So you’re a Winter Olympics “athlete.” You’ve spent years training for “sports” like curling, or ice dancing, or rhythmic biathlon, or whatever it is you specialize in, you’ve made sure to ingest only the fancy new designer steroids that the doping tests can’t detect, and you’ve even learned not to snicker when someone refers to “the Olympic movement.” So it’s perfectly understandable that you were a little peeved yesterday when some snot-nose kid and a balloon got more attention than you’ll ever get to discover that the medals you’re competing for — the medals you will surely win! — look like a bunch of heat-warped records.

Actually, I think they look pretty cool, but the best thing about them, clearly, is that they’ll probably piss off a lot of people because they look like factory rejects. You can learn a lot more about them in this article, and there are some truly wonderful interactive features available here, but here’s a quick primer:

• The warped surface — sorry, undulating surface, as the press notes repeatedly state — is an Olympic first and is the result of a year’s worth of work by the Royal Canadian Mint. I give it about a week before someone says we can’t have Canadian-style national health care “because those Canadians, their fucking mint can’t even make a flat medal, what a bunch of losers, FAIL!”

• Each individual medal will have a distinct abstract design etched into its surface. Each individual etched design is taken from one of two larger composite designs that depict a whale and a raven, so think of each medal as part of a jigsaw puzzle (okay, a warped jigsaw puzzle). Haven’t seen the full composite images yet, but I’m sure they’re floating around on one of those interactive pages.

• Everyone seems to be going to great pains to point out that the medals are “among the heaviest” in Olympic history. I find something a little sad about this. I mean, I could understand if they were saying they contain more metal, or a higher grade of metal, but “heaviest”? That’s like Spinal Tap being “one of England’s loudest bands.” Let’s try to retain a bit of dignity, shall we?

• As usual, the silver looks way better than the gold or bronze. Go for the silver!!

And so on. But really, can you imagine winning one of these and then having to explain to your great-aunt, “No, really, it’s supposed to be that way”? Too much bother. May as well just score some hash, scarf down whatever looks good at the buffet, and have a few trysts in the Olympic Village with those cute Scandinavians (unless you’re already Scandinavian, in which case you can go trolling for cute Asians). Am I right?

Remember the orange sleeve debacle from a few years back? A little birdie tells me Nike has something similar planned for Nov. 14th, involving at least one school and probably more:

The uniform will be all-white with some kind of gradient checkerboard fade on the sleeves and pants. The helmet will be white with that checkerboard fade and the school logo. The gloves will have a [one part of the school's logo] on the left-hand palm and [the other part of the logo] on the other hand, so when they’re combined they make the full logo.

Well, that sounds like a real boon for mankind. Let’s avoid the rush and start hating it now.

And speaking of warped records…: I’ve put another half-dozen or so old indie singles up for auction on eBay. All of them are flatter than those Olympic medals. Remember, every record I sell gets us closer to the day when I, uh, won’t have any records left to sell. So bid already!

Uni Watch News Ticker: Nice batch of vintage gumball helmets available here (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … New uniforms for the U.S. lacrosse team (with thanks to Thomas Langan). … Oh man, pure gold here: an old Colt .45s mail order catalog. That’s from Mike Hersh, who also pointed me toward this 1913 Spalding catalog (too bad about all the missing swatches) and this amazing uni fabric catalog. … Very interesting NOB. That’s David Van Der Gulik from the AHL’s Abbotsford Heat, whose name has been rendered in a variety of styles during his stints with the Heat, the Calgary Flames, the Quad City Flames, and Boston University (great work by Teebz). … More white-at-home news, this time from Zachary Charles, who says he recalls the 49ers wearing white at home for preseason games when he was growing up. That appears to be confirmed in the following passage from this Wiki page: “From the 1980s until 2005, the 49ers nearly always wore their white uniforms at home for their two preseason home games (and thus usually wore white jerseys the whole preseason).” Yes, I know, it’s Wiki — a starting point, not the last word. But Zachary found this photo — note the baseball diamond, which indicates they were playing at Candlestick, unless it was from the two seasons that the Rockies played at Mile High. … As several readers have noted in recent weeks, Dwight Feeney’s shoulder stripes come to a point. Weird. … According to this item, Kentucky may soon get a Lebron-branded uniform and shoes (with thanks to Chris Edwards). … The Islanders will be wearing “spooky” practice jerseys for Halloween, which they’ll then auction off for charity (with thanks to John Muir). … Junior Seau got his old number back, as explained in the third graf of this page. … I used to play softball with this guy who’d briefly been a professional tennis player, and I remember how freaked out I was when he showed me how his racket arm was about two inches longer than his non-rack arm — creepy. But that’s nothing compared to this arm wrestler (pretty gross, Kirsten). … We had some discussion yesterday regarding whether this item is a baseball uni, a softball uni, a basketball warm-up, or what. The definitive word comes from, of course, sporting goods historian Terry Procter, who writes: “The top is actually a SandMark 13 basketball warm-up jacket made of a heavy-weight stretch nylon fabric . The top has a baseball-type neck and front placket, but it is a snap-front, not a button-front as most baseball shirts would be. And the lettering is all wrong for baseball. No front name or back numbers (back numbers are required for high school baseball). Yes, the pants are baseball pants. What I think happened is that the seller got the top and the pants from a source and assumed that they were from the same set of uniforms. Completely innocent assumption. Aren’t you glad you have me around to point out these things to you?” Indeed. … New Era is running a cap design contest, and Kevin Hayashi has already come up with a pre-inside-outed rally cap design. … According to the third-to-last graf of this story, WVU hoops will unveil a new alternate uni today (with thanks to Joshua Exline). … New hoops uniforms for Pitt. … Good article about a Canadian hockey logo designer here (as posted on the Creamer site by Chris Creamer himself). … Oooh, check out the Penguins’ championship ring design (with thanks to Matt Harris). … Matt Harris spotted a pair of white loafers behind Charlie Manuel last night. Was ol’ Charlie getting ready for a quick getaway? Nope — “It’s a tribute to the late Harry Kalas,” says Matt. “The shoes and (not pictured) blazer are in the dugout for all games.” … Shouldn’t this guy be playing baseball? (As noted by Jesse Strauss). … Remember Owen Schmitt’s little pregame mishap last Sunday? It has become the unlikely inspiration for this T-shirt (big thanks to Michael Princip). … Reprinted from last night’s comments: MLB is selling some T-shirts based on uni history. I’ll let the rest of you figure out if the jersey designs in the illos are accurate. My gripe is more nuanced: Was it really necessary to print “Jersey Evolution” (or the Majestic logo) underneath each illustration? Like, duh, we can SEE that the illo shows the evolution of the team’s jersey. I can’t tell if the Majestic people are idiots or if they think everyone else is an idiot, but it’s miserable design either way. … Traveling calls — or lack of calls — have been unofficial joke in the NBA for years. Now they’ll be an official joke. … If you scroll down past the Limbaugh commentary on this page (let’s please not discuss that today, thanks), you’ll find some coverage of the Blackhawks Ice Girls’ new uniforms (with thanks to Kasey Ignarski). … USF wore white helmets last night, and I think they looked really good. … Small road uni change for Wisconsin hockey, going from this to this (with thanks to Nate Neumann).

Oot and Aboot: I’m not going to be near a computer for most of today or tomorrow. So please take it easy on the Ticker submissions for the next 48 hours, so I don’t go into cardiac arrest the next time I log in for my e-mail. Thanks.

One of the highlights of my recent trip to Pittsburgh was a visit to the Heinz History Center, which includes the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum. I took a lot of photos here, so let’s get right to it (with apologies for the inevitable problems with glare and reflection when photographing things in glass cases):

• Here’s a great factory team uniform, circa 1955 (details here), along with a jacket from the same team, different year.

• And here’s a junior police team uniform, circa 1944, worn by a young player whose high school didn’t have a team.

• This is an autographed 1960 Dick Groat jersey, notable primarily for its tagging.

• Would you believe that a big league GM gave a player a raise in 1948 without the player even asking for it? It’s true, at least according to this letter.

• May favorite thing in the entire museum was this display, devoted to a local marble-shooting champion. Yeah, I know, marbles, but c’mon — look at that jersey and patch!

• If you’ve spent any time looking at Negro Leagues photos, you know it’s practically an iron-clad rule that one player was always wearing last year’s uniform, or another team’s uniform, or something out of step with the rest of the team.

• Here’s a really great story: In 1949, a local schoolgirl embroidered this shirt with the likenesses of Ralph Kiner, Wally Westlake, and Babe Ruth, and then sent it to Kiner and Westlake for them to autograph (the Babe had already died, alas). Kiner not only autographed it but sent it back with this cover letter. Dig that stationery!

• The football section included an entire wall of letterman jackets and sweaters. But my favorite jacket was this one. That chest patch is near-perfection.

• I really liked this display showing a ref’s jersey, whistles, score sheet, and flags.

• Another highlight: This Steelers cheerleaders display. Additional pics here.

• I was happy to see they had a small mention of L.C. Greenwood’s gold shoes.

• This was a local football team called the Oilers. I love that there’s an oil derrick in the background.

• And here’s an all-black football team, wearing a jersey style I’ve never seen before.

• You know those old-fashioned football nose guards? Here’s an early patent drawing.

• Apparently the Pittsburgh boxing community is still pissed off about the Louis/Conn fight (Conn was a local hero). I didn’t get any pics of the Conn memorabilia at the museum, but I did get a shot of this great robe and accompanying set of trunks. Not sure why a Pittsburgh fighter had “NY” on his trunks, but whatever — gorgeous.

• This is Chuck Cooper’s All-American uniform. Note the photo at lower-right — I didn’t realize the Celtics had once worn uni numbers on their shorts. And why doesn’t the shorts number match the jersey number?
• Several excellent old basketball uniforms here.

• I love the soccer jacket shown on the right. Here’s a close-up.

• And it won’t surprise anyone to hear that I also love this Pop Warner jacket, rendered in green and gold.

• Unusual artifact here. The United Black Front was a local activist organization, and you’ve gotta love an activist agenda that includes softball.

• The museum even features some swimming exhibits, including a tremendous Olympic time trails patch, a photo of the 1932 U.S. Olympic team, and a shot of some rather revealing swimwear.

• Finally, there’s this. I’ll let it speak for itself.

Phew! It’s worth noting, incidentally, that the Heinz facility also features a really great exhibit that documents the history of the Heinz company itself, including a photo of the Heinz baseball team, circa 1907 (note that they’re even using Heinz baseball bats), and a display showing the uniforms worn by female workers at the Heinz plant. Just goes to show that all roads lead back to uniforms.

And now a word from Vince Grzegorek: If I have one lasting legacy at Uni Watch, it probably won’t be writing about Brownie the Elf at every opportunity, or for being Paul’s first intern. No, it most likely will be for running the site’s annual NCAA tournament contest.

So let’s get this going. In the past I’ve come up with convoluted point systems and spent a lot of time scoring each entry by hand. But I’m much too busy for that this year, so screw that. Instead, we’re going to run a normal bracket challenge. To sign up, go to this site. Our group name is Uni Watch, our group ID is 68140, and our password is stirrups (all lowercase).

The top five winners will get to choose from the following prizes, all provided by Paul:

1. A free Uni Watch membership.

2. A free T-shirt from our friends at Pennant Race Gear.

3. An MLB logo wristwatch. (Full disclosure: Although it’s never been used, it appears to need a new battery. — PL)

4. A Bimbo Mexican soccer jersey, size large (contributed to the cause by reader Jeremy Deason — PL).

5. A copy of the new book Cubs by the Numbers.

Top winner gets his or her choice of prizes, second-place winner gets to choose from the remaining four prizes, and so on.

Hey, how about that economy?: Paul here again. As some of you are aware, changes are afoot at Distant Replays. Here’s a quick imaginary press conference about what this means from a Uni Watch perspective:

New enrollees in the membership program used to get a $10 Distant Replays gift code. Are you still offering that benefit?
No, effective immediately.

I ordered my membership card a few weeks ago but haven’t received it yet. I thought I was getting the $10 gift code. What happens to me?
There are 16 of you out there who fit this description (some of you have been waiting way too long for your cards, and I’m sorry about that — life has been hectic lately). Those 16 cards will mail out this week, and unfortunately they will not be accompanied by Distant Replays gift codes. If you feel gypped or baited-and-switched, get in touch and we’ll work something out.

I received my Distant Replays gift code with my membership two months ago but haven’t redeemed the $10 code yet. Will I still be able to redeem it when the company goes back online?
Good question. I’ve asked Andy and Rav about this, and so far they haven’t responded. I know them well enough to know they aren’t just blowing me off — I think they just have much bigger things to worry about at the moment. If I had to guess, my hunch would be that old gift codes will not be honored when DR resurfaces. But we’ll have to wait and see.

Sorry for the hassle. Feel free to be in touch if you have further questions about any of this.

Uni Watch News Ticker: The Thrashers appear to have a 10th-anniversary logo slated for next season, and holy shit is it a stinker. … Negro Leagues shorts alert! That’s Prince Joe Henry, the Detroit Clowns player who often had some, uh, unique uniform stylings (but not always). Those pics were contributed by Jared Wheeler, who also sent along shots of an old Houston warm-up jacket from the Slama era, a 1940s Harvard hoops jersey, a Senators jersey with a Jerry Cosby tag (”Never seen his tag on a baseball uniform,” says Jared), a Willie Stargell cap (that’s the closest look I’ve ever gotten of the stars — note that only the one on the right appears to be properly oriented), and — the real prize — a sleeve patch from the 1944 minor league Orioles. Thing of beauty, no? … This is really cool (nice find by Charles Neiswender). … But this is just ridiculous (blame Mark Doescher). … Jordan Wiley has created an interesting project: He’s created an a listing of the best logo treatment for each letter of the alphabet. In other words, this is A, this is B, etc. I don’t agree with most of his choices, but that’s kinda beside the point, cuz it’s an interesting little project. I wish he’d put all his letter choices side by side in one big composite alphabet (get working on that pronto, Jordan!), but for now you can check out his breakdown here. … On Friday I mentioned that I’d been surprised to learn that the Milwaukee Braves had offered stock to the public. That prompted the following from Terry Paffenroth: “The stock was a huge issue when the team’s new ownership started making the plans to move the team out of Milwaukee, because they had buy up that remaining stock from people, most of whom who were not about to sell and lose the team. The plan that eventually took shape was that minority stockholders who would not sell were given a letter saying that their shares were being voided in exchange for a voucher for season tickets — in Atlanta. And just for the first season. Next time I see my grandparents, I’ll try and find their old stock certificate, along with the letter and voucher. They small stockholders and were given two tickets. The largest number I have come across was for six tickets.” … Kentucky wore black uniforms on Friday. … The Fresno Grizzlies have some new alt/promo jerseys (with thanks to William Paul Barrett). … Check out this square-formatted NOB (nice find by Robert Saietta). … Tequila sundrise over Blacksburg. … Brett Crane notes that Kevin Youkilis is wearing his #20 elbow guard in the WBC, even though his WBC uni number is 21. … Maybe we’ve covered this before and I’m just suffering from brain-lock, but what’s up with the ‘Pops’ patch? … Here’s the logo for the 2011 Pan-Am games (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Bob Ruffolo was inside the new Yankee Stadium on Saturday and took a bunch of photos. … The Rangers’ two-tone helmet lives on, at least for now, in a team commercial (screen grab courtesy of Josh Jarmon). … Lots of college basketball uni musings here. … Greg Riffenburgh notes that Arsenal’s Russian signee, Andrei Arshavin, has been wearing at least two different kinds of cleats, as seen here and here (that’s him in the background). … Soccer note from Joe DeLong, who writes: “I was watching Serie A soccer highlights on Sunday and saw that Filippo Inzaghi of AC Milan scored his 300th career goal and was immediately presented with a No. 300 jersey.” Details here. … Doug Keklak sent along this shot from the 1956 Johnstown High School yearbook. Weird to see that the whole team had uni numbers in the 70s and 80s — I realize those numbers were legal in h.s. hoops back then, but it’s still odd that they’d only use numbers in that range. … Luke Mohamed reports that Sidney Crosby, who normally wears a visor, was visor-free during part the first period of yesterday’s Pens game. … The 1898 Spalding Ice Hockey and Ice Polo Guide, which is believed to be the earliest hockey guidebook, is now accessible online — complete with ads. … Interesting 2005 story here about bunting — this kind, not this kind (nice find by Mike Ortman). … St. Paddy’s Week has officially arrived, as the Raptors wore green last night. … As promised, supercross racer Kevin Windham wore Saints-themed gear on Saturday (with thanks to Sean Clancy). … Don D. snapped this shot of an adult league hockey team called the Charlie Browns. “The uniform also has a shoulder patch with Snoopy biting through a hockey stick, à la the Sharks,” he adds. … Only in America, or so I’d assume (thanks, Phil). … Also from Phil: Think this guy’s got enough swooshes?

Yeah … Paul’s still gone. No, wait! He’s back today. But I might be back tomorrow anyway. You know, for fun.

I gotta say this picture took me aback when I first saw it. Not exactly something you see every day. That’s marathon swimmer Natalie du Toit of South Africa in the middle, which brings me to this: what’s the deal with South African athletes missing appendages? Oscar Pistorius, the sprinter who sued for the right to qualify for Beijing (but didn’t qualify), is from South Africa, too. What’s going on down there?

Joking aside, for now, you can see the Speedo LZR on all three swimmers. In cycling, aero equipment (helmets, special wheels, etc.) pays off more the longer you ride, obviously. I wonder if it’s the same for marathon swimming, when the LZR could mean minutes — lots of them — compared to .01 seconds in the pool.

Quick! Someone get some research going, pronto.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Dwight Howard is so anti-Nike, he won’t even wear practice gear. Or, he could be under contract with Adidas. Either one. As spotted by Rob Montoya in an ESPN video. Note also, he’s wearing Dr. Dre’s new Beat headphones. … Matt Powers was picking up his daughter at a friend’s house and snapped a shot of this photo on the mantle. “It turns out that the friend’s father was a running back at Princeton during the early 70’s (Letterwinner ‘73). What is even more cool, is that I’ve known him for some time and he has never once mentioned it!” … This trainwreck was in the comments last night. Credit to Glynn McGehee on this one. … Got a dispatch from Susan Freeman, who attended the first Texans preseason game. First, the old NFL logo won’t die, which is a good thing. Second, the NFL has completely whored itself out to Reebok, which we knew, but perhaps not to that extent. But wait, the new NFL logo is here, too. And, finally, socks in shambles near the end of the game. … Here’s an approximation (read: replica, at least) of what the new Adidas-tagged Michigan hockey jerseys will look like, with thanks to Craig Barker. … The Spanish synchronized swimming team is getting totally hosed. They can’t use their light-up suits. Boo! Thanks to Jeremy Brahm, who also sent this article about sexy table tennis unis. No, really. … Jonathan Sluss notes that Virginia Tech is going to have a white out for the home opener. That means the team is going white, too — with a mishmash of unis from the past. This shows that white helmet in original action — but note the different stripes on all the VT guys. … Possible new LA Kings alternate logo here. … Jeff Rinker picked up this postcard at Givens Hot Springs in Idaho while on a Boy Scouts campout. It’s the 1914 Murphy, Idaho, baseball team. … Sean McCall checked in with a couple of cool non-sports links — the first is a pile (in PDF form) of 1970s logos, while the second has a bunch of car badges. … How long have the Colts used this (scroll down) terrible helmet rendering for press conferences? Nick Church wants to know. … Also from Nick, there’s consternation over the rebranding of Western Kentucky University as, simply, WKU. Specifically, people are whacked out about how gigantic the center-court logo is. … Finally, happy birthday to my son, who turns 1 today.

Paul’s still gone. This is still Bryan.

Because I sometimes read too fast — apparently in a hurry to get to the point — I miss important details in stories. For example, I didn’t bother to read the story announcing the Browns’ brown pants too closely. Because of that, I thought they’d be in all brown. Ummm … no. God, that would have been horrible.

But was the brown that bad? Well, it depends on what you’re looking for. Brady Quinn, shown above, was wearing brown tights and high whites. I’ve never seen brown tights before, but they obviously exist. Others went with lower whites and more brown showing. That didn’t look so good.

I was prepared for the worst. That had mostly to do with expecting a full turd suit, though. Had those pants included a stripe or two, though — that could have been pretty cool. Same with the socks. Nothing over the top, but just a little bit to break up the brown. And just remember the all brown that was in my head. It could have been worse.

Olympic Oddities: You know those lesser-known sports we talked about last week? Jeremy Brahm checked in with a number of uni-quirks. Italy used a momentary libero against Bulgaria — note the pullover top. Lots of teams will only have one contrasting-color jersey made, so in case of emergency — momentary or not — a pullover will do it. … Kazakhstan’s women’s handball team had name and number plates, front and back. … Team handball has an extra attacker when the goalie is pulled … and there’s a hole in the jersey. Why? … What do you get when you’re a trouble-maker in field hockey? Green triangle, of course. Yellow squares are like going to the penalty box, while a red circle means you’re gone for the rest of the game.

Playing Nice: I owe an apology to Marty Met for being short and not so nice yesterday. In an attempt to end a long-simmering argument before it started (and there was no indication of it starting), I basically told him to lock it up. Not very hospitable of me, and I apologize.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Australia’s A-League is trying to get fans fired up with team NOBs in this ad, courtesy of Jeremy Brahm. Yeah, that looks strange. … Chris Kaman, the American who rediscovered his German roots in time for the Olympics, is missing his swoosh. Good catch by Brian Skokowski. … Remember the ruckus when Penn State said to Nike, “Yes, we’ll take your money in exchange for swooshes for everybody.”? Jesse Weidaw points out the Nittany Lions found plenty of space for the Champion logo prior to the invasion. And one must assume there’s a C on each sleeve, right? … Eddie Royal spent most of Saturday’s Denver-Dallas preseason game with his belt unbuckled. Though, as Rachel Bicicchi points out, he still has his Broncos belt-buckle cover attached. … For those wondering why Australia wears green and gold, rather than the colors of their flag, go here. …The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins unveiled a new third jersey on Monday. Rob Ullman likes it: “Since it just says “PENGUINS” on the front, has the NHL Pens’ logo on the shoulders (as opposed to the far-inferior AHL version) and doesn’t say “Wilkes-Barre/Scranton” anywhere…it’s essentially just a second alternate jersey for the Pittsburgh Penguins (the first being the powder blue ‘67 throwbacks they wore at last year’s Winter Classic, which they’ll wear as alts this season). Anyway, I think I dig it.” Thanks also to Stan Capp. … Yankees pitcher Phil Hughes, on a rehab stay in Scranton, has been pitching with glasses. Good catch by Alan Borock. …Old news here, but the Lakewood (N.J.) Blueclaws were the Bruceclaws for one night in July. Bruuuuuce! Thanks to Neal for the link. … College hockey logo rankings here, though Dan Herr thinks it’s a hack job. … Lots of Olympic flair from the Italian women’s water polo coach here, with thanks to Kevin Soon.

By Bryan Redemske

Every four years — well, every two, really — we hear multi-millionaires from the NBA and NHL saying how excited they are to wear their country’s colors in the Olympics. You know the speech — it’s the “I’m grateful for the opportunity to wear the flag on my shoulder and try to bring home a gold medal” one. You can insert the sport or country or medal of choice, but it rarely wavers.

And good for them for wanting to do that. What American — other than the completely loco ones — wouldn’t like to represent the Stars and Stripes at the Olympics? You know, pull on the ol’ navy and light blue and hit the track?

What? You thought American colors are red, white, and blue, like the flag? No no, sorry. Your colors are navy, light blue and red now, as detailed in the Nike Swift System of Dress. Deal with it. And the light blue arm-warmer things? Those make you faster because of aerodynamic fabric. Same for the shin-sleeves. And they’re good for swooshes, too. (Gigantic views here and here.)

So goes Nike’s recent chokehold on our national track and field identity — and on our Olympic identity as a whole. The basketball uniforms can be seen here, here, and here, each featuring impossible-to-read letters and numbers atop a graphic called “We The People.”

While this probably seems like another easy case of Nike-bashing, I think it’s more important to ask why Nike, and other companies (blue seems a bit dark, no?), are changing our national colors. England is blue, red, and white. Canada? Red and white. Australia? Green and yellow, sometimes with black. America? Well, that depends on which company makes the uniforms.

So, looking specifically at track and field (no time for team handball, sorry), what are America’s colors anyway? Better take a look:

1984: Made by Kappa, better known for soccer apparel. Mostly red.

1988: Mostly red again, also by Kappa (see side panel).

1992: Nike joins the party with a pretty tame design. Red, white, and blue — that’s us.

1996: Navy blue, that’s you. This design also featured circles on the side panels. You know, for … uh … something.

2000: Nike to USA — Hey, your flag doesn’t match our uniforms. We’ll make a new one for you if you like. The back panels were red, by the way. Nice.

2004: Welcome back, America. Your blue is still too dark, but at least it’s close to the flag.

2008: And … we’re back to the navy-and-light-blue thing. I’m sure you’ve noticed the track and field uniforms also feature the “We The People” graphic on the back.

Look for it to soon be permanently ratified upon our collective consciousness.

Raffle Results: Paul here. My bad for forgetting to announce that David Neuman and Troy Ragsdale are the winners of last week’s Yankee Stadium DVD raffle. Congrats to them, and my repeated thanks to James Craven for donating the DVDs.

Uni Watch News Ticker: CFL news from Dave Delisle, who reports that the Edmonton Eskimos have replaced their helmet logo with a 60th-anniversary mark, as you can see here. “I can’t recall a team replacing their primary logo with an anniversary logo in any sport,” he writes. “Usually those are placed separately on the uniform, like a shoulder patch. The Eskimos are doing this for the full season.” … The Minaya-ized Mr. Met T-shirt is now available in several colors and at a fair price. … Tour de France note from Matt Zegarski, who writes: “In recent years, many riders who wear a leader’s jersey have been wearing matching pants and helmet, but Team CSC-Saxo Bank have been bucking this trend, as seen in these photos of Frank Schleck and Carlos Sastre. I don’t know if it’s because team boss Bjarne Riis put the kibosh on it, or because of their clothing supplier, Craft. Either way, it’s a classic look.” … “I’m the art director of Gator Country magazine in Gainesville,” writes Jason Farmand. “For our football preview issue coming up, we commissioned an artist to paint Tim Tebow for the cover — in a way he’s never been seen before. I thought you’d like to see that.” … Turns out Spider-Man is a Mets fan (or at least he was back when Shea had the great metal exterior panels). Those screen grabs are from this hilarious video, sent my way by James Poisso, who says, “It’s amazing what you can find on YouTube!” … Astros catcher Humberto Quintero is switching to a hockey-style mask (with thanks to Ryan Patrick). … “Mr. Flat Brim himself, Joba Chamberlain, wore a curled brim on his Dunkin’ Donuts cap at a promotional appearance the other day,” notes Tyler Kepner. … MLS All-Star Game observations, courtesy of Kenn Tomasch: “For the first time since a sponsor logo started appearing on the front of the MLS All-Stars shirts in 2004, it was Pepsi and not Sierra Mist this time around. You can’t tell by that photo, but because Landon Donovan (who didn’t start, by the way) had dibs on the #10 shirt (for some reason, seniority, probably), Chicago’s Cuauhtemoc Blanco wore #70. No, that’s not the year of his birth (he was born in 1973), but the odd thing is that MLS’s number fonts are so craptacular this year that #70 looks a lot like #10 (and vice versa). All the 7s on all the shirts look like 1s. (Sorry, no good photo of that.) David Beckham, as always, wore long sleeves — not, as some speculate, because he wants to cover up his ample tattoos, but just because he prefers long sleeves, even when he plays in MLS’s summer heat (he’s never played in Phoenix, though). What’s funny is that West Ham’s Dean Ashton wore long sleeves in the first half but switched to short sleeves in the second half and scored in each jersey (still looking for a photo of that). Meanwhile, Steve Nash of the Phoenix Suns, whose hometown is Vancouver, wore a Vancouver Whitecaps 1979 throwback jersey while announcing that he’s part of the ownership group looking to grab one of two MLS expansion teams for 2011.”

By Vince Grzegorek
While tattoos were once the domain of sailors and ne’er do wells, you’re now likely to see a tattooed bride or altar boy. — Rachel Weingarten

The stigma of tattoos has been mellowed in the last ten to twenty years, especially in the world of sports. Everyone from swimmers to female boxers seem to have a little something inked somewhere on their bodies, and arms, legs, neck, hands, and even faces get decorated on a regular basis. Tattoos in certain places might still be taboo in mainstream society and might be a barrier to employment in certain sectors, but certainly that kind of corporate, buttoned-down mentality wouldn’t apply to our freewheeling athletes, would it?

Actually, it does, because many leagues consider tattoos to be part of the uniform. In fact, in many sports tattoos are covered in collective bargaining agreements, league committees, and official rulebooks. Take Major League Baseball, which, like the Marines, frowns upon “sleeve” tattoos. Justin Miller of the Florida Marlins (the same guy who has “I [heart] Billy Koch” tattooed on his rear end) has been told to wear long sleeves while pitching because his many tattoos could distract the batter. His response: “For me, my left arm shouldn’t even be counted as a distraction. It’s not part of my uniform, it’s part of me.”

Joel Zumaya and Felipe Lopez usually wear at least semi-long sleeves while playing, although it’s not clear whether they do so based on a higher directive from MLB to cover their arm tattoos (Zumaya, Lopez, Lopez again), or because they just enjoy that style.

As with most things in sports, sponsorship, advertising. and money come into the equation as well. Mike Juhasz of the Calgary Stampeders was told by his coach to cover his Nike swoosh tattoo since Nike was a competing sponsor of the league. One has to wonder if something similar would have to be done if this young man ever made it to the NBA. (Incidentally, LeBron James had to cover his tattoos while playing during high school.)

You wouldn’t think tattoos would be a huge deal in the world of auto racing, right? But Kimi Raikkonen took some heat for a tattoo of a little sun he got on his wrist. Nothing much came of it, but the media fixated on the topic, and Ferrari boss Jean Todt finally said that if a sponsor was that upset about the tattoo then they would just change sponsors.

Then there’s the strange world of temporary tattoo advertising, which has grown into the even stranger world of real tattoo advertising — and which, of course, got its start in sports. Bernard Hopkins collected an extra $100,000 paycheck for putting a GoldenPalace.com temporary tattoo on his back during his 2001 bout against Felix Trinidad, and soon the boxing world was up in arms about the prospect of fighters dancing around the squared circle like sweaty billboards. (Temporary tattoos in the ring were eventually banned since they could be a distraction to the judges and because the ink could come off and get in the opponent’s eye.)

Soon, the juggernaut of sports marketing jumped on board and a New York man planned to ambush the NBA with selected players wearing temporary tattoo advertisements during three selected games in 2001. After hearing about the plan, the NBA quickly put an end to the plans while threatening fines and suspensions. Rasheed Wallace also considered wearing a temporary tattoo for a candy company but eventually backed out because he “didn’t want to use his body as a billboard.” I’m sure it had nothing to do with David Stern at all. Really. The league maintains that players are not allowed to wear any stray corporate insignia on any parts of their bodies, which are considered part of the uniform.

One of the few places that temporary tattoo advertising has survived is in beach volleyball, where players can often be seen wearing multiple corporate logos while diving around in the sand. Having concentrated on, um, other aspects of women’s beach volleyball, it didn’t occur to me until lately that they were wearing temporary tattoos on their arms. Having not watched any men’s volleyball, I had to do a quick search just to make sure that they were taking part in the “Body For Sale” trend as well.

Tangential Bonus Material: Don’t forget, these are wonderful Father’s Day gifts… Bet you didn’t know that Sean Salisbury has/had a “No Fear” tattoo on his ankle (bottom of page)… Check out this article for all the legal ramifications of NBA players wearing temporary tattoo advertising… Many Japanese sports clubs forbid tattoos altogether because they are associated with gangsters, but they tend to let them slide if they are not visible to the other members… According to a very informal survey, the Harley-Davidson logo is the most popular trademark tattoo on the west coast. For more tidbits about logos and tattoos read this… Still interested in NBA players and temporary tattoo advertisements? Listen to this NPR interview from 2001… Sweet looking American flag tattoo on some player in the upcoming video game The Bigs… Here’s a transcript from an Outside the Lines episode where they discussed tattoo advertising… Gallery of athletes and their tattoos here… Another gallery of athletes and their tattoos here (6 and 10 are personal favorites).

From time to time we’ve discussed uni-related issues of trademark infringement and protection. But policing your trademark in lawsuit-happy America is one thing — doing it in a far-off land, where any clown with a heat press can run off a few jillion cheap logo-emblazoned knockoffs of your design, is something else, as reader Eric Trager has discovered. Here’s his long-distance report from the Middle East:

I’ve been living in Cairo since August on an Islamic Civilizations Fulbright grant, which has given me a decent opportunity to travel around the Middle East a bit. It seems like almost anywhere I go, I find familiar-looking caps, none of which are ever official, and almost all of which contain completely incorrect colors. At the famous Khan al-Khalili market in Cairo, for example, I spotted this orange Yankees cap among other mostly Cairo-appropriate headgear. In Casablanca, I spotted this cap stand; you can make out a number of Yankees caps (there’s a proper navy one on the 60 dirham level, though the rest are completely off), along with a 49ers cap, a Florida Gators cap, and a Berkeley cap. [The one I find most amusing is the FBI cap. -- PL] Although the Yankees are, unfortunately, the most prominent in terms of merchandise in the region, I happened to find this cap stand in Sana’a, Yemen, featuring Dodgers caps (again, wrong colors). Finding these things in Yemen was particularly surprising, given that most men there dress like this, i.e., sans baseball cap.

Though caps are the most prominent American sports gear I’ve come across in the region, I spotted kid in Jounieh, Lebanon, wearing a very decent Kobe Bryant jersey when I was there in 2004. It looks like it’s actually officially licensed, unlike this horrific Don Mattingly Yankees jacket I spotted in Rabat [Donnie Baseball never wore his stirrups like that! -- PL] and this awful Rockies T-shirt I found at the Cairo tent market (although Uni Watch probably endorses the shirt’s use of red in place of purple, no matter how inaccurate).

Of course, the most common sports uniforms found in Middle Eastern markets are local soccer jerseys. I spotted these two brothers wearing al-Ahly jerseys in Cairo, and have purchased the jerseys of Maghreb Fez, Wydad (Casablanca), and the Moroccan national team as gifts for friends. Unfortunately, none of these are remotely authentic, though I was finally able to find an official al-Ahly jersey at the posh, Saudi-built mall in Cairo.

This is really just a small sampling of uni-relevant observations from my time in the region. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the hundreds of MLB, NBA, NFL, NCAA, and NHL T-shirts available in Hebrew in virtually any Israeli tourist area (similar to these online examples), though did happen to pick up this Mets yarmulke.

I’ll close with the most surprising uni-related find. Look closely at the religious insignia on the sports club t-shirt of the boy on the left in this photo — it was taken in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank.

Pretty great stuff. The global, hegemonic reach of the baseball cap, even in cultures that wouldn’t know a baseball game if you plopped one down in their front yard, continues to amaze me.

And wait, there’s more: About a week after sending me that first note, Trager checked in with a nice little epilogue:

As I was packing up my things today to leave Egypt after a nine-month stint out here, I noticed that my Mets cap no longer fit. Fitted caps, as you might imagine, are extremely hard finds in Egypt, and all sorts of people — taxi drivers, camel merchants, children, restaurant owners, and tour guides — have asked me many times for some of my fitted caps right off my head, which I have always declined in the past. This time, however, rather than waste precious suitcase space on a Mets cap that didn’t fit, I went downstairs to find a kid to whom I could give it. He was very appreciative, and I think rather surprised. I might have just stumbled across a new mechanism for American public diplomacy.

Now we just have to get the kid to ditch the black.

Three Okay, TWO Blind Mice: Jamie Moyer’s stirrups occasioned lots of oh-so-adorable banter in the Mets’ broadcast booth last night. The chatter started after announcers approvingly noted that Moyer had busted it pretty hard while running out a ground ball. Here’s the transcript:

Gary Cohen: Not only is he running hard, but he’s running hard in stirrups.

Ron Darling: Yes.

Cohen: We’ve gotta get a shot of Moyer’s feet at some point. Nobody wears stirrups anymore! Maybe a couple of old coaches.

Darling: He wears ’em a little bit like you wore ’em, Keith.

Keith Hernandez: I’ll have to give ’em closer, uh, scrutiny. [Camera shows a close-up of Moyer's stirrups.] Oh, I liked to wear ’em a little higher. That’s low. That’s minor league ugly.

Cohen: You didn’t have the Liberty Bell on your stirrups.

Hernandez: No. Those are the stirrups they gave you in the minor leagues.

Darling [struggling for something relevant to say]: Is that like coyote ugly? Minor league ugly.

Hernandez [ignoring Darling]: You had the wool uniforms in the minor leagues back in the early ’70s, and they were just itchy. And you were glad to have ’em, trust me, but I hated the stirrups. [As per usual during these hosiery discussions, the camera shows sacred Shea Stadium photo of Jerry Koosman celebrating the last out of the 1969 World Series.] See, that’s closer. I wore ’em a little bit higher than Kooz right there. [Camera now shows file photo of Hernandez's favorite player.] Ah, there you go.

Cohen: There was a trend for a while there to show none of the top of the stirrup, right? Guys started adding extensions to the bottom so they rose that much higher.

Hernandez: Yes. I never liked that look. When we played for the Cardinals, we had those great socks with the stripes, like the Red Sox. You wanna show the stripes.

Cohen [who has clearly read either Ball Four or Uni Watch]: I guess it was Frank Robinson, wasn’t it, who first started wearing the high stirrups, that just showed white with a stripe on the side?

Darling [utterly lost but trying to sound engaged]: Yes.

Hernandez [also lost]: I think you may be right.

Cohen: Maybe it was someone else before that. I just…

Hernandez [now completely off on the wrong tack]: Was it with Cleveland? Remember those Cleveland uniforms, those red uniforms?

Cohen: Those were awful.

Darling [now barely treading water]: They were hideous!

Cohen: Of course, there were a lot of hideous uniforms in the ’70s. The Pirates…

Hernandez: The bumblebees!

Darling: How about Houston?

Hernandez: Ugh!

Cohen: How about the Padres?

Darling: That’s right, mustard and brown.

Cohen: Mustard and mud!

Hernandez: Contrary to Ron Darling, I love the A’s uniforms, love those swingin’ A’s unis.

[Inning mercifully ends.]

Uni Watch News Ticker: Plate umpires who wear the conventional-style mask always wear a cap, but umps who favor the hockey-style mask have always gone cap-free. Or at least that’s what I thought until seeing some footage from last night’s Rockies/Astros game, where plate ump Ed Hickox wore a cap under his hockey-style mask (you can see him holding his mask on the left side of this shot). … Tons of great uni- and equipment-related footages in this awesome WHA video (tremendous find by Tommy Gough). … Not quite uni-related, but still a worthwhile site. … Interesting query from Ryan Hickox, who writes: “This season, while watching Red Sox games, I’ve noticed a couple of narrow, dark objects behind the rubber on the mound, as seen here.” Anyone know what these are? … Newly minted Uni Watch member Michael Gargano recently bumped into a friend wearing a great Royals tee. … According to this article, Jake Peavy inscribes “BP” on his underbill, in tribute to his late grandfather, Blanche Peavy (good spot by David Conley). … Pretty cool stuff upcoming in Tampa. … That ridiculous London Olympics logo is already getting some very negative reviews (some really great quotes in that article, including a description of the logo as “a toileting monkey”), plus there’s now a petition drive to do away with it (with thanks to Morris Bird). … Now that’s a nameplate. Player in question is Washington State kicker Romeen Abdollmohammadi (as spotted by Michael Carman). … Some interesting factoids about the Diamondbacks’ uni protocol in the “In Case You Were Wondering” section of this page (good find by Doug Simpson). … Jacob Reed wonders what Eddie Stanky had written under his bill. … Photo of the day comes from Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek who noticed Tim Hudson finding a new use for the rosin bag. … Great article here about a Milwaukee memorabilia hound who specializes in collecting bats (with thanks to the Cream City’s finest, Nicole Haase). … Brian Willette notes that Northwestern softballer Darcy Sengewald has been wearing eye black shaped like little hearts and dollar signs. … Beau Lynott sent along a screen shot of Russell Martin’s torn pants from last night’s Dodgers/Padres game. “He was sliding repeatedly in steal attempts with one out in the 7th inning, then fell down rounding second on a base hit and was tagged out in a pickle. Matt Vasgersian on Channel 4 Padres said, ‘What’s with the re-stitch? Get the man some new pants!’” … Want your logo rendered in pasta? Comments section stalwart Minna H. recommends these guys. … The Indians wore blue jerseys at home last night, marking the first time they’d done that since 2001 (although, as Tim Bennett notes, there was a lot more red trim back in those days). … According to an article in yesterday’s New York Times, dreadlocked Giants defensive back R.W. McQuarters recently had his first haircut since his rookie season and is now wearing a helmet two sizes smaller as a result. … Arsenal has unveiled its new white kit.

I had a houseguest over the weekend and barely touched my computer, so I’m a day late in covering the details of the weekend’s big uni-related story. With apologies to those for whom this is already old news, here’s the scoop:

During Game 3 of the Stanley Cup finals on Saturday night, Ottawa’s Jason Spezza, who normally wears No. 19, had his jersey badly torn during a tussle with Anaheim’s Sammy Pahlsson (you can see part of the rip here). Both players were penalized for roughing, but Spezza immediately removed his torn jersey and scampered off to the locker room to get a new jersey while another Ottawa player sat in the penalty box in his stead.

Nothing so unusual there — it happens. The weird part was when Spezza returned a minute or two later: Instead of wearing a new No. 19 jersey or a repaired version of his original jersey, he was wearing No. 44. That number is usually worn by Patrick Eaves, who was a healthy scratch for the game. The penalty hadn’t yet expired, so Spezza took his place in the sin bin wearing Eaves’s jersey. When the penalty expired, Spezza skated onto the ice and played until the next whistle, at which point he skated to the bench and switched to a proper 19 jersey.

A few of the details are still fuzzy. Some reports said that Spezza’s original torn jersey was repaired while he was in the penalty box, and that he eventually put it back on; others said that the equipment staff eventually found a new 19 jersey for him to wear. And according to the fourth paragraph of this article (alertly forwarded by Brent Bollmeier), “[S]ince the Sens equipment staff quickly stapled Spezza’s name on the back of Eaves’ jersey, it would not have been illegal for him to go on the ice wearing a different number, in this case 44 rather than his own 19″ — an interesting factoid, except for the fact that the Sens staff didn’t staple Spezza’s name onto the 44 jersey. Anyone know more about that?

The announcers had plenty of fun with all this, which you can hear for yourself, because whole thing has already been immortalized in two short YouTube videos, available here and here.

Blowout Chatter: The Cubs had a rare laugher on Saturday, which gave announcers Len Kasper and Bob Brenly a chance to ignore the play-by-play proceedings and concentrate on more important matters, like uniforms. The discussion began when they noted that one of the Cubbies’ clubhouse managers was in uniform and serving as a batboy (apparently one of the team’s standard methods of trying to break a losing streak, something I guess the Cubs have had lots of opportunities to perfect over the years). That led Kasper to wax expansive about a recent chat he’d had with one of the other clubhouse guys:

Kasper: I had a great talk with Tim Hellmann, who works in the home clubhouse, and was talking about the jerseys and taking care of the uniforms and the new synthetic polyester-blend caps. He was telling me that most dirt and grass stains require hand-washing, to keep them nice and clean. And the pants get replaced much more often, for obvious reasons. If you’re wondering, the uniforms are made out of polyester, and they’re washed in warm water. Are you writing this down?

Brenly: No.

Kasper: See, I’ve been saving this story for a long time. Just felt like today was the day. [Camera shows Felix Pie in the Cubs dugout with a lot of dirt on his jersey.] Felix Pie’s uniform might require a bit of hand-washing. I asked Tim if they ever iron the uniforms — sometimes you see a bit of a wrinkle. I guess it’s rare that they have to iron. He said at one time the uniforms were washed in hot water and quickly packed — sometimes had to be touched up with an iron. So it does happen on occasion. Now, as a catcher, you probably went through more pairs of pants than any other position. Do you have any idea how many pairs of trousers you averaged in a big league season?

Brenly: Well, y’know, back in the day we were on a strict budget there in San Francisco. We used to patch our uniforms frequently. It wasn’t unusual to see a guy with three or four layers of patching, especially on your sliding knee, and for me that was my left knee. They just continued to patch ’em until they couldn’t patch them anymore, at which point they were put in a box and sent to the minor leagues for those guys to deal with. You don’t see a lot of patching going on nowadays — if a guy tears his pants or slides so many times that he gets a bare spot on the knee of his pants, they just get him a new pair.

(Special thanks to AJ Favorite for tipping me wise to this highly riveting bit of uni banter.)

Membership Update: Continued thanks to the very enthusiastic and generous folks who’ve signed up for a Uni Watch membership. Everyone who signed up through yesterday is now listed on the membership roster, where, in most cases, you can see the name/number style that everyone’s chosen for the backs of their cards (which, I think you’ll agree, looks pretty damn cool). Have fun checking out the roster — it’s worth reading it just to see why Mark Emge chose No. 12.

If you signed up prior to yesterday and don’t see your name on the roster, or if there’s an error in your roster listing, let me know and we’ll make things right. If you’re on the roster and want to send me a photo of yourself that can be linked to your name, go ahead and e-mail it to me (or, if you want to link to a photo that’s already no the web, just send me the URL). Also, if you’d rather have your name linked to your e-mail address, so other readers can get in touch with you, let me know and I’ll set up the link.

The actual laminated cards, along with other membership benefits, will start shipping out later this week. It’ll probably take me a few weeks before I get fully caught up — thanks in advance for your patience.

Meanwhile: Terry Mark, I have a question regarding your membership order and am having trouble e-mailing you — please shoot me a note.

Uni Watch News Ticker: An inside MLB source reports the following: “Next year MLB is getting new dugout gear. The jackets will be made of new fabric — think North Face material, but not the fleece kind. The half-zip pullovers will also be kinda weird — more windbreaker-like, but with zip-off sleeves. Also, looks like the negative feedback on this year’s BP gear is falling on deaf ears. The jerseys, at least, will be used again next year.” … Dynamite article here about the uniforms used in the Ernie Davis movie (with thanks to Mike Alper). … More minor league shenanigans, this time from the Frederick Keys, who wore NASCAR jerseys on Saturday night (as forwarded by Tim Phelps). … Succinct analysis by Morris Bird, who says, Let’s hope this logo evolves quickly.” Details here. … Peter Angelos briefly addresses the situation regarding the Orioles’ road jersey insignia in the middle of this interview (just do a search on “uniform”). … Kurt Hiester notes that Dustin Pedroia wears his shin guard unusually high while batting. … Good note from Scott Merzbach, who writes: ” When I was in Lynchburg, Virginia, last weekend for a minor league baseball game, I recalled that the last time I attended a Hillcats baseball game in 1999, the opponents had left their caps at home and were forced to wear generic hats when they took the field. I found a newspaper clip that confirmed my recollection: ‘The (Kinston) Indians were forced to play the game in all-blue adjustable hats they bought at High Peak Sportswear because their regular caps were accidentally left in Kinston.’ ” … Several readers noted that after Michael Barrett’s scuffle with Carlos Zambrano (which resulted in some nasty-looking stitches), he has switched from wearing a conventional mask to a hockey-style model. … Remember Manny Ramirez wearing Oakley Thumps? He was wearing them again last night (with thanks to Michael Milici). … I could do a whole column on Don Cherry’s suits, but for now I’ll just pass along Dustin Pomprowitz’s observation that Cherry was wearing little Canadian flag cufflinks last night.

By Vince Grzegorek

Take a guess as to when inline skates were first developed. Go ahead. 1950s? 1920s? 1900s? 1850s?

Any takers on 1823? Because that is the correct answer. These skates were called the “Volito” and were used by ice skaters when there was no ice to be found. The unequal size of the wheels made this one of the more popular models because skaters could easily turn simply by shifting their weight from side to side.

This is just one of the many interesting equipment- and uniform-related tidbits found in the amazing “Sports: Breaking Records, Breaking Barriers” exhibit put together by the Smithsonian. Currently on display at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, the collection has toured the country for the past two years and has two stops left in Portland, Oregon, and Spokane, Washington, later this year (dates and locations available here.)

Other highlights include:

• Abercrombie and Fitch may be known today for trendy clothes and semi-pornographic advertising, but back in the day that wasn’t the case. Check out this badminton set they produced around the turn of the century The wooden frames tightened around the rackets to keep them from warping brings back fond memories of the racket my father gave me when I was younger.
• Here’s the towel that was literally thrown in by Max Schmeling’s handlers in the first round of his bout against Joe Louis at Yankee Stadium in 1938. It was thrown back out by the referee because it was against the rules for handlers to stop a fight by throwing in the towel.
• For her swim across the English Channel in 1926, Gertrude Ederle wore these watertight goggles she designed for the journey.
• For the 1988 Olympics, Brian Boitano wore these skates. Harlick (the manufacturer) added the American flags for good luck.
• Betsy Jochum wore this uniform for the South Bend Blue Sox in the All-American Girls Professional League. The Smithsonian notes, “According to the players’ manual, A Guide for All American Girls: How to Look Better, Feel Better, Be More Popular: ‘The smart looking teams invariably play smart ball and you can add to your own drawing power and crowd appeal by looking the part of a ball player on the field. Keep your shoes clean and shining. And see if you don’t feel better and play better ball.’ “
• If prototypes of the in-line skate were available in 1823, surely the roller skate was already perfected, right? Not really. It wasn’t until 1863 that James Plimpton patented a model that most closely resembles what we have come to know.
• It wasn’t any sort of marine species that inspired Owen Churchill to create his rubber swim fins around 1940, it was Tahitian swimmers he saw attaching woven leaves to their feet. Bet you thought it was a dolphin or something.
• The accent over the ‘e’ in Pelé in this New York Cosmos jersey looks more like an out of place, dangling apostrophe than anything else. It should be placed like this, or left off completely, like this (although, note Pelé includes the accent in his autograph.)
• Billie Jean King wore this outfit, which at the time was considered flashy, in her match against Bobby Riggs. Oh, how times have changed.

Loose Ends, Small Change: Some items I came across while searching through the National Archives online: FDR with his high school baseball team… FDR with his high school football team… Jim Thorpe in his Carlisle Indian School uniform… Finally, a wonderful old Louisville Slugger advertisement.

Distant Replays Gift Card and March Madness: The good folks over at Distant Replays have provided some more gift cards to give away, and just in time for the start of the NCAA Tournament. Since I’m the one who’ll be stuck grading these, we’re going to forego full bracket submissions, in the interests of preserving my sanity. Here’s how it’s going to work:

Pick one team from each region, and one additional team from any region as your wild card choice (five teams in all). You will receive points correlating to each team’s seed for each game that team wins. For example, a Number 1 seed will receive 1 point for each game it wins, a Number 5 seed will receive 5 points for each game it wins, a Number 12 seed will receive 12 points for each game it wins, and so on. Highest score wins. Given the number of entries I expect to receive, this seems to be the best way to avoid a tie. However, please provide your guess for total points scored by both teams combined in the championship game, just in case we do need a tiebreaker.

E-mail your list of five teams and guess for total points to uniraffle at earthlink dot net by 12:00 noon EST on Thursday, March 15th to be eligible. Obviously, no late entries will be allowed. One entry per person, please. 1st place: $200, 2nd place: $100, 3rd place: $50 in Distant Replays money. Winners should be announced on or around April 3rd. Good luck.