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Posts filed under 'Team Colors'
I don’t know how many Atlanta Braves fans have ever heard of Uni Watch. But the Atlanta audience got a condensed version of Uni Watch 101 on Monday, courtesy of Braves announcers Jon Scambi and Joe Simpson, who engaged in a bit of uni-related chatter during the bottom of the 9th. They began by discussing the Diamondbacks’ color scheme:
Jon Scambi: Remember when they were a purple-based team? Used to wear those Sunday purple tops, and it was like they were on an Easter egg hunt, or honoring Barney.
Joe Simpson: Yeah, they went with that turquoise-looking thing. With the squashbuckle-lookiing, uh, outfits. [I played this back several times, and yes, he definitely said, “squashbuckle.” — PL] Somehow Matt Williams, Jay Bell, that just didn’t fit with their days of wearing a lot of black with the Giants and Pirates.
Scambi: But it is — as much as lavender doesn’t strike the fear of god into your opponent, changing your color scheme for a franchise is not something you see very often.
Simpson: No, it’s not. But I’m so opposed to all these teams that never before had black in their color schemes suddenly wearing black jerseys and hats. The Mets, especially. That black and blue thing they wear, that’s like a big bruise.
Scambi: No, I’m with you, and you see it in college sports as well.
Simpson: Kansas City Royals broke out some black stuff. They’re not black! And two teams in the American League West — Texas and Anaheim — those two teams never could figure out what color they were.
Sciambi: Your Oklahoma Sooners have rocked some black baseball jerseys recently, haven’t they?
Simpson: Last year, for the Big 12 Tournament. That did not go over well.
Sciambi: I don’t know if you’re aware, but Oklahoma State, one of their main colors is black.
Simpson: Yeah. Yeah, we kinda knew that. I think the only people who really appreciated those black jerseys at Oklahoma were the people who were getting checks from Nike to wear them.
Sciambi: Yours was lost in the mail?
Simpson: Oh, brother.
Sciambi: You know, we’ve been asking whether the Braves could wear the blue [alternate road jerseys] at home. I’ve been asking, and they said, “Ahh, we’re not sure.” But the one thing that I fogot is, the blue jersey says, “Atlanta.”
Sciambi seemed to be implying that the blue alts wouldn’t be appropriate at home, because the insignia reads “Atlanta” instead of “Braves,” but we’ll never know for sure, because at that point the game’s events took precedence.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Mets’ announcers had a spirited equipment-related discussion last night. It began with this question:
Keith Hernandez: My advantage was growing up in San Francisco. If you ever took BP in those cold, damp afternoons, you had to really make sure you made good contact. And I think that helped me. I never liked gloves because there was always some movement. [Camera shows a 1980s shot of a bare-handed Hernandez.] Look at that — beautiful stance. [Other broadcasters cackle in mock disbelief.] Anyway, the gloves always move…
Ron Darling: Yeah.
Hernandez: … a little bit. And I liked to have — when I grabbed that bat, I wanted that bat — I used pine tar and resin — I wanted that bat in my hand and it didn’t make any — I had control of it. I didn’t want any movement. That’s why I never liked golfing, with the gloves? Hate it. I hate it.
Gary Cohen [restoring some semblance of direct communication]: Why do you think it is now that virtually everyone uses gloves? I mean, there are a few exceptions, Moises Alou being one of them.
Darling: Well, part of it is that they get paid to wear ’em. That’s part of it.
Hernandez: Big contract.
Darling: There’s very few, I mean, uh — Moises Alou doesn’t use batting gloves.
Cohen: Vladimir Guerrero. But there are not many.
Darling: Plus, Gary, I think for this generation of player, I think it’s, y’know, part of the styling, y’know, it’s part of, y’know, looking good.
Hernandez: I think it’s style. Because you’re using aluminum bats when you’re young, so you, you don’t get jammed and get the bees like wood. So why do you need gloves?
Cohen: I don’t know, I’m asking you the question.
Hernandez: I just think it’s style. Style points.
Cohen: I mean, guys use golf gloves to avoid blisters, right?
Darling: Yeah, the blisters are bad. But you do want to, in spring training, whether you use gloves or not, you want to build up those callouses, don’t you Keith, to make those hands tough?
Hernandez: Yeah. I never hit in the off-season, so I’d come in completely, five months without swinging a bat. And no timing. Soft hands. And I’d lose all my callouses. And I’d know coming into spring training that I was going to get blisters. And it’d be a pain in the neck — within the first week of spring training, with BP, I would be putting — I’d have five, six blisters. And, y’know, you have to sit there, you have to put the Tuff Skin on, and, uh — I don’t know if they still have Tuff Skin. [They do. — PL] Band-Aid, and then the adhesive tape over it. Then your hands toughen up and you’re good to go.
Darling: I also remember watching you after games, didn’t you used to take alcohol and rub some of the pine tar off your hands?
Hernandez: Off my hands, and I’d clean my bat. Because you weren’t allowed to have pine tar above the label.
Darling: George Brett knew that.
Cohen: He found that out. [The three men share a self-congratulatory chuckle, impressed by their own knowledge of this highly obscure chapter in MLB history.]
Hernandez: Gregg Jefferies did that. After every game, Gregg Jefferies, he lockered next to me when he came up, and he would clean his bat after every game. I wouldn’t do it till the next day.
And with that we bid a fond adieu to the broadcast both, at least for now.
(Thanks to Josh Williams for alerting me to the Braves sequence.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Great socks being worn by the Meiji University baseball team (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Also from Jeremy: The NPB All-Star Game logo and uniforms have been unveiled. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: You probably knew the MLB honchos were a bunch of Scrooges, but this really seals it. … Also from yesterday: full-body view of Varitek’s Memorial Day camouflage gear (which is now up for auction). … Chris Markham was at the Colorado Sports Museum at Invesco Field over the weekend and took a snapshot of this AFL ref jersey. … The CFL is changing the look of its officials from this to this. “It’s a very interesting design,” says a reader who prefers to remain anonymous. “First, the use of the two-inch stripe pattern, previously only used by the NFL, AFL, and semi-pro leagues. The CFL has historically used one-inch stripes like everyone else. Second, the black sleeves, which makes them look like they’ve wearing one of Ed Hochuli’s tank tops over a black undershirt. The black pocket on the shirt is in the style of the current NFL bendy-stripes design, and they’ve also added black trim down the legs of the knickers and on the back pocket flap. They’re planning to retain its idiosyncratic hat stylings, with the referee wearing a black hat and the others wearing white (but in the unusual “reversed-black-hat” design unique to Canada). Finally, it’s possible that they may be abandoning stirrup socks (as of last season, they were the only major group of football officials still using them; almost everyone else went one-piece some time ago).” … Awesome sock stylings being exhibited by New Mexico Junior College (with thanks to Rob Montoya). … “I stumbled upon this while bored at work and immediately thought of you,” writes Tim Ring. “It’s a baseball-like game called pesäpallo, which is apparently quite popular in Finland. The uniforms are, well, see for yourself.” … Tyler Kepner reports that Bobby Abreu was wearing Mariano Rivera’s spikes during BP last night (”or at least he had a big 42 on the flap over the shoelaces,” he adds). … Last year I wrote about some of the cool Colt .45s-related content on the Astros Daily blog. But now James Poisso has pointed me toward this page, which is the mother freakin’ lode of Colt .45s material. I don’t know who the webmaster is, but he’s got everything you could want and more: cards, patches, a mosaic, player photos, team portraits, coins, fight songs (a 45 of the .45s!), ticket stubs, parking passes, a recruiting poster, programs, seating charts, media guides, press passes, business cards, letterhead, and more — a lot more. Have fun wasting your whole day on this one. … Good account here of Paulie Malignaggi’s recent ponytail follies. … Jeremy Brahm has found an excellent Australian rules football uniform site, where he’s already uncovered an interesting tidbit: “Remember when the Reds changed their name to the Redlegs during the McCarthy years? Well, St. Kilda Football Club in Australia’s Football League wore black, red, and white stripes before World War I, but those colors matched Germany’s, so the team changed its white to yellow. It was not until 1923 that the team restored white to its color scheme.” … Spring training game last night in Cleveland. … “The New Hampshire Fishercats (ugh, they should be the Primaries!) are wearing special uniforms on June 5th, honoring a Manchester policeman, Michael Briggs, who was shot in the line of duty in 2006,” reports Jeff Richards. “The #83 on the sleeve was his badge number.” … Reprinted from last night’s comments: The Mets wore blue caps and sleeves last night, which means they also should have been wearing blue socks. But Luis Castillo had black socks, at least during pregame stretching. He pulled his pants down to his shoetops once the game started, so it’s kinda moot, but still. … Here’s a new one: Jimmy Gobble was wearing his undershirt backwards on the mound last night (thanks to Dan Merker for the tip). … I’ve frequently run photos of early football players wearing nose protectors. Until now, however, I’d never seen a helmet with a nose protector built in. That image comes from this catalog up for sale on eBay. … Lots of other uniform catalogs currently on eBay — look here, here, and here. … And some interesting patches here and here. … Mike Klug had a very good seat last Thursday at Yankee Stadium and got photo of A-Rod that appears to show a big wad of gum on his thigh. … People who say the Mets kept Willie mainly because there were no good replacements available clearly haven’t seen this photo.
May 28th, 2008
The Nationals, like every other MLB team, participated in the Jackie Robinson 42fest on April 15th. In fact, they were one of the clubs that dressed the entire team in 42 that night.
But apparently that wasn’t enough for the Nats. Yesterday’s game against the Mets was billed as “Jackie Robinson Night.” They unveiled a 42 on the outfield wall, and 42 was worn during the game by Ray King, Lastings Milledge, and Willie Harris (all shown in that photo).
This raises a bunch of questions for me:
• Why wasn’t the 42 already on the wall? Like, it was already retired, right? I realize it’s a new stadium, but so what? The number was already supposed to be retired on an MLB-wide basis.
• Why did the Nats get to dress players in 42 again? Okay, so they were on the road last week, but so what? Is every road team from April 15th gonna get to do this? I disagree with people who say that the annual April 15th celebration cheapens the number, but I do think it got cheapened a bit last night. I realize some people will say, “Anything that raises awareness of Jackie Robinson is a good thing,” and I generally agree with that, but turning his memory into a way to add another promotion to your home schedule is totally bogus. The whole point of April 15th is that it’s a one-day thing — a tribute day, a special day. If we start to make every day special, the practical result is that no days are.
• Why was Ray King wearing white cleats in the preame ceremony? He switched to black for the game.
• While we’re at it, why is Ray King so fat?
It’s also interesting to see the design scheme the Nats chose for the 42 on the outfield wall. Many (most?) teams have chosen to depict it in the old Brooklyn Dodgers design scheme, or at least in blue (additional examples here, here, and here), although not every team has done this (additional examples here, here, and here). The Nats chose to use their own font with the numbers trimmed in blue and gray, which I find to be an unsatisfying middle ground. By trying to have it both ways, they ended up with neither.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “This site has a ton of photos from the Arizona Fall League (especially from 2002),” writes Steve Delaney. “One of the most interesting finds is this — that’s Jerry Hairston of the Orioles throwing and Alfonso Soriano of the (at the time) Yankees on the right. Looks like a Little League World Series game.” … UMKC is having a logo-redesign contest. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Best shot I’ve ever seen of Pete Maravich’s “Pistol” NOB. … A new book about goalie masks, called Saving Face, will be published this September by Wiley. The editor sent me some sample spreads, which you can see here. These pages are v-e-r-y preliminary — the text and layout will probably change significantly in the finished product — but they at least provide a sense of what the book will be like. … Jon Helf, who runs the awesome Fleer Sticker Project blog, checks in with another Pilots-related post: “Some of the late-’60s Fleer issues had different colors and styles from what the Pilots ultimately used in their intial season. You can see what I’m talking about here.” … Good article here about George Sherrill and his flat-brimmed cap. … Man, I wish I could’ve been in Seattle for this bowling alley auction. … Minnesota’s new football uniforms, unveiled yesterday, look like this, and holy shit do I hate that pants-striping treatment. No rear-view photo yet, but you can see that the stripe does a butt-cheek wraparound, which is bad news. Idiotic piping on the jersey, too. Piece o’. … And here’s the latest on Hawaii’s new uniforms. Not great, but I’m always in favor of more green, and their look has always been somewhat cartoon-ish, so it’s hard to get worked up one way or the other (with thanks to Jeff Osbun). … While searching for something else on YouTube, I came across the classic old Warner Bros. cartoon Dog Gone South, which I hadn’t seen in probably 20 years. I’d forgotten that at one point Belvedere finds himself wearing a Yankees jersey (yes, it’s in inaccurate, but hey, artistic license and all that). … “Great stirrups being worn by St. Helens High in Oregon,” writes Travis McGuire. “But what’s up with that mound?” … Attention, Jeremy Brahm: Steven Wyder spotted this on eBay. Can you offer any insights regarding its provenance? … Helmet logo problems last night for Kosuke Fukudome (with thanks to Cara Morefield). … “I was watching How I Met Your Mother from last Monday,” writes Mike Rich, “and noticed Ted (played by Josh Radner) wearing a bizarre T-shirt with a Cleveland Indians logo surrounded by a Cincinnati Reds logo. There was also a logo on his left sleeve, but they never showed a clear view.” … Several amazing new contributions from northwest baseball historian Dave Eskenazi: The first two are of the Vancouver Beavers, circa 1918. Nice, right? But the real prize is this shot of the 1938 Vancouver Maple Leafs. Man, is that totally gorgeous or what? “The players probably hated it, especially the veterans,” says Dave. … New member of the stirrups club: Matt Kemp. … The NHL’s great front-office coordination strikes again.
April 24th, 2008
The Yankees played an exhibition game up at Virginia Tech yesterday, and there were lots of uni-related oddities. Dig:
• Both teams wore their home pinstripes. This reminds me of when the Yankees and Devil Rays opened the 2004 season in Japan and the Yanks wore their home uni for both games even though Tampa was technically the home team, as if the foreign fans somehow “deserved” to see the famous pinstripes. Fuck that — if you’re the road team, even against a college team, show some respect and wear your road uni.
• The Yankees wore “VT”-emblazoned caps, similar to the ones they wore for one game last year after the shootings on the Tech campus.
• In a rather confusing development, Tech returned the favor by wearing “NY” caps rendered in Hokies colors (the Yankees themselves wore them in a pregame press conference; here’s a closer view). Am I the only one who finds this a bit odd? I mean, the home team wearing the opponent’s logo front and center, with their own logo bumped to the side? That’s nuts. It’s so nuts, in fact, that I started wondering if the Hokies normally wear pinstripes, or if that was just another way of honoring the Yankees. And after a quick check, sure enough, it appears that Tech’s normal home uni looks like this, although I suppose it’s possible that they might also have a pinstriped alternate. Anyone know if the pinstripes are one of their regular wardrobe options, or just a one-time thing? (Bizarre aside: While most of the Yankees were in Virginia, Mike Mussina was pitching a minor league game back in Tampa, and his kid — who really needs to ditch the mandals — was carrying one of the Hokie “NY” caps afterward.)
• Was Bobby Abreu was wearing Mariano Rivera’s cleats, or did his cleats just happen to be “42″-imprinted? As Matt Powers noted in last night’s comments, Abreu was wearing a different pair the day before.
• The batboys had special uniforms for the occasion.
And now a word from Intern Emeritus Vince Grzegorek: It’s time for the 2nd Annual Uni Watch March Madness Pool. It’s time for the 2nd Annual Uni Watch March Madness Pool. The pool will work the same way it did last year: Pick any six of the 64 teams in the NCAA tournament. You will receive points correlating to each team’s seed for each game that team wins. For example, a Number 1 seed will receive 1 point for each game it wins, a Number 5 seed will receive 5 points for each game it wins, a Number 12 seed will receive 12 points for each game it wins, and so on. Highest score wins. Please include a total score for the final game as a tiebreaker.
Paul says he’s got a backlog of stuff to give away [I’ll announce what the stuff is tomorrow — need to photograph some of it first. — PL], so we’ll have five winners. First place will get first choice of the prizes, second place will get to choose from the four remaining prizes, and so on.
To enter, e-mail your six teams and your name here (NOT to the usual Uni Watch address) by noon eastern time on Thursday. Only one entry per person, and don’t bother trying to cheat because you know we’ll figure it out. Also, note that this is a contest of skill, not a raffle, so no extra entries for membership program enrollees.
Good luck to all, and to all a happy sick day tomorrow. Here’s Paul again with today’s Ticker.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Classic NOB typo last night in Detroit — check it out. He switched to a proper jersey midway through the first quarter. … This is about the funniest thing I’ve ever seen on eBay. I bid on it but didn’t win — dang (great find by Thomas Langan). … An eBay counterfeiter is amusingly brought to task via some ace typeface detective work here (with thanks to Bill Walsh). … “The Fukuoka Softbank Hawks will be wearing two throwback uniforms this year,” reports Jeremy Brahm. “This one is from the Fukuoka Daiei Hawks 2003 season (even though the uniform was used from 1993-2004), when the Hawks won the Japanese title, and this one is from 1964, when the Nankai Hawks were based in Osaka before moving to Fukuoka in 1988.” … Last week I ran some pics of soccer players with unusual tape jobs. As many of you informed me, this is kinesio taping, and now Frank Mercogliano has found an excellent article about the technique. … Gorgeous number typography here. The team is the Staten Island Stapletons, a pro team from the late 1920s and early ’30s (nice find by Marc Rabinowitz). … Remember our recent discussion of hearing-impaired athletes? Good article here on the NBA’s first deaf player, Lance Allred (thanks, Vince). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: One other team wore green jerseys on Monday — the Cardinals. … Ronnie Poore has a friend who was an extra in the upcoming Leatherheads flick and sent along two awesome pics — check ’em out here and here. … Awesome old girls baseball uni here — who knew uni numbers were appearing on pant legs way back when? … About two years ago, my pal Rob Walker wrote this column about a guy who’d created a Nike tribute brand, called Mike — read that column. And then read this follow-up from Rob’s blog. Todd Krevanchi, the follow-up item mentions your web site — care to weigh in on this? … Not uni-related, but there’s a great video clip here showing my Page 2 colleague Jim Caple discussing knuckleballs with Mariners pitcher R.A. Dickey. … Cool old Notre Dame patch here (with thanks to Michael Kimmins). … Good story here about Canadiens goalie Carey Price’s pads. Additional photos here, and there’s a great gallery of Habs netminders through the decades here (courtesy of Casey Barcomb). … Chris Mycoskie reports that LSU will wear these throwback uniforms for today’s game against Tulane. Video clip available here. … Ryan Raburn on Monday; Jacque Jones yesterday. I’d pay money to see Dontrelle Willis do it next. … I didn’t know this, but according to this page, last year the Devil Rays “made professional sports history, becoming the first team to wear less green on St. Patrick’s Day” (note the white cap). Now that’s a great factoid! … The Bucks retired Brian Winters’s number way back in 1983. But for reasons that only the team’s marketing department knows, they “rededicated” his number last night, whatever that means, complete with the whole framed jersey routine. “Problem is, that’s the current jersey and this guy never wore it,” notes Nicole Haase, who attended the game and took that photo. … Love the striped socks (and the height disparity), but c’mon, wear shorts that are at least slightly short (with thanks to Bryan Grupp).
March 18th, 2008
For most of my life, I feel like color schemes have pretty much made sense. There are color combos I really like, like green/gold/maroon, and ones that I don’t like, like most pastel combinations. But whether I like them or not, I feel like most of the combinations I’ve seen over the past four decades have made a certain kind of intuitive sense.
Lately, though, I’ve been seeing color schemes that I simply don’t understand. Foremost among these is pale blue and brown, which I now see practically everywhere. Doesn’t work for me at all, but it’s obviously working for someone, because it’s becoming unavoidable.
I also don’t get the Seahawks’ combination of steel blue and neon snot. The latter hue makes no sense — it doesn’t match up with or complement, um, anything. It just sticks out out like a sort whatsis. And I say that as a guy who’s a lifelong fan of green.
So it was pretty horrifying to see lots of the Seahawks wearing green-trimmed footwear on Saturday. I mean, really, is this any way for an NFL player to look? Or this? The term “offensive line” has never been more literally accurate. Looks like some of the players even wore green shoelaces (as if Matt H.’s green-trimmed muff weren’t bad enough). Seriously, is there anyone who doesn’t think this looks way better?
Even worse, the fans seem to be embracing the radioactive jade shade. Fortunately, the ’Hawks will be playing in Green Bay next weekend, so we should see fans with a greater sense of decorum.
In other NFL news from the weekend:
• Matt Hasselbeck broke a thigh pad in the third quarter, which led to third-stringer Charlie Frye pulling down his pants and removing one of his own pads to give to Hasselbeck. Details in the middle of this page (with thanks to Nick Collecchi).
• I’ve written several times about the Giants’ curved nameplates, which match up with one of the rear jersey seams. But Mike Slesinski has spotted something new: Amani Toomer appeared to be wearing a completely different tailoring template yesterday, which (among other things) had the effect of pushing his nameplate much lower. Mike also thinks Toomer’s front tailoring pattern is new, and that his red triangle patch at the base of the collar is wider, although I’m not sure about either of those claims. Joe Skiba, fill us in!
• Did you see that new Mac commercial with the football referee? He’s clearly supposed to be an NFL ref, since he goes under the hood for a video review, but he’s not wearing NFL zebra stripes or NFL socks. More egregiously, his pants are cuffed WAY too low — lame. (Thanks to Randy Williams, John Okray, Chad Todd, and Phil Hecken for the screen grabs.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Portland Lumberjax are taking their name rather literally (with thanks to Travis Demers). … Mr. Horse Collar is changing uni numbers next season (with thanks to Patrick Nance). … Good catch by Jon McKay who noticed two officials wearing white hats during the Independence Bowl (apparently the umpire lost his black cap). … Friday’s entry about players wearing earplugs led to this from Andy Head: “Freddy Garcia, then pitching for the Mariners, pitched with earplugs in for much of the 2003 season because he had suffered perforated eardrums from flying on numerous team flights with a cold the previous season.” … Bit of a pad controversy for Rick Dipietro. … Bruce Menard sent along this awesome old St. Louis Cardinals team portrait. Dig those double-breasted jackets! … Check out the bizarre pants Washington State wore in the 1994 Alamo Bowl (additional pics here, courtesy of Jon V. Buerstatte). … At the 2:28 mark of this video clip, you’ll see something rare: Randy Moss with an “R. Moss” nameplate, which he apparently wore for one game in 2000 (good find by Nick Noyes). … You expect to see plenty of logo creep in a game called the Under Armour All-Star Game, but this is still a bit much (with thanks to Brandon Pratt). … Fun bit here about Les Miles’s hat (as forwarded by Minna H.). … The other day I asked if anyone knew the story behind Fresno State’s three different-colored merit decals. Anthony Johnson found the answer here). … Interesting FNOB find by Roy Ellingsen, who writes: “I’ve just returned to Norway after a quick visit to the Czech Republic. There, I saw that Sparta Prague’s leading points scorer, Petr Ton, wears ‘Ton Petr,’ as you can just about see here, right below the number. It’s common to use family name before given names in Eastern Europe. Petr Nedved, for example, wears ‘Nedved P.’” … Speaking of FNOB, Erik Little was watching some old Rams footage and spotted Ron Brown with the rare double-decker FNOB (road jersey too, but poor image quality). He also spotted this guy. “Not sure who that is,” he writes. “The only Rams LB with #59 that I can confirm is Bob Brudzinski. Not really a good shot, but the surname seems lowered to allow for a first name (à la Ron Brown’s jersey).” Can anyone shed more light on this one? … Stripe-o-rama yesterday, as Stoke City faced Newcastle in Round 3 of the FA Cup (with thanks to Morris Levin). … “Damaso Marte, who plays for the Pittsburgh Pirates, is playing in the Dominican Winter League for the Tigres del Licey,” writes Jean Oliva. “He’s wearing No. 143, since his regular number (43) is retired by the team.” … Speaking of uni numbers, scroll down to the middle of this page for a history lesson in Cubs uni number protocol (good find by Jeremy Brahm). … “I was at the Bruins game on Sunday afternoon and noticed something I’d never seen before,” writes Jeffrey Israel. “People were getting their jerseys personalized as they waited in the middle of the Garden concourse.” … I had planned to bid on that Packers dickey, but the price got way out of hand — dang.
January 7th, 2008
Many of you have made it abundantly clear in recent months that you don’t like to mix sports with politics. To which I can only say, be glad you don’t live in Venezuela, where baseball uniforms and politics have recently intersected in a particularly absurd manner. Reader Pablo Souki, a Venezuelan native who now lives in the States, explains:
Venezuela has been deeply split along political lines since 1998, when Hugo Chávez was first elected President. Everything in Venezuela is seen through politics, and it has split the country into “Chavistas” (Chávez supporters) and the opposition. There is no middle ground — people either love Chávez or they hate him. … [I]f I had to come up with an analogy, I’d say every politician in Venezuela behaves like Ann Coulter or Al Franken. And non-politicians do, too.
In the middle of this madness, Chávez and his party have decided they own the color red. Everything having to do with the Government is referred to as “red.” [For example], the most recent presidential elections in Venezuela were in early December of 2006. Chávez’s campaign color was, of course, red. This was December, so Caracas was full of Christmas decorations. That means in some anti-Chávez areas, Santa was dressed in blue, and red decorations were avoided altogether. That’s how badly some people react to red things now in Caracas.
So along comes the 07-08 baseball season, and the Caracas Lions roll out their new BP jerseys, and they are red. Brick red, actually, a lot like the Astros’ alternates, as Lions President Ariel Prat pointed out. Still, people are really upset, and the blogosphere is raging. Conspiracy theorists claim this is proof that the club’s owner is pro-Chávez. In truth, everyone in the country already knew that, so I don’t know what the fuss is about. But there are crazies threatening to quit following the team. For real. All of this over BP jerseys.
(Of course, a better reason to protest the Lions’ uniforms is that they have ads instead of nameplates (as do many Central and South American teams). For a refreshing corrective, click through the gallery of Lions uni history available here.)
About a week after I got Pablo’s note, I got a communiqué from Al Cummings, who told a similar tale:
In August I went to a friend’s wedding in Nicaragua and was bumping around in my Phillies (2007 Eastern Division Champs) cap. I got a lot of waves and nods of approval, and I thought it was because Nicaragua native Vicente Padilla had played for the Phils. My friend explained a red cap signifies my solidarity with the Sandanistas, still a major issue in that polarized country.
Hmmm, think they put that in the travel guides? Big thanks to Pablo and Al for their eye-opening tales.
Hall Monitor: One item from the weekend that I missed in yesterday’s post was all the activity surrounding the Hockey Hall of Fame inductions in Toronto. For starters, the Rangers and Maple Leafs wore Hall of Fame jersey patches for their game on Saturday night — the Leafs wearing it on on the chest, the Rangers on the shoulder yoke. Then on Sunday there was the Legends Classic Game, featuring assorted geezers divided up into Original 6 and Expansion teams. Things apparently got a bit surreal when Glenn Anderson played with sparklers on his skates (and can’t you just see some Fox executive saying to himself, “Damn, why didn’t we think of that when we had the NHL contract?!”).
As for the actual inductees, their blazers are a lot nicer than the ones their NFL counterparts are forced to wear.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Great shots here and here of Greg Wesley’s helmet decal being left in tatters after a big hit (with big thanks to Jason Gomez). … Terry Mark reports that Indiana will wear throwbacks this Saturday to mark the 40th anniversary of the 1967 team, which played in the ’68 Rose Bowl. … Unique find by Joe Hilseberg, who discovered a photo of an old Jim Turner Broncos jersey with the first initial added onto the existing nameplate. “Never seen anything like that before,” says Joe, who’s seen many a nameplate in his day. … I’m told that that the Kings’ patch in this photo is a tribute to SoCal firefighters, although I haven’t been able to find a closer view of the design. Anyone..? … Mark Mihalik notes that LaDainian Tomlinson’s cleats had powder blue trim on Sunday, to match the Chargers’ alternate jerseys. … Over on the Chris Creamer board, someone came up with an old photo of Marcus Allen playing in a Pro Bowl with a black facemask on his Raiders helmet
November 13th, 2007
A couple of Sunday nights ago at about 10 p.m., someone posted a comment that read, “Women’s Nazi Hockey Team.” It linked to the photo shown at right (here’s a larger view). Since Sunday night is a low-traffic period for the site, nobody responded and the whole thing passed unnoticed.
Coupla things here: First of all, this is not a Nazi team. In fact, this is an Edmonton team called the Swastikas, which played in 1916 — four years before the National Socialist German Workers Party (i.e., the Nazis) adopted the swastika as its symbol. And the Edmonton gals were hardly the only group to make pre-Nazi use of the swastika, which was a fairly common graphic symbol a century ago. It was used by, among many others, the Finnish Air Force, the Boy Scouts (Girl Scouts too, although I can’t find a web reference to it), and many groups that produced good luck promotions or talismans. (For more on the swastika’s background, which dates back to the Stone Age and spans many different socio-ethnic cultures, look here.)
My research on the Edmonton photo led me to this book, written by the Canadian artist/mystic known as ManWoman, who’s spent years trying to rescue the swastika’s image its association with the Nazis. After I got in touch with him, he was kind enough to provide me with several additional examples of pre-Nazi swastika-clad teams:
• Here we have the Windsor Swastikas, circa 1909, who played in Nova Scotia. Note the varied swastika styles on the homemade crests. Here’s a slightly later version of the team.
• The Fernie Swastikas played in British Columbia in the 1920s. If team’s use of the swastika itself doesn’t make you uneasy, then the Golliwogg mascot doll being held by the Fernie player in this photo probably will. (If you’re not familiar with Golliwoggs, look here.)
• Hockey isn’t the only sport with swastikas in its past. Here’s a baseball uniform, which was worn by a 1920s team in Swastika, Ontario. (Yes, there’s actually a town called Swastika, Ontario — look.)
• ManWoman says this baseball cap was originally worn by the 1917 Canyon City Swastikas.
• And here’s a swastika-stamped golf club — not sure of the date.
There are several other books out there that examine the swastika’s graphic history. This one, by the design historian Steve Heller (who happens to be a friend of mine), is particularly good, although it doesn’t have any non-Nazi sports examples.
As Steve and many other writers have noted, the swastika is a spectacularly successful piece of design — elegant, balanced, solid yet fluid. But it’s become so inextricably associated with one particular chapter of history that it’s hard to conceive of it in any other context. In a way, this reaffirms one of Uni Watch’s underlying premises: the notion that logos and symbols can pack an emotional punch that goes beyond any rational reckoning. Intellectually, I know the swastika worn by those Edmonton girls had nothing to do with the Nazis, just as I know the Mets I grew up watching in the early 1970s had nothing to do with the Mets of today. Emotionally, however, the connections seem obvious in both cases, even though the only real connection involves a swastika in one instance and the Mets’ logo and colors in the other. That’s the power of design for ya.
To see how complicated the swastika’s history really is, check out this 1931 photo, which I found while doing photo research for this entry. It shows the basketball team from Freedom High School in Freedom, Pennsylvania, and was published in the school’s yearbook. And what did a town called Freedom use for the title of its high school yearbook in 1931? As you can see if you scroll down beneath the photo, it was called The Swastika.
Research Request: I’m compiling college hoops uni changes for an ESPN column next week. This is always the toughest column of the year, because there’s no single resource or office that keeps track of the college basketball changes. I’ve compiled a pretty good list, but feel free to let me know about any changes you’re aware of. Thanks.
HOLIDAY SALE: Face it, holiday gifts have nothing to do with the recipients. If you’re giving a gift, it’s all about you. And there’s no better way to show how cool you are — and spread the Uni Watch gospel in the process — than to give someone a Uni Watch membership.
With that in mind, I’m offering a discount on gift memberships for the next month. Instead of the usual pricing structure ($25, $60, $100, $250, $500, $1000), you can give the gift of Uni Watch for $20, $50, $90, $225, $450, or $900. These rates are only good for gift memberships, so the name on the card has to be different from your name. They must be ordered by November 15th to ensure delivery in time for Hanukkah, or by December 1st for Christmas.
Allow me to anticipate some of your questions:
Why not extend the discount to all memberships, not just gifts?
I thought about doing that, but I think it wouldn’t be fair to the people who’ve already paid full price.
Will the membership materials be sent to me, or to the gift recipient?
To you. It would get too logistically crazy if I had to keep track of multiple addresses, “Please send it to him exactly three days before the holiday” requests, and so on. I’ll just have everything sent to you, and then you can send or present it to the lucky giftee.
I don’t want the giftee to know about his gift ahead of time. Can you leave his name off of the membership roster and his card design out of the card gallery until after the holiday?
Yes. If you want me to keep the gift membership “private” until a certain date, just say so when placing the order.
For further details, look here.
In other membership news, new Uni Watch assistant Nina Dubin is already paying dividends. She found all the missing names on the membership roster, which is now back up-to-date.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Gamecocks will memorialize the students killed in that beach house fire with a helmet decal. Details here (with thanks to Mike Orr). … Latest evidence that the pink thing has gotten out of hand: Pilot Point High School in Texas wore pink spats the other night (as spotted by Brian Thompson). … Yet another pink-clad team: the Middlesex Cricket Club (courtesy of Jordan Owen). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Good article and video here about the Penguins’ masks. … Jonathan Papelbon is apparently a Dropkick Murphys fan, at least judging by the embroidery at the base of his victory parade kilt (good spot by webmaster John Ekdahl). … The Huntsville Stars have a new logo (with thanks to Zack Bennett). … For a second there, I thought the headband on this baseball card said, “Tits” (a characteristically excellent find by the Rev. Nørb). … Got a note yesterday from Bill Turianski, who specializes in making sports-based maps (a few dozen of which are showcased on his site). Most of them are devoted to soccer, but there’s some baseball, football, and hockey content too. Worth exploring. … Holy-moly! … Several people have written to alert me to this Sports Illustrated photo of Clinton Portis, because it shows that he doesn’t wear socks (or, more likely, wears “no show” socks inside his cleats) and that his football “socks” are actually leg warmers. True enough, but it’s nothing new — he was doing the same thing two years ago (although he obviously had some other sock issues in that infamous game). … Other SI tidbits (courtesy of Greg Riffenburgh): the disturbing ascendance of neon mucous in Seattle and an even more disturbing photo. … The Lakewood Blue Claws have a new alternate logo (with thanks to Ted Kerwin). … I’m gonna be busy for most of today and on the road tomorrow, so if you have any site-related issues (spam filter acting up, abusive commenter, etc.), please tell Vince. Ticker contributions and membership orders can still come to me.
November 1st, 2007
Aside from conference logos and the like, it’s not often that you see two players on different teams wearing the same jersey patch. But that’s the case with Kansas State’s Ian Campbell and Army’s Mike Viti. What are they wearing? A Kansas State fan who prefers to remain anonymous explains:
K-State is very near Fort Riley, home of the Big Red One and now the 28th Infantry, known as the Black Lions. The football team has been partnering with them in several ways since Coach Ron Prince arrived last year. The latest is the Black Lion Award, which traditionally has been given to high schools all over the country. It is currently given to only two universities: the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and, now, Kansas State.
What is the award? It honors Don Holleder, a West Point All-American who was asked (and agreed) to change positions his senior year despite losing any chance at individual honors. He later was killed in Vietnam while attempting to rescue other members of his unit — the Black Lions. The award is given to one player each year who represents this unselfishness, courage, leadership, and the act of putting the team before the individual.
When you win the award, you get a certificate and also a jersey patch. Our winner at K-State this year was Ian Campbell, a very successful defensive end for us who’d been asked (and agreed) to change positions for this year. He will be wearing a Black Lions patch on his jersey all season. In addition, coach Prince has been wearing a Black Lion collar pin.
Interesting stuff. But listen, while I’m sure all the recipients of this award have been very deserving, could someone please explain exactly what’s so remarkable about changing positions when your coach tells you to? Like, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? Just askin’.
Iggles Exposed as Dangerous Left-Wing Radicals: As has been discussed here several times, last Sunday’s Eagles throwbacks were based on the Philly city flag, which was in turn based on the colors of the Swedish national flag — or at least that’s what I thought. But reader Jonathan Nussbaum has just contributed some new insights, courtesy of a recent lecture in his American history class:
In 1933, one of the first acts of the New Deal was to establish the National Recovery Administration, which sought to stem unemployment by coordinating prices and wages in certain industries. Participation was voluntary, and companies who did participate would display the Blue Eagle symbol of the NRA.
That year, over 250,000 people marched in Philadelphia to support the NRA. Lud Wray and Bert Bell, who had just bought and resurrected a Philadelphia football team, were so inspired that they named the team the Eagles in honor of that Blue Eagle symbol. The blue and yellow on the NRA symbol happened to match the city flag, so that is how the team’s uniform was designed.
Big thanks to Jonathan for that insight. Now let’s sit back and see how many malcontents complain about the New Deal reference constituting “inappropriate political content” on the site.
(Oh, and speaking of the Eagles’ throwbacks, they’re the basis for a little video rant currently running on Yahoo Sports.)
Raffle Reminder: You’ve got until Tuesday, 10 p.m. eastern, to get in on the raffle for the game-used futuristic Royals jersey. To enter, send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (please note that this is not the usual Uni Watch address). One e-mail per person, but everyone enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program at the time of the drawing automatically gets three bonus entries. I’ll announce the winner next Wednesday.
Membership News: We had a software glitch yesterday on the membership roster. I’ll spare you the details, but the practical result is that about 90 enrollees got wiped off the page. We are (read: John is) restoring them, but it may take a few days, so don’t be alarmed if you suddenly don’t see your name listed. Actually, that brings up a question I’ve been pondering: I know people like to keep up with the latest additions to the card design gallery, but does anyone even look at the membership roster? Or do you just check it once to see that your name is there and then never look at it again? Just wonderin’.
Uni Watch News Ticker: As you can see at the top of the page, we have a new sponsor, Jersey-Joe, which is offering a discount to Uni Watch readers. A fine operation that I’m proud to have represented on the site, just like our other display advertisers. Check out their stuff. … The Hornets unveiled a new alternate logo yesterday — not bad. It will be worn as a patch on the team’s uniforms and will be called — wait for it — the Fleur de Bee. Read-it-to-believe-it details here. … Who knew there was an NFL Alumni logo? (Robert Eden did, actually.) … UGA linebacker Dannell Ellerbe’s helmet has gone askew or come off completely several times this year, so he plans to wear a different helmet model this weekend (with thanks to Brent Hardman). … Amazing case of logo creep discovered by Andy Head: “My wife is taking an online business course through a local community college, and she just got her textbook yesterday. Look what’s on the cover! And the spine, too! I thought, well, surely the author is somehow connected to that company, but no, she’s a proffessor at Lehigh U. Well, maybe there’s a major Nike business case discussed inside, right? It’s a business book, so they are discussed, but the sections on, say Starbucks and Wal-Mart are much, much more substantial.” Incredible. … Not hard to guess what Sunday’s Open Thread photo will be, because New Mexico State will be wearing pink tomorrow. … Throwbacks aren’t limited to sports: James Yeh reports that the Navy is testing some old-school khakis that haven’t been used since the Vietnam era. … Jason Marquis’s helmet logo was AWOL on Wednesday night (with thanks to Ryan Kendall). … Spectacular article here on the varied styles of pinstriping. Although written with the collectors’ market in mind, it’s filled with worthwhile info for any Uni Watch reader — highly recommended (with thanks to Todd Radom, who sent me the link over a month ago but it got buried in my in-box until I discovered it yesterday — sorry, Todd!). … The Astros have been wearing their brick red road jerseys on the road for months now, because owner Drayton McLane prefers them. But last night was the final road game of Craig Biggio’s career, so the team honored his request to wear the road grays one last time. A team source tells me they had to make road jerseys for all the September call-ups — just for this one game. … Speaking of the ’Stros, Brian Crisp attended a recent game at Minute Maid park and noticed that the ushers had ad patches on their right sleeves. And what was the ad for? Here’s a closer look. “And just so you don’t think it is a coincidence, that dealership is owned by THE Alex Rodriguez,” says Brian. “It’s a good thing he doesn’t own dealerships in Boston. Can you think of another active player sponsoring another team?” … The Vikings will be wearing 1970s throwbacks this Sunday. … Yusuke Toyoda notes that Chivas de Guadalajara has been wearing off-center uni numbers. … Here’s a better (i.e., non-Photoshopped) look at the new Iowa State helmet (with thanks to James Ferguson). … By the time you read this, I’ll be headed upstate for a long-weekend getaway on the lovely shores of Lake Seneca. Vince will be minding the store until Monday, so if you have any site-related issues (spam filter acting up, abusive commenters, etc.), let him know. Ticker contributions can still come to me. See you Monday.
September 28th, 2007
Jerry Glanville has always been such a blowhard. The whole “Man in Black” thing, leaving a ticket for Elvis, driving a replica of James Dean’s car — a shtick as hackneyed and cornball as that has to be earned, and anyone with a head coaching record of 62-71 hasn’t earned jack.
But Glanville and his shtick are back this year, because he’s the new head coach at Portland State, which unveiled its new uniforms yesterday. And in the year’s 9473rd-biggest surprise (right after Lindsay Lohan’s latest rehab stint, and in front of Karl Rove’s refusal to answer a subpoena), the team’s previous green-based color scheme has given way to black. (As an aside, check out the kid on the left — he’s wearing NFL gloves, which means they’re made by Reebok. A rare chink in Nike’s promotional armor!)
It could’ve been worse. According to this release, Glanville originally presented his own uniform design (also black, I’m sure), but that one was discarded after Nike came up with their design. “When Nike presented their new look, I realized I may be in the wrong business designing uniforms,” said Glanville. Yeah, because you probably wouldn’t have come up with quotes like this one, from Nike creative director Todd Van Horne: “We (at Nike) huddled together and said ‘there’s energy here.’ We needed to bring that energy very visually to the field.” Don’t you love it when marketers talk like that? Yeah, Portland State has energy — unlike all those other football teams, which presumably have, like, no energy at all, right?
Such bullshit notwithstanding, the most interesting thing about the new design is the helmet, which features a center spear instead of flanking side logos. The most obvious corollary is probably the Redskins’ old feather design — not a bad pedigree. I kinda like it.
As for Glanville, I’ll say this much for him: If the Vikings or Ravens want to hire him, I’ll gladly contribute a letter of recommendation.
Membership News: Scott’s been busy with non-Uni Watch work (that boy needs to get his priorities straight), so the membership gallery hasn’t had any new designs for the past few days, but expect to see more designs added by the end of the week, including some real doozies. Meanwhile, I mailed out two dozen membership kits yesterday and should send out about 45 more today and tomorrow. And congrats to new member J.J. Carton, who last night became our 400th (!) enrollee.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Indiana is memorializing Terry Hoeppner with a helmet decal (with thanks to Mark Fightmaster). … I’ll be interviewed tonight at 10pm eastern on the Face Off Hockey Show, whose principal, Scott Wasilewski, sent along this photo of NASCAR drivers Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann wearing NAPA-branded Canadiens jerseys. … “UnderArmour has made a couple of changes to Texas Tech’s football jerseys for 2007,” writes Aaron Dickens. “The jersey numbers will be much thinner than last season and the UA logo will be black instead of white.” … Oh my. … You probably saw this spotlighted in my ESPN column from last week, but just in case: UniformViolation.com is pretty damn cool. … Everything leads back to Bill Buckner (good find by Jere Smith). … “The Harrisburg City Islanders of the United Soccer Leagues Second Division have what may be the most useless names I’ve seen on a team’s jersey — they’re in blue here,” writes Chuck Nolan Jr. ” Also, Harrisbuirg has worn pink jerseys and Cincinnati (from the same league) has worn pink socks.” Ewwww. … The St. Paul Saints have added a black armband to mark the I-35W bridge collapse. It’s interesting that minor league teams are usually more showy and “wacky” that MLB teams, but in this case the Saints’ response to the bridge tragedy is much more restrained than the Twins’ gesture. … Speaking of memorials, have you noticed that the umpires have been wearing “SC” sleeve patches? That’s in memory of former ump Shag Crawford (father of current ump Jerry Crawford), who recently passed away. … The Thai police department is punishing slipshod officers with a novel twist on the scarlet letter (nice find by Matt Brosseau). … AJ Connelly notes that Terrell Owens “has opted for something from Jimi Hendrix’s wardrobe! Something needs to be done about this before Reebok spots it and make it de riguer in the NFL on Sundays.” … Someone broke a record of some sort last night. It had nothing to do with uniforms, so if you have strong opinions about the record-breaker, please post them on a more appropriate forum, not here. Thanks.
August 8th, 2007
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