By Phil Hecken, with assists from Thomas Clark & Teebz

Last New Year’s Day, the NHL held it’s third annual Winter Classic, a pairing of the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers in Historic Fenway Park in Boston. Building upon the successes of the previous two matchups (the inaugural Winter Classic, held in Orchard Park’s Ralph Wilson Stadium and the second Winter Classic, staged in classic Wrigley Field in Chicago).

The first matchup featured the Pittsburgh Penguins, sporting their gorgeous powder-blue throwbacks versus the Buffalo Sabres, also sporting vintage inspired uniforms. The return engagement seemed even better for uni-enthusiasts, pairing the hometown Chicago Blackhawks (again, in vintage-inspired unis) and the Detroit Cougars (wearing this gorgeous getup).

Ratings for the first two Classics were, relatively speaking, quite good, since both games were played on New Year’s Day and were up against Bowl Games. Hoping to fill a void in it’s programming black hole, NBC (which owns the rights to NHL games along with Versus) rolled the dice and decided viewers (especially casual viewers who might not otherwise care about hockey) would be thrilled with the premise — outdoor hockey (old school) with teams wearing throwback (or vintage inspired) uniforms. Great idea — a uni watcher’s dream — but was it a gimmick or a well planned and executed alternative to viewers accustomed to nothing but football at the mid-day hour? The early ’success’ led us to believe that the Winter Classic was destined to become a New Year’s Day staple for years to come. Surely, the third Winter Classic would eclipse the first two, at least in the only important demographic to network executives — the Nielsen ratings.

Well, the results are in, and as I had predicted and feared — they’re NOT good. But really, is the Classic losing steam, was this just a one-year blip, or were there other factors that had viewers seeking alternatives to hockey on January 1? Is there a crack in the ice?

I’m going to be joined by Thomas Clark, who has at least two passions in life, both of which are pertinent here: he loves hockey and he follows (and has been following) the Nielsen ratings for the game for years. I’ll also be joined by Hockey Wing President Teebz, with whom I worked diligently on last year’s Winter Classic article, and who I had asked to do a write up on this year’s contest while I handled the Rose Bowl with Larry Bodnovich and Michael Princip. They will offer their analysis and opinion on this year’s Classic, and to help us judge if the event is as strong as ever, if it’s dying (so to speak), and what the NHL and NBC can do to bring it back stronger than ever next year. With that, I’ll turn it over to Thomas:

First, an explanation of the Nielsen Ratings (Not to be confused with the Leslie Neilsen Ratings) and then a direct analysis of the numbers:

Rating = 1% of all televisions owned in US.
Share = % of all televisions in use during the time of broadcast tuned to that broadcast

2008 Winter Classic: National 2.6 rating/5 share.

Buffalo Local 38.2/58
Pitts Local 17.7/30

2009 Winter Classic: National 2.9 rating/6 share.

Detroit Local 10.5/21
Chicago Local 11.8/21

(Of note these two ratings were the highest Local DMA’s nationally)

2010 Winter Classic: National 2.6/? share

Boston Local 14.4/29
Philly Local 6/11

As far as personal opinion/observation on the 3 WC’s here’s my take:

2008 – You had the novelty of the outdoor game, people were excited at the mere idea of an outdoor professional game in the US. You had star power in Crosby and you had two very supportive hockey cities. For a local share it was perfect, there were no other games involving local teams on the same day. Though the Michigan-Florida game was a marquee matchup with large alumni bases that drove the ratings in the time slot.

2009 – Though the novelty of the game itself had worn off we got two big draws, this year the game was at Wrigley and it featured a rivalry. Detroit and Chicago are large cities relatively supportive of hockey. Arguably this is the best pairing possible for a WC without including Canadian teams or a repeat team (Crosby/Ovechkin is still likely the best layman’s draw). The numbers showed either the strength of the matchup or the relative weakness of the bowl games on the day. Michigan State did play Georgia in the Capital One Bowl, which again won the time slot.

2010 – A relatively weak matchup on several levels. The Flyers-Bruins is not viewed by most of the country as a rivalry, neither team has a truly marketable star for the average joe, and a baseball field had been done before. Fenway was a big draw, and did help pull some people in and you had two very large TV markets (both Top 6) that would help carry the national share based on the local share. Both are relatively supportive, though I would argue that both are merely sports towns vs being highly supportive of either individual club.

Thanks Thomas, and with his follow up, here’s Teebz:

This year’s Winter Classic was accurately described by Thomas above, but that doesn’t mean that there was any reason for the numbers to drop. And, in fact, losing 10% of the overall viewership doesn’t do the NHL a whole lot of favors.

However, there are reasons why they didn’t generate the same television numbers as the Chicago-Detroit game, and most of those reasons have to do with the state of Pennsylvania. Or rather, Penn State.

Football is the top dog in the sporting world in the US. There’s no denying this. Penn State was playing in the Capital One Bowl at the same time as the Flyers were playing the Bruins, so something had to give. Being that the Flyers are somewhat horrible this season, it seems reasonable to suggest that only the hardcore Flyers fans tuned in from the “City of Brotherly Love”. And even some of those people may have decided to watch Penn State play LSU.

Looking at the numbers, the Flyers-Bruins game had lower numbers in Philly than the Capital One Bowl game, but that was to be expected. But why are we focusing solely on the TV numbers as a negative when this game was the second biggest TV draw for hockey on NBC in the last decade?

If you want to measure success, things need to be kept in context. This was still the second-best showing for the NHL in the last decade on US television, and that says a lot. For a “realtively weak matchup” and a game that featured no truly marketable stars, the 2.6 says a heck of a lot of people outside of Philly tuned in watch. Had the Philly numbers not been so low, we might be talking about a 2.9 again.

Perhaps the NHL should have told NBC that Washington is a better choice when it comes to ratings. Alex Ovechkin’s high-flying offence probably would have been more fun than the NBC ratings-induced choice of Philadelphia. However, NBC learned from this, and there is no doubt that Alexander Ovechkin will be playing on New Year’s Day within two years.

The Nielsens ratings also don’t take into account the number of people in Philly and elsewhere across the US that may have DVRed, PVRed, or TiVoed the game. As reported in the New York Times, ratings of a show can actually increase between 7% and 12% with some “increasing by as much as 20%”. The average increase seen by the networks was approximately 10% when DVR numbers are factored in – the same amount the NHL lost on this game. So while Penn State was battling LSU, there may have been a number of people in Philadelphia and elsewhere across the USA recording the Winter Classic in order to watch it after the Capital One Bowl game. Since this game was on a Friday and on a holiday where some people tend to overdo their social imbibing, the chance of this game being recorded is very high. The chance of Nielsens factoring in the DVR factor? Very low.

Secondly, the NHL made the most money it has ever seen off a Winter Classic this season. With over $8 million generated in ticket sales and over $3 million generated in television advertising, this was the best Winter Classic financially for the NHL since they started. And that includes 71,000 people that packed into Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo. In fact, this year’s Winter Classic had the lowest attendance total of the three games, yet the NHL still made the most money off ticket sales. 38,112 fans packed Fenway as compared to the 41,818 fans in Wrigley Field and the 71,217 fans in Ralph Wilson Stadium. That has to be a sign of success, no?

When the NHL begins losing money off this venture, then we’ll talk about changing the event. If they make 10.3% less next year than they did this year, we have a reason to examine the viability of the Winter Classic.

Finally, we need to view this from a marketing perspective, and the NHL reportedly did very well on that front in Boston this year. The fans at Fenway Park had rave reviews of the event, the media were enamoured with Fenway’s history and nostalgia, and the NBC broadcast was good if not great. Overall, things were done well, and, after three shots by the NHL at this outdoor game stuff, this one should run like clockwork. For everything said about it, the glitz and the glamour did not tarnish once people stepped through the gates at Fenway or turned on NBC at home. And that’s exactly what the NHL wants.

While there are still things that the NHL needs to improve – finding a better matchup, perhaps – this game was an overall success. If you’re interested in just the TV numbers, the overall number is disappointing when compared to previous years, but that’s due to a large number of people in Pennsylvania watching Penn State in the Capital One Bowl. Of course, the NHL cannot predict which NCAA team will be playing in which bowl, so we’ll call this a case of bad luck, not bad planning.

However, if you look at the money that was made, the numbers don’t lie. This game was a resounding success. And to be honest, the NHL cannot be unhappy with 2.6. It is, after all, the second-best hockey telecast in the USA in the last decade.

That’s gotta be a sign of success, isn’t it?

Thank you both gentlemen. We’ll have some parting words from both Thomas and Teebz momentarily. I realize the 2010 Winter Classic could be considered a major step back for the NHL, but I want this to succeed — I’ve really enjoyed the past three Classics, and I’m hoping to enjoy many more in the future. I don’t necessarily fault the NHL or NBC for picking the locale or the two teams — they were hoping to catch lightning in a bottle a second time by repeating the formula for the highly successful second classic…old baseball stadium, throwbackish uniforms, one of the “Original Six” teams…hell, they even jettisoned the ridiculous “Where’s Waldo” contest they had last year. Unfortunately for them, possibly due to the factors mentioned above, this one was a step back. Certainly not enough of a step back to warrant scrapping the game, but if the downward trend in the Nielsen’s continues, 2011 could be the last game.

Ah, but it doesn’t have to be. Looking forward, I’ve asked Teebz and Thomas to suggest a game and location for next year, as well as possible throwback uniforms for the teams to wear. If the NHL can really make the Winter Classic a New Year’s tradition, they’d better pick it up a notch in 2011. (As a side note, the following three “predictions” for 2011 were made completely independently from one another — so if they look alike, that’s purely coindidental.) Now then, here is Thomas with his vision for next year:

2011 and Beyond:

There are two things that are certainties for the future of the Winter Classic: The NHL wants one in New York and Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals will be involved somehow. The creation of the Yankee Bowl for the 2010-2011 bowl season has really thrown a wrench in any plans the NHL had of hosting the Winter Classic at New Yankee Stadium for the next few years. It is still possible for it to happen if the Yankee Bowl is played on Christmas Day, but that is a stretch. If the NHL is merely concerned about the host city going forward and not the venue we could very likely see a game at the new Giants Stadium (which would cause some scheduling headaches for sure) or Citi Field. The game would most likely feature the Rangers vs the Capitals.

Two other options that I can see happening is a Penguins vs Capitals game most likely hosted at Beaver Stadium. The other possibility is a game hosted by the Minnesota Wild. The issue with Minnesota is that their national brand isn’t very strong so the opposing team would have to have a strong pull which would make finding a logical opponent difficult, but the Wild are pushing the NHL very hard on this. Colorado, Washington, or Dallas would probably have to suffice.

For our Canadian friends I suspect you can look forward to a Winter Classic (Heritage Classic) of your own in the next two years, most likely anchoring Hockey Day in Canada on CBC. This would of course feature two of the six Canadian teams.

I’m a bit young to have a good handle on throwbacks, but here’s my best educated guesses for possibilities:

Rangers (this or this): These two designs are different enough from their current sweaters to drive sales.
Capitals: I would actually expect a fauxback in this case. Most likely this would allow the Caps to create an alternate jersey and debut it on a national stage so Ovechkin can drive sales.

Wild: Either a variation of their current third or a pre-black North Stars sweater.

Thanks again Thomas. And now, here’s Teebz with his parting shot:

Personally, if the NHL has gone through Boston, New York City has to be thrown into the mix. The problem is that there aren’t any places of history that the NHL can use to its advantage. Old Yankee Stadium is done. New Yankee Stadium hosts an NCAA Bowl game. Rockefeller Centre just won’t hold 40,000 people. So where do you put the game?

My choice? The brand-new Meadowlands Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The surface is FieldTurf and it will still be brand-new. That means there will be no middle hump in the field like the ice-makers had in Buffalo. Secondly, it will hold 82,500 people, creating the opportunity for the largest crowd ever to take in an NHL game. Lastly, you provide the opportunity for all Americans to take part in something they are used to at football stadiums: tailgating. They did it in Buffalo, and it was a huge success, so why not bring it back? Get NBC out there in the parking lot, and show off how much fun the EVENT portion of the game is, and stop worrying about the game so much. I truly believe this is entirely why the NFL is so popular – it’s an entire event, not just a regular season football game between 2-12 and 4-10 teams.

I’d like to see the Washington Capitals in their old white uniforms take to the ice in the game. The Rangers, while remaining fairly constant in their look, should use a look from their historic past. While the 1946-47 look would be neat to see, the Rangers should use their look from 1994 with the vertically-arched names.

Capitals vs. Rangers from the Meadowlands with 82,000 other people? That’s a heckuva New Year’s Day party if you ask me!

Thanks Teebz. And now, here’s my parting shot:

The Rangers (and the New York market, which is generally devoid of a ‘hometown’ football team) would seem a logical choice to play in, if not host, the fourth Winter Classic — one of the “original six,” great tradition (if not cups) and one of the most recognizable sweaters in the game. I would think the NHL would jump at the chance to get both the Rangers and New York in the next game.

Were they to select the Rangers, I would love to seem them “throwback” to this vintage 1932 sweater, featuring the iconic diagonal wordmark that still exists today. If that’s not “far removed” enough to move merch, they could always don this 1946 vintage beauty, with the radially arched wordmark. Either one of these would be a fine uniform selection.

If the Rangers are selected to host (which, although not my personal choice, not that I’d want the Isles in their Fisherman unis either), then there isn’t an “obvious” venue — NYS (New Yankee Stadium) may be out, due to it’s probable hosting of the “Yankee Bowl” for college football, OYS (Old Yankee Stadium) met the fate of the wrecking ball, which leaves New Shea or either Giants Stadium or Meadowlands Stadium (the new stadium is finished, btw, that’s an old photo); to my mind, none of these venues is perfect. Citi Field Shea would be a lousy place (no history, and baseball fields aren’t generally fan friendly for hockey games due to poor sightlines), and Meadowlands Stadium would likely not be available — the Jets and Giants may need it, but they would have to keep it available in any event; that leaves Giants Stadium, which might be the best venue, and it seats a boatload of people which would help with the NHL’s revenue stream. Is it ideal for an outdoor hockey game? Probably not, but it’d be no worse than Ralph Wilson Stadium, and (assuming there are no plans to dismantle it before New Year’s Day) it could be prepped and host several different hockey events (like Fenway Park has done) over a week or two.

Opponent? Hmmm. Despite the “star power” found in Ovechkin, I believe the NHL would be making a big mistake in trying to feature one player (who might be injured and not even play), and the Rangers versus Caps isn’t exactly hockey history at it’s best. Nay, I think the NHL should make the Original Six/Canada connection, and set up the Toronto Maple Leafs as the opponent. The Leafs also have a strong uniform history, and could sport a white version of this classic, or go waaaaaaay back and sport this 1927-28 gem, or throw even farther back and become the Toronto St. Pats (which has been done before — love the brown breezers). For you non-hockey history buffs, the Toronto St. Pats started as an amateur ice hockey organization. In 1919, the club purchased the Toronto National Hockey League (NHL) franchise from the Arena Company and the NHL. The club renamed the franchise the Toronto St. Patricks club and operated the franchise until 1927, when it was sold to a partnership of Conn Smythe and Toronto investors — the rest, as they say is history. If the NHL won’t allow for a color-on-color game, they could still wear this version.

Would a Rangers/Leafs Winter Classic be the best matchup? Probably not, from a pure hockey standpoint, but I would think it might be the best from a marketing standpoint, and really, for the Classic to remain a viable alternative on New Year’s Day, they need to try to bump their ratings back up to what they achieved in 2009. Alternative venues and teams will I am sure be discussed, but I think an outdoor game, in a large stadium with decent sitelines and a possibility for snow (but likely not EXTREMELY frigid temperatures) could lead to a huge gate…and the Rangers/Leafs with awesome throwbacks might just be the springboard the NHL needs to keep the Winter Classic going for years to come.

There you have it. A look at the past Winter Classics and three separate (but very similar as it turns out) visions for the 2011 edition. What say you, Uni Watchers? Where, whom, and what unis? Let’s hear your thoughts.

Because I inadvertently forgot to report on the greatest hockey uniform matchup in history yesterday, I humbly will do so belatedly today. On Friday, January 8, 2010, the last two men’s NCAA National Champions – Boston College and Boston University – battled it out on the frozen infield in historic Fenway Park. The game marked the 248th meeting of the historic rivalry between the Boston College Eagles and the Boston University Terriers, which dates back as far 1918. I have to admit, I didn’t see the game, and I was remiss in not mentioning it yesterday. But the uniforms were pretty sweet — although certainly nothing earth shattering. For your viewing pleasure, however late, here is a gallery of pics from that historic evening.

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Today’s Game comes from reader Steve Uhlmann, who’s got a bit of a setup for us today. “Its worth noting that (one team) had more errors than hits that night. Bonus points if they can name the obscure pitcher who had a no-hitter through 8 innings of this game.” So there you go. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. Date, location and final score, please, and be sure to link to your answer. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!

Ricko’s always trying to convince me to do on-line dating. Um, no. But if I ever were to do so, the ad might sound something like this. Here’s Rick with the setup:

You’d think it would be a piece of cake to find a female-type football fan to hang out with you at Bub’s to watch the Wild Card Games, right? Nah, life ain’t EVER easy…

And with that, here is your Sunday Benchies.

As we continue with the NFL playoffs, I bring you another set of NFL uniform tweaks/revisions/concepts from the readers.

Starting off today’s show is Jeff Shirley, who has four teams he’s tweaked:

Phil,

I really enjoy the blog, keep up the great work!

I really think the Cardinals need a redesign, so I incorporated black a little more into their color scheme. The white helmets in their current set tend to look like eggs, so I changed them to cardinal red with black stripes, which I really thought went well with the uniform. I added the Arizona flag to the shoulders, reminiscent of the Pat Tillman Days. I tried to leave as many of their current stripes as possible, although the pants needed a complete overhaul. And while I don’t think they’ll ever even consider the blue uniform tribute to the Arizona flag, I just threw that in for fun. The blackout uniform could be used as an alternate, although it would be difficult to have a black helmet just for the occasion. Overall, I think these adjustments would go well for the Cardinals and their team. Of course, I’m no graphic designer, and may get scoffed at for these designs, but it’s all in good fun.

My next is for Atlanta, with just a few tweaks that eliminate all the nonsense going on with their uniform. Next, is the Bills, with a return to the classic stripes along with the classic shade of blue. Lastly, I wanted to see what the Eagles would look like with a return to kelly green and silver. Just a note, I always loved seeing the Eagles with their black shoes, that’s why I included them along with the socks.

Thanks,

Jeff Shirley

Next up is the Former Dirt Dart, aka Walter Young, who’s taken quite a liking to this “redesign” thing. Here he is with a multitude of concepts:

Phil,

I’ve become addicted since my original Jets tweaks. Being a huge fan of Ricko’s “comp sleeves” I’m continuing to use them in my tweaks. Not being a huge fan of the monochrome uniform look, I prefer a single pants uniform color which doesn’t match either home or road jersey. I have no qualms about “violating” traditions, since all of these teams have done so at least once already. Maybe, by the start of spring training I’ll have wreaked havoc on all of the NFL teams.

Bengals: Pre-81 helmet, but with newer script logo, early jersey style and striping, with brown pants (lightened sienna) which seems to work well with the team orange.

Chargers: Old Chargers logo replaces helmet “Bolts”, home jersey in old powder blue w/ a twist on the “bolt” sleeve striping & current number font, old gold pants.

Dolphins: New helmet logo inspired by this Logo, home jersey in old aqua (pre-97) w/ early style sleeve striping, pants in current darker aqua.

Eagles: Old Kelly helmet w/ Eagles alternate logo, Old Kelly green jersey w/ current number font and mid-60’s sleeve striping, late 70’s – early 90’s silver pants.

Falcons: Current helmet color w/ new logo and striping inspired by pre-black helmets, old red home jersey w/ 80’s inspired sleeve striping & current number font, pants in old silver

Jets: Been posted before but now combined in one picture, Tweaked logo on helmet, jersey loses shoulder stripes, olive/khaki pants.

Packers: Twist on the ’94 throwback w/ green rather than blue, and a colored road jersey

Rams: Return to old blue & gold, Rams head logo and stripes replace ram-horns motif on helmet, jerseys lose shoulder stripes but gain sleeve striping, pants in old gold w/ same helmet/sleeve striping

Ravens: helmet w/ winged “flag” shield and more traditional striping (from current pants striping), black home jersey replaces purple, pants in teams gold color.

Titans: Helmet w/ teams Sword logo, replaces flaming ball, and more traditional striping, shoulder tops color becomes solid yoke and sleeves, navy pants

Vikings: A return to dark Viking purple, Viking head profile replaces helmet horns, old style jerseys with old sleeve striping, pants in team gold.

Washington: Loses Redskins name and all native motif, TV numbers on helmet, jerseys w/ 70’s sleeve striping, pants in 60’s gold

Walt (FormerDirtDart)

Next up is another multiple team submitter, Tj Cunniff:

Got bored and did a bunch of them

Cowboys — wanted to make all of the blues match and make the road uniform the opposite of the home uniform instead of a different uniform

Vikings — never cared for purple doesn’t look to bad blue

Broncos — switched colors and uniforms

Browns — brought back the orange pants

Colts — lightened the blue brought back the blue facemasks and added another color

Eagles — changed one of the shoulder patches to the old logo — old colors in the current uniform

Falcons — black jersey replaces red — red helmet

Giants — tweaked the mid 70s helmet logo — added sleeve stripes to the blue jersey — got rid of the gray pants

Jets — found an old afl jets logo and used the yellow color on the 80s and 90s uniform

Rams — current colors on the old uniforms

Saints — changed the gold to the old shade

Seahawks — old colors on current unis

Redskins — yellow pants

Texans — curious to see what the Oilers colors would look like

thank you for looking at my tweaks
and thank you if you post them
(please do)

Our final submission, just one team, comes from Alex McIntire, who has a suggestion for the Patriots:

Hi Phil,

With the 50th anniversary of the AFL teams this year, the NFL subjected us to some classic looks, as well as some that were more debatable, I got to thinking about mixing past and present styles and colors. The Broncos were quite successful at the end of the 90’s at finding a great way to hold on to the orange and blue that kind of symbolized the John Elway period, but at the same time updated the look to something more modern and flashy. Being from New Hampshire, I’m naturally a Pats fan. While Pat the Patriot is timeless and remains everyone’s favorite, it is most likely gone forever as the main logo of the team. The Flying Elvis leaves little to get excited over in the way of design but has become the image of a dynasty and a symbol that has become synonymous with phrases like champions and winners.

So if they aren’t going to bring Pat back, there must be some way to bring another part of the past to today. My idea is basic at best, but I think that bringing red back as the main color, but with the same design as the current uni could look great and capture some of that nostalgic, classic Pats look. Other subtle but classic changes were adding the white red white red white strip pattern to the socks, and doing away with the silver on the pants and helmet and bring back the white and adding the double red stripe down the helmet. All the lines on the jersey and pants look great so I would keep those. Just some color change.

Keep up the good work,

Alex McIntire

OK, folks, another round of uniform tweaks, concepts and submissions in the books. If you have a suggestion, we’re going to be transitioning into the NBA and NHL, but we’re still open for NFL business. Send your stuff to me. Thanks.

Sunday Morning Uni Watch: No real uni surprises in either Wild Card game yesterday, with both teams opting for their standard gear. The Jets came out in their snow white ensemble (complete with the wrong socks), whilst the Bengals countered with their white over black — I mean black with REALLY WIDE white stripe over white unis. … It was quite cold in the Queen City yesterday — even some of the big burly men wore masks. But not T-Rex that is — he went with a white turtleneck & black vest. You can bet he’ll be wearing that next weekend in Indy (or San Diego). … Not much notable on the uni front EXCEPT TAFKAOC…who didn’t see many balls thrown his way…but was wearing the new fabric Rbk jersey (notice the different sleeve pattern, with Chad’s sporting orange bands around the biceps — also notice the Chris Henry tribute gloves). Bernard Scott was also wearing one. Here’s a closeup of the new jersey. Like the other new Rbk jerseys, “OCHOCINCO” appeared quite low on the back and was in much smaller fontsize than the ‘regular’ jerseys (sorry, no pics or screen grabs). … Oh well, sucks to be him — not only does 85 claim to have great moves, he got a really small truck for his birthday. … Wonder if either of these guys had a jersey that read “Dirty” underneath their ponchos.

The Cowboys and Eagles didn’t provide any real uni surprises (or drama, for that matter), with the Boys wearing white and the Eagles wearing shame green. … Fans inside of Jerryworld sure had lots to cheer, especially those in the good seats who took full advantage of the buy one get one free offer from Mr. Jones. … Like the coach of the other playoff team in green yesterday, Andy Reid wore black (see?). In Andy’s defense, it’s an official color and he always wears black. … But Jerry is a good owner who never shies from the camera, even letting the unemployed share his box. … The national anthem was performed by the NRA president. If you don’t recognize him, here’s another pic. Still no? How about now? … Anyway, the best uniforms of the night were not worn by either team — in Dallas, these are always the best unis. … Congrats to the Cowboys — the last time they won a playoff game, this guy was still in high school.

I ended the day with a 1-1 record — perhaps I should have picked the Cowboys (since it was a virtual uni-tossup), but I let my blind hatred of both teams cloud my uni selection judgment. Today will be better. I fully expect the Ravens (and they better NOT wear black leotards, or all bets will be off) and Packers to triumph.

Have a great Sunday, everyone. Enjoy the games.

In case you missed it in yesterday’s comments, the big hockey news is that Nike is getting out of the sport. This isn’t quite as good as, say, curing world hunger or solving the global warming problem, but it’s a good start.

Unfortunately, we’re still stuck with Reebok, which is apparently determined to blaze a new trail in hockey uniform design, so this seems like a good time to look back at the hockey attire of long ago. The photos that follow come courtesy of reader CJ Fleck, who found them in The Great Book of Hockey (out of print but easy to acquire if you’re so inclined). Lots of good stuff here:

• I knew some baseball teams had worn special “World’s Champions” uniforms, but I didn’t realize this trope had also extended to hockey. Back in the 1920s, however, the Senators and Canadiens both went this route.

• Two other old Habs sweaters — both light-years from their current design — here.

• Art Ross — you know him as the name of a trophy, but back in the day he coached the Bruins while looking pretty damn suave. And I probably don’t need to say this, but I really want that sweater.

• The first U.S. team to win the Stanley Cup was the Seattle Metropolitans, who wore one of history’s greatest sweaters.

• Time was when front uniform numbers were pretty common. My favorites are here and here, because I love the way the Bruins put the “B” on their sleeves, turning the current number/crest relationship on its head.

• Back when I was a kid, it wasn’t so uncommon for players to wear their uni numbers on their skates. But check out the guy on the left — is he wearing someone else’s skates, or was he traded and issued a new uni number?

• Speaking of mismatched uni numbers, take a look at Bobby Hull’s gloves.

• And speaking of Bobby Hull, check out the weirdest nameplates ever.

Membership Update: The good news: About 30 new membership kits went out yesterday, covering everyone who signed up through last Wednesday.

The bad news: A week or so ago I mentioned that a server glitch had resulted in about about 90 names being wiped off of the membership roster page but that we were retrieving the data and would be restoring the missing entries soon. Unfortunately, the data retrieval has turned out to be trickier than we thought. I still have all the original membership orders, so I could cross-reference the roster table against those, but that would be reeeeeaaaallllly tedious, so instead I’m asking for your help: If you’re an active member but don’t see your name on the roster, please e-mail me with your name, membership uni number, membership level, and why you chose your number. If your name linked to a photo, please re-send me the photo or the URL. And although this last part isn’t necessary, you can speed up the process a bit more by picking out your card design from the design gallery and sending me the URL for that too. I’ll restore things as the info comes in.

Sorry for the hassle, and many thanks in advance for your help.

Uni Watch News Ticker: I just can’t watch when the Yankees trot out Ronan Tynan to sing “God Bless America” (plus he takes so long that I actually had time to run to corner store for more beer during the middle of the 7th inning on Sunday night), but several people tell me that TBS’s camera shot of the American flag during Monday night’s rendition showed an Adidas flag in the background — nice. Unfortunately, MLB.TV’s video archive doesn’t include this segment, so I can’t get a screen grab. If anyone TiVo’d the game, kindly shoot a photo my way. … The Chargers will wear their new powder blue alternate jersey this Sunday. … Speaking of the Chargers, on Monday I mentioned that LaDainian Tomlinson’s American flag decal was still missing in last Sunday’s game, but I didn’t have visual proof. Now, thanks to Doug Mooney, I do. … And speaking of helmet decals, yesterday I wrote that the Bills’ throwback helmets appeared to have the little warning decal. But as Rob Montoya and Joe Skiba quickly informed me, that’s actually the NOCSAE logo, which is a molded into the helmet, not a decal. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Good article here about the Seals wearing gold skates back in the early ’70s. … Essential reading: This article about the NFL Players Association feuding with the league over uniform fines (you’ll have to register for the site, but it’s easy and free). Among other things, it turns out the league is now threatening to fine equipment managers and trainers as well as players, which could be bad news for faithful Uni Watch reader Joe Skiba. No more low whites, Joe! … Something very odd is going on in this photo. Aside from the defender’s underwear being partially exposed, is that his jersey tag coming loose and falling against his left thigh? … Slowly but surely, we’re building a nice little gallery of nose bumper messages. As noted yesterday, Illinois wears “Team” and Eastern Michigan wears “Pride.” Today’s addition: Toledo wears “Attack” (with thanks to Noel Blaha). … Has anyone else seen this Monday Night Football ad? Lots of things here just don’t add up: Black shoes (Nike Speed TDs, at that, which didn’t exist back in Rice’s SanFran days), no whites, no sock stripes. Clearly a Photoshop job, but why? (Good spot by Ryan Armbrust.) … A friend just sent me a copy of a South African real estate magazine (don’t even ask), which featured this splendid hosiery display in the back-cover ad. … Someone on the Chris Creamer board found this Red Sox typographic guide. … Speaking of Red Sox typography, check out the title on the new John Fogerty CD (good catch by Brad Dugan). … Also from the Creamer site: Uniform designer Joe Bosack will be speaking in Boise this Friday. … Here are UCLA’s new basketball uniforms, with the gold “C” signifying the school’s 100 championships in various sports (with thanks to Erkki Corpuz). … As Scott Turner notes, “This photo is great for so many reasons.” … Strictly speaking, the following video isn’t truly uni-related. But it’s worth watching nonetheless:

Yesterday’s ESPN column about the different versions of the Tigers’ old English D logo (which, incidentally, should have included a shout-out to Jeffrey Sak, who first brought this issue to my attention about a year and a half ago) prompted a really fascinating response from Steve Diamond, a product designer at Nike (yes, Nike). Check it out:

I’ve been designing MLB product for a long time now, and your article about the Detroit “D” was funny, but also sad. Funny because I know how MLB works and the mess they have created, but sad because there are even more variations to the “D,” as well as the fact that there are 29 other teams that have similar or even worse problems.

Basically, years ago logos were not passed from vendor to vendor in formats such as embroidery tapes (what an embroidery machine uses to create the artwork for a cap logo or chain-stitch a jersey logo) and die patterns (like a cookie cutter that cuts out tackle twill to be appliqu�d to a jersey). A new vendor typically had to copy an existing jersey to get it right. So, essentially the jersey/caps of today are copies of copies of copies.

MLB and the clubs never kept accurate records, so [in the 1990s] MLB attempted to compile a “style guide” to digitally keep records of each team’s logos, in an effort to alleviate this problem. (This was also a legal move to accurately register each team’s trademarks.) However, they created marks that looked good for printing and web usage but never attempted to duplicate the actual marks used on the caps and jerseys. This added to the mix of logos being used by different manufacturers, furthering the mess.

Going back to Detroit, currently there are at least four Detroit “D” logos that I have seen — two used on the field and two that MLB created for their style guide.

You also touched on the Cardinals and Yankees. As you can see, the Cardinals have similar problems with the use of the “StL,” and the Yanks top all teams with five different versions of the “NY” in circulation.

As Majestic moves more and more of its Authentic jersey production overseas, the uniforms and logos will become more standardized, but we will lose the uniqueness and beauty of crafted chain-stitching and zig-zag stitching that is hard to duplicate in Asia.

On the other hand, New Era still makes all of its Authentic 5950 caps in the U.S., but their problem is the opposite: They have such a mix of old and varied machines that all their caps fit so different. Go check out a store with a Yankees Authentic 5950 and compare a handful in your size. Then look at the logos on all of them. You�ll see a variety of embroideries — the same basic NY, but some skinny, some fat, etc. This is due to older embroidery machines stitching “loose” and brand-new machines stitching “tight.” Again, overseas you would find rooms filled with all the same year, same model machines churning out consistency.

Hope that helps. Unfortunately for me, I can’t enjoy a baseball game, as I constantly think about junk like this. I’m just glad you didn�t talk about color — don’t get me started on that.

Wow — please join me in thanking Steve for all that great info.

The lesson, of course, is that logos aren’t quite so immutable as we like to think they are, especially when rendered in fabric. And as the preceding account suggests, the sports world has been a particularly poor steward of its own graphic heritage, especially when compared to other industries. Small example: Back when I worked in book publishing, about 15 years ago, I edited a book that included a short interview with the great Paul Rand, who designed a slew of iconic corporate logos. Asked if there was anything he wished he could go back and change, he said he’d drawn the little bow in the UPS logo by hand and regretted not using a compass — but when he’d asked UPS if he could go back and tweak the design, they’d said no. And that’s precisely how you avoid having multiple old English Ds floating around.

Then again, this all points to a big reason why I started Uni Watch in the first place: to help document the sports world’s design history. So we should be glad that the teams and leagues have left us with such an entertaining mess to untangle.

Research Request: I was out of the house last night and didn’t catch the Giants/Cowboys game, but lots of people wrote in to say that Terry Glenn had an Ohio State buckeye merit decal on the back of his helmet. Unfortunately, I can’t find a photo of this. If anyone DVR’d the game and can get us a screen grab, that’d be swell. Apparently the best views came during pregame warm-ups and after the Giants intercepted Drew Bledsoe with 1:33 left in the first half.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Speaking of the Tigers’ various logos, this guy’s pretty on top of the “D-lemma,” as he calls it. … There’s a poll here on the best NFL logos. … The Phillies signed 700-year-old pitcher Jamie Moyer to a two-year extension yesterday, which as many readers have already noted means two more years of exposure for Philly’s seldom seen Liberty Bell stirrups. … Bit of speculation here about why the Vikings weren’t wearing their purple pants on Sunday. … In case you missed it in yesterday’s Comments section: Baseball players aren’t the only ones to wear windbreakers under their jerseys. Check out Steve Grogan! … Also from yesterday’s Comments section: a close-up of the little eyelet-equipped jersey patch that the Cowboys use to tie down their jerseys to their pads. … Contrary to what I wrote in yesterday’s ESPN column, the Astros do not chain-stitch their jersey insignia onto a patch and then sew that onto the jersey. They embroider directly onto the jersey (just like the Cardinals do), as seen in this shot, provided by longtime Uni Watch contributor Kevin Gee. (Here’s another view.) … Mizzou will be wearing solid-gold uniforms this weekend. … The Bears will be wearing their orange alt jerseys this Sunday. … Bonus points to the first Comments section contributor who can explain why I referenced Emerson in today’s entry title. … Even more bonus points for anyone who can explain why the hell there’s a Warhol-ized Emerson portrait floating around on the web (which you must admit looks very nice at the top of the page).

As most of you know, I’ve been mildly obsessed this season with the growing phenomenon of MLB players who write things under their cap visors. (For those who missed it, here’s the ESPN column I devoted to this topic a few months back.) Then, in a separate underbill development, a few weeks ago I passed along news from a National League source who said there would be changes to all MLB caps next year — including a switch from gray underbills to black.

I originally assumed there was no connection between these two stories, and that the switch to black was due to the increasingly popular school of thought that black underbills are better for reducing glare. But last week on Chris Creamer’s message boards, buried in the midst of a long discussion of the Diamondbacks’ new logos (which I’ll have more to say about soon, promise), there was this:

A friend inside MLB said that the inscriptions by players (number, initials, etc.) are getting out of hand, and changing the underbill [to black] was one way to eliminate the problem without getting into potential backlash from players and media.

Faaaaaascinating. If this is true, it raises some interesting points:

• Black brims wouldn’t eliminate underbill inscriptions, since players could still use silver Sharpies (although I agree that fewer players would do that, because there’s just something counterintuitive about writing on a black surface).

• Why is the MLB office so worked up about underbill scribblings anyway? Assuming you can see them at all, they’re usually illegible, so what’s the problem? They’re a charming quirk, and are among the very few ways that a player can personalize his uniform without being all “Look at me!” about it. Eliminating them — or trying to — is a short-sighted move.

• Whether it’s the White House or the MLB office, anytime someone is paranoid about “media backlash,” it’s a pretty safe bet they’re doing something stupid.

Meanwhile, we can add two more players to the ranks of the underbill scribblers. The first is Nationals reliever Jon Rauch, who’s got something fairly elaborate — although it’s not clear what — written on his home and road caps. The second is Cleveland’s Shin-Soo Choo (already notable for his double-flapped batting helmet), whose underbill notation appears to be written in Korean. If the closing days of this season really do constitute the twilight of the gray underbill, Rauch and Choo may go down as the last players to take full advantage of it.

(The Choo pics, incidentally, are courtesy of Toronto photographer Aaron Reynolds, who’s generously offered to make his vast photo archive available for Uni Watch research purposes — thanks, man!)

Uni Watch News Ticker: We weren’t the only ones talking about logo leaks yesterday — look here. … Bryan Redemske has gotten an advance copy of this book (due out in about three weeks) and says the photos feature some fantastic uni details, including a shot of Honus Wagner with a little “P P” collar embroidery — never seen that before. Full report to follow when I can get my hands on a copy. … Monday’s nomination for the worst prep uniform ever brought several competing picks, the most notable of which was Riverside High in South Carolina (props to Ronnie Poore). … Speaking of high school teams, great article here about high school teams that use college or pro helmet logo designs (with thanks to P.J. Mallardi). … Notes you may have missed from yesterday’s Comments section: Rice players will wear a “39″ helmet decal for the rest of the season, in memory of teammate Dale Lloyd, who died on Sunday (with thanks to Richard Grossman). … And Adam Denob noticed that Panthers kicker John Kasey was wearing a watch in Sunday’s game against Tampa.

In case you missed it in yesterday’s Comments section, there was a lot of chatter about the new Reds and Diamondbacks logos. The discussion was primarily due to a Deadspin item that appeared yesterday, which in turn was prompted by a long thread last week on Chris Creamer’s message boards, which had itself been fueled by the logos being leaked on the Fanhome boards (which I’d never even heard of before — there’s only so much of this stuff a guy can keep up with).

I have plenty to say about both logo sets, but that’s not what I want to talk about today. Instead I want to talk about the issue of leaked info, confidentiality, and how sports designs are disseminated. All this seems particularly timely because control of sensitive information is a huge topic in the world right now: Daniel Ellsberg, who leaked the Pentagon Papers in the early 1970s, is back in the news with a much-discussed article in which he encourages leaking as a form of dissent; Hewlett-Packard’s chairwoman resigned last week after it was revealed that the company had engaged in some highly questionable practices to discover and neutralize the sources of unauthorized media leaks; the White House continues to criticize the New York Times for having disclosed the administration’s warrantless wiretapping program last winter (and we now know that Times editors were actually summoned to the Oval Office by President Bush, who personally urged them — unsuccessfully — to withhold the story); access to classified information is also a major sticking point in the ongoing saga of how terrorism suspects should be tried; and on the sports scene, two San Francisco Chronicle reporters are facing possible jail time for refusing to name the confidential sources who leaked them the BALCO grand jury testimony. (By coincidence, several of these news items, and several other leak-related tidbits, were discussed yesterday in this article, which I didn’t even notice until I’d already written most of this post.)

Obviously, the question of whether we all get to see the Diamondbacks’ new sleeve logo a month or two ahead of time isn’t quite as earthshaking as any of those other issues. But the principles are the same, and it’s something I think about a lot, because leaked and/or confidential uni-related info comes my way pretty frequently — sometimes because I seek it out, and sometimes because it seeks me out. In fact, as you may recall, I’m the one who broke the story that the Diamondbacks would be getting a design overhaul in the first place, after a source at the team’s pro shop got in touch with me last month. (I didn’t have visuals, just a verbal description. If you want to see how I reported it, scroll down to the “Battlefield Report” section of this ESPN column.) I don’t say that to toot my own horn; indeed, it wouldn’t surprise me if some of you knew about the Dbacks facelift long before I did. I’m just explaining that these are questions I deal with on a semi-regular basis.

First, a bit of background. Each major sports league produces a “style guide,” which shows the official logos, colors, and uniform treatments for every team. These are used primarily by merchandising licensees and media outlets. In the past, the style guides were produced as printed volumes and looked sort of like catalogs; more recently the leagues have stopped printing the guides and have instead put all the information on password-protected web sites.

In Uni Watch’s early days, the leagues were usually happy to provide me with style guides if I asked nicely, I think in part because the column was such a small enterprise in those days and I was writing for a fairly obscure media outlet, at least in terms of the sports world (the Village Voice’s now-defunct sports section, which was buried in the back of the paper, amidst the phone sex ads). In short, I think the leagues didn’t really take me seriously, so they could basically pat me on the head and say, “Here you go, here’s your style guide, now run off and place nice.”

Nowadays, of course, Uni Watch runs on ESPN.com. You’d think the leagues would be more eager to work with me now that I’m part of the world’s biggest sports media company, right? Wrong. Most of them are much more restrictive now. In fact, I don’t currently have official access to any league’s style guide (although I have unofficial access for one league, and another league is generally happy to show me anything I ask to see). Part of this, I think, is that I’m often critical of the leagues, plus I bug them for lots of picky information — they file me under P, for pest. And part of it, I’m sure, is that the internet has made it much easier to spread uniform and logo information, and has given rise to communities that are very hungry for that information (like all of you reading this), so things can often spin out of control. That’s how the Reds and Dbacks logos were revealed: Someone downloaded the logo pages from Major League Baseball’s style guide web site, uploaded them to an image-hosting server, and then announced them on the Fanhome message board.

Who did this? I have no idea, although I can tell you it wasn’t me. It could have been me, though, because I saw the logos a few days before they began appearing on various message boards. I also saw the full Cincinnati and Arizona uniforms, which to my knowledge haven’t hit the internet yet.

So why didn’t I write about the logos when I first saw them? Because they were provided to me under the condition that I not go public with them. I gave my word, and my word is good. (As a journalist, I’m frequently given information on an “embargoed” basis, which means I’m not allowed to talk about it until a specific date — that’s similar to what happened here.) When the logos began circulating last week, I stayed mum, because the designs were still confined to a very small subculture, and I thought it wasn’t my place to give them wider exposure. Obviously, that’s a judgment call. Similarly, when the Deadspin link appeared yesterday, I said to myself, “Okay, lots of people read Deadspin, so now the logos are really public — I can talk about them now.” That’s a judgment call, too. The full uniforms, meanwhile, haven’t been yet been leaked in any public forum I’m aware of, so I’m keeping mum about them.

But what if someone had forwarded the logos and/or uniforms to me with no strings attached? Would I have leaked them then? Maybe, maybe not — it would depend on the specific circumstances. Why? A better question might be, Why not? Here are the usual answers to that question:

• “Leaking a design before its scheduled unveiling shows no respect for the designer.” This argument, which has been promulgated primarily by the design world, doesn’t really work for me. Some of my best friends are designers, but the designer is ultimately just a contractor working for a client. The client is the one who owns the design and calls the shots, and in this case that’s the team or the league. Which brings us to…

• “Leaking a design can screw up a team’s marketing plan.” I have even less sympathy for this position. Sports marketing these days is insipid on so many different levels — if anything undercuts a team’s plan, or just raises the marketing staff’s blood pressure, I’m inclined to think that’s probably a good thing. Fans are tired of everything in sports seeming calculated and scripted, and that includes uniform programs. The level of secrecy about team designs has become offensive, since the designs ultimately belong to the fans — not legally, of course, but emotionally, because the fans are the ones who’ll be rooting for the colors, the logos, the uniforms. Teams need to remember that they’re not just business entities — they’re also civic entities (that’s why we all get so worked up about this stuff to begin with), and fans have a legitimate civic interest in seeing their teams’ designs. So in this case, I lean toward Daniel Ellsberg’s position that leaking can sometimes be a legitimate form of dissent, and a way for fans to claim some sense of empowerment in an increasingly alienating sports world — or at least a way of fucking with people who probably deserve to be fucked with. (That sound you just heard is my file being moved to E, for enemy.)

Besides, I’ve yet to hear of a single case in which leaking caused any harm other than annoying a bunch of suits. When the Sabres’ new logo was leaked back in June, it prompted fan outcry, a petition drive, political cartoons, and lots of hairpiece jokes. But did the Sabres make any changes? No. By the time they finally unveiled the new uni two weekends ago, managing partner Larry Quinn was telling reporters, “In retrospect, we couldn’t have done it any better. [The leaks have] been a great guerilla marketing campaign.”

And here’s something else to consider: As many of you know, new uniform designs can often be seen in video games well before the design’s official unveiling. And why is that? Because teams and leagues want to milk every last licensing penny out of their designs. So please don’t tell me a design is too “sensitive” to be shown ahead of time when you’re already making money off of it in the video game market. You can’t have it both ways.

• “What’s the rush? We’ll all get to see the design eventually.” As simplistic as it may sound, I think this is actually the best reason not to leak a design. Does it really matter whether we see the Diamondbacks’ new logos now or in November, when they’re slated to be officially unveiled? Nah. If a league representative showed me a new uniform design and said, “Listen, you can do what you want with this, but I’d appreciate it if you could just wait and let us handle it our own way,” I’d probably oblige. It’s a certainly a more honest approach than trying to convince me that the fate of western civilization — or the Western Conference — hangs in the balance.

Your thoughts? I’m listenin’.