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Posts filed under 'Soccer'
First things first: Paul has a new Page 2 column here.
As daunting as it is to be handed the keys to Uni Watch with instructions that include “Don’t screw it up,” even more daunting is starting the week with a picture that isn’t from the NFL Draft. Picture lots of guys with No. 1 jerseys, template-stamped hats, and awkward smiles — all accompanied by Roger Goodell and RBK. Sweet.
So instead of all of that, which is boring to begin with, you get this guy. It’s Miguel Veloso of Sporting from the Portuguese liga, and he’s one of the few men in the world who can go with a faux-hawk, a mullet, AND a chin strap. And highlights! But I need help, futbol fans — what are those black splotches on his sleeve? I’m assuming it’s a sponsorship thing, but it’s hard to find information (in English, at least) for a Portuguese team. So enlighten us, if you will. I have no prizes, no authority to give prizes, and no desire to give prizes. So just tell us what the deal is, huh?
I’ll be here all week: Here’s how things are going to go — we’ll have a main entry and a ticker, which will be compiled by Vince. There may be a couple of standard daily posts, but for the most part it’ll be in the weekend format. And that means a picture and a quick paragraph or two, followed by the standard daily discussion. Since most of us are grownups, it goes without saying that we should be all be able to handle ourselves. But if you can’t, you’ll get a warning and then the boot. So be cool, just like Miguel Veloso. –Bryan
And Now a Note from Paul: Yeah, I’m in New Orelans by now, stuffing my face with crawfish, but over the weekend I got an interesting communiqué from a reader named Sean Fish, who’s a student at USC’s Marshall School of Business. He wants to make Uni Watch the focus of a school assignment he’s working on. I’ll let him explain it in his own words:
I’m a long-time reader and occasional contributor to the Uni Watch comments section. My class about online media has a final project that I think could be interesting if done on Uni Watch. The project is a study of an online community (in my case, Uni Watch), and the basis of the study is to find out how members of the community joined, how they communicate, whether they meet in person (or stay anonymous), and how they feel the community has affected their daily lives, among other things.
I have some questions below. If you can take a moment, it would be great if you could answer by e-mailing me your response at sfish [at] usc [dot] edu. Even if you can only answer some of the questions, any information you can provide will be very useful.
Thanks in advance for your help. But most of all, thanks for creating a unique, nationwide community of Uni Watchers! Keep up the good work.
Here are the questions:
1) What is your view of Uni Watch as an online community? Do you consider it a community? To what extent is it, in your view?
2) If you do view Uni Watch as an online community, what makes Uni Watch an online community to you? Do you feel included in the community? Is there any way that it could be made into a stronger community? Would you want it to be a stronger community?
3) How did you discover Uni Watch? Were you specifically searching for a place to share your thoughts/feelings on sports uniforms? Did you you find it on ESPN?
4) How involved are you in Uni Watch? Do you post comments frequently? Occasionally? Rarely? Never? Read Daily? Occasionally?
5) If you post on the comments section, do you use a pseudonym or part/ all of your name? Do you prefer to be anonymous to your fellow readers?
6) Have you ever made contact with a fellow Uni Watcher outside of the blog/message board?
7) Have you ever met a fellow Uni Watcher?
8) Have you attended a Uni Watch Party?
9) Have you thought about initiating a Uni Watch party without Paul’s involvement (i.e., even if he’s not passing through your town)? Why or why not?
10) Have you started a serious relationship (friendship or more) through Uni Watch?
11) Do you regularly read or participate in other uni-centric blogs, such as the ones Paul links to on the site?
12) If I have missed anything, please feel free to add it here.
And there you have it. I spoke with Sean after he first contacted me, and I’m intrigued by his project, which I think strikes at the heart of what many of us find so remarkable about this site (i.e., that a bunch of strangers congregate each day to share some very specific niche-driven information). I encourage everyone to participate to whatever extent you’re able.
And now over to Vince for today’s Ticker….
Uni Watch News Ticker: Interesting old jerseys up for action here and here. … Figure skater Cecelia Colledge, who competed in the 1932 Lake Placid Olympics when she was only 11 years years old, died a few weeks back. Check out the amazing sweater she wore at the 1936 Olympics, where she won the silver. … You’ve heard of ivy on the Wrigley Field wall? The St. Paul Saints have put their own spin on that maneuver. … Further news here about those Chinese sneakers that some of the Rockets are wearing (with thanks to Brett Crane). … Remember that Colts secondary logo contest? Jon Gates notes that choice No. 4 has changed since the voting started — it was originally this, but then it changed to this. Hmmmmmm. … Steven Wyder notes that Matt Garza has been pitching with a visible underbrim sticker for a couple of starts now. … Brian Temke notes that Ryan Braun was wearing Mike Rivera’s helmet the other day. … There he goes again. … The Rams’ memorial patch for Georgia Frontiere will look like this. … James from Knoxville shares some pics from local Farragut high school where the baseball team has a throwback doubleheader each season, complete with uni’s and concession prices. … Fascinating article on a man who designed some jerseys for his youth group to wear when they saw the Pope at Yankee Stadium and the newfound demand for his wares (a blessing to Jim Roddy for the info). … The University of Cincinnati unveiled new Adidas football uni’s. Bleh. … Those new super speedy Speedo swimsuits that have the whole sporting world aflutter have apparently angered Japanese swim coaches because Japanese athletes have to wear only suits by Mizuno, Asics, or Descente. One coach is calling for those manufacturers to make something as fast as the new LZR Racer. No word on if they want the same creepy x-ray vision aspects or not (thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … I’ve got a feeling we can all agree that this guy has to have the coolest damn socks in the entire Turkish basketball league (with thanks to Matt Eliot, who attended this game in person and captured the sock beauty). … James Poisso notes that Louisiana Tech’s new end zone design will mimic the team’s jersey design.
April 28th, 2008
What’s been the biggest change in pro football over the past 30 years? A lot of things come to mind: modern training methods, the increased size of linemen, the overall increase in athleticism and speed, the advent of video review, the increasing dominance of African-American players, the disappearance of jersey sleeves, the utter joylessness of head coaches.
But if you ask me, the biggest development — and easily the most underrated one — is the ubiquity of gloves. Almost everyone wears them now, even quarterbacks, and it’s no exaggeration to say that most of the acrobatic catches you see receivers making these days wouldn’t be possible without them. Yeah, some players in the pre-glove era wore stickum, but I saw Lester Hayes and Fred Biletnikoff in their primes, and they couldn’t make any of these one-handed catches that you routinely see guys making today. Gloves have completely redefined the passing game.
All of which came to mind during yesterday’s Cowboys/Eagles game, which featured something I’d never seen before: Philly WR Kevin Curtis took a spill along the sideline, and at first it looked like his glove had come off during the play. But as he got up, it became apparent that the glove had actually fallen apart — the upper part was still on his wrist while the lower part had been ripped right off of his hand, much to Curtis’s own confusion.
In other developments from yesterday:
• Jason Taylor’s captaincy patch was coming loose by the end of the Dolphins/Ravens game.
• As has been noted here several times in recent weeks, the “Ravens” wordmark has been missing from Willis McGahee’s black jersey in recent weeks, but it was present and accounted for on his purple jersey yesterday.
• The Redskins usually wear these socks with their burgundy pants, but they went with these — ugh.
• Now that’s a football game. But if Derek Anderson was playing with a sewn-in pocket, why did he need an oven mitt?
(Big thanks to Chad Todd and Randy Williams from the Kevin Curtis screen grabs.)
Research Project: My ESPN colleague Mary Buckheit is working on a piece about women’s volleyball uniforms — why they’re so skimpy, why some players have issues with them, why they’re so different from the men’s uniforms, whether they’re so revealing that they’ve actually led some players to develop eating disorders, that sort of thing. Here’s a note from her:
The sport of volleyball has seen it all — unitards, mesh shorts, bun huggers, long sleeves, racerback jerseys, tall socks, no socks — what’s the deal? What is the functionality of volleyball uniforms, specifically the super-short spandex? Are women really inhibited by “cumbersome” traditional athletic shorts? You know, the ones that are perfectly suitable for soccer and basketball. Do the minis really make you perform better? Would men’s statistics spike if they dared ditch their mesh or board shorts in favor of a biker boxer brief type uni? Would they tally more digs that way? C’mon.
When you see volleyball on TV, do you stop and watch for an extra second to scope out the 6-foot college coeds in 3-inch spandex shorts? If so, any feelings on what it would be like as a father of a high school volleyball player knowing guys in the gym are doing the same thing to your 16-year-old sophomore setter?
If anyone has any thoughts on this, please feel free to contact me. Thanks!
I know at least a few of you know a lot more about volleyball than I do, so please share your knowledge with Mary. Thanks.
Raffle Reminder: In case you missed it on Friday, I’m currently raffling off a bunch of stuff. For details, scroll down to the middle of Friday’s entry. As always, you can increase your odds of winning by joining the Uni Watch membership program.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out this photo of Lou Gehrig, Tris Speaker, Ty Cobb, and Babe Ruth. Odd to see that the insignia on Ruth’s jacket is “N.Y.,” but on Gehrig’s it appears to be just “NY” — no periods (with thanks to Bruce Menard). … A member of the Winthrop women’s hoops team has changed her uni number to honor her late fiancé (as forwarded by Jonathan Carone). … A reader who prefers not to give his real name has gotten some good pics showing exactly how the Rangers are hemming their jerseys. … Yikes. … Northwest Missouri State safety Aldwin Foster-Rettig (who already has a lengthy NOB) tore his jersey on Saturday, leading to a rather makeshift repair (with thanks to Chris Wheeler). … Michael Poplawski reports that German Bundesliga club Werder Bremen modified their jersey crest to look like a Christmas tree on Saturday. Here’s a closer view. … Reprinted from Sunday’s comments: Wisconsin-Whitewater’s jerseys have a “Warhawks” wordmark, but it was missing from Justin Beaver’s jersey. … The Dayton hoops team has unveiled some alternate throwbacks (with thanks to Todd Herzog). … This has resulted in this. … More NFL fines assessed here. … Doug Weight, making his Ducks debut last night, was wearing a pair of Brad May’s gloves (good catch by Alex Warner). … Remember the recent Ticker item about the missing stripes on Bill Guerin’s jersey? Here’s a follow-up (with thanks to Michael Schuerlein).
December 17th, 2007
[Editor’s Note: Although intern emeritus Vince Grzegorek has moved on to greener pastures, he’s still going to contribute occasional entries — like today’s, for example.]
By Vince Grzegorek
A few weeks ago, there was a mention in the Ticker of the Slipstream cycling team’s search for a new uniform for next season. They invited fans to submit designs, leading to over 600 entries, including some, er, interesting versions (Drew McKay’s favorite). The important thing here is that Slipstream is pretty famous for its use of argyle patterns, going so far as to call their fanbase the Argyle Armada, so almost all of the proposed versions included variations on this design motif.
All of which got me thinking: How often does argyle show up in uniforms? As Slipstream shows, it can look pretty sharp. I figured there had to be some great examples in other sports.
First, a word on the origins of the pattern itself. According to Wikipedia, “The argyle pattern is said to have been derived from the tartan of Clan Campbell, of Argyll in western Scotland.” It was basically a re-appropriation of the pattern that gave birth to argyle socks and, in turn, argyle sweaters, hats, vests, and the whole preppy wardrobe. The elite began to wear the style in their leisure activities, which included sitting around at their clubs, watching horses, and playing golf, marking the evolution of argyle from casual dress to (somewhat) active dress.
When it comes to uniforms, golf is a great place to start, since it that was the sport that brought argyle into the mainstream in America. According to legend, the president of Brooks Brothers saw golfers in Scotland wearing argyle socks and began selling them back on our side of the pond. Argyle socks went from fashionable links attire to a trendy and dressy hosiery option for the masses.
Of course, argyle is still a common sight in golf today (although not as common as it once was). It’s also made its mark in a variety of other sports — and not just in predictable country club pursuits like tennis and horse racing.
In fact, it seems that virtually every sport has dallied with argyle at one time or another. Given all the emphasis on handsome hosiery during the early period of baseball, for example, it’s no surprise that this 1874 Ontario team was sporting argyle hose.
Over on the soccer field, we’re all probably familiar with this example of argyle socks, thanks to a concerted effort by Boca Juniors to bring back classy. But would you guess that argyle socks also showed up in track and field? American sprinter DeAna Carson wore argyle socks while running the 200-meter dash at the Simplot Games in 2006, garnering my nomination for Best Dressed Female Athlete of the Year (the ESPY’s should include this, no?).
On the hardcourt, the most obvious example is the UNC basketball uniform, which in 2000 began featuring an argyle pattern running down the sides — a classic look. While looking for UNC photos, I stumbled upon this gallery — check out Shaw University’s uniforms! More argyle!
I couldn’t find a football example, but I’m betting there’s got to be one out there waiting to be found. I think there’s another database in our future. Post any suggestions in the comments section or e-mail them our way.
 Unfinished Business: (Shivering) Working for Paul Lukas has been good. He is a nice man. Um. I never felt overworked. And every task he assigned me was worthwhile and rewarding. Yeah. The last year has felt like being imprisoned in research hell it went by in the blink of an eye. (Nervously looking over shoulder.)
Seriously, everything was great — Paul was a blast to work for on every project, I loved what I was doing, and whether he admits it or not, he had a lot to do with the progress I made over the last year that has now translated into a full-time writing job. Due to the new employment, the holidays, and an ill-timed and lengthy internet outage at my house, I never got a chance to say that. One other thing I never got to say was congrats to Bryan, who is obviously filling my massive size 10s quite well.
I’m not going anywhere, and as you can see I’ll still be contributing material, at least as much as I can. You guys have been too great and this has been too fun to just stop all together. So, consider me your Senior Assistant Editor (at least that’s the title I’m going to demand if Paul asks). In short, or, at this point, long — thank you for all the support and patience you’ve shown me over the past year.
Call for Research: I’m working on a piece about CFL uniforms and would welcome any suggestions on what to cover. Neither Paul nor I have much expertise in that domain, so any input would be appreciated. One specific question: Anyone know when and why the Canadian flag started showing up as a helmet decal? Pre/post 9/11? E-mail all contributions to me at vincegrzegorek [at] gmail [dot] com. Thanks.
And now over to Paul for the rest of today’s material….
Pennant Grace: Victory Pennants, one of the fine vendors hyped in yesterday’s ESPN column, is offering a 15% discount to readers of this site from now through next Friday, the 14th. When checking out, use the coupon code “UNIWATCH001.” Big thanks to company prexy Morris Levin for extending this benefit to Uni Watch readers.
Boston Reminder: Remember, Uni Watch party tonight, 8:30 p.m., at the Boston Beer Works.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out what Mississippi State’s football uniform used to look like (great find by Scott Turner). … The Mets and White Sox will be playing the Civil Rights game next March 29th. Let’s hope the uniforms are better than last time around. … Big package on goalie masks in yesteray’s USA Today. Look here, here, and here. … Tons of great old White Sox photos here (with thanks to Eriq Jaffe). … Excellent question from Jon Blake, who writes: “This article ranks Floyd Mayweather’s ‘five key fights.’ For his 1998 matchup with Genaro Hernandez, it says, ‘Mayweather, at 17-0, was challenging for his first world title (WBC super featherweight) and was so cocky that he wore a WBC championship patch on his trunks into the ring.’ My question is, who else has worn something commemorating an achievement yet to happen? My friend and I recalled Clemens wearing the ‘300 Wins’ patch against Boston when he got yanked in the 3rd, but who else has done something similar?” Please, let’s not have a jillion comments about “Buffalo Bills Super Bowl Champions” post-game T-shirts and the like — this question is about things worn during the game or match. Anyone..? … The Celtics and Sixers wore throwbacks last night. Note that Boston appeared to have matte jerseys and shiny shorts, just like back in the day. Plus there were retro shooting shirts (complete with retro Adidas logo) and championship patches on their warm-up jackets. … Double play from Frank Mercogliano, who writes: “Pocatello High School [in Idaho] is wearing new racer-back jerseys from Russell, so I snapped a picture of #4 on the bench, who has a horrible off-center number. Sorta like killing two birds with one stone. The JV game was funnier because one of the girls attempted to iron her shorts and burned a huge imprint of the iron on the back of her red shorts. It was priceless.” … The Royals will unveil their powder blue alternate jersey today.
Housekeeping Note: I’ll be off the grid for most of today and tomorrow. If you have any site-related issues (abusive comments, spam filter problems, etc.), please e-mail Bryan. Ticker contributions can still come to me.
December 6th, 2007
Big uni-related story in the NFL yesterday was the range of Sean Taylor memorials. Here’s a quick rundown:
• The Redskins wore a “21″ jersey patch. The Redskins’ coaching staff and owner wore it, too.
• In addition, Clinton Portis wore a Taylor tribute T-shirt under his jersey (here’s another view).
• John Eubanks wore a Taylor do-rag. At first I thought this was one of the towels that fans were given, but now I think it was actually the sleeve from a Taylor jersey.
• All teams wore a “21″ helmet decal. This led to some pretty crowded rear-helmet groupings, especially for the Broncos (who already had their dual memorial for Darrent Williams and Damien Nash) and Browns (who added that “BW” decal this week in memory of Hall of Famer Bill Willis — not to be confused with the “BW” decal for Bill Walsh that the 49ers have been wearing all year).
• I was hoping we’d see some facemask stripes, like Taylor sometimes wore. Didn’t happen, but Antonio Pierce of the Giants did something similar: He taped Taylor’s uniform number onto his mask. This was the only personalized tribute to Taylor that I spotted. (Special thanks to Ryan Perkins for the screen grab.)
Meanwhile, in non-Taylor developments:
• Tommie Harris had “Psalms 91″ (which also happens to be his uniform number) written on his Breathe Right strip.
• The Jets took the unusual step of wearing their Titans throwbacks on the road in Miami.
• Joseph Addai was showing some serious skin in the 2nd quarter.
• No photo yet, but I saw for myself that Dallas Clark’s American flag decal was still missing — a particularly egregious omission when you consider that the equipment staff had to add the Sean Taylor decal to his helmet, so you’d think they would’ve noticed the missing flag. Bryan, whose wife went to high school with Clark, is still working on getting the full story on this one.
• Also no photo, but several readers reported that Braylon Edwards was wearing white shoes and going bare-calved, NCAA-style, early in the Browns/Cards game. Then he added brown socks but still had white shoes. He eventually switched to black shoes like the rest of the Browns.
Uni Watch Calendar Update: Several meet/greet opportunities coming up over the next week. Here’s the deal:
• December 6th: Marc Spears of the Boston Globe and I will be fielding questions from students in a media seminar class this Thursday at Boston University. I’ll be convening a Uni Watch party at 8:30 that evening at Boston Beer Works, which is right across from Fenway Park. Meanwhile, if anyone wants to attend the seminar class, which begins at 6:30, the professor has graciously agreed to accommodate a few extra people. If you’re interested, get in touch and I’ll let you know where to go.
• December 10th: The completely wonderful City Reliquary, of which I am a proud card-carrying member, will be holding its annual benefit gala at the Automotive High School Auditorium, and I’m one of the two featured speakers this year. I’ll be doing a Power Point presentation about Brooklyn Dodgers uniform history, but the real attraction is the other speaker: Lawrence Weschler, author of Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder and Boggs. The evening will also feature a short documentary film, a live samba band, and — if you shell out a lot of extra $$$ — dinner at Bamonte’s, one of Brooklyn’s oldest and most storied red-sauce Italian restaurants. Full details here.
• Sometime in January: I’m going to be one of four presenters at the inaugural edition of a new speaking series called “Adult Education,” which is being curated by my longtime pal Carrie McLaren (editrix of the excellent consumer-culture magazine Stay Free), who describes the series as “sort of grownup show-and-tell,” complete with visual aids. The theme of this first installment will be “Micro-Genres”: Carrie, who’s mildly obsessed with chimps, will be talking about people who’ve tried to raise chimps as part of the family; longtime Uni Watch pal Liz Clayton will talk about painfully obvious fast-food restaurant conversions (she has an entire site devoted to this phenomenon); Jim Hanas will talk about “meta tourism” (i.e., photos of tourists taking photos); and I’ll be talking about the strange world of trade magazines (Elevator World, Hay and Forage Grower, American Funeral Director, Demolition, and so on, each of which is as obsessively subject-specific as Uni Watch is). The exact date is still TBA, but it’s definitely going to be on a Tuesday in January, and the venue will be Union Hall, which is conveniently located around the corner from Uni Watch HQ. Further details on this one as they become available.
Membership News: I’m happy to announce that we’ve now gone over 500 enrollees. But I can’t announce who the 500th member is because that was a gift membership and the gift-giver has asked that I keep the order secret until Christmas.
Speaking of which, remember, this Wednesday is the deadline for ordering a discounted gift membership for the holidays.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Lots of pics here from the upcoming hoops movie Semi-Pro (with thanks to Mike Nachreiner). … Bizarre uniform sighting here (courtesy of Eric Trager). … Looking for new and creative ways to lace up your cleats or sneakers? Look here (with thanks to Mike Blinn). … Roman numeral alert: Charlie Coley III of Charlotte (with thanks to intern emeritus Vince Grzegorek). … “Once upon a time, Marquette had a football team,” writes proud Badger State booster Nicole Haase. “Here’s a pretty cool collection of 1940s program covers.” … “Check out the difference in the helmet stripe thickness for the two players in green, who play for Mentor Lake Catholic High in Ohio,” writes Tim Snyder. “I figure it’s some kind of merit award, but they also use more conventional merit decals.” Anyone know more about this? … Paul Bridge reports that Utah Valley University, which will have D-1A status by 2009, has some new logos. Details here. … Very odd NOB typography being for Jonathan Zebina of Juventus (and, presumably for the rest of their players): The “Z” and the “E” look like a “2″ and a backwards “3.” It’s apparently so fraught with confusion that the “E” ended up being applied backwards for Saturday’s game against AC Milan (all this courtesy of Jeremy Brahm). … Mizzou’s Stryker Sulak had some sleeve patch problems on Saturday (with thanks to James Wortham for the screen grab). … Nice little recap of Lakers uniform history here (as forwarded by Matthew Wolfram). … Ryan Perkins notes that R.W. McQuarters of the Giants had some helmet decal issues yesterday. … Several readers noted that Wabash wore some ill-advised pants in Saturday’s D-III quarterfinal game. … Georgia will wear black in the Sugar Bowl. … Speaking of black, Texas A&M’s hoops team wore their black alts yesterday. … “The Barbarians, an invitation-only rugby club that plays a handful of matches per year, took on the newly-crowned world champions South Africa,” writes Eric Bangeman. In addition to wearing classic black-and-white uniforms, the Barbarians ask each player to wear the socks from his home club, which makes for some interesting hosiery contrasts.”
December 3rd, 2007
Last month I wrote about all the great uni-related photos in Sports Illustrated’s The Football Book. Now I’ve gotten myself a copy of The Baseball Book, which has a slightly smaller but still significant trove of uni details. Let’s take a look:
• Here’s a 1950s shot of Nellie Fox. Note that the Sox insignia is a patch, not embroidered. Never noticed that before.
• Another Chisox shot, this one showing Luis Aparacio during the 1959 World Series, when the White Sox actually wore white socks.
• Next time we debate the pros and cons of base coaches wearing helmets, think about this photo. Can you believe how close to home plate those shutterbugs were allowed to get?
• This is an 1896 shot of the New York Giants, and I absolutely must have one of those sweaters.
• Couple of interesting things here, beginning with the Cards’ heavily ribbed stirrups. Also, look closely Bob Bowman’s (No. 26) right toe. Looks like he’s got a little metal plate and strip of leather there to keep the tip of his shoe from wearing through. And that leads us to…
• …this shot of Satchel Paige’s cleats, with a great view of precisely the same toe accessory.
• Amazing old Boston Braves jacket here.
• Decent view here of the yellow batting helmets that the A’s wore in 1967 (when they were still in Kansas City).
• Best uni-related prank ever. According to the caption, the player on the ground was actually an actor named Lou Archer, “who appeared in Babe Comes Home, Ruth’s second Hollywood feature.”
Loads of other great photography here — recommended.
Membership News: Got a brilliant card design request the other day from Robert Eden. He originally joined up back when the membership program was first announced, choosing the basic Uni Watch colors. But once he heard we were now accepting NCAA-themed design requests, he put in an order for an additional card (which anyone can get for $15, by the way) patterned after a Nebraska Cornhuskers tearaway jersey. As I think you’ll agree, Scott executed the concept quite nicely.
Meanwhile, Nina has finished adding all the Charter Membership code to the membership roster. If you’re a Charter Member, your number on the roster should be shown in bold. If we somehow missed anyone, let me know.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday’s post about uni numbers on pants prompted a response from Aaron Stilley, who pointed out a baseball example I’d forgotten about: the Kansas City Monarchs (additional views here, here, here, and here). “I agree it’s usually a bad idea, but for some reason I actually think it looked nice on the Monarchs’ unis,” writes Aaron, and I’m inclined to agree. … By now I think most of you are aware of the Minnesota high school hockey jerseys that are on display at the Xcel Center. But what you might not know — and what I didn’t know myself until Jeff Barak forwarded me some pics — is that the display also includes an incredible 1940s Coast Guard team jersey with a gorgeous chenille crest. Further info here. … The woman who designed the Lambeau Field 50th-anniversary patch is profiled here. … Alejandro Marci reports that Argentina has new soccer uniforms. “The jersey has a hidden drawing on the front,” he writes, “inspired by a traditional Buenos Aires decorative painting art form called Fileteado, which is most commonly used to decorate buses. That technique is also in a small patch located on the back of the neck. There’s also an awful colored field in the back, as a background for the numbers. Apparently it’s some new FIFA regulation for NTs.” … “As you know, the Giants typically apply each player’s last name to his batting helmet in large white letters,” writes Jason Taylor. “Until August, it appeared that Barry Bonds was no different. But I just noticed that his last name appeared in two other styles on the back of his helmet within about a week’s time. I’m guessing that it had something to do with him donating his 755 and 756 helmets to the Hall of Fame.” … Genius find by Jere Smith, who’s turned up a video clip from the 1988 NBA Legends Game, in which every single player wore FNOB — and in a totally weird format to boot. Details and full video clip here. … Several readers have noticed a subtle change made by the Bruins, but Paul Pokaski sums it up best: “The Bruins started the season with double-outlined lettering on their nameplates. This style was worn as recently as October 22 on the road against the Canadiens. Recently, however, the Bruins have been using single-outlined names on their road whites. They wore this style November 3 at Ottawa, and in their most recent game, at Toronto.” Very odd to see a team make this sort of change in the middle of a season. … You’ve gotta be kidding me. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Lots of good uni-related soccer Q&A action here. … And The London Times’s picks for the top 50 soccer kits of all time here (with thanks to Iain Landon).
Holiday Schedule: We’ll have open chatter tomorrow. Maybe Friday too, or maybe I’ll put up some real content — not sure yet. And our usual open chatter for the weekend. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all, and remember, white meat’s for suckers — dark meat’s where it’s at.
November 21st, 2007
My friends, yesterday marked the end of an era. For the first time this season, every member of the San Diego Chargers was wearing an American flag helmet decal.
Or at least I assume that was the case. One thing I know for sure is that LaDainian Tomlinson was wearing one. No surprise there, since he’d also worn the flag decal for San Diego’s two previous games. The big news is that Chris Chambers, who’d been flag-free for the past new weeks, was properly flag-accessorized yesterday, marking the first time this year that Tomlinson and Chambers were both wearing the decal. As for the other fifty-some players on the Chargers’ roster, I’m gonna take it on faith that they were all flag-clad. If anyone knows otherwise, speak up.
In other NFL notes from yesterday:
• Chad Johnson dusted off his orange chinstrap.
• The Jets retired Curtis Martin’s number.
• Hard to know what looked worse in the Jets/Steelers game: the Jets or the slacks-clad officials.
• The officials in the Bears/Seahawks game were wearing the cold-weather slacks too, as you can barely see here.
• Radically distinct sock stylings here. Here, too.
• That’s a right purty game right there.
• There, too.
• Several readers reported that Roy Williams of the Cowboys had a yellow dot on the back of his helmet, similar to the green dot that the QBs wear. No photo yet. If we can get visual confirmation, I’ll ask the team for an explanation.
• I’ve said it before and I’ll keep on saying it: This is the league’s most underrated design, and a classic in the making.
Uni Watch Calendar: Lots of opportunities for gatherings and such over the next few weeks. Here’s the breakdown:
• November 27th: I’m going to be in Austin, Texas. Is there any Uni Watch readership to speak of in that town? If so, any such readers should get in touch. If the response is large enough, I’ll set up a gathering for that evening.
• December 6th: Marc Spears of the Boston Globe and I will be guests of a media seminar class at Boston University. I’ll convene a Uni Watch party at 8:30 that evening at Boston Beer Works, which is right across from Fenway Park. Meanwhile, if anyone wants to attend the seminar class, which begins at 6:30, the professor tells me he can probably accommodate a few extra people. If you’re interested, get in touch and I’ll fill you in.
• December 10th: The completely wonderful City Reliquary, of which I am a proud card-carrying member, will be holding its annual benefit gala at the Automotive High School Auditorium, and I’m one of the two featured speakers this year. I’ll be doing a Power Point presentation on some topic or other (might be uni-related or might not — haven’t decided yet), but the real attraction is the other speaker: Lawrence Weschler, author of such crucial must-reads as Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder and Boggs. In other words, I’m like some puny little indie band opening for the Rolling Stones. The evening will feature lots of additional stuff, including a short documentary film, a live samba band, and dinner at Bamonte’s (one of Brooklyn’s oldest and best red-sauce Italian restaurants). Full details here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I’m a week late with this, but it’s still pretty funny (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm and Timothy Sheehan). … Speaking of the intersection of fan and uniform, David Soline sent along this. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Really interesting article here about Cal’s recent throwbacks. … Chris Mycoskie notes that Louisiana-Lafayette’s women’s hoops team has some, uh, innovative uniforms. … Photo archivist David Eskinazi has come up with something interesting: a 1911 photo of the Wichita Falls Irish Lads. “I found it very unusual that they chose to have EVERYTHING spelled out on their jerseys — team nickname, city, and state,” he writes. “Quite odd, especially for a pro team.” … Good catch by Andrew White, who notes that UNC’s walk-on players were all photographed wearing the same jersey, as seen here, here, and here. … Here’s our first look at the Indians’ new throwback alternate uni. Additional views here. … The CBA’s Albany Patroons had to play in practice uniforms on Friday night because their new unis weren’t ready yet. … Really great two-minute audio slideshow here about the Indiana equipment staff prepping the helmets for last Saturday’s throwback game. … And speaking of that game, there’s a good photo gallery here. … Brazil has a new soccer kit. Note that the five stars, representing the team’s five World Cup championships, are shown not only on the chest but also on the socks. Details here and here. … Matthew Strauss noticed something odd: According to SI.com, this photo was taken during a Cowboys/Redskins game in Dallas. But the ’Skins are wearing white, so was Dallas wearing blue at home? The turf looks artificial, which would seem to support the notion that the game was played at Texas Stadium, not at RFK. Can anyone shed more light on this? … Lots of solid-red action on the gridiron on Saturday, as Minnesota and FSU went monochromatic. … Casey Hart reports that Harvard’s nordic skiing team uniforms feature a map of the Harvard area. … Speaking of Harvard, someone on the Chris Creamer board spotted Crimson head football coach Tim Murphy wearing an NFLL pullover on Saturday. … Interesting critique of presidential campaign logos here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: I went to a European advertising conference and a hockey game broke out. … USF is switching to Under Armour. … I’ve listed lots of uniform typos in my recent ESPN columns. But Matt Lindner found something you don’t often see: a typo on a replica jersey. … Latest analysis of the NHL jersey debacle here (with thanks to Doug Mooney, who also reports that South Georgia Tech’s men’s and women’s hoops teams wore a “W” patch on Saturday in remembrance of instructor Willy Mathis). … New sleeveless unis for the American men’s volleyball team (as reported by Jeremy Brahm). … Two soccer notes from Jeremy as well: new uniforms for Germany, and quite the flamboyant ball during the U.S. vs. South Africa friendly match.
November 19th, 2007
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: As we all know by now, baseball has fallen out of favor with black Americans, at least as a participatory sport. And now former MLBer Dennis “Oil Can” Boyd is trying to do something about it. He and former teammate Delino DeShields recently formed the Urban Baseball League. Billed as the “Rebirth of the Negro Leagues,” the UBL is slated to begin games next year, with a focus on encouraging young black players to participate. No uniforms yet, but they’ve got team logos for the four charter teams: the Blackbirds, Black Tops, Afros, and Stacks.
Well. I think it’s fair to say that if a white-run league came up with something like those last two logos, many people would find it in poor taste at best, flat-out racist at worst. And how different are those logos from, say, this or this? Is it suddenly okay if a black-run enterprise uses this type of imagery? Is it all about intent, not content? What’s the line separating stereotype from cultural expression? Does the passing of time recontextualize things? Can these logos now be considered “cool” in the same way 1970s blaxploitation movies are? If so, isn’t it worth remembering that the arbiters of this coolness have primarily been white culture geeks doing what white culture geeks always do (i.e., cherrypicking the aspects of black culture they find most appealing)? Isn’t “blaxploitation” a clever term whose cleverness obscures its pejorative meaning?
Okay, so I’m veering off-topic there. Race is such a messed-up element in American life, and it tends to distort everything it touches, so it’s hard to pin down a discussion like this one. The fact that Uni Watch’s readership is, as far as I can tell, about 98% white doesn’t exactly help matters.
But here’s the thing: People forget that the Negro Leagues themselves should never have existed in the first place. But they did, and now we celebrate them as worthy outgrowth of an unjust time. Seems like a shaky premise for starting a new league today, though.
And here’s something else: These are all essentially throwback logos. I mean, for a venture aimed at contemporary black youth, it’s amazing how completely devoid of hip-hop influence these designs are. Shouldn’t the teams be called the Bling or something like that? Granted, I’m neither young nor black, but it seems to me that black kids are gonna view these logos as just the latest evidence that baseball is that boring old game that their grandfathers used to play.
(Special thanks to Ronnie Poore for bringing the UBL to my attention.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: A nonplussed Dominic J. Litten reports: “The Italian national soccer team has unveiled its new, hideous away strip with gold detailing on the collar, which they will debut in Saturday’s Euro 2008 qualifier against Scotland.” … Another season-opening MLB series in Japan — does that mean another round of uniform advertisements, like in 2000 and 2004? … St. Louis University guard Tommie Liddell is now going by Tommie Lidell III, complete with the roman numeral on his jersey. Details here (with thanks to Jeff Hood). … Turns out that Eric Stangel, a semi-frequent commenter and Ticker contributor, is also the head writer/producer for David Letterman — which means he’s been out on strike for the past week and a half. “Something happened today that made me think of Uni Watch,” he writes. “Bill Scheft is a writer on the show and also the Late Show Strike Captain. What better way to designate his captainhood than by giving him a Jason Varitek-style ‘C’ on his chest.” So there you have it, people: Uni Watch, the official sports web site of the American labor movement. … “So proud of the Missouri Valley Conference,” writes bench coach Bryan Redemske. “They left last year’s patches on. … Check out this totally boss jersey I won on eBay yesterday (with extra-big thanks to Scott Turner, who brought the item to my attention). … “Last weekend I visited the new Ripley’s Believe It or Not! tourist trap in Times Square,” writes Steve Flack. “They mention how Robert Ripley’s second passion, beyond the oddities featured in his newspaper strip, was baseball. They have a complete set of uniforms from a charity baseball game he put together in 1939. His team was called the Believe It Or Nots and featured such legends as Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, and Jack Dempsey. The weirdest thing was that the uniform were Turkish harem-style, complete with turbans, completely unlike anything I’ve ever seen before.” … If only this were true. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Nice breakdown of Georgetown basketball uniform history here.
November 15th, 2007
Major typo in the English Premier League yesterday, as David Bentley of Blackburn played an entire match with “Betnley” on his back (plus it wasn’t exactly the most graceful arc). As Dan Winkler explains, “David Bentley is one of Blackburn’s best players. He’s been with them for a few years and, in fact, scored a hat trick against Man U a few years ago, so it’s not like he’s the soccer equivalent of a September call-up or was just acquired in a trade. That’s what makes this mistake especially odd.”
By coincidence, there’s another EPL typo of sorts unfolding these days. It involves West Ham’s John Paintsil. Reader Iain Landon explains:
When Paintsil signed with West Ham from the Israeli club Hapoel Tel Aviv, all of his documentation, including his UK travel paperwork and work permit, had his name as ‘Pantsil’ — note the missing ‘i.’ According to English FA regulations, the name on his shirt has to match his registration, so John Paintsil has become John Pantsil. He only has a handful of appearances for West Ham so far this season, so I haven’t been able to find a photo, but the details of the story are verified here and here.
Meanwhile, back on our side of the pond:
• The Chargers’ season-long streak of having at least one player without an American flag decal was kept intact, as Chris Chambers was flag-free for the third week in a row. LaDainian Tomlinson, however, was flag-clad for the second consecutive week.
• Speaking of the Chargers, someone needs to tell Antonio Cromartie that men don’t look good in sheer hose.
• And speaking of hosiery, Dwight Smith had some serious sock layers going on.
• Charles Woodson, who’s been pushing the uni-related envelope all season, really outdid himself yesterday. Was he wearing tzitzit or what?
• I remain opposed to this look for the Giants, but there were a few interesting details. As Joe Skiba had promised, the “ny” nose bumper logo, which is usually blue outlined in red, was red outlined in blue. And yeah, okay, I can deal with red gloves, red shoelaces, and red undersleeves, but red spats? Enough already. (That player, incidentally, was Kawika Mitchell, and the screen grab comes courtesy of Randy Williams.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Where do college football uniforms go after they’ve been used? Often to Europe, as seen with this Mississippi State jersey being used by the London Olympians, and this Duke jersey worn by the Coventry Cassidy Jets (also note the personalized “MOM” memorial, all found by Stefan Schubert). … Tons of great historical baseball pics in the New York Public Library’s A.G. Spalding Collection (with thanks to John Ervin). … I’m trying to figure out how they’re going to screw this up. … Hannah Krug notes that the Princeton women’s hoops team has their logo in an interesting spot. “The worst part is that it doesn’t even look like a tiger,” she says. “I’m more reminded of a mole rat.” She also notes that Maryland’s jerseys have a normal back, but Marissa Coleman ties her up into a faux racer back. … The Kitchener Rangers wore special Remembrance Day jerseys on Sunday (with thanks to AJ Brandt). … And CFL teams wore poppy decals yesterday (with thanks to Tim Capper for the screen grab). … Not positive about this, but I think Miguel Cotto is the first fighter I’ve seen with a boxing glove depicted on his waistband (it’s on the back, too). … Cal wore really nice throwbacks (which are now being auctioned off) on Saturday. …Mild hilarity on Saturday night, as Trevor Fulkerson wrote to tell me that an Angels turn-ahead-the-clock jersey was up for auction on eBay. Exactly 21 minutes later, David Linder wrote to tell me that he was the winning (and, incredibly, only) bidder. … “I was browsing through a photo gallery of the 1930 World Cup and ran across this picture of the team from Bolivia,” writes Chuck Nolan Jr. “I assumed they were just wearing special shirts for the team portrait, but then I saw this photo , which would seem to confirm that they wore the shirts during the game.” … It’s amazing how Georgia’s black jersey (which I was fine with) really accentuated the black pants stripe, which up until now I’d barely even noticed. … Awesome socks being worn by Dorchester High in Boston (with thanks to Skott Daltonic). … Duke wore throwback jerseys and helmets on Saturday but ruined it by going monochromatic. … Sure didn’t take long for eye-black messages to go from this to this (that’s Mississippi State’s Eric Butler, as spotted by John Wilmoth). … Mark Graban found an interesting old pic of Donny Baseball with mismatched numerals on his helmet brim. Not only that, but look closer at it appears that the “3″ was applied over the “2.” … Jeremy Kaufman notes that Michigan State’s Mark Dell has “Focus” written on his wrist tape. … not a good idea. … The 49ers are already wearing a memorial helmet decal for Bill Walsh. Will they add another one tonight for former coach Dick Nolan, who died yesterday? … Fascinating note from Morris Levin, who writes: ” Topps just released its 2007 Update & Highlights set (it’s what used to be “Topps Traded”). Check out the cards for Francisco Rosario and Kyle Lohse. They must not have had game pics in Phillies jerseys because the uniforms are clearly airbrushed. Rosario is wearing his black Blue
Jays cleats, but more telling is the team wordmark on the front. The Topps art department placed a Phillies logo in there and neglected to remove the underline, which is part of the official logo but does not appear on the jerseys.”
Long-Overdue Thanks: About two months ago, after we changed web-hosting companies, I asked for volunteers to help fix all the non-ASCII characters that had gotten garbled during the server changeover. Six readers answered the call, which was great — and I failed to publicly acknowledge them until now, which is not so great. So for the record, I owe a big debt of gratitude to Chris Schoenthal, Chris Roberts, Mark McGinnis, Matt Edwards, Forrest Carpenter, and Kyle Joecken. Mea culpa for not thanking them until now.
November 12th, 2007
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