I’d never seen another player wearing an improvised flap until scrolling through yesterday’s comments, where Larry Wiederecht posted a link to an eBay auction for this 1964 wire service photo.
Wow! Never seen that before, so I immediately e-mailed the photo to uni designer Todd Radom and Hall of Fame curator Tom Shieber, who’d never seen it either. Lots of info to process here — one thing at a time:
• Oliva played on the Twins, same as Battey, so the Minnesota equipment staff had some experience in making this type of helmet attachment. Which begs the question: Did any other Twins wear the improvised flap?
• Hard to be sure what the flap is made of. Metal? Plastic?
• Fascinating to see that Oliva resisted wearing the attachment because he thought it looked goofy. Forty-five years later, we’re going through the same safety-vs.-aesthetics issue with the S100 helmet. Some things never change.
• The caption mentions that Oliva grudgingly wore the flap in batting practice, but it’s not clear whether he ever wore it in a game. Ricko, can you shed any light on this?
• I have never been able to determine exactly when ABC Helmet began making helmets with real earflaps. I had always wondered whether Battey’s improvised flap in 1963 had led ABC to start making flapped helmets in ’64. But judging by the Oliva photo, that’s not what happened. Hmmmmm…
Big thanks to Larry for finding this photo — a major piece of the helmet history puzzle.
And now we have a truly ridiculous number of extra-curricular announcements (anything to take my mind off of last night’s ballgame)…
About freakin’ time: Many of you have asked me to give the DIY posts their own category/tag/etc. Unfortunately, we were using an old, creaky version of WordPress and had maxed out the number of categories — I couldn’t add any more. But Johnny Ek upgraded us to a new version of WordPress a few days ago and, as you can see in the right rail, our list of categories now includes “DIY Projects.” If you click on that link, you’ll get all our past DIY entries grouped together in one spot. Sorry it took so long to achieve something so simple.
Twitch, or Twat, or whatever the hell it’s called: Speaking of the tech upgrade, you may have noticed that there’s now a little “Follow us” link on the right side of your browser window. That’s because John has finally dragged me — semi-kicking, quasi-screaming — into the world of Twitter. Each new daily post here on the site automatically generates a new toot with a link to that post, plus I may occasionally flutter during the day, but I don’t expect to do it all that often (I mean, shit, this here web site should be enough of a soapbox for whatever I want to say, right?). Anyway, if you haven’t already done so, feel free to join the party.
And hey, as long as we’re talking about tech stuff: John is currently running some analytics to help us get a better grip on our traffic and readership. You can help by adding the Alexa add-on to your browser (it’s quick and painless, promise) and then filling out the little form thingie when your browser reboots. If you’d rather not, that’s fine; but if you’re willing, Firefox users can add Alexa here, and IE users can find it here. Thanks.
Beefsteak Update: This Sunday’s Brooklyn Beefsteak event is sold out, although I’m told there may be some tickets available at the door. Keep an eye on this page for updates. For those of you who were smart enough to buy tix in advance, I’ll see you on Sunday.
Uni Watch Party Update: We’ll be gathering on Sunday the 15th, 2:30pm, at Sheep Station. Ryan Connelly’s coming all the way from Pittsburgh to attend, so all you NYCers really have no excuse not to show up.
Uni Watch News Ticker: As had been rumored earlier in the week, Ohio State will be wearing throwbacks on November 21st. This photo made the rounds yesterday, although it’s unclear if that’s the design that will be used on the 21st. I’m sure someone will leak the appropriate info shortly. … Chris Douglas-Roberts has a mighty long NOB (as spotted by James Savage). … Nicole Haase notes that Marquette’s retired number banners show each number in jersey-appropriate type and colors. … Steven Tatar sent me 20 more photos from his visit to that varsity jacket factory. … The Ducks (Anaheim, not Oregon) wore camouflage jerseys during warm-ups on Tuesday, as a military-appreciation gesture (with thanks to John Muir). … It’s one thing to put a ski jump in an outdoor stadium, but how about inside the Boston Garden? Brian Codagnone, quoting from a museum exhibit at the TD Garden Sports Museum, explains: “In the 1930s, when the ski craze first swept the East, sportsman Walter Brown became obsessed with the idea of hosting a winter carnival at Boston Garden. Stumped by the cost and difficulty of importing snow for indoor use, Brown one day passed a fish market, where he noticed a handsome cod packed in ice that was ‘chopped up so fine it looked like corn snow.’ The merchant showed him his grinding machine and Brown super-sized the concept, ordering larger versions that could handle 500 tons of ice. In December 1935, a five-story ski jump was erected in the Garden rafters and hundreds of amateur skiers showed up, unaware it was intended for professional jumping demonstrations. The concept of indoor slopes and annual ski shows caught on, and were copied at Madison Square Garden and other arenas.” … Chris Paul has been wearing a captain’s “C” (here’s how it looks on the road). “David West also wore a ‘C’ for the home opener vs. the Kings (it’s hard to see, but it’s there) but he didn’t wear one during the Spurs, Celtics or Knicks road games,” says Jason Hijuelos. … Check out Henrik Lundqvist’s lastest mask design (with thanks to Matt Harris). … England’s new rugby kit is the color of the beast (with thanks to Caleb Borchers). … Truly sensational video clip on old hockey sweaters here (big thanks to Ethan Crooks). … Mariano Rivera wore a road BP jesey at Yankee Stadium for Tuesday’s workout (good spot by Jonathon Binet). … I’m still calling it St. James’ Park (with thanks to Matt Beahan). … What brand are these jerseys? … Here’s a Sox in shorts photo I hadn’t seen before. Also, note that Moe Drabowski, at far left, is wearing his jersey tucked in, even though that jersey design was meant to be worn untucked (nice find, Phil). … Eric Romain notes that Sean Avery has already worn three different helmets this season. … Bill Scrowther found some excellent old photos on Utah’s state history site. Among the highlights: three separate examples of vertical placket lettering (look here, here, and here), a Budweiser-sponsored baseball team, and some very odd basketball pants. … Check out the second service listed on this page — a cure for logo creep! How awesome would it be if a few thousand jersey owners engaged her services? (Thanks, Kirsten.) … Further evidence of how corporate footwear deals make everyone behave like douchebags. … It was a very uni-uneventful World Series, but here’s a great tidbit from AJ Chalifour: All Series long, Mark Teixeira was wearing a pink MLB logo on his jersey.
Today is the 35th anniversary of a seminal sports event: the Rumble in the Jungle, which pitted George Foreman against Muhummad Ali in Kinshasa, Zaire. And No Mas honcho is marking the occasion with some serious gorgeous video animation.
Some quick background: Most of you probably think of No Mas as a T-shirt brand, but it’s actually a multi-faceted media project — a project that was born out of Isenberg’s fascination with Ali. That fascination eventually blossomed into Isenberg becoming an official Ali licensee (you can read more about the unusual route he took to that destination here), and he’s used that connection to commission three short animations to commemorate the Rumble anniversary.
The first one, called Zaire, is by watercolorist David Rathman and is sort of a gray-wash time capsule that juxtaposes iconic Rumble sound bites with Rathman’s spectacular brushwork. You can see additional stills here, or just watch the video below.
Next up: Round Zero by oil painter Jerome Lagarrigue. No Mas describe this one thusly: “Lagarrigue draws inspiration from Ali’s own zoological poetry (’I done wrassled with an alligator/Tussled with a whale’) in exploring Ali’s mental and spiritual transformation in the moments before the bell sounds round one.” OK, so that sounds a tad pretentious, but the imagery is magnificent, all the more so when you see it in motion. Check it out:
The third video is by pen-and-ink illustrator James Blagden, is a hoot. As you may know, James Brown was headlining an all-star soul concert in Zaire that was organized in conjunction with the Rumble (and was also the subject of a recent documentary). So with the Godfather of Soul and the Greatest of All Time having been in the same place at the same time, Blagden has imagined a fictitious showdown between the two of them, set to JB’s “Cold Blooded.” Dig:
Great stuff, three great takes on a seminal event, and three potent reminders that boxing is still the most aesthetically potent sport of them all. Chris is going to be making some of the original animation artwork available for sale, and there may be an exhibit at the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville. You can keep track of all that news on the No Mas site.
I love these short films, and I certainly don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade here, but I do feel a reality check is in order regarding the Rumble. To wit: It was a bad fight, and a boring one. Forget all the When We Were Kings mythologizing and just watch the fight. If you do, one thing quickly becomes apparent: Foreman looks like an amateur. No balance, no leverage, no nothing. Watch how he often he has his palms awkwardly extended and open in front of him, like a two-bit street pug. He doesn’t even look like a credible slugger — more like a third-rate Tough Man contestant. Seriously, there are multiple points in the fight where it’s embarrassing to watch him. Meanwhile, Ali’s rope-a-dope tactics, while canny, make for a snooze of a bout. Even the eventual knockout is unsatisfying — more of a cumulative meltdown than major punch-and-drop.
And yet the legend of the Rumble has endured. Why? (1) Foreman had built up an aura of invincibility in his previous fights, so the result was seen as a huge upset. (2) This was the fight in which Ali reclaimed the heavyweight title, something that had only been done once before (by Floyd Patterson, don’tcha know). (3) Ali, as was his habit, used the buildup to the fight as a backdrop for addressing powerful themes of race and culture — particularly powerful in this case, since the fight was in Africa. (4) Fight fans love epic themes, even if they’re more rooted in myth than in fact, and this fight had lots of powerful thematic elements. (5) “Rumble in the Jungle” is a catchy slogan.
None of which makes the No Mas videos any less compelling. Like I said, I’m just trying to provide a nugget of reality amidst the mythmaking.
Finally, one interesting uni-related note from the Rumble: Referee Zack Clayton wore zebra stripes — not something you often see in the boxing ring.
Bonus Column: I’ll have a short piece on World Series rings up on ESPN today. I won’t be around to add the link when it goes live, but it should be at this URL (that link will give an error message until the piece goes live, probably around 12:30pm eastern).
College Hoops Home Stretch: I’m currently working on my annual college basketball season-preview column for ESPN. Compiling one of these columns for college sports is different than doing it for one of the pro leagues, because there’s no central database of all the new uniforms, no league PR office or single manufacturer to go over things with. Basically, it’s a free-for-all, so I just try to stay alert and keep track of all the new designs and patches as I become aware of them.
Here’s what I have so far: Alabama, Auburn, Cal, Cincinnati, Colorado State, Creighton, Georgia Tech, Grand Canyon, Iowa State, Kentucky (rumors of something Lebron-ish, but no confirmation yet), Louisville, Miami (Ohio), Missouri State, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio U., Oregon (I think — not yet confirmed), Pacific (alternate uni for the Dec. 9 game against Cal), Pitt, San Diego State, South Carolina, UNC (1957 throwback), UNLV, Utah, Vanderbilt, Washington (new black alt), Washington State, and WVU (black alt).
I’m sure there are others I’ve missed — not just new uniforms, but also patches, court designs, etc. — and that’s where you come in. If you know of any college hoops unveilings not listed above, or if you become aware of any over the next week or so, please speak up. Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The single-bar facemask lives! That’s our old friend Scott Player, now plying his trade in the UFL (with thanks to Doug Keklak and Mike Rigby). … The 49ers are changing who gets to wear the green dot on defense (with thanks to Mark Snider). … Some great uniform shots in this video tribute to the late NHL ref Bill Chadwick (with thanks to Alan Kreit). … England’s new rugby kit is my favorite color, with a poppy thrown in for Armistice Day (with thanks to Michael Orr). … Striped stirrups sighting in yesterday’s “Family Circus” (big thanks to Vernona Elms). … Insert joke about one white hockey glove here (with thanks to Mark Snider). … Not uni-related, but if you wanna see something really beautiful — I mean really beautiful — click on the embedded video here (thanks, Kirsten). … You’ve heard of FNOB, but how about FNOF? That’s the Raja, of course, wearing a Chicago youth organization uni (great find by Paul Wiederecht). … Good article about early Red Wings mask history here (with thanks to Tim Shay). … New uniforms for the Jacksonville Suns. … For next year’s April Fool, maybe I’ll start a rumor that the Seahawks are gonna be wearing this (bizarre find by Matthew Weber). … New World Cup kit for Ivory Coast. I don’t like that diagonal shoulder treatment, but I love their new crest (with thanks to Coachie Ballgames). … Tremendous batch of old 1940s Washington Huskies photos here (big thanks to John Doodigian). … According to the fourth graf of this story, Avs goalie Craig Anderson once “lived in Sweden and inserted a double-s in the middle of his surname to to fit in. When he played for the Blackhawks, he had an incorrect [double-s] spelling on the name bar of his jersey until the NHL, as he says, ‘questioned the legality of it.’” I don’t like to post watermarked Getty photos (and I ask that none of you do so either), but you can see the single-s and double-s versions of Anders(s)on’s Blackhawks NOB if you go to Getty’s main page and search on “Craig Anderson 2003 Chicago” (with thanks to Paul Richard Cook). … I like socks as much as the next guy — probably more — but this is going overboard. … I’m heading to Cooperstown later today and will be there throughout the weekend (good place to be during the Series, right?). See you on Monday.
Brothers and sisters, I am excited to announce that reader Zac Neubauer has made a remarkable discovery, to wit: Noted soft-porn magazine National Geographic, in addition to photographing all those adorable naked tribespeople, has published a surprising amount of high-quality sports imagery over the years. Really! Many of these photos are very much in the Uni Watch wheelhouse, and Zac has generously combed through the NatGeo archives to compile them for us. Let’s take a look:
• And speaking of sweeping, there is soooooo much to like in this curling photo. Additional curling goodness here.
• If not for the caption, I might not have noted the white glove being worn by this Japanese umpire. Jeremy, Mark, and all you other Japan-knowledgeable folks out there, was it once standard practice for umps to go white-gloved? Only plate umps or also base umps? Details, please.
• Check out the lower photo here — indoor miniature golf!
• Hey, there’s nothing like a friendly ballgame to inspire a lighthearted caption.
• Can anyone fill us in on the game being played here?
• Okay, there are more surreal elements to this shot than I can count. The funny thing is that there’s a guy around the corner from me who looks exactly like the batter. Sits out on his stoop every day and grumbles about this and that. Not sure if he bats right-handed, though.
• This pond hockey shot is amazing. Love how so many of the kids have matching sweaters (except the one at far right has the colors reversed) and how two of the others have nearly matching plaid shirts.
• Whoa — that’s some gorgeous setting for a soccer field. Zac says the uni number is “a Persian ‘2.’”
• Here’s something I’d never seen before: motorball (i.e., soccer on motorcycles), complete with uniforms and numbers.
• Here’s a fairly early shot of the Little League World Series, before TV cameras ruined it. The guy at lower left is Little League founder Carl Stotz.
Want to see more? A few dozen additional photos are available here. Major thanks to Zac for compiling all of these while he was looking for nudie tribe photos.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Whoa, major discovery here: Connie Mack in uniform! That shot was taken during spring training in 1950 (awesome find by Jason). … Speaking of major baseball discoveries, look at this! That’s from Hall of Fame curator Tom Shieber’s blog, Baseball Research. … Ben Traxel has created a new Broncos uni concept that mixes and matches several elements from the team’s history. … Remember this weird uni item? Craig Bates ended up winning that auction, and he’s provided a bunch of photos. … Matt Clement sent along some highlights from the Buffalo Sports Museum. Among his picks: the Bisons’ “Pepsi” jersey, Sabres season ticket books sponsored by Utica Club, and the sign from the Aud Club. … The U. of Minnesota hockey team has a new alternate jersey. Here’s the rear view (with thanks to John Thompson). … Regatta news from sailing enthusiast Doug Steffenson, who sent along a bunch of pics from the ICSA Sloop National Championship. “Interesting to note that U. South Alabama not only goes with what looks like a car manufacturer’s logo (Jaguar) on the front but also has a big “USA” across the back. Looks like UC Irvine got a sponsor deal for across the front (WaMu –- but I thought they were out of business?) with the school’s initials on the back. A sailing anteater would seem to be more interesting than the initials. BC, Brown, and Wisconsin went with letter logos across the back while Charleston has their burgee (flag) on the front.” … MLB umps and the Carolina Panthers: Separated at birth? (Good observation by Doug Brei.) … There are tragedies, and then there are tragedies (as forwarded by Keith Owen). … Very nice shot of Jackie Robinson as a UCLA baseball player (with thanks to Mark Loveland). … Robert Marshall informs me that he and fellow reader James T. Huening will be going curling here this Sunday. Full report to follow. … The Chargers are selling some super-cool posters for several of their home games this season. So far they’ve released the Broncos and Raiders editions, with Eagles and Chiefs versions still to come (with thanks to Dustry McGowan). … Good article about Joey MacDonald’s mask and pads here (with thanks to John Muir). … “Jordan’s and Palestine’s women’s soccer teams faced each other on Monday in Al-Ram on the West Bank,” says Morris Levin. Note the Jordanian player wearing the hijab. Ditto for goalkeeper here, although Morris says that’s “less interesting since keepers often wear long pants and sleeves anyway.” … Nice Super-8 footage from a 1998 Mets/D-backs game, including dubbed-in audio from Gary Cohen and Bob Murphy, here. It’s hard to see, but this was one of those rare games when the Metsies wore black jerseys with blue undersleeves, a configuration I’ve done my best to forget about over the years (with thanks to Brian Erni). … What’s that printed on the inside of Cam Janssen’s shirttail? A high-res version of the photo reveals this. The first part is simple enough — “Lettering by Liebe” (a St. Louis company, remember — I wrote about them back in 2007). As for the rest, Joe Barker explains: “Bert Godin is the Blues’ equipment manager. The date on the jersey is from a preseason game against the Avs, the Blues’ first road preseason game of the year. Probably the first time they had the road whites done up.” Faaaascinating. … Big birthday wishes to our own Scott M.X. Turner today. See you tonight, buddy.
It struck Ricko and me at about the same time. We were trading E-mails before the Denver Broncos played the San Diego Chargers in their throwbacks this past Monday, and exchanging some barbs about the uniforms as depicted on the 1960 AFL section of the Football Uniforms Past and Present website — that website is an invaluable tool, and the amount of incredible research that has gone into it cannot be undervalued — and Ricko asked me, “you don’t think the Broncos are gonna wear brown pants with white stripes, do you?” Now, I wasn’t born when the Broncos played that first season, but I did know they only had one pair of pants. Yet, on the 1960 section of FUPP, those pants are depicted as having white stripes (which would have made infinitely more sense, only it didn’t happen).
Then we looked more closely at some of the other uniforms — and Ricko informed me they were wrong too. In fact, it occurred to him (and it hit me at about the same time): “Did the NFL actually use the FUPP site to base a good number of their AFL throwback uniform upon?” Could they have been that lazy? Were they relying on a (very good, but not infallible) website to dictate the look of their throwbacks? Certainly, the Houston Oilers, who are depicted as having blue numbers and blue stripes on their socks (for their road uniform) — which is also wrong — could have been the NFL’s model. When the Titans came out wearing their road throwbacks, sure enough they were wrong. In fact, they really butchered the socks, (those are the home socks).
Anyway, this got us (and by us, I mean Ricko) to thinking … just how many of those 1960 uniforms depicted on FUPP were not correct? As it turns out — EVERY SINGLE ONE had something that is incorrect — some mistakes are minor, some are major — but every single one of them is incorrect. And that is a shame, because FUPP is such a great site, but really, accuracy is of paramount importance. As it turned out, the Broncos did wear the correct pants for their game, but many believed they screwed up. Had FUPP correctly depicted the gold pants stripes, perhaps no one would have even noticed. But the fact that many felt the Broncos were actually “wearing the wrong pants” speaks volumes about the importance of making sure the historical record is correct.
One of UW’s outstanding research historians, Tim Brulia, who has compiled two historical columns for the UW archives (”White At Home in the NFL” and “Pro Football Uniform History” — both of which can be found on the right hand side of the UW main page, under “Research Projects”), is actually planning on working with and expanding upon the efforts begun by the FUPP website. I will now turn the column over to Tim, who will explain a bit about that and more. Here’s Tim:
~~~
“What is my stake in all of this? I am trying to extend the great work the FUPP site did when it was first launched. But in order for a site to have teeth, it must be accurate, as close to 100% accurate as possible. With a site like FUPP, every little nuance, and detail (colors, stripes, numeral fonts, patches, logos, etc.) has to be accurate.
“In my research, I have used the Proquest archives of the New York Times that are available online. When I was a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), they made available the Proquest archives of the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. I utilize the Pennsylvania State Library in Harrisburg, PA and their vast microfilm collection of PA newspapers, including the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia papers. When I get a rare chance to make it to Washington, I also use the microfilm newspaper collection from the Library of Congress. As well as various historical football pictorial books. Not to mention various contributions from others along the way. I thank all the facilities and generous people for the help.
“Currently, I am working with a contributor who is doing the graphic work on the pre-1959 uniforms. The aim is to complete these sets of unis. From here, we hope to revise the corrections that need to be made that is currently shown on FUPP and bring the uni combos that have been worn since 2003 up to date. When will all of this see the light of day on a website? Frankly, it is too early to tell. But even after our dream becomes reality, our work will never be done. There will always be something that we missed or we need to fix.”
~~~
Thanks Tim. I will now turn the remainder of this section over to Rick Pearson, who will explain the importance of “getting it right” when it comes to stuff like this. Through Ricko’s tireless efforts this past week, he has reworked every single AFL uniform template for the 1960 season. This has come about by using his personal recollections, the study of numerous photos and clippings from “The Ricko Files” and the experience of being a “uni watcher” from birth. I’m often impressed, usually wowed, suitably satiated, and never bored by what we as a Uni Watch community bring to the table. But what you’re about to read and see, which is the culmination of that lifetime of paying attention to the little things that really DO matter, is one of the most amazing efforts I have ever seen, and not just on UW. If he and Tim (and others) collaborating now and into the future produce results like those below, then the historical record will have found in Tim and Ricko an equal to Marc Okkonen.
And with that, here’s Ricko:
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I’d just turned 14, with six or seven years of serious uni watching (lower case) already under my belt. It was a black and white world, except for Sports Illustrated, SPORT magazine, baseball and football cards (the latter being almost worthless) and Preview Annuals. One NFL game a week on TV and only a half-hour weekly highlight show on Saturday mornings. So if you didn’t see it on Sunday, you pretty much weren’t gonna see it.
And then along game this new American Football League. Lots of ink, mostly about how stupid and lame-brained the idea was. Precious little detail. Hard to know who the players were, much less anything about team colors or unis. Such things were of little or no concern to most people. No “gamers” on sale anywhere. No fan hats. Nuthin’.
Anyway, here comes this loopy new league, with lots of new names and faces, and plenty of familiar old ones.
I parked myself in front of the TV every Sunday. Actually had one in my bedroom, a bit of novelty for a kid back then, and I watched the AFL, making sketches of their unis. What color were they? Well, that required something of a science in itself. Scarlet and royal look almost alike on b&w TV…unless they’re on the field at the same time. If you knew “A” was red, then you could figure “B” (although when together, royal generally did look a bit darker).
You needed to be around for the beginning of the telecast. That was the time, if ever, the announcers would “set the scene. “ Maybe half the time, though, they didn’t bother to describe the unis at all.
Gradually, I figured them out. Logic indicated the Oilers were in powder blue (though yellow gold was something of a possibility). Eventually, announcers confirmed the blue. The Titans certainly wore old gold pants. One announcer said they were in “maize and blue, like Michigan.” My ass, they were. Those pants were WAY too dark to be “maize” as Wolverines knew it. And so it went. And sometimes you’d guess. Educated guesses, but still guesses. And look for details. Is there a feathered edge on those stripes? Especially on socks. That could be a tough one. Not a ton of close-ups back then.
Wasn’t until maybe the third time I saw the Broncos that someone said they were in brown and gold. Until then, I was thinking maybe navy and gold. Or navy and the light orange we now call “Tennessee Orange.” I had reckoned the Patriots were in royal (not wanting to be the “Redcoats,” as many of you have mentioned) and that the Bills had chosen red and silver. Why not, it was a great look at Georgia at the time, and had served the 49ers well the season before. Then I learned it was just the opposite, probably when they played each other and I could compare the “grays”. Or when an announcer bothered to tell us what the hell the teams were wearing.
After a full season of carefully watching all or part of probably every ABC telecast, I had everything pretty much down. Then it was just a case of waiting until the end of the following summer to check preseason magazines (and hope for SOME quality in football cards) to check my findings … even though the magazines would all be black and white, too (it wasn’t until SI’s pro football preview in ’62 that I finally saw a color photo an AFL game).
And somewhere along the line it occurred to me that maybe no one else what recording the things I was recording … and that maybe someday it all would mean something to someone. Guess maybe now it finally does.
So that’s it. The photos I’ve supplied Phil all are from 1961 publications (unless noted), so they have to be 1960 games. Tough to find a camera that will photographs next year’s games.
And I have nothing but respect for FUPP. When I first saw the site, the mistakes irritated me. Then I came to realize they had taken on an outrageous task and very probably just hadn’t had the time to search for everything. I wish I’d know of them sooner, I’d have been glad to help.
What DOES irritate me is that it almost appears that the NFL simply went to FUPP for a lot of its input for the Legacy project. You like to think they’d have bothered to, oh, I dunno, look through their own photo files…or send someone to probe the local newspaper archives.
When Paul visited me a year ago, I kidded about being available to consult with the NFL on the AFL’s 1960 unis for the 50th celebration “for a reasonable fee.” We both laughed, and then he said, matter-of-factly, “They don’t care.”
He was right. The league doesn’t. The Broncos, though, put some extra effort into it. And whether we liked the ’60 duds or not, they got it right. All things considered, that’s exceptional. Also unusual, unfortunately.
~~~
Phil here. Before we return to Rick’s write up, I want to show you what Rick did to fix the FUPP 1960 AFL team graphics. So, here, for the first time, are all Eight Original AFL teams, properly rendered by color, stripe, helmet, etc. OUTSTANDING effort Rick! And here are each of those eight teams individually:
Raiders wore the same as the Bears at the time. Titans wore something different altogether. It might have been MacGregor, but I don’t remember any other teams wearing it (and I probably should have made theirs a darker blue, because they were). That blue-helmets-darker-than-blue-jerseys thing.
You can see on my “Kids Cards” that I had the Raiders’ gold wrong. It had a bit of sheen to it, and I thought it was metallic old gold, like UCLA or Notre Dame. It wasn’t until I saw the 1962 cards (’61 Raider cards all were hand-tinted black & white PR photos and pretty useless) that I learned positively that it was yellow-gold.
6. One-year wonders.
Only Bills and Raiders were unchanged for second season.
In 1961…
* Titans went to white-added loop unis used for the Legacy games.
* Patriots changed loops to royal around white, and lost the white road socks. And, of course, the three-corner hat was gone.
* Chargers changed all bolts to yellow-gold edged in blue.
* Texans ditched white high road socks.
* Oilers changed to block numbers with no contrasting edge on numbers or sock stripes, either home or road.
*Broncos had no TV numbers on home jerseys.
~~~
Well, that’s it for the history lesson. All I can say is “WOW”. Outstanding effort Mr. Richard Pearson. It’s clear to me that the once and future FUPP website will be getting an outstanding resource in you, and when combined with Tim Brulia’s yeoman research and a quality graphic artist, we can look forward to an historical record that will rival that of Marc Okkonen. (And maybe even surpass it). Tip of the cap to you gentlemen, for this first salvo. I’m sure the project, when it finally does come to fruition, will be well worth the wait for those uni watchers (and non-uni watchers) who have been waiting for something like this since … well — forever.
What say YOU, Uni Watch community? How freakin’ great was this? Big round of applause for both Ricko and Timmy B!
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UW #1 Seahawks Fan Michael Princip has been tracking the Oregon Ducks and all of their 2,456 possible uniform combinations this season. He’ll be updating it after each game. Oregon continued on its winning streak, remaining unbeaten in PAC-10 play and taking Washington behind the woodshed this week, with a 43-19 buttwhoopin’. Look for Oregon to move up from the 11-spot in the rankings and into to the Top 10. The Ducktracker is now updated.
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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. USF/Pitt: Bulls are growing on me, while Pitt is a script away from being awesome-looking.
4. Indiana/Northwestern: A lack of Northwestern striping kept this from being rated higher.
3. Tennessee/Alabama: Oh, Bama…if you would have let the Vols wear orange you could have been #1.
2. Auburn/LSU: Tigers win this battle of the unis…
1. Iowa State/Nebraska: Cyclones blew me away with this look, while the Huskers remain classic.
OK that’s all for today. Apologize for the lack of “extras” but needed to get this loaded early. Everyone have a great Sunday. Don’t forgot to nominate your Worst Uni Ever (see yesterday’s post for details). Two legacy games today, plus the ALCS resumes, following the rainout yesterday.
There was some discussion of this in the comments yesterday afternoon and, especially, last night. But as I often have to remind myself, many (most?) of the site’s readers don’t actually pore through the comments every day, so…
At first glance, you might think the Broncos really blew it last night by wearing yellow-striped throwback pants on the road. According to Football Uniforms Past and Present, they wore white-striped pants on the road back in the day, which makes sense — if you’re wearing a white-striped helmet, a white jersey, and white-striped socks, yellow trim on your pants looks way out of place. It’s like watching something in black-and-white, except one element is in color. Why couldn’t they spring for a set of road pants as part of this season’s throwback program?
But if you look at some old photos, it turns out that Denver never had white-striped road pants in 1960 and ’61. I haven’t been able to find any color pics, but even black-and-white images make it clear that the pants striping had to have been yellow. I’ve compiled a bunch of additional examples here.
So here’s what we can conclude from this episode:
1) The Broncos had only one set of pants in 1960 and ’61, and it had yellow stripes. If they ever had a white-striped set, I haven’t seen visual evidence of it (and Ricko, who was there, confirms the yellow-only theory).
2) Judging by last night’s game — the first time most of us have ever seen the road uni in color — this means the Broncos’ early uniforms were even more poorly designed than we originally thought.
3) The Broncos deserve credit for getting this detail right and being true to their history, warts and all.
4) Football Uniforms Past and Present is wrong. And not for the first time, either. It’s a great site, but there are lots of errors floating about in there. I believe Ricko and Phil will be bringing more of them to light shortly.
All of which is just reinforces something I seem to find myself saying every month or two: Don’t treat uni history web sites as gospel truth. Yes, they’re useful, they’re great starting points for historical discussion, etc., but they’re far from perfect.
Unfortunately, some people haven’t yet gotten this message. Last night, someone on the Creamer boards started a thread entitled “broncos in wrong pants vs. chargers mnf.” As of this morning, the thread had 16 posts, and nobody had bothered to point out that the pants were actually correct.
November Happenings: Two items of note for NYC-area folks:
• As some of you may recall, two winters ago I wrote this article about the once-proud New York tradition of the beefsteak (in this context, “beefsteak” refers to an event, not a particular cut of meat). On November 8th, that tradition will return to Brooklyn after an absence of too many decades. I will definitely be attending, plus I may also be giving a short presentation of some sort — not sure about that last part yet. Either way, it’s gonna be a blast.
• After taking a week to recover from the beefsteak, we should be ready for a Uni Watch party the following Sunday, November 15th. Let’s pencil it in for 2pm at Sheep Station, with official confirmation to follow shortly-ish.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Grizzlies have unveiled an alternate uniform. Additional details (and a misleading headline) here. … Yesterday I noted that Kendry Morales’s left-sleeve piping has been frayed during the postseason. But Alex Rocklein says it’s been that way at least since August 2nd. … There’s a school called “Bojo”? Nope — that’s Bowie High in Texas, and “Bojo” stands for — get this — “Boost our Jackrabbits onward.” They even have a jackrabbit logo (or at least that’s what Andy McNeel says). … Interesting marketing partnership between the Red Sox and a UK soccer team. … Just what the world needs: a replica throwback in a box (thanks, Kek). … Bit of a T-shirt controversy involving Nick Swisher. Further details here (thanks, Phil). … Ronald Covert has a friend who makes custom-painted sports-themed cornhole boards. Very cool. … Last year I linked to some artwork by Brian Jungen, who at the time was making Native American-themed art out of Air Jordans. Now Kirsten informs me that he has a show at the National Museum of the American Indian in DC, and some of the material is amazing. In addition to Air Jordans, he’s also working with baseball gloves, golf bags (I think that’s what those are, right?), and jerseys. … We all know various high school teams have pinched NFL team logos. Until now, though, I’d never seen a school using Bucco Bruce (with thanks to Tris Wykes). … UConn will be adding a “JH” helmet decal in memory of Jasper Howard (as reported by Matt O’Brien). … Teebz’s excellent Hockey Blog in Canada has a new entry about the Preston Rivulettes, and it’s chock-full of amazing old photos of women’s hockey and softball teams. Great historical info, too — highly recommended reading. … According to the last four grafs of this article, Clemson and Coastal Carolina will go color-on-color on Halloween (with thanks to Mike Miller). … In a related item, Tennessee wanted to go color-on-color for this Saturday’s game against Alabama, but the Crimson Tide said no (big thanks to Andrew Dockery).
Back in January, reader Warren Humphrey pointed me toward this page, which features lots of interesting Seattle Chieftains uniforms. I linked to it in the Ticker and that was the end of that.
But if I had bothered to click around on the site where that page was hosted (which I’ve now finally done, thanks to a tip from Dave Hembree), I would have found a ton additional material. The site is Both Teams Played Hard, and it’s amazing. It’s run by Warren, who describes himself as “a collector,” although I think “historian” might be just as apt a title for him. His strongest suit appears to be basketball, mostly non-NBA stuff, although he has at least a few jerseys from all the major (and some minor) sports. Here’s a small sampling of what you can find once you start clicking through his site:
• I’d never seen a basketball jersey with the school name in between the two uni number numerals before. How did they handle the design for jerseys with single-digit numbers?
• Awesome 1960s Cleveland Barons hockey jersey here.
• You can really see how the Jets’ shade of green has changed over the years when you look at this old salesman’s sample.
• Warren also has a huge page devoted to old photos, ranging from the gorgeous to the bizarre. Too many notable pics to list here, so let’s just say I strongly, strongly recommend scrolling through the entire set.
• Last but absolutely not least, Warren has also been compiling a tagging archive. Click on the individual brands to see loads of great tag designs.
And there’s more — a lot more. Good luck getting anything else done once you start poking around through Warren’s collection.
Great Seven-Inch Sell-Off, Continued: I’ve put yet another batch of old indie singles up for sale on eBay. Start biddin’!
Uni Watch News Ticker: Some really nice old baseball program and yearbook covers on display here. “My favorite is this one, for obvious reasons,” says Ray Barrington). … Oooh, check this out: Prior to Saturday’s Blackhawks/Avalanche game, Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Denis Savard, and Tony Esposito took the ice in period-appropriate uniforms. “Note the NNOB and older crest on Mikita and Hull and the gold trim on the crest with the sans-serif C on the shoulder patches for Esposito,” says James Huening. “Dunno why Savard had to wear an Edge jersey, though. And I’m pretty sure the numbers weren’t positioned so low on the back during the NNOB days.” … “Clemson football player Stanley Hunter was forced to quit the team right before the season started because of his ongoing problems with epileptic seizures,” says Benji Boyter. “As a tribute to him, a different player on the team is wearing his No. 17 for each game.” … You know how turf fields typically include those little pieces of ground-up tires? Turns out they could be toxic. … Good spot by Teebz, who notes that Chicago Wolves goalie Drew MacIntyre was still wearing his blue Predators pants the other day, instead of black like his teammates. … The Penguins will wear their blue throwbacks this Saturday. The full schedule for wearing them this season can be found here (thanks, Kek). … Good spot by Jesse Buckner, who notes that the Rangers have been wearing navy gloves, instead of royal. Is that a new thing? … Best news of the week! … USC is adding a helmet decal this weekend for Stafon Johnson, who suffered a serious training injury. … New logos and colors for the New Orleans Zephyrs (with thanks to Bruce Richards). … Todd Usher notes that Maurice Creek is shown wearing a numberless Indiana jersey on this page. “I’d never seen an Indiana head shot that didn’t include the number,” he says. … Great story about an old Arkansas pennant here (nice find by Charlie Shields). … FNOB alert from the late ’80s. That’s Kerry Cash of the 1989 Longhorns (as noted by Gordon Reid). … Look at this: Nike is selling Oregon State replica jerseys with different TV numbers on the two sleeves. “It’s so people don’t have to choose between the two best players on the team, brothers Jacquizz (#1) and James (#8) Rodgers,” says Malcolm Byers.
Okay, let’s get right to it: the Broncos/Pats game. I saw most of the game and have pored over a buttload of photos from various sources. After all of that, my thoughts are as follows:
• First and foremost, whether the Broncos looked “good” or “bad” (I think there was some of both) is not the point. The point is that they were revisiting a chapter from their history — a chapter most of us had never seen, and that almost nobody had seen in color, a chapter that has become semi-legendary and is therefore worthy of further study, even if only as a re-enactment. That’s the value of a project like this, even if the uniforms in question look like shit. And I’m not saying they did look like shit, mind you — I’m just saying that’s not the real issue at hand.
• The vertically striped socks were fun, but where were the whites? The early-’60s Broncos (like every other pro team of that era) wore mid-level whites with their hose, and NFL rules still require mid-level whites today. True, many players nowadays have reduced the white component to just a sliver, but the Broncos didn’t even try yesterday — they just went with full-length stripes, which took things from sublime to ridiculous and, more importantly, was historically inaccurate.
It’s easy to blame the players and the equipment staff for this, but I also say, “J’accuse!” to Reebok, because they could easily have made the socks half-white and half striped (like these, only striped instead of solid). Hell, they gave the socks a white foot –why not bring the white up to the proper level? A major botch by everyone involved.
• The white-free hose led to some tomfoolery on the field, as Jabar Gaffney went candy-striped, plus I noticed a few players wearing two pairs of socks with the stripes misaligned, creating a sort of harlequin effect.
• Also worth noting that the short pants worn by so many of today’s players resulted in the stripes extending above the knee, which is not a good look. Not quite as bad as this, but getting there.
• Temperatures in Denver were below freezing but the officials stuck with their throwback attire, including the white knickers, instead of going for the cold-weather slacks. Good for them.
• Y’know, helmets with TV numbers on the side always look so damn cool. I realize teams would rather have a logo on the side, and it’s hard to argue with that, but I wish more teams could find a way to marry the two approaches, like the Chargers used to do.
• Okay, so you wouldn’t want to see that Denver uni every week, and probably ditto for the color scheme, but someone on the Chris Creamer board created this — not bad!
• Very cool that they had this flying at the stadium.
Amazing but true: I know this is gonna be hard to believe, but apparently there were also some other games in the NFL yesterday. Here are some of the visual highlights:
• Rare event in KC, as the Chiefs and Cowboys played a throwback game with no white jerseys. And since nobody has a black-and-white TV anymore, I see nothing wrong with it — let’s see more color-on-color matchups. Lots of additional pics here and here. (This game was uni-notable for another reason, as I’ll get to in a minute.)
• Chad Ochocinco finally broke out the pink chinstrap (or was it black strap a pink cup?). Meanwhile, his teammate Dan Skuta, who wears No. 51, had a No. 46 helmet. (Screen shot courtesy of Michael Kinney.)
• Love those Rams throwbacks (additional photos here). Interestingly, they didn’t spring for new helmets — they just swapped out the ram horn decals, as described in the opening graf of this story.
• Joe Skiba had told me that the Giants’ ghosted Reebok logos would no longer be a problem, but apparently he was mistaken. Naturally, I think it’s great. Too bad every team can’t have this “problem.”
• In that same game, David Garrard’s NOB was stretched into an arc (probably because the jersey had been glued or Velcroed to his pads). Not sure if the last “R” in his name was backwards or just stretched into a new shape, but it looked bad either way. (Thanks to Matt Takimoto for the screen shot.)
• Just what the world’s been waiting for: pink spats.
I hear there were some baseball games yesterday too, but none of those games featured vertically striped socks, so the hell with ’em.
End of an Era: The color-on-color aspect wasn’t the only unusual aspect of that Cowboys/Chiefs game. Reader J.J. Lauderdale explains:
The Chiefs’ wearing of their Dallas Texans throwback helmet snapped a 548-game streak of the Chiefs wearing nothing but their red shell, arrowhead logo, and white facemask — a streak that began on September 15, 1974, against the Jets. The Chiefs had worn gray facemasks in 1973 before changing to white in ’74.
This is the longest streak in NFL history for a team continuously wearing one helmet with no throwback, no change of logo, no change of facemask color, etc. If you ask people who had the longest streak, most people guess the Cowboys, Steelers, or Raiders and never get to the Chiefs. But many of the teams with the more classic helmets had their streaks broken during the 1994 throwback season (the Steelers, Raiders, and Cardinals, for example), when they wore throwbacks or blank shells. The Chiefs, however, wore their regular lids in 1994, keeping their streak intact.
The four next longest streaks in history are:
• Cardinals, 1960-1994: They wore that bird head logo on a white helmet for 499 straight games before using the blank shell for a throwback game against the Browns in 1994.
• Raiders, 1964-1994: Wore their current helmet for 446 straight games before going retro for the 1994 75th-anniversary season.
• Browns, 1975-2005: 434 straight games for the white-facemask version of their helmet. Then they switched to a gray mask.
• Cowboys, 1977-2004: 432 straight games between the 1976 bicentennial helmet (the one with the red stripe) and the first time they donned the white throwbacks.
Now that the Chiefs’ streak has been broken, the longest current streak belongs to the Bengals. They’re at about 238 games, dating back to 1994 (not sure exactly which week they last wore the 1994 throwback helmet, so it may be off a week or two).
Stellar research there by J.J. — thanks, buddy.
New Sponsor: As you may have noticed, we have a new advertiser at the top of the page: Homage Clothing, which produces some nifty T-shirts, many of them Ohio-themed. Check out their stuff, and thanks for continuing to support all our advertisers.
Singles Going Steady Fast: Today’s the last day for this batch of indie singles that I’m selling on eBay. I’ll put another batch up for sale later this week.
Uni Watch News Ticker: You know, uniforms are cool and all, but I’ve recently felt like my life was missing something, sort of an undefined emptiness that I didn’t know how to fill. Then Kirsten turned me on to this, and life is much, much better now. … New mask for Jason LaBarbera, continuing his Metallica theme (as spotted by John Muir). … You know what’s great about pink? Everyone loves it (with thanks to Mark Tang). … Also from Mark: Some great old photos from the Northeastern photo archive, including fantastic team portraits of the football and hockey squads, plus a spectacular Bruins photo. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Someone has created a very cool New Jersey Devils maize maze. … Yup, no question, Rush Limbaugh is gonna be great for the Rams. … Fascinating chapter in college football history is described in this video clip — highly recommended (big thanks to Brian Willette). … Jim Ransdell, who does the excellent Sports Design Blog, was recently interviewed on NPR’s Studio 360 program on the subject of this year’s NFL throwbacks. … Bears’ dark-blue pants are discussed in the last entry on this Q&A page (with thanks to Chad Todd). … Hmmm, didn’t MLB retire No. 42? (As spotted by Doug Steffenson.) … Jordan Farmar has changed his uni number from 5 to 1, which is the number he wore in college (with thanks to Matthew Wolfram). … “This is the most confusing uniform confrontation ever,” says Bill Blewett. “That’s the Lyman Raiders vs. the Phillip Scotties out here in South Dakota. It was a home game for Lyman (I think).” … Jeremy Brahm reports that the Rakuten Golden Eagles gave their rookie pitcher Hiromichi Fujiwara a necktie for being the “Promising Newcomer (rookie).” … Nice collection of cages from old catchers’ masks (thanks, Kirsten). … The Colorado Eagles of the CHL did the pink thing the other night, but the real news is that the ref got in on the act. “The linesmen were in the normal zebra stripes, though,” says Michael Putlack. … Nothing enhances the view of a football field like a nearby power plant. That’s from a bunch of power/energy-related photos by the great photographer Mitch Epstein. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Big Klu as an Angel. … Some interesting info and photos regarding the Twins’ new ballpark here (with thanks to Brad Lappin). … Harvard goalie Ryan Carroll’s backplate reads “In fide et in bello fortes,” which translates to “Strong in faith and war” (with thanks to Tris Wykes). … Dan Hastings came across a Seahawks logo he’d never seen before, and neither had I. Looks like it was modeled on this old Eagles logo. Anyone ever seen the Seahawks version before? … Not sure I’ve ever seen baseball pants with the team name printed down the side. … Complete President’s Cup apparel wrap-up here. … Happy Thanksgiving to Teebz and all our other Canadian readers.
I recently Ticker-linked to this 1972 photo of an odd Padres cap, with a particularly wide-spanning yellow panel. That item has now prompted some interesting responses — let’s take a look:
• First, several readers have pointed out that the same cap can be seen in this card (and most of them pointed out the huge crowd in the background)k. Y’know, I’ve looked at that card a few jillion times over the years and never noticed the unusual cap.
• Richard Craig has generously scanned a bunch of photos of Padres players wearing the wide-span cap. Most of those are head shots from a ’72 program, plus he also found one action shot. “The player shots include some amazingly unmemorable Padres (including Enzo Hernandez, he of the lifetime OPS of .550 in more than 2600 plate appearances),” Richard notes.
• The most intriguing communiqué comes Robert Walker. “That cap was only used in ’72, only on Sundays, and (from what I have found) only for home games.”
That’s a bit of an eyebrow-raiser. A Sunday-specific cap way back in 1972? I thought the notion of specific uni elements for specific days was a much more modern phenomenon. So I wrote back to Robert: “Were you aware of this at the time, or is it something you’ve become aware of more recently? Is this well-known among Padres fans?” Here’s his response:
I’ve known of the alternate “Zimmer” cap for a while, and somewhere along the line I read about it being a Sunday special. Not too many fans know about this, as there aren’t too many “hardcore” fans like me. I don’t have much in terms of photo evidence besides old Topps cards. But all the photos of the cap that I have seen are from day games, and the only day games in San Diego at the time were Sunday and the occasional “Businessman Special” on Thursday.
After wearing the wide-span chevron cap for Sundays in 1972, the team introduced the tamed-down chevron design as their primary cap in 1973. That cap was used until 1979.
Hmmmm. Hey, Richard Craig, were you aware of this Sundays-in-’72 thing? “Nope, but I was only seven years old at the time,” he says. “All I knew was that they were funny-looking caps, especially in comparison with the later, more minimal front panel. Of course, every aspect of those uniforms was funny looking, even to a kid who didn’t know any different. It all just contributed to our long-held civic inferiority complex about the Padres.”
Can anyone else confirm or refute the Sunday protocol? Does anyone know of any other MLB cap designs that featured wide-span front panels? And did the change in the front panel from ’72 to ’73 reflect a change in cap manufacturers? All subjects for further study.
Finally, one other item regarding the early-’70s Padres: When Richard Craig was scanning those cap photos, he also came across this shot of the team’s proposed Washington uni design. “I’ve read that the team colors would have been purple and gold,” he writes — yikes.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Lots of very cool varsity jackets available on eBay — look here, here, here, here (I really like that one!), here, here (unusual color, great details), here, and here. … And while searching on “varsity,” I came across this very cool-looking game. … Nate Robinson has apparently changed his uni number from 4 to 2 (with thanks to Steve King). … Good time-lapse video of the NLDS logo being applied to the Dodger Stadium field here (with thanks to Dan Cichalski). … Shawn Dzwonkowski has scanned a bunch of pages from an old Sheboygan Red Skins media guide. … My Page 2 colleague Kurt Snibbe created this alternate NFL logos the other day. It took Bill Jones about 24 hours to gumball-ize them. … Didn’t realize Visa was now sponsoring the Niners’ practice jerseys. Fuckers (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Hey, look what happens if you cross a horse with the Batmobile! Actually, that’s a horse training system (thanks, Kirsten). … Oooh, you know I like this. “I stumbled across it in Reminisce, a nostalgia magazine aimed at the AARP demographic,” says Jerry Adams. “I left the caption on, although it appears that nobody really knows what school this is.” … Not uni-related, but this home-movie clip of San Francisco, circa 1958 is gorgeous — the clothes, the signage, the saturated colors. Total eye candy (big thanks to my buddy Shane Arbogast). … We’ve all seen photos of the Wilson football factory, but I figure it’s always fun to see a few more. … Caddies in the President’s Cup have been wearing Giants jerseys. Additional details here and here (as reported by Mike McAllister and John Okray, the latter of whom also reports that Tiger Woods looks swell in argyle). … Ya doesn’t have to call me Johnson, but it would be nice if you could at least spell it correctly. That’s Ryan Johnson of the MLS San Jose Earthquakes (screen shot courtesy of Josh Manck). … Got some spare basketball jerseys lying around? Turn them into produce bags (Kirsten again). … Okay, so I love the vertically striped socks as much as anyone, but maybe they should wait until Sunday, y’know? For more on the Broncos’ throwbacks, go here, click on “Video and Audio,” and then click on “Past Meets Present.” … Anyone know why Evander Holyfield had “Head” on his waistband for his 1994 fight against Michael Moorer? Answers involving snarky mentions of head-butting don’t count (as spotted by Tim Donovan). … Also from Tim: Phillies vendors wear Phillies-style uni numbers. … The whole “We won, let’s untuck!” thing is bad enough, but last night Orlando Cabrera untucked after a loss (as noted by Jen Muller).
UW #1 Seahawks Fan Michael Princip has been tracking the Oregon Ducks and all of their 2,456 possible uniform combinations this season. He’ll be updating it after each game. Oregon continued on its winning streak, remaining unbeaten in PAC-10 play and taking Washington behind the woodshed this week, with a 43-19 buttwhoopin’. Look for Oregon to move up from the 11-spot in the rankings and into to the Top 10. The 
Our man in the street, 
