Ladies and Gentlemen, Your New Orleans Hornets, Mardi Gras Edition

Yes, it’s purple (at least on the front). Yes, it’s two-tone. Yes, it has an abbreviation. Yes, I love it.

Full details over on ESPN. — Paul

79 comments November 18th, 2009

And Then There Were Nine

By Phil Hecken & James Huening

Back with my wingman, and UW pollster, James Huening again today, to bring you our nine finalists in the “Worst. Uni. Ever.” poll. You selected the nominees, and you voted (oh, boy did you vote), and now we’ve narrowed it down to the nine worst. One last round of voting will decide the winner of perhaps the most inauspicious title in all uniformity: Worst Ever.

Not much else for me to say, so I’ll turn it over to James who’ll take you through the final piece of the process. Here’s James:

~~~

Last weekend, we presented our candidates for worst uniform in the history of ever (or at least in the history of North American team sports). We asked you to vote in a survey to determine the finalists. More than 2,600 responses were received, which means this was our most successful survey to date.

The field has been narrowed down. We’ve got our nine finalists. Now it’s up to you to decide what is the worst (North American) uniform ever.

So without further ado, let’s meet the finalists.

In the Major League Baseball category: the 1978 San Diego Padres.

From the National Basketball Association, the expansion Toronto Raptors.

Representing the National Football League, we have the Seattle Seahawks‘ lime/electric/snot/neon green alternate.

The National Hockey League gave us our only truly close race. Only a handful of votes separated our top vote-getter from the second place finisher. And that top vote-getter is the “Flying V” of the Vancouver Canucks.

The next category is for Short-lived Uniforms. These are the ones that lasted a handful of games at most. It seems fitting that the 1976 Chicago White Sox get that “honor.”

Next, the Minor Leagues. This one wasn’t even close. The Tucson Toros absolutely ran away with this vote. Is it any wonder?

The University of Oregon Ducks and their mix & match “diamondplate“ look are representing the NCAA in our poll.

Our soccer representative is another runaway winner. The Caribous of Colorado got nearly triple the votes that the other two contestants did.

Last up, we have the Orlando Thunder of the WLAF representing the Miscellaneous Pro Football category.

Full results are here, here and here.

Now that you’ve met the contestants, please tell us which is the worst of the worst. There are more pictures in the poll. You can click on them to see the full-size versions.

The poll can be found here. Time to vote!

~~~

Awesome work, James. Big round of applause to Mr. Huening for undertaking the monumental task of tallying more than 2,600 votes. But our work here is not quite done. We still need to pick a “winner.” So follow the link provided above and cast your final vote for the “Worst. Uni. Ever.” The future of the world is depending on you We’ll have the results next week. And may the worst uniform win.

~~~~~~~~~~

OK, I’ve been receiving a LOT of NFL uniform tweaks from you guys (thanks!)…so many that if I don’t start running a few with each post, well…there will be a couple of weekends of JUST uniform tweaks (and we really don’t want that, do we?). I kid, I kid. But many of these are really good, and so, today I will begin to mete out the first buhch I received.

Our first set of tweaks comes from John Mattson, who writes:

Here’s my shot at
Bengals (also here and here), Vikings, Falcons, and Cardinals.

It am not a graphic designer and it is done on the simple Paint application on all windows PCs.

Thanks for all your great work. Let me know your thoughts.

Next up is Andrew Greenwood (”Greenie”), who sent me the following just as we were beginning our polling:

Phil,

In anticipation of the news that the Buffalo Bills were the lowest scoring team in UniWatch’s first ever jersey poll ranking, I’ve come up with this new design. Simply put, the Bills need yellow. There is no yellow in the AFC East, and there are already enough teams that wear red and blue. Since the Rams dumped this color pairing when they switched to the metallic gold, it’s a team identity up for grabs. Also, this color scheme compliments the only other Big 4 team that Buffalo has, the Sabres. Simple helmet logo (someone on UniWatch had the idea to get rid of the red line on the logo, and I believe you did your quick and dirty best to show it), classic NFL helmet striping blue-fat white-blue, two fat shoulder stripes for contrast, and a UNIFORM stripe pattern on all three pants. Two more fat stripes on the sack finishes the look. Can’t wait for the poll results.

(I actually voted the Jags and Cards lowest, but I think the Bills will edge them out. Go Pack!)

Next up is Shaun Tunick, who sent me a few different concepts, in a couple of different e-mails (so this may sound somewhat ‘cut and pastish’). We’ll look his tweaks for the Broncos, Patriots, Falcons and Giants now:

Tweaks for the Broncos and Pats, for the Broncos i took out the weird side to chest stripe/panel, and changed the color scheme back to the royal blue and orange, and then switched the jersey back to orange… i mean they have never had a blue jersey before, so why should they? i also replaced the horn stripe thing on the pants with the striping from the 1977 orange crush uniforms. also, i got rid of the weird helmet stripe. for the patriots, all i really wanted to do was get rid of the really frickin annoying blue side panel on the away jersey, and i ended up taking it off and also the piping from the home jersey. edited the pants stripes a little.

[PH here - Shaun did two Falcons mockups -- an original and a revised edition, which he describes below -- his first version is here]

i wanted to change the pants piping, i hate how it flares out at the bottom but i just didnt want it to look like complete garbage. i really like the striping that you guys did on the bengals, cant remember what it is called… but i meant to get rid of the piping on the pants. something like what they wore 97-02 would look great too. and on the jerseys the one thing i was thinking about was getting rid of the black, i dont really mind the piping there.

And about the helmets, i just wanted to see what a red mockup of the current helmet would look like, and i just threw the mid 80s helmet in there for kicks because that is IMO the best set theyve had… the one with the logo resting on the shoulder stripes, something that would never work today.. On the pants, it is silver, something that they started in 78 and then decided to ditch with the new uniforms.

Hey sorry forgot to throw in the giants, i edited the away jersey just a bit… anyway thanks a bunch for checking this out!

Moving on, we have a submission from Ed Westfield, Jr. (”Eddie Atari”), who wanted to fix the Giants. Here’s Ed:

I liked Phil & Ricks’ NFL uni tweaks, and I have another one for the
Giants. I’ve said before that there is not enough blue in the road
kit, so how about… BLUE PANTS?!

Here’s my Photoshop mockup.

I’m usually a Giants purist, but I actually like this, especially with
the red/grey/blue stripe in tact. Note: It should ONLY be worn with
white jerseys…

Last up for today is a first batch from Uni Watch’s #1 Broncos fan, a man who simply goes by Denver Gregg. He first sent me a batch, of (surprisingly) Denver Broncos mockups. We’ll look at those today. Here’s Gregg:

Hiya Phil

You do a great job with the weekend site!

I’ve been a Broncos fan as long as I can remember, and there has always been something that’s bothered me about the unis. I remember doing a copper and silver redesign in 1973 (long since mercifully lost). Anyway I decided to do a 2010 re-design, incorporating elements of current and past unis. I’ve kept the elements I like in the current set – especially the number and letter typefaces, the colors and matching the helmet color to the principal jersey color. I know my MS paint skills aren’t that great, so there are a few things that look a bit off (like the hue of the orange). There’s something in this set from each of the five generations of Bronco uniforms.

I did four variations on the socks. Denver2010 is probably a bit too out there. Denver2010a may look too similar to another team’s 75th anniversary throwback attire. I don’t really like Denver2010c, but it’s needed to balance out Denver2010b.

I also took the liberty of changing the helmet logo. The first one I remember is the horse coming through the ‘D’. I thought that was too busy and had the drawback of a horse facing the wrong way on one side of the helmet. When I saw the “amoeba horse” of the 1960s in old pictures, I was horrified – regardless of its eye color. I don’t like all the swooshes on the cyberhorse. So I took the best past element and isolated it. It probably needs work, but the idea could be worth pursuing.

I fully understand if (1) you have other stuff on deck; and (2) this isn’t up to snuff from a craftsmanship standpoint. If you have time to give me feedback, though, that would be great.

That’s gonna do it for today on the NFL tweaks. I’ve got LOTS more in store for you in the coming weeks, so if you sent me something and it’s not in this batch — don’t despair — it’s coming. For anyone else interested in sending in mockups, gimme a shout.

~~~~~~~~~~

Our man in the street, Jim Vilk (taken at the Kent State/Akron game) brings you his “Top 5″ Best and one WORST college football uni matchup from yesterday:

5. Oklahoma/Nebraska: I miss seeing this every Thanksgiving weekend.

4. Furman/Auburn: Tigers are back, and bringing some snazzy Paladins with them.

3. LSU/Alabama: Best conference with another of the best uni-matchups.

2. Washington/UCLA: Even without the Bruins throwing back, this is a Top-Fiver.

1. Duke/UNC: It’s awesome, baby!

And the worst matchup: Navy/Notre Dame: It’s like going to a dance with your twin – it just ain’t right.

And as a special bonus pick, Jim awards “UW Honorable Mention to” Tulsa/Houston: Now Leon’s not the only one seeing red when it comes to Tulsa unis

~~~~~~~~~~

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: OK — back to football today. Not sure if you guys like these, but this one may be interesting. You should be able to determine the location and the teams with ease. So it’s just a date and a final score that’s needed. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. Place a link to the answer from pro football reference. And if you want to keep this going through the fall, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line and help a fella out, k? Thanks!

~~~~~~~~~~

UW #1 Seahawks Fan Michael Princip has been tracking the Oregon Ducks and all of their 2,456 possible uniform combinations this season. He’ll be updating it after each game. Unfortunately, the Ducks winning streak came to a screaching halt yesterday, as they were upset down in Palo Alto by the Cardinal. In their second loss of the season (a possible derailment of their bullet train to the Rose Bowl), one stark fact emerges: White unis=bad. Might be safe to say this is the last time they’ll be outfitted in both white pants and jerseys in 2009. Here’s Your Updated Ducktracker.

~~~~~~~~~~

You knew the Boys of Benchies liked football and baseball, but today we find they also have an affinity for a non-major sport. They’re up to their usual hilarity and hijinx when one of the Original Six makes an appearance in their hometown. That Mick…he kills me. On that note, Enjoy Your Benchies for today.

~~~~~~~~~~

Couple last things: Pacific Rim Correspondent Jeremy Brahm reports that even Japan is doing the Olde Tyme Baseball thing — check out that catchers’ mask! … Yesterday, both Oregon/Stanford and USC/ASU featured games where the officials were wearing one blue sleeve (sorry, no screen grabs) — it could best be described as a “long” blue sleeve worn on the right arm, underneath their regular official’s jersey (sort of like Jacoby Ellsbury in reverse). Anyone know what was up with that? … No Legacy Games today in the NFL, but we can all look forward to the Buccaneers busting out Bucco Bruce and the creamsicles in the Battle of the Bays (and that’s the early FOX game).

That’ll do it for today. Everyone have a great Sunday, and don’t forget to cast your vote for the WORST UNIFORM EVER.

221 comments November 8th, 2009

Worst. Uni. Ever. – The Nominees

By Phil Hecken and James Huening

The long awaited “Worst. Uni. Ever.” nominees were submitted (both in last weeks comments as well as dozens of e-mails) and now, James is ready to bring you your selections in a knock-down, drag-out poll format. After receiving literally hundreds of nominees (many of them the “usual suspects” but some we never expected), James has devised the following poll, the link to which appears below. We’ve broken them down into nine categories, the winners of which will “face-off” shortly thereafter in a cage death match to find the absolute worst of the worst, as voted by you. Sounds complicated? Not really.

Simply read James’ descriptions and the pictures of your worst uniform nominees below, as broken down by category. We’ll take the top vote-getters in each category and have them all go up against one another. So with that, lets take a look at each of the nine categories, followed by the poll. James takes it from here:

~~~In the Major League Baseball (MLB) category:

1. First up we have the Cleveland Indians and their solid red uniforms that were worn from 1974 to 1977.

2. Next are the Houston Astros‘ beloved “Tequila Sunrise” uniforms.

3. This one’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser: the New York Yankees’ venerable pinstripes.

4. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ original unis.

5. The 1997-2000 Anaheim Angels.

6. Finally, the 1978 San Diego Padres.

~~~Our next category is the National Football League (NFL):

1. Our first contestant is the Buffalo Bills.

2. Joining them are the Cincinnati Bengals.

3. We go back to the dawn of the AFL for our next nominees, the original Denver Broncos uniforms, which have been on display this season as throwbacks.

4. And of course, we have the Seattle Seahawks and their new alternates.

~~~The National Basketball Association (NBA) is well represented:

1. Starting with the Atlanta Hawks’ 1995-99 uniforms.

2. Staying in the mid-to-late-90s, we have the Cleveland Cavaliers

3. The Detroit Pistons

4. The Houston Rockets

5. The early 90s and the Philadelphia 76ers are not to be forgotten.

6. We’ll head back to the mid/late 90s for the NBA’s two Canadian Representatives: the Toronto Raptors

7. And Vancouver Grizzlies

8. This decade is not completely off the hook, as you can see from the Washington Wizards’ recently-retired alternates.

~~~Plenty of National Hockey League (NHL) unis got nominated.

1. We start with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and their whimsical “Wild Wing” alternate.

2. Staying in California, but going back farther in time, the California Golden Seals had a look that seemed as though it was inspired by UCLA football.

3. Moving to the present day, we have the Atlanta Thrashers alternate.

4. Back to California for the Los Angeles Kings and their “Burger King” jersey.

5. The Nashville Predators and their mustard-colored alternate that was worn from 2001 to 2007 are up next.

6. Next, let’s see the New York Islanders and the “Gorton’s Fisherman” jersey.

7. Back down south for the Tampa Bay Lightning and their 1996-99 alternate.

8. Our only Canadian nominee in this category is the “Flying V” of the Vancouver Canucks.

9. And rounding out this category, the Phoenix Coyotes alternate some refer to as the “Picasso” sweater.

~~~Our next category is for Short-lived Uniforms, whether they were intended to be permanent and scrapped after a handful of wearings or they were intended only to be worn once.

1. We’ll lead things off with the Baltimore Orioles and the orange jerseys and pants they wore for two games in 1971.

2. Joining them are the Chicago White Sox “short pajamas” that were worn in 1976. Nobody really seems to be able to agree on how many times they were worn. Most accounts have them being mothballed after a single wearing, but some say they were worn as many as four times.

3. Next up, the New York Mets and their “Mercury Mets” outfit that was worn as part of the Turn Ahead The Clock promotion in 1999.

4. The Philadelphia Phillies gave us the “Saturday Night Specials” for one game in 1979.

5. The only non-baseball nominee in this category is the Dallas Mavericks “trash bag” alternate uniform worn for a single game in 2004.

~~~We’ll turn to the Minor Leagues now:

1. Starting with the American Defenders of New Hampshire whose regular uniforms feature a camouflage motif.

2. The El Paso Diablos wore yellow, pinstriped uniforms with red pillbox caps in the early 1980s.

3. Our final nominee here is the 1980 Tuscon Toros According to an account I read, the back of the jersey was turquoise.

~~~There are way too many college teams out there to really pinpoint the worst one, so we limited things to the “big two” — NCAA Divison I football and men’s basketball:

1. First, we’ll have a look BYU football’s 1999 redesign

2. Next up, we have Florida A&M football

3. Turning to basketball, NC State’s “leotard” experiment makes an appearance.

4. It wouldn’t be a worst uni poll without Oregon football’s “diamondplate” mix & match set.

5. We’ll close out this category with a pair of football teams dressed from head to toe (or head to knee, at least) in orange: Syracuse

6. And UTEP.

~~~Now we head to the world of Soccer.

1. First, we have the Caribous of Colorado from the NASL. Their innovative jerseys featured fringe.

2. The early days of MLS gave us the Kansas City Wiz (who later became the Wizards).

3. Our third and final soccer nominee is Team USA for their 1994 World Cup unis.

~~~Our final category is Miscellaneous Pro Football.

1. From the CFL’s south-of-the-border expansion days are the Memphis Mad Dogs.

2. The Orlando Rage represent Vince McMahon’s XFL.

3. And we’ll wrap things up with another nominee from Orlando, the 1991-92 Orlando Thunder.

~~~Whew. There you have it. YOUR nominees for the category of “Worst. Uni. Ever.” Only one can win, but you can help narrow it down by voting in the poll below for your worst uniform in the nine categories. Once we have those nine, we’ll resubmit them to you so that we can, once and for all, determine what is the Worst. Uni. Ever.

On to the poll then: GO HERE FOR THE WORST UNIFORM EVER NOMINATIONS POLL.

Thanks again to James Huening for working on this and for coming up with the poll format. We’ll keep the nomination poll open for a week, and have the “playoffs” for the worst ever uni shortly after that. Thanks in advance for your participation!!!

~~~~~~~~~~Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Hokie dokie. Got a football scoreboard today, which comes from reader Billy Duss. Not sure about the difficulty level on this one — kinda one of those “you had to be there” or have seen the game to get it. But we like that here. Definitely one to make you think about it. As always, please find a LINK to the game, which you can post down below in the comments, and not the game itself. As always, date, location and final score, if possible. Ready? Sure. Guess The Game From The Scoreboard.

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

5. Texas/Oklahoma State — A real orange bowl, eh?

4. Tulane/LSU — Green Wave a little too green, but that light blue redeems them.

3. Temple/Navy — A wise old owl didn’t need to tell me to add this to the list.

2. UCLA/Oregon State — My color palette special of the day.

1. Ole Miss/Auburn — Nothing scary about this Halloween matchup at all.

And the worst matchup of the day: San Jose State/Boise State– At least the field looked nice…

~~~~~~~~~~ UW #1 Seahawks Fan Michael Princip has been tracking the Oregon Ducks and all of their 2,456 possible uniform combinations this season. He’ll be updating it after each game. And what a game it was yesterday. Your #10 Ducks took the #5 Trojans behind the woodshed (are we sensing a pattern here?) and basically put a lock on the PAC-10 and punched their ticket to Pasadena…for the Rose Bowl. Look for them to really move up in the rankings now. Only disappointment was the Ducks outfits — no new carbon-steel helmets, nor black and orange (what — they’d look too much like another Oregon school?) for Hallowe’en. Anyway, Here’s Your Updated Ducktracker. Thanks Mike!

~~~~~~~~~~Ah…yesterday we got to meet Mike’s cousin, Mongo. Well, today, the big guy is back with more of his unique brand of humor. Mongo’s humor that is:

More Mongo

Still More Mongo

Remember, Mongo only pawn in game of life.

~~~~~~~~~~Bit of a “special” treat for you, since yesterday was Hallowe’en. Our man on the street, Jim Vilk, put together a special assemblage of Hallowe’en-inspired college football games for us that took place. Here ya go:

Happy Halloween matchups.

5. Miami, Fla./Wake Forest

4. Cincinnati/Syracuse

3. Grambling…uh, I mean Georgia/Florida

2. S. Carolina/Tennessee

1. Coastal Carolina/Clemson

Spooky…thanks, Jim.

~~~~~~~~~~And finally, in case you missed it, the Montreal Canadiens trotted out their barberpoles yesterday. Beauty, eh?

Good stuff there. Thanks to Jim & Rick & James & Mike and everyone else along the way. Don’t forget to vote for the WORST UNI EVER nominees. You can even post your guesses as to who you think the nine finalists will be in the comments, if you want.

And for all you uniform designers, and wanna-be designers, if you missed yesterday’s column, be sure to check it out — a chance for you to design a baseball uniform, logo and cap!

One legacy game today: Titans (Jets) versus Dolphins — should be cool to see the fish in something other than dropshadow for a change — you’ll be reminded how good they once looked, and could look again, if they wanted to make that look permanent. Game IV of the World Series tonight. Don’t forget to push your clocks back, if you haven’t already! That extra hour of sleep is so awesome, no? Of course it is.

Everyone have a great Sunday!

215 comments November 1st, 2009

Somewhere, Patrick Ewing Is Smiling (or maybe just taking a nap, whatever)

Here’s something I forgot to mention in last Friday’s NBA entry: Players in Saturday’s Suns/Warriors preseason game, which was played outdoors, had official permission to wear long undersleeves — an NBA first. It’s not yet clear if this will lead to sleeves being worn for indoor and/or regular season games, but it’s definitely something that’s being discussed. Personally, I have no problem with it. Hell, put some stripes or patterns on those sleeves and you might even end up with basketball uniforms that aren’t a total joke.

Or, more likely, you might make a bad situation worse. But hey, nothing ventured…

New ESPN column today — look here. Paul

Sponsor Shout-Out: As some of you may already have discovered, the folks at Pennant Race Gear (whose ad appears in the right-hand rail) are running an interesting contest-driven promotion — check it out.

Uni Watch News Ticker: New hoops uniforms for Alabama, UNLV, Miami Ohio, and Grand Canyon, plus Washington appears to have added a seriously ugly black alternate. … New throwback hockey jersey for the University of Denver. … So did Jerry Koosman give tax advice to Ron Darling or what? … According to our “White at Home in the NFL” page, the Raiders had never worn white at home until last week. But now Erin Haight has found a photo of Oakland wearing white at home in a 1967 preseason game. “I was not aware of that,” says jersey scholar Timmy Brulia. “I won’t add this to the white-at-home log, since it was a preseason game, but it’s interesting to note that at least one other AFL team, the Oilers, wore white at home for their preseason games in 1968 and 1969 at the Astrodome. To my knowledge — and I think I can say this with a pretty good degree of certainty — no AFL regular or postseason game ever featured a team wearing white at home.” … Great to see so many old baseball sweaters gathered in one place (thanks Kirsten). … Fun analysis of mascots here (with thanks to Jason Hillyer). … OK, so we all know NFL players now wear tights, and/or leg warmers, and/or socks sewn into the cuffs of their pants, and/or anything other than a standard pair of socks. But Reggie Wayne was really pushing it on Monday night. … Ricko, who knows I’m a Niners fan, sent me a bunch of interesting stuff from his files, including an SI item about the team’s equipment manager and some 1960s shots that show how the team was sometimes wearing silver pants with silver helmets and silver pants with gold helmets before finally settling on gold/gold in 1969. But wait, here’s a 1970s card that appears to show silver pants, although I don’t put much stock in a Topps card photo from that era. … Semi-decent view of the Browns’ 1999 “inaugural” patch here. … Man, the Devils wore some huge-ass helmet numbers in the late ’90s. Those screen shots come from this video clip (good find by Tomas Abrate). … The Canadiens’ centennial throwback schedule is up (with thanks to John Muir). … Ooh, check out Robert Marshall’s latest bobblehead video. … Fifteen-year timeline of photographic timeline of Presidents Cups here. … Good little article about Brad May getting his preferred uni number here (with thanks to Alyssa Miller). … Another new mask for Carey Price (with thanks to Casey B). … Hey, you know that amazing 1927 Tigers uniform? Here it is being worn in 1928 spring training, except for that one guy in the back row (amazing find by Bruce Menard). … The Blazers wore their Rip City jerseys last night, and Scott Little took a bunch of pics. “The game was at the Memorial Coliseum — a pretty cool old little arena,” he writes. “Steve Blake was wearing some shoes that I didn’t recognize, got a couple pics of those too.” … WVU will reportedly wear gold jerseys and white pants against Marshall this weekend (thanks, Kek). … Bizarre eBay find here. Never seen sleeves like that on a baseball jersey before. Judging by the patch placement and the straight hem, it was meant to be worn untucked, which makes me wonder if it was a women’s softball jersey. But the buttons are on the right, which is the men’s button format. Hmmmm. And man, that “Cadets” sleeve patch is the best! Great, great find (big thanks to Gabe Butler).

238 comments October 15th, 2009

History Lessons

Back in January, reader Warren Humphrey pointed me toward this page, which features lots of interesting Seattle Chieftains uniforms. I linked to it in the Ticker and that was the end of that.

But if I had bothered to click around on the site where that page was hosted (which I’ve now finally done, thanks to a tip from Dave Hembree), I would have found a ton additional material. The site is Both Teams Played Hard, and it’s amazing. It’s run by Warren, who describes himself as “a collector,” although I think “historian” might be just as apt a title for him. His strongest suit appears to be basketball, mostly non-NBA stuff, although he has at least a few jerseys from all the major (and some minor) sports. Here’s a small sampling of what you can find once you start clicking through his site:

• Totally digging this Knicks warm-up pullover and this snap-front design.

• The front of this Kentucky State shooting shirt is nice, but the real prize is the design on the back — check it out.

• Here’s a doozy: tequila sunrise and sunset!

• I’d never seen a basketball jersey with the school name in between the two uni number numerals before. How did they handle the design for jerseys with single-digit numbers?

• Awesome 1960s Cleveland Barons hockey jersey here.

• You can really see how the Jets’ shade of green has changed over the years when you look at this old salesman’s sample.

• Love the chunky Phillies script seen in this 1948 batboy jersey.

• Good thing Warren already sold this 1930s football jersey, or else I’d be reaching for the checkbook right now.

• We all know that the Cubs’ mid-century road design has also been used by minor league teams, but I’d never seen this version before.

• OK, so we all know how I feel about purple, but I might make an exception for this jersey.

• You also know how I feel about the combination of green and gold, and that goes double for this uni. GodDAMN that’s gorgeous!

• Greatest rear-jacket design ever? Could be, could be.

• The Globetrotters weren’t the only show team playing in Harlem back in the day. There were also the Harlem Travelers.

• Rare to see a shooting shirt with a big design on the front.

• It’s hard to imagine a jersey that screams “early 1970s!” more than this one does. Here’s the road version.

• I know there have been teams called the Quakers, but I’ve never seen one called the Quaker Oats. Must have been a factory team.

• Magnificent satin jersey here.

• Warren also has a huge page devoted to old photos, ranging from the gorgeous to the bizarre. Too many notable pics to list here, so let’s just say I strongly, strongly recommend scrolling through the entire set.

• Last but absolutely not least, Warren has also been compiling a tagging archive. Click on the individual brands to see loads of great tag designs.

And there’s more — a lot more. Good luck getting anything else done once you start poking around through Warren’s collection.

Great Seven-Inch Sell-Off, Continued: I’ve put yet another batch of old indie singles up for sale on eBay. Start biddin’!

Uni Watch News Ticker: Some really nice old baseball program and yearbook covers on display here. “My favorite is this one, for obvious reasons,” says Ray Barrington). … Oooh, check this out: Prior to Saturday’s Blackhawks/Avalanche game, Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Denis Savard, and Tony Esposito took the ice in period-appropriate uniforms. “Note the NNOB and older crest on Mikita and Hull and the gold trim on the crest with the sans-serif C on the shoulder patches for Esposito,” says James Huening. “Dunno why Savard had to wear an Edge jersey, though. And I’m pretty sure the numbers weren’t positioned so low on the back during the NNOB days.” … “Clemson football player Stanley Hunter was forced to quit the team right before the season started because of his ongoing problems with epileptic seizures,” says Benji Boyter. “As a tribute to him, a different player on the team is wearing his No. 17 for each game.” … You know how turf fields typically include those little pieces of ground-up tires? Turns out they could be toxic. … Good spot by Teebz, who notes that Chicago Wolves goalie Drew MacIntyre was still wearing his blue Predators pants the other day, instead of black like his teammates. … The Penguins will wear their blue throwbacks this Saturday. The full schedule for wearing them this season can be found here (thanks, Kek). … Good spot by Jesse Buckner, who notes that the Rangers have been wearing navy gloves, instead of royal. Is that a new thing? … Best news of the week! … USC is adding a helmet decal this weekend for Stafon Johnson, who suffered a serious training injury. … New logos and colors for the New Orleans Zephyrs (with thanks to Bruce Richards). … Todd Usher notes that Maurice Creek is shown wearing a numberless Indiana jersey on this page. “I’d never seen an Indiana head shot that didn’t include the number,” he says. … Great story about an old Arkansas pennant here (nice find by Charlie Shields). … FNOB alert from the late ’80s. That’s Kerry Cash of the 1989 Longhorns (as noted by Gordon Reid). … Look at this: Nike is selling Oregon State replica jerseys with different TV numbers on the two sleeves. “It’s so people don’t have to choose between the two best players on the team, brothers Jacquizz (#1) and James (#8) Rodgers,” says Malcolm Byers.

212 comments October 14th, 2009

Checking in with the NBA

Two Fridays ago I spent a few hours up at the NBA offices, where they showed me all the new gear for this season. Some of the new designs have already been unveiled, like the new Sixers uniforms, Portland’s “Rip City” alternates, etc. — I won’t go into those here. I’m also going to save some of the changes for my NBA season-preview column on ESPN, which will be running in about two weeks. But here’s a smattering of news to get you in the mood:

• The Cavs are once again doing one of those “CavFanatic” alternate uni designs. This time it’s the late-’80s design in 1970s colors. Dig the special tagging.

• By now you’ve seen Charlotte’s new pinstriped uni set. What you probably haven’t seen is that they’ll once again be doing a NASCAR version. Again, special tagging.

• Two uni-borne memorials for the Pistons: a jersey patch for Chuck Daly and that rear-collar “Mr. D” for Bill Davidson. As I mentioned in the Ticker last week, the Davidson memorial will be permanent.

• Speaking of memorials, the Pacers have added a patch for Mel Simon, although they haven’t yet worn it in their preseason games.

• Here’s a good look at the anniversary patches being worn by the Cavs and Kings.

• The Heat have made three changes to their shorts. First, the old format of having the NBA logo on the left leg and the team logo on the right leg has been reversed (that’s so the shorts match up with the jersey, where the NBA logo appears on the right-chest area). Second, the team logo on the red alternate shorts has been changed from the flaming ball to the flaming “MH.” And third, team logos have been added to the waistband on all three shorts designs.

• Last year the Nuggets wore green jerseys as an environmental-awareness thing. That initiative has been retired for this season, although a broader uni-based environmental program may be put in place for 2010-11.

• These are the new compression shorts and calf sleeves that many players will be wearing. So if you see any players looking like extras from Tron, now you know why.

• The rim design has been updated. In addition to the superficial changes, the new version has breakaway functionality on the sides as well as the front.

That should be enough to keep you busy for now. More NBA news coming soon-ish.

Never thought they’d actually play a game: I was out having dinner with friends last night so I missed Matt Holiday’s rock the UFL’s auspicious debut. Fortunately, Marcus Hall took a bunch of screen shots and Mike Sullivan actually created a new blog just to catalog all his UFL complaints, so you can get a sense of just how tragic the whole affair was. Man, Jim Fassel must have burned a lot of NFL bridges in order to have been reduced to this.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Hey, check it out, it’s Elvis playing football. The “E.P. Entp.” on the jersey stands for “Elvis Presley Enterprises,” natch (great find by Bruce Menard). … Last year, Mike Walker of the Jags wore No. 81 and a “Walker” NOB. This year, however, he switched to No. 11 and “Sims-Walker” (the hyphenated NOB reflecting a nod to his late father) — at least for the first three games of the season. But last week he was back to just “Walker” (good work by Jonathon Binet). … Not uni-related but still very cool: a directory of world license plate styles (great find by Jordan Guthmann). … Two good items from Michael Jaworski: (1) The local history museum in Stuart, Florida, is currently featuring a very good baseball exhibit, with a nice photo gallery. And (2) Florida is adding a women’s lacrosse team in February, but they’re already playing exhibition games. “I assume these are their actual game uniforms, but don’t know for sure,” says Michael. “They have SNOB, although I wish it was on the front, above the uniform number, like in basketball.” … I’ve seen lots of girls’ teams wearing candy-cane sock stripes, but never a boys’ team — until now. That’s a Pop Warner squad from Watertown, New York (with thanks to Dave Northrop). … The Florida Panthers came up with rock tour-style T-shirts for their preseason schedule (as noted by Scott Marcusky). … Update to an item from yesterday: Here’s a color version of what the Padres would have looked like if they’d become the Washington Stars. As you can see, the color scheme would have been red, white, and blue — not purple and gold, as reader Richard Craig had stated yesterday (big, big thanks to fellow SABR member Maxwell Kates). … “I got married a few weeks ago,” says Doug McConnell. “When my fiancé, now wife, couldn’t find any suitable cake toppers, I decided to use these little guys instead.” … “Here is the logo for the 2018 and 2022 Japan World Cup bids,” says Jeremy Brahm. “I don’t know why they needed Astroboy, but he is the ‘Special Ambassador.’” … Incidentally, I recently interviewed Jeremy for a Uni Watch Profiles segment, which will be running soon. … The end zones in Denver this weekend will feature alternating filled-in diamonds — nice.

167 comments October 9th, 2009

What, You’d Prefer That They Use a Puck?

As we’ve discussed here several times, many NBA team logos include an image of a basketball. This was a particular concern a few years ago, when the league briefly tried to introduce a new ball design, which led me (and probably others) to wonder if all those teams would have to revise their logos.

That question became moot when the new ball experiment was abandoned. But a larger question remains: Why do so many NBA teams have basketballs in their logos? Is this an intentional or strategic point of difference with the other leagues (since most NFL team logos don’t include a football, most MLB logos don’t include a baseball, etc.)? Just a coincidence that’s developed over the years? Something else altogether? And when the NBA commissions a new logo, is the designer specifically instructed to include a basketball, or has it just worked out that way?

I recently posed those questions to NBA apparel director Christopher Arena (one of the really good guys in the uni world, by the way). Here’s what he wrote back:

When we started the WNBA, we were very focused on ball icons in the logos (specifically a multi-colored ball). This was branding 101 — new league, awareness, blah-blah-blah. Same thing when we started to develop the D-League logos — no one knows who we are, lots of minor league sports competition, must show that we are about the game of basketball.

On the NBA side, it sort of just happened. Almost every team logo was developed prior to my 15 seasons here, so I don’t know if it is intentional or not. But as a young league, my guess is that in the ’40s and ’50s maybe they had the same brand-building concerns. I will say that as new logos have been created or updated, we have suggested that a basketball icon (not necessarily a ball) be integrated into the identity. Not necessarily the primary logo but maybe a secondary logo.

So we have:

• Teams with basketball icons in their primary logo: 23, if you count Portland (the 5-on-5 inspiration) and Houston (the net inspiration). Most of these are the original designs (Lakers, Celtics, Wizards, Pacers) or are updates of logos that had a basketball (Knicks, Pistons, Suns).

• Teams with basketball icons in their secondary logo but not their primary: 5. Interestingly, some of these are very new logos and we didn’t include it in the primary but felt it fit in a secondary — Bobcats, Wolves, Grizzlies, Bucks, and Nuggets (older but same principle).

• Teams with no basketball icon: Bulls, Spurs.

I would say that if a team approached me tomorrow about changing its logo, we would suggest a ball or net or something be somewhere in the identity. As for the other sports leagues, I think baseballs or bases or diamonds are in a lot of the primary [MLB] logos, but they are so hat-icon-based that it gets lost (the Brewers’ old mb logo is still best of all time). Same thing with the NFL and helmet logos, which sort of developed into the actual logos. Plus a football has an odd shape — basketballs and roundness and symmetry are easier to work with.

All very interesting. Personally, though, I think the use of basketballs in NBA logos is overdone. This is no longer a young league (sure it’s a lot younger than the NFL or MLB, but there’s a whole generation of fans who don’t know or care about that), so no need to say, “Hey, this game we’re playing here is BASKETBALL.” And the repetition of the ball throughout so many of the marks starts to feel willful after a while — like, “We’re doing it because we have to do it, because that’s just the way we do it.” Or to put it another way, “Because we have to” can be just as damaging as “Because we can.”

Big thanks to Christopher for sharing his time and expertise on this — much obliged.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Adrian Beltre is now wearing a cup. … David McGee notes that Curenski Gilleylen’s NOB was misspelled on last weekend. … Brilliant account of the Mets’ season here. Click on the board spaces for the full effect (with thanks to Scott Turner). … The AFL throwbacks are now available on Madden (with thanks to Paul Ricciardi). … Remember Mark Penxa and his awesome baseball watercolors? Looks like he’s starting a hockey series. … Yesterday I linked to some photos of the Pacific Coast League exhibit at SFO Airport. Now John Moist has provided some much clearer photos. … “I’m shocked that nobody from the great state of Michigan has dropped you a line regarding our new QB, Dernard Robinson,” writes Ethan Crooks. “Robinson has never tied his spikes at any level, resulting in the nickname ‘Shoelace,’ which has followed him up to Michigan.” Yeah, okay, but leaving your laces untied doesn’t mean so much if you’re just gonna apply a heavy spat job. … Can someone please get this guy an NEA grant or something? (Big thanks to Nile Smith.) … Looks like the UFL is going to be quite the pioneer. … More about the Seahawks’ green jerseys, from a source who prefers to remain anonymous: “As a student football equipment manager at a school in Wisconsin, we used to drive up to Ripon Athletic quite frequently to get stuff last minute (nameplates, etc.) and I had an opportunity on a brief tour to see some Seahawks ‘all lime green’ pants and jerseys (a coordinating set) that were being prototyped. They actually had huge rolls of the nasty-colored material that had to be custom-made overseas because up to that time no one had ordered anything that color. I remember the boss saying they were going to be ’stuck’ with it at the time. So that stuff does exist.” … Now that’s a uniform. It’s from the Festival of the Babes, described as “a women’s soccer festival for lesbians and those willing to be mistaken for one.” Lots of additional photos on this page (with thanks to Bob Wilmot). … New uniforms unveiled yesterday for the WHL, OHL, and LHJMQ. … If you believe the Earthlink mail server, which I don’t, I received exactly zero e-mails from 6pm yesterday until about 7am today. If you sent me anything during that period, please re-send it, because for now it appears that everything sent my way during that 13-hour stretch has fallen into a deep black hole. Thanks.

271 comments September 10th, 2009

Auction Action

When I attended the National Sports Collectors Convention in Cleveland earlier this summer, I spent plenty of time lingering over the basketball jerseys shown at the Grey Flannel Auctions booth. Now a lot of those jerseys — along with a bunch of other good stuff — have shown up in Grey Flannel’s latest auction, which is tied to the upcoming inductions at the Basketball Hall of Fame. Here’s a rundown of some of the more notable items:

• Never knew the ABA’s iconic striped basketball was once depicted on a championship ring (here’s the full listing, which has additional photos and info).

• So much to like about this James “Fly” Williams jersey, including the nickNOB (full listing).

• I spent a few minutes fondling this old USC jersey at the National. The photos I took at the time do a better job of showing the lettering’s gorgeous texture (full listing).

• I suspect a closer view would also show some nice textural details in this old Philly Warriors jersey (full listing).

• If you’re a fan of the Nuggets’ old rainbow jerseys, you can get the original design and the late-’80s update in this auction (full listings here and here, respectively).

• A Globetrotters jersey is always fun, but this warm-up jacket is even better (full listings here and here, respectively).

• I looooove this 1970-71 Sixers design. Dig the Pearson tag, too (full listing).

• Speaking of tags, look at this! Not sure what “Minnesota inspired” means, but it’s an awesome tag design. It’s from this old St. Louis Bombers jacket from the late 1940s (full listing).

• Finally, I was intrigued by this listing of signed checks from Hall of Famer Cliff Hagan. Check out his handwriting — it’s impeccable! Looks more like checks from an elementary school teacher, not an athlete. Interesting.

Discount Reminder: Remember, Bill Henderson is offering his latest MLB jersey reference guide at a $5 discount to Uni Watch readers. Just go to the Bill’s store and use the discount code “paulhatespurple” when checking out.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Speaking of auctions, here’s a pretty rare item (with thanks to Bruce Menard). … Awesome yard sale find by Craig Bates, who came across this Japanese baseball jersey. Nice tag, too. Jeremy, can you shed any light on this one? … Notice anything different about these uniforms? That’s Crown College, a D3 school, and Eric Bangeman notes that their uni appears to be completely free of manufacturers’ logos. … What kind of socks was Pacman Jones wearing here? (As spotted by Kenneth Ritz.) … Kudos to the folks at The Oregonian, who’ve created a Ducks mix-and-match uni page. … Well, that didn’t take long. … Who’s that holding up the ball? It’s Ted Kennedy, believe it or not. But of greater interest for our purposes is the fact that the Yale players have Northwestern-striped sleeves while others have triple-stripes (good spot by Dan Cichalski). … As expected, David Wright wore the new S100 helmet after coming off the DL last night. Despite all the chatter about the helmet looking too big (including some excruciating exchanges between Gary Cohen and Keith Hernandez on TV), I think it looks fine. … Luis Castillo tried the S100 during BP but went with his usual Cool-Flo lid during the game. … OK, maybe it looks a little big, but it kinda depends on the angle at which you’re viewing it. In case you missed my ESPN column about all of this, look here. … Jon Strauss was at Gillette Stadium for the New England Revolution’s annual “Meet the Revs” event the other day and got pics of some really great stuff on the wall…. Robert Marshall’s latest project: painting this 1960s Orioles helmet for reader David Reeder. “He was putting together an authentic ’60’s O’s flannel uniform to play ball in,” Robert explains. “The snag: Rawlings was going to make him buy 50 Orioles helmets to get one. He had done me a favour, so I offered to paint it for him. Spent 13 hours painting and sanding, painting and sanding. Then I topped it off with the same varnish they used on the cows that lined Chicago a few years ago.”

134 comments September 2nd, 2009