I only caught the last few minutes of the Hall of Fame Game last night. Fortunately, thanks to the magic of internet photo galleries, I can bring you the uni-related highlights anyway:

• In recent weeks, it had looked like the Bills were gonna go with this pants stripe pattern. But they ended up going with this instead.

• The Titans’ much-discussed Steve McNair memorial decal is innocuous enough. And Tennessee’s coaching staff wore memorial collar pins.

• Take another look at that helmet photo. Notice anything? No NFL logo! In fact, the NFL shield was absent from both teams’ helmets. That’s nothing new for the Bills, whose throwback helmets have been shield-free for years now. It’ll be interesting to see if the Titans — and/or other teams partaking in the AFL throwback series — continue to eschew the league logo.

• Now go back to that Jeff Fisher shot. See how the logo on his shirt is all faded? That’s not a glitch — both coaching staff wore shirts with “distressed” emblems. I hate that faux-vintage approach (if you want a beat-up old Bills shirt, spend some time in thrift stores like I do), but I do find it interesting that they’d use that look for the coaches — a much more casual look than the usual coaching attire.

• The officials looked so damn great. A few people in last night’s comments were griping about the socks or the uni numbers not being fully accurate, but AFL officials had a wide range of looks over the years — they didn’t have just one standardized number font, e.g. I’m perfectly fine with how they’ve handled this.

• The red gloves that were worn by members of both teams reeeaaaally don’t belong in a throwback game.

• Bills owner Ralph Wilson wore his Hall of Fame blazer. But hey, Ralph, we gotta talk about those sneakers.

I’m sure there was a whole lot more that I missed, but I was busy catching the world debut of the Pedestrians. More on that later. For now, enjoy the onset of football season try not to melt today.

Raffle Reminder: I’m currently raffling off 10 free copies of Bill Henderson’s amazing MLB jersey guide. To enter, send an e-mail to the raffle address by 7pm tomorrow. One entry per person, except for Uni Watch Membership Program enrollees, who can send four separate entries. I’ll announce the winners on Wednesday.

Research Project: We’ve all long lamented the fact that there’s no online database for NBA uniform history. Now reader Chuck Myron wants to do something about that. He’s willing to do the archival research, but he’ll need help creating the illustration templates and the web site itself. If you’re interested in helping him out, contact him here. Thanks.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Some guy on eBay is selling some really great baseball-themed Cuban pin-up posters. I just bought this one, and there are additional examples here, here, here, here, and here. … Bizarre coincidence: In last week’s ESPN column, I mentioned that I’d met a collector named Michael Ono, who’s been collecting USC alum autographs. Got a note from him on Friday, thanking me for including him in the column, with a twist: Turns out that he’s been the creative services manager for the A’s for nearly a decade (”I thought I was the only one who knew about the various discrepancies in our logo,” he says) and even designed their 40th-anniversary patch last year. So when I interviewed him at the convention, I was talking to a professional logo guy and didn’t even realize it. Small world and all that. … Red Sox third base coach DeMarlo Hale appears to be wearing the same flapless Wilson helmet design worn by A.J. Pierzynski (good spot by Andy Chalifour). … New logo for GW hoops (with thanks to Dan Franko). … Whoa, check this out: a black Ohio State hoops uni. The design was never worn on the court (thankfully), but it’s still interesting (with thanks to Dylan Glickman). … Small change for Iowa football, where the chest wordmark has been replaced by a collar logo (with thanks to Matthew Nelson). … The Raiders have posted a bunch of archival photos, many of them spectacular, on their web site. Check out image No. 9 and you’ll see them playing against a decal-less Broncos team. Preseaon, perhaps? (Major thanks to Mako Mameli.) … Didn’t know AT&T Park had a Giants uni display until Brinke Guthrie sent me these pics. … I might actually watch soccer if it was played by kangaroos. That’s the logo for the bidding for the 2018-2022 World Cups in Australia (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Those Adidas college football practice jerseys, first seen on Tennessee, are also being worn by other schools, including Notre Dame, Kansas, and Indiana. … New football uniforms Louisville. In addition to the new striping, Louis Samuels notes that the QBs already have hand-warmer pockets — odd for August, no? … And according to the very last sentence on this page, Pitt will be unveiling new Nike uniforms today (with thanks to CJ Giannuzzi). … Here’s a NickNOB. That’s Yuji Nakazawa of the Yokohama F Marinos in the J-League (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Matthew Hiett notes that Braves first base coach Glenn Hubbard still has the 4ALS decal on his helmet. … Lots of good shots of Babe Ruth as a pitcher here (with thanks to Chad Todd). … Scott Little sent a bunch of scans from a Tokyo Giants mag. Among the highlights: a guide to the uniforms worn by the stadium staff at the ballpark and some sort of “design the uni contest” (look here, here, and here). … Also from Scott: Maybe the best “Official [whatever] of the [league]” sponsorship ever and some killer furniture. … Ricko sent me scans of a ticket brochure from the old Minnesota Buckskins of World Team Tennis. “I was league PR director and a minority owner in the Buckskins,” he explains. “I didn’t do the paintings, but I did design the unis and the logo (well, drew the intentionally unisex character and my dad did the lettering, by hand). Note that the women are shown wearing two different colors — brown was to be the road uni. Men’s road would have flip-flopped the brown and gold on the uni shown. All moot, though, cuz the majority owner didn’t wanna pop for the custom unis.” … Super-cool interactive map on old Indiana basketball gyms here (great find by Ben Traxel). … Dr. John C. Barnes notes that UNLV appears to have changed their black helmet stripe to a red stripe. … Mark Teixeira was missing the 2 on his helmet last night (as spotted by Mike Lafferty). … “This watch ad ran in various football game programs, including those at Dartmouth, in the late ’70s and early ’80s,” says Tris Wykes. “It ran with the image reversed year after year, and they failed to correct it. That’s Columbia at Harvard, in case you’re wondering. Interesting that the helmet logos weren’t airbrushed out.” … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Chris Cooley’s latest blog entry is all about uniform fines. … Check out this completely amazing vintage SF Giants apron! It’s available for sale here. … The Cowboys have been engaging in some haircut-based rookie hazing. … The long-rumored new Arizona State jerseys look like this. … Ladies and gentlemen, your new Philadelphia 76ers. … Someone on the Chris Creamer board showed a small scan showing that Broncos-style vertically striped socks were briefly featured in the Wilson catalog.

Two interesting moments during last night’s Yanks/Braves game in Atlanta.
One of them came during the top of the 9th, when Mariano Rivera got a rare turn at bat — only the second regular-season plate appearance of his career, and only the fifth overall. So this was a very unusual chance to see him in a batting helmet.

But hey, what’s with the “91″? It was on the back of the helmet, too — apparently Rivera had to use Alfredo Aceves’s helmet. Granted, closers don’t bat very often, but are you really telling me that the spare-no-expense Yankees couldn’t be bothered to have a helmet for a Hall of Famer? Next you’re gonna tell me that Derek Jeter’s range isn’t what it used to be. (For the record, Rivera flied out, stranding three runners. Clutch performer my ass.)

The more interesting tidbit occurred in the bottom of the 8th, when Brian Bruney came in to pitch. Turns out he didn’t have the Yankee Stadium patch on the back of his cap. No biggie there — as we’ve previously noted, Jeter and Robinson Cano have also gone patch-free lately. But they’ve at least had the MLB logo on his cap, while Bruney did not have it last night.

I did a little checking and discovered that Bruney’s cap was also plain-backed during his two previous appearances, on June 19th and June 16th. His last appearance before that was on May 19th (he spent several weeks on the DL), and in that game he had the stadium patch. So his no-frills cap appears to be something he’s worn only during his latest stretch of activity.

Here’s the thing: Where can you even find an authentic Yankees cap without either the stadium patch of the MLB logo? Bruney might just have a collector’s item.

(Thanks to everyone who sent submitted info and screen shots, including Doug Keklak, Terrence O’Donohue, Jesse Ghiorzi, Chris Merce, Brian Harvey, and of course Phil.)

Raffle/Redemske Reminder: I’m currently raffling off four pairs of Wilco tickets and taking up a collection to help out former Uni Watch bench coach Bryan Redemske, who broke his back in a cycling accident last week. Full details on both of these projects here.

Last Chance to See That Thing You Never Cared About Anyway: This is the last weekend that the Candela Structures exhibit will be up at the City Reliquary. Also, I’m giving a private showing of the exhibit to a couple of people at noon tomorrow. If anyone wants to get in on that, let me know.

Uni Watch News Ticker: The Brooklyn Cyclones became the Baracklyn Cyclones two nights ago. Photo gallery here. … Brian Schulz reports that former Vikings player Randall McDaniel had some interesting things to say during a radio interview yesterday: “He said he was going to give Canton his shoulder pads, which he was issued on day one as a Viking and wore his entire career. They also asked for his practice jersey, because he had only used ONE practice jersey his entire career as well. He said it was so patched and stitched up that it barely resembled a jersey any longer, and that the only way you knew it was purple was because the end that tucked into his pants was still a brighter purple, while the other parts of the jersey was a mismatch of lavender and white stitching. He went on to say that it’s currently hanging in his home and that he told Canton no, they couldn’t have it.” … Pawtucket and Durham recently held a Negro Leagues night, and Peter Romano took a bunch of photos. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The 76ers didn’t quite revive their old logo exactly intact — they slightly altered the 6. … A few days ago I mentioned the Spaghetti Bowl. Turns out there’s a bunch of photos of it in the Life archives (with thanks to Lance Smith). … Interesting ESPN branding/style guide here (good find by Alan Borock). … Amazing old jersey available here (with thanks to Kevin Marks). … NOBs are being restored to Utah’s basketball uni. … According to this story, UNC “will wear throwback uniforms in a number of games that honor a championship team from the past” for the upcoming season (with thanks to Chris Warfford). … Mike Hersh reports that the College Vault folks have branched out into horse racing, as well as non-sports topics. … You know how Phil and several other readers are tracking various teams’ records by uniform? The Mets are doing that too (with thanks to Greg Michelena, who took that shot prior to last night’s game at Shea). … Georgia Tech’s hoops team will wear throwbacks through the 2009-10 season to honor the anniversaries of the 1960, 1985, and 1990 teams. According to this item, the team’s home whites will resemble the 1960 uni, and the road golds will be patterned after the 1985 and 1990 designs (with thanks to Glynn McGehee).

By Phil Hecken, with Dave Magruder

You may recall that recently I ran a post with Mike Engle, “What Is Your Uni Secret?,” which asked readers to come up with their “guilty pleasure” for a uniform. In that column, I mentioned that the idea for such came from a reader whom I could not remember at the time, and I asked that reader to come forth and accept the glory for a wonderful suggestion. He did, and it turns out that suggestion came from Dave Magruder (”Dave Mac”), who joins me today with another interesting suggestion (a portion of which also appeared in the comments a while ago) He has expounded upon that original suggestion.

Here’s Dave:

In 2000 the Rams changed their uniforms from royal blue, yellow and white, to millennium blue, gold and white. At the time this seemed like relevant change due to the team’s new identity in St. Louis as “The Greatest Show on Turf.” Recently, however, I’ve been longing for the team to return to their classic royal blue and yellow uniforms (thankfully they will wear them as throwbacks in 2009). These uniforms were a staple of Rams time in Los Angeles as well as the team’s Super Bowl 34 championship in St. Louis.

However, I have always been fond of the current logo introduced with the 2000 uniforms. It is fairly no-frills and modernistic, but it still has a certain charm and connection to the past. This gave me the idea to combine the best of both worlds … the new 2000 logo with the classic LA Rams colors. These types of old/new hybrids don’t always work, but it was intriguing enough for me to see how it would look. Not knowing much about design myself, I asked some Uni Watch readers if they could help me create this logo and several of them posted responses.

Compare the current Rams logo to the current logo with traditional colors (this one created by UW stalwart Chance Michaels).

Interesting. This got me thinking of other logo possibilities. Have there been teams you’d like to see combine a current color scheme to an old logo? Or vice versa? What if the Milwaukee Brewers brought back the old MB ball and glove logo with their current gold and navy color set? Or what if the Seattle Seahawks current, more aggressive hawk logo was filled in with the old Pacific Northwest colors of green, gray and blue? Or what about Milwaukee Brewers barrel man with current colors, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Bucco Bruce logo in red and pewter current color scheme, the Green Bay Packers “G” logo in blue and yellow (1940s team colors), or the Detroit Lions (pre-2009) logo with a gold or red color scheme (see grafs 12 & 13) from the team’s early history?

There are a lot of interesting possibilities I haven’t mentioned that may be worth exploring.

Indeed there are Dave. As fate would have it, Chance Michaels has already created the Barrel Man in current Brewers colors. Pretty sweet, huh?

What say you, dear readers? Do you have any suggestions for former logos or wordmarks or images you think would look awfully sweet if they were updated with your favorite team’s current color scheme? Or, how about a logo from today with colors from the past? I think this could be a really interesting project. If you have the Photoshop/Illustrator or other graphic skills, would you like to try your hand at a few of these? If you don’t, how about you make a suggestion for a “new” logo with updated colors (or altogether new colors) and post it here. Perhaps those of you (and there are so many talented UWers out there) with the skills can take some of the suggestions which are sure to follow and create what has been suggested? I’ll gladly run your submissions in a future column! Either post them directly into the comments or send them directly to me and we can take a look at these again in a short while.

As you guys know, I’m not much in the way of a graphic artist, but I figured I would give a couple of Dave Mac’s ideas a shot, just so we could get an idea of what he’d like to see. So, here’s the Seahawks old & new logos (with the new logo in old colors) and the Original Bucco Bruce, and how he might look with current Buccaneer colors. Finally, here’s what I came up with for the Brewers classic Ball in Glove logo with today’s colorscheme.

And since I’m not much of the graphic artist, I commissioned Pretty Boy Paulie (Paul Soto), UW graphics genius, to help out with the remaining logos Dave had described: the Green Bay Packers in Blue & Gold, the Detroit Lions in Red & Black as well as the Lions with Gold outline. Thanks Paulie, yer the best!

Thanks again, Dave, for the suggestion. OK Uni Watchers, let’s hear what you got!

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: OK — you guys have gotten so good at this game, I’m gonna try and stump you, or at least make you work a little today. Slight changes to the “rules” as well: DON’T email me with your guess, but don’t put it on the board either. Instead, if you wish to take a shot at the answer, go to Baseball Almanac or Retrosheet and copy the URL of the game that’s about to follow. Just say something like “I GOT IT” and post the link as your “answer” in the comments. This way, those who wish to guess can still do so without seeing the answer in the comments. Ok? Ok! Here we go: Guess The Game. Remember, I want the date, location and final score (all of which can be gleaned by posting the link from one of the reference sites). Let’s see how long this one takes you.

*If you have a scoreboard photo you’d like featured, please send it to me. I’m compiling a pretty good “stash” for your guessing pleasure, but I can always use more. Make sure to include the date, location and final score! Thanks.

This is pretty cool. Brinke Guthrie (”=bg=”) sent me this really cool collage he created this week. I liked it so much, I told him I’d share it with y’all.

Also extremely cool is this. Check out the Royals 40th Anniversary Website. Notice anyone in particular? (In case the website happened to rotate out the photo to which I am referring — here’s a screengrab). If the name of the kid in the uni isn’t familiar to you, that’s UW’s own “Lwiedy“.

BOBBLE-iscious: Well, it came! UW Bobblehead Guru & Artistic Genius Robert Marshall’s custom bobble arrived this week in a standard FedEx box…standard until you saw the customization on the side. My anticipation was high as I opened the box to reveal my very own bubble-wrapped “LI Phil” bobblehead baseball boy … he even came with a custom bubblewrap neck brace. And now I have actual proof that, at the very least, the bobble-likeness Gets It (TM). Awesome! Bobbleboy now sits atop my computer desk, looking down upon me at the ceiling with disdain.

This is an amazingly high quality bobble. And it’s heavy too. Like, crack-your-skull heavy. Robert even made a video of the little guy before shipping. If you haven’t looked into getting your own custom bobble (hey — Father’s Day is coming up!) I cannot recommend this highly enough. Robert didn’t ask me for a plug, but I’m gonna give it to him anyway. Contact Him if you’re interested. I guarantee you won’t be disappointed!

Add to the list another tracker, Timothy Killeen who has been tracking your World Champion Philadelphia Phillies. Here’s his report:

I realize I’m a little late on the uni-tracking bandwagon, but I was inspired by the spreadsheet of another Uniwatchblog tracker and decided to try my hand at doing it for the Phillies since no other track master had covered them yet. I’d love to post when the next round starts up, but until then, here’s what I would have written this time around (as of June 6):

This is my first post at Uniwatchblog, but I’ve been following it for a few months and never go a day without missing it. I’ll be posting as Secane Snake (don’t ask). I decided to start tracking the Philadelphia Phillies’ W-L record by pitcher and uniform as a way of teaching myself iWork Numbers which I recently started to favor over MS Excel. I was intrigued by the work put into user Scott Gladin’s spreadsheet being used to track the Braves, and I decided I would see if I had the chops to replicate it. I think I did pretty well, although I’ll admit the Phils are a much easier team to track. Here is a screen shot of what I have so far.

My WFC Phillies are a decidedly simple team to uni track. Not only do they mostly wear the same classic red hat for both home and away games unless instructed otherwise by the league (Memorial Day, 4th of July, etc.), but figuring out when they will/did wear their new (as of 08’) cream alternate uniforms and blue hats is simple: They wear ‘em during home games that start before 7pm EST, or “day games,” if you will. Simple as that.

Wearing only 3 uniform sets makes me less inclined to believe the Phils’ winning percentage is at all influenced by their choice of uniform, but I do hope they’ll keep up the ridiculous 77% WPCT they’ve accumulated as of June 6th while wearing their away grays. Two players, Joe Blanton and Brett Myers, have been drastically better wearing the gray, and the pitching staff as a whole has only notched 2 decisions at all let alone wins in 8 games wearing the cream alternates.

Since the team was 4-4 before they started to wear the HK patch commemorating the April death of legendary broadcaster Harry Kalas, their winning percentage with the patch is going to be easy for anyone: simply check out the standings, the Phils’ WPCT overall is the same for their WPCT with an HK patch.

As for anomalies: I considered their gold trimmed home-opener WS jersey as just another regular home jersey, but I will always remember that they are 0-1 with that get-up. After that we have the gray Jackie Robinson #42 they wore in May against the Nats which they won, and the Memorial Day game in which they looked pretty much the same wearing another red hat in which they also won.

Thanks Tim. And now, officially, welcome to Uni Watch!

This and That: While I was too busy watching Luis Castillo singlehandedly cost the Mets a win at Yankee Stadium last night, apparently there was some kind of hockey game on — Congrats to the Pens … We all flock to UW to see the athlete in uniform. Now, the WWL is hoping we want to see the athlete sans uni — like, REALLY, without uni … Sounds like big things are planned at next weekend’s Civil Rights Game, the first time MLB is playing it during the regular season — maybe the Chi Sox will recycle last year’s unis? Right. … Here’s more on the Civil Rights game and Cincinnati’s hosting of that event … Are you a male who’d like to make $100 the sleazy way? Then Rick Reilly has a deal for you … The United Football League will announce logos and colors and nicknames and sponsorship deals for its four franchises in the coming weeks — What the UFL should do: Pursue signing Michael Vick with abandon and assign him to the Las Vegas team … Especially since Vick was released by the Falcons … Apparently, the Red Sox threw at A-Roid on purpose … So will Petey be wearing a Rays or Cubs uni this season? — He’s lookin’ ripped … Apparently we’re not the only ones “Calling It Shea”: Awesome!

Special Saturday Uni Watch Ticker (compiled by Paul): Very cool that the Nets still have this banner up at their arena (with thanks to Peter Wunsch). … Utah and BYU are getting new field designs (with thanks to Jon Alviani). … So many weird things going on in this photo. First, you’ve got New York Giants players wearing Mets caps. Then you’ve got Mets PR guy Jay Horwitz getting a Giants jersey. And finally, why did they give him a road jersey instead of a home version? … Patrick Williams, who works at the Braves Museum and Hall of Fame, saw the recent Ticker note about the upside-down N at Turner Field. “I pointed out the mistake to my supervisor,” he says. “It has been passed on to the engineering department and will be fixed soon. Thanks for the catch!” … Awesome 100-year-old ad for baseball gear here. … You know how some old baseball jerseys had button-on sleeve extensions? Look — you can own a set of the extensions! Never seen that before. … Did you know that MLB teams can prohibit any minor league team in a 60-mile radius from conducting a bobblehead giveaway? I didn’t, until Robert Ruszczyk sent me this and this. Amazing. Also very sad. … Here are Washington State’s new football uniforms. … Virginia Tech plans to wear special throwback helmets for their home opener (with thanks to Jonathan Sluss). … Here’s an odd but useful view of the Bills’ white throwback (with thanks to Mike Sullivan). … Great shot here of Dave Bing wearing wrestling headgear, presumably due to an ear injury (nice find by Tris Wykes).

Enjoy your Saturday everyone!

By Phil Hecken, turning two with Larry Wiederecht

I’m rejoined today by Larry Wiederecht (”Lwiedy”), my double play partner, as today we look the pages of another All Star Game program, this time from the Midsummer Classic in Milwaukee, 1975. Although this would be the first time the Milwaukee Brewers would play host to the game, it was not the first All Star Game to be held at County Stadium, Wisconsin. That honor belonged to the 1955 Milwaukee Braves. The ‘75 game was the 46th playing of the classic, and the game was played on July 15th, 1975. Additional information on the actual game can be found here. I love this really neat patch from the game, featuring the words “All Star Game 1975″ in blue and gold on one circle, and the swinging “barrelman” on the other. (Although, Larry notes that the patch not worn on the uniforms, but rather was based on the press pin from that year [third row, fifth from the left].)

So, without any additional ado, let’s get into Larry’s ASG pics:

‣ Rather boring team photos (by All-Star standards). The American League and the National League. The only real uni anomaly that I know of (Vida’s all gold get-up) didn’t even show up. These came from the ’75 Series program.

‣ Less than dramatic cover artwork by a fellow named Robert Deuel

‣ Obligatory welcome letter from the Commissioner, Owner, used car salesman.

‣ Nice piece on the history of Milwaukee baseball

‣ Like in the 1972 program, Medalist/Sand Knit shows their wears

‣ No way I have Suzy Q’s in center (nice home plate, too)

‣ If you are going to use little action shots of Garvey & Cey, at least put them by their own head shots. Sutton, Seaver & Gossage were “misplaced” as well

‣ The Hammer takes in a little USC-UCLA

‣ One of the most recognizable ad campaigns of all time. Always wondered if you couldn’t just put a bullet through the shank, though.

‣ Hey Johnny O, can you still get a Graf/s?

‣ Also a staple of AS & Series programs are the ring ads

‣ With a lot of help from ChampionshipRings.net and a little deductive reasoning, I came up with the following list (top to bottom then left to right)

1971 Dallas Cowboys
1971 Utah Stars
1971 or 1972 Boston University Hockey
1966 SMU
1967 Philadelphia 76ers
1958 Baltimore Colts
1959 Oklahoma Sooners Orange Bowl
1970 USC Rose Bowl
1967 Southern Illinois NIT
1964 St. Louis Cardinals
1969 Minnesota Vikings NFL Champions
1965 Los Angeles Dodgers
1968 New York Jets
1953 New York Yankees
1972 Boston Bruins (World, not Stanley Cup Champs?)
1970 or 1971 Nebraska Cornhuskers Football
1967 St. Louis Cardinals
19?? UCLA Basketball (Pick a year)
1966 Baltimore Orioles

‣ Finally, a nice little pullout program poster.

And that’s not all, Larry also found us some pretty nice pics from that game:

‣ Pretty good staff leading the NL. Over 50 years of managerial experience, seven world championships and nearly a dozen pennants.

‣ Yeah they shook hands, but they never looked at each other.

‣ Speaking of Thurm, missing was his familiar gear. He must have borrowed from the Brewers.

‣ Don’t know how often this combo was worn, but it wasn’t often.

‣ Bernie Brewer’s sister, wife? She’s Bonnie Brewer.

‣ Don’t really know what Billy’s black armband is for.

‣ Hank’s 24th and final All-Star Game.

‣ Yaz pinch hits with a cap insert. He even had to explain to home plate ump Bill Haller what he was wearing.

‣ Gary Carter corrals the final out in left wearing his batting/catching helmet.

Thanks again, Larry. Those are awesome. See ya again soon when we look at our next All Star Game Program!

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: This one is difficult, but not impossible. The location should be easy, and there are other clues right there on the scoreboard. You shouldn’t need any hints with this one. Date, location and final score are required. Based on the comments yesterday, if you do get the answer, shoot me an email but post something like “I GOT IT” in the comments. This way, people can take guesses throughout the day. I’ll post the winner’s name and some of the good “deductive” guesses at the end of the day. Ok? Ok! Good luck. Guess The Game From The Scoreboard

Another Uniform Tracker has answered the call. Matthew Bohman “Namhob” is a Cincinnati Reds tracker. Here’s his update:

Phil,

The Cincinnati Reds have had their fair share of uni shenanigans in the past, but nowadays they have kept it pretty standard with a traditional home, away, and softball alternate home uniform. Thankfully, baseball’s oldest franchise has avoided the dreaded away alternate and in doing so has kept many a Laundromat in business on the road. At home, there seems to be 2 rules the Reds follow: 1) the traditional “Sunday Red” is alive and well in Cincinnati and 2) for every home series, the red alternates have to make at least one appearance. The only deviation from this rule so far has been a Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday series against the Astros where the Reds wore home white every game (which didn’t stop the Astros from wearing their red alternates for EVERY GAME of that series). Actually, looking through the Astros games for the first 2 months I have counted 24 away games and they have only worn their away grays twice! And one doesn’t even count as an away gray since they were wearing the Stars & Stripes hat on Memorial Day! Hint to the Astros, you are undefeated in your away grays; try them on sometime!

Sorry, back to the Reds…Being an excel spreadsheet junkie, I am tracking the Reds 3 different ways*: overall record by uniform, game-by-game, and per pitcher. For being an average ballclub, the Reds are .500 in both the home whites and the red alts. They’ve had some success on the road this year and it shows with a 14-11 record. As it stands, they are still undefeated in wearing anything apart from the home whites, road grays and red alts (1-0 is undefeated, am I right?). That will probably change as they are expected to get fancy for July 4th and September 11th as well as the Civil Rights game against the ChiSox on June 20th (they’ll be wearing throwbacks of the 1964 Cincinnati Reds). In the end, I predict they will finish 2-2 in the “special attire” category to remain at .500.

* As of June 1, 2009

In case you missed yesterday’s post…a NOB research project, by UW Historian/Research Architect, Timmy Brulia:

Hello All,

This is Timmy B, the guy who created the “NFL White At Home” database that chronicles what teams have worn their white jerseys at home in the NFL since 1957, and the “Pro Football Uniforms 1933-1958″ database, which describes the uniform designs for each team in the NFL and AAFC from that era.

My next attempt at a database is for all the teams that have worn the player’s name on the backs (NOB’s) of their jerseys in the “Big 4″ sports of football, baseball, basketball and hockey. Specifically, when they started doing it.

Up until 1960, there was only one documented example of a team with the NOB, the defunct New York Americans of the NHL in the 1926-27 season. Then in 1960, the Chicago White Sox began wearing NOB’s on the backs of their away blouses. Later that year, the upstart American Football League featured several teams that wore them at the start of the season. From all indications, by season’s end ALL teams wore NOB’s in the AFL. The Raiders went so far as to feature the players’ FIRST name as well as their last.

When the AFL merged with the NOB-less NFL in 1970, the NFL absorbed the idea and adopted the look for all 26 teams.

The NBA, already with several teams sporting NOB’s, took a shining to the idea and also made NOB’s mandatory starting with the 1971-72 season.

Not wanting to be left behind, the NHL adopted a league wide NOB policy in 1977-78 (with ONE notable exception which we’ll get to later).

Finally the National League, in 1979, mandated that all 12 teams at least have NOB’s on the teams’ road jerseys. To my knowledge, the American League never has adopted an NOB mandate. However, the NL’s rule seems to have been “waived” or not enforced as the Ddogers went NOB-less for several years earlier in the decade.

The purpose of the database is to be an easy to follow guide as to WHEN teams started to wear NOB’s, either before a league-wide edict, or especially in MLB, when there were gaps from exactly when they first started wearing NOB’s, then dropped them, and then added them. So if you’re wondering when – say the Braves – started wearing NOB’s (1963), when did they stop, and when did they resume the NOB’s. So, as an example, the Braves entry might look like this (years may NOT be correct):

Braves: 1963-1964, 1976-current.

or for hockey:
Rangers: 1970-71 thru 1976-77 (home only), 1977-78 to date.

What I am asking of you, the Uniwatch faithful, is for your help. I think I can cover the NFL and the NHL pretty well. However, for the NBA and especially MLB, if you can send me any photo samples with some verification as to when certain teams started and/or stopped wearing NOB’s it would be hugely appreciated and I will make sure to give you props in the database with your particular contribution(s).

To close, as promised, the NHL exception for 1977-78. In 1977, John Zeigler took over as NHL President, succeeding the long tenure (30 years) of Clarence Campbell. One of Zeigler’s first actions was to mandate that all NHL teams get with the program and affix NOB’s on the team sweaters, both home and away. 17 of the 18 teams complied, with no problem. One did not. The Maple Leafs owner, the crusty Harold Ballard, refused to follow the edict. They went half a season before Zeigler finally said to Ballard, put ‘em on or be fined. Finally, Ballard complied, by having blue NOB’s on the away blue sweaters! Zeigler, said, “Not funny” and then was ready to clamp Harold with some fines. At last, some time in late February, Ballard and the Leafs followed orders, but only for the blue jersey, with white letters. However, Ballard said to Zeigler, I will not do it for the home whites as he had an iron-clad clause with the Maple Leaf Gardens program printers NOT to adorn NOB’s on the home jerseys. Zeigler relented but ordered Ballard to comply fully starting with the 1978-79 season, which he did.

Thanks and again any and all help will be appreciated!!

You can reach Timmy by emailing him with any info.

Last FINAL Call For the RPM Stirrup Club: Got a note from Robert Marshall, the bobble boy. “phil, could you give a last call on the oriole stirrup, and make mention this weekend that i sent out this email to people that contacted me, and that if they didn’t get this email, that they should get in touch with me again? i think everyone is on here, but maybe i missed someone. i will be placing the order tuesday, so get in before then, i will not order extras. and they take tck 2 weeks to manufacture, so you should have them in less then 3 weeks from tuesday.” So, here’s that last call:

1) Cost $11 per stirrup. We will go through paypal, and use his rpmarshall art email address. Mr. Marshall does not intend to profit from this, but he doesn’t want to lose either. One of you sent Robert a payment for $10 (that is fine, don’t send him an extra 1$, you can work it out on the next pair), and those paypal bastards took $.60. but the breakdown is this: $7 for stirrup/$1 shipping from tck/$.50ish per envelope/ $.50ish paypal/$1.75 shipping to you (he just shipped a pair 1st class)=$10.75, which leaves $.25 for Robert’s gas/time/cover overruns, and he thinks that is more then fair. So, if you want 3 pairs, Robert will know by the $33 total. Make sure you give him a shipping address through paypal if you can. Please make this as easy on him as possible.

2) No, you are not obligated to buy every stirrup. They are calling it a “club”, and it would be nice if people were “generally” in, but nobody is in a must buy position. Robert will continue to add to this email list, and you will get emails every time they go for another ‘rup. If you want off the list, tell him, and he will take you off. Sure, you may occasionally get duplicate info, but it is easier for him to just have a general email to all involved, and not respond individually, he does not want to turn this into a job, he just want to get us all the stirrups we want :)

3) Clearly the next three ‘rups are the red sox, cardinals, and a’s, a popular, yet distant third choice. Robert provided this graphic with some other possible upcoming rups, most were suggested, others he just added to round out the image. He says we knock out the mlb’s first, then go from there, but we might mix in a crazy one here or there. Also the opening size will vary, this first pair is a 5″, and Robert has a feeling people will be happy with this size, it shows sani without getting crazy (staying classy), but we will more or less match the opening to the era. Or if 24 people get in, he can order twelve (min) 5″ and twelve 7″, he will make as many people happy as he can.

From The Jeremy Brahm files: Bunch of stuff from UW’s Pacific Rim Correspondent today: Here is a picture of the new Speedo LZR Hybrid swimsuit. This one is being made in Japan … Who says golf is dull? Japanese LPGA Golfer Sakura Yokomine is bright in the rain. While Megumi Kido, well it says on her shirt. I Love Golf. Or Chie Arimura hearts golf … Here is a pdf of the FINA swim cap guidelines for the 2009 World Championships. And the Rules in press release … Yowsa! Check out this photo of the KBO (Korean Baseball Organization) Lotte Giants … And finally — Remember the Expos helmets with the odd panels? How about this from the defunct KBO Sammi Superstars in 1984. Awesome Jeremy.

A brief candle; both ends burning…An endless mile; a bus wheel turning…A friend to share the lonesome times…A handshake and a sip of wine

So say it loud and let it ring…We are all a part of everything…The future, present and the past…Fly on proud bird — You’re free at last.

The above is for a friend. Everyone have a good Sunday. Peace.

By Phil Hecken, with Mike Styczen

A couple of weeks ago, in the comments, reader “Mike2″ (Mike Styczen) mentioned “TESS,” which is an acronym for “Trademark Electronic Search Service.” Not quite certain what, exactly, this was, I asked him to elaborate more fully. What transpired after that has led to this article, which will hopefully allow you to more fully explore the myriad logos and trademarks (some of which have never even been used) for our favorite sports teams. What follows, then, is a look at “TESS” and some of the more unique logos and trademarked images that Mike uncovered using the TESS service. First, let’s get to meet Mike and then he’ll guide us through this TESS mess.

Phil Hecken: What do you do that you’re familiar with the trademarks databases?

Mike Styczen: I’m a commercial lawyer in Calgary. I don’t do trademark or patent work directly (I’ve never registered or litigated one) but in the course of my work I have to sometimes verify that they’ve been properly registered, assigned, mortgaged, that sort of thing, which requires some work in the databases. It didn’t take long before I realized how much raw information was in there.

PH: How long have you been a fan of uniforms?

MS: Unlike a lot of UniWatchers, I wasn’t fascinated with uniforms growing up. I first got interested in uniforms around the time of the NHL’s anniversary season when a bunch of teams did throwbacks and I started to realize that there were a lot of interesting designs out there. I remember seeing Marc Okkonen’s book at my local bookstore for about five bucks in the clearance and for some reason I didn’t pick it up for some reason, I sure regret that now.

PH: So, what led you to Uni Watch?

MS: I was reading up on some throwback uniforms and ended up finding one of the original Village Voice columns and I was hooked. I’ve been a regular reader ever since then. One of the proudest moments of my life so far was when Paul referred to one of my wisecracks as “brilliant” and “trenchant” in an ESPN.com column.

PH: I assume you own some unis, then?

MS: I’ve got a few replicas, nothing authentic — Gretzky Oilers, Sittler Leafs, Hawerchuk Jets (I used have tickets when I lived in Winnipeg), and somewhere, an old rainbow guts Astros. Plus a Flames jersey I wear to games and to the Red Mile.

PH: Anything else you want to let us know?

MS: I’m also an avid road racer (mostly marathons and halfs), I have a pretty big collection of race shirts that could be considered uniforms.

PH: Got any favorite uniforms?

MS: My favourite uniform the original powder blue pullover Blue Jays, just because that’s what I grew up watching. In the NHL, I love the simplicity of the original six jerseys, without all the extraneous piping, patches, boxes, stripes, and junk.

PH: Awesome. OK, thanks Mike.

So now, without further ado, I now turn the piece over to Mike, who’ll take you through the procedure.

Phase the First: The Maiden

An overlooked source of information on sports logos and names (and, for that matter, logos and names of products and companies) is the TESS database.

TESS is the Trademark Electronic Search Service and is maintained by the United States Patent and Trademark office. I don’t know how to describe it other than as an absolute treasure trove of trademarks filed in the United States.

The simple search interface provided is remarkably powerful — you can word search the by trademark, owner, or all fields. You’ll get a list of trademarks to look at — many of them are just trademarked photos of trademark used on samples.

The biggest problem with TESS is that it’s structured as a database, behind a firewall, so you can’t Google it directly and you can’t (as far as I can tell) link to individual pages or drawings. I’d love to have written this entry with links directly into TESS but I couldn’t make it happen. Instead, you get photos and drawings I found on TESS hosted on Flickr.

The Canadian version of TESS is the imaginatively named Canadian Trade-marks Database, hosted by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office. This database still bugs me because the word “trademark” doesn’t have a dash in the middle, but the database does. Searching is similar to TESS, the focus is (obviously) on trademarks registered in Canada, and the deeper TDR information contained on TESS isn’t available on-line in Canada.

TESS is huge — I just scratched the surface to find some odd and interesting designs to write about. I apologize for not having anything from the NBA or NCAA, I just don’t know enough about either of those to recognize interesting things if I see them.

NHL

Everyone knows the NHL’s current logo, and the old logo, but here’s a logo that also floated around in the 1990’s — I don’t recall them ever officially adopting it, but it showed up on merchandise from time to time. And another oddball logo — the application says it was for “electronic transmission of news, data, graphics and audio from a central server via modem to computer terminals”. My guess is that someone thought it looked pretty cool and high-tech at the time. Here’s some more NHL logos you probably never knew existed:

St. Louis Blues

Boston Bruins

Washington Capitals

Los Angeles Kings -– I know everyone has seen this goofball, but I can’t believe he got his own trademark.

The first, unused logo of the Ottawa Senators

Here’s an odd Pittsburgh Penguins logo. I’d love to know the story behind this one. This logo isn’t an unfamiliar logo, its now part of the the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins logo. But what’s interesting is that the Pittsburgh Penguins registered this logo in 1989, ten years before the WBS Penguins were founded. Perhaps the Pittsburgh Penguins were considering it for themselves, registered it, then put it on the shelf and then brought it out ten years later for their minor league affiliate?

NFL

The NFL referee’s shirts are trademarked — both the long sleeve and short sleeve versions.

No logos or pictures available, the names trademarked by the Houston Texans included: the Stallions, Wildcatters, Stormcats, Bobcats, Wildcats, Challengers, Apollos, Texians, Toros, Wranglers, Roughriders, Roustabouts, Colt 45s, Roughnecks, Energy, and Hurricanes.

The Baltimore Ravens’ infamous stolen logo, and an odd one of a raven on a goalpost.

While we’re on the topic of Baltimore football, another infamous logo.

Buffalo Bills

Chicago Bears

Tom Landry’s hat

Remember the New Englands Patriot superhero mascot? Well, it turns out his name was Superpatriot.

MLB

This is a cool one – we all know the San Francisco Giants threatened to move through the 70s (to Toronto), 80s (to San Jose and Santa Clara) and 90s (to Tampa), but did you know that in the 1980s they actually trademarked a script logo, a cap logo and a different cap logo for San Jose?

The Baltimore Orioles own this St. Louis Browns logo. And their alternate cap logo is trademarked, upside down apostrophe and all.

Chicago White Sox have two unusual logos here and here. Not surprisingly, given that the White Sox have had so many logos and designs in their history, there are probably just as many White Sox logos in TESS as the other 29 teams combined.

I don’t know much about the Tampa Rays, but for some reason they’ve trademarked the phrases 9=8 and ‘09>’08.

Texas Rangers

Toronto Blue Jays

Atlanta Braves

Milwaukee Brewers — also trademarks for Bratwurst, Polish, Italian, and Hot Dog. I couldn’t find Chorizo.

This one took me a minute to process – its obviously Chief Wahoo, but backwards. I found it kind of disturbing actually, being so familiar but wrong at the same time.

I thought this one was interesting – the Yankees have trademarked the image of their facade, both with and without flags on top.

And finally, doesn’t Youppi just look sad in his trademark application. It’s like he knows what’s coming.

Well there you have it. Thanks Mike. So, go forth young Uni Watchers and explore your favorite team’s trademarks and logos. See what you can find. If you find something you really like, or is really unique, or just plain bizarre, be sure to post it here.

On Friday, I linked to this photo of the Boston team playing the New York team, and is dated October 8, 1904. (That photo, by the way comes from the Library of Congress, a tremendous resource.) The location is the Huntington Avenue Grounds, which, if you could look at it schematically, would look like this. When I first looked at the date, I figured it had to be some kind of post season game, but then I remembered in 1904 there was no world series. So, I looked up the year in baseball for 1904 and found out they were still playing regular season games as late as October 7 (and possibly later). So, that photo had to be the New York Highlanders playing the Boston Americans. Further research indicates that the game in question was not even the pennant clinching game, which the Boston squad won on a wild pitch from Jack Chesbro (which was played in New York). Interesting. I had always thought the regular season in baseball, even at the turn of the 20th century, ended on or about October 1.

Also on Friday, poster “War Damn Eagle” had hoped to see what the Nationals, who had worn their idiotic patriotic red white and blue uniforms, which were not well-received due to the red socks, sleeves and helmets, would look like with blue accoutrements. I have very little ability when it comes to matters such as this, but I tried a couple mockups to see how they’d look. The blue looks MUCH better, right?

I had asked my artist-in-residence, Pretty Boy Paulie, if he could assist with a “good” version of these, but unfortunately he was unavailable. If anyone has photoshop skills, could you post a clean version of what those mockups would look like, so we can start our write-in campaign to have the Nats wear blue socks, sleeves and helmets with their alts. Thanks!

Meet The Mess Mets: Well, it’s one step backward, one step forward for the Amazin’s this season. Friday night was a step backward when they broke out the godawful black jerseys — which also means they wore the black lids, which is the worst possible of their myriad combinations. Prior to Friday night, their other home games had been the other horrid combination of black and blue caps, black sleeves, and black socks. Which meant they were forced to wear baseball’s worst batting helmet (since the Texas Texases decided to ditch their ultimate mockery of the baseball gods). Well, on Saturday, the Mets finally took one step closer to getting it right — returning to the blue caps, socks & sleeves with their snow whites. A much better look. Here’s hoping they take the final step today, and return to the pinstripes and blue caps, which is their best combination and actual official home uniform. Really, would that be asking too much?

So, that got me to thinking, about all those home uniforms and the ridiculous and unnecessary use of black for black’s sake. For years, from their inception, the Mets really had only one gorgeous home uniform. They won a world series wearing that one. Somewhere along the way, 1983 to be precise, they decided to “jazz” it up by adding superfluous and unnecessary blue and orange piping. The did manage to win a world series in that one as well. By 1993 they had returned to their senses and removed the piping (but added a ridiculous tail for two seasons). The tail was gone after two years, but by then the “black for black’s sake” craze and the need to have several “alternate” uniforms had taken hold in baseball and the Mets added black to their uniforms in 1998, first only on their cap. (And in 1997 they introduced their “snow whites” to supplement the pinstripes). By 1999, all bets were off as the Mets added the black alternate jersey (both home and road) and a black cap. It’s been that way ever since.

I won’t even go there on the use of the black, since it doesn’t deserve to be worn on the diamond by the Mets (since it is not and never has been, one of their official colors). But their home combinations aside from the choice of black are four: (1) the worst of the four: black & blue caps, black sleeves & socks, and snow whites; (2) next worst, black & blue caps, black sleeves & socks, and pinstripes; (3) next best, blue caps, sleeves & socks, and snow whites, and (4) finally, the best, blue caps, sleeves & socks, and pinstripes. We won’t even discuss this shit. Batting practice and softball jerseys don’t belong in game play. I know, I know, begging for the mets to ditch the black cannot be repeated enough is pointless, but it still sucks, and I hate it.

One argument for the black on these boards I have heard, and one which I’d almost be leaning towards, is to keep the black drop shadow. Some seem to think it makes the wordmark “pop”. What do you think? Here’s the “Mets” wordmark without the black dropshadow. And, here is the wordmark with the black dropshadow. And here they both are, side by side. I’d have to say, if the Mets were willing to eliminate the black caps, sleeves and socks, but keep only the dropshadow, I think they’d have one of the sharpest uniforms in the bigs. But until such time, I will hate their multiple combos and uniform transgressions. OK … I’m done with this now.

This and That: Speaking of black for black’s sake, Teebz attended the World Deaf Hockey Championships in Winnipeg, and reports that Team Canada broke out these really awful black uniforms — young fans in town from Raleigh were understandably upset when they saw their home NHL club’s BFBS idea stolen … The Indians just scored … Todd Krvanchi was watching the Jordan Classic, and noted that Mason Plumlee on the white team with jersey #24 on the front and #42 on the back. In addition, Jimmy Dykes spoke with Marcus Jordan, (Michael’s son), who is going to Central Florida next year. Todd says Dykes asked Jordan “If he’d ever worn any gear in his lifetime other than Nike/Jordan brand. Marcus’ response? Never. In fact, UCF is an adidas school and have agreed to allow marcus to wear Jordan brand and not adidas in college.” Interesting. Thanks, Todd … Nightlife, hookers and drugs? For an NBA baller in Atlanta? Not for the Heat, who’d like to escape Atlanta without getting shot, arrested or killed with a win … Outta Heeeerrreee … Aston Villa had to wear their change kit against West Ham yesterday, but some of the kits were sans adverts. According to reader Seven, “in today’s English Premier league game between Aston Villa & West Ham has decided that West Ham’s change strips are too close to Aston Villa’s home strip. Villa will apparently wear plain white training tops that will be completely blank except for their numbers on the back. The kit man is printing the numbers right now.” (reprinted from yesterday’s comments) … Spring football means it’s time to show off your new eyeblack — Godboy Tebow approves … The Mariners held a military appreciation thingy yesterday — so what kind of unis did they break out to honor the men and women in uniform? Yup — somehow that’s more appropriate than the Nats and Pods, isn’t it … The Indians just scored again — *sigh* … The NBA announces a new playoff promotion for families buying 5 or more tickets: free mushroom pizza … y’know…that CBJ uni isn’t all that bad (check out the dude with the “playoff beard” in the front row) … worst wager on the PGA tour: “Dude, I’ll bet you fifty bucks you can’t hit the light house” … second worst: taking it … Puma stripes: good, 3 stripes: bad … Cleveland just scored again … Further proof the Mets can’t do anything right: Opening Day? — c’mon guys … Here’s one for Powers … who knew Mike Schmidt could cry? … Cleveland just scored again … As reported in last night’s comments, it’s hard to see here, but the Twins wore their ‘82 throwbacks last night, and Delmon Young was missing the number on front of his uni (should appear like so) — I got some bad screen grabs here and here (you get the idea) … I want Vince Vaughn’s life. And finally, reprinted from last night’s comments (from James Huening): “Holeeee shit! Check out Ryan Dempster doing the Shoot-the-Puck contest at the second intermission of the Hawks-Flames game.”

Enjoy your Sunday. Did the Indians just score again?

Time to pay another visit to our friend Will “Doc” Ginn (if you missed his Uni Watch debut, look here). Here’s his latest batch of unusual memorabilia:

• “I’ll bet you’ve never seen these three stickers together,” says Doc. Interesting how they didn’t try to make “Washington” fit in that little well between the “b” and the left wrist, the way they did with “Capital” and “Baltimore.”

• Here’s a rarity: a World Team Tennis bumper sticker — with a suggestive slogan to boot.

• And speaking of suggestive bumper stickers from fringe sports leagues, check this out. The team in question is the Connecticut Bicentennials of the NASL.

• Apparently sports in the 1970s was on big sexytime-o-rama. Nice to see the Spirit stuck with Pittsburgh’s black/gold theme, though.

• “I have never seen this Pistons logo anywhere else,” says Doc. Me nether. Dig the basketball-patterned “hubcaps.”

• Before the NFL’s Houston Texas, there were the WFL’s Houston Texans. I love — love — the “globe” in the center. If the WFL had used that for their logo, instead of this, they might still be around today.

• Did you realize that WFL teams played a 20-game schedule? I didn’t, until Doc showed me this.

• More WFL ephemera here. Note that the signature at lower-left is from a guy identified as “Portland Storm Governor.” Man, a football team with a governor? I thought that was strictly a hockey thing.

• “Love this little Houston Rockets guy,” says Doc. Me too.

• And speaking of the Rockets, I had actually forgotten that they once played in San Diego.

That’ll do for now. My thanks to Doc for sharing more of his stash with us.

The Proctor Chronicles, Continued: Terry Proctor has an interesting take on the snafu involving the North Lawndale basketball uniforms. Dig:

I put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the manufacturer and then the dealer that sold the uniforms to the school. Since the majority of basketball uniforms are sold for use in high schools, it should be the manufacturer’s first responsibility to make garments that comply with the rules set forth by the NFHS (National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations), which are clearly outlined on the NFHS web site.

I personally check over the uniform rules before each season. For example, in 2008-09 every home team was supposed to wear white uniforms, rather than gold or light blue or silver gray. This rule was announced two years ago, in order to give schools enough lead time. But as I watched high school games this season, I saw that many schools were still wearing light (non-white) colors at home. When I would ask about it I was told that “the local association gave us a waiver.” Well, that’s fine. But in a state competition, the state association will not be so understanding. That’s what happened in Illinois.

Are the uniform rules silly? Yes, a lot of them are. But they’re presented clearly and understandably to the schools and with plenty of lead time to make the changes. …

I couldn’t stand to know that a uniform I sold was declared illegal and ended up costing a team a game (or worse, a state championship). Without bragging, I take enough pride in my craft to know the rules going in. I’ve alerted manufacturers of impending changes so that they can check them out and make appropriate corrections. I’ve had to tell schools that a particular design feature or lettering graphic they want is not legal and then I suggest acceptable options.

No, I feel the ultimate blame for this incident lies with the manufacturer/sales agent. They frankly did not do their homework. It’s just that simple.

In case you missed it yesterday afternoon, my own take on the North Lawndale situation is here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: As promised, my “I flushed the toilet at the Mets’ new stadium” T-shirt is now available on eBay. … The Lions’ new helmet logo and wordmark have been leaked — by the NFL Shop. They might take that item down, but too late — it’s all over the web now. … Several readers have noted that Xavier’s C.J. Anderson wore brown tape over his white socks during the Xavier/Wisconsin game. But I think he was actually wearing low socks and sweatbands, not tape. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Admirably obsessive breakdown of the Rockies’ performance in each of their uniforms here. … Jeff Popovich notes that the L.A. Galaxy and D.C. United both wore American flag sleeve patches on Sunday. “I don’t remember flags being on kits before,” he says. Anyone know more? … Bizarre scene in Clevo the other day, as a Lake Erie Monsters hockey game had to be postponed because the pink ice (for breast cancer awareness) became unplayable (thanks, Vince). … Check this out: An old Pennsylvania Railroad baseball uniform with safety messages. … Here’s something odd: Boomer Esiason wearing a No. 63 helmet (with thanks to Stephen King). … Lots of old Wrigley Field photos here, and old Comiskey pics here. My favorite: Chisox usherettes (nice find by Steve Shanabruch). … Here’s a new one, at least to me: Some NCAA umps have been wearing pullovers with zip-off sleeves. Reminds me of the button-on sleeves that players used to wear (interesting find by Rob Montoya). … I’m pretty sure we’ve covered this before, but someone please refresh my memory: What’s the deal with the Bears wearing block numerals? … Dog Bites Man Dept.: MLB is once again warning players not to pull their pant cuffs down under their shoe heels. They go through this dance every season and then the players keep doing it anyway. … Good mask-painting story here (with thanks to Mark Snider). … Is it possible that the good people at Nike might be selling a substandard product? This article thinks so (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). … Is this the cast of a high school musical? A troupe of mimes? Nope — it’s the 1982 boys’ gymnastics team from Alan Borock’s high school. … Best White Sox ever, by uni number (with thanks to Steve Johnston). … You wouldn’t believe the response I got to yesterday’s meat bracket (among other things, the national meat buyer for SuperTarget liked the article so much that he’s sending me some steaks) — never imagined it would generate so much fun feedback. My only regret: I forgot to work a reference to this 45 into the piece. … And speaking of meat, the fourth graf of this item states that the new Yankee Stadium will include “a window found in the left-field concourse of the Field Level where fans can see butchers from Lobel’s of New York [best butcher shop in NYC -- PL] preparing prime, dry-aged steaks to be served in various locations in the Stadium.” … Now that’s some nice eye candy right there (thanks, Scott). … A 1910 New York Giants uniform was appraised on Antiques Roadshow the other night (with thanks to Casey Lute). … Chris Mycoskie reports that the Louisiana-Lafayette baseball team has been going high-cuffed recently.

It remains one of the sports world’s enduring mysteries: Every year the NFL selects the best players at each position, gathers them together for an all-star game in Honolulu, and then humiliates them by dressing them in the most god-awful uniforms imaginable. I’m not gonna bother going over every unsightly detail of this year’s design, because it’s pointless — every new Pro Bowl uniform is the worst ever, until the next one is unveiled. It’s almost like the league is saying, “Yeah, okay, so you get your free trip to Hawaii, you get to party with hula girls, you get to drink piña coladas out of a coconut shell, but don’t think you’re gonna get out of this without paying a certain price.”

As you know, medical research has concluded that only 17 people on the planet have the gene required to watch the entire Pro Bowl without falling asleep (and five of them, perversely, are African tribesmen who don’t own television sets), so there’s a good chance you missed at least a few of Sunday’s more noteworthy details. Here’s a quick guide:

• By far the most significant development — and I haven’t seen anyone else mention this, boys and girls, either in the comments section or in e-mails to me — is that all the players were wearing a new pants design, with added seams and panels on the rear thigh (here’s the AFC version), kind of like a football version of MLB’s Cool Base jersey gussets. I’m not sure if this was for added flexibility, ventilation, or both, but man did it look like shit. Let’s hope this wasn’t a test drive for league-wide implementation next season.

• As many of you are already aware, Derek Anderson had quite a little adventure with his jersey patches. A few days prior to the game, he was photographed with his left shoulder patch upside-down. On game day it was fixed (or, more likely, he’d just switched to a different jersey) but now the patch on his right shoulder was askew. Not only that, but compare that last photo, which shows the facemask pointing down roughly to five o’clock, to this shot, which appears to show the facemask oriented more toward four o’clock. Just how many defective jerseys did Anderson wear in one week? (Big thanks to Dominic Atencio and John Boris for the screen grabs.)

• The Chargers’ official lightning bolt logo use to be white outlined in gold, but this season it was changed gold outlined in light blue and navy. So why were all the San Diego players in the game wearing the now-defunct white logo on their shoulders? Interestingly, the jerseys for sale at NFL.com got it right.

• Terrell Owens wore at least two different pairs of cleats: white trimmed with blue and silver (plus, as Nick Hanson notes, he also wore a cross necklace).

• Speaking of cleats, look what Tony Romo was wearing.

• That’s quite a pustule Peyton Manning had on his knee.

• No photo, but Osi Umenyiora still had the Super Bowl XLII decal on the back of his helmet. Anyone notice if the Patriots players had it too?

• The new NFL logo finally made its on-field debut, on the MVP trophy (although it looks like they used the old logo here). And it’s good to see that Adrian Peterson’s uni number gets gunked up in the Pro Bowl, just like in a regular game.

• And that’s finally that.

Next year, let’s have some throwbacks, shall we?

Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out who’s wearing striped socks — the astronauts who are currently up in space (with thanks to Rob B). … A nice selection of Karl Ehrhardt’s sign work is shown in this video clip (a forwarded by Matt Edwards). … Got an on-site query yesterday morning from Ryan Perkins, as follows: “I’m in a restaurant in Jackson, Mississipi, sitting by a huge picture of Kent Hull (who was from Greenwood, Mississippi). I can clearly read ‘Wet Rat’ printed on the tongue of each side of his Reebok Pumps. Did some Googling and found nothing. Any idea if this was on all the pumps or if this was custom-done for Hull? And either way, what did it mean?” Anyone..? … Wake Forest was wearing new kicks on Saturday. Lots of interesting details on these sneakers, including a very subtle Skip Prosser memorial — for the full scoop, check out this page, written by Uni Watch charter member Zach Smith. … Northern Kentucky’s women’s hoops team will be wearing 1970s throwbacks this Saturday. Full details here (with thanks to Steve Hensley). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Lots of coverage here about Rick Pitino changing suits in the middle of a game the other day. … The Aussie rugby team sure looks sharp — yes, even with that little purple ribbon on the guy’s leg. Anyone know what that’s for? … Good interview here with the principals of Plan B Branding, the San Diego-based design firm that’s responsible for a lot of current minor league uni designs (with thanks to Greg Victor). … The Staten Island Yankees have unveiled a new logo for every day of the week. Okay, not quite, but almost. “Looks like a cartoon version of the classic Yankee stuff,” says Tyler Kepner. “I’d actually like the block SINY thing, if it were for a sleeve patch and not a cap logo. Also: A short-season class A team with FIVE cap styles? That’s a little much, no?” Indeed. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Fascinating college hoops game recently, featuring Grand Valley wearing throwbacks against Northern Michigan, whose jerseys have no lettering — just huge uni numbers fore and aft (and those aren’t throwbacks — those are their regular unis!). … Seth Horowitz spotted this at a Yankees game last year. … Doug Keklak reports that Penguins fantasy camper get to wear the team’s original scarf-clad penguin (although the color scheme is an odd choice).

Ah, Super Bowl Media Day — otherwise known as “the price we pay for having a free press.” I’m sure there are sillier rituals out there, but thinking of them would just be too depressing. Here’s a quick rundown of thoughts from the latest edition of this annual exercise in pointlessness:

• What exactly — exactly — is the rationale for having the players arrive in their full uniforms? And are these regular game jerseys, or do they wear smaller jerseys prepared specifically for Media Day, since they won’t be wearing pads?

• Those director-style chairs always strike me as somewhat infantilizing, like the players are little boys perched on high stools. I realize the idea is to get them up high where everyone can see them, but couldn’t they just dig a trench or a moat for the media to stand in instead?

• Mandals are almost always a bad idea, but I kinda like how they underscore the idiocy of the whole affair here.

• How come this guy didn’t wear his regular uniform?

• The Super Bowl patch looks pretty good on both teams’ jerseys this year.

• I don’t even wanna know.

• I had a hunch that they might use the Super Bowl to trot out the revised NFL logo on the field. But I was wrong.

If you want less jaundiced analysis, I heartily recommend this high-larious piece, which I bet was a big hit in Junior Seau’s hotel room.

Multi-Media Day: I’ve got a really fun article in today’s New York Times that I’m pretty proud of, plus I did the voiceover narration for an accompanying video (embedded in the same page). It’s not uni-related, but don’t let that stop you — it’s probably the coolest thing I’ve worked on since the Bill Buckner column back in the fall of ’06. Enjoy.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT (for a handful of you): Due to some scheduling complications, the starting time for this Saturday’s Uni Watch party at Sheep Station has been changed. Festivities will now commence at 4:30 p.m., not at the time I had previously announced (which I won’t even mention here, since its now moot). Update your datebooks, PDAs, scribblings on the back of your hand, or wherever you keep track of important events.

Among those in attendance, by the way, will be Jon Springer, who hopes to bring along a few advance copies of his upcoming book, Mets by the Numbers (based, of course, on his awesome web site of the same name, which has recently been revamped and relaunched after an all-too-lengthy period of inactivity). We may have a few copies to raffle off as well.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday morning, about an hour after my post about those vintage curling sweaters went up, I got a note from Nolan Thiessen, who’s actually a member of the team that wore the sweaters! “I’m a huge fan of the site and check it out regularly, so I was very happy to see that you picked up on the curling from last weekend,” he wrote. “The whole outfit ended up being a huge hit throughout the curling community. The guy on eBay had four sweaters — XL, L, M, M — which are exactly the four sizes we wear, so no tailoring was needed. We wanted to wear them sooner but couldn’t find pants to complete the look until recently. We plan on wearing them again, probably at an event in Victoria and our Players Championships in April.” At my request, Nolan also sent along a photo of his sweater’s inner label, which is a gorgeous piece of art in itself. … The Portland Beavers unveiled their new uniforms yesterday. The bad news is (a) they’re using the same sand/urine tone as their parent club, the Padres, and (b) they’re going to wear it at home. The good news is that the road grays are solid. The weird news is that they’re referring to their solid-color alternate design as “vintage,” even though there’s nothing vintage about wearing a solid jersey with white pants. As for the new logo, I like it well enough, although I’d prefer it if the top of the bat overlapped the lettering instead of the other way around (with thanks to Travis Demers for the graphics). … The U.S. soccer team will unveil new uniforms today, and the jersey will apparently look like this. Not bad, except it sucks that the sleeve stripes don’t wrap all the way around. Meanwhile, David Robins sent along an excellent video clip about the team’s training gear — recommended viewing. … If for some reason you’ve been dying to own an AHL all-star warm-up jersey, here’s your big chance (courtesy of Mark Coale).

I like curling. The rocks (striped!), the brooms, the target (very mod, don’tcha know). Too bad the uniforms are so lame-o.

Ah, but it didn’t used to be that way. Curlers used to wear special sweaters. And as Canadian readers Nick Maibroda and Aram Sarkisian both informed me yesterday, curling sweaters made a comeback of sorts last weekend. Aram explains:

I was watching the Grand Slam of Curling on CBC and noticed one of the teams had these absolutely fabulous sweaters. Turns out they had done badly in a previous tournament and wanted to change up their uniforms for good luck, so one of them logged onto eBay and found a set of vintage 1950s curling sweaters. Someone’s grandfather had worn them in the ’50s for about a dozen tournaments and they’d been mothballed for 50 years since then.

The team bought them all, matched them with checked pants, and wore them for the Grand Slam. At various points the sweaters proved a little warm, so a few of the guys took them off to reveal rather boring white Under Armour shirts. Aside from that, their only complaint about the duds was that they smelled really, really bad. Looked great, though. It’s all the CBC commentators talked about for a good 10 minutes at one point.

Awesome sweaters, awesome story. I especially like the cuff stripes and the upper sleeve patch. Seriously, which team would you rather be on? No contest. (There are more photos here, and some background on curling attire here.)

The sad news: Koe lost. The even sadder part: Look closely at the scoreboard and you’ll see the World Curling Tour logo. Not so bad if viewed in a vacuum, but c’mon, isn’t that design concept just a little played out? And why would a Canadian league stick to the red/white/blue color scheme? Odd.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Ohio State’s basketball team wore football-patterned shorts on Saturday. … Baseball Hall of Fame researcher Tom Shieber just turned up another instance of stolen uniforms necessitating makeshift solutions. Now we just need some photos. … Several readers noted that Tomas Kaberle appeared to be wearing a set of Atlanta Thrashers gloves during the skilils competition last weekend. Nick Hepburn quickly deduced that they must have been borrowed from Marian Hossa — except for that big “18″ on the thumb. Then Nick found this shot, which makes it clear that Hossa had taped over the number. … The Portland Beavers will be unveiling new uniforms today.

We’ve been so busy with team sports over the past month or so (stretch-run baseball, the start of the NFL and college football seasons, the relentless flood of new NHL designs) that I completely ignored the U.S. Open tennis tourney. And that’s a shame, because we happen to have a bona fide Open operative right here in our midst: Gabe Ganot, who’s been working as a ballboy — okay, ballperson — at the Open since 1999, giving him an ideal vantage point for uni-watching. That’s him in the photo shown above.

Gabe sent me a good rundown of observations a few weeks ago, which I’m finally getting around to sharing with the rest of you. Check it out:

Almost all players wear one outfit per tournament. But Federer this year had two — a “day” and “night” selection. The night attire featured the “Man in Black” look with a black headband, black shirt, shorts, socks and sneakers. This as opposed to the day outfit, with a blue shirt, white shorts, white sneakers, and a blue headband. People were wondering what he was going to do for the final, because it was scheduled to start in the late afternoon and it was still light out. I think he was quoted as saying since the lights would eventually be on, he would go with the Johnny Cash look. Note that his sneakers have the three Swiss flags commemorating his three U.S. Open wins the last three years (I think it also says something on the tongue). Roger also has the tendency to constantly brush imaginary hair from his forehead and adjust his headband.

Nadal, I’m pretty sure, has the worst OCD of anyone on the tour, and not just uni related. Before he serves, just about every point, he has the David Wright-esque habit of picking his wedgie. The other ballpersons and I wonder why he continues to wear the capris if he has to adjust his pants every point. He also adjusts his hair/headband with the same frequency. Other examples of his OCD include placing his drink on the same exact spot during every changeover, and sprinting out to the baseline for warm-ups.

You’d think that the folks at Lacoste would make Andy Roddick a nice-fitting shirt. Instead he has to constantly adjust it, nearly every point, to make the shoulders drape correctly (similar to the way most volleyball players do). This has been happening for several years now. He also has taken a liking to wearing his hat a little sideways, à la Pokey Reese or Mike Cameron. It’s not an accident — I’ve seen him take it off and be very particular about the way he puts it back on.

Its also interesting see how doubles teams dress. Sometimes, teams go all out and match every single part of their outfits, down to the sneakers, like the Bryan brothers. Other teams wear what they would normally wear if they were playing singles, while others come up with a completely different outfit, like Justin Gimelstob in his mixed doubles team with Ashely Harkleroad. Speaking of Gimelstob, he apparently sweats like there’s no tomorrow, so he tends to change shirts around five or six times a match. And speaking of sweating, some players are obsessed with the towel. Nadal, for instance, asks for it pretty frequently on a hot day, and Roddick can be the worst. This ballboy would like to see some sort of integrated towel technology, like certain wide receivers have.

The women have different issues than the men. For starters, many of them wear makeup and jewelry while on the court. I think Jelena Jenkovic even puts her watch on before playing.

It’s also been interesting to note the ball-holding technology for women over the last decade (insert sex joke here). When I first started being a ballboy, most women just asked for one ball to serve instead of two like the men (men have pockets, so they usually ask for two and put one in their pocket in case they fault on their first serve). Some women would ask for two and just shove one of them into the bottom of their underwear, and after a game I’d have to go pick up a slightly damp ball. Others went with the plastic ball holder (famous example: Arantxa Sanchez Vicario), which was essentially a belt that had a little plastic thingie that sat right on top of the butt. These days, the women have slightly longer undergarments, kind of like the compression shorts basketball players wear. These have pockets, so that makes my job a little easier.

When I first started, almost all women wore the simple tennis skirt and some sort of top. Then Serena hit the scene, and now we get horror stories, like look at Bethanie Mattek’s outfit from this year’s Open. She does something like this at every tournament. It also seems like the ladies have a contest to see who can wear the shortest skirt and the like.

It’s also kind of weird to see some players who aren’t sponsored and end up having different parts of their outfits from several manufacturers. I forget who, but someone this year had something like an Adidas shirt, Nike shorts, and Champion socks.

With regards to equipment, there’s nothing too crazy, but some funny stuff. For instance, instead of the traditional shock absorber that most players have on their racket, some players use an ordinary rubber band. Not sure why. No player I saw wore regular glasses, only a handful had sunglasses on (Arnaud Clement and Alexa Glatch come to mind), and a few went with the bright sunscreen on the nose. Also, while most players bring at least five or six rackets with them to the court, I noticed that Mark Knowles liked to just tape on a new grip instead of going with a new racket. Not sure the reasoning for that.

As for our Polo-brand ballperson uniforms, they’re a welcome change from the Fila garbage we had several years ago, which were in outlandish colors and make us look ridiculous (plus you try running around in 90-degree heat in a thick cotton polo that’s too large, shorts that are too tight, and sneakers that can literally blow up if you plant too hard). The new ones are a nice moisture-wicking material with a good form-fitting shape (we don’t have to tuck in anymore!). But we are essentially walking advertisements — in addition to the 6-inch Polo logo on the chest area, we have a full 12-inch logo on the back, making us look like real product whores. Additionally, with around five days to go in the tournament we were mandated to begin wearing Polo wristbands, which was odd, because they never told us to where on the arm to wear them, unlike everything else which is by the book. The only change the Polo unis have had over the years is that they change the color of the vertical striping on the shirt and and shorts (this year it was yellow; in the past it’s been red and white).

Big thanks to Gabe for all that info. Still want more? Vince (who provided several of the photos links above) notes that this tennis blog has lots of fashion coverage.

Research Reqeust Request: I’m working on a column devoted to uni-related typos. I’ve got all the classics covered (Angees, Torotno, Nayv, Nigger Ilsand, etc.), along with the assorted nameplate misspellings that have periodically been called out here on the blog. If you know of any others, old or now, that we haven’t discussed, please let me know. Thanks.

Fall Back (into bed): The annual moving of the clocks is still a month away, but Uni Watch likes to be ahead of the curve, so…. As those of you in the Eastern Time Zone are well aware, I usually get the day’s entry up by 9 a.m., which is an arbitrary deadline that I set back in the site’s early days. Well, not completely arbitrary — I was trying to (a) motivate myself and (b) get you folks used to the idea that you could depend on fresh content being ready for you at the start of each day.

After a year and a half of this, during which it’s now become routine for me to be eating my breakfast in front of the computer while frantically making last-minute changes to the Ticker, I’d like to reclaim a bit of breathing room for my mornings (and, by extension, for my late-night hours). So beginning next week, my new arbitrary self-imposed daily deadline will be 10:15 a.m. Among other things, this should make it much easier for me to catch up on the previous night’s comments, deal with Ticker contributions that come in overnight, and so on.

I know some of you eastern folks have grown accustomed to starting your day (read: goofing off at work) with Uni Watch, but I have faith in your abilities to find other productive uses for the 75-minute window that fate has just handed you. Just pretend I moved to Chicago or something, OK? OK.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Lots of good stuff currently available on eBay, including this patch, this ad, this uniform, and this jersey. … Latest schools to go with the System of Dress: Maryland and Miami (with thanks to Jose Frontanes and Mike Alper, respectively). … Another new NHL mask: Marc Andre Fleury. … Good overview of the NFL captains’ patches — including a shout-out to Uni Watch — here. … Interesting article here about the Rochester Amerks new uniforms. Key quote, from team prexy Steve Donner: “RBK is integrating vertical striping into the jersey, and they wanted to do away with all horizontal striping. It wasn’t our suggestion to remove the stripes.” … Bizarre purple/green/yellow color scheme exhibited by Waukegan High in Illinois (with thanks to AJ Brandt). … Ouch. … Tons of old high school team photos, from a wide range of sports, here (with thanks to Brendon Yarian). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The LPGA has changed its logo from this to this, which strikes me as a major improvement. Details here. … Also from yesterday: The NHL and Reebok held a conference call on Tuesday to address the growing chorus of player complaints about the new uniforms (the latest of which can be found in the middle of this article). Details here. … Good article here about the Sharks’ goalie masks. … Still more All Blacks soap operatics (with thanks to Caleb Borchers). … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The people at New Era are really, uh, outdoing themselves. … Dan Schulman, who’s doing ESPN Radio’s play-by-play for the Bosox/Angels series, mistakenly stated during last night’s game that Jason Varitek is the only current MLB captain to wear a “C.” Schulman forgot about Mike Sweeney.