As most of you know, I’ve been trying to compile a visual catalog of hockey red line designs. It’s an interesting project, because the blue lines are always solid blue, but red line styles are all over the map. It’s sort of a stealth design element on the sports landscape.

How did we end up with such a multiplicity of red line designs? A hint comes from reader Matthew Clement, who recently sent me the following note:

The red lines were originally broken up with white in order to differentiate the red line from the blue line on black and white TVs. Perhaps this is common knowledge, but I only figured it out last year when Montreal played in Colorado and the local sports station broadcast the second period in black-and-white as a tribute to the old days of hockey.

I had never thought about that, but it makes perfect sense. Interestingly, now that we live in a color TV world, some red lines have gone back to solid red. You can see that in some of the photos linked in the following alphabetical list of arenas, which features all of the current NHL rinks along with some minor league and college facilities. I’ve tried to show current designs as much as possible, although I probably missed the mark in a few cases. And that’s fine — I’m mostly interested in showing the range of red line possibilities, past and present.

So:

• Air Canada Centre (Toronto): Checked.

• American Airlines Center (Dallas): Red stars on a white background. A few years ago it was checked.

• BankAtlantic Center (Sunrise, Florida): The home of the Panthers uses white panther pawprints on a red background (here’s another view), which is a reverse-field version of their previous design.

• Bell Centre (Montreal): Checked.

• General Motors Place (Vancouver): A diagonal check.

• Giant Center (Hershey, Pennsylvania): The home of the Hershey Bears is using little white Calder Cup outlines on a red background. You can see the arena’s crew actually creating the red line in this video clip.

• Gwinett Center (Duluth, Georgia): This is the home of the ECHL’s Gwinett Gladiators, so the red line features little white gladiator swords.

• Honda Center (Anaheim): This season they’re going with large, inward-pointing white arrows. But in the past they’ve had smaller outward-pointing arrows (or are those supposed to be duck footprints?), interlocking triangles (additional views here and here), and solid red.

• HP Pavilion (San Jose): Checked.

• HSBC Arena (Buffalo): Checked.

• Jobing.com Arena (Phoenix): Worst arena name ever, but I really like their northwestern-striped red line.

• Joe Louis Arena (Detroit): Checked>

• Kohl Center (Madison, Wisconsin): This year it’s white diamonds on a red backgound. Last year it was target circles.

• Madison Square Garden (New York City): Checked.

• Mellon Arena (Pittsburgh): White diamonds on a red background.

• Nassau Coliseum (Uniondale, New York): Checked.

• Nationwide Center (Columbus): Lots and lots of little white stars. A few years back it was a simple checked treatment.

• Olympic Center (Lake Placid): When the Miracle on Ice took place in 1980, the red line featured red diamonds on a white background>

• OSU Ice Rink (Columbus): White stars on a red background. That’s the fourth design in as many years, because the past three seasons have featured white parallelograms (2008-09), block “O” logos (2007-08), and solid red (2006-07).

• Pengrowth Saddledome (Calgary): Diagonal checks. Used to be standard rectangular checks.

• Pepsi Center (Denver): White diamonds on a red background.

• Philips Arena (Atlanta): Remember that row of arrowheads that used to run along the bottom of the Thrashers’ jerseys? They’re not on the jerseys anymore, but they’re still on the red line.

• Prudential Center (Newark, New Jersey): Checked.

• RBC Center (Raleigh, North Carolina): Black dots on the red background, just like their lower-jersey pattern. Used to be solid red.

• Rexall Place (Edmonton): Red diamonds on a white background.

• St. Pete Times Forum (Tampa): White lightning bolts on a red background.

• Scotiabank Place (Ottawa): Checked. Used to have a different design, although I can’t make out what it was.

• Scottrade Center (St. Louis): Solid red.

• Sommet Center (Nashville): Looks like it’s diagonally checked. Used to be solid red. And I’m not sure what was going on here — are those diamonds?

• Staples Center (Los Angeles): Checked, but it used to be solid red.

• Tate Rink (West Point, N.Y.): The home rink of the Army hockey team uses white stars on a red background.

• TD Garden (Boston): This year they’re going with lots of small white diamonds on a red background. Other designs in recent years have included solid red, checked, and a modified checked pattern in which the white checks alternated with spoke-B logos. I’m not positive, but I think the white checks have also been shaped like the NHL shield.

• United Center (Chicago): Last year solid red, this year long rectangular checks.

• Verizon Center (Washington, DC): When the Caps play, it’s white stars on a red background. But they apparently use a more conventional treatment for non-Caps games.

• Wachovia Center (Philadelphia): Three parallel red lines.

• Winnipeg Arena (Winnipeg): Back when the Jets were still playing, the red line was more white than red.

• World Arena (Colorado Springs): Three red parallel lines.

• Xcel Energy Center (St. Paul): Long, rectangular checks.

And that’s it for now. Do you know of other designs floating around out there? Let’s have ’em.

And it seems to me that we have a few questions worth answering:

1) Is Matthew Clement’s info about white-checked red lines being a response to black-and-white TV accurate? If so, were red lines routinely solid red in the pre-TV era?

2) And if that turns out to be true, which was the first team to go with a non-solid red line?

3) Were there any solid-red holdouts, even in the black-and-white TV era?

4) Which team was the first to use a non-checked design?

I love this — more than 10 years’ after Uni Watch’s debut, we’re just now exploring a whole new branch on the athletics aesthetics tree.

(Big thanks to everyone who contributed photos and info, including Daron Jones, Rob Leavell, Kyle Speicher, Jeff Emhuff, J.D. Vercett, Mike Vanne, Ryan Yanoshak, Rich Canulli, Jon Strauss, David Kendrick, Philip Krawec, Matt Hiett, Mike Bielen, Zak Kapotes, Michael Kearney, Vincent Vignola, Kevin Zdancewicz, Nicole Haase, and Bryan Grupp.)

Culinary Corner: I don’t drink coffee — never learned to like the taste. But I love the smell of coffee, I love coffee ice cream, I love coffee shakes and malts, I love coffee milk (the official state drink of Rhode Island, don’tcha know), I even like making coffee for Kirsten in the morning. Basically, I like everything about coffee except coffee.

Maybe that explains why I like instant espresso powder so much. I’m told it makes crappy espresso, but that doesn’t matter because that’s not what I use it for. Here’s what I do with it:

• I put about a 1/4-cup of it in my brownie batter, thereby transforming my brownies into mochies. (This pretty much works with any chocolate-based baking recipe — cupcakes, cookies, frostings, whatever.)

• I dust it on ice cream, where it provides a nice bitter counterpoint and a hint of micro-granular texture. (Kirsten actually keeps some in a salt shaker for this purpose.)

• I put a few tablespoons of it into the spice rub I use for steak, pork, and chicken. Adds a complex undercurrent to the proceedings.

I’ve read that espresso powder is also good in stews, but I haven’t tried that yet (maybe this weekend). Anyway, just get some and mess around with it — it’s surprisingly versatile, sort of like Joe McEwing.

Uni Watch News Ticker: As a few thousand of you informed me yesterday, Maryland and South Carolina will be wearing camouflage-accented uniforms (and cleats!) for their games on Nov. 14th (not against each other), as a post-Veterans Day gesture. Lots of additional info and photos here, here, here, and here. … Packers kicker Mason Crosby went to high school in Georgetown, Texas — which, as it happens, uses the same helmet logo as the Pack (good spot by Ken Singer). … What’s worse than a lacrosse team dressed in pink? An opposing team dressed in lime green plaid (blame Jim Atherton). … Latest step in Nike’s nefarious world-domination scheme: a robot that graffitis the roadway (thanks, Kirsten). … Yesterday I said that the Broncos’ yellow striping looked like the lone color element in an otherwise black-and-white photo. Nathan Haas decided to take that concept literally. … Best Halloween costume ever? (As submitted by my ESPN colleague Dave Schoenfield.) … Remember this photo of Boomer Esiason with a No. 63 helmet? Steve King says it was a tribute to veteran Bengals tackle Joe Walter, who was waived during that season. Esiason also wrote the number on his helmet with a marker. … Who’s that in the helmet hat? It’s Doug Keklak’s brother, with a young Kek himself in the background, circa early 1980s. … Expect to see lots of Kinesio tape in Boston this season (with thanks to AJ Chalifour). … “While at the farmers’ market in Los Angeles, I happened upon a small exhibit in a glass case about Gilmore Field (home of the Hollywood Stars) and Gilmore Stadium,” writes Patrick Woody. “Both buildings were located adjacent to the Market, and Gilmore Stadium sat on the site of what is currently CBS Television City. Anyway, there were some cool items in the case. Sadly, there were no Stars shorts.” … Mark Maxwell says this poster has been appearing on campus at Ohio University — looks like an upgrade from last year’s road uni. … “Not sure what this is, but it was on the camera in the dugout during Yanks/Halos,” says Matt Harris. … “Meet the Raiders of Rider High School in Wichita Falls, Texas,” writes Andy McNeel. “You’ll notice the gorgeously simple and strong ‘ROHO’ logo on their helmets, which stands for ‘Ride On, Honorable Ones.’” … Andy also sent along this photo — note the unusual NOB. “It makes my brain hurt to try to think about what ‘P.R.I.D.E.’ stands for, or why it deserves NOB status,” he says. “I swear, all of these high schools are within about a 70-mile radius of Wichita Falls. Fans of uniform oddity-watching (much like bird watching) need only go to Wichita Falls on any given Friday night, point their wagons any which direction toward any given set of stadium lights on the horizon, and they will not be disappointed.” … The term “in perpetuity” is almost never a good thing, but it seems particularly depressing here. … Here’s another high school that uses Bucco Bruce — with one slight modification, as Matt Lanzoff explains: “I attended that school in the late ’90s and was a junior the year of Columbine massacre. In the wake of that incident, the school chose to remove the sword from the logo (in order to fight school violence) but keep Bruce.” … And here’s a college that uses Bucco Bruce. Background, from Ben Teaford: “In fact, they got into trouble with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers over the use of the logo. Tampa Bay told them they couldn’t use it anymore, so the school’s president challenged Tampa to a game to decide who got to use the logo. Tampa refused the challenge and soon after changed their logo. I remember reading about it in Sports Illustrated at the time (just one of those small blurbs towards the front).” This account is confirmed in the fifth graf here.

You ignored it before, you can ignore it again: I’ve put another big batch of old indie and punk singles up on eBay, including some serious rarities. You know what to do.

I believe this is the first time I’ve seen an NOB with a hyphen and roman numerals. What’s it all about? Reader Jeff Nephew explains: “That’s Eric Louis-Seize, a forward from Quebec, who recently joined the Truro Bearcats of the Maritime Junior A Hockey League (MJAHL). ‘Louis-Seize’ translates literally to ‘Louis the 16th,’ which explains his unusual nameplate. This is in contrast to last year, when he played with Halifax of the QMJHL and had his name fully spelled out.” (Both photos taken by Richard Lafortune.)

New ESPN column today — the annual NHL season preview, which will cover uniforms and goalie masks (link coming soon). And then I’ll have another ESPN column tomorrow, devoted exclusively to goalie pads, blockers, and the like. And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go collapse.

Sure, a new raffle, why the hell not?: Our friends at SportsCrack are once again making a free T-shirt available to one lucky reader — winner’s choice (although I can tell you they’re particularly pleased with this one).

To enter, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to the NEW raffle address (note that this isn’t the old raffle address or the regular Uni Watch e-mail address) by 10pm next Monday, October 5th. One entry per person, but anyone enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program at the time of the drawing can send four entries. I’ll announce the winner next Tuesday. … Sorry, raffle canceled.

Uni Watch News Ticker: FNOB alert. That’s Mick Williams, who plays for Pitt. The funny thing is, Mick is just his nickname — his real first name is Ernest. Interestingly, the other two Williamses on the Pitt roster are Greg and Manny — no photos of them, but does anyone know if Greg has FNOB or just a first initial? (All this courtesy of Denis Kirstein.) … Hate to admit it, but Abercrombie & Fitch actually has some decent tees (with thanks to Matthew Gahm). … Not sure if I’ve mentioned this before, but have you ever noticed that the two design icons most frequently found on the back of a car — the Jesus fish and the yellow ribbon — are basically the exact same thing? … Two Houston football players misplaced their helmets after last weekend’s game (with thanks to Matt Mitchell). … Matt also claims that he heard a broadcaster saying that the UTEP Miners’ short, spiky helmet stripe is supposed to represent the business end of a rock hammer. Never heard that before. Can anyone confirm? … Good observation by Joseph de la Riva, who notes that the Cowboys’ old field at Texas Stadium had royal blue trim, but their new field has navy blue trim. … “Worst Uni Ever” articles are a penny a dozen, but this one has a small saving grace: a Sox in shorts photo I’d never seen before (with thanks to Keith Dow). … Not uni-related, but the prediction of the year — or maybe of all time — took place during Sunday’s Mariners/Jays game. Listen to the two audio clips here (as forwarded by my ESPN colleague Dave Schoenfield). … Then again, I’ve been predicting Daniel Murphy double-play grounders for months, so what’s the big deal? … Good tip from James Huening: “If you go here, you can hear some discussion with Bears linebacker Nick Roach about swapping out the helmet radio receivers (he was playing the strong side position at the start of Sunday’s game but moved to the middle when Hunter Hillenmeyer had to leave the game). Unfortunately, there’s no timer on the progress bar, but it’s about 20% of the way through the interview. If you drag the progress icon to the point right under the letter ‘h’ in the words ‘the future,’ you can go directly to that point in the conversation.” … You know, it’s not like I ever thought Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, or Ghandi worked in the NFL offices. But when you read some of the quotes in a story like this one, the league comes off sounding disturbingly like the tobacco industry, at least in terms of its ability to lie about the health effects of its product. … Eleven new screen shots have been added to our AFL Full Color set. Among the highlights: a Texans logo with a spur (never seen that before) and Babe Parilli with FNOB (major thanks to Mako Mameli). … If you skip ahead to the 12:10 mark of this video, you’ll find a report on the Nets’ practice jersey ads (with thanks to Paul Wiederecht). … Tons of great goalie mask photos available here (big thanks to Jeff Brand). … I love socks, uniforms, and the color green, so you think I’d be all over a vintage baseball uni for a team called the Green Sox. But not at this price. … Matt Harris notes that Hideki Matsui’s bat logo appears to have a Godzilla tail motif. … Slideshow of Nebraska football uniform evolution here (with thanks to Eric Brown). … Tyler Hull was watching the Champions League match between Arsenal and Olympiakos and saw that Olympiakos players were wearing two different type of socks.

Yes, I’m aware that there was a football game last night. But it was completely uni-uneventful (unless you count a couple of the ads, but I prefer not to glorify that part of the Super Bowl industrial complex), so we’ll move on to other things.

Case in point: The Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL held a “Prison Jersey Night” last Friday, in honor of ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Many readers sent links to news stories about the game, but one Uni Watcher — Matt Moschella — was actually in attendance. Here’s his report, supplemented by photos he took himself:

• The Wranglers wore prison-striped jerseys with stencil-styled typography, while the visiting Bakersfield Condors wore jerseys styled like orange jumpsuits.

• Where a prison number would be, the Wranglers had an “ILLGOV” patch with the player’s uniform number. The Condors had a similar patch that read “DOC” [Dept. of Corrections] with the player’s uniform number.

• The Wranglers added black and white stripes to their socks — beautiful.

• Even the refs got in on the action, wearing blue jerseys modeled after prison guard uniforms [additional shots here and here]. This was especially fun when they were breaking up fights!

• The penalty box was accessorized with prison bars for the occasion.

• The goal judges were dressed up like old-style judges, complete with white wig.

• There was a special seating area called the “Jury Box.”

• The PA announcer referred to the Condors as the “Convicts” throughout the game.

Frankly, I don’t see what this has to do with Blagojevich, as opposed to any other criminal, but whatever — it’s still a well-executed promotion. For the rest of Matt’s photos, look here.

February Raffles, Round 1: I’ve got a bunch of stuff to raffle off this month, so let’s get started. First up: Chris Speakman at Sports Propaganda has offered a free screen-print from his inventory of awesome MLB-themed designs. To enter, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to the raffle address (not to the usual Uni Watch e-mail address, please) by this Thursday, February 5th, at 10pm eastern. One entry per person, but anyone enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program at the time of the drawing can send four entries. I’ll announce the winner on Friday.

DIY Shout-Out: The DIY-jersey thing has become such a phenomenon that I’ve decided to write about it for ESPN. So for all you DIYers out there — whether you’ve already been featured here on the blog or not — would you be willing to be interviewed and have your work shown in my ESPN column? If so, please get in touch pronto. Thanks.

Extracurricular Update: Friday’s Forewords show at Sound Fix was a hoot — thanks to all who showed up and said hi (and extra thanks for not mentioning that I fucked up my script on two separate occasions). For those who really enjoy stalking me this type of material, I’ll be doing a presentation on the oddities of mousetrap packaging tomorrow night, 8pm, as part of the Adult Ed series at Union Hall. They’re only giving me one or two drink tickets as my “pay” for this event, and it’s gonna take a lot more beer than that to get me through the night, so I’m sure you’ll want to show up and ply me with liquor, right? Right.

Uni Watch News Ticker: If you think those prison-themed hockey jerseys were something, check out what the Kalamazoo Wings wore on Saturday. Note that the ice is yellow, too — that’s because it was “Golden Ice Night.” Please keep all the obvious punchlines to yourself, thanks (with thanks to Mike Alper). … Lots of Kay Yow memorial gestures at Thursday night’s NC State/BC game. The Wolfpack players wore pink warm-ups and sneakers; pink trim, a pink ribbon, and a patch; and “Yow” NOBs. Plus the BC players wore pink hair ribbons and shoelaces. … Here’s an interesting photo gallery showing how the USF locker room was converted for the Steelers’ use at the Super Bowl (with thanks to Tim Burke). … Lots of other Yow memorial gestures listed here (thanks, Phil). … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Russell Martin is adding a “J.” initial to his NOB. Confused? Look here. … Now that’s a radial arch (as spotted by Chuck Nolan Jr.). … The auction has already ended, but this is gorgeous. … Check out this awesome tag (from this auction). … Lots of incredible — and incredibly sad — Shea Stadium demolition photos here (with thanks to Ken Stephon) and here (those were taken on Friday by Alan Tompas). … Very cool-looking Postal Service uniform catalogs available here, here, and here. … “I was at Saturday’s Rutgers/DePaul game,” writes Joe Alvaro. “During the 2nd half, Corey Chandler, who usually wears No. 1, got blood on his jersey and came back wearing No. 25, with NNOB.” … A high school player in St. Looie is wearing long sleeves on the court (with thanks to Jason Walker). … Color-on-color games from the weekend: Miami/Maryland, Oregon/Oregon State, and — get this — Indiana State/Northern Iowa. … The Bills and Titans will wear throwbacks in the 2009 Hall of Fame Game. … In a related item, Marshawn Lynch wanted to wear Buffalo’s throwback helmet for the Pro Bowl, but it’s not gonna happen. Too bad (with thanks to Mike Sullivan). … The Notre Dame fencing team is adding a memorial patch for alum Luke LaValle, who recently died of cancer. Details here (with thanks to Dan Dunford). … Here’s something you don’t often see: a skier with a faceguard (nice find by Matt Shevin). … Did the officials in Super Bowl II really wear this? (With thanks to Josh Exline.) … TV note from Vinny Farrow, who writes: ” Friday night on the show Psych, there was a scene with two characters wearing seemingly logoless football jerseys. From another angle, though, it became apparent that at least one of the jerseys had a colored-over swoosh. And in the very next scene, the swoosh became white.” … “The Graveyard Mall some cool older MLB and NFL merch in their wholesale section,” writes Will Rickenback. “Once you get past the wholesale packs of jockstraps, there are few items at the top and a bunch near the bottom of the page that are worth checking out, including Lil Squirt Angels bath toys, an awesome Bills rubber stamp, Orioles diaper covers, a Bengals book cover and bookmarks, and plenty more. … “I was at the Minnesota/Illinois basketball game Thursday night, and there was some seriously odd stuff going on with the coaches’ footwear,” writes Sam McCullough. “Bruce Weber was wearing bright white and orange accented Nikes with his olive suit, which looked completely ridiculous. Upon closer inspection, Tubby Smith was also wearing Nikes, although his were mostly black and matched his black slacks and maroon jacket in a way that was less offensive. Also, all the Minnesota assistants were wearing Nikes as well, almost all black with a yellow swoosh and some yellow piping. I don’t know what the hell is behind this, but if coaches’ shoes start to get sucked into school contracts as well, it’s going to be pretty uproarious.” … The Maple Leafs “honoured” Doug Gilmour’s number on Saturday night (Toronto doesn’t actually retire numbers), so they did the all-Gilmour thing before the game and wore a patch during the game. … Interesting sight from the Texas vs. the Nation all-star game: Wyoming-branded tights (with thanks to Sam Wasson). … Soccer note from Alex Paine, who writes: “While watching Juventus-Cagliari play soccer Saturday, I noticed that one of Juventus’s greatest stars, Alessandro Del Piero, looked a bit odd on the pitch. Turns out he was wearing tights under his shorts and socks, making for a unitard effect with a strip of white.” … Justine DeCotis sent this report on Sunday afternoon: “I’m listening to the Marist/Iona women’s basketball game on the radio and the announcers just mentioned that someone on Iona is wearing eye black. In a basketball game!” Anyone know more about who this might have been? … Is Dwight Howard wearing a bra, or is that just a two-tone undershirt? (As spotted by Karl Vierthaler.) … Cool old Virginia basketball photo here (with thanks to Benjamin Demeter). … You’d be hard pressed to find anyone who likes stripes more than I do. But even I think the Canadiens’ 1911 throwbacks, which they wore yesterday against the Bruins, were a bit much. Made for a very entertaining fight, though.

As many of you know, kickers and punters are exempt from shoe color rules, so it’s not unusual to see a punter wearing black cleats while the rest of the team is wearing white, or a kicker wearing one black shoe and one white. But Mike Comeau noticed two particularly interesting things about Falcons kicker Morten Andersen last night:

(1) He wears one Nike shoe and one Reebok. Not sure how common it is for someone to be wearing two different brands. (2) The shoe on his kicking (left) foot was black, just like the rest of the Falcons. It was his plant (right) foot that differed from the rest of his team. Usually it’s the kicking foot that is “out of uniform” because the kicker is more comfortable with a particular shoe.

That last bit is a genius observation. Why would Andersen need a special plant shoe? And why would it have to be white? And it’s not like this is his lucky left shoe that he’s been wearing for years, because he was wearing something else just last month. Weird.

Meanwhile, several readers report that Dallas Clark of the Colts was once again playing without the American flag decal on his helmet last night. No visual evidence yet, but here’s a shot of a flag-free Clark from last week. If Clark’s flagless status from last night can be confirmed, that means our streak of at least one NFL player being sans flag for every week of the season remains intact.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Bizarre story out of Tennessee, where a high school hoops team was cited for wearing illegal uniforms, resulting in 18 technical fouls being called. The resulting free throws were the deciding factor in the game. Details here. … More numbers on shorts: the Butler hoops team (with thanks to Mike Miller). … While researching something else, I came across this awesome Cardinals helmet prototype on the Helmet Hut web site. … Latest chapter in the NHL jersey debacle here. … When the Blackhawks introduced John McDonough as the team president, they gave him an honorary jersey. But David Soline notes that they didn’t use a lowercase “c.” … The Browns will be wearing their throwbacks this Sunday. … What’s the point of beach volleyball if you can’t wear a bikini? (With thanks to Jeremy Brahm.) … Todd Radom, Tom O’Grady, and I are all quoted in this article about the state of uniform design. … Jim Pericotti reports that the Ducks’ AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates, are wearing a Stanley Cup patch on the back of their jersey.

Buried amidst yesterday’s avalanche of Cowboys/Redskins comments was a small mention of the Belleville Bulls, an OHL (Major Junior) team that’s instituted an unusual quirk this year: They’re wearing uni numbers on their shorts.

This design element (which is also featured on the Bulls’ home uniform) raises an interesting question: Are uni numbers on pants ever a good idea?

In order to assess this query, we first need to look at the history of this phenomenon. Okay, then, one sport at a time:

Baseball: The first MLB team to wear pants-borne uni numbers was the 1975 Astros. By 1980 they’d taken the number off the pant leg, but the concept was revived in 1982 by the White Sox, who kept wearing the digitized pants even after switching to a different uni design — seven seasons in all. I’d like to think we can agree that these all fail the “Is it good or is it stupid?” test. Special Uni Watch bonus points to Floyd Bannister, who somehow managed to wear every one of these uniforms during his career.

Football: I’m aware of three NFL teams that have worn uni numbers on their pants: the 1982-89 Cowboys, the 1982-86 Colts (only at home), and the 1984-87 Packers. Not quite as bogus as the MLB examples, but still pointless, needless, a solution to a non-problem.

Hockey: The Belleville design is the first instance I’ve ever seen of uni numbers on breezers. There’s a certain appealing novelty to the look (just as there was, I’m sure, when the Astros and Cowboys introduced pants numbers to their respective sports), but it still feels like over-design to me.

Basketball: Lots of NBA teams have worn uni numbers on their shorts over the years. The current trend, though, is to go numeral-free, as the Bucks, Suns, and Sonics have all abandoned their shorts numbers in recent years. For some reason these all seem less objectionable than the examples from other sports. There’s something about the number on the shorts that resonates with a “Property of Athletic Dept.” sort of feel, which I kinda dig. Wish more NBA teams would go this route.

Soccer: As most of you know by now, my scope of soccer knowledge is very, very limited. But one thing I do know is that many (most?) teams wear uni numers on their shorts. Seems harmless enough, although I think I’d prefer to see it on the side, not on the front. I trust all you soccer fans out there will post some comments filling us in on the history and protocol for this uni element.

As for other sports, like rugby, volleyball, and the like, I hereby yield the floor to those of you who are better versed in those arcane disciplines. But I think our basic point is made: Uni numbers on pants are fairly rare, and for the most part that’s a good thing.

Austin Update: Thanks to all the Austin-ites who responded to yesterday’s query about possibly holding a Uni Watch gathering on the 27th (i.e., a week from tonight). The response was pretty sizable, so let’s definitely plan on getting together that evening.

I insist that we meet at a barbecue joint, and I’m partial to the ones that are outside of town (yes, I’m familiar with the area). I’d prefer Kreuz’s or Smitty’s in Lockhart, but they both close early, so that’s no good. Let’s make it 7:30 p.m. at the Salt Lick in Driftwood. Cool?

ITEM! Membership News: For those of you who’ve been waiting for us to lift the ban on NCAA-themed membership card designs, your patience has been rewarded: As of right now, NCAA designs are kosher. Actually, we already did one of them months ago — the Yale rugby design shown at right (which I liked so much when it was presented to us that I forgot all about the NCAA ban).

A few things to remember: The more obscure the school and/or sport, the more important it is for you to provide a rear-view photo. A backup design option is always a good idea, too. And the ban on purple-inclusive designs still stands. Aside from that, it’s open season — fire when ready.

And remember, discounted gift memberships are available for the holiday season. Full info on that is here. And non-gift membership ordering info is here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Steiner Sports is selling a game-worn Manny Delcarmen World Series cap, and it turns out he had lots of underbrim scribblings. … Remember Lawrence Tynes’s Umbro cleats? Joe Skiba reports that the NFL has instructed him to black out the logos. … Maybe the NFL should have a talk with Brandon Marshall, too, because the Reebok logo was missing from his sleeves last night. Wasn’t like that a few weeks ago. … Back to Joe Skiba: Remember how the “ny” logo on the Jints’ nose bumpers switched from red-outlined blue to blue-outlined red a few games ago? Skiba says he likes the latter design so much that he’s gonna stick with it. Jeez, why not just make the helmets solid red and be done with it. … Jere Smith notes that Rajon Rondo frequently wears his headband upside-down. … Cincinnati maven David Sonny (who recenty conducted an interview with the Bengals’ equipment manager — look for that to appear here soon) reports that new Reds skipper Dusty Baker has claimed his usual No. 12 from Edwin Encarnacion, who will now wear No. 28. … The Canadiens retired Larry Robinson’s number (which he never wore on his shorts) last night and trotted out all the usual trappings — the all-honoree warm-up, the chest patch, etc. Happily, Robinson wore a straight-hemmed CCM jersey for the occasion, instead of the shirttail-hemmed models being worn by the current Habs. … ¡Cuba si, capitalism double-si!: After losing in the final round of the Baseball World Cup, Cuban pitcher Pedro Lazo sold his jersey to a collector after a sotto voce negotiation in a darkened corner. … Before Lloyd Carr dressed like this, he dressed like this and this (nice find by Doug Mooney). … According to this message board post (sent my way by Andres Douzoglou), Arizona State uses tape stripes on belts as an award system, like helmet merit decals. I’ve never heard this before. Anyone know more about it?

Major typo in the English Premier League yesterday, as David Bentley of Blackburn played an entire match with “Betnley” on his back (plus it wasn’t exactly the most graceful arc). As Dan Winkler explains, “David Bentley is one of Blackburn’s best players. He’s been with them for a few years and, in fact, scored a hat trick against Man U a few years ago, so it’s not like he’s the soccer equivalent of a September call-up or was just acquired in a trade. That’s what makes this mistake especially odd.”

By coincidence, there’s another EPL typo of sorts unfolding these days. It involves West Ham’s John Paintsil. Reader Iain Landon explains:

When Paintsil signed with West Ham from the Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv, all of his documentation, including his UK travel paperwork and work permit, had his name as ‘Pantsil’ — note the missing ‘i.’ According to English FA regulations, the name on his shirt has to match his registration, so John Paintsil has become John Pantsil. He only has a handful of appearances for West Ham so far this season, so I haven’t been able to find a photo, but the details of the story are verified here and here.

Meanwhile, back on our side of the pond:

• The Chargers’ season-long streak of having at least one player without an American flag decal was kept intact, as Chris Chambers was flag-free for the third week in a row. LaDainian Tomlinson, however, was flag-clad for the second consecutive week.

• Speaking of the Chargers, someone needs to tell Antonio Cromartie that men don’t look good in sheer hose.

• And speaking of hosiery, Dwight Smith had some serious sock layers going on.

• Charles Woodson, who’s been pushing the uni-related envelope all season, really outdid himself yesterday. Was he wearing tzitzit or what?

• I remain opposed to this look for the Giants, but there were a few interesting details. As Joe Skiba had promised, the “ny” nose bumper logo, which is usually blue outlined in red, was red outlined in blue. And yeah, okay, I can deal with red gloves, red shoelaces, and red undersleeves, but red spats? Enough already. (That player, incidentally, was Kawika Mitchell, and the screen grab comes courtesy of Randy Williams.)

Uni Watch News Ticker: Where do college football uniforms go after they’ve been used? Often to Europe, as seen with this Mississippi State jersey being used by the London Olympians, and this Duke jersey worn by the Coventry Cassidy Jets (also note the personalized “MOM” memorial, all found by Stefan Schubert). … Tons of great historical baseball pics in the New York Public Library’s A.G. Spalding Collection (with thanks to John Ervin). … I’m trying to figure out how they’re going to screw this up. … Hannah Krug notes that the Princeton women’s hoops team has their logo in an interesting spot. “The worst part is that it doesn’t even look like a tiger,” she says. “I’m more reminded of a mole rat.” She also notes that Maryland’s jerseys have a normal back, but Marissa Coleman ties her up into a faux racer back. … The Kitchener Rangers wore special Remembrance Day jerseys on Sunday (with thanks to AJ Brandt). … And CFL teams wore poppy decals yesterday (with thanks to Tim Capper for the screen grab). … Not positive about this, but I think Miguel Cotto is the first fighter I’ve seen with a boxing glove depicted on his waistband (it’s on the back, too). … Cal wore really nice throwbacks (which are now being auctioned off) on Saturday. …Mild hilarity on Saturday night, as Trevor Fulkerson wrote to tell me that an Angels turn-ahead-the-clock jersey was up for auction on eBay. Exactly 21 minutes later, David Linder wrote to tell me that he was the winning (and, incredibly, only) bidder. … “I was browsing through a photo gallery of the 1930 World Cup and ran across this picture of the team from Bolivia,” writes Chuck Nolan Jr. “I assumed they were just wearing special shirts for the team portrait, but then I saw this photo , which would seem to confirm that they wore the shirts during the game.” … It’s amazing how Georgia’s black jersey (which I was fine with) really accentuated the black pants stripe, which up until now I’d barely even noticed. … Awesome socks being worn by Dorchester High in Boston (with thanks to Skott Daltonic). … Duke wore throwback jerseys and helmets on Saturday but ruined it by going monochromatic. … Sure didn’t take long for eye-black messages to go from this to this (that’s Mississippi State’s Eric Butler, as spotted by John Wilmoth). … Mark Graban found an interesting old pic of Donny Baseball with mismatched numerals on his helmet brim. Not only that, but look closer at it appears that the “3″ was applied over the “2.” … Jeremy Kaufman notes that Michigan State’s Mark Dell has “Focus” written on his wrist tape. … not a good idea. … The 49ers are already wearing a memorial helmet decal for Bill Walsh. Will they add another one tonight for former coach Dick Nolan, who died yesterday? … Fascinating note from Morris Levin, who writes: ” Topps just released its 2007 Update & Highlights set (it’s what used to be “Topps Traded”). Check out the cards for Francisco Rosario and Kyle Lohse. They must not have had game pics in Phillies jerseys because the uniforms are clearly airbrushed. Rosario is wearing his black Blue
Jays cleats, but more telling is the team wordmark on the front. The Topps art department placed a Phillies logo in there and neglected to remove the underline, which is part of the official logo but does not appear on the jerseys.”

Long-Overdue Thanks: About two months ago, after we changed web-hosting companies, I asked for volunteers to help fix all the non-ASCII characters that had gotten garbled during the server changeover. Six readers answered the call, which was great — and I failed to publicly acknowledge them until now, which is not so great. So for the record, I owe a big debt of gratitude to Chris Schoenthal, Chris Roberts, Mark McGinnis, Matt Edwards, Forrest Carpenter, and Kyle Joecken. Mea culpa for not thanking them until now.

A few weeks ago I ran an entry about players who’ve worn their full names on their jerseys (or FNOB, short for “full name on back”). That post prompted so many contributions that I’ve decided to do a follow-up entry today.

The most interesting case study comes our way courtesy of Les Holmlund, who wrote in to tell me that the WHA’s Alberta Oilers — forerunners of today’s Edmonton Oilers — had the entire team wearing FNOB during their inaugural 1972-73 season. Now, that Oilers team was already uni-notable for a few other reasons. According to WHAUniforms.com (usually a pretty dependable resource), they began the season wearing “ALBERTA” on their backs and then switched to round-cornered nameplates with an unusual font. But there was nothing on the site about them wearing FNOB. Fortunately, Les came up with several photos to back up his point, as seen here, here, and here. So there you have it: The Alberta Oilers, who began by wearing PNOB (province name on back) and then switched to FNOB, almost certainly making them the most eccentrically nameplated team in sports history.

As for additional FNOB examples (aside from those already listed in my previous FNOB post), I’m only listing them if we have photos confirming them. I realize the list is still very incomplete, but here are the latest additions:

Football: Todd Johnson, Andra Davis (also shown here), Andre Davis, Dexter Reid, and Rob Moore.

Hockey: Ron Sutter (with the Flyers, too), Rich Sutter, Bobby Smith, Neal Broten (from his U. of Minnesota days), and Aaron Broten (ditto).

Soccer: Derek Young and Darren Young.

Finally, a few related categories that aren’t quite FNOB but still belong in this discussion:

• Several readers suggested coming up with a separate list for players who wear more than their first initial but less than FNOB, like Michael and Martellus Bennett. If anyone wants to contribute additional examples, I’m game.

• And here’s a unique situation, as explained by reader Roy Ellingsen: “Norwegian former hockey star Carl Oscar Bøe Andersen’s name was so long that he prefered to wear just his initials on the nameplate.”

Big thanks to all who’ve contributed — we’re building a nice little nameplate database here. And if anyone wants to start building a physical collection instead of a virtual one, look what’s up for sale on eBay.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Many readers wrote in last night to report that Virginia Tech’s Victor “Macho” Harris’s left-sleeve uni number was orange last night, while his right-sleeve number (and all his teammates’ sleeve numbers) was white. No photo yet. Anyone TiVo the game? … I’ve written before about umpires being forced to wear civvies after their uniforms got lost in transit. Now Richard Koh has come up with a video clip of Eric Gregg struggling to find adequately sized gear during just such a situation. Bill Murray’s doing the color commentary, too. … Minnesota’s women’s hockey team will wear a memorial helmet decal for the rest of this season in honor of equipment manager Bonnie Olein, who recently passed away. Details here (with thanks to Mike Nachreiner). … Andy Head notes that the Saskatoon Blades wear uni numbers is a very unusual spot (plus they’ll be wearing one weird-ass jersey for Emergency Services Night next month). … Drew McKay reports that the Slipstream cycling team recently invited fans to submit designs for next year’s uniform. The team is apparently for its argyle motif, so most of the submissions were very argyle-centric (including this one, which is Drew’s favorite). You can see all 613 submissions here. … The Trenton Thunder have unveiled a 15th-season patch (as forwarded by Ted Kerwin). … Much better, even if the stirrups are backwards. … And you can see the stirrups’ laundry tag peaking out here. … When it comes to baggy pants, like father, like son. … Remember when Mike Timlin (who probably thinks the term “World Series” is a U.N. plot) wanted to wear the American flag patch on his cap full-time? He lost that battle, but he’s got a flag on his BP cap — closer view here (great catch by Bryan Redemske). … Steve Necaster reports that the Sabres will be wearing white at home for several games in November. … Further evidence here and here of the Rangers having apparently modified their hemlines to eliminate Reebok’s scooped shirttail. … The Mid-Atlantic Hockey League recently unveiled new uniforms for the Indiana Ice Miners (dark, white), Jamestown Vikings (dark, white), Mon Valley Thunder (dark, light), Valley Forge Freedom (dark, white), and Wooster Warriors (dark, white). “We all know the MAHL is minor league hockey, but I’ve seen roller hockey uniforms that look more professional,” says Zak McGinniss, who provided the links. … “At the Mellon Arena they have a High School Hall of Champions,” writes Doug Keklak. “It’s a hallway in the arena adorned with framed high school hockey jerseys, mostly from western PA schools but there are a few West Virginia schools included in the mix.” Doug’s taken photos of many of them, which you can see here. … The Devils’ new arena opened last night with a Bon Jovi concert, and Chris Flinn noticed something interesting in the men’s room: “Every single urinal had the Devils logo engraved into the metal.” I’m not sure which is more embarrassing — admitting that you attended a Bon Jovi concert or taking a photo in the bathroom, but either way let’s all salute Chris for his devotion to the Uni Watch cause.

See that photo of Jason Taylor over there? It’s not really him — it’s an “8-metre, animatronic version of [him], the biggest animated human figure ever made,” at least according to the photo’s caption. That photo and this one (also of the “animatronic version”) began circulating on the AP wire on Monday, in advance of this weekend’s Giants/Dolphins game in London.

As you can see in the pics, the jersey features a patch — presumably the one that the two teams will be wearing on Sunday. But I couldn’t make out the wording underneath the NFL logo until Tuesday, when the New York Times ran a much larger version of one of the photos. That’s when I saw this.

I knew Bridgestone was sponsoring the game, but would the teams actually be wearing the company’s wordmark this Sunday? If so, it would mark the first appearance of uniform advertising in an NFL game. Temples pounding, palms sweating, I checked with Giants equipment director Joe Skiba, who reassured me that the teams would indeed be wearing a patch similar to the one shown in the photos but that it would not feature the Bridgestone logo.

After I got back down off the ledge, I wondered why games played overseas always seem to present these sorts of problems. Remember, the only time advertising has appeared in MLB uniforms was when regular-season games were played in Japan — first in 2000, when the Mets and Cubs wore AIU sleeve patches and am/pm helmet decals, and then again in 2004, when the Yankees and Devil Rays wore the Ricoh logo on their sleeves and helmets.

The answer, of course, is that most other parts of the world are much more comfortable with uniform advertising than we are here in North America. Hell, the ad patches used in the now-defunct NFL Europe make that Bridgestone patch look almost quaint by comparison (additional examples here, here, here, and here).

I suppose you could say there’s a “When in Rome…” factor at work here, but I think it should be the other way around. The whole point of playing these games overseas is to help promote our culture in foreign lands, right? So as long as we’re teaching them about football (or baseball, or whatever), why not teach them that ads have no place on a team uniform — even when it’s on an 8-metre animatronic figure.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Big congrats to longtime Uni Watch contributor Joe Hilseberg, who recently got married and, as promised, prepared uniform-style vests for himself and his groomsmen. “And on my honeymoon in Aruba,” he adds, “we rode a party bus one night and you have to see the sock action on this crazy woman who was the guide!” … On Monday I passed along a reader query about Kevin Youkilis possibly having the Majestic wordmark under his Majestic sleeve logo. Upon closer inspection, however, it appears that it was just a shadow. … There’s been a discussion of helmet memorial decals over on the Chris Creamer board, including a link to something I had completely forgotten about: the Pete Rozelle memorial worn in Super Bowl XXXI. … The Nationals have unveiled a new radio network logo (with thanks to Kyle Donnelly). … Minor league hockey note from Jeff Seals, who writes: “I went to the Las Vegas Wranglers’ home opener on Sunday night and they broke out their new home jerseys. The front features a poker chip design with the individual player’s number inside the chip. On the outside of the chip it says, ‘Las Vegas Wranglers.’ What’s different is that the left shoulder has big TV numbers, but the numbers are non-existent on the right arm. The back of the jersey has a black nameplate with white lettering.” … Blake Meyer, who runs the superb TwinsCards.com site, informs me that several of his contributors have banded together to create the very similar (and similarly excellent) VikingsCards.com, which features all sorts of old cards, old photos, and so on. Highly recommended. … WFAN radio clown Chris Russo, who’s already shown himself to have a single-digit IQ on umpteen occasions, further undermined his own credibility yesterday when he opined that Joe Giarardi might not be the right guy for the Yankees managerial job because “he’s one of those managers that worry about how the players wear their socks.” … Sure is weird to see Big Papi with a glove. … Speaking of gloves, Kaz Matsui was using at least two different ones during yesterday’s workouts, as seen here and here (with thanks to Bryan Redemske). … Kudos to the Missouri State High School Activities Association, which recently determined that “it is evident there is a problem with numerous schools wearing illegally-styled uniforms” and then prepared “[a]n extensive power point presentation” to help address the problem. Details here (with thanks to John Vernickas). … Good roundup of San Antonio-area high school football helmets available for download in this PDF file (courtesy of Blain Fowler). … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Looks like some of the Rangers are having their rounded shirttails modified to straight horizontal hems. … Brian Schulz recently reminded me of a phenomenon I’d largely forgotten about: semi-pro football, a subculture comprising over 700 teams nationwide. Some of the uniforms and logos are simply copies from pro or college teams, but others are more original. You can access a bunch of semi-pro helmet designs here, and lots of additional semi-pro info is available here. … Those of you who think I engage in gratuitous Nike-bashing certainly won’t change your minds now (nice find by Jeff Farrell). … The Bears will be wearing their orange alternate jerseys this Sunday.

Very uni-unusual day in college football on Saturday, with all sorts of anomalies running rampant on the gridiron. Let’s start with Notre Dame’s 1977 throwbacks. Personally, I prefer this green-and-gold combo better than the one they wore on Saturday. But oh, those sock stripes — you know I loved those, although it was distressing to see how many players left their socks at ankle-level.

A sampling of other uni observations from Saturday:

• Oregon went solid white, which looked kinda chalky. Better than their usual visual carnival, natch, but the green helmet was the one really good component of this uniform — here’s hoping they go back to it next week.

• Oklahoma State wore solid orange, although it’s a shame Nike didn’t give them an orange helmet to complete the effect.

• Pitt wore solid navy.

• West Virginia wore gold tops with blue trim, which reminded lots of readers of Cal but reminded me of this.

• Florida wore a memorial decal for walk-on defensive back Michael Guilford, who died in a motorcycle accident last week (and whose nickname was Sunshine).

• Florida State wore a red “BV” helmet decal in honor of team videographer and cancer victim Billy Vasini, who’s currently in hospice care.

• No photo, but Vince says Michigan State’s Peter Clifford “pulled an L.T. and wasn’t wearing an American flag decal on his helmet” (a handy coincidence, since the Chargers had a bye this week, so we all might’ve gone through missing-decal withdrawal if not for Clifford).

• Graham McCulloch says that Michigan’s Mario Manningham’s surname was direct-sewn onto his jersey, instead of being on separate nameplate. I couldn’t find a good rear-view shot of Manningham, although this photo suggests that the lettering may indeed have been direct-sewn. If so, it would mark a change from how Manningham’s name has been applied in the past.

• Tracy McGrady was made an Houston Cougars honorary captain (with thanks to Seth Harris).

Things were a bit more sedate in the NFL, unless you count Julian Peterson’s neon-snot footwear, which will hopefully draw a hefty fine.

Intern Update: In case you missed it last week, Vince will soon be moving on to greener pastures, so I’m in the market for a new intern. For further details, scroll down to the “Help Wanted” section of last Wednesday’s post.

For those of you who’ve already applied, hang tight. I can’t acknowledge everyone, but I’ll be getting in touch with a handful of finalists soon. And my sincere thanks to all applicants — it’s humbling to see how many people want to work on Uni Watch.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Iowa State’s official logo specs and identity standards are available for viewing in this PDF file (with thanks to Brian Castile). … Andrew Flynn was recently at the Packers Hall of Fame, where he snapped a shot of the team’s 1962 yearbook cover. Obviously, they tinted those facemasks in the photo (colored facemasks didn’t debut until over a decade later, with the 1974 Chargers), although it’s hard to fathom why they would’ve done that. … Always good to start ’em young (good find by Jay Kuperstein). … Mike Orr noticed a bunch of interesting South Carolina high school football quirks over the weekend: (1) Chester High uses some really big-ass rear helmet numbers. (2) One of the Chester players has a helmet number that doesn’t match his jersey. (3) Lugoff-Elgin uses the biggest TV numbers I’ve ever seen. (4) The Lugoff-Elgin QB is apparently a Sean Taylor fan. … Victory Pennants prexy Morris Levin just scored this excellent postcard showing the Phillies’ uniform history (here’s the other side). Interestingly, the player images on the front of card are also used on the Phils’ web site. … If Curt Schilling’s gonna insist on wearing a Cool Base jersey, could he at least stop saluting the crowd, so we wouldn’t have to look at that stupid underarm mesh insert? … Good article here on the NFL’s latest uniform cop. … Dave Madison says Kevin Youkilis had the Majestic wordmark — instead of just the Majestic logo — on the left sleeve of his road jersey during Games 4 and 5 of the ALCS, suggesting that he might have been wearing a replica jersey. I don’t see any wordmark here, here, here, or here, but it does look like he might have had a wordmark under the logo here. I’m trying to get that photo enlarged so we can get a better look. … I reported lat week that Wisconsin would be wearing this throwback outfit on December 3rd, but the auction for the unis is already underway (with thanks to Nicole Haase). … Mark Coale reports that the Hershey Bears wore 70th-anniversary sweaters on Saturday. A nice idea, except the crest looked like a glorified sleeve patch. … Reprinted from Sunday’s comments: Adalius Thomas has been wearing one red glove and one blue. Additional views here and here. … I don’t care how many field goals you kick — this is still a really bad look. … The Devil Rays’ uni-unveiling event is gonna be a real, um, barn-burner (as noted by Morris Levin). … Dave Eskenazi, who’s contributed many Pacific northwestern baseball pics in the past, has now provided some gorgeous old hockey photos from that same region, as seen in these shots of the Portland Rosebuds, Seattle Metropolitans, Victoria Aristocrats, and Vancouver Millionaires. That’s Lester Patrick — “Yes, that Lester Patrick,” as Eskinazi puts it — here. … The Saskatchewan Roughriders wore throwbacks yesterday (with thanks to Garry Sum). … Two weeks ago I reported that the Wisconsin women’s hockey team was using this design. What I hadn’t noticed in that photo — but what Andy Seeger has now pointed out — is that the “C” and “A” designations are stacked under the uni numbers, which looks awful-and-a-half. … Matthew Lepke notes that Bryce Salvador is wearing Blues-branded boot protectors. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The Broncos’ socks are supposed to have just a thin band of orange between the navy and white areas, but Brandon Marshall apparently wore navy leggings and white sanitaries with orange tape in between (additional pics here, here, and here, and the tape he uses is probably something like this). … And we conclude with a nice little video report on USC’s equipment staff (as provided by Ryan Whitacre):

The Patriots are setting all sorts of offensive records this season, but they may also be leading the league in unusual regulatory sanctions. First there was the video-spying incident. And now comes the news that two of the Pats — including Tom Brady — have been fined for not buckling their chinstraps.

Players have been going partially unsnapped for years now, of course (for further details on this and other aspects of chinstrap protocol, look here), a problem that the league has apparently made a concerted effort to eradicate this season. League officials say the issue is safety, not style, but I kinda think that’s just a smokescreen. After all, a few players still wear the old two-point strap, so wouldn’t this still offer more protection than the two-pointer? Methinks to NFL brain trust just doesn’t like seeing those straps flapping around out there.

The league is supposedly issuing chinstrap warnings before levying penalties, which means anyone fined for this infraction is a de facto serial offender. That’s hard to believe in Brady’s case, at least based on the photographic record. Do a Google image search on him and about 90% of the pics that come up show him fully buckled, with only the occasional exception. Sudden thought: Most of the players going unsnapped these days are black (including Ty Warren, the other Patriot who’s been fined). Could the league have singled out Brady simply to avoid charges of racism? Hmmmmm.

Speaking of Warren, he was fined for going unsnapped in the Pats’ game against the Bills on September 23rd. Must not have made a particularly big impression on him, because he was unsnapped again this past Sunday.

For more info on these and other uni infractions, visit our friends at UniformViolation.com.

Intern Position Available: I’m pretty much a self-sufficient guy. I work for myself, and by myself, at home. Delegating has never been my strong suit. When something needs to be done, I’d usually rather do it myself than explain the task to someone else.

About a year ago, however, I was lucky enough to encounter someone who helped bring me out of my shell — someone who showed me that I don’t always have to do everything myself, that it’s okay to trust others, and that I don’t need to maintain complete autonomy over every little thing. For the first time in ages, I allowed myself to surrender a bit of control. I don’t mind admitting that I was a bit nervous about it at first, but in the end it turned out to be an eye-opening experience.

And that’s how I started dating Jenny Strasburg. Lovely gal, but it didn’t work out. Too bad.

Oh, and around that same time I hired Vince Grzegorek to be the first Uni Watch intern. Pretty good hire, right? But after nearly a year of making my life easier and making Uni Watch a much better project than it would otherwise have been, he’s now getting ready to move onward and upward in the media world. So I’m gonna need a new assistant, starting roughly at the end of November.

Here’s the deal: I’m looking for someone who’s passionate about sports in general and uniforms in particular (duh), with a really good eye for detail (double-duh) and an affinity for historical minutiae. A big part of the job involves research, so please be adept at creative googling, willing to go to the library, and unafraid to pick up the phone and call a team’s media relations office. The right person will also be a good writer who wants to become even better, will have some interest (and maybe proficiency) in graphic design, and will be willing to commit substantial time and energy in return for no pay and meager non-cash benefits (how’s that for a great deal?). Ideally, this person will also have a bunch of wonderful qualities that I didn’t even realize I was looking for. Helpful but not essential: HTML literacy, Mac fluency, NYC-area residency.

Also: If you don’t have good writing or research skills but live in NYC and still want to help out, I’d be willing to sign someone on to assist with other tasks, like processing membership orders and basic site maintenance. I promise you’ll never have to make me coffee, primarily because I don’t drink coffee. I make no promises about asking you to run out for a 12-pack of Diet Coke, however.

Interested? Then e-mail me with a short explanation of why you’re the right person for the job. Please note that I don’t want to see your résumé, I don’t care how big your jersey collection is, and it makes no difference to me whether you’ve been reading Uni Watch since 1999 or just discovered it last week. I simply want to hear you tell me why you’re the right choice to be my right-hand man (or woman, as the case might be).

Finally, if you want to learn more about the job from the guy who currently holds it, feel free to e-mail Vince with any questions. He’ll be happy to give you the inside scoop, and he’ll keep your discussions confidential if you don’t want me to know about them.

Uni Watch News Ticker: USC’s John David Booty is trying to protect his broken middle finger with a glove. … While looking for a FNOB photo of Brent Sutter, Chesky Bevo came across this. What’s that symbol above the uni numbers? … Captaincy note from Giants equipment director Joe Skiba: “The NFL sent us blue [captain's] patches for home and road jerseys, and some red ones for the red jerseys. But I called the league and got permission to use the red patches for the away uniforms. Are we the only team with two different-colored patches?” Not sure — anyone..? … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Daniel Sedin was showing some garter the other night. … Also from yesterday: As if NHL players haven’t been complaining enough about too much moisture ending up in their gloves and skates, there’s now talk of them using heated skate blades. No, really! And Wayne Gretzky’s a big fan. … Thank god we’re more than halfway through the month of October, which means all pink uniforms will soon be behind us. For now, though, Sharks goalie prospect Thomas Greiss is wearing a pink mask. Details about two-thirds of the way down this page (with thanks to Paul Locatelli). … Loads of NHL patches for sale here. … Longtime Uni Watch pal Kevin Walsh is showcasing some awesome terra cotta uniforms on about two-thirds of the way down this page on his awesome site, Forgotten NY. … Nick Maibroda reports that NASCAR driver Patrick Carpentier was given a Canadiens jersey with NASCAR-style numbering the other day. … You think maybe Indians pitcher Jenson Lewis’s parents have a lot of furniture from these guys? … Oregon has been practicing in white helmets this week, and the white lids (which appear to have green nose bumpers) may finally make their long-threatened game debut this weekend. Details here (with thanks to Dan Coleman). … Paul Locatelli notes that Joe Thornton’s helmet appears to have a old-style downward-sloping NHL logo, not the new version. … This year’s World Series cap patch will look like this. … Lots of great White Sox uni footage, from many different eras, in the second half of this video. … Bizarre and disturbing photo here (as spotted by Eric Distenfeld).