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Posts filed under 'Pants'
Back in August of 2005, when this site didn’t yet exist and the Uni Watch News Ticker ran as part of my ESPN column every two weeks, I wrote an article that included this little nugget (which originally included some photo links that have long since expired):
The Marlins recently tried a bit of team uni-ty by agreeing to have everyone cuff their pants up high. “I heard Paul LoDuca started it, to give the team a spark,” reports Marlins fan and Uni Watch reader Kevin Sorg. “Todd Jones won’t wear it on the mound when he closes, but the second he gets the last out, he pulls up the pant legs to show the socks up.”
Three seasons later, Todd Jones once again finds himself on a team looking to strike a note of hosiery-based solidarity. This time it’s the Tigers, who went high-cuffed on Saturday (additional info in the sixth graf of this story, and note that Miguel Cabrera’s socks were logo emblazoned).
Just as he did with the Marlins, Jones chose to stay low-cuffed when he entered the game and then hiked up his pants after getting the final out. But that’s where the similarity ends. Back in Florida, Jones had full-length socks under his pants (no pics, but I saw video of it at the time, trust me). But when he pulled up his pant legs on Saturday, he revealed something else altogether — ewwwww. And although it’s tough to see in that screen grab, those are official NBA quarter-socks — a rare (and, in this instance, rather off-putting) case of cross-league apparel.
In addition to adjusting his cuffs at the game’s conclusion, Jones also went untucked. Unfortunately, no single shot showed the full bare-legged, shirttails-a-flappin’ effect, presumably because no camera was capable of capturing such an image without exploding.
And yet Jones didn’t seem the least bit ashamed of his appearance. In fact, you might say he looked proud out there, almost like he was rubbing the victory in the D-backs’ faces. Why be confrontational like that? See Todd Jones, hear him roar.
But I guess he’s got rights, or whatever.
Jones, incidentally, isn’t the only player wearing teeny little ankle socks. Reader Laren Richardson informs me that Jim Edmonds fouled a ball off his ankle during last night’s Cubs/Astros game and then rolled up his cuff to reveal this. Is this the new trend in baseball? Dainty little sockie-poos instead of gloriously full-fledged hose? And people wonder why this country’s going down the crapper.
Uni Watch News Ticker: While poking around in the Sporting News archives, I came across an incredible article about the Cubs’ 1937 uniforms. The Cubbies made a lot of changes that year, going from this to this (which featured, among other things, history’s first zipper-front jersey). Stop whatever you’re doing and read this — you won’t be sorry. … Bit of a javelin mishap in Utah the other day. Details here. … The Duke lacrosse team is wearing American flag left-sleeve patches — execept for Zack Greer, who’s from Ontario, so he has the Canadian flag (with thanks to Cosmo Santullo). … George Sherrill’s flat-brim look is catching on (with thanks to Jeffrey Soderberg). … Not uni-related, but I’ve been meaning to mention that when I was in Seattle a while back, Ebbets Field Flannels prexy Jerry Cohen took me to this amazing sandwich shop, which has its own curing room (in case you hadn’t figured it out, about the only thing I love more than design minutiae is meat). … John Lüders found a nice gallery focusing on corporate sponsorships in German and European soccer. “This shot shows something I’ve never heard of before in Germany,” he writes. “In 1988 FC Homburg wanted to advertise condoms (the brand was called London Rubber Company), but the German football league wouldn’t let it pass — too raunchy for the times apparently (personally, I think the overall jersey design is the far worse crime). And this one shows Eintracht Braunschweig in 1976. Back then, advertising was basically forbidden in German football, so what did the club, very high in debt, simply changed their whole emblem into the Jägermeister sign. The jersey now has reached cult status among supporters (similar to the Commodore shirt Bayern Munich was sporting in the early ’80s).” … My recent material about smoking athletes led Dan Jeffers to inform me that Leo Durocher once had Dodgers pitcher Tom Seats drink some brandy before a game, to settle his (the Seats’s) nerves. GM Branch Rickey was outraged by this impromptu bartending, so what did he do? He released Seats. Details here. … Matt Ryburn reports that the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes ran an American Gladiator Night promotion over the weekend, complete with AG-styled uniforms (additional pics here and here). … Ryan Connelly notes that Marty Biron has something written on the inner back panel of his mask. Anyone know what that’s about? … I grew up watching Thurman Munson wearing orange gear without thinking twice about it. But as Clark Farrand notes, that’s an odd color choice for a Yankees catcher. Anyone know the story behind that? … While researching something else, I stumbled upon something I’d forgotten about: When the Mets introduced their black jerseys in 1997, they sometimes paired them with blue sleeves. … The Lions have added a “75 Seasons” patch (with thanks to Eric Szczesny, who notes that this is the Lions 75th year in Detroit but actually their 79th year in the league). … Buried in last night’s AP beat story about the Yankees (with thanks to Bryan, who noticed it): “The Yankees will switch equipment sponsorship from Adidas to Nike next year under a five-year deal that has been agreed to in principle, Sports Business Journal reported. Nike spokesman Dean Stoyer said the company wouldn’t confirm or discuss the report until after the season and Yankees spokesman Howard Rubenstein said he wasn’t able to reach any team officials for comment. Adidas has sponsored the Yankees since 1997. All big league teams’ on-field apparel, however, is covered by Major League Baseball’s agreements.” … NASL-o-rama on eBay (with thanks to Bob Saietta). … College football query from Matt Powers, who writes: “Circa 1999, the NCAA instituted the rule governing the use of gray receiver’s gloves for all players, to make infractions such as holding more visible to officials. In 1998, my teammates and I were still allowed to wear non-gray gloves, as were the athletes at the major schools. I believe the rule is still in effect, although I still don’t know the particulars. Today, I received my Eastbay catalogue, which included this page. The gloves shown on the page are also linked on the Eastbay site. My question is this: There’s an all-gray model for sale, but all of the gloves are majority gray, with an accent color. Would all of these gloves be legal under current NCAA regulations?” Matt lost me about two sentences in, but I trust someone out there can help him out, yes? … John Hansen notes that Anika Sorentsam is apparently trying to max out her sponsorship $$$ before her retirement kicks in. Cool Swedish belt, though. … Erik Johns has found a site featuring some incredible Russian posters, several of which are sports-related (at least tangentially). I particularly like this one. … The additional site-anniversary announcement will have to wait an extra day — more details tomorrow.
May 20th, 2008
As many of you know, I often play softball on Sunday afternoons, and I practice what I preach by wearing stirrups. For years I’ve been going with basic navy, because I always wear navy sweatpants. But as you may recall from a few weeks ago, the folks at Mitchell & Ness recently sent me a box filled with hose-a-plenty, so I’ve decided to inaugurate a new project: the Uni Watch Stirrups of the Week. Yesterday was my first game of the year (we’ve had shitty Sunday weather up until now), so here’s our first installment:
This week’s design: navy with red stripes, medium-cut.
Ideal for feeling like a member of: the 1950s Cubs.
Color-coordination factor: Easy.
How they looked: Totally bitchin’ (further evidence here, here, here, here, and here).
How I felt: Totally bitchin’.
How I played: Rusty day at the plate — F7, GIDP (ugh), and 5-3. Saw a lot of action in left field, most of which I ran down, although I’m still pissed about one shot over my head that I couldn’t quite corral (it glanced off my glove, which prolonged what turned out to be a damaging inning for my team). All in all: lots of room for improvement. But godDAMN did my stripes look good!
I’ll continue to wear a different set of hose each time I play. There were 11 pairs in the box from Mitchell & Ness, plus I have those genuine Mets stirrups that Paul Wiederecht recently gave me, so that should get me through most of the season (I don’t play every week).
And hey, speaking of Mitchell & Ness, I had a blast on Saturday at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, where the M&N folks had set up a display devoted to Philly’s uniform history. This was my first time meeting M&N prexy Peter Capolino, who turned out to be a really sweet guy and a great storyteller. Also on hand were M&N researcher and longtime Uni Watch contributor Jared Wheeler (my first time meeting him, too — great, great guy) and Victory Pennants honcho Morris Levin, plus some Uni Watch readers stopped by as well.
Peter had set up a few racks of old Philly A’s jerseys (plus he included that black New York Giants design, cuz that’s what the Giants wore against the A’s in the 1911 World Series), and a similar display for the Phillies (thanks for the prop assistance, Kirsten). Plus there were lots of patches, pennants (this one was my favorite), caps, and related ephemera. And check this out: a few items from the Phils’ short-lived Blue Jays period.
But my favorite item on display had nothing to do with Philadelphia: these pants, which had an incredible blue/gold pinstripe pattern (additional views here and here). Is that gorgeous or what? Peter says he isn’t sure what team wore this — someone gave him the pants, but no corresponding jersey, a few years back.
The Philadelphia A’s Historical Society had a table too, stocked with assorted photos, yearbooks, programs, and so on. Interestingly, they also had a team portrait of the 1955 Kansas City A’s (that was the franchise’s first year after leaving Philly) — I love that map that shows all the radio affiliates.
After a checking out the Reading Terminal Market and getting a pork sandwich at DiNic’s, it was off to Bob & Barbara’s for the latest Uni Watch gathering. Great time (esp. seeing all the locals slowly going out of their minds as the Mets beat the Phils on the bar’s TV), but I just wasn’t in the mood to take photos. Sorry ’bout that. Big thanks to everyone who came out, and bonus thanks for all the drinks, gifts, and kind words — Philly fans may have legendarily tough exteriors, but I can now attest that they’ve also got soft, friendly hearts.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Cool vintage Celtics sweaters here and here (as discovered by Mike Cooperman). … Attention everyone who’s been asking me where to buy stirrups — look! … NHL note from Al Stone: “Very early on in Thursday night’s Flyers/Caps game, Ovechkin had his facemask cracked and had to very quickly grab Boyd Gordon’s visor-less helmet off the bench. It was very unusual to see him finish the shift without a visor — didn’t look like the usual Ovie at all. The very next shift, however, he was back out on the ice with a repaired helmet with visor.” … Here’s another Sparky Anderson shot, this time from his days with the Fort Worth Cats (with thanks to Jeff Meyers). … James Maino reports that Virginia Tech will have a “whiteout” game on September 6th, with 1970s throwbacks. … See any glaring similarities here? I don’t, but some idiots in Miami do (with thanks to Greg Mays). … We all know about sponsor-driven team uniforms, but how about sponsor-designed umpire uniforms? (Nice find by Steven Wyder) … Speaking of sponsorship logos, check this out (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Have bat weights been logo-emblazoned all along? That photo is the first time I’ve noticed it. … The KC T-Bones have backed off their idea of wearing prison-striped uniforms in “honor” of local prisoner Michael Vick. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Habs goalie Carey Price is my kinda fella. … Also from yesterday: Check out this huge NOB lettering (taken from this cricket highlight vid). … Scroll down to the “Around Baseball” section of this page for news about Bobby Abreu’s cleats and his plans to become a sporting goods mogul (with thanks to Matt Powers). … Weren’t the new 5950s supposed to eliminate this problem? … Bit of a Mets jersey mystery over on Jon Springer’s site — look here. … “Nebraska football has worn black shoes for a number of seasons, maybe the duration of their contract with Adidas,” writes Bryan Hansen. “But in Saturday’s spring game, it looked like they may be in transition to a white/red shoe. There were several players in the (presumably old) black shoes and others wearing a new white/red shoe.” … Here’s the latest story on the tensions between teams, leagues, and media in the new-media era — recommended reading. … If the Blue Jays can make throwback powder blue uniforms, can’t they make a throwback smock for Joihn Gibbons? (Screen grab courtesy of Michael Moss.) … Speaking of managerial attire, what’s up with Terry Francona’s collar? Like, is it tucked under, or did he have it removed? (With thanks to Mark Shipman.) … Holy-moly (courtesy of David Soline). … Jeremy Brahm reports that the 2011 Women’s World Cup logo will look like this. … Cool old photo of Lou Gehrig here (rare non-Wisconsin contribution from Nicole Haase). … Speaking of Gehrig, did you know he’s the only Yankee ever to have worn No. 4? Or that the other players wore Joe D.’s No. 5 while he was in the military? You would if you’d read this excellent piece about Yankees uni numbers (with thanks to Alan Kreit). … Adidas can’t be happy about Shaq wearing a Nike compression shirt (good spot by Brett Crane). … “Looks like the Raptors are rolling out a new logo for the playoffs,” writes Sean, who didn’t give his last name. “Basically just the original dino logo but de-purple-ized.” … The Fresno Grizzlies wore autism-awareness jerseys on Friday (with thanks to Aaron Wiens, who also sent along some pics of the most disturbingly purple car I’ve ever had the displeasure of seeing). … “Lance Armstrong was at Fenway on Saturday (because he’s running the Boston Marathon on Monday), and some players on both the Red Sox and the Rangers wore yellow wristbands (not to be confused with the Livestrong bracelets) to support his charity,” writes Mark Mihalik. “Unfortunately the only picture I could find was this one. I also noticed that Jacoby Ellsbury went a step further by wearing a yellow arm band and yellow shoelaces.” … Another Rangers/Bosox report, this time from Nick Freeman: “I was at Friday’s game and noticed in the 1st inning that the Rangers’ bat boy was wearing their gray away uniform even though the team was wearing the blue alternates.We all sat there making fun of the Rangers for being too cheap to buy the bat boys proper jerseys. But then in the 4th, the bat boy had switched and was now in blue. Throw this in with all their other jersey issues and this is a team in trouble.” … “The Ravens, now under John Harbaugh, have stepped up their practice unis,” reports Joe Hilseberg, “going from Brian Billick’s high school rejects look to pretty darn close to the game-day jersey, even with names on the back. … Good interview here with the Sneaker Wars author, although the accompanying photo gallery has several caption errors (with thanks to Chris LaHaye). … My browser refuses to play this video, but David Sonny says the last 20 seconds or so show a sneak preview of the U. of Cincinnati’s new football uniforms. … Personal Foul, Abusing the Uniform, Part 1: Will someone please get these guys a box of Kleenex? … Personal Foul, Abusing the Uniform, Part 2: And while you’re at it, get this guy a snack. … The official wire service caption for that last photo, by the way, begins like so: “Rodney Stuckey #3 of the Detroit Pistons looks on while playing the Philadelphia 76ers…” That brings up a pet peeve: What’s the deal with the term “looks on”? I’ve been seeing it in sports photo captions since I was a kid, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it used in any non-sports context. It’s such a lame-o cop-out of a term — says nothing, means nothing. And yet a quick check of Yahoo! Sports (who I could never work for, if only because that exclamation point would drive me out of my fucking mind) reveals that there are currently 793 “looks on”-inclusive photos out there, which means there are some seriously lazy caption writers. I mean, whatever else Rodney Stuckey is doing, he’s not looking on. Please join me in campaigning to eradicate this annoying term from the sports lexicon. … Remember, Roberto Clemente documentary tonight on PBS.
No comment? No — comment!: As many of you are aware, our spam filter got all bitchy on Friday night and started grabbing every single reader comment. This forced Bryan, John, and me (well, mostly Bryan and John) to spend the weekend going into the filter and manually approving every pearl of wisdom you chose to share with us. Now, don’t get me wrong — it’s not that we don’t enjoy wading through hundreds of porno-spambot posts just to find the one legitimate reader comment that consists of a quotation from a Seinfeld episode — but we wouldn’t want you to think we were having too much fun, so John installed a new spam filter late last night. It appears to be working properly so far, but we’re still learning its quirks (and it’s still learning that terms like “stirrups fetish” are not cause for alarm), so it’s possible that some of your comments may still get waylaid, and/or that some spam will find its way onto the site. I trust you’ll bear with us as you continue to share your photos of USC cheerleaders (and high-minded reactions thereto), references to Major League, and all the other insights that make the comments section such a vibrant, stimulating forum. Thanks.
April 21st, 2008
For years there’s been a juicy uni mystery that I’ve neglected to pursue. To wit: What was the deal with the WFL’s position-based pants back in the 1970s?
In case this is new to you: The WFL briefly experimented with the having distinct pants designs for each major position category (linemen, receivers, etc.). Yes, that’s a really stupid-ass idea, but so was the entire WFL itself, so whaddaya gonna do. Anyway: Whenever this topic comes up, someone always links to the photo shown at right, which until recently was the only image of the pants that I’d seen. But then Kenn Tomasch dug up a DVD with some old WFL footage and made some screen grabs. Here’s his analysis:
I think it went like this: quarterbacks, white pants with stars; running backs, green; offensive linemen, purple; defensive linemen, blue; linebackers, red; tight ends and receivers, orange; defensive backs, yellow. I’m not sure what the kickers wore.
I don’t even know what game this video is from. It might have been a scrimmage of some sort, because the two teams (Southern California for sure, and maybe that’s Philadelphia?) didn’t go all out. Looked like they were just going through the motions. But it was televised somewhere and I have no idea where or why.
As a bonus, here’s a shot where you can see the awful outfit worn by TVS announcer Alex Hawkins.
Yowza — looks like ol’ Alex wanted to get in on the crazy pants action, no?
Anyone know what game this might have been? And does anyone know more about the WFL’s ill-advised attempt at trouser innovation? Was this idea part of the league’s first season or the second season? How long did they try it for, and why did they abandon it? If anyone knows more about the bizarre chapter in pro football history, please clue us in.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I spent the last three days road-tripping through New Jersey and Pennsylvania and haven’t yet caught up on everything, so forgive me if any of the stuff in today’s Ticker has already been discussed. … One of my stops along the way, incidentally, was the classic roadside stop Hot Dog Johnny’s (whose featured beverages are birch beer and buttermilk, don’tcha know), where I was surprised to see an old photo of the company hoops team in a display case. … Good news out of Pittsburgh, where the Pirates’ red vest’s days appear to be numbered. Details toward the bottom of this page. … Morris Levin reports that the Dodgers held an unusual white-on-white intrasquad game the other day. … The impending return of the Oregon baseball program after a nearly three-decade hiatus prompted Scott Little to send along pics of an old Oregon helmet that he has in his collection (additional pics here, here, here, and here). … Nice to see that the Mets have patterned their new stadium logo after the world’s worst pizza. … An assortment of White Sox uni promotions are listed here. … Texas A&M’s baseball team has replaced this with this (lots of additional pics here). Not even stirrups can save that jersey design. … Speaking of stirrups, check out the beauties being worn by Oklahoma State and New Mexico State (here’s another view; thanks to Brian Ray and Sam Wasson, respectively). … And according to the third item on this page, an increasing number of Pirates players are wearing and showing their stirrups (with thanks to Tom Cotter). … Still more stirrup action (reprinted from Sunday’s comments): the Great One. … U. of Hawaii has inked a big deal with Under Armour (with thanks to Joshua Huff). … Nicole Haase’s recent tale about being on the field during Super Bowl prompted Susan Freeman to recall her own experience in the Super Bowl XXXVIII pregame show. Full details here. … What does a lion’s penis have to do with uniforms? Look here (courtesy of J.R. Tracy). … Virginia Tech acknowledging the shootings at Northern Illinois by wearing an NIU logo jersey patch, as you can see in the 13th photo of this gallery. … Weird to see UGA wearing white batting helmets (as spotted by Paul Radetsky) … “South Carolina has added a new baseball jersey,” writes Chris Rodgers. “This is in addition to at least three other tops and probably five to eight total combinations.” … USF’s new football jerseys will look like this and this. … Good article here about MLB coaches wearing helmets (with thanks to Morris Levin). … Jared Wheeler, who does uni research for Mitchell & Ness, recently sent along pics of two great historical pieces he came upon. The first one is an Indianapolis Olympians short-sleeve basketball jersey (”worn by Rex Groza — Lou’s brother,” says Jared), and the other is an Episcopal Academy football jersey (additional views here, here, and here). … Underbrim update, Japanese style (with thanks to, of course, Jeremy Brahm, who says the message translates to “All-out play”). … I’m not a big college hoops fan, which gives me enough emotional breathing room to find this rather amusing. Stupid, mind you, but still amusing. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Here’s something you don’t see very often — Manny Ramirez’s helmet all shiny and clean. … “There’s usually not that much to report on the uni front from the Iowa Girls State Basketball Tournament, but there were some odd sights during Monday’s first set of quarterfinal games,” writes Jesse Gavin. “Some very weird shorts striping for Southeast Webster Grand; a very odd protective facemask on Paige Heesch from Woden-Crystal Lake-Titonka; an odd piping pattern for Lawton-Bronson; and it looks like Springville decided to wear Oregon State’s football jerseys upside-down for their shorts.” … Looks like the ACC’s use of black Virginia Tech memorial strips is now extending to baseball caps (excellent catch by Walker Hicken)
February 26th, 2008
It remains one of the sports world’s enduring mysteries: Every year the NFL selects the best players at each position, gathers them together for an all-star game in Honolulu, and then humiliates them by dressing them in the most god-awful uniforms imaginable. I’m not gonna bother going over every unsightly detail of this year’s design, because it’s pointless — every new Pro Bowl uniform is the worst ever, until the next one is unveiled. It’s almost like the league is saying, “Yeah, okay, so you get your free trip to Hawaii, you get to party with hula girls, you get to drink piña coladas out of a coconut shell, but don’t think you’re gonna get out of this without paying a certain price.”
As you know, medical research has concluded that only 17 people on the planet have the gene required to watch the entire Pro Bowl without falling asleep (and five of them, perversely, are African tribesmen who don’t own television sets), so there’s a good chance you missed at least a few of Sunday’s more noteworthy details. Here’s a quick guide:
• By far the most significant development — and I haven’t seen anyone else mention this, boys and girls, either in the comments section or in e-mails to me — is that all the players were wearing a new pants design, with added seams and panels on the rear thigh (here’s the AFC version), kind of like a football version of MLB’s Cool Base jersey gussets. I’m not sure if this was for added flexibility, ventilation, or both, but man did it look like shit. Let’s hope this wasn’t a test drive for league-wide implementation next season.
• As many of you are already aware, Derek Anderson had quite a little adventure with his jersey patches. A few days prior to the game, he was photographed with his left shoulder patch upside-down. On game day it was fixed (or, more likely, he’d just switched to a different jersey) but now the patch on his right shoulder was askew. Not only that, but compare that last photo, which shows the facemask pointing down roughly to five o’clock, to this shot, which appears to show the facemask oriented more toward four o’clock. Just how many defective jerseys did Anderson wear in one week? (Big thanks to Dominic Atencio and John Boris for the screen grabs.)
• The Chargers’ official lightning bolt logo use to be white outlined in gold, but this season it was changed gold outlined in light blue and navy. So why were all the San Diego players in the game wearing the now-defunct white logo on their shoulders? Interestingly, the jerseys for sale at NFL.com got it right.
• Terrell Owens wore at least two different pairs of cleats: white trimmed with blue and silver (plus, as Nick Hanson notes, he also wore a cross necklace).
• Speaking of cleats, look what Tony Romo was wearing.
• That’s quite a pustule Peyton Manning had on his knee.
• No photo, but Osi Umenyiora still had the Super Bowl XLII decal on the back of his helmet. Anyone notice if the Patriots players had it too?
• The new NFL logo finally made its on-field debut, on the MVP trophy (although it looks like they used the old logo here). And it’s good to see that Adrian Peterson’s uni number gets gunked up in the Pro Bowl, just like in a regular game.
• And that’s finally that.
Next year, let’s have some throwbacks, shall we?
Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out who’s wearing striped socks — the astronauts who are currently up in space (with thanks to Rob B). … A nice selection of Karl Ehrhardt’s sign work is shown in this video clip (a forwarded by Matt Edwards). … Got an on-site query yesterday morning from Ryan Perkins, as follows: “I’m in a restaurant in Jackson, Mississipi, sitting by a huge picture of Kent Hull (who was from Greenwood, Mississippi). I can clearly read ‘Wet Rat’ printed on the tongue of each side of his Reebok Pumps. Did some Googling and found nothing. Any idea if this was on all the pumps or if this was custom-done for Hull? And either way, what did it mean?” Anyone..? … Wake Forest was wearing new kicks on Saturday. Lots of interesting details on these sneakers, including a very subtle Skip Prosser memorial — for the full scoop, check out this page, written by Uni Watch charter member Zach Smith. … Northern Kentucky’s women’s hoops team will be wearing 1970s throwbacks this Saturday. Full details here (with thanks to Steve Hensley). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Lots of coverage here about Rick Pitino changing suits in the middle of a game the other day. … The Aussie rugby team sure looks sharp — yes, even with that little purple ribbon on the guy’s leg. Anyone know what that’s for? … Good interview here with the principals of Plan B Branding, the San Diego-based design firm that’s responsible for a lot of current minor league uni designs (with thanks to Greg Victor). … The Staten Island Yankees have unveiled a new logo for every day of the week. Okay, not quite, but almost. “Looks like a cartoon version of the classic Yankee stuff,” says Tyler Kepner. “I’d actually like the block SINY thing, if it were for a sleeve patch and not a cap logo. Also: A short-season class A team with FIVE cap styles? That’s a little much, no?” Indeed. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Fascinating college hoops game recently, featuring Grand Valley wearing throwbacks against Northern Michigan, whose jerseys have no lettering — just huge uni numbers fore and aft (and those aren’t throwbacks — those are their regular unis!). … Seth Horowitz spotted this at a Yankees game last year. … Doug Keklak reports that Penguins fantasy camper get to wear the team’s original scarf-clad penguin (although the color scheme is an odd choice).
February 12th, 2008
A few Sundays ago, while the rest of you were watching football, Scott M.X. Turner and I went over to reader Steve Flack’s house — or, rather, to the building next door to his house, which his father, John Flack, has turned into a de facto museum for his amazing collection of baseball artifacts — mostly books (like, lots of books), but also bobbleheads and other treats.
There were tons of great things to look at (plus some great ironies — what are the odds, for example, that these two players would end up collaborating on this book?), but of course I focused on uni-related details. While flipping through assorted books, I encountered two such tidbits:
• I’d known that Roger Craig of the ’62 Mets changed his uniform number from 38 to 13 when he was mired in a 13-game losing streak, but I’d never seen any visual documentation of it until I came across this early example of uni-watching.
• While paging through this, I stumbled upon this.
Big thanks to Steve and John for their hospitality. If you want to see more of their museum, Steve has assembled over 250 photos into a Flickr gallery here.
Steve isn’t the only reader who recently shared some uni-related treasures from his family’s collection. There’s also Jay Danbom, who sent me the following communiqué:
My grandfather, Larry Danbom, played fullback for Notre Dame from 1933-36. He was from Calumet, Michigan, on the Upper Peninsula, where his boyhood idol and neighbor was none other than George Gipp (that’s basically why he went to Notre Dame over Michigan).
At Notre Dame he played for Hunk Anderson and Elmer Layden (one of the Four Horsemen), and he played in the 1935 “Game of the Century” against Ohio State. He played in the All-Star Game that year (with Sammy Baugh, I believe), which was the first team of college all-stars to beat the NFL champs, as they beat the Packers, 6-0. We still have his all-star uniform — it’s amazing what they played in back then. The jerseys were all long-sleeved and made of polyester [more likely durene — PL] and is a little shiny, whereas his Notre Dame jersey was 100% wool (can you imagine playing USC in L.A. in early September in those?). The elbows are reinforced, and the socks are stirrups.
The pants are satin, for that shiny night-game look. The knee pads in the pants feel like they’re padded with wool. But by far the most interesting thing about the whole uniform are the pant stripes on the back — check it out!
Here are some pics of the pants and socks on me ((the jersey quit fitting me in sixth grade). My god, my ass is big. Well, I did play offensive line in college.
Since Notre Dame didn’t play in bowl games back then, making the all-star team was the only way to play in the “post-season,” so they also gave out sweaters and blankets (though he was an All-American in the 1936 football season, the game was played in ’37, which accounts for the two different years). The sweater is personalized on the inner hem.
We also have my grandfather’s Notre Dame letter sweater. The two sleeve stripes indicate the two letters he earned playing football, but his letter sweater for gymnastics is nowhere to be found.
As for his beautiful Notre Dame Uniform, we framed it for his 80th birthday. It was displayed in his living room, but then when he passed away my aunt took it and threw it under her bed. I can’t tell you how pissed I am about that! That beauty needs to be displayed. … If I can pull up any pics of his Notre Dame uniform, I’ll email ’em, as well as pictures of him playing.
My grandfather was supposedly drafted by the Lions four years later in the first NFL draft. We’ve never found documentation of this, but he said they begged him to play for them. He was an extremely humble man and could’ve cared less about his accolades on the field, so I’m inclined to believe him. He and I were pretty close. … I remember one of the last times I saw him, he couldn’t remember what he had eaten for breakfast, but recalled a game against USC nearly play-for-play.
Wowzers — incredible stuff. Can’t even begin to tell you how special it is for people to share their family histories like this. Thanks so much.
Raffle-0-Rama: Our friends at Distant Replays are running their annual January clearance, with almost everything marked down 25%. Better yet, they’ve given me a $250 gift card to raffle off. I’m tellin’ ya, they’re like Crazy Eddie over there (only without the securities fraud).
By now you know the drill: To enter, send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net by 10 p.m. this Friday. Only one e-mail per person, but everyone enrolled in the Uni Wach membership program by the time of the drawing will automatically get three bonus entries added to the pot. I’ll announce the winner on Monday.
By the way, several of you — you know who you are — have been trying to increase your raffle odds by e-mailing more than one entry. Some of you have been doing this by entering from multiple e-mail addresses; others have been entering once every day or so, figuring we wouldn’t notice the duplicate submissions if you spaced them out far enough. Guess what: We noticed. I’ll skip all the usual bromides about being fair to your fellow readers and just cut to the chase: Trying to cheat on a free internet giveaway is about as pathetic as it gets, people. If you don’t have any respect for me, at least have some for yourself. Okay? Okay.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Bizarre scene at UMich, where new football coach Rich Rodriguez wore a hockey jersey while introducing his staff the other day (with thanks to Tom Konecny). … We’ve talked before about Ohio State’s huge TV numbers. What I didn’t realize until yesterday, however, is that their sleeve numbers were black back in the 1960s — weird (with thanks to Kevin Bresnahan). … Remember this? Maybe it was inspired by this 1937 photo of the Philadelphia A’s apparently experimenting with a hard hat-styled batting helmet (great find by Jared Wheeler). … West Ham United’s Freddie Ljungberg had to wear a nameless, numberless blood jersey the other day (with thanks to Cole Ollinger) … Uni Watch design director Scott M. X. Turner is currently vacationing in New Mexico. Judging by this attachment he sent me yesterday, I assume he spent the day at Roswell. … For years I’ve been using this shot as my go-to photo when referring to Marquette’s untucked jerseys. Didn’t realize that much better pics had been featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, as seen here and here. … Great contribution from photographer Jason Palmer, who got a shot of a Giants staffer checking the team’s radio-equipped helmets. Invasion of the green dots! … Better view here of Cullen Jenkins ripping off Matt Hasselbeck’s muff (with thanks to Jeff Ash). … “There are some great little uni details in this pic,” writes Neal Shaffer. “It’s the script ‘Cale’ on the one helmet that gets me the most, but the stripes, the old-school plain white helmet, and particularly the Hawaiian Tropic logo on the guy on the left are also pretty cool.” … Todd Davis reports that the Dakota Wizards of the D-League are featuring some intense negative arching. … “This could very well be the most bizarre jersey ever to grace a professional hockey team,” writes Kelly Phillips. “It’s from the DEL (German Ice Hockey League) and was used in a charity game to raise money for building schools in Germany through UNICEF. They say, ‘We’re helping the kids! Schools for Africa.’ They were worn in the 2001/2002 season by the Sinupret Ice Tigers.”
January 15th, 2008
Big news item yesterday, in case you missed it, is that Seahawks kicker Josh Brown marked himself as a big wuss and an even bigger idiot by announcing that he’ll be wearing heated pants for Saturday’s playoff game against the Packers in Green Bay, thereby dishonoring the spirit of the Ice Bowl, the 1982 AFC Championship Game, and Bud Grant’s “No heaters on the sideline” rule (and, more importantly, depriving us of our God-given right to watch a grown man shiver in the cold while we sit in our nice cozy homes, which is what playoff football is all about).
As you might imagine, this story was like chum in the water for assorted media sharks. In Green Bay, the Press-Gazette immediately posted this photo, with the following caption: “Seahawks kicker Josh Brown, who plans to wear heated warmup pants in Saturday’s NFC playoff game at Lambeau Field, isn’t trying to stay warm in this picture. He’s being hugged by teammate Grant Wistrom after kicking a game-winning field goal against Detroit in September 2006. Of course, that game was played inside, at Ford Field.” And in Seattle, the blog Seattlest compared Josh Brown to James Brown, the latter of whom, of course, had a big hit in 1971 with “Hot Pants.”
The hunch here is that Brown isn’t the first NFL player to resort to heated pants — he’s just the first one stupid enough to admit it. I hereby predict that his ill-advised revelation will lead to the following actions:
• More cheeseheads than usual will show up at Lambeau wearing shorts.
• The aforementioned James Brown tune will be played over the Lambeau sound system at every opportunity.
• At least one tailgater will burn Brown in effigy, accompanied by a little sign that reads, “Hey, Josh, hot enough for ya?”
Incidentally, while googling “hot pants” in search of a photo to run with today’s entry, I was intrigued to come across this, which linked back to this. Who knew?! Certainly not me.
Raffle Reminder: Remember, I’m currently raffling off a $100 NFLshop.com gift card. To enter, send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (not to the usual Uni Watch address) by this Friday at 10 p.m. eastern. One e-mail per person, plus anyone enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program at the time of the drawing will automatically get three bonus entries. I’ll announce the winner on Monday.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Liberty started the basketball season with new uniforms (home, road) but has now taken the unusual step of making a mid-season switch — to NikeWorld, unfortunately (here’s a rear and side view). Jonathan Carone, provided all of these pics, notes that while most of the NOBs were direct-sewn, Alex McLean had a nameplate when the new design debuted on Tuesday night. “I can only assume that the original was messed up,” he writes. Also, one of the reserves was stuck wearing one of the old jerseys, although he had the new shorts. … Michael Seabaugh notes that Ohio State had a bad omen before Monday night’s BCS game had even started. … Yesterday I asked if anyone knew about Arizona State wearing gold uniforms against Arizona in 1989. ASU media relations rep Randy Policar promptly responded with this, this, and this. “We actually wore them twice,” he writes. “Once against Arizona in 1989 and once against USC in 1990. We got beaten badly both times, and they have never been worn again.” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: A set of one of history’s greatest stirrup designs is available on eBay. … Eagle-eyed catch by Nicole Haase, who noticed a TV graphic that showed UConn with a Longhorns logo. … Newest Uni Watch reader: Rob Klingenberger’s mascot, Katana, who apparently finds the site rather fascinating.
January 10th, 2008
SI.com’s photo galleries are usually pretty good, but their current “Greatest College Football Players by Number” rundown offers a particularly rich lode of uni-related details. Here’s a rundown (several of which were also spotted by various readers over the past few days):
• I had completely forgotten about Texas A&M’s shoulder stripes.
• Was there a particular reason Oklahoma State was wearing a huge shoulder flag?
• I don’t think I’ve ever seen such small or high-positioned uni numbers as Iowa was wearing in the late 1930s. Also, note how the knee pads appear to be poking out below the pant cuffs.
• I’ve mentioned Ohio State’s big-ass TV numbers before, it’s always worth another look, just for the “Holy shit!” factor.
• Love this shot of Doak Walker wearing an all-star uni.
• Think monochromatic uniforms are a modern phenomenon? Then check out this old shot of Syracuse wearing solid orange. Plus note that the helmet stripes don’t match, and dig Jim Brown’s Lucite facemask.
• What’s the deal with Dick Butkus’s helmet stars? Were these early merit decals?
• I had no idea that Nebraska had worn this number typeface in the early ’60s.
• Check out Greg Roberts’s helmet — looks like a cross between the Willie Lanier style and the ProCap. Anyone know more?
• I love how football photos from the 1920s always seem to feature lots of little patches and rivets on the pants, like in this shot of Bronko Nagurski.
• Look at this shot of Buck Buchanan. Looks like he’s got “Bell” written on his elbow pad. At first I thought maybe this was a makeshift memorial for former commish Bert Bell, but he died in 1959, when Buchanan was still in college. Can anyone shed any light on this?
• Dig the stripes on Jim Seymour’s shoes — pretty cool. Also, it’s tough to say for sure, but it looks like the official may be wearing two-tone (i.e., non-striped) socks.
Too bad the gallery stops at uni No. 99 — they could easily have included an entry for Chuck Kinder, who wore No. 100 for WVU in 1963, to mark the 100th anniversary of West Virginia’s statehood.
We Can’t Make This Stuff Up: My ESPN.com colleague Patrick Hruby is looking to get his hands on a giant ear costume (something like this) as soon as possible. If anyone has any idea where to find such an item, please let me know, post-haste.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday’s item about the guy with the Patriots logo tattooed on his head led Jon Smith to send along this photo, taken in 2006. That’s Jon on the left, posing with what he describes as “the ultimate Chargers fan.” He says there’s a matching bolt on the other side of the guy’s head. Wonder how he felt when the team changed its bolt design last spring. … According to this item UGA’s black jerseys have helped the school’s recruiting efforts (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). … Did you know that American-style football is played in Italy? I didn’t, until Travis McGuire sent me this photo from the Italian Super bowl. Not sure what the temperature was, but dig that ref in shorts! … Fun NOB find by Caleb Borchers, who notes that Richard Wigglesworth (of the Sale Sharks rugby club in Manchester) wears “W’Worth.” … Dude, you forgot your mouthguard (as spotted by Glenn Chamberlain). … Several Canadiens and Black Hawks old-timers were honored before last night’s Habs/Hawks game. Happily, the oldsters got to wear CCM jerseys, not newfangled Reebok models. … Maryland wore yellow alts last night (thanks to Bryan Duklewski for the screen grab). … Remember yesterday’s Ticker item about basketball gloves? Turns out that idea was first floated (and presumably sank) way back in 1991, as you can see toward the bottom of this page (great find by Matt Shevin). … Just as I was about to post today’s entry, this query came in from Matt Weber: “Recently a friend told me that Arizona State’s football team wore gold jerseys for one game vs. University of Arizona, a game that they lost. I believe it was in 1989. However I can’t find any pics of these jerseys. My friend said that since ASU lost that game, they would never wear gold jerseys again.” Can anyone confirm and/or provide more info? … Every now and then it’s good to remind people that I don’t just write about uniforms.
January 9th, 2008
Several readers have been clamoring for updated info regarding the NFL officials’ cold-weather slacks, and I think I’ve finally got some — no thanks to the NFL, I might add.
First, a quick recap: As you may recall, the officials inexplicably wore the slacks for the Cowboys/Lions game back on December 9th — an odd choice, given that the game was played indoors. Same goes for last Monday’s Chargers/Broncos game which was a decidedly non-chilly 62 degrees at kickoff. What gives?
I’ve been trying to get an answer to that question from Mike Pereira, the NFL’s Vice President of Officiating. That’s him in the purple polo, which should give you an idea of where this is going. Turns out ol’ Mike is, shall we say, a tough man to pin down. I’ve been leaving messages with his office for weeks now — the most recent one was yesterday — but he hasn’t bothered to call me back.
Fortunately, reader Austin Henley checked in yesterday with some news that sheds a bit more like on the subject:
On the December 12th edition of Total Access on the NFL Network [which I don’t have — PL], Mike Pereira was on for his weekly “Official Review” segment. … He said a couple of things that I thought were interesting:
First: He gave the referees the option to wear the long pants and shirts at their discretion once the calendar flipped to December, meaning that referee Gerry Austin made the decision for the crew to go with the slacks and short sleeves [for the game in Detroit].
Second: He said that although he had given them the go-ahead to wear what they wanted, he did not like the short sleeves with long pants. He didn’t say Austin was reprimanded, but he said that you should not expect that look to reappear. He did say he really liked the long pants and long-sleeve shirts, which shouldn’t be surprising, since he played a part in their design.
John Parry, not Austin, was the referee for Monday’s game in San Diego, but it seems that more and more refs are taking advantage of Pereira’s late-season lenience.
Interestingly, the first time I called Pereira’s office and told his secretary that I wanted to ask him about the slacks worn in the Detroit game, she said, “Oh yes, I know there was some concern about the slacks being worn with the short sleeves,” essentially repeating what Pereira himself apparently said in his TV spot. Can’t say I understand the fuss, because I think the slacks look pretty much the same — i.e., like crap — no matter which jersey they’re paired with.
And that’s why I don’t like this “up to their discretion” business one little bit. When I discussed the slacks about a year ago with NFL officiating exec Larry Upson (who was much more accessible than Pereira but, unfortunately, is no longer with the league), he said, “They have to ask before they can wear ’em, just so we don’t have guys going around willy-nilly wearing them.” Wish they’d stuck to that protocol, because it’s starting to look like the officials prefer the slacks. If so, that’s a tragedy in the making, because NFL officials are more or less the last humans on the planet who know how to cuffs their knickers just right — mid-upper shin, just a bit of blousing — and are also among the rapidly dwindling ranks of the striped hosiery set. The slacks’ increasing prevalence is akin to the advent of pajama pants in baseball — and just as odious.
And if any officials out there think the slacks are more comfortable than the knickers, or less of a hassle, I frankly don’t care. Think of the proud heritage of high-cuffed football officials. Think of all the sock mills that depend on you to show off their striped hose. Think of how the slacks make you look like a cross between a bellhop and a sales clerk at Foot Locker.
You’ve chosen a special role for yourself. Now dress the part.
Uni Watch News Ticker: 49ers lineman Larry Allen is apparently quite a jersey collector (with thanks to Al Cummings). … Yesterday I mentioned that one of the officials in Wednesday night’s Blues/Red Wings game lost his luggage and had to wear borrowed equipment. Turns out Teebz knows the official in question and provided the full story in yesterday’s comments. Check it out here. … Lots of new soccer kits on display here (with thanks to Chris Cruz). … Amazing old Iowa football jersey up for auction here. … Seton Hall wore silver-gray uniforms last night. … Several readers have pointed out that Bill Simmons’s current column includes a link to this video clip from the 1984 NBA Old-Timers Game, which features loads of FNOB action (plus lots of disturbing shots of fat old guys squeezed in snug-fitting jerseys). … Japan’s two basketball leagues have unveiled their all-star uniforms. The BJ League will look like this and this (hmmm, wonder where they got their design inspiration?), and the JBL will wear this and this (as forwarded by Jeremy Brahm). … Cricket fan Jordan Owen reports that Australian wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist wore pink gloves and a black armband the other day, for reasons explained in the third paragraph of this story.
Holiday Schedule: Unless something really momentous happens over the weekend, we’ll just have open chatter from tomorrow through New Year’s Day, then back to regular content next Wednesday.
December 28th, 2007
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