By Phil Hecken, with Rick Pearson

Back again with more NFL uni tweaks, but this first section, entirely envisioned and described by Ricko, is, in a word, “brilliant.” Whereas our previous “tweaks” were designed to solve our own misgivings about certain teams uni-choices, these are actual practical solutions to real problems. What is that real problem? Well, unless you’ve been living in a cave for the past decade, you’ve most likely noticed that the sleeve on the football uniform, with the exception of a few quarterbacks, a wide receiver or two, and kickers, is basically a vestigial element now. While this may not be such a big deal in the overall scheme of uniform design, it is a MAJOR headache for teams who still choose to put stripes on what were once full sleeves. You’ve seen the half-assed solutions being proffered by designers who are admittedly clueless apparently at a loss for ways around the new uniform cuts. Some have apparently no stripes at all. Or they end up stretched onto the chest. I mean, c’mon. This is getting ridiculous.

Enter Ricko. What he’s about to offer up is a simple, straightforward and logical answer to the “disappearing sleeve” on the NFL uniform. And with that, I give you Ricko:

Talk About Wearing Things On Your Sleeve
by Rick Pearson

First of all, this is NOT about re-designing anyone’s unis, so let’s not get our hackles up. This is about what to do with sleeve stripes when you have no sleeves to put them on.

A while ago on UW I asked, not altogether rhetorically, Why not put the stripes on the sleeves of the compression shirts? That makes this about an “Apparel Innovation.” Nothing more.

The central notion, then is: Let’s give up trying to make stripes work on today’s shortie jersey sleeves, shall we? The hell with it; put ‘em somewhere else. Say, where they belong? That way, TV numbers and logos could move back to (when appropriate or desired) the more traditional position on the sleeves. Also, TVs could return to the customary 4-inch size…in some cases in the past, even larger.

This idea WOULD require development of a half-sleeve compression shirt in addition to the full-length and “armpit”-length versions typically produced. Secondly, it would be nice if the NFL adopted a Uni Rule reading: “Shoulder pads and armpits must be completely covered by the player’s jersey and/or under sleeves”. But that’s not realistic, I suppose. I think today’s players really get off on showing their guns. “Chicks Dig It” is the rationale, I imagine.

So, without a lot of explanation of what you’re about to see, here’s what you’d get (presented in no particular order)…Redskins, Packers, Giants white, 49ers, Browns (yes, I added stripes to the brown pants; couldn’t help myself [white socks too -- that pic was taken from last year's preseason game when the Brown's first broke out the Brown pants with Brown leggings -- they have since switched to white socks [--PH]), Steelers, Vikings throwbacks and Bears.

I did mess around with Cardinals, taking elements of their St. Louis and early Arizona unis (especially the whites) to show how a team could to do some unique things with the compression sleeve stripes. The “5-stripes same width” look is derivative of their throwback socks from 1994. Taken to the dark uni, it’s interesting, but a bit much. This combination — more like the 1980’s — for home and road may look old-fashioned to some, but it’s clean…and interesting. A sort of “minimalist” spin on their St. Louis duds.

And, yes, I did the Bengals, not to criticize their current uni, but to show that a team could really go nuts, actually making the compression sleeves the uni’s “signature element“. I certainly could have done the same concept for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats or Princeton University, so please don’t take it as slam on the Bengals. No white version of these sleeves with this one. Imagine them, black sleeves and colored stripes, with a white jersey. Yowsa.

Conclusion (mine, anyway)? It could work.

BAD news for fans: Two separate garments needed to get “official” game day look.

But that’s the GOOD news for the NFL merchandising arm (no pun intended). Plus, they’d probably sell a boatload of just the striped compression shirts, too.

Okay, I’m done.

Phil here. Great job with that Ricko. You may have seen some of these designs in the comments section before, but never in a full-blown post. This is an idea the NFL should seriously consider, especially for teams who still, ya know, wear striped jersey sleeves.

After Ricko came to me (and you via the comments) with the idea of the comp sleeves, one of UW’s readers, Patrick “pflava” Woody provided me with a graphic set of Ricko’s proposals, which I’ll present here, and which gives another idea of how both the long and short sleeved comp sleeves could look (in a couple of cases, Patrick’s template designs differ from Ricko’s, but the idea is the same): Redskins, (which is more of a throwback look than Rick’s compression sleeve idea for the current uniform) Vikings (throwback), Steelers, Browns, 49ers, Giants (road), and Bears.

Fantastic job with those Patrick. I also wanted to show you the same concept, brought to you by Fred Strom, who took Ricko’s Packers idea and made this mockup. But he didn’t stop there: Fred also mocked up the Steelers, da Bears, and (my favorite), the Browns. Great job Fred. (By the way, Fred is the guy who gave us one of the first neon snot green Seahawks — created shortly after Paul’s April Fool’s Day post — and who saw my piece on them last weekend, but whose work I wasn’t familiar with at the time). So, I’m including Fred’s Neon Green Seahawks concepts here.

I’m sure I’ll be featuring more great works from Patrick and Fred as the season wears on. But props to them for helping to bring Ricko’s Comp Sleeve proposals to us today as well.

Getting Loopy On You
by Phil & Rick

Moving along to a joint effort between Ricko and myself, we’re sure you’ve noticed that not only have sleeves disappeared on NFL jerseys, so too have the once prevalent and beautiful shoulder loops (or “arches” as Ricko refers to them) that at one time once graced NFL uniforms in varying degrees. Whether their disappearance into truncated stubs like this, this and this is a function of the new jersey cuts, or simply manufacturer’s sloth isn’t really important. What is important is that even teams who sport truncated loops still have players who wear full loops with the current jersey.

Obviously, then, there is no real reason why the loop has basically disappeared. Sure, the newer cuts might make it a tad more difficult to design a uniform with actual loops but this truncated garbage is horrible. Ricko and I differ a bit on solutions to this, since technically, most teams “loops” weren’t actually full loops (as I like) but “arches” (as Ricko calls them), which are more approximations of loops, as seen in the UCLA style guide (although some teams did use full loops and some were full but tapered). I prefer the full loop, whereas Rick would prefer to end them under (or close to) the armpit, but either way, the appearance of a full loop is what is needed.

So, in my tweak, the Colts get full loops whereas in Ricko’s redesign, he gives them “arches” and ends them at the armpit. The New York Jets get the full treatment in redesign as do The Titans of New York, whereas Ricko would again end the loop (arch) under the arm. After looking at both of those options, perhaps neither one is perfect, but both are better than the truncated loop. As a compromise, we’d both move to taper the loops as they pass under the arm, yielding a look like this. Much better, no?

OK. That’s it for today on this bit of uniform fixing. But you gotta give big ups to Rick Pearson for the Comp Sleeve idea. Seriously, Mr. Goodell … Are you listening?

UW’s biggest Seahawks fan, Michael Princip has a fantastic ongoing project over at his Illustrated NFL site. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. Mike recently added a few more illustrations over in the Artists Section. Most notably, a new entry for Lon Keller and his amazing true vintage football illustrations. Michael totally digs this one of Tom Fears (80) & Elroy (Crazylegs) Hirsch (40).

Great stuff! Be sure to check that out if you haven’t already!

UW Mystery Jersey “square” — My doubles partner and UW West Coast Correspondent Brinke Guthrie has found the latest UW mystery. Check out this Huskie…what in god’s name is that dark square on his belly? I first thought it was a sweat stain, due to the new jersey cuts (which are giving unis a weird two-tone look), but now I’m pretty sure there is more to it than that. Different material? Anyone wanna take any guesses? Neither Brinke nor I can ever remember seeing anything like that before.

I don’t usually pay much mind to “top 10 best” or “worst” lists of uniforms. I mean, we here on UW should have the final word on that sort of thing anyway, right? But Ricko sent me this one. This one is a head shaker. Plus the guy who wrote it is either a homophobe or a bad comedian. Probably both. But check out the choices and the rationales. Here’s a typical quote: “The Dolphins uniforms should be San Fransisco’s uniforms. It’s hard to imagine a uniform that better represents fruit than these.” Right. Not quite sure how old it is, but it’s definitely not from this season. Still, this gets a huge “WTF?”

Our man in the street, Jim Vilk brings you his “Top 5″ Best and one WORST college football uni matchup from yesterday:

5. Wyoming/Colorado – Throwbacks save the day.

4. Florida State/BYU – Cougars matched up well with FSU…well, looks-wise, that is.

3. Florida Atlantic/South Carolina – If FAU played as good as they looked, they’d be champs.

2. Southern California/Washington – Upset game; uniforms not upsetting at all.

1. Giants vs. Colts Duke/Kansas – The greatest game ever played…in Lawrence, Kansas…this weekend.

And the baddie worst uni matchup of the weekend: Cincinnati/Oregon State – A veritable black hole.

Nice work Jim. How you couldn’t put the throwback Buff’s higher is beyond me, but hey…at least they made the list. Those helmets are the bomb.

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Got another scoreboard submission from SlimandSlam today. Not quite sure about the level of difficulty, but you guys should be able to get it without too much difficulty. Stadium should be obvious, as are the teams — it only comes down to the date and the final score. Might be tricky. Ready? Guess The Game. As always, please link to the answer thru Retrosheet or Baseball Almanac. Thanks for the submission, Slim!

Well, the football season is in full gear now…and the boys of Benchies are back on the gridiron. I asked Rick how come Mike wears adidas, Mick wears Nike, and the defender in this clip wears Puma. Rick’s answer? “It’s just until I get my shoe contract.” Of course. Anyway, enjoy your Sunday Benchies. Bonus points to anyone who can name the sweatband manufacturer.

And that’s a wrap for this Sunday folks. If you missed yesterday, there was a “Design A Cap Contest” you all should check out. Keep those submissions coming!

Please make sure to compliment Patrick & Fred for their efforts as today as well. Good stuff there. And for the love of god…can somebody get the NFL front offices on the line and convince them that Ricko has the answer to the disappearing sleeve? Not only would the comp sleeves solve the disappearing/shrinking stripe problems, but they’ll be able to move one more piece of merch in the process. It’s a win-win! Cheers.

[Editor's Note: Today we have a guest entry from Matt King -- that's him at right -- who's tackling a thorny issue head-on. -- PL]

By Matt King

My wife and I met Paul at the Uni Watch gathering on July 30th. I wore my 1987 Indians authentic jersey to the event, and she wore my 2000 Browns authentic. These are the only two authentic shirts I own, as I am not a collector.

When Paul began photographing everyone at the party, he photographed us from the front and then asked us to turn around. I hesitated for a moment, as thoughts of this article rushed through my head (see the fifth item under “Honorable Mention”). But we went ahead with it anyway and let Paul take the rear-view photo. Then, the very next day, this article ran (see item No. 1), and I knew I had to prevent that photo from gracing this site.

Yes, it’s true: My authentics have my name on the back (let’s call it ONOB, for own name on back). I know that’s a no-no for many people, and I didn’t want to get crucified in the comments section, so I asked Paul to refrain from linking to that rear-view photo when he wrote about the Cleveland party. You’re not going to see the photo running with this article, either — I don’t want to be the poster child for ONOB. But I do want to give my reasons for it.

The 1987 Indians jersey that I wore is not a throwback — it’s an original, which was not an easy item to acquire such an item back in the late 1980s (sometimes the Indians would make game-used equipment and uniforms available at their team shop on Euclid Avenue, but new authentic items were not readily available). Back around that time, however, a few friends and I were lucky enough to sell programs at Cleveland Stadium, and we learned that the Indians’ outfitter was a place called Cleveland Sporting Goods in Parma. We went there one day, only to find one jersey available, three sizes too small and at an outrageous cost of $75. Of course, I bought it anyway.

Since they did the lettering for the team, they asked what name and number I would like. Here’s the Indians’ 1987 roster — whose name and number would you take? So I chose my name and my high school football number, 61. I figured nobody would ever wear a number that high in a real game, so it became a running joke between my buddies and me that I was the first player cut during spring training but that the team let me keep my jersey.

The point is this: Prior to the widespread availability of mass-produced authentic sportswear, no rules had been established for this kind of thing. So I propose the following grandfather clause: Any authentic item purchased before January 1, 2000 is exempt from debate by either side of the ONOB argument. My Browns jersey — the one my wife wore to the Uni Watch party — fails this test by a few months, but it is 51 because of many cold days in the real Dawg Pound watching Eddie Johnson.

There’s another point to consider here: Even if we never get to wear a real uniform with our name on the back, we can still be loyal fans, and fans can be as important as players. The loyal fan never had the athletic ability to earn the ONOB jersey, but he can earn the right to wear the uniform through years of supporting that very same uniform. In the grand scheme of things, a loyal fan of, say, the Kansas City Royals is more important to the team’s well- being than some guy who got a September cup of coffee in 1990. If that fan wants his name on the shirt, I say he deserves it.

My own sons, although heavily involved in athletics, are not big fans of pro sports. But if they were, maybe at some point they’d want the $300 Indians jersey. Now, there’s no way we’re buying that shirt for them, but if they wanted to earn and save toward that goal, we wouldn’t stop them. What if they thought ONOB was only for the “doofus” crowd — what would their other options be? Here’s what’s been most widely available over the past few seasons: CC Sabathia, Fausto Carmona, Victor Martinez, Cliff Lee, Grady Sizemore, Casey Blake, and Travis Hafner. Four of those guys are gone and the other three aren’t exactly tearing up the league. Is a Sabathia jersey retro-cool yet? I think not. That’s a lot of lawn cutting and Little League umpiring for something that’s only going to remind you of a player who’s no longer on your team. $300 is a lot to spend on a temporary tattoo.

But your own name doesn’t sign a free agent contract with another team. Your own name doesn’t get traded. Your own name doesn’t get farmed out. Your own name doesn’t instruct your agent to not return phone calls from the Cleveland Indians (I’m looking at you, Brett Butler). The ONOB shirt never was on the team, so the ONOB shirt can never leave the team.

I have no desire to become the champion of the ONOB cause, but I do hope I’ve helped explain why ONOB shouldn’t be viewed as the mark of the beast. And for the record, I have never, ever once referred to a Cleveland sports team as “we,” but that’s a whole different essay.

Coupla Reminders: I’m currently raffling off a jacket from SoccerPro.com. Details here. (And as an aside, the SoccerPro folks are also selling a limited-edition tee for the Homeless World Cup.)

I’m also trying to help a good friend with his job hunt. In case you missed that on Wednesday, look here.

Who are those masked men?: I’m trying to keep track of new NHL goalie masks. I currently have Varlamov, Price, Lundqvist, Emery, Leclaire, Khabibulin, Anderson, and Rinne (those last two are new; the others have been Ticker-linked over the past few weeks), but I’m sure there are others. If you know of more — with photos, natch — send ’em this-a-way. Thanks.

Uni Watch News Ticker: The Suns are the latest NBA team to add ads to their practice jerseys. Further details here (with thanks to Brooks Simpson). … Oh wait, the Mavericks are doing it too (courtesy of Mitch Goodman). … Check out this A. J. Foyt/Gilmore Racing pit crew shirt that Jeff Barak recently picked up on eBay. “It’s a lighter weight, with snaps instead of buttons with that ‘western’ shirt cut,” he writes. “It might be a bit hard to see the details with the two patches on the front, but it looks like this shirt would be more at home at a square dance than pit road. The two sponsor patches on the front are so minimal as be almost ineffective, but the real treat of this shirt is on the back, with the ‘Valvoline’ and ‘Gilmore’ names chain-stitched, giving this more of a bowling shirt feel.” … “I recently attended Continental Indoor Football League game here in Chicago,” writes Chris Rhode. “The Chicago Slaughter were playing a team from Wheeling, West Virginia, and the Wheeling team apparently did not have enough uniforms for their team, which explains why you see three different uni styles in this photo Also note the electrical-taped ‘1′ on the player on the right. But they forgot to tape the other side.” . … Here’s another great shot of the Bills’ old two-man mascot (with thanks to Bill Kellick). … Good to see the Red Wings are doing their usual straight block-letter NOBs for preseason games. They do this every year; the vertically arched NOBs will return when the regular season starts. … Dunta Robinson got hit with a footwear fine, but not by the league — by his own team. … The Preds third jersey has finally been modeled by someone other than Taylor Swift. … The Mavs will unveil an alternate jersey on Monday. … And the Sixers will have an unveiling on Wednesday. … New basketball uniforms for Iowa State (with thanks to Corey Munson). … Steve Mandich has posted his pocket schedule collections for the Huskies and the Sonics.

Got a really interesting communiqué the other day from reader Matthew Earl, as follow:

I was interested in getting something that had the Lions’ new logo/helmet on it, so I was lured in by this T-shirt, which I mail-ordered as a unique uni item. (For clarification, the dates under each helmet read, from left to right: 1950, 1960, 1983, 2003, and Present).

The obvious question I have for you is this: What’s the deal with the 1950 gold helmet? I had assumed that licensed clothing is accurate, but I began to question this after I received the shirt. The Lions’ press release regarding their new uniforms includes a breakdown of uni changes made over the years, including mentions blue helmets occasionally being used. But the word “gold” doesn’t appear in that breakdown.

My own research has turned up only one possible reference to the Lions using a gold helmet: this auction item, which was supposedly worn by Bobby Layne in 1953 — not the 1950 referenced on the shirt.

Given all this information, I felt I had no recourse but to return the shirt for a refund, as I was opening myself up to an indefensible discussion at best and ridicule at worst.

OK, there’s a lot to chew on here, not the least of which is Matthew’s “[assumption] that licensed clothing is accurate.” As many of you know by now, licensed gear often has all sorts of errors — sometimes due to sloppy work on the licensee’s part, sometimes due to the sketchy nature of historical data.

Are any of those factors at work here? Tough to say. I’m not aware of the Lions having worn gold helmets, but pre-1959 NFL history isn’t well documented, so there are plenty of gaps in my mental database. According to Tim Brulia’s Pro Football Uniform History Project, the Lions wore silver, blue, and red helmets at various points over the years (yes, red), but there’s no mention of gold. Then again, Tim frequently sends me updates and revisions as he uncovers new data, so maybe the gold helmet — which could look very much like a silver helmet in a black-and-white newspaper photo — is just something he missed. Tim, do you know anything about this?

Meanwhile, let’s go back to that Bobby Layne helmet. The auction listing states the following:

The gold was a break from tradition; the silver [stripe] held a link to the franchise’s formidable past, thus the combination. It should also be noted that during the 1953 season, the Lions wore the gold helmet with a silver center stripe during 12 out of 13 regular season games, including the NFL Championship game. On Saturday night, October 3rd, during a 27-17 victory against the Colts in Baltimore, they wore solid royal blue helmets. The entire 1953 season of Lions game highlights were reviewed, and the gold helmet/silver center stripe styling is apparent throughout, save for the Colts’ night game.

Another issue, which needs edification, is the “amateurish” greenish splotches [that] adorn the helmet’s shell. One might think that a professional football helmet would never have such discoloration. While that assumption is probably correct even for the 1950s, there is a plausible explanation. The gold paint used during this period was not pure; it was a blend of yellow, golds, and copper. The copper pigments had a tendency to degrade and turn green. A picture of an early 1950s Lions helmet was used on the four-color cover of Myron Cope’s book, ‘The Game That Was.’ It depicts the same greenish discoloration.

Fortunately, there exists an exact mate to this helmet from another Lions superstar legend, Doak Walker. The Pro Football Hall of Fame has Walker’s complete uniform from 1953 — jersey, pants, shoes, and helmet. The helmet shows identical greenish degradation to the shell.

Now, there’s a lot of typical auction house bullshit in that text (”formidable past,” “superstar legend,” blah-blah-blah — can the flowery prose and just give us the facts, please), but you get the gist: According to the auction text, there are at least two other examples of gold Lions helmets floating around out there — the Myron Cope book cover and the Doak Walker uni at the Hall of Fame.

I haven’t been able to find an image of the book cover (anyone have that book?) or had time to check with the Hall (oh, but wait, someone already posted this in the comments, so there you go), but that’s sort of beside the point. The big issue here, which we’re experiencing for the umpteenth time, is that pro football uniform history is woefully underdocumented. If the auction listing is correct, then the Lions’ uni history listed on the team’s own web site is inaccurate (and so is Tim Brulia’s listing, but that’s more forgivable); if the info on the Lions’ site is accurate, then the auction house is pulling a fast one — and is able to do so with impunity because there are so few resources that allow us to confirm or reject the info in the auction listing. Either way, it’s a mess.

I’m interested in knowing whether the Lions ever wore a gold lid, but I’m a lot more interested in getting the NFL’s uniform history sorted out. It’s situations like this one that really make you appreciate Marc Okkonen. His MLB database, for all its flaws, is miles beyond the sorry state of NFL documentation.

As for Matthew’s T-shirt, I’d say the jury’s still out. Maybe the Lions did wear a gold helmet in 1950. Or maybe not. I suspect we’re a long way from knowing for sure.

Could someone please scrape me off the floor and dump me into bed?: Assuming we get all the finishing touches taken care of today (or tonight… or tomorrow morning…), the Candela Structures show will open tomorrow at noon at the City Reliquary in Brooklyn. Opening reception at 7pm Saturday evening, although it’ll be hard to actually see the exhibit once place fills up, so I’d suggest getting there by 6pm if you actually want to learn the story behind the structures. Of course, if you’d rather just drink and mingle, that’s fine too.

Today’s New York Times has a very nice article about our project. We also got some great coverage from The Sporting News.

Teeny-Tiny Ticker: Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Now that’s a bullpen buggy. … Neil Best ran a really interesting video clip of Branch Rickey discussing the Continental Baseball League (the proposed alternate league that would have brought baseball back to New York after the Dodgers and Giants left) on his blog yesterday. … All that’s wrong, and right, with life, in a nutshell (with thanks to Chris Lamping). … Chad Gaudin’s 40th-anniversary patch was missing from his right sleeve yesterday (as spotted by J.R. Gain). … Interesting piece here about MLS logos and branding (with thanks to Matt Carlson). … Lots of Yankee Stadium demolition photos here (with thanks to Kevin Rozell). … Whatever.

I don’t suppose we could get the Cardinals to wear throwbacks in the Super Bowl, could we?

The Cowboys notwithstanding, I almost always root for the NFC team in the Super Bowl. But I may make an exception this year, cuz I don’t see how I can possibly root for those awful Arizona uniforms. Plus they’ll probably spend half the game showing shots of Kurt Warner’s scary-looking wife, which will just make the Cards more annoying.

Anyway, a few notes from yesterday:

• The Steelers didn’t just beat the Ravens three times this season — they beat them in three separate uniforms. Check it out: Week 4, Week 15, and yesterday. Has this ever happened before in a single NFL season? Doubt it.

• Great moment in Ravens/Steelers game when Baltimore was short on defensive linemen and had to use backup tight end Edgar Jones had to line up at right defensive end, creating the unusual sight of No. 84 in the defensive trenches. (Big thanks to James T. Huening for the screen grab.)

• Ever notice that the Steelers’ helmets have always had a very flat, non-glossy finish? Michael Pescatore says he’s been told that the team’s equipment staff used to achieve this effect by buffing the helmet shells with steel wool or Brillo. Not clear if they still do that, but their helmets definitely have more of a matte surface than other black-helmeted teams.

• Several readers have already noted that all the conference championship gear features the Reebok wordmark instead of the vector logo (plus most of it is ugly and overpriced, but that fits squarely in the dog-bites-man category). This is definitely a trend in Reebok’s branding, but Reebok representatives have assured me that there are no plans to put the wordmark on game uniforms.

• Speaking of gear, during the Steelers’ on-field celebration, Art Rooney III was wearing a cap with an upside-down Steelers logo. (Screen grab courtesy of Glenn Chavez.)

• Several hours before the Steelers/Ravens game, Marc Andre Fleury was named the first star of yesterday afternoon’s Penguins/Rangers game. Check out what he wore for the occasion. (My thanks to Timothy Welsh for the tip.)

So now we wait for two weeks. The NFC is the designated home team this year, so the game should look like this.

How many days until pitchers and catchers..?

Raffle Reminder: In case you missed it on Friday, I’m currently raffling off a free poster from Historic Football Posters. For details, look here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: According to this message board thread (whose accuracy I can’t vouch for), Iowa and Purdue will unveil new hoops uniforms next month (with thanks to Brad Eenhuis). … Lots of nice shots of ballparks during winter here. … Here’s an interesting shot of Reds prospect Juan Francisco with tape on his earflap. Other shots of him show his flaps tape-free. Anyone know more about this? (All pics courtesy of David Sonny.) … Nearly a quarter-century before the Obama campaign used “Yes We Can” as its slogan, Dave Cash got the 1974 Phillies to adopt the same catch phrase. It showed up on the groundskeepers’ uniforms (here’s a closer look), the Vets Stadium scoreboard, and Cash’s necklace (interesting historical chapter illuminated by Anthony Fiala). … Several readers have noted that Tyler Hansbrough’s American flag patch has been crooked in recent UNC games. … Gorgeous color-on-color shot: Alabama vs. Tennessee, from the Namath era (with thanks to Robert Leavell). … Matt Bennum notes that Max Talbot’s left sleeve number was coming loose two Saturdays ago. … Cool multi-exposure shot of Bill Mazeroski here (with thanks to Daniel Weimann). … You probably know that the 1948 NFL championship game was played in a snowstorm, but did you know that players from the Eagles and Cardinals had to help remove the tarp before the game? I learned that factoid from Kevin McGuire, who asks a good question: “The Eagles (the home team) wore white jerseys for that game. Was it normal for them to wear white at home back then? Did it have anything to do with the weather? It doesn’t seem to me though that wearing white in a snowstorm would generate much of an advantage for the home team.” Anyone know more about this? … Speaking of that game, Phil came up with this article, which gives a really good account of the playing conditions. … Good story from Jeffrey Hunter, who writes: “Back in the 1980s, I was one of the two guys who did the 8mm coaching films for Auburn football. North Texas came in for a non-conference game and forgot their uniforms, so the AU staff stayed up all night putting green numbers on spare AU away jerseys. North Texas ended up wearing AU away jerseys with blue and orange stripes and green numbers — it was a hoot.” … Lots of sports biz-related news available here (with thanks to Joe Hilseberg). … Frightening but hilarious (major find by Brinke Guthrie). … Apparently Jesus is a Jets fan (thanks, Kirsten). … In addition to having the worst sleeve patch in MLB history, the Mets now also have a minor league affiliate with one of history’s worst triple-A road uniforms. Additional photo here, and details here. … Here’s something new: a final-season logo for a gymnastics coach. Details here (with thanks to Philip Caldwell). … Oh, man — stick to the makeup, guys (blame Skott Daltonic). … Here’s something I haven’t seen before: Jazz assistant coach Scott Layden wearing Jazz-branded khakis. … The Harlem Globetrotters will all wear No. 44 tomorrow. … Here’s another example of a football team playing basketball. That’s QB Art Schlichter calling his bookie going in for the layup (with thanks to Richie Murray). … Sad news out of Pittsburgh, where Heinz is removing the little pickle from their logo (with thanks to Greg Netherwood). … These were once worn by Nile Kinnick, and now you can own them. Details here (with thanks to Bill Mitchell). … Most databases and other historical resources indicate that the decal on the Broncos’ helmets from 1962-66 was white. But now a Broncos scholar on the Chris Creamer board has come up with photographic evidence clearly indicating that the 1966 decal had a blue outline around the white horse. … Fascinating assortment of old Venezuelan baseball photos here (nice find by Pablo Souki). … Lots of scans from old goalie equipment catalogs here, and lots of super-detail-oriented goalie observations here (good find by Brendan Tarpey). … The Cavs and Hornets both wore throwbacks on Friday night. … Mat Orefice notes that the Clarkson hockey players wear decals of their national flags on their helmets. Is that common in college hockey? … Last Friday night’s Forewords show was a big success. It’s hard to take photos of something that takes place in a darkened room, but Collateral Gammage went ahead and did it anyway. … Randy Williams was watching highlights of the 1995 MLB season (now there’s a hot Saturday night..) and snagged this shot of Kenny Lofton’s shoe. “It looks like he has ‘90 FT’ stitched on the side,” he says, “which would make sense, since he had led the AL in steals for three straight seasons.” … Sam Posey says this photo is his grandfather’s 1941 high school football team from Upper Sandusky, Ohio. Love the striped shoulder yokes and striped helmets. … Wardrobe malfunction story from Brian Borkenhagen, who delivered the following report after Saturday’s Wisconsin-Milwaukee/Cleveland State basketball game: “On the third possession of the game, UWM’s Anthony Hill was having trouble keeping his shorts up. He was open, though, and caught a pass beyond the arc with his uniform shorts at about hip level. He fired a 3-pointer, which dropped his drawers to just above knee level (he was wearing another pair of black shorts underneath). The shot went in, and his ‘celebration’ was pulling up his uni shorts and trying to tie them tighter on the way back. He managed to keep the shorts up on the defensive end, but the next trip down the court the shorts were again sagging. The next stoppage of play led to him getting pulled to deal with the issue. He did not have any further issues after that. When they kidded him about it on the postgame show, he said (paraphrasing), ‘I came down the floor and the strings were out of my shorts, so every time I hit the strings, the shorts loosened up more.’” … The Chiba Lotte Marines have come out with a 40th-anniversary patch. “The four seagulls match different colors from the team’s past,” says Jeremy Brahm. … According to this story Sharks defenseman Rob Blake, who took a puck in the jaw the other day, will have to wear a caged helmet when he’s able to return to action (credit Brendan Tarpey again). … No photo, but apparently there was a player in yesterday’s East/West Shrine Game named Lawrence Sidbury, but his NOB was “SIDBUBY.” … The St. Cloud hockey team wore throwbacks the other day (with thanks to John Thompson). … The Dayton basketball team may wear black uniforms this Thursday to mark Obama’s inauguration. … Andy Erickson sent along this video clip from Bobby Orr’s 1979 retirement ceremony, which I assume took place at Boston Garden. But if that’s the case, why are the Bruins (looking on from their bench) wearing their road uniforms? And why is the opposing team dressed in “KC” jerseys, since there was no NHL franchise in Kansas City in 1979? As a bonus oddity, some of the KC players are wearing mismatched helmets. I’m sure there’s a simple explanation for this — could someone please tell me what it is? [Update: Mystery solved in today's comment Nos. 6, 7, and 8.] … Excellent article on the how Wisconsin’s motion-W logo was developed here (with thanks to Jeff Ash). … Kim Kolb has created a historical survey of the DC United’s uniforms. … Not uni-related but kinda brilliant. … Major find by Bryan Grupp: a 1950s Cleveland Barons ashtray! … Michigan wore 1989 throwbacks on Saturday. … Volunteers who’ll be working at the Super Bowl have had their uniforms issued to them (thanks, Phil). … Phil also reminded me that the MLB Network is debuting a Negro Leagues documentary tonight, which should make for some good uni-watching. … Atlanta’s Kari Lehtonen, who’s previously worn masks featuring Transformers, Final Fantasy X characters, and Kill Bill characters, is breaking in another pop culture-themed mask. This time he’s got Heath Ledger as the Joker, presumably because the Oscars are right around the corner (thanks, Teebz). … Special congrats to Society of Sports Uniforms Research prexy Donovan Moore, a long-suffering Arizona Cardinals fan who’s probably on Cloud 9 right about now.

Back in April I ran an interview with reader Karen Hibbitt. At one point she asked me, “What’s the etiquette for [fans] wearing jerseys?” and then offered her own thoughts on the subject before I could respond.

As someone immediately pointed out in the comments that day, I never did address the issue myself. True enough. I was happy to let Karen answer her own question, because I don’t have strong feelings on the matter. Fact is, I don’t much care what fans wear, what fans buy, or any of that, mainly because I’m not a jersey collector myself.

This came up again a few weeks ago, when Brinke Guthrie — a longtime reader whose name is probably familiar to many of you from his frequent Ticker contributions — sent me an e-mail asking, “Which would you get: no number on back or choose a number (can’t say I have a favorite player)? Which is cooler to wear?” He seemed mildly stunned when I told him I had no opinion on the matter because I don’t own any current or contemporary jerseys.

And why is that, anyway? People always expect me to have a huge jersey collection, which I agree seems like a reasonable supposition (especially since I collect lots of other things — always have). These interactions with Karen and Brinke got me thinking about this, so I started asking myself why I write about uniforms but have never gotten into collecting them. Here are the answers I found:

• I’m not a big fella — 5′8″, 150 lbs. — and I like my clothing to be fairly close-fitting. In numbered sizes, I wear a 38; for unnumbered, a small or a medium. Most of today’s authentic and replica jerseys are waaaaaay too big for me.

• Even if I could get custom-fitted jerseys, all of today’s jerseys are polyester, and I hate synthetic fabrics. (I’ve often joked that if I ever became a pro ballplayer when I become a pro ballplayer, I’ll have to fake a skin allergy to polyester and insist on a flannel uniform.)

• When I was growing up, the licensed apparel market didn’t exist yet — people couldn’t buy jerseys even if they wanted to. So I never got in the habit.

• Aside from socks, underwear, footwear, and the occasional T-shirt, almost all my clothing is vintage. While I’ll occasionally spend more than $100 on something, that’s pretty rare — most of my shirts, sweaters, jeans, jackets, etc. cost me somewhere in the $15-$75 range. So the idea of spending $230, $245, or more on a shirt just doesn’t compute for me. I realize a jersey is much more than just “a shirt” for many people, and I’ve certainly spent much more than $250 on things that other people would consider frivolous, so I’m not passing judgment on anyone else’s expenditures. I’m just saying merchandised jerseys don’t push my buttons in that particular way.

• One reason I like vintage clothing is that it has a sense of history. I am, at heart, a storyteller, and each used garment is a story. Who wore this before? Where was it first purchased? How did it end up here? How does it reflect the style of its era? So the handful of jerseys I do own are mostly old flannel models from decades past. They appeal to me on a vintage-clothing level as well as a uniform level (plus they’re made of natural fibers, they’re small enough to fit me, etc.). I have about half a dozen of these — all from high school teams, factory teams, and so on — and they’re much more exciting to me than a current Mets jersey could ever be. Frankly, I’ve never much understood the appeal of collecting things that are new (except maybe baseball cards when I was a kid); I’ve always preferred collecting things that are old. That’s why throwback jerseys, like the ones made by Mitchell & Ness or Ebbets Field Flannels, don’t appeal to me either (plus there’s still the sizing problem, the price problem, etc.). I’d even take my vintage obscurities over, say, a game-used Ed Kranepool jersey from 1969, because I already know where that’s been — there’s no mystery about it, no untold story.

• I don’t like what merchandising has done to uniforms. Jersey sales have become the revenue tail that wags the on-field dog, and I prefer not to participate in that system, which I think has been very bad for uni design.

And so on. When I came up with the concept for Uni Watch, it never even occurred to me that people would be interested in what fans wear — the idea, for me, had always been to examine obsess over what the players wear. And that’s still the idea, at least from my perspective. Of course, there are other folks who feel differently, and that’s fine.

Anyway, while I don’t much care about fans wearing jerseys, I know many of you do. So today I’m gonna step back and let you discuss that topic in the comments — knock yourselves out.

(And if you happen to be in a jersey-buying mood, please remember to patronize Uni Watch’s sponsors, Jersey-Joe and Distant Replays. Thanks.)

Uni Watch News Ticker: Ben Curtis wore Giants gear at the Barclays the other day (thanks, Vince). … The Canadiens have unveiled their 100th-anniversary logo. … Division I-AA Delaware has new uniforms. … Jim Tressel’s sweater vest is being merchandised in some interesting ways. … If you go to this page, you’ll find an interview with Nats prexy Stan Kasten. Search on the word “uniform” to get his take on upcoming “tweaks” to the team’s uniform set (with thanks to Mark Wolven). … According to this small item, there’s a “great debate” about the color of Arizona State’s road pants (with thanks to Alex Benezra). … More ASU news from Alex: There’s a 50th-anniversary logo for Sun Devil Stadium and for ASU itself (it was a teacher’s college prior to 1958), but it will not be worn on the team’s jerseys. … Oglethorpe University, a D-3 school in Atlanta, recently posted a bunch of archival photos, and there are some real doozies in there. See, for example, this, or this, or this (logo and uni number combined!). You can search by sport within the archives here and here (big thanks to Oglethorpe alum Austin Gillis). … Got a note yesterday from John Hartman, with the subject line “A father’s dream crushed.” It read as follows: “It’s always been my dream to see my twin sons play football — until I saw the uniforms they have to wear (thankfully, their coach told them they could switch the purple socks for black). Sorry for the Nike socks, but their mom bought them, not me! Also notice the Rawlings logo creep on the upper front of the jersey. Sheesh.” Note that the Hartman twins have first initials on their NOBs. … I’m not gonna bid on these, but I hope one of you will. … Interesting piece here on Mets outfielder Nick Evans’s sunglasses. Interestingly, it says minor leaguers in the Mets system aren’t allowed to wear Oakleys, although it doesn’t explain why. … The Blue Jackets will be wearing a memorial patch in honor of team founder John H. McConnell this season. Details here (with thanks to Matt Lesser). … Jason Kidd is leaving Nike (with thanks to Chris Littmann). … Alex Shuman was recently in Europe, where he saw this 1966 sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in Vienna. In a more disturbing discovery, he also visited the Dachau concentration camp and photographed this chart of the patches that “undesirables” were required to wear. … The Pedro porthole was back in effect last night, plus it apparently spread to Aaron Heilman. … Latest MLBer to be wearing those incredibly annoying Phiten socks: Nick Swisher (as pointed out by Steve Johnston). … Yesterday I passed along some rumors regarding possible uni changes next year for the Texas Rangers. Now another source — one who’s passed along solid Rangers-related info in the past — has confirmed those rumors. “I’m not privy to final designs but I do know a red alternate jersey is in the works,” he says. “We’re going to scrap both sleeveless jerseys, and a new cap is in the works — most likely going back to a red T (the design remains the same) with a red bill. Apparently [marketing VP] Dale Petroskey is one of the main men working on this, especially re-branding the jerseys as ‘Texas’ rather than ‘Rangers.’ The team is trying to go back to more red, as many fans want, but they’re not going back completely to red because it would be too similar to the Angels.” … The mighty Fleer Sticker Project site has just posted an entry devoted to the 1985 Fleer Baseball Sticker set, which is unique because, as editor JC Helf explains, “it was the only time Fleer included stickers of each team’s jersey.” Full details here. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The CFL is having a retro week promotion.

By Bryan Redemske

The Phillies — those forward-thinking, tree-hugging Phillies — on Wednesday announced a “going green” initiative, starting with the purchase of 20 million kilowatt hours of Green-e Energy Certified Renewable Certificates (RECs). The EPA says it’s the equivalent of planting 100,000 trees … but without actually planting the trees.

The club is going to be recycling now, and also getting rid of condiment packages and going with dispensers and such instead. And to that, I say, “hurrah.” Good for them. But how to celebrate this new era in Phillies history? Hmmm … how about a green hat? Perfect!

Of course, the New Era factory had to be fired up to make them, and they had to be shipped and everything. Eh, we’ll save the environment tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow (which is now today, since I wrote this last night), it’s May Day. In celebration of that, all Major League Baseball teams will install a Maypole in a prominent location. Obviously, the Yankees will put it in Monument Park, but teams are free to place it wherever they like. Also, look for hat patches, too.

Here’s a look at the rest of baseball’s celebrations for May:

May 2: It’s Negro Leagues Day — the league’s first game was played on this day in 1920. All teams will wear Kansas City Monarchs uniforms, except the Royals, who will be wearing their powder blue alts.

May 3: Bitch about Walter O’Malley day. The former Dodgers owner agreed to move the team to Los Angeles on this day in 1957. The Dodgers will wear “LA” caps to celebrate the successful move.

May 4: Ken Oberkfell was born on this day in 1956. The Braves will honor him by refusing to acknowledge Atlanta’s pre-1991 history.

May 5: The Astros will honor the 47th anniversary of Al Shepard’s first trip into space by wearing replica Mercury suits. They will also retire the number 47.

May 6: It’s Willie Mays’ 77th birthday! All players — on the Mets — will wear their caps and sunglasses like this.

May 7: All teams will have a moment of silence before the game — and wear a special sleeve patch — to mourn the victims of the Great Natchez Tornado, which killed 317 people … in 1840.

May 8: The Pirates will celebrate Bill Cowher’s 51st birthday by wearing black and yellow.

May 9: Sticking with the birthday bent, it’s Twinkie day in San Diego: Tony Gwynn turns 48! The Padres will wear their camouflage jerseys to mark the occasion.

May 10: Teams will wear pink for Mother’s Day, only to find out they got the date wrong. They’ll change the promotion to celebrate the first day of the Giro d’Italia, a three week cycling stage race. The teams’ jerseys are now based on the leader’s pink jersey.

May 11: Teams will continue to wear pink, since it’s actually Mother’s Day now. The Yankees will decline to participate on both days, because they’re a-holes.

May 12: To honor Yogi Berra’s 88th birthday, broadcasters all over baseball will say things that make no sense. Again, the Yankees will decline to participate.

May 13: Today is Barry Zito’s 30th birthday, so it’s stirrups and a high ERA for everybody!

May 14: All starting pitchers will go 9 innings — but lose — to observe Roy Halladay’s 31st birthday.

May 15: The Yankees will retire Nos. 56, 1, and 1941 to honor the start of Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. The only numbers available for future players are 73, 94, and 97.

May 16: The No. 1 will be re-retired on what would have been Billy Martin’s 80th birthday. The Yankees will wear black ankle bands, since their sleeves are full of other patches.

May 17: The Padres will wear their camouflage jerseys in honor of the 1943 Dambuster Raids on German dams.

May 18: The Yankees, Orioles, Athletics, and Angels will all wear patches shaped like tinted prescription glasses for Reggie Jackson’s birthday.

May 19: The Blue Jays will celebrate Victoria Day by taking the day off, but having another ceremony later, like the Nationals on Jackie Robinson day.

May 20: It’s Hal Newhouser rubber jacket day in Detroit. To celebrate environmental consciousness, each jacket will be made from recycled tires taken off all current GM models.

May 21: Protective cup day in all parks, in an attempt to prevent future occurrences of … uh … this.

May 22: Mark Prior will undergo Tommy John surgery in honor of the 66th birthday of the surgery’s namesake. It was going to happen sooner or later — call it preventative maintenance.

May 23: The Padres will wear their camouflage jerseys in honor of Italy joining the Allies in World War I in 1915.

May 24: No activities planned. The Yankees decline to participate anyway.

May 25: It’s Star Wars Day across the majors in honor of the 31st anniversary of the film’s release.

May 26: Memorial Day — the Padres surprisingly don’t wear their camouflage jerseys, but the White Sox remember they have them and break them out for the first time.

May 27: It’s the 69th anniversary of the debut of Batman, prompting the Yankees to wear capes and little bat antennae.

May 28: Chleveland Honors Jhonny Peralta’s 26th birthday.

May 29: Today’s Red Sox game will be delivered in winks and nods in remembrance of Moe Berg, a former Sox catcher and U.S. spy.

May 30: The Cubs wear green hats in honor of grass, ivy, and the one-month anniversary of the Phillies’ green initiative.

May 31: Kenny Lofton, age 41 today, has his number retired by the Astros, Indians, Braves, White Sox, Giants, Pirates, Cubs, Yankees, Phillies, Dodgers, and Rangers.

Here’s Vince with the ticker …

Uni Watch News Ticker: As Paul has noted before, even fans get in on the whole misspelled jersey thing (thanks to Dan Cichalski). … Many people have emailed to say that Bob Uecker claimed during the Brewers/Cubs broadcast that Chicago’s Reed Johnson is the last among the Cubs to wear “old style” stirrups. Many also claimed that this claim doesn’t appear to be true. These photos seem to indicate Uecker is right, though. … There’s apparently some groundswell to have the NCAA allow USC and UCLA to both wear their home uniforms for their annual game (thanks to Eric Borer). … The Durham Bulls wore pink jerseys to support breast cancer awareness (thanks Josh Edney). …A New York Rangers sweater given to Bruce Springsteen is part of a larger auction you can find here (thanks to Michael Jaworski). … Reader Andrew has created a site devoted to the uniform history of the Diamondbacks. … If you haven’t checked it out ready, this blog devoted to ugly baseball cards is certainly a great time waster (thanks John Muir). … Patrick Ryan says that Houston had to wear their grey road uni’s for the first time this season because Arizona chose to wear their red alts. … Think Luis Sanchez really wants everyone to know whose jacket that is? (Thanks John Muir).

If they’d put this much effort into finding Jimmy Hoffa, they probably would’ve found D.B. Cooper while they were at it, along with Osama Bin Laden, the 18 missing minutes of Watergate tape, Paris Hilton’s virginity, all those ballpoint pens you misplaced over the past 20 years, Atlantis, and Waldo.

I’m referring, of course, to the tizzy that has gripped New York since it was revealed on Friday that a construction worker had tried to curse the Yankees last summer by entombing a Red Sox jersey in the concrete at the new Yankee Stadium. Once the jersey’s likely coordinates were determined, a jackhammer crew toiled for five hours on Saturday (imagine the union’s weekend rate — the Yankees really do spare no expense!) until the renegade jersey was located about two feet down, extracted, taken into custody, and displayed like a trophy. After the jersey was sent off to Guantánamo for interrogation, the Yanks announced that Kyle Farnsworth will be buried in its place held the year’s most surreal press conference.

The guy behind all of this is a Bronx construction worker named Gino Castignoli. As you can see, he looks like a real prize, although he comes off as a rather amusing character in this interview. And let’s give him credit for a good prank, no matter who you root for. But as some readers have already noted, Castignoli gets low marks for trying to pull his stunt with a replica jersey instead of an authentic — wrong number font, should be NNOB, etc. Yeah, an authentic is pricier, but you can’t expect to create a curse on the cheap. Am I right?

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to bury a blue Mets cap under Charlie Samuels’s house.

Uni Watch News Ticker: More 42er news here and here. … Sri Lankan cricket player Jerome Taylor was victimized by a pretty serious typo the other day. “With some of the Sri Lankan names being long and complicated you could forgive the suppliers for a misspelling,” says Stuart Capel, “but how could they make an error on something as simple as ‘Taylor’?” … Awesome T-shirt available here (with thanks to Chris LaHaye). … And check the out the amazing typography on this basketball jersey (great find by Alain Nana-Sinkam). … Interesting note from Charlie Usas, who writes: “I attended the Rangers/Devils playoff game in Newark on Friday night. Even as a Rangers fan, you can’t beat the deal on the tickets you can get there, and I wasn’t the only Blueshirt in attendance who felt that way (it looked like a neutral-site college game in the stands). Anyway, as we got off the train, there was a truck handing out blue pom-poms from rangers.com — I think the plan was to counteract the Devils’ white towels. Upon arrival, however, Rangers fans “in uniform” were searched for pom-poms, forced to surrender them, and then not allowed to take one of the white towels.” Bummer! Anyone know of any similar tales of fan discrimination? … That new Speedo swimsuit keeps generating more controversy (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). … “You can just barely see Adidas’s ubiquitous three-stripe logo blazing a trail across Brandt Snedeker’s back writes Steven Wojtowicz. “So Adidas has chosen the hallowed turf of the Masters to unveil golf’s first rear-shirt logo.” … Georgia Tech relief pitcher Michael Hutts died suddenly on Friday, so all team members wore his uni number, 40, on their caps (with thanks to Mike Rich). … “I was watching part of the Colorado Avalanche 2001 Stanley Cup video and noticed these two sweaters hanging up behind Peter Forsberg,” writes John Muir. “The one on the right seems like it could be a Team Canada sweater, but the one on the left stumps me.” Anyone..? … What did Angel Hernandez have written on (or woven into) his headwrap the other night? … The Royals unveiled their powder blues over the weekend (additional views here, here, here, and here). I can’t really get worked up about them one way or the other. As solid-color alt jerseys go, they look fine, but that’s basically the definition of damning with faint praise. … Marshall’s spring practice game featured an amusing uni number snafu (with thanks to Matt O’Bryant). … More spring football news: Over at Boise State, most players wore practice jerseys but a few were wearing a new game jersey design, seen on the right here. According to this story, it’s a new Nike prototype. … And down in Florida, many of the players in the spring game wore their jerseys hiked up to their pads — a style that also caught on in the crowd. … “While the Sox and Yanks were in a rain delay on Saturday, I surfed around and saw the MSU/Iowa softball game,” says Randy Williams. “The shortstop for MSU was wearing this mask. She kept talking into her friggin’ glove, so I couldn’t get a better shot of it (AND I couldn’t steal any signs while she was talking to the pitcher).” … Robert Eden notes that the Reds’ coaches had some helmet-inconsistency problems over the weekend. Third base coach Mark Berry wore a solid-red helmet (as did the players), while his first base counterpart, Billy Hatcher, had a black brim. … Apropos of absolutely nothing, I had a blast eating at both White Mana and the similarly named White Manna on Saturday. The latter was so packed that there was a 20-minute wait just to order, even though there’s a McDonald’s right across the street, and if that doesn’t restore your faith in whatever it is you like to have faith in, nothing will.

Got a note the other day from reader Matt Fedorka, who raised some interesting points. I’ll let him tell the story himself:

Last year my girlfriend bought me an authentic customized Boston Bruins jersey (pre-Reebok Edge format), with my name and No. 87 on the back. I got it and I was really excited, but I noticed that the “7″ was not the same kind they used on the ice last year. The “7″ on the ice had a serif on the bottom, while mine did not.

Since I’m a nitpicky jersey guy (and because my girlfriend dropped $300 on the jersey), I decided to investigate. I went onto the NHL store’s website and used the preview function to see if the 7 would look the same as the one on my jersey, and it did. So they’re basically selling something that’s different from what the players wear, even though they’re calling it authentic. I then called the NHL store’s customer service line, where a representative said he would try to give my number to the right person, but he said it might have to do with what the Bruins wanted to allow for numbers.

So THEN I went onto my NHL 2K5 hockey game, and all the teams had the correct font for there numbers — except for the Bruins, who still had no serif at the bottom of the 7.

Here’s another point: If you look at that photo I showed you before, which is from January of 2007, you can see that the Bruins were using a serifed 7 on the back but a sans serif 7 on the sleeve. They seemed to change the sleeve 7 that pic was taken, which is apparent in this pic taken in December of 2006. I dug back a little further in the history book and noticed that at one point in the late ’90s they were wearing a sans serif 7 on the back, just like the one on my personalized jersey.

This made me feel a little better (at least they wore the sans serif 7 at one time). And I’ve noticed that with the new jerseys this season, the Bruins are now using the correct numbers on their customized jerseys. But the fact remains that my girlfriend and I have been shafted by the NHL. She ordered me an “authentic on-ice jersey with authentic numbering,” yet it wasn’t authentic. What’s the deal?

Seems to me there are two issues here: First, there are the inconsistencies in the Bruins’ on-ice 7s, and then there’s the question of “authentic” product. (Some folks — including me — might also say there’s the question of why anyone would spend $300 on a polyester shirt, but I’ll leave that issue for another day.) I can pretty well guarantee that the NHL and the Bruins will not be thrilled about explaining any of this to me, so before I pester them, does anyone know more about any this?

Research Project: Last year, and maybe the year before, I was surprised to see a few MLB umpires wearing goatees. Unfortunately, I don’t recall who those umpires were, and I haven’t been able to figure it out on my own. Several umps have facial hair in their official head shots for MLB.com, but all of those umps appear to have gone clean-shaven on the field, at least based on the photo research I’ve done so far. Does anyone know which umps have worn beards on the job? Do we know who was the first ump to do this, and when?

While we’re at it: To my knowledge, the first bearded manager and GM of the modern era were, respectively, Davey Lopes (in 2000) and Steve Phillips (ditto). But that’s just based on my sometimes-faulty memory — can anyone confirm or revise?

Friendly Reminder: Live web chat, today, 1pm eastern, here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: On the subject of airbrushed baseball cards, check out the size of the jersey button here (good spot by Mike Miller). … The AHL’s Philadelphia Phantoms will induct Bobby Clarke into their Hall of Fame on Sunday, and will wear 1968-69 Flin Flon Bombers throwbacks (Clarke’s boyhood junior team). Details here and here (with thanks to Matthew Algeo). … Wednesday marked David Beckham’s 100th appeaerance for the English national team, and his jersey had “100th Cap” in gold letters” for the occasion. Yes, it’s hard to see, but note that the gold lettering is missing from Peter Crouch’s jersey (good spot by Jonathon Binet). … Also from Jonathon: According to a small item in the middle of this Q&A page (search on “Rob from Deltona”), the Jaguars will be making “a minor change to the stripes on [their] white pants, to match up better with the black letters on the jerseys.” … Although the NFL season is over, new installments of “Equipped with Joe Skiba” are still being produced. The latest episode, featuring punter Jeff Feagles, is really good, and it’s available here. In addition, Skiba says he just filmed an episode of the History’s Channel’s Modern Marvels, about helmet technology. It’s slated to air on June 6th. … Are you kidding me? That screen grab, I’m told, with a number on the front of Chien-ming Wang’s jersey, is from MLB 08 The Show (good spot by James Yeh, who adds, “Doesn’t give me much confidence in the rest of the game”). … While researching something else, I came across this photo of former Orioles catcher and all-time MLB unibrow king Andy Etchebarren (sorry about the crop job). Check out that double-striped undershirt collar — man, that looks so fucking hot! … Yankees roster news from Tyler Kepner: “When [Morgan] Ensberg learned he would make the team last week, he decided he could not continue wearing No. 21, which was last worn by Paul O’Neill. But reliever LaTroy Hawkins has snapped up 21, and he said he would wear it to honor Roberto Clemente, who died 10 days after Hawkins was born in 1972.” … Peter Snow has scanned some images from The Leafs: The First 50 Years, which chronicles the Maple Leafs from 1926-76. Some great stuff here, including a hockey version of the Greaet Gazoo helmet, a rare sighting of eye-black on the ice, and some seriously freaky all-star uniforms (or at least that’s what I assume they are). You can view the full set of scans here. … Personally, I don’t give a shit what people are buying at the NBA Store (in fact, I wish there was no such thing as the NBA Store), but if you do, you’ll want to see this. … Got a spare $8000 laying around? If so, you can own one of the ugliest jerseys of all time (as forwarded by Damon Hirschensohn). … Speaking of auctions, look at this lot and check out the sleeve numbers on the guy at bottom center. … New football uniforms for Utah — details here (with thanks to Ryan Purdie). … The recent LeBron James Vogue cover has inspired a very smart response from Claude Johnson. … “It finally stopped snowing here in Chicago long enough to get some high school baseball in,” writes Steve Johnston. “I was at a game on Wednesday and took these photos. That’s the head coach for St Francis High School in Wheaton, Illinois. I commented on the stirrups and he said he’s trying to bring some tradition back. About a third of the team is wearing the pants high enough so you can see the stripes.”

New ESPN column today — here’s the link.

Meanwhile: The people were encouraged to vote, they let their voices be heard, and then a bunch of higher-ups decided to hijack the results and impose their own solution.

But enough about the 2000 presidential election — instead let’s talk about Iowa State’s new football uniforms. As you may recall, the Cyclones made a big fuss about letting fans vote on the school’s new helmet. But when the new uniforms were unveiled yesterday, none of the white helmets made the cut. Instead, the team will be wearing a red-on-red helmet, which seems like a major mistake, especially since it just accentuates the home uniform’s similarity to USC’s design. The road uni is better, especially when executed with red pants (yes, I know they’re actually “cardinal” — whatever). All in all, not a bad makeover, but it could’ve been a lot better without the red-on-red helmet.

Meanwhile, why encourage people to vote on three white helmets if you’re not going to use any of those designs? That question somehow goes unaddressed in the FAQ that the school put out. But I was told a few days ago that the three choices that were put up for voting all turned out to be wildly unpopular. So maybe going in a different direction really does reflect the will of the people. But in a sports world where so many things seem predetermined and calculated, it’s too bad that Iowa State appeared to be setting up a mechanism to give people a voice and now appears to have moved the goalposts. At the very least, it seems like there were some serious miscalculations made along the way here.

Membership News: Lots of new designs now on display in the membership card gallery, with more to come in the next day or so. Comments encouraged, as always.

Uni Watch News Ticker: According to a small item on this page, Jose Reyes now has his own Nike-designed logo, “represented by his uniform number 7 interwoven with his initials and sports a crown on top.” Given Reyes’s recent level of play, maybe this would have been more appropriate. … Good interview here with the guy who runs EyeBlack.com. … Some examples of logo creep are worse than others (as spotted by Rob Montoya). … Lots of MLB division champion T-shirts available, regardless of who wins. … Bryan Redemske and I both want to know what’s printed on next to the CCM logo on the jersey shown in this photo from Bobby Hull’s number-retirement ceremony. … The Indians were technically the home team in the first game of yesterday’s Tribe/M’s doubleheader (they batted last, even though the twinbill was played in Seattle), but they wore road uniforms anyway. … As previously reported, the All Blacks didn’t wear black last weekend. Compounding the problem, they wore a uniform fairly similar to their opponents’ design, which was apparently rather confusing to the players, as noted in the last several paragraphs of this article (with thanks to Caleb Borchers). … Funny item on the Chris Creamer boards about Mississippi Attorney General candidate Al Hopkins, whose star icon appears to have been taken straight off a Cowboys helmet, plus his “Hopkins” wordmark is borrowed to boot.

Remember back in July when I wrote about the “futuristic” Royals/Mariners game from 1998, which led to all the similarly themed games in 1999? I’m happy to announce that one of the game-used Royals jerseys from that game is now in my possession. And within a week, one of you will have it in your possession.

I’ll get to the jersey in a minute. But first, that entry back in July led to a lot of interesting responses regarding that futuristic game, beginning with a missive from Mariners marketing VP Kevin Martinez, who’s a regular Uni Watch reader. He corrected one of my points (I had written that the umps wore their regular uniforms, but Martinez noted that they actually had metallic silver shirts) and then provided some backgound info:

It was Ken Griffey Jr.’s decision to wear the jerseys untucked and caps backward. Junior also spray-painted several teammates’ shoes and gloves silver. The uniforms, while certainly bold, got even more out of control when our players decided to cut the sleeves off the undershirts. The photo of Dan Wilson, who did not cut his sleeves, is a better representation of how the unis were supposed to look.

Our intent with the promotion was to simply to do something fun for one of our 81 home games and try something that had never been done. We drew over 42,000 for a game against the Royals — a fairly successful promotion. MLB took the idea and sold it to Century 21 the next season. We did not participate at home, only on the road. We did it once in ’98 and we were done with it.

Working in this game for 16 seasons now, it remains one the most memorable (and strangest) nights in my career. Watching the players in the clubhouse alter their jerseys and spray-paint shoes and gloves is something I will never forget … or repeat.

Reader Tim Conley offered some additional recollections:

I actually watched that game live. The M’s did wear their jerseys untucked for awhile, but [Royals manager] Tony Muser complained to the umpires and eventually got the umps to force Seattle to tuck in their jerseys. His reasoning was that an M batting with his jersey untucked was more easily hit by a pitch and could earn a cheap trip to first base.

But the most intriguing response came from my ESPN.com colleague (and massive Royals fan) Rob Neyer. Not only had he attended the game, but he’d bid on — and won — one of the Royals jerseys that were auctioned off after the game. “It’s just been hanging in my closet ever since,” he wrote, “and it’s so Godawful-ugly that I really don’t know why I still have it.” Then, in an incredibly magnanimous gesture, he offered to donate the jersey for me to raffle off, as long as I let him write a small accompanying essay. This is sort of like saying, “I’ll do this really nice thing for you, but only if you also let me do this other really nice thing.” So course I said yes. With no further ado, I hereby turn the floor over to Rob:

Ah, the summer of 1998. I was crazy in love, I wasn’t burdened with a job that occupied a great deal of my time, and, for perhaps the first time in my adult life, I was blessed with a small bit of discretionary income.

I was living in Seattle then. It was the 18th of July, and the Royals were in town. The Royals were my team. For that game, the Mariners came up with what they called “Turn Ahead to the Future” — 2027, supposedly — and the most visible feature would be “futuristic” uniforms. And I have to say, from my perch in the upper deck the Royals’ jerseys really didn’t look so bad. They were sleeveless, which I’ve always liked, and nicely complemented by coordinated undershirts. I don’t mind canary yellow when it’s accompanied by Royal blue. So you’ll understand why I bid $75 on Jose Rosado’s jersey.

Why Rosado? Because I didn’t figure I could afford Johnny Damon’s jersey, and because I didn’t know just how good Sal Fasano would someday become (yes, that’s a joke). Rosado, meanwhile, was only 23, and just one year earlier he’d been Kansas City’s lone All-Star. On a generally boring, veteran-laden team, Rosado was one of the few interesting players.

So I bid on Rosado’s jersey, as well as that of coach Frank White (a reminder of better seasons). Then I waited. A few weeks later, a notice arrived in the mail: I had won! A check was dispatched, and soon a package arrived.

OMFG. Trust me: As bad as those jerseys might look in the photos, when you’re holding one in your hands it looks much, much worse. Oh, there’s nothing terribly wrong with the basic design, especially if you’re not averse to bright yellow and Royal blue. But what I couldn’t see from my upper-deck perch was that all the emblems and numbers on the jerseys were ironed on, just like cheap T-shirts. I couldn’t see that the fabric was some beastly synthetic not designed for laying against one’s skin [that would be nylon Dazzle, more commonly found in the NBA -- PL]. What I also didn’t know is that my $75 didn’t get me the Royal blue undershirt. And let me tell you, without the undershirt the jersey was not only unwearable, but practically unbearable, too.

Which I suppose is why it’s not been worn since the 18th of July, and instead rested on a hanger in various closets — Seattle, Boston, Seattle again, and finally Portland — for nearly a decade. If you enter the raffle, I wish you only the best of luck. But I have to say something I wish somebody’d said to me, way back in the summer of ’98: caveat victor.

Rob’s being a little too harsh there. For starters, while most of the graphics are indeed screen-printed (including, ugh, a replica-esque Majestic logo on the back), the numbers and “ROSADO” lettering are sewn, not screened. And hey, it doesn’t look so ba – okay, yes it does. But in a cool, “so bad it’s good” sort of way. It’s tagged as a size 44, but it fits bigger than that (it fit nicely on Uni Watch design director Scott M.X. Turner, who’s a 48).

This fine garment — a one-of-a-kind artifact from one of baseball’s oddest chapters — is being raffled off as of right now. To enter, send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (please note that this is not the usual Uni Watch address) by next Tuesday night, October, 2nd, at 10 p.m. eastern. One e-mail per person, please, but everyone enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program at the time of the drawing will automatically get three bonus entries (and if ever there was a good reason to sign up, this raffle is it). I’ll announce the winner a week from today.

Big thanks to Rob for his generosity, and good luck to all raffle entrants. I hope you’re as jazzed about this as I am.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Japanese throwback jerseys are now available here (with thanks to Eric Stangel). … Lots of good non-wire-service pics of the Eagles’ throwbacks here. … Nice little gallery of Schutt Ion pics here. Not sure what school that is, but I’m sure lots of you folks do (with thanks to Matt Olson). … Iowa State will unveil its new uniforms today. A little birdie tells me that none of these helmets made the cut. … We’ve talked many times about how an American flag sleeve patch should always be positioned with the blue field facing forward. Some teams get this wrong, but you wouldn’t expect one of them to be the Air Force Academy women’s soccer team (with thanks to Frank Mercogliano). … The 49ers have signed Michael Lewis. Thing is, as David Robins notes, they already have another Michael Lewis (plus Keith Lewis), which should make for an interesting nameplate decision. Last time I can remember this happening was when the Mets had two Bobby Joneses a few years back. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Great Bruins goalie mask photo gallery here. Be sure to click through to the last image, which shows Gerry Cheevers wearing a Massachusetts Bicentennial patch. … Speaking of which, comments section stalwart Teebz has a great series of NHL patch roundups on his blog — look here, here, and here. … Decent NHL uni-history gallery here, including one of the best Cooperalls shots ever. … … Jere Smith reports that the Fenway 8 is back, and is now right-side up! … Did you know American Indians have a distinctive foot shape? Nike did (as jointly spotted by Vince and Minna H.).