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Posts filed under 'Team Logos/Insignia'
OK, so the Red Sox unveiled their new road and alternate uniforms yesterday, and boy howdy, the whole sports world would rather talk about CC Sabathia is all atwitter! Let’s take a look, element by element:
• The new road jersey: Love the hanging socks sleeve patch (which I’m told was a very recent development that was added to the design just a few weeks ago), but man, that one-color lettering is sooooo drab. C’mon, gimme some red outlining or at least some red sleeve piping or something. Sox ownership reportedly got the idea for this design after a throwback game in 2007 when they wore early-’80s uniforms, but those were drab too. And what’s with the lettering? According to one report, “The lettering on all uniforms and logos will have the appearance of hand-cut felt, meant to look more traditional,” but I think the one-color road lettering looks more clown-ish — kinda rinky-dink, almost like a cheap minor league knockoff of the traditional two-color Sox lettering. Likewise, the one-color rear type is so plain compared to the version it’s replacing. A minor downgrade, I say. Meanwhile, two questions remain: (1) What undershirt color will be worn with the road grays — red or navy? The MLB Style Guide suggests that it will be red (note the collar), but undershirt specs can change, so this question will linger until next spring. And (2) Are the Sox really going with direct-sewn NOBs (instead of their usual nameplates), or did they just use some hastily heat-pressed NOBs for the unveiling?
• The new road alternate jersey: Some teams just shouldn’t have alt jerseys, and the Sox are one of them. That said, if they have to have one, this is a whole lot better than this. Again, the jersey shown at the unveiling had direct-applied NOB lettering, but it’s not clear if that will be the case on the gamers.
• The new home alternate jersey: How do you make the American League’s worst jersey even worse? Remove the placket and sleeve piping, so it looks even redder than before. Still can’t believe such a smart franchise can wear such a stupid jersey.
• The new alternate cap: As a fashion cap, I love it. As a game cap, I think I like it, but I’m gonna need to see it on the field first. Just wish the logo didn’t look so much like a patch, but maybe it’s just the lighting or something.
• The new primary logo: The hanging socks are now the team’s primary mark, with the baseball/bullseye logo relegated to secondary status. Plus they’ve made subtle changes to the latter mark — compare old (on the left) to new (on the right). But whatever, how will this even matter, aside from the icon that shows up in SportsCenter reports and a new set of stationery for everyone in the Bosox offices?
All in all: This was a good-looking team; it’s still a good-looking team, although maybe not quite as good on the road. Were any of these changes necessary? Nope, not a one. Is it good or is it stupid? A fair share of both.
‘Where’s Waldo?’ Update: When I went ballistic a few days ago regarding the idiotic Reebok promotion that’s being foisted upon the NHL Winter Classic, the prevailing sentiment in the comments section was, “Calm down, Paul, it’s not such a big deal. Unless it dictates the TV coverage of the game, that is.” And most people seemed to think that wouldn’t happen.
Now reader Peter Kaszczak has shed some light on that situation. He sent a note to Reebok, asking why Canadian residents weren’t eligible to enter the Winter Classic contest. Here’s what he got back:
Thank you for your question. The Reebok Lost Logo Challenge is a watch & win promotion, which was created in conjunction with NBC and the NHL. Through its design, the promotion relies heavily on NBC to prompt viewer participation and provide pertinent contest announcements. Since the NBC broadcast of the NHL Winter Classic is only available to U.S. viewers, it would be disservice to open it up to TV viewers outside of the U.S. who would not hear the pertinent broadcast announcements for this contest.
Regards,
Reebok Corporate Communications
I rest my case.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Here’s another sleeved hoops jersey. That’s Jim Roberts of Sewanee grabbing one of his NCAA-record 53 rebounds on February 24th, 1958 (with thanks to Scott Musa). … And still more basketball sleeves: Mississippi Vocational College (now Mississippi Valley State) in 1959 (love the uni numbers on the sleeves) and 1966 (sock stripes!). Awesome stripes on the school’s 1959 football squad too (all this courtesy of Larz Roberts). … “Cyclist Alberto Contador has custom Sidi shoes, and they’re utterly rad,” says Sean Clancy. “Contador, a Spaniard who rides for the Astana team, is only the fifth cyclist to win the three grand tours — the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a Espana. These victories are noted on his shoes — yellow for the Tour, pink for the Giro and gold for the Vuelta. The colors match the color of the leader’s jersey in each race.” … Here’s another one of those high-positioned Dungard facemasks (with thanks to Richard Stover). … Adidas has unveiled a new soccer ball for the UEFA Under 21 EURO 2009 tourney (thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Several good archival finds by Doug Mooney, beginning with this amazing 1951 Popular Mechanics article on the design of marching band formations — highly recommended. Also worthwhile: this 1950 Baseball Digest handbook excerpt, which suggests that the debate over pant length was raging a lot earlier than we thought (see the indented graf just prior to section 1.16); a 1950 Popular Science item on some bizarre apron-like football pads; a 1967 Baseball Digest item on sock height (which I think actually means pant cuff height); a 1990 article on uniform numbers; an interesting definition of a third-string catcher; and a mention of Minnie Minoso showering in uniform for good luck. … “As I prepared my officially sponsored lunch of the NFL, I noticed the logo on the top of the can,” writes Jonathan Eskridge. “It makes me a little concerned about the actual canning date, but I think I’ll be OK.” … New sneakers for Kobe Bryant. … Dave Eskenazi has come up with a great Toronto Maple Leafs photo. No, not those Toronto Maple Leafs — these Toronto Maple Leafs. The photo’s from 1902, when the Leafs won the International League pennant. … Awesome video clip here on the Broncos’ vertically striped socks and the Steelers’ golden triangle jerseys. Stick it out through the whole clip — lots of good action bits, plus a scary jockstrap — or, rather, “jockey strap” — story (big thanks to Andrew Dixon). … My ESPN.com colleague Eric Neel tipped me wise to this amazing-looking book, which has dynamite graphics. Check out some excerpts here and click through the page gallery here. … “I’ve never seen a hockey player wearing a wristband,” says Kevin Zdancewicz. Me neither. … RIP, Bettie.
December 12th, 2008
OK, so as everyone on the planet knows by now, the Orioles have unveiled their new uniform set. This took place about 19 entire hours ago, which means it’s already ancient history and everyone’s bored with it by now and has moved on to the next thing, but I know you’re all expecting me to write about it and I hate disappointing you (except for those times when I, y’know, enjoy disappointing you), so here we go:
• The new bird: Not exactly an earthshaking overhaul, and it’s tempting to just say, “Ah, they’re more or less the same, pass the popcorn,” but there are actually two things about the new bird that bug me: (1) The new gray beak is a decided downgrade from the old pale-ochre beak (and no, I’m not just looking for an excuse to say “ochre,” although that is a nice bonus); and (2) the new feet look fine when they’re perched on something, but they look incongruous when the bird is just perched on nothing, which is why the new cap doesn’t look as good as the old cap. So is it good or is it stupid? Stupid.
• The new road insignia: As we all know, the O’s haven’t worn “Baltimore” on their chest since 1783, so this is long overdue. Breaking up the “t” across the placket isn’t ideal, but whatever — seems to be par for the course these days. Some folks have already complained about how the script tapers. I don’t mind it on its own terms, although it doesn’t mesh well with the home script, since that one doesn’t taper. Then again, when will you ever see those two jerseys side-by-side again? No biggie. Good.
• The new left-sleeve patches: As we all know, the Maryland state flag is really cool cuz it’s really weird, and therefore it’s more or less mandatory that we give the thumbs-up to any patch based on that flag design. But here’s the thing: The O’s are actually using two flag-based patches — this one, which says “Baltimore Orioles” and is appearing on the home jersey, and this one, which says “Orioles Baseball” and is appearing on the road grays and the black alts. I much prefer the latter, because why include the word “Baltimore” on something that features the Maryland flag, esp. when Baltimore has its own flag? To all you O’s staffers reading this: Go down the clubhouse with a seam ripper, remove all the home patches from the home whites, and replace them with the other patch. NOW!! Mostly very good, but just a teeny bit stupid.
• The new right-sleeve patches: Script wordmarks are cool, but there are certain places that a script wordmark does not belong — like, say, here and here. Totally stupid.
• The new piping: As you’ve probably noticed, the home and road jerseys now have sleeve piping; as you might not be aware, that same piping pattern will now be appearing on the pants. My gut instinct here is negative (in a long-pants baseball world, pants piping just accentuates the sloppiness), but first I wanna see how it looks on the field. Too soon to say.
• The new headwear protocol: No more solid-black road cap — the orange-brimmed cap will now be worn at home and on the road (except when they wear the black jersey, which will always be paired with this cap). No more solid-black batting helmets either — they’ll now be orange-brimmed. Good.
• The new alt jersey protocol: The black jersey, which had previously been designated for Friday home games, will now be available for any game, home or road. Which is fine as long as the number of home and road games for which its worn is, um, zero. Stupid.
• The new BP jerseys: There’s an orange version that will be worn at home and a black road vers Who really gives a crap.
And there you have it: The square root of pi in three easy steps. Want more? There’s a family portrait here, pretty good video coverage here, a photo gallery of O’s uni history here, and reader Neal Shaffer attended the unveiling and snapped a bunch of pics that you can see here.
Douchebag Update: As the nation waits with breathless anticipation to see if college football’s favorite comic book publishes a new issue this Saturday, it now turns out that they’ll probably have a new helmet. According to this page, they’re not black — they’re “about equal parts flecks of black and green paint” See Orioles BP jersey graf.
Meanwhile, in more douchebag news, this article about FSU’s black uniforms (sent my way by Benji Boyter) includes the following passage:
The question was posed to the head coach why his team wears them at all, especially considering black isn’t a school color. “Well, really, we’re doing it for Nike,” Bowden said. “We’ve just got to be sure it’s not a [negative] factor. Nike wants us to do it, and we started doing it three years ago. We talked to our kids about the uniform is not going to win a game. And a uniform is not going to lose a game. It’s the guy inside of it.”
So much for the 2006 party line that the black design was a “tribute” to the Seminole nation.
And in yet another douchebag development, take a second to read this letter that was just issued by Iowa State athletic director Jamie Pollard (forwarded to me by Corey Munson). Tail, dog, wag, sigh, etc.
Raffle Reminder: I’m raffling off a free customized jersey from our friends at Classic Old School. For details, look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday I mentioned a TV report about some new NFL prototypes being developed by Reebok. That report is now available on the web — go here and click on “11/11: Inside 1265 - Prototye Jerseys” in the “Top Stories” menu listing. Joe Skiba’s reaction to the video: “That jersey’s already outdated.” … Speaking of Skeebs, you can see him at work in the opening scenes of this video clip (which also features a clear view of Antonio Pierce wearing one of the newfangled jerseys without the “ny” chest logo. … The New Yankee Stadium will be very high-tech. … Jason HiJuelos reports that the University of New Orleans is reviving its club football team after a 37-year absence from the gridiron. Unfortunately, the uniforms are a disaster. … See those signs? For details on what they mean, scroll down to the “Century of Regress” section on this page (with thanks to James T. Huening). … “Gamba Osaka just won the Asian Champions League Final in Australia,” says Jeremy Brahm. “But they changed into their home blue jerseys to accept the trophy.” … Several good contributions from Susan N. Freeman: First, it appears that Texas Tech used bicentennial-style stars as merit decals in 1976 (plus their kicker either used sock garters or had a bionic shin). Also: Dr. Pepper is selling Cowboys-themed cans in Dallas, although they appear to have gotten the number font wrong. … More interesting vintage magazine discoveries from Peter Macaluso: Check out the the unusual helmet construction at lower-left here, and Vanderbilt wearing solid yellow — with a triangular helmet crown! — here. … Sarah Palin cleaned out all the articles of clothing from every single store in America, so Barack Obama has to keep wearing the same ratty Chisox cap. … Guess what outdated logo is on the home page of the NFL Scouting Combine? (Good spot by Greg Scholand.) … Scott Nuzum reports that the Pleasanton High School football team in Kansas wears one blue sock and one gray. … And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go to the dentist and then run a bunch of other errands in Manhattan. Bryan will be minding the store (Phil’s busy today), so play nice and he’ll give everyone some candy at the end of the day, hooray!
November 13th, 2008
My annual NBA season-preview column is up on ESPN today, which would normally mean no main entry over here. But I’m planning to give the site the day off tomorrow, so we’ll treat today as a normal day.
Now then: Meteorological disturbances notwithstanding, the Phillies are poised to win their first championship in 28 years, so Phillies fans like reader Jeff Cook should be happy. But Jeff isn’t happy at all. Here’s why:
As a Phillies fan and a visual communicator (art director, designer, illustrator) who’s designed with type for over 25 years, I’ve always been bothered by the poor execution of the current Phillies logo. This is a $500 million organization with a logo that looks like it was drawn by a sixth grader.
Take a look at the current logo [that version is from MLB’s official art files, so it’s totally certified and all that — PL]. The letterforms are bulbous and balloon-like, creating a juvenile look. There’s no elegance, no thick-and-thin variation in the strokes of the letters, no natural flow of the stroke from one letter into the next (particularly from the “i” into the “e”). There are uncomfortable and inconsistent sizes to the letters across the word: The ascender on the “h” reaches higher than the “l”s, the “i”s are shorter than the other lowercase characters, and the “P” is too large in scale to the rest of the word.
Moreover, the verticals on the “l”s are thin at the loop and thick below, the foot on the “P” is awkward and abrupt, and the shape of the “e” simply defies description. This is to say nothing of that bar with the blip on the end that underlines the logo (what is its purpose anyway?), or the fact that the stars aren’t even symmetrical — they’re horizontally scaled! Also, the second star doesn’t sit centered above the “i” (hey, maybe that’s why the designer scaled it — “Oops, the star is crashing into the L, so I’ll just scale it!”).
So I took some time to redraw the logo in an attempt to give it the sophistication you’d expect from a major professional sports franchise. My primary aim was to raise the level of execution without changing the character of the logo. This was very important — I wanted this exercise to be purely about execution, not about proposing a new concept. I wanted to start with the plain script, but I’ll complete the exercise with a new version of the full Liberty Bell logo. I’ll send that along when finished.
If you look at the the original and redrawn logos together, two things become apparent: First, Jeff’s version is definitely better. Second, the official version looks a lot like what you’d get if you took a crisper version (like Jeff’s) and xeroxed it, and then xeroxed the xerox, and then xeroxed that, and so on. That happens to be exactly what’s happened at so many companies over the years — if someone needs a logo to create new letterhead, they just xerox it from the old letterhead, or from some other second-hand source. Eventually you’re dealing with a fourth- or fifth-generation logo with all its nuances and edges blurred into an indistinct mush.
I don’t know if that’s what happened with the Phillies’ logo, of course, but it wouldn’t surprise me. And I bet they’re not the only ones.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Regarding those orange thingies in JaMarcus Russell’s earholes, which I mentioned in yesterday’s Ticker: Those are the speakers for his radio headset. “The orange speakers must be in the coach/defense helmets,” says Joe Skiba. “Since the new speakers were made to hold up better with contact, we have decided to put them in our quarterback helmets as well.” … Drill, baby, drill (with thanks to Rob Bartlett). … Norm Duke won the PBA World Championship on Sunday while wearing a genuinely hideous shirt. Scott Johnson reports that the shirt is the work of the PBA’s official outfitter, Gemini Sport Marketing, whose designs are a far cry from the gorgeous bowling shirts of generations past. … Shame on me for not mentioning in yesterday’s entry that the Browns added a “GH” memorial decal on Sunday, in honor of Gene Hickerson. … This site has all sorts of info about the Old Oaken Bucket Game between Purdue and Indiana, including this photo from the very first game in the series (with thanks to David Farrell). … Good spot by Jacob Reed, who noticed that Pat Thomas’s left-sleeve Reebok logo was peeling off on Sunday. … In case you missed it yesterday, Joe Blanton’s cap caused a minor controversy, but I don’t see anything coming of it. … Rugby note from Caleb Borchers, who reports that the Blue Bulls, a South African rugby team, recently put the players’ first names on the back of their jerseys, as seen in this photo of John Mametsa. “It may look like last names on the back,” he writes, “but that’s what happens when you have players with first names like Rayno.” … Also from Caleb: Really interesting article here about the way Adidas markets the All Blacks, worth reading even if (like myself) you don’t know jack about rugby. … “This is a press pass from Sunday’s Panthers/Cardinals game,” writes Michael Orr. “Check out the Arizona helmet — why are there wordmarks on there? I’ve never seen an NFL press pass before [me neither — PL], so for all I know it’s always like that, but I just thought it looked weird.” … The Islanders unveiled their alternate uniform yesterday. As expected, it’s a 1970s throwback, which is fine — except for the miserable rear sock striping. Here’s a big photo gallery from the unveiling, courtesy of Tom Liodice. … It’s no longer enough to have a corporate-sponsored backdrop for your press conferences — now you need a rotating series of corporate-sponsored backdrops, as seen in this Jim Zorn Q&A session. … Lots of chatter about the Bobcats’ road uniforms in the comments that follow this article, prompting the beat reporter who covers the team for the Charlotte Observer to quip, “Guys: I can truly not believe you care what color they wear on the road.” Loser. … Good video report on the Majestic factory here (with thanks to Tim Burke). … Not a good idea. … I was having a hard time deciding what was the lamest thing about this World Series — the defense, the umpiring, or that goddamn Chevy Chase commercial (is it on an endless loop or what?) — but last night sealed it: Switching to local fucking news during a World Series rain delay is flat-out the most pathetic thing I’ve ever seen. Rain delays are when announcers earn their money, because they have to improvise, they have to entertain, they have to work. How about an interview with a groundskeeper? How about getting a few of the players to talk about what it was like to play under those conditions? How about a review of past bad-weather postseason games (like Game 4 of the ’77 National League playoffs, when Tommy John pitched the Dodgers into the Series in a driving rain — in Philadelphia, by coincidence)? How about sticking around and covering the freaking story instead of handing it off to Joan and Bob telling us whose cat got lost up a goddamn tree? A national disgrace.
October 28th, 2008
Well, that was certainly worth all the buildup, right? I’ll have more to say about this over on the Page 2 index page this morning (you can find it here), but for now I’ll quote a reaction I saw on the Chris Creamer board: “That logo is so bad, I think we need to give the whole state back to the Indians, steal it back, and start fresh.” Amen, brother.
My annual NFL season-preview column is also up today — look here.
Chat Reminder: I’ll be doing a live web chat today at 3pm eastern. To participate, go here.
Raffle Reminder: I’m still raffling off a $100 SoccerPro.com gift card. For details, look here.
If the suit fits…: We all know NFL coaches wear Reebok gear on the field, except for the occasional game when Mike Nolan or Jack Del Rio wears a suit. But did you know NFL coaches are also given free clothing to wear off the field? It’s true: Take a minute to read this and this (both of which were sent my way by reader Tom Turner).
As you can see, those articles refer to “the NFL Coaches Club,” a term I’d never heard of before. So I checked with an NFL contact, who responded thusly: “The Coaches Club has been around since early 1990s…. It allows us to use coaches collectively in marketing. For example, the coaches are in the monthly NFL Shop catalogs, etc. They also work with other sponsors.”
As you may also have noticed, the articles state that the Coaches Club “includes 31 of the 32 NFL coaches.” The lone holdout? Guess. I suppose he wouldn’t have much use for a Joseph Abboud suit anyway.
Uni Watch News Ticker: My camera’s been on the fritz, so I hadn’t been able to take pics of an amazing item I scored during last month’s Binghamton road trip: I scored this for $3.99 at the Salvation Army. It’s really big, and at first I thought it was a tablecloth. But as soon as I saw this tag, I knew it was part of this bedroom set from the old Sears catalog. Check out all the old logos and helmet icons from back in the day — nice. Also, they used a sort of default mustard tone for any colors close to yellow, and which created some new color combos — look at the Steelers logo at the top of this shot, e.g., and I really like this Packers treatment. Not sure what I’m gonna do with this, but maaaaaaaybe I’ll raffle it off later in the fall. For now I’m happy just knowing that it’s sitting over there in the living room. … Sarah Palin was presented with a Penguins jersey the other day (with thanks to Ryan Connelly). … Matt Powers recently attended some Cape Cod League ballgames and made some observations. Among them: The Orleans Cardinals have a cleat sponsor, Ringor, and have the option to wear one of three styles provided, as seen here, here, and here. Base coaches wore flapless helmets, just like in the pros. Also: “The Cape League all-stars played an exhibition game against the U.S. Military all-star team this year,” writes Matt. “If you thought San Diego and the White Sox were over the top with their camouflage uniforms, take a look at this.” … Rare shot here of Cal Ripken Jr. in the O’s futuristic jersey from 1999. … This is pretty fascinating. … College officiating note from Doug Steffenson, who writes: “Just spoke with a Big Ten football referee friend and discussed changes to their uniforms for 2008. Apparently, there’s a new sleeve patch (possibly on the left side) with initials of some sort or another. I couldn’t find any photos during a quick search of the web. From my meeting today, I understand that the patch is a part of a plan to move officials away from their conference affiliation and more towards a national organization.” I haven’t found any photos of this either, but maybe someone else has..? … Here’s something every team should sell: Russian nesting dolls! (Great find by Chris Bisbee.) … Here’s a shot of Darrell Evans wearing the Tigers’ road uni with a home helmet (good spot by Jason Taylor). … The Orlando Magic’s home page features an animation based on their jersey history (with thanks to Benjamin Mayberry). … Oh. My. Fucking. God. (let’s just nominate Eric Borer for sainthood and get it over with). … Awesome video clip here of high school football players “earning” their helmet decals. Even better, the decals are devil horns (with thanks to Steve Johnston). … Brian Erni notes that Lastings Milledge was wearing Austin Kearns’s wristband last night, and that the Pedro porthole is spreading. … What the hell is that logo on Chase Utley’s undershirt sleeve? … This could never happen in America. I hope. … Eric Buzard recently took a tour of Rexall Place in Edmonton, where he learned an interesting tidbit about the Oilers’ 1984-85 championship banner: “The team wanted to raise the division/conference championship banners immediately, but the company supplying them didn’t have any ‘5’s to put on the banner. So, they turned a 2 upside-down so that the banners could be raised in time. When the Oilers recently decided to replace the banners, they opted to use upside-down 2s for the 1984-85 banners, just like on the originals!” There’s a video about the banners here. … “Branding I can get behind,” says Minna H., and I heartily agree. … Why get a Uni Watch membership card based on the UGA helmet when you can have a VW Bug based on the same concept? It’s even got its own web site (which you can see here; all this courtesy of Brent Hardman). … Here’s a doozy: A high school football team has agreed to wear its road jersey at home, just so their opponent can showcase their flashy new Nike home jerseys on ESPN. Both teams wear Nike, but the road team has a special Nike contract — hence the switcheroo. And remember, this is high school. Outrageous details here (courtesy of Mike Edgerly).
September 4th, 2008
Looks like we’re gonna have to give an honorary Uni Watch membership to former MLB player Denny Hocking. While watching Friday night’s Twins/Angels game, he noticed something that almost everyone else missed, namely that Twinkies shortstop Adam Everett had a big typo on his jersey. According to this article, Hocking sent a text message to the visiting clubhouse attendants at Angel Stadium, who in turn notified Minnesota equipment manager Rod McCormick. He had a new jersey waiting for Everett as he came off the field after the 4th inning, so Everett played the rest of the game with a correctly spelled insignia.
Too bad Hocking was such a spoilsport. Wouldn’t it have been better if he’d kept quiet about the typo, just to see if anyone on the field would have noticed? Or would that have poor uni-watching etiquette for someone in his position (i.e., a former player with the ability to notify the proper authorities, as opposed to just a random observer)? And what if Everett had, say, hit a homer his first time up and superstitiously refused to change jerseys once the typo was discovered? Would McCormick have insisted that he change jerseys anyway, just for professionalism’s sake?
It’s worth noting, incidentally, that not all typos are created equal. In this case, the severity was magnified by the fact that the Twins use vertically arched lettering on their insignia, so the mis-sequenced letters disrupted the curvature of the arch, as you can clearly see here and here. All the more surprising, then, that nobody noticed the mistake before Hocking did.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Short article here about Habs coach Guy Carbonneau’s neckties (with thanks to Dan Smith). … Check this out: soccer stirrups! (Thanks to Ryan Yanoshak.) … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: What’s with all the cover-up tape in these photos? For the answer, look here. … Cool gallery of SMU helmets here. … Did you know U.S. soliders have had “uniform envy” regarding the Marine Corps? I didn’t, until Matt Locatelli sent me this. … The Hornets have a new court to go along with their new uniforms (with thanks to Mike Etheridge). … Non-sports logo news from Jon Springer, who reports that Giant Foods has gotten a brand makeover. … Chaz Noerenberg notes that Kyle Orton has been alternating between loose cuffs and tight cuffs during the preseason, and also points out that Kevin Jones had a new take on the double-socked look the other night. … Good article here about track athletes wearing jewelry. … Another uni-related treat from the SI archives: The 4/9/56 issue featured a bunch of uni illustrations for the coming season, as seen here, here, here, and here (with thanks to Jim Cooper). … “I was at the August 14th Mets/Nats game at Nationals Park,” writes John Muir. “Almost every hallway and open space has some sort of old-time DC baseball photo/painting/advert. I managed to grab a few shots on my way out after the game — they’re in this gallery.” … Also from John: Some ex-NHLers are circumventing the smoking bans at various arenas. … My annual college football season-preview column will run later this week on ESPN, but it will only cover Division I-A, so I’ll cover a few smaller schools here, including Idaho State. Last year they dressed like this and home and like this on the road. But now they’ve got new home jerseys, road jerseys, and pants. New helmets, too: That’s the old one on the right and the new one on the left (big thanks to Frank Mercogliano for all of this). … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Several Eagles linemen have reinforced horizontal ribbing on their shoulders, similar to what the Bears have had for several years now. … The Mets did the Hispanic thing on Friday night. … The Blue Jays’ black-jersey insignia usually looks like this (note the blue outline, which actually has a black border, but that blends into the surrounding jersey, so you can’t see it), but Jose Bautista’s insignia had a white outline on Saturday. Michael Priest and Hovan Patey both report that third base coach Nick Leyva has had similar problems this season. … Great collection of old hockey programs here (no need to click — they’ll start flashing automatically; with thanks to Mario Morgado). … Here’s something I’d never seen before: soccer positions listed on shorts (with thanks to Kel Hinkle). … Several readers have noted that Vikings RB Adrian Peterson changed his facemask from this to this on Saturday. For additional details, check out the discussion that ensued in last night’s comments (driven primarily by Matt Powers) here. … Jeff Ash has uploaded some really nice illustrations from this book, which he says taught him how to play baseball when he was a kid. You can see a slideshow of the illos here. … Informative video clip here on Oregon’s equipment room. … Several uni-related items in the new issue of GQ, including a short item on longtime Uni Watch faves No Mas, a “Please redesign the Ravens’ helmet” feature (look here, here, and here), and a stunningly inaccurate Cowboys illustration (with thanks to Matt Powers for the scans). … What the hell was going on with Bob Lily’s armpad? … Here’s a rare color view of the Chargers’ “San Diego All America City” helmet crest from the early ’60s. … The Giants never wore white shoes with their original “ny”-logo helmet. But Spider Lockhart apparently did a bit of footwear freelancing.
August 25th, 2008
Hello there.
One week, one wedding, two days of record-breaking Portland heat (one of them spent in a jacket and tie — ugh), one Uni Watch party, one astonishingly large cinnamon roll, one visit to a vacuum cleaner museum and another to a kite museum, too many hours spent shopping at various thrift and vintage shops (resulting in one very odd 1960s clock-radio-lamp purchase), many beers, one afternoon spent at a National Volcanic Monument, way too many failed attempts to pronounce “McMenamins” without stuttering, one one visit to a reader’s home, and one giant frying pan later, I’m back.
But more on all that tomorrow. Today we’ve got serious uniform news to discuss, because the Hornets unveiled their new design yesterday. Here’s the scoop:
• The team’s basic colors — blue, purple, and gold, have all been tweaked slightly. Largely irrelevant.
• The primary logo has been tweaked as well, going from this to this. I miss the white gloves, but otherwise this looks like a clear upgrade for both the illo and the typography.
• A new secondary logo has been introduced. Man, does that say, “AAA baseball” or what? What a waste. (You can see various treatments of this logo, the new primary logo, and the “fleur de bee” logo here).
• In a nod to the franchise’s original Charlotte-era design, design, the uniforms are now pinstriped — you know, because basketball players are short and need to accentuate the vertical. I’m generally fond of the new typography (compare to this) and not fond at all of the neckline and ass-crack logo positioning (it’s practically a rule now that every new design has to have these). Still if the overall effect ends up looking more or less like this NBA 2K9 leak, I’d say the world will keep on spinning. A masterpiece? No. But reasonably palatable? Yeah. (Additional details on all this can be found here.)
While we’re at it: As most of you know by now, the Timberwolves have a new design as well. Now, if you were redoing this team’s design, what’s the first thing you’d address? The illegible number font, right? The good news is that they’ve got a new typeface; the bad news is that it’s only marginally better than the last one. On the plus side, shortening the home wordmark to “Wolves” seems like a good move; on the other hand, there’s more rear-logo silliness, and the tree motif on the side panel and shorts seems forced. And c’mon, the collar just looks embarrassing.
But here’s a new wrinkle: The league invited me to participate in a conference call regarding the Minnesota uniforms on Monday. I was busy traveling but asked if they could provide me with a transcript of the call, which they did. It features some predictably rote recitations of corporate marketingspeak but also includes a fair amount of interesting inside info — much meatier than I’d expected. So I’ve posted it here. It’s lengthy, but I think you’ll find it worthwhile.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I’m late getting to this, but Mark Mihalik’s excellent PlayerExclusive.com footwear site has some cool team recaps, plus he’s been building an excellent footwear gallery. The site is so smartly designed that even a non-footwear-obsessive like myself can dig it. Highly recommended. … Latest awesome old baseball photo from Dave Eskenazi shows the 1935 Dayton Ducks. … “I’ve been up in Wisconsin at the Chiefs’ training camp at UW-River Falls,” writes Jason Gomez. “Jon McGraw and Dustin Colquitt gave away their shoes along with autographs, which led to the players signing autographs in their socks — which turned out to be NBA socks. Also, the Chiefs have Trek bikes to get around in — pretty cool.” … Not uni-related, but fascinating all the same (thanks, Kirsten). … Wondering why some countries’ Olympic uniforms have the country names printed in English and others in foreign languages? Look here. … With college football about to start and college hoops not far behind, this is a good time to mention the excellent Pollspeak site, which covers everything related to college poll rankings. … Major NOB possibilities for the Mets, who may soon have three Reyeses on the 25-man roster. … Nyjer Morgan is back in the bigs for Pittsburgh, which means one more pair of stirrups on the diamond. Thanks to Chris Hilf for the tip, and to Bryan for the blurry screen grab. … Here’s a follow-up from Tuesday’s Air Force PT note in the Ticker, from an anonymous contributor: “I read the Ticker posting about the Air Force PT uniform, and I can say wholeheartedly that it’s true. I normally wear a large, but have it up to an XXL in order to have something that reaches mid-thigh and doesn’t feel like spandex. Either way, it reminded me of a story that might interest you. I work on the E-4, an airborne command post that the Secretary of Defense uses for overseas trips. Well, former Secretary Rumsfeld was known for wearing an Army PT coat as his ‘casual’ wear in-flight. But on a flight right after the Air Force’s new PT gear came out, a member of our crew walked up to Mr. Rumsfeld with an Air Force PT coat and asked him to wear it, because ‘we are the ones that take you where you need to go.’ From then on, he wore that coat.” Many thanks for the contribution.
August 21st, 2008
So I’m watching the All-Star Game last night with my buddy Large from No Mas. We haven’t seen each other since February (he lives in California these days), so I’m trying to not to get all Uni Watch on him. No need to make a pest of myself by pointing out every single pair of white shoes or other uni anomalies when we can enjoy universal pleasures like making fun of Dan Uggla, imagining what the youth of America is thinking about all the Viagra and prostate-shrinkage commercials, wondering how many pitches it will take for Billy Wagner to blow the lead, and despising Tim McCarver.
So when Ryan Ludwick came up in the eleventeeth inning, or whatever it was, with about 17 things wrong with his batting helmet, I held my tongue. Instead of saying, “Holy crap, look at that!” and pointing out all the aberrations Ludwick was wearing on his noggin, I just said, “I bet Dan Uggla’s sister got made fun of a lot when she was growing up” and reached for another drink.
Inside, though, I was thinking, “I bet my readers are all over this.” And I’m proud to say that you did not disappoint. Fourteen of you e-mailed regarding Ludwick’s headwear, and many more posted comments about it. For those who missed it, here’s Ludwick’s helmet, and here’s what was unusual about it:
• It’s red, which is the Cards’ home helmet. The National League was the road team last night, so he should have been wearing a navy lid.
• Although it’s hard to see in that screen shot, Ludwick was wearing a Coolflo helmet, which none of the Cardinals normally wear. (Albert Pujols also wore a Coolflo last night, but at least it was navy.)
• The weirdest thing is that Ludwick’s “StL” logo was red outlined in white, instead of white outlined in navy. If you look again at the Pujols shot, it’s obvious that they used a road helmet decal on Ludwick’s helmet.
Ludwick wasn’t the only National Leaguer improperly wearing a home helmet, by the way. Aramis Ramirez wore the Cubs’ solid-blue model instead of their red-brimmed road version. Fellow Cubs Geovany Soto and Kosuke Fukudome wore the proper helmet, however.
As for Uggla, that was some performance — I’m afraid all the Viagra in the world isn’t gonna help him now. Personally, I was rooting for the N.L. to run out of pitchers and be forced to put Uggla on the mound (whoever took over at second base would have to qualify as a defensive improvement, no?), but ya can’t have everything. And here’s a tidbit that only one reader caught: Uggla wasn’t even wearing his own wristbands. Maybe that was his problem right there.
(Thanks to Bob Sherron for the Cards screen grabs, and to Brett Crane for bringing Uggla’s wristband to my attention.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Another brimless catcher: Jim Essian (with thanks to Andy Chalifour). … Another very stripe-centric football team: Ray High School in Corpus Christi (additional pics here, here, and here). “I’m almost positive they’ve worn an entire ‘candy-stripe’ uniform,” says Todd Hotz. “I’m looking for it.” … According to the third item in this web chat transcript, Idaho State will be wearing solid black at home, and the helmet will be tweaked (with thanks to Mark Snider). … “TCU’s top-ranked baseball team has been wearing throwback uniforms for Sunday home games for the past three years,” reports Mark Rybczyk. “They do a pretty good job and, I know that Coach Jim Schlossnagle requires his team to wear the stirrups on Sundays. I especially like the hats, which use a very old TCU Logo.” These are so nice, I won’t even complain about the purple. … With the Spectrum in Philly now slated for the glue factory, the Phantoms (AHL) and Kixx (MLS) will be wearing a farewell season patch (with thanks to Chris Ashworth). … New football uniforms on the way for Vanderbilt. … Jim Parker sent along a photo of some amazing UMich socks from 1953 — love to see more of these.
July 16th, 2008
As many of you know, we’re lucky to have a trademark attorney in the Uni Watch readership. That would be Anthony Verna (who, in addition to his legal practice, has a blog devoted to trademark law). After my little ramble last Friday about the the circle-R trademark symbol that appears on the Cubs’ home jersey patch (if you missed that spiel, look here), Anthony generously offered to help sort out the situation — an offer I happily accepted.
Anthony ended up sending me a fairly lengthy explanation. With his permission, I’ve taken the liberty of shaping it into the following Q-and-A:
What’s the point of the ® symbol?
The simple answer is this: Companies whose trademarks are registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office must use the symbol or else the registration may be lost. That symbol is the only symbol that shows that a company’s trademark is registered with the USPTO.
Okay, but why register a trademark to begin with?
The basic answer is to show to the world what the mark signifies. It shows the source of goods or services and the quality of those goods or services. (Please, no joking about how the Cubs have played over the last century or so!)
But do you have to use the ® every single time your mark appears?
Many trademark attorneys advise their clients to place the ® symbol everywhere (in fact, an employee at a company that’s a client of mine complained about having to make sure that the symbol was always there). There may be times when there might be a business-related reason not to include the symbol, but I advise my clients to keep those to a minimum. For example, would anyone want to buy a CD by a band whose name is followed by the ® symbol? The symbol should certainly be on items such as advertisements, press releases, web sites, etc.
Okay, so how does this all apply to the Cubs? When did they register their logo?
The Cubs’ first registered trademark that I can find comes from May 20, 1969. It’s the familiar logo where “Cubs” is in a circle and the “C” is bigger than the rest of the word.
But if you look at photos from the 1970s, the Cubs didn’t use the ®. If they registered the mark in 1969, why did they wait until the early ’80s to add the symbol?
It’s hard to say why. My only guess would be that an aggressive trademark attorney joined their corporate structure around the time the symbol started appearing.
Alright, so that covers the Cubs. But what about other teams — don’t all major-level sports teams register their logos?
I think so. (The old Hartford Whalers were an exception — their logo was never registered. The NHL started the process once the team moved to Carolina and was renamed the Hurricanes but never finished.)
Then why don’t all these other teams wear the trademark symbol?
They’ve chosen not to. As a trademark lawyer and a sports fan, I like the example of the New Jersey Devils. Their red “NJ” logo has been registered since January 10, 1984, but of course the ® symbol isn’t on their uniform. And why should it be? The uniform itself tells us that they are the New Jersey Devils. They do use the symbol, however, on their licensed goods. To me, this strikes the right balance. We already know, as sports fans, who the mark belongs to, so the appearance of the symbol seems redundant to me on the uniform when worn on the field. But using it in all other areas, such as licensed goods, is an effective way to communicate that the mark is a registered trademark and that the goods or services represented by the mark come from the proper companies.
So you’re basically saying that the Cubs’ logo is no more (or less) trademarked than any other team’s logo, but that the Cubs engage in a bit of overkill by taking the extra step of using the ® symbol on their uniform?
Yes.
So there you have it: Just about every team could add the symbol, but the Cubs are the only ones who’ve gone to that extreme. Let’s hope it stays that way. Big thanks to Anthony for helping to explain this complex situation.
Personally, I still suspect the symbol began appearing on the uniform more or less by accident (i.e., the company making the chest patches based their embroidery pattern on a logo sheet that happened to have the trademark symbol, and it’s been stuck there ever since), but I suspect we’ll never know for sure.
One thing we can try to determine, though, is exactly when the symbol began appearing on the uniform. The earliest instance I’ve found of the symbol appearing in a positively dated photo is 1984. But the photo for this 1983 baseball card was almost certainly taken in 1982 (Jenkins didn’t pitch for the Cubs in ’81, so it couldn’t have been taken then), so ’82 is now my benchmark year. If you have any old Cubs yearbooks, programs, or any other photographic evidence that would help sort this out, please get in touch.
Pedro Update: I’m not declaring a winner yet in the “name Pedro’s missing button” sweepstakes, because one of the submissions raises some interesting questions. In yesterday’s comments, Roger Faso wrote, “Pedro unbuttons that button to whip out his crucifix and kiss it. I say we call it the Jesus Hole.” This is the first time I’ve heard anyone suggest a reason for the open button. If true, it will definitely affect the name we assign to this phenomenon.
Just one problem: I’ve never noticed Pedro pulling his necklace out through the area of the second button. Has anyone else? I wrote to Roger and asked if he’d actually seen Pedro doing this, or if he was just speculating, or joking, or what, but so far no response. Stay tuned.
Special Raffle for NYC-Area Readers: We’ve all seen the final few pitches of Don Larsen’s perfect game. But how’d you like to see the entire game (well, beginning in the top of the 2nd), complete with the original play-by-play commentary and even the original commercials? A screening of precisely that will be taking place on Thursday, July 10th, at 6pm. It’s at B.B. King’s in Times Square (odd venue, right?), and the ticket price is $30 (crazy, right?), but I’ve got two pairs of tickets to give away.
To enter, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to uniraffle [at] earthlink [dot] net (please note that this is not the usual Uni Watch e-mail address) by 10pm eastern this Friday. Please enter only if you’ll actually be able to use the tickets yourself. Since that stipulation will narrow down the pool of entrants considerably, there will be no bonus entries for membership program enrollees on this raffle — one person, one entry, period. I’ll announce the winners next Monday.
I’ll be attending the screening myself, by the way, so maybe we can convene a Uni Watch gathering afterward. More details on that later on.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I’m completely stoked over my latest vintage jersey. No idea what it was used for (soccer?), but it’s totally boss (extra-special thanks to Scott Turner, who tipped me wise to this one after spotting it on eBay). … Father’s Day follow-up: A few of the White Sox players wore blue face paint on Sunday (with thanks to Steve Johnston). … Good article here about the Yankees prospect who can pitch with either arm and wears a glove with six fingers and two webs (with thanks to Eric Stengel). … Latest accessory for rodeo clowns: faux stirrups (good catch by Benjamin C. Graff). … I’ve heard about Tony Conigliaro wearing a “Tony C.” NOB, but I’d never seen it until now (great find by Rich Kauffman). … Logo creep alert from Greg Riffenburgh, who notes that Czech soccer coach Karel Brückner had a Puma logo on his shirt collar the other day. … Also from Greg: Bit of a dust-up regarding the new TSA uniforms. … Great stripe-o-rama submission from John Calabrese. The player is Daultan Leveille of the St. Catherine’s Falcons. … Many of you have seen this already, but Michigan’s new Adidas football jerseys will apparently look like this and this. … “I was watching the Tigers/Giants game Monday night,” writes Alan Topolski. “They were highlighting different moments in Giants history, and they highlighted July 5, 1987, when Kevin Mitchell made his Giants debut by homering at Wrigley. The equipment manager must have been given very short notice, because Mitchell had NNOB!” … I’ll be off the grid for most of today (interviewing for a Mets coaching position, natch), so play nice. Back tomorrow.
June 17th, 2008
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