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Posts filed under 'NFL'
Witih Brett Favre’s situation finally resolved, Roger Goodell decided it was OK for the world to start spinning again. Among other edicts (like finally allowing NFL employees to go to the bathroom instead of watching the non-stop Brett coverage on that TV station I work for), he came down from the mountaintop with two tablets that read, “OK, you can start the preseason now (not that anyone really cares, but it’s a fun way to bilk some extra change from our season ticket holders).” And so it came to pass that several teams descended upon that gridiron last night.
As you know, this is shaping up as a quiet season uni-wise, but I spotted a few noteworthy items in last night’s action:
• Good to see the Bears are still using that horizontal yoke darting. (If you’re not familiar with it, look here for further details.)
• Sure enough, the logo-emblazoned green helmet dot just looks dirty or smudgy when viewed from a distance. Doesn’t look so great up close either. Lame. (I couldn’t find a photo of a defensive helmet dot — anyone..?)
• Here are our first in-game views of the Lions’ 75th-season patch. Can’t stand how much black it adds to the proceedings. Kinda big too, no?
• Man, those new black stripes on the officials’ pants sure are heavy.
• Didn’t watch this game, but it sure looks like it was easy on the eyes. Very nice.
• You don’t need to hate purple as much as I do to be alarmed by this.
• His future looks, uh, bright.
And finally, although it didn’t take place on the field, take a look at this shot. As several commenters noted last night, the two microphones show two different versions of the NFL Network logo.
Whitewash: Reader Tim Brulia has undertaken a Herculean research project: He and some friends have documented every single instance of NFL teams wearing white at home since 1957. He’s offered this database to me, and I’ve uploaded it onto this page — enjoy.
Olympix Outreach: I will not be near a TV set tonight or during the weekend, so I’ll miss all the bullshit the opening ceremonies and the several days’ worth of competition. Won’t be near a computer either, so I won’t be able to check in on the comments to see what you folks are noticing over the weekend. I am interested in compiling a record of what’s going on in Beijing, however. So if you see anything noteworthy over the next few days, don’t assume that I’m watching it too — instead, send me an e-mail with “Olympics” in the subject line. I’ll start sifting through the material once I get back to civilization on Sunday night.
Raffle Reminder: Today’s the last day for the SoccerPro.com $100 gift card raffle. If you haven’t done so already, you can enter by sending 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 10pm eastern tonight. One entry per person, unless you’re enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program, in which case you can send up to four entries. I’ll announce the winner next Monday, when I’ll also be announcing yet another raffle.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The USA men’s soccer team is also playing without the USA soccer crest, just like the women. Further info here (although I’m not sure how accurate the writer’s assessment is). … A Washington letter carrier wants to trade in his uniform pants for a kilt, which would certainly give new meaning to the term “going postal.” Details here (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Speaking of non-sports uniforms, here’s a note from frequent flier Minna H.: “Here’s an interesting article about a Frank Lloyd Wright gas station in Cloquet, Minnesota that’s celebrating its 50th anniversary. The attendants will be wearing period unis, and anyone driving a classic car gets gas at 1950s prices.” … Joel Kirstein has created a three-part survey of Olympics logos. Check it out here, here, and here. … Lincoln King spotted the Astros’ strength and conditioning coach, Gene Coleman, wearing a jersey and shorts prior to Wednesday’s ’Stros/Cubs game. His jersey had an NOB but no number. … Equipment note from Jacob Little, who writes: “During Wednesday’s White Sox game, color man Steve Stone mentioned a new method to organize the players bats in the dugout. Instead of being listed by name or number on the cubby, they’re listed by the player’s country of origin (or in the U.S. players’ case, by state of origin). I’ll be at two games during this homestand, so I’ll try to grab a picture.” … Another guy with a pin on his cap: Frank Robinson during his Giants managerial stint. Hard to tell if it’s the old Croix de Candlestick pin (full details on that are here), but it probably is — the timeline matches up (with thanks to Andy Chalifour). … Latest awesome photo contribution from Jared Wheeler: Monte Cross of the Philadelphia A’s wearing a killer sweater. … You knew Johnny U. finished his career with the Chargers. But did you know he wore blue high-tops? (Thanks to Matt Mitchell.) … Lots of the Ravens are wearing that Gouge-Gard protective helmet film, as seen here, here, here, here, and here (with thanks to Jack Krabbe). … Good thing the Yankees are such a classy organization (with thanks to Steven Samuels). … Big article here about Under Armour. … Here’s the new Colorado jersey — interesting. Kinda need to see it with pads, but I’m actually more intrigued than appalled. Additional pics here (with thanks to Robert Andrew Powell). … New design for Houston too, going from this to this. … Wanna see something really, really cool? Go here and move the slider from year to year (big thanks to KJ Kearney). … Doesn’t really look so weird. … Appalachian State will be wearing throwbacks on September 6th to mark coach Jerry Moore’s 20th year. Additional pics here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Check out Fernando Tatis from Wednesday night’s Mets/Padres game — for once, a helmet dot Ticker item that has nothing to do with the NFL. … “Okay,” says Nile Smith, “so last year and the year before you might have noticed how Ohio State players changed from wearing white socks to black. But during yesterday’s team photo, almost everyone had white socks. Hopefully this doesn’t change back during the season. It sounds tiny and odd, but Ohio State fans went ballistic when they switched from white socks to black.” … I’m deeply saddened — and, frankly, a little offended — to report that Len Kasper and Bob Brenly did not mention Uni Watch on the air yesterday. The fact that the Cubs had an off day is no excuse.
August 8th, 2008
Every now and then a debate breaks out in the comments section about the precise definition of logo creep. As the guy who came up with the term, I feel reasonably qualified to define it as follows: Logo creep is visual clutter formed by the unnecessary proliferation of logos where they don’t belong. This can include maker’s marks, league logos, and other sorts of gratuitous logotypes. And have I got a doozy of an example for you today.
Here’s the scoop: As you no doubt recall, the NFL instituted a new rule last season requiring the one radio-equipped helmet on the offensive side of the ball to be adorned with a green sticker (which led to my receiving an endless stream of “What’s that green dot?” e-mails last season, but that’s another story). As you may also recall, there was talk a few months ago of allowing one defensive helmet to be radio-equipped as well. That led many folks to wonder if a corresponding green dot would appear on the defensive side of the ball.
Judging by this photo from the first day of Giants camp, the answer is yes. That’s Antonio pierce wearing the telltale green sticker. But it looks a little smudgy, no? Is there some dirt on the dot, or maybe something printed on it?
It’s tough to tell for sure in that photo. Fortunately, I’m able to provide you with a better view. Here’s what the sticker looks like up close.
This isn’t the stupidest thing the NFL has ever done, but that’s only because they tried to keep Mike Nolan from wearing a suit. Like, seriously, do these people have the NFL logo tattooed on their dicks or what? Do they sit around an NFL logo-shaped table while munching on NFL logo-shaped macaroons and ponder new places to apply the NFL logo? Are they aware that the average NFL player already wears the league’s logo on his jersey, pants, helmet, gloves, towel, wristbands, and those little stretchy bands that Jeremy Shockey likes to wear on his biceps to show what a studmuffin he is?
There’s something about this whole enterprise that reeks of everything that’s wrong with the NFL (and with a lot of other corporate enterprises that spin out of control). For starters, who needs radio-equipped helmets anyway? Larynxes and hand signals and worked fine for decades. Then radio-equipped helmets begat the problem of multiple radio-equipped helmets, so they came up with the rule that there could only be one electronically wired helmet on the field at a time. Which in turn meant they had to come up with the green dots, which looked like shit because they didn’t match any team’s color scheme except the Seahawks’. And now the green dot has been imprinted with a design that looks like a smudge from a distance and looks pathetic up close.
The technology-driven progression here reminds me of instant replay, which seemed like a good idea until it led to lengthy delays, coaches who didn’t know which plays were and weren’t reviewable, teams that would hurry to the line and snap the ball just to prevent the opposing team from asking for a review, bad calls that couldn’t be challenged because the coach had already used up his allotment of challenges, refs who didn’t remember where the ball should be placed after they’d ruled on a challenge, and little red flags that revealed the horrible truth about NFL coaches (namely that they all throw like girls, at least when tossing a red challenge flag). It’s like there’s something about the NFL that makes them take every idea to its most ridiculous extreme until they’ve sapped every ounce of potential enjoyment from the situation. I still like football, but they’re making it harder and harder.
In happier news, I attended yesterday’s Mets/Cards game in the company of my good friend The Rev. Nørb, who’s smarter than everyone at NFL HQ put together — a fact clearly demonstrated by the two installments of his seminal food and drink manifesto, “Rev. Nørb’s Keen Cusine,” which you can enjoy here and here. It has nothing to do with uniforms, but it’s brilliant in precisely the same way that a logo-emblazoned green dot is idiotic, and therefore serves as a handy antidote for these troubled times.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Any further discussions of “the worst baseball uniform ever” will have to reckon with the uni that Dylan Horowitz has turned up. Look, if you dare, here. … Really interesting article here about the guy who makes Ichiro’s gloves (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … My recent ESPN column on the 1998 futuristic game between the Royals and Mariners inspired gumball helmet maven Bill Jones to create these. He’s also got lots of updated logo sheets available for sharing, as you can see here. … More Iowa State Baseball Tourney observations from Jesse Gavin: a cool, kinda Negro Leagues-esque cap worn by Grandview Park Baptist; award decals being used by Johnston; and lots of very flat brims. … On the subject of logo-emblazoned socks, Karl Krekeler found these UPS hose. … If you go to this link and then click to page 32, you’ll find an article on the designer who created the Astros’ tequila sunrise design (with thanks to John Weghorst). … Brad Foster nominates the CFL’s now-defunct Memphis Mad Dogs in the “worst jersey ever” sweepstakes (here’s another shot). … Pretty damn cute. … Get this: The first time an Atlanta police detective solves a case, he’s rewarded with a fedora. Additional info and photos here (great find by Brent Hardman). … Last year I wrote about how Carlos Gomez had worn a cap that was a weird hybrid of the Mets’ road and alt caps (blue brim, but that version of the “NY” logo usually appears only on the solid black cap; details here). I assumed it was a one-time manufacturing glitch by New Era, but apparently it’s at least a two-time glitch, because Casey Moses found the same hybrid design in a store (additional pics here, here and here). “It was the only one of its kind at the store, so I bought it as a novelty, even though it’s not my size,” he says. … This story about former Czech president Vaclav Havel includes the following: “And what, if anything, disappoints Havel with the state of contemporary capitalist culture, whose forces he helped unleash as a dissident? ‘I do not like the ads on the shirts of hockey or football players,’ he said. ‘You’d think Coca-Cola is playing against Pepsi Cola.’” I assume he’s talking about European hockey and soccer there, and he’s right (great find by Bryant Robinson). … Hmmm, got logo creep? Looks like they worked in just about every manufacturer (with thanks to Wayne Yeung). … Speaking of logo creep, David Sonny points out that the Reebok logo is front and center on this Sporting News cover photo, which is interesting because the MLB undershirt license actually belongs to Nike, not Reebok — wonder whether it was Yunel Escobar or TSN who was responsible for that little maneuver. … On Friday I quoted a reader asking whether any football teams had replaced their primary helmet logos with anniversary logos. But as many readers immediately pointed out, lots of college teams wore the NCAA’s “100″ mark in 1969, including Ole Miss, ’Bama, ASU, Navy, and many more (thanks to Jim Parker for those pics, and please let’s not have everyone posting every single example — we all get the idea). … Lots of really cool old-timey sports T-shirts available here. I especially like this one (with thanks to Dusty McGowan). … Big news from Steve Dewing (whose baseball photo site remains essential viewing): He’s got a new site devoted to old hockey photos. Check it out here. … Some great new baseball revelations from Steve too, including Chris Spier wearing an Astros helmet in the 1972 All-Star Game and Denny McLain as a Brave. … Interesting NOB here (courtesy of Johnny Garfield) — note that it’s “Miller, M.” instead of “M. Miller.” Anyone know more about this? … Brinke Guthrie notes that several of the Giants’ recent call-ups seem to have their uni numbers riding a tad low. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Cool slideshow of the Oklahoma football equipment room here. … Also from Saturday: Indiana assistant hoops coach Bennie Seltzer wore the team’s candy-striped warmup pants to get recruits’ attention at a recent summer camp. Details here. … Interesting note from eagle-eyed Josh Edney regarding yesterday’s Phils/Braves game, which had a two-hour rain delay: “The umps started out the game in their powder blue shirts, including home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez, whose shirt was No. 61, even though his number is listed on the MLB web site as 72. When the rain delay concluded, the umps returned to the field wearing black shirts, and Marquez’s had his proper number.” … Mark Mihalik’s footwear site has an interesting tidbit regarding Bronson Arroyo’s swooshes. … Mets-hating Phillies fans should dig this and this, both available here (with thanks to Morris Levin). … The B.C. Lions will be wearing a memorial decal in honor of former team exec Bob Ackles. Details here (courtesy of Alex Tepperman). … Jeremy Brahm reports that the Japanese volleyball team will be wearing this in Beijing. … Several jillion readers wrote in to tell me that Xavier Nady’s uni number and helmet number didn’t match on Saturday. Also, the last item on this page reads like so: “The [Yanks’] new left-handed reliever Dámaso Marte was issued No. 34, with the blessing of the injured pitcher Phil Hughes, who had no luck with the number early this season. Xavier Nady took No. 29, last worn by pitcher Kei Igawa, who was dropped from the 40-man roster.” … Becky Taylor has crated a huge gallery of Georgia high school sports photos — some that she’s taken herself, some scanned from yearbooks she’s collected. … And Hadyn Green has scanned a bunch of photos from old rugby almanacs. … “I was going through some old issues of Pro magazine,” writes Michael Princip. “The Aug. 17, 1978 issue had an article on George Brace and the portraits he did of 1931 Chicago Bears players. Great read [here and here], as well as photos [here and here].” … Terry Proctor along a bunch of pics of the 1956-57 Rochester Royals — note the striped shorts. “Sort of a ‘Globetrotters-meets-NBA’ look to the whole set, he says. … Latest team to wear their BP jerseys for a regular-season game: the Rays yesterday. Even worse, they did while playing the Royals, who were wearing their powder blues, resulting in a pathetic spectacle that was unworthy of MLB status. … Lots of news (much of which we’ve already heard) regarding NHL alts here. … Good story here about America’s last remaining baseball glove factory. … Against all reason (but much to my delight), graphic artists continue to depict baseball players wearing stirrups. Latest example is here. … Absolutely stomach-turning sight, at least for me: Bowie Kuhn wearing a Mets cap. … The more you look through the Sporting News archives, the more you find that the old mag was way into uni-watching, as seen in this 1969 clipping regarding Ken Harrelson’s NOB (great find by John Schaefer). … Two interesting field hockey shots from Tris Wykes: First, rather unusual socks on display here. And what was Kecoughtan High from Hampton, Virginia, thinking when they outfitted their goalkeeper? … Jeremy Sowers looked particularly sharp yesterday. … “So I popped open my Hockey News this week, and the contents page showed Brian Rolston’s nameplate being applied,” writes T.J. Leibowitz (who also sent along some pics of Japanese Little Leaguers wearing stirrups and Asian uni numbers). … “This article seems to argue (midway down, right around the white jersey with LUFC in cursive) that Leeds United’s manager at the time (Don Revie) started manufacturer’s logo creep on soccer jerseys in Britain,” says Andrew Connor. … “Here is a pic of my grandpa, John Novosel, who played for the 1941 Springfield Browns, writes Scott Novosel. “They were a minor league team for the St. Louis Browns that played in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. That year he batted .302 and a scout from the New York Giants came down to see him play. The scout asked the Browns how much it would cost for him. The Browns said $60,000, and the scout said, “No thanks, for that much money, we got a guy who is pretty good in right field.” He was referring to Mel Ott.” … By now you’ve seen that Aquafina commercial with Lou Piniella a few dozen times (if not, it’s here), but Doug Simpson noticed something that nobody else had brought to my attention: The pitcher who’s backing up third base at the very beginning of the ad has no uni number. … The Red Sox have previously flown a Jolly Roger flag in their bullpen, but now they’ve modified it somewhat, as seen here (with thanks to Randy Williams). … “I took this photo at Fenway Saturday,” writes Jere Smith. “As you can see, Ortiz seems to have a flame/torch decal on his bat. He had this bat in BP and, as shown here, on deck during the game. It appears to be red, yellow, and green from left to right, like the Rastafarian flag. I’ve never seen any decal like this on a bat during a game before.” … Speaking of Big Papi, it’s one thing to mark your helmet with a memorial tribute to a deceased family member, teammate, or friend. But I think doing it for a family member of a former teammate, as Ortiz did on Friday night, is pushing it. That inscription on his helmet read, “RIP 45,” for Pedro Martinez’s father — well-meaning, yes, but I say it’s a bit much. … Tigers and Chisox wore Negro Leagues throwbacks on Saturday (additional pics here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). … What the hell is this? Did the Twins really wear this in 1968, as the seller contends, or — as I suspect — is it just a scam? Details, please (as found by Jeff Barak). … Eric Sun notes that Geno Espineli doesn’t just have picture-perfect stirrups, he’s completing the old-school look with a Spalding glove and Puma spikes.
July 28th, 2008
Several readers have spoken highly of this 1969 book, which chronicles the first half-century of the NFL, so I tracked down a copy. Sure enough, tons of great stuff. Here are some highlights:
• First and foremost, there’s a section devoted to the evolution of the uniform, featuring a kickass series of illustrations showing what was worn by the 1920 Decatur Staleys, the 1921 Packers, the 1926 Duluth Eskimos (my favorite of the bunch), the 1948 Rams, and so on. There are some major surprises here — did you know, for example, that the Giants once dressed like this? Or that the Bears, for one season, wore this? Yabba-dabba-doo! The Lions, on the other hand, haven’t changed that much.
• Check out this illo of Lenny Moore, circa 1957. Naturally, the caption mentions his famous spats, but there’s also this: “The yellowish substance on the shoes is a resin many ball carriers dab on their fingers to get more tack on the ball.” This is the earliest reference to stickum I’ve ever seen. Also from the caption: “The sweat band on his wrist was borrowed from tennis.” So are they saying Moore was the first NFLer to wear a sweatband? Major discovery!
• There’s also a series of awesome poster-style illustrations devoted to over a dozen important NFL historical figures, including Johnny U, Crazy Legs Hirsch, John Mackey, Jim Brown, Don Hutson, Chuck Bednarik, Gino Marchetti, Leo Nomellini, Louie the Toe, Gale Sayers, Cal Hubbard, Jerry Kramer, Ray Nitschke, Night Train Lane, and Elmen Tunnell.
• Great padding/gear photo here.
• Did you know the Redskins used to wear their Indian-head logo on their chest, sort of like the Blackhawks? Look!
• There are lots of photos showing Lucite facemasks. Note that in this shot, the backfield is Lucite-masked, while the linemen have conventional cages.
• I’m fascinated by the berets and bow ties that early officials wore, as seen here, here, and here.
• Here’s the oldest, rattiest jersey I’ve ever seen. And the 8 appears to be upside-down!
• Rare shot here of the Browns’ block-shadowed numbers.
• We’ve all seen this SI cover featuring Y.A. Tittle. But I’d never seen that helmet in action until I saw this photo (note the light-colored nighttime ball, too). Also, oddly, they chose to use Tittle and his helmet as the subject for this illustration. The caption includes the following note: “Although Tittle wore high top shoes, low cuts were becoming the most popular shoes. With the mandatory taping of ankles, the high cuts were no longer necessary.” I’d never heard about mandatory ankle taping before, or its effect on footwear styles!
• Love the striping and shoulder yokes here.
• Check out this shot of the overtime coin toss from the famous 1958 championship game. No wonder the Giants lost the game — their captains were taking refuge in a sideline cape while Johnny U was rarin’ to go. Bad form, no?
• You don’t often see pics from the early-’70s Pro Bowls, back when they wore “A” and “N” helmets.
• Hey, Jim Bakken — fasten your chinstrap!
Want to get your own copy of this fine volume? Look here.
And now a note from Vince: I’m looking for unique sports-related T-shirts, not unlike the beautiful Brewers shirt Paul linked to last week. Anything different, timely, relatively unknown, undiscovered, or featuring great design would be welcomed. Have a favorite tee you’d like to share with the world, own a company that makes kick ass shirts, or know of somewhere to get some great gear? Drop me a note with the pertinent details. Thanks much.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Paul here. Fascinating story here about a factual error in one of the Steelers’ Super Bowl ring designs. … Dig these great high school hoops unis from 1972. Love those big bullseye numbers (with thanks to Chris Markham). … Mark Jones sent along this photo from the 1966 Cotton Bowl. Note that the two LSU players have mismatched pants striping. … Brazilian soccer star Ronaldinho will wear No. 80. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a number that high on a soccer jersey,” says Greg Riffenburgh. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The Dodgers print Andy LaRoche’s NOB in all caps, while the Pirates style his brother Adam’s NOB with a small cap. … When I visit Portland next month, I hope most of the locals can spell better than whoever created these jerseys at the Highland Games (with thanks to Ryan Hossner). … Andrew Ferguson reports that BU basketball has a new 100th-anniversary logo, although it isn’t clear yet if it’ll be worn as a patch. … Can’t remember if we’ve covered this already, but just in case: Miami will supposedly be wearing this alternate jersey this season — yikes (with thanks to Mike Camello). … Got an interesting note from Mike Frentz, who attends the same church where Marc Sagmoen is a youth pastor. Sagmoen, as some of you may recall, is the outfielder who was called up by the Rangers and issued No. 42 on April 15th, 1997 — the same day the number was retired by MLB (we’ve discussed this previously here on the site; for details, scroll down to the middle of this entry). Mike writes: “On April 15, 2007 (a Sunday, as it happens), [Sagmoen] brought in the jersey he wore for that one game, the 10th anniversary of his MLB debut. As he tells the story, he’s sitting there in the on-deck circle in the 4th inning of his big league debut. As he and Mickey Tettleton get loose, Mickey says to him, ‘Take your jersey off.’ Marc is confused, even after Mickey repeats the message. Finally, exasperated, Mickey points to the Jumbotron, where President Clinton is making the announcement that Jackie Robinson’s No. 42 will be retired across baseball. ‘Now batting, number 42…’ … Anyway, the question I the question I wanted to ask is this: Marc claims that this incident makes him the only player in the four major pro sports to play one game and then have his jersey number retired. Can you verify this, or come up with counterexamples for me to show him? I’m not talking about ceremonial comeback stints or numbers that were never used again (like Eddie Gaedel’s 1/8). The player must have played exactly one game and then had his number formally retired.” Good question. Anyone..? … I work for ESPN.com, so how come it took Stu Taylor to tell me that the site is doing a college football helmet poll? … See that little chest patch on Kyle Boller’s jersey? The Ravens are giving that to players who attended at least 85% of the team’s off-season workouts (plus they get a piece of candy, a gold star, and a nice note from the teacher to show their parents). Here’s a closer look (with thanks to Jack Krabbe). … Gibby Davis notes that Shawn Marcum appears to have a more southerly Pedro porthole. … Paul Wiederecht sent along this shot of the 1989 Pittsfield Mets. Thank got the parent club never used that striped waistband. And what’s with the one guy with the striped pants? … Good info here on Roger Federer’s Olympics attire (with thanks toBrinke Guthrie). … Here’s something you don’t often see: a Little League team in Negro Leagues throwbacks (with thanks to Michael Miller). … Scott Novosel sent along this shot from a 1976 all-star tour of Japan. Look at all the National Leaguers wearing pillbox caps! … David Sonny notes that Johnny Cueto has switched from a black glove to a red one. … DC report from John Muir, who writes: “On Thursday, July 17th, my girlfriend and I went to the 47th Annual Congressional Baseball Game at Nationals Park, the first to be held in the new stadium. I had to use my cell phone camera, because her camera battery died. Those shots, and several scans from the official program, can be found here. Some notes from the game: Democrats took the left dugout, Republicans the right; Dem. Batting helmets were blue, Reps. Red; all Congressmen wore the uniforms of their home MLB, minor league, local college (some of them were alma maters), or hometown travel team; Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) wore a No. 9 Mets home alternate, with solid blue cap and high blue socks; Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-Cali) wore No. IX, in reference to Title IX; Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Az) donned the Diamondbacks road brick, with full black tights; Rep. Joe Buca (D-Cali) wore a Dodgers home jersey and cap, but with oddly piped pants; former Florida GOP Rep. Lou Frey Jr., who’s slated to be inducted into the Congressional Baseball HOF, was in attendance — he wore Dodgers off-white throwback.” … Good soccer uni site here (with thanks to A.C.). … And here’s a compendium of Olympics posters dating back to 1896 (as forward by Marcus Ramsey). … Thanks to everyone who came down to KGB last night — hope you had as much fun as I did.
July 23rd, 2008
Back when I visited Jeff Fedenko’s house, he showed me this book, which featured lots of great photos and awesome Robert Riger illustrations. I haven’t yet found a reasonably priced copy of the book for myself, but I did track down a copy of its companion volume, Best Players of the Year, 1963, and it has not disappointed. The book is too big to fit properly in my scanner, so I’ve just taken photos of some highlights:
• One of the best things about the book is its cover, with that super-cool striped NFL logo.
• Here’s an awesome illo of two titans of the pre-Super Bowl era, Jim Brown and Sam Huff. Gorgeous. The book’s other notable illustration is this one, which captures essence of mid-century Midwestern football quite nicely.
• This shot suggests that the Cardinals used Dymo Tape helmet labels in 1963. But judging by this shot, the labels were sometimes applied horizontally, sometimes vertically.
• Note to all baseball players: The official’s pants in this shot are absolute perfection.
• Interesting variety of footwear here: spikes on the receiver, a molded sole on the lineman, and Chucks on the quarterback! This was the ’63 NFL Championship Game, which took place in Chicago on December 29th, so a frozen field may have been a factor in the multiplicity of footwear approaches.
• Is it just me, or do the two bars of Johhny U’s facemask look a bit more widely spaced than usual here? Also, note that Alan Ameche (No. 35) had apparently picked up teammate Lenny Moore’s spatting habit.
• We tend to think of the Redskins’ and Cowboys’ uniforms as being fairly timeless. But Washington used to look like this, and Dallas like this (note the wraparound jersey collar, which is examined in much greater depth here). Here they are matched up against each other.
• Love the Yankee Stadium “Sec. 7″ sign here. And speaking of stadia, see the brick facing in the bottom photo here? That’s Wrigley Field.
Want to see more? A not-too-overpriced copy is available here.
Site Note: After a month’s worth of hassles with Google (don’t ask), the internal site-search function has been restored at the top of the right-hand rail. Enjoy.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Cubs and Braves will be wearing 1948 throwbacks today, to mark the 60th anniversary of WGN carrying Cubs games. While it’s the first throwback game at Wrigley, it’s not the first one the Cubs have participated in — remember this Cubs/Chisox game from 1997? … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: A ton of artwork from Sport magazine (which was every bit as important as Sports Illustrated back in the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s) has been archived on this site. I haven’t had a chance yet to look through it all, but a quick glance is very promising. More on this soon. … Fascinating article about new sneaker soles made from rice hulls here. … While researching something else, I came across a bunch of interesting images. First, check out this shot of Yaz. What’s on his left calf? And next, my book of Topps baseball cards (which, if you don’t have a copy, I highly recommend) shows two 1973 cards with blank uniforms — look here and here. I’m assuming these were airbrush jobs that were later filled in, especially since I collected the 1973 set as a kid and don’t recall these two oddities. But it’s weird that the incomplete versions would show up in the book. Anyone know more about these? … “Rocky Mount, North Carolina, where I grew up, was the hometown of Negro League first bagger Buck Leonard, known as ‘the black Lou Gehrig,’ and the city has named a youth league in his honor,” writes Cooper Harriss. “The teams are clearly named for Negro League teams, and the uniforms feature Negro League-esque logos, as you can see in this photo gallery.” … A bunch of vintage Oklahoma football helmets are up for auction (with thanks to John Ervin). … Kevin Garnett: big soccer fan? (With thanks to Craig Justice.) … Cool jersey promo upcoming in Detroit (with thanks to Terry Corby). … Andrew Cambour reports that Miami Hurricanes second baseman Jemile Weeks has been wearing his pants low when batting and baserunning and high-cuffed while in the field. “Is that at all common, for a player to prefer one pant length for offense and another for defense?” he asks. Good question. Anyone..? … af2’s Tri-Cities Fever will wear a special “Military Night” uniform on Saturday (with thanks to Stefan Schubert).
June 12th, 2008
A while back I got a note from Tom Jacobsen, who collects game-used Denver Broncos gear and said a lot of his jerseys included special modifications that had been made by the players and/or equipment staff. It isn’t football season, but there’s never a bad time for good uni-mod photos, so here’s a sampling of Tom’s stuff, in his own words:
• “This John Elway jersey (worn 1983-86, cold-weather games only) has a sewn-in hand warmer. But they didn’t just add the pocket — a rectangle was cut out of the jersey front by the Broncos equipment staff and then this pre-fab hand warmer, made from some sort of insulated material, was sewn in from the inside, and it is warm!”
• “Ed McCaffrey made major modifications to his uniforms to give him more speed. For this 1995 jersey, he basically cut it to the length of a half shirt and then would tape it to his body to cut down on wind drag.”
• “A friend of mine has a pair of Eddie Mac’s cleats, and he actually wore them a size small and then cut a hole for the big toe because he thought they made him go faster. My friend also has these McCaffrey pants. ‘I love how he cut out almost all of the heavy, thick elastic band,’ he says. ‘He left just a few strips here and there. And you know, they actually do weigh 15 ounces less than a comparable pair of pants I had — maybe that DOES make him faster!’”
• “Dennis Smith wore vastly oversized shoulder pads. In order to fit them under his jersey, he had spandex inserts sewn under each arm, as seen in this 1994 jersey.”
• “This 1982-83 Billy Bryan jersey was a forerunner of the modern-day lineman’s style. He had the sleeves completely taken off then sewn back on at more of downward angle (similar to this 1996 Tommy Nalen model, but Tommy’s was manufactured that way to start with). He also had the sides taken in and a stretch panel added to both sides for a tighter fit.”
• “Remember how Bill Romanowski would add laces to his jerseys, to make them tighter? You can see where they added the eyelets here. Romo also had darts added to his shoulders. And note the adjustable crotch piece — ouch!”
It’s not clear if Romo also had a little inside pouch for stashing his, uh, vitamins, but I’m sure Tom would’ve mentioned that if it had been there. Big thanks to him for sharing his collection with us.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Japanese Olympic swimmers will be allowed to wear the LZR swimsuit (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Rare sight here: Goose Gossage batting in pinstripes. This was during the 1981 World Series, when the DH was used in the World Series in alternating years, instead of depending on the home team’s rules. “I wonder if that was the only time he batted in home pinstripes,” says Eric Stengel. … Tim Stoops reports that his dad is volunteering as a marshal at the U.S. Open this weekend. Here’s a slideshow of the gear he’ll be wearing. … Fun “Twins by the Numbers” breakdown here (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … “I believe this is Alabama celebrating an Orange Bowl victory in 1953,” writes Travis Cuomo. “What really stuck out to me was the ‘MGR’ shirt the manager was wearing. Can’t remember ever seeing anything like that before.” Looks like they’re endorsing Coca-Cola, too. … Curt Schilling attended Game 2 of the NBA Finals and wore a Celtics jersey for the occasion (while his daughter apparently took dictation for his blog). … This page has short videos showing each of the national uniforms in the Euro 2008 tournament (with thanks to Greg DiLeo). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: According to the fifth-to-last entry on this Q&A page, the NFL is planning some sort of uni-based commemoration of the AFL’s 50th anniversary in 2009. … Also from yesterday: New 49ers unis in 2010. … I might have shown these before, but just in case: The excellent Fleer Sticker Project site has some awesome old NFL posters on display here and here. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: L.I. Phil notes that Todd Helton’s footwear has been alternating between Adidas and Nike lately. He used to wear fake Mizunos, as explained here. … Did you know the Giants were conducting spring training in Arizona while the team was still based in New York? I didn’t, until Kenn Tomasch sent me this and this. Both shots are from 1947. … Went out to catch Kung Fu Panda last night (pretty damn good) and saw the trailer for The Express, which looks like it has major uniform potential. … Ben Nickerson spent a good portion of last night obsessing over Kevin Garnett’s sneakers. “He’s got ‘The Finals’ and the championship trophy depicted on the inner,” he notes, and the outer is marked to denote Game 1, Game 2, Game 7 (if necessary), etc. Plus there’s a little red “KP 34″ notation on the back, which is a Kirby Puckett memorial (we can add this to the very short list of cross-sport memorial gestures). Further details here.
June 11th, 2008
Last month I ran an entry about Michael Princip and his clear-shell helmet tribute to Joe Washington. That piece was of particular interest to reader Jeff Fedenko, who wrote in to let me know that he has a big collection of clear-shells. Even better, Jeff lives in Brooklyn, just a few miles from my apartment, so a few weeks ago I went over to his place, where he and his daughters (that’s Micah on the left and Taitu on the right) welcomed me for a very enlightening evening of football helmet show-and-tell.
Clear-shell helmets are painted and decaled from the inside. The original idea was that they wouldn’t need to be repainted so often, although they turned out to be susceptible to other problems, like scuffing and breakage. Jeff has collected lots of them (that’s just a sampling of his collection) and says he can spot them a mile away, although I found it difficult to get a photo that captures their visual distinctiveness. Jeff also creates his own custom helmets by stripping the paint off of old-clear shell models and then adding his own paint and decals. This one will be a Rice design, and he’s prepping this one for a UMich paint job.
Jeff, who works as a phys ed teacher in the New York City school system (and is also a big NBA jersey collector), also has a massive library of football-related books, magazines, and catalogs. I could spend hours poring over his stuff, and he’s invited me to do just that at a later date — an invitation I will certainly accept. For now, though, here’s a look at a few things I documented during last week’s visit:
• This book is a treasure trove of great photos (the caption reads, “Fur-bearing businessmen rom Oshkosh check their fuel supplies before entering City Stadium for the Championship Game”) and illustrations (here’s another). Here’s a rare shot of the Vikings’ seldom-seen purple pants, and check out all the different goalpost striping patterns here, here, and here. Also, a small mystery: Jeff grew up in Wisconsin but isn’t sure why the scoreboard at City Stadium (Lambeau’s predecessor) featured two feathers. Anyone know?
• Here’s another one of those padded-cown helmets (and a closer view). According to this catalog, MacGregor’s version was called the Absorblo.
• Here’s another MacGregor catalog, with a good explanation of the clear-shell product.
• I never found the helmet section of this catalog, because I got distracted along the way.
Major, major thanks to Jeff for graciously welcoming me into his home and sharing his wonderful collection with me. I think we’ll be featuring him again in the not-too-distant future.
Yo buddy, ya want a cheap watch?: I’ve got a couple of electronics-y items to sell — one old, one new, both functional. I could put them on Craigslist, but I want to give Uni Watch readers first crack at them. Here’s the inventory:
• Epson C120 ink-jet printer: Basic ink-jet printer. Mac- and Windows-compatible. Still in box, never opened (got it as a freebie for buying something else, but I have no need for it). Lists for $90, sells on Amazon for $40. Yours for $35 if you want to show up at my door and pick it up; if you want me to ship it, you’ll have to pay the freight (the box weighs 11 pounds). Oh, and in addition to the ink cartridges that come with the printer, I’ve got an extra black cartridge that fits this printer, so I’ll throw that in too.
• Apple eMac computer: Purchased in 2004, used heavily up until a few months ago, but still works fine (I just wanted to upgrade). This machine produced most of the material on this site, so think of it as the blogging equivalent of a game-used jersey (I’ll even autograph it if you want). … Specs: Mac OS 10.3.9; 1.25 GHz PowerPC G4 processor; 512 MB memory; 40 GB hard drive; optical drive plays and burns CDs and DVDs but burns CDs only; MS Office 2004 and Photoshop Elements are installed, along with all the usual Mac stuff; does not have a wireless card; power cord, keyboard, and mouse included (duh). … Way too bulky and heavy for me to ship (I don’t feel like finding a box, wrestling with an acre of bubble wrap, etc.), so this one is a pickup-only deal — swing by Uni Watch HQ, slip a cool C-note into my hands, and it’s yours.
If you’re interested in either of these, please get in touch pronto.
Santana Update: No word yet from Russ Gompers regarding Johan Santana’s sleeve piping. Several readers have pointed out that lots of players have frayed piping (indeed, Steve Hicks notes that Prince Fielder was allowed to wear remarkably shoddy piping for a Sporting News cover shoot just a few weeks ago), but I’m not yet convinced that Santana’s piping was frayed — this looks like extra stitching to me, esp. on the right sleeve. Bryan found this and this look like fraying, but I’m not sold on that — I think they could be those little extra-embroidered spangle thingies. Still hoping Russ can provide us with the definitive word soon.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “You’ve probably already seen this article about the VW ads on DC United jerseys,” writes Matthew Algeo (actually, no, I hadn’t). “It made me think of another soccer team that had ads on their jerseys: the Pennsylvania Stoners of the American Soccer League. Back in 1980, the Allentown-based team wore jerseys with the name of a local business on the front: Alpo, the dog-food maker. It made for a lot of bad jokes, which was ironic, because the Stoners were good — they won the ASL championship that year. The Stoners (love that name) were one of the first U.S. pro sports teams to do this. (I think the only one that did it before was that minor league hockey team in Buffalo that incorporated a Pepsi logo into their uniform design.) Also, I’d forgotten — or maybe never realized — that all the jerseys had ‘Stoners’ on the back, instead of player names.” … “I followed a link off of Shorpy that lead me to this vintage poster site,” writes John Ervin. “This crew poster might be of particular Uni Watch relevance.” … Don Cherry is fighting breast cancer (great find by John Muir). … Look at the thumbnails on this page to see a good video about how the Cowboys assign uni numbers and equipmenet to rookies. “In case you hadn’t heard, Mike Jenkins is taking over Roy Williams’s 31,” says Stu Taylor, who brought the video to my attention. “It will be weird to see #31 actually covering somebody.” … It’s been reported for years that Dontrelle Willis has “Have Fun” and “Joyce” (his mother’s name) written on his underbill, but until now the only photos I had were this (hard to see) and this (easier to see, but not on his head). Now I also have this, which I found in a 2006 Rawlings catalog. … Jared Wheeler sent along this awesome 1939 photo of (L to R) Pepper Martin, Mickey Owen. and Lon Warneke chewing tobacco “Pepper Martin seems to be preparing to let out a bee line of spit,” he notes. … We often talk about players with long surnames. But the Indians have just signed a minor leaguer with a real mouthful of a middle name (thanks, Vince). … Some cool old USFL footage here, including some shots of refs in shorts (with thanks to Doug Keklak). … Lots of great old A’s mustache footage — and a bit of commentary from me (misidentified as “Paul Lucas,” but it’s hardly the first time that’s happened) here. … “Hiroshima Toyo Carp player Go Kida is going FNOB, even though there are no other Kidas on the team,” reports Jeremy Brahm. … Numerological note from Adam deNobriga, who writes: “On Monday Night’s Sports South coverage of the Braves/Padres game, the Braves announcers were discussing Mark Kotsay’s number choice, and they mentioned that he likes to wear increments of 7. He was 21 in Oakland, 14 in San Diego, 7 in Florida, and even 7 at Cal State. When he came to Atlanta, he wanted 28. However, he saw a picture of Darren Bragg wearing #28 ‘crumpled against the wall in center field’ and decided he didn’t want to wear 28. So he went to two guys (I’m guessing the equipment managers) to decide on a number. They recommended #11 based on the fact that two former Braves, who were also former Marlins, had success in Atlanta wearing that number: Edgar renteria and Gary Sheffield (even though I’m finding pictures of Sheffield wearing 10 in Florida). Therefore, Kotsay chose #11.”
May 7th, 2008
I generally don’t like the term mashup, which has become so ridiculously overused that it’s been rendered almost meaningless. But it occurred to me the other day when I received the following note from Michael Princip:
I love clear shell-type football helmets, the Seattle Seahawks, and Joe Washington’s style (running and uniform). So what did I do about it? I developed the Joe Washington tribute Seahawks clear-shell helmet. The notion of this project was so eccentric, I had to see it through to fruition.
For those who aren’t aware of the uniqueness of a Macgregor/Kelley clear-shell helmet: All of the decals, as well as the paint, were applied from the inside (note the rivets on top of the decal). These helmets were truly unique because logo and paint were permanently protected by the outside surface of the clear plastic shell.
For this custom project, I got the clear-shell helmet through a Yahoo helmet collectors group, where I sent out an e-mail request. I got one reply from someone who had two shells, which he sold me. Only thing is, one shell had paint still applied on both sides, and the other had paint recently removed, leaving cloudiness from the paint remover. So I had to put a lot of work into sanding/polishing and taking the cloudiness out of that shell. Never really got it crystal clear, just good enough.
I developed the Seahawks logo decal using clear waterslide paper (think model kit decals). White paint was applied on the back (non-adhesive) side of the decals, to fill out and solidify the colors. Also, I used clear acrylic paint for added strength on the very delicate waterslide paper. I then applied the silver paint from the inside of the shell and finished with a nice gray flexible primer.
Other notable players who wore clear-shell helmets: Billy Sims, Roger Staubach, Charlie Waters, Archie Manning, and various Steelers players back in the 1970s. One of the most interesting clear shell helmets I’ve ever seen would have to be John Simmons’s Bengals helmet.
Thanks, Michael, for the excellent primer on clear-shell helmets, and kudos on your cool art project. At the risk of opening a Pandora’s Box of major silliness, are there other good uni mashups (for lack of a better term) waiting to happen? I’ll set one basic rule: Keep all the elements within a given sport, as Michael did (i.e., don’t propose a Brett Favre Dodgers jersey with a fight strap). Or if you insist on mixing sports, keep them all within a given city, as Roger Faso has done with his all-purpose Oakland sports logo (see comment No. 7 for details). OK? Let’s hear — or, better yet, see — whatcha got.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Faaaascinating article here about Japanese school uniforms (courtesy of, of course, Jeremy Brahm). … Also from Jeremy: The Seibu Lions will wear this design for their Japanese interleague games this season. The wording on the back of the jersey reads, “No Limit 2008, Aim for the Championship Again.” … Check out this video clip of Roger Goodell, and note the difference between the NFL logos in the background and the one on his microphone (good catch by Brian Corbett). … More on the Twins’ base coaches wearing the 1970s helmets: First read this, then read the first graf of this, and then the third graf of this (great work by Karl G. Anderson). … Last Friday I asked why the Rangers never wear their official road cap. Got the following response from someone connected to the team (who prefers to remain nameless): “We haven’t worn that cap since I started working for the team in 2003. I’m not sure who effectively eliminated it, but we keep no inventory of them.” Wow, you mean the team couldn’t wear the official road cap even if they wanted to, because there’s literally no such cap kept on hand? “Correct, which is why I would assume someone decided that we would stop wearing them, since we stopped ordering them from New Era. Definitely agree that it’s weird MLB still lists it as the official road cap. Also note that the Rangers used to have a black-billed alternate cap with a white T, which we also no longer wear, not sure if that cap is still official also [it is — PL].” This same source also weighed in on the Rangers’ seemingly endless red-vs.-blue debate: “Most people involved in the organization preferred the red, but owner Tom Hicks doesn’t like red, so he encouraged the switch to blue. Some fans think that switch has cursed the team, since we haven’t been to the playoffs since the switch! Personally, I preferred the red, but switching back would look awkward now that the Angels wear very similar jerseys to the old reds.” … Excellent overview of the Brewers’ racing sausages here (with thanks to Dana “It’s Just Business” Prey). … My friend Steve Heller has an interesting piece here about political campaign typography (thanks, Kirsten). … Bruce Menard found this great shot of Casey Stengel during the 1955 Goodwill Tour of Japan. Dig that patch! … Speaking of patches, several French athletes want to wear a protest patch at the Olympics (with thanks to Jonathon Binet). … The Titans have unveiled a really weak 10th-season logo, which will be worn as a jersey patch next season. Details here. … Several people told me that John Danks wore his undershirt backwards last Thursday, but David Chisholm is the only one who came up with a good screen shot. … We’ve all seen the 1976 pillbox caps that several National League teams wore. But Aaron Steele found something I hadn’t noticed before: Ted Simmons wearing one of the pillbox caps under his catcher’s mask. … Good article here about attire at the Masters (with thanks to Mark Coale). … Next year’s NHL All-Star Game logo looks like this. … Tyson Moll reports that Cyprus High in Magna, Utah, wear some awesome striped stirrups. … Interesting photo here of BYU’s 1951 NIT championship team during a preseason tour of Brazil. Dig those “Mormons” warm-ups! Additional info in this PDF file (with thanks to Spencer Hall). … Toronto native Chris Creamer notes that the Blue Jays’ retro helmets use a uni number font that’s never been part of the team’s design scheme. And although it doesn’t really look that way in the photo, he says the left portion of the helmet’s MLB logo decal is graphite, not red. … Speaking of Chris, someone over on his board noted that the Texans are starting to make more frequent use of the “HT” logo seen at the bottom of this page. I had literally never seen that logo before. … Bobby Cox has been managing the Braves forever, but don’t tell that to Fox (good catch by Zack Bennett). … Lots of 1983 Phillies commercials compiled in this YouTube video (nice find by Morris Levin). … Richard Giron noticed another example of co-branded boxing gloves during Saturday’s Felix Sturm/Jamie Pittman bout. “Paffen Sport makes its own gloves in Germany,” he writes. “But their logo is partially covering a pair of Grant Gloves. It doesn’t happen anywhere else except in Germany and England. Lonsdale, Paffen Sport, Top Ten, and Adidas slap their logos on top of existing brands such as Reyes, Everlast, or Grant.” … The Johns Hopkins lacrosse teams wore 1980s throwbacks on Saturday (with thanks to Michael Brand). … Amidst all the other birthday presents I recently received, I’ve shamefully neglected to mention that Scott Turner and Diane George generously gave me a gorgeous old hooded varsity volleyball jacket, with a chenille volleyball on one sleeve, a uni number on the other sleeve, and nice “Army” lettering on the back. This jacket kept me toasty yesterday morning as I shopped through a cold, blustery flea market, where I found, among other treasures, this TruByte sample kit, filled with artificial teeth and super-cool labels. … Reprinted from Sunday’s comments: Good article here about the Jazz’s uni numbers. … Also from Sunday: Brinke Guthrie noted that Barry Zito was having some undershirt tag issues, which led Nicole Haase to respond, “I was at the game and you could see the tag from the seats. And when they showed replays and close-ups on the video screen at Miller Park — ARG! I pointed it out to my boyfriend, who just looked at me.” … The Altoona Curve wore very old-school throwbacks for last Thursday’s home opener. Additional views here, here, here, and here, plus there’s a dozen pages of photo galleries here (with thanks to Timothy Welsh). … Curiouser and curiouser: The front uni numbers on the Twins’ navy jerseys, which unexpectedly switched from white to red last week, were white again yesterday. But I’m not sure if the NOB lettering, which had gone from white outlined in red to just white, has also changed back. Take a look here and here — red outline or pure white? Depending on how I squint, I can see it either way. Did any actually, y’know, watch the game, instead of just scavenge through photos on the web? Anyway, the obvious solution, of course, would be for them to stop wearing to stupid-ass navy jerseys in the first place. … Cubs’ blue alts made their first appearance since 2006 yesterday. … Uniform? What uniform? Boy, that camouflage uni is so effective I can barely see it. … Awesome 1957 article about football uniforms and equipment here. … Lots of good info about the Indians’ jersey options here (with thanks to Michael Burnett). … Accoding to this story, the Rams wanted to wear 1999 throwbacks this fall but were turned down by the league because they didn’t start the paperwork early enough. They’re also planning to wear a memorial patch for Georgia Frontiere (with thanks to Mike Engle).
April 7th, 2008
Last month I ran this ESPN column about the evolution of football helmet innovation. The column was primarily about counterintuitive historical developments but also made prominent (and playfully derisive) mention of the Gladiator helmet, an exterior-padded helmet that’s the latest innovation from Protective Sports Equipment — the same folks who brought us the ProCap back in the 1990s.
Until now, the most extensive article about the Gladiator was a this piece, which ran last fall in Machine Design, a trade magazine. The article contains lots of quotes from Protective Sports Equipment’s founder and president, Bert Straus, but I didn’t quote him in my ESPN column. Why? I had hoped to interview him, but he didn’t return my first call (turns out he was traveling), and then the column shaped up as being more history-oriented than future-oriented, plus I was up against a tight deadline, blah-blah-blah. Bottom line: I discussed his helmet but didn’t get any perspective from him, and that was shoddy reporting on my part.
Better late than never, though. I recently conducted the following interview with Straus, who turns out to be a really interesting guy. His tiny company and his self-effacing, sort of loopy manner are pretty much the diametric opposite of the stiff, corporate-ish feel permeating almost everything NFL-related nowadays, and of course his designs aren’t exactly in the mainstream of the league’s aesthetic either (Straus himself readily acknowledges that the ProCap was “dorky-looking”). Toss in his single-minded fixation on outer-padded headgear and it would be easy to write Strauss off as a Quixotic figure.
But I think that would be a mistake. Sure, you can make fun of the ProCap, but how many things have you designed that made it onto an NFL field? Not many people can make that claim. Strauss fully expects the Gladiator to make its mark on the NFL as well. If he pulls it off, it would be a huge coup, consider how Riddell and Schutt currently dominate the helmet market.
Uni Watch: What’s your background, and how’d you get into this type of work?
Bert Straus: I’m an industrial designer. I had a consulting office in product design for 40 years, working for clients like GE, Universal-Rundle, and so on.
UW: What sorts of things were you designing?
BS: For GE, we worked on light rail vehicle design. Universal-Rundle, we did bathroom fixtures. For Midmark, it was dental units.
UW: You mean toothbrushes?
BS: No, all the stuff you see around the chair at a dental office.
UW: The drills and the rinse mechanisms and all that?
BS: Yeah, and the caddies for ’em [additional dental examples here and here, and non-dental projects here and here]. All that stuff. Anyway, in the process, about 20 years ago, as a football fan, I saw a college game where a couple of players went down from a head-to-head hit. And I thought, “Gee, what if you could insert a giant pillow in between the two helmets.” That notion kind of stuck with me, and I pursued it when I had rainy day time — it wasn’t a project that anyone asked me to do. I had a lot of experience with materials and processes, so I started to work on the concept of getting padding on the outside of a helmet.
UW: And that’s how the ProCap came about?
BS: Yes. The tests worked out, and investors got really excited about it and pooled their money, bought stock, and a corporation was born. Like I said, that was about 20 years ago. So ProCap goes into the market and has a seven-year history in the NFL — a real positive history.
UW: I’ve heard conflicting accounts about who wore the ProCap. I know Steve Wallace and Mark Kelso wore it, because I’ve seen photos and even remember seeing them wearing it back in the day. What about Steve Tasker?
BS: He never wore it, but Don Beebe did. And Randy Dixon of the Colts as well. Those are the guys who wore it pretty regularly. You should talk to them, especially Steve Wallace — maybe you can find out why his ProCap was all beat up in that one photo. That turned my stomach when I saw that.
UW: Yeah, that must have been like seeing your child getting beaten up in a fight or something.
BS: I think it would turn the stomach of a more dispassionate observer too, because that just looks like a crap material. And we’re proud of our material — in fact, our general manager gives me hell because he says they don’t wear out fast enough so we don’t get enough repeat sales.
UW: Not enough planned obsolescence, eh?
BS: That’s it, that’s it!
UW: Did you ever do any work with Riddell or any of the other helmet manufacturers, back in your pre-ProCap days?
BS: No. But we’ve had a relationship with Riddell and Schutt more recently. I mean, here we were, we come on the field with this new accessory that basically says, “Your helmet isn’t doing such a great job.” So it’s an adversarial relationship. Now, they were never too concerned about us in terms of competition, because we’re small and weren’t much of a factor. But we made them nervous from a product liability perspective, and the two companies took two different approaches in terms of how to handle that.
UW: And what were those approaches?
BS: With Riddell, it was mostly dirty tricks and politics — floating ugly rumors about us, none of them substantiated by science, that sort of thing. With Schutt, if anyone approached them and said, “We’re thinking of using the ProCap accessory, what do you think about that?,” their response was, “We don’t recommend its use — our helmet’s plenty good. However, if you want to find out more, here’s their 800 number.” So they were actually giving out our 800 number.
UW: Wow — that’s the Miracle on 34th Street approach. Did Riddell or Schutt ever express any interest in buying the ProCap concept from you?
BS: No. And eventually I made the decision that for our company to survive, we needed to have this technology integrated into a full system [instead of a separate accessory].
UW: So that’s the Gladiator — all the benefits of the ProCap in a fully integrated helmet system.
BS: Right. And all the data supporting this approach is there on our web site, conducted by respected institutions, and we paid for none of it, incidentally — it was all done independently.
UW: Did the other companies ever express any interest in buying the Gladiator concept?
BS: I actually went out to see Schutt about four years ago, when the Gladiator was still in its developmental stages. They expressed some interest — everything was on the table, and it still is. I think they’re kinda watching to see how we do when we actually bring the product to market. Riddell, meanwhile, has called us. “Understand you’ve got a new helmet under development with pretty good performance. But what about market acceptance?” I’m condensing what they said, of course. And I said, “You’re absolutely right, that’s why we’re having a market research firm look at that right now. Maybe we should talk after that’s done.” And they said, “Yeah, that makes sense.” I’ve basically held them off at arm’s length for over a year now, but I’m expecting we’ll talk again soon. They could get religion!
UW: Let’s talk about your company, Protective Sports Equipment. Is the company essentially just you, or do you have a staff, or what?
BS: It’s a small company, but we’re backed up by about 50 shareholders, and financing also comes through the Ben Franklin Technology Partnership of Pennsylvania.
UW: Does the company have any other products, besides the ProCap?
BS: No. But if the Gladiator meets our projections, we plan to go into a whole bunch of other helmets.
UW: You mean like lacrosse, hockey, and so on?
BS: We’re also gonna look at recreational markets.
UW: Let’s go back to the ProCap. Is it technically still approved for NFL use?
BS: Back in the mid-’90s, when I frankly don’t think the league was very serious about concussions, they got bad biomechanical advice from a consultant, who told them he believed the ProCap could cause serious injury or even death. He didn’t have any science at all to back that up, no testing, just conjecture, against a whole series of tests that were done by the Penn State biomechanical lab. Anyway, all of a sudden the ProCap disappeared from the field of play because of this memo that was sent out. And Riddell got hold of that memo and distributed it themselves, and there was a big brouhaha over that.
UW: But whether or not it’s recommended, is it still technically approved for use? If an NFL player wants to wear the ProCap today, can he?
BS: I believe so, yes. But if you do so, it’s totally at your own risk [because Schutt and Riddell’s position is that if you wear the ProCap, you void the helmet’s warranty], and no player in his right mind is going to do that. Especially since the average player doesn’t want to wear the dorky-looking thing to begin with.
UW: Now let’s talk about the Gladiator. Its basic concept is to have a soft exterior, instead of a hard shell. But some of the archival articles I linked to in my recent ESPN column described a outer-padded helmet from the 1960s…
BS: Yes, MacGregor had one.
UW: Spalding, too. But as I understand it, one problem they discovered with that approach was that the soft exterior led to more friction — either helmet-on-helmet or helmet-on-ground — which increased the risk of neck injuries.
BS: We were well aware of that when we were developing the ProCap. And all of that criticism was correct. But the big difference is that the materials and technologies that were available in the 1960s were a helluva lot different that what we had access to 30 years later. We use a reaction-molded polyurethane, which is primarily what automobile bumpers are made from now, and there’s all kinds of give at the point of impact. That’s why they don’t use hard bumpers anymore. That basic analogy holds true for head protection. And someday — I may not end up as the guy who makes it happen, but someday, trust me, all helmets are going to have a resilient outer surface.
UW: So you’re saying that in addition to the resilience, it’s slick enough so that you don’t have that friction problem?
BS: Exactly.
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