

[Inning mercifully ends.]

Uni Watch News Ticker: Plate umpires who wear the conventional-style mask always wear a cap, but umps who favor the hockey-style mask have always gone cap-free. Or at least that’s what I thought until seeing some footage from last night’s Rockies/Astros game, where plate ump Ed Hickox wore a cap under his hockey-style mask (you can see him holding his mask on the left side of this shot). … Tons of great uni- and equipment-related footages in this awesome WHA video (tremendous find by Tommy Gough). … Not quite uni-related, but still a worthwhile site. … Interesting query from Ryan Hickox, who writes: “This season, while watching Red Sox games, I’ve noticed a couple of narrow, dark objects behind the rubber on the mound, as seen here.” Anyone know what these are? … Newly minted Uni Watch member Michael Gargano recently bumped into a friend wearing a great Royals tee. … According to this article, Jake Peavy inscribes “BP” on his underbill, in tribute to his late grandfather, Blanche Peavy (good spot by David Conley). … Pretty cool stuff upcoming in Tampa. … That ridiculous London Olympics logo is already getting some very negative reviews (some really great quotes in that article, including a description of the logo as “a toileting monkey”), plus there’s now a petition drive to do away with it (with thanks to Morris Bird). … Now that’s a nameplate. Player in question is Washington State kicker Romeen Abdollmohammadi (as spotted by Michael Carman). … Some interesting factoids about the Diamondbacks’ uni protocol in the “In Case You Were Wondering” section of this page (good find by Doug Simpson). … Jacob Reed wonders what Eddie Stanky had written under his bill. … Photo of the day comes from Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek who noticed Tim Hudson finding a new use for the rosin bag. … Great article here about a Milwaukee memorabilia hound who specializes in collecting bats (with thanks to the Cream City’s finest, Nicole Haase). … Brian Willette notes that Northwestern softballer Darcy Sengewald has been wearing eye black shaped like little hearts and dollar signs. … Beau Lynott sent along a screen shot of Russell Martin’s torn pants from last night’s Dodgers/Padres game. “He was sliding repeatedly in steal attempts with one out in the 7th inning, then fell down rounding second on a base hit and was tagged out in a pickle. Matt Vasgersian on Channel 4 Padres said, ‘What’s with the re-stitch? Get the man some new pants!’” … Want your logo rendered in pasta? Comments section stalwart Minna H. recommends these guys. … The Indians wore blue jerseys at home last night, marking the first time they’d done that since 2001 (although, as Tim Bennett notes, there was a lot more red trim back in those days). … According to an article in yesterday’s New York Times, dreadlocked Giants defensive back R.W. McQuarters recently had his first haircut since his rookie season and is now wearing a helmet two sizes smaller as a result. … Arsenal has unveiled its new white kit.

I don’t mean to pick on Giants equipment manager Mike Murphy — he’s been with the team for nearly 50 years, and he probably has his hands full finding caps to fit Barry Bonds’s ever-enlarging cranium — but the team had some major slip-ups on the uni front last week. First, as reported here last week, Dan Ortmeier’s left-sleeve team logo patch was missing; then Fred Lewis’s right-sleeve All-Star Game patch was similarly unaccounted for. The kicker came on Friday, when Randy Messenger made his Giants debut with no name on his jersey.

Messenger had been traded late the night before, so the Giants had less than 24 hours to prepare a jersey for him. And yes, the trade happenedjust as the team was leaving New York and heading to Philly. Still, it shouldn’t have been that hard to get a jersey lettered and ready to go. Couldn’t they just have gotten one made at the local Sports Authority or something? Messenger didn’t pitch on Saturday or Sunday (no doubt due to embarrassment), so it’s not clear if his jersey has finally been brought up to code.

Interestingly, the Messenger nameplate snafu took place almost exactly a year to the day after the Giants misspelled Eliezer Alfonzo’s name on his jersey. Maybe the team should just take a week off every season during this time of year.

To be fair, the Giants aren’t the only MLB team with uni-related problems lately. As noted in Friday night’s comments, the Brewers’ right-sleeve anniversary patch was missing from Jeff Suppan’s jersey on Friday.

And whatever quality control issues MLB teams are having, it’s nothing compared to what’s happening to the Philadelphia Soul of the AFL. Reader Rob W. was at Philly’s Friday-night game and snapped pics of several players with numerals that had peeled off, as seen here, here, and here. First time I’ve seen anything like that since the Colts’ 2005 opener, when lineman Corey Simon had one of his numerals ripped off of his jersey (an oddity I no longer have a photo of, unfortunately, although I do have shots of of Miguel Tejada with the “1″ coming off of his jersey after a head-first slide in early 2005 [he played the rest of that game as No. 0]).

(Special thanks to Chris Shastid for the Messenger screen shot.)

Uni Watch News Ticker: Colorado’s new football uniforms, unveiled over the weekend, will look like this and this. Additional pics, info, and video links here, and still more pics here, here, here, and here. … Amusing teal manifesto here (with thanks to Rob McCallum). … Check out Softbank Hawks pitching coach Tadashi Sugimoto, who appears to be wielding the world’s longest fungo bat (with thanks to, of course, Jeremy Brahm). … “I found my old high school volleyball practice shirt the other day,” writes Jeff Bethune. “I never really liked them, but now looking back I see it’s because of the extreme radial arching. I don’t know what my coach was thinking.” Actually, I think that looks pretty sharp, except for the uni number, which looks way clunky. … Great catch by Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek, who notes that the MLB logo at the base of Mike Rabelo’s mask is patterned on the American flag (here’s a close-up from the All-Star web site) — never seen that treatment before. … More from Vince: (1) Serious decal crowding on the back of the Northwestern softball team’s helmets. (2) Josh Beckett appears to be wearing everything but a noose. (3) Trevor Hoffman’s trophy room, complete with jerseys on the wall. … The guy in the center of this photo is a young Barack Obama, shown on the JV hoops team of his high school in 1977. Here’s another shot, from 1979. … Maybe the reason Carlos Zambrano took a swing at Michael Barrett the other day is that the “C” appliqué on Barrett’s helmet was peeling off, a uni transgression that might move anyone to violence. … Looks like Jorge Posada was wearing white-out on his nails on Friday night (good catch by Mike Foreman). … “Found this picture from this gallery of an American football (as opposed to soccer) team in Germany,” writes Tom Langan. “Note the team names (in English) on the backs of jereseys, what appears to be No. 57 memorial sticker, and some logos on the bottom of the jersey numbers, à  la the EPL.” … Todd Burus and Chris Mahoney both note that Wily Mo Peña, who wears uni number 22, is wearing No. 26 wristbands — perhaps a holdover from his days with the Reds. Plus Burus adds that Manny has been wearing his skullcap backwards, with the MLB logo facing front. Not only that, but the Red Sox logo on the back is backwards, which means either he’s also wearing it inside-out (although it doesn’t look that way, because the backwards logo looks raised) or else it’s yet another quality-control issue. … Brinke Guthrie recently stopped in at McCovey’s Restaurant and snapped a buncha pics of the many jerseys on display. Check out his full slide show here. … Anyone know what Troy Glaus was wearing on his leg while running the bases in the 7th inning of last Monday’s Yanks/Jays game? David Chisholm says Glaus wasn’t wearing it while batting, but he apparently strapped it on once he reached base. … Interesting commentary here about how the Trail Blazers need to start fresh with new uniforms (with thanks to Aaron Wiens). … Latest volley in the discussion of the Orioles’ road uniforms can be found here (kudos to Zach Smith). … See that tiny white-ish smudge on the left edge of Terry Francona’s cap brim? You can’t tell from that photo (or from any other that I’ve been able to find), but on TV it clearly appears to be a small “11,” apparently a shout-out to former Sox player Doug Mientkiewicz, who was injured in that collision with Mike Lowell on Saturday night. … Looks like Johnny Damon picked up a first baseman’s mitt on the way to the ballpark last night (with thanks to Michael Basu). … Actual quote from Cincy pitcher Kyle Loshe, when told May 28th could be his day, since he wears No. 28 and the Reds were playing home game No. 28: “I hate my number. I’d rather be 21, 22 or 23.” (Nice find by Jeff Barak.) … Faaaaascinating reminiscence from Paul Hirsch, who writes: “When I was a ballboy for the 1974 Angels, we wore pants without belt loops. However, there was a pocket on the inside of the waistband where a belt could be snaked through, using a special plastic tool that guided the belt through. Not everyone used it, but it was available and it did help keep one’s pants up.” … John Moist reports that Saturday was Price Is Right Night in Fresno, with the Fresno Grizzlies wearing some truly bizarre jerseys. Additional pics here and here. … More minor league zaniness, this time from Matt Nelson, who notes that Memorial Day found the Binghamton Mets using red, white, and blue jersey insignia and bases.

For years — long before I came up with the idea for Uni Watch — my favorite spot at the Baseball Hall of Fame was the third floor, where they had a big display of old uniforms. The bad news is that reader Jay Braiman tells me that the third floor has been renovated and that the uni display is no longer there; the good news is that he found a bunch of photos of the display, which he took during a visit to Cooperstown back in 2001. Let’s take a look:

• Great view here of the Angels’ old halo-topped cap.

• Here’s the old Seattle Pilots uniform from 1969. Note that the sleeve stripes also showed up on the 1970 Brewers jersey — that’s because the franchise’s move to Milwaukee wasn’t a done deal until just a few days before the start of the 1970 season, and they just removed the Pilots insignia from the old uniforms and replaced them with a hastily devised Brewers insignia. (Also in that last photo: Dig the striped A’s stirrups!)

• You’ve seen this one a jillion times, but the colors really pop in this photo. I still prefer this design, however.

• I’ve always loved the White Sox road design shown here. And speaking of the Sox, check out the logo-emblazoned stirrups in this photo — sox on sox!

• Still more Chisoxiana: Whenever someone refers to the White Sox wearing shorts for one game in 1976, the photos that usually show up are this, this, and this. But if you look at this shot of the Cooperstown display, you’ll see another photo of a shorts-clad Sox player.

• Two 1970s classics here: the Reds’ St. Paddy’s Day design from 1978 (first time a team did that), and the Phillies’ ill-fated solid-burgundy uniform, which was worn exactly once, on May 19, 1979.

• Great view here of the Braves’ experimental reflective satin uniform, worn for night games in 1948. (Also: Note the great Phillies road uni, White Sox stirrups, zip-front Cubs jersey, and Indians cap.)

• Tons of great stuff here — I’ll let it speak for itself.

• I can remember the first time I saw the catalog page with the little uniform swatches shown at the left side of this photo. “Man,” I thought, “I sure would love to have some catalogs like that!” Now, of course, I do.

• Sigh.

• Real oddity here: a special jersey prepared for a Casey Stengel tribute day at Yankee Stadium. (Gaylord Perry once wore something similar, although I’m unsure of when that photo was taken — maybe at his Hall of Fame induction?)

Special thanks to Jay for the pics, and for the stroll down Cooperstown’s memory lane. Here’s hoping they restore the uni exhibit soon.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Genuinely hilarious video commentary about black uniforms here, complete with references to the Nazis, Mafia funerals, and Nike’s child-labor practices. Essential viewing. … Great article here about Barry Bonds and his earring (with thanks to Jameson Costello). … Small item in Saturday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (as forwarded by Shaun Schnur): “The [Pitt] athletic department has made some subtle changes to the Panthers’ uniforms, and they will be unveiled later this summer. The biggest change will be a return to blue pants for certain games.” … Speaking of new college football uniforms, here’s Michigan State’s new design. Too bad about the logo above the nameplate, but overall these look solid. Further details and pics here. … Unfortunate news out of St. Looie, as Anthony Reyes and his striped stirrups have been sent to the minors. … Meanwhile, Jose Reyes has been hitting without batting gloves lately. … Good article here about the Phillies’ uniform numbers (with thanks to Marc Malfara and Bernie Langer, among many others). … Miguel Cabrera has unveiled a pair of predominantly white shoes. … Cabrera is also one of several Marlins who wore rather war paint-ish eye black on Sunday. … The Twins and Blue Jays both wore military caps on Sunday. I had read that the Jays’ caps would honor the Canadian military, but it looks like they were wearing the same caps as the Twins. … Even weirder: Can someone explain why the Jays wore American flag cap patches while playing in Toronto yesterday? … More Memorial Day cap patch observations: Some players had them in front of the ear, others had them riding a bit high, and the Royals had them on the wrong side. … We’ve all seen still photos of the White Sox wearing shorts (like the ones in today’s main entry, above). But the only video footage I’ve ever seen — momentary but very worthwhile — can be found at the 44-second mark of this video (great find by Johnny Garfield) … Obligatory Serena Williams comment: What’s with the bustle? … Meanwhile, did you notice that her first-round opponent, Tsvetana Pironkova, paired an Adidas shirt and shoes with a Nike visor? … For years Johnny Estrada has worn real stirrups. But David Arnott recently snapped a photo of Estrada wearing total phonies — boooooo! Further details on this observation, and several others (including Tony Gwynn Jr. saying he won’t wear the new BP cap style because “It sucks!”), in this installment of Arnott’s blog. … Terry Mark recently attended a single-A game between the South Bend Silver Hawks and the Dayton Dragons, and filed this report: “Hawks first baseman Brad Miller had a Hawks logo patch on his left sleeve, while the rest of his teammates wore the patch on the right sleeve. Also: The back of the Dragons’ jerseys are pretty busy, while the Hawks by comparison are much simpler (but the yellow numbers are hard to read from a distance). Every Dragons player and coach wore high cuffs, because the Dragons are a Reds farm team.” … Speaking of Reds minor league clubs, Matthew Lepke was at Sunday’s Louisville Bats game and got this photo of pitching coach Ted Power and starter Tom Shearn displaying disparate stirrup styles. He also noted that Buffalo Bisons LF Brad Snyder had a badly torn pant leg (additional pics here and here. … If you go to this page and click on “Game 6 Highlights” (right side of the page), you’ll see video of the really awful black jerseys that the North Carolina baseball team recently wore (with thanks to Brett Gray). … Longtime contribtor Kevin Gee has noticed something really interesting about Roger Clemens: Check out the little belt-mounted gizmo he’s wearing here, here, here, and here. I find it hard to believe that the Rocket could have diabetes and manage to keep it secret, so I doubt that the device is an insulin pump (like Jason Johnson used to wear). So what is it — heart-rate monitor? Cyborg control panel? … Blast from the televisual past from Jacob Bestebroer, who made some observations while watching old episodes of The White Shadow: “I’ve attached a few pictures from an episode that ran during the show’s first season, 1978-79,” he writes. “I was surprised to see that they are wearing Nike shoes. Where was Nike as a company at that time? Also, I’ve attached a photo from the opening sequence that shows the coach in the show during his time with the Chicago Bulls. I’m wondering if the Bulls actually ever wore that uniform.” I’ll let the rest of you address those queries, because I’m too busy blissing out over the striped socks. … Reprinted from Sunday’s comments: Trevor Hoffman is archiving his gear, because “Each time I save one, it’s a new record,” a line that really scales new heights in chutzpah. … Michael Fritzlar sent me this article about Tomo Ohka turning on several of the Blue Jays to the pleasures of toe socks (just as Daisuke Matsuzaka and Hideki Okajima have done with the Red Sox) and then cracked me up with the following: “A.J. Burnett referring to his toes as ‘guys’ [as in 'I've got these shower shoes with this strap that separates the big toe from the other guys'] is nothing new. Between innings on the Jumbotron (do they still call them that anymore?) at Skydome (I know they don’t call it that anymore), A.J. was being interviewed by a 12-year-old girl who asked him, ‘How long have you been playing baseball?’ A.J. quickly says, ‘Since the age of seven’ and then attempts to do the difficult algorithm of subtracting seven from his current age. You could almost smell the fire burning: ‘I guess for 15, 18, uh, 20 years or so?’ 20 + 7 = 27. A.J. is 31 years old this year. So A.J.’s new fetish for toe socks makes sense, because he needs to see his ‘guys’ so he can use his fingers and ‘guys’ to subtract the number of projected wins someone with his talent should be producing (20) and his actual output of wins (14). His ‘guys’ can also count his stints on the DL, how many days J.P has left as G.M., and the number of creepy facial hair looks with which he has scared children at Skydome (4). I just hope he doesn’t attempt to figure out the exchange rate between American and Canadian dollars — that would surely result in another trip on the DL. I wonder if he has names for his ‘guys,’ but I digress.” … Julian Tavarez had shirt tag issues on Sunday. … Kudos to Dave Shucosky, who found this photo of, as he put it, “Huston Street wearing more ribbons than a five-star general.” … The Washington Huskies hoops team will join Nike’s System of Dress program next season. Further details in the second item on this page (with thanks to Jon Horton). … Where’s that Velcro patch when you need it? … Kaz Matsui’s purple batting gloves look so much like grape candy, I almost want to lick them. … Anyone know what’s on Cliff Floyd’s undershirt? … Ken Tobler reports that Dennys Reyes’s nickname is “Big Sweat,” and he has it embroidered on his glove. … Late-breaking contribution from Jamie Costello, who got some screen grabs of Kentucky Derby jockeys wearing lots and lots of goggles.

[Editor's Note: Today's entry is by Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek. Unfortunately, we're having trouble with his login on the site, so the little note at the very end of entry says, "Posted by Paul Lukas," even though it's actually Vince's work. We'll get it straightened out soon enough. -- PL]

I recently took some time off from my Uni Watch intern duties to roll up to Detroit and put in some time as a Motor City Bowl intern (that’s me on the right).

Yes, it’s a glamorous life, I know. What can I say? I just love working for free.

So, before Christmas I packed up my car and drove the three-hour stretch to Detroit, and while many people had visions of sugar-plums dancing in their heads that week, I had visions of decals with the hope that Uni Watch soon would be here.

On Nike, On Reebok, On Russell and Srixon (wait, we’re talking about football here).

Anyway, unis were on my mind.

Central Michigan won its first bowl game in school history with interim head coach Jeff Quinn (who took over to coach this game after Brian Kelly left to take over at Cincinnati). Middle Tennessee State made its first trip ever to a Division I-A bowl game under the supervision of head coach Rick Stockstill (check out this pic of Stockstill with more hair back in his playing days at Florida State — he’s on the right). There was a record crowd of 54,113 at the game (most of them Chippewa fans with the bowl hosting a team from Michigan for the first time). And most importantly, I was there and close enough to investigate any and all uni-related things I could find.

I knew I was going to have a fertile week of uni research when I entered the new MCB offices to find the walls decorated with depictions of every Super Bowl logo. Talk about a spot for inspiration. However, my focus soon shifted from the NFL on the walls to the college football all around me.

One of the first things I noticed was the variety and differences between the official Motor City Bowl logos that were used. As I counted, there were five different versions. First was the regular bowl logo that was always used in the past with the red stripes arcing in a smooth line toward the tire starting over the first “O” in “Motor.” Second was a newer logo that had the bottom red line extended further to the left leaving some open space on the furthest left hand side and the arch starting over the second “O” in “Motor.” The third version was made possible by the extended red line, giving Middle Tennessee State the opportunity to place their team logo in the empty space, thus creating a special logo commemorating their bowl trip. The fourth version of the logo celebrated the 10th anniversary of the bowl game itself. The fifth version of the logo was perhaps the strangest. If you look closely at the the blue helmets on the front of the media guide (and even closer here), you can see that the Motor City Bowl logo used here is reversed, with the blue tire on the left hand side and the red stripes moving down toward the right.

What’s interesting is that there seemed to be no rhyme or reason in choosing which logo to use at different times. The updated logo with the extended red line was used to decorate the middle of the field, but the players wore patches with the 10th annual version. The 10th annual version was plastered on the media guide (with, of course, the reversed logos on the blue helmets), but the tarp for the backdrop at the press conferences used the updated red-line logo sans the 10. All the while, the regular old logo that was used for the player’s patches in years past kept popping up on articles of clothing and merchandise.

So much for continuity.

There were actually two uni-related items from the game that I got scooped on by observant Uni Watch readers in the Comments sections from December 26th and 27th.

The first was brought up by John Okray, who noticed that Central Michigan’s uniforms were outfitted by New Balance. While the majority of college uniforms are made by Nike, Adidas, Russell or Under Armour, New Balance has been getting into the game as of late, also making uni’s for Wyoming (where, as Paul has pointed out, it looks like they placed the New Balance patch right over the old manufacturer logo instead of getting new jerseys) and the University of Northern Colorado. (You can read more about CMU’s change to New Balance and the players’ preference for all-black alternate jerseys here.)

The second item was noticed by Alan Topolski, who pointed out that the font on the nameplates of MTSU seem to change based on the length of the player’s last name. Another of Alan’s examples can be seen here, and two more examples of the changing size of the font can be seen here and here.

Although the Uni Watch Intern Department is still waiting for official confirmation, it seems that this phenomenon dates back to at least the 2004 season and survived the team’s change in manufacturers from Reebok last season to Nike this season. Evidence from 2002 doesn’t seem to indicate a similar nameplate style, and examples from the 2003 season show MTSU with no nameplates at all.

Fonts and jerseys weren’t the only newsworthy uniform stories for MTSU at the game. Wide receiver Bobby Williams had something written on his left wristband, but, despite many attempts, the message and its significance still remain indecipherable and unknown. Any assistance on this would be greatly appreciated.

On the Central Michigan side, you may have noticed that the CMU helmets seem to have a little sparkle to them when light hits them the right way. That’s because they use a gold sparkle paint pattern. Trust me, the closer you get, the snazzier it looks.

Also, as usual, there was a lot of eye black floating around on the CMU side. However, only Doug Kress sported the eye black all the way across his nose (perhaps it helped him watch himself on the jumbotron during his interception return).

All in all, it was a very productive stint in Detroit, and as I sat back and watched the VIP’s wine and dine the nights away at places like GM World (hard to forget who the sponsors are), I took some time to wine myself and enjoy the snazzy uniforms that seemed to be all around me.

Still Digging Through the Archives: As readers have seen in the past couple weeks, some colleges have begun to post archival sports photos on their websites, including Brown and Texas A&M.

These treasure troves of information have yielded excellent images and plenty of pictures of striped socks for Paul’s delight.

We can now include Boston College in this list, as their “Teams of Destiny” online exhibit traces the visual history of the first 50 years of BC Football.

Highlights include: a picture of the first officially sanctioned team from the school in 1893; a picture of center James Kenney, circa 1900, detailing his “protective” turtleneck; and last but not least, a picture of the 1928 coaching staff all wearing knee-high striped socks.

Happy New Year, everyone.

Road-tripping was on the agenda last weekend, as Uni Watch hedge fund analyst Jenny Strasburg and I spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday tooling around the Jersey Shore. We hit the blackjack tables in Atlantic City, paid a visit to Lucy the Elephant (more details here), enjoyed a Garden State delicacy (more details here), and had fun checking out all the old-school motels in Wildwood (see more of them here). On the way back to NYC, we stopped in to see webmaster John Ekdahl — only the second time he and I had ever been in the same room, incredibly enough.

These stops were all good, but the high point of the trip was a surreal junk shop we visited in Tuckahoe, called Young’s Four Y’s Antiques. The place featured a pretty amazing accumulation of stuff, much of it dusty and cobwebbed, and most of it piled high in mini-mountains. Serpentine little paths snaked through the piles, making for tricky navigation, and it was hard to pick anything up without knocking over something else. The owner — a very sweet old man named Marvin Young, who I really liked (and who seemed to like me until I mistakenly referred to the very large ducks in his back yard as geese) — said he’d been accumulating and collecting all his life and that “it just piled up.” Think Collyer Brothers, but with better social skills.

Predictably enough, the one thing I bought at Marvin’s shop was uni-related: this book, which I purchased mainly for the photos. Among the highlights:

• Lots of early teams wore those old lace-up vest jerseys.

• Can you guess what year this photo is from? Incredibly enough, it’s the 1964 Princeton team. I’m pretty astonished that a team was still wearing those sleeve stripes at such a relatively late date.

• We’ve all seen leather helmets, but I’d never seen any like this or this.

• Here’s something you don’t see very often: an old fashioned helmetless facemask.

• You all know how much I hate the current trend of contrast-colored side panels. But I might make an exception for these.

• Love the stripes, but what’s with the girdle? (Also: Note the wedding band.)

• This photo didn’t have a caption, so I’m not sure which team this was. Odd helmet design, though. Anyone recognize the school in question?

The book wasn’t priced, so I asked Marvin how much he wanted for it. He said $15, which was outrageous, so I countered with $10 (also outrageous, but I didn’t want to risk offending him by offering less), which he grudgingly accepted. When I got home, I found that used copies are selling on Amazon for a bit less than what I paid, but it was worth it for the experience of encountering Marvin and his incredible shop.

(Mega-thanks to David Brown for the tip about about Young’s Four Y’s, and to his lovely consort, Lori Baker, who took the Young’s photos when she and David discovered the place a few months back.)

Research Request: Did anyone TiVo Sunday’s Saints/Steelers game? Apparently Saints DE Charles Grant wore a collared dress shirt under his pads, much to the amusement of the broadcast crew. I’ve looked high and low for a photo, but no dice. Little help..?

Uni Watch News Ticker: Congrats to longtime Uni Watch favorite Witesock, who was featured in a big article in last Saturday’s National Post (although the definitive Witesock article is, of course, this one). … In case you missed it in Sunday’s Comments section, reader Andy F came up with a genius observation regarding the “ny” logo on the Giants’ nose bumper. It used to be just printed on, but now it’s raised and rubberized, at least for some players. … More news from the Giants/Bears game: R.W. McQuarters was apparently wearing a SpongeBob Band-Aid, eye-black-style. … Campus report from Bruno Lesage: “Here’s another way Nike is taking over college: I go to the University of Texas, and almost every single sorority girl here wears these shorts. There are various color schemes and all that, but it’s all the same basic design. It kind of surprises me that nobody even considers wearing another brand. I don’t think that many non-sorority girls wear them, so I guess its a sign of the ‘elite’ girls on campus.” … Football historian Mark Bolding, whose excellent web site was spotlighted here two weeks ago, has added a new section to his site, focusing on starting QBs at various points in NFL history. Among the visual highlights: a good look at the Packers’ 1950 jersey; the Rams in canary yellow; the Saints wearing heavily white-outlined uni numbers (and dig all those stripes!); the Eagles’ double sleeve stripes; Joe Namath wearing a knee pad outside his pants; and the Broncos in red pants. The full section is available here. … Well, this sure didn’t take long (you can order your own here). … The single-A Lakeland Tigers have renamed themselves the Flying Tigers — a World War II military reference. According to this article, “manager Kevin Bradshaw will wear a special cap designating his status as ‘commander,’ while the club’s pitchers will have a star added to their cap for each win they accumulate.” Let’s all avoid the rush and start hating this idea right now, shall we? … Good catch by Jesse Spector, who notes that one of the Boston College players in this photo is wearing an American flag patch, while the other two players aren’t.