Preseason Ponderings

Now that the first slate of NFL preseason games has been played, a few new developments have come to light (aside from those green dots on QBs’ helmets, which we’ve already discussed at length). Let’s take a look:

• At first glance, it appears that the Chiefs are wearing an AFL logo patch. But upon closer inspection, it turns out that the patch includes little “LH” initials at the bottom, in memory of Lamar Hunt. Personally, I’ve always loved the AFL logo and am happy to see it in just about any context, and I realize Hunt was a prime mover behind the AFL’s inception, but this still seems like an odd memorial choice, especially since it’s so hard to see the “L.H.” initials. Maybe if all the original AFL teams were wearing the patch..? Visually pleasing conceptually puzzling.

• Great to see the Browns wearing their old striped socks again, instead of what they were wearing last season. Additional views here and here, just cuz it looks so damn good.

• Nice catch by Chad Wilcox, who notes that many of the Redskins with non-Riddell helmets are wearing the team’s stylized “R” secondary logo (the one usually seen on Joe Gibbs’s cap) on their nose bumpers Here’s another view. I like. Meanwhile, we’d all seen the team’s 75th-anniversary patch before, but it’s worth noting that it looks plenty sharp on the field.

• Speaking of anniversary patches, the one being worn by the Steelers doesn’t look as good. And although this is still appearing on the Bengals’ home page, it’s not on their jerseys, at least for now.

• There’s something weird about opening your season — even your exhibition season — in your alternate jersey.

• I wish the Chargers’ pants bolts had a few more jags in them. Otherwise, I think their new design looks sharp.

• Subtlest change of the year: Motorola has outfitted the coaches with new headsets this year. The microphone bar is much thicker and clunkier-looking than last season — apparently so the Motorola wordmark can be printed on it as much as possible. Just in case anyone’s missing the point, the wordmark is also now appearing on both sides of the upper strap. (Note, incidentally, that while Joe Gibbs wears earphones on both ears, most other coaches only have an earpiece on the mic side.

That’s enough for now. Look for further developments in the Ticker as more games are played (like tonight’s Eagles/Ravens and Niners/Broncos tilts).

Charge It: The story behind this commercial and its inconsistent lightning bolt designs (compare this view of LaDanian Tomlinson, in which the upper-front point of his shoulder bolt is pointing forward, to this one, in which it’s pointing backward) continues to evolve. Last week I posted a note from Steve Due of AIS Uniforms — the company that made the unis — which didn’t fully explain the inconsistencies. Now I’ve received a dispatch from Due’s AIS colleague Bob Halfacre (who, as elephant-memoried readers may recall, had some very strong opinions a while back on the subject of nameplate initials), which I think finally closes the book on this story:

We made the bulk of the uniforms in a week with no help with patterns from the NFL. All we had was a replica-style jersey from Reebok. So the jersey itself isn’t perfect. … When the commercial was filmed, the Chargers sent Antonio Gates, Philip Rivers, and LaDanian Tomlinson with their actual tailored game jerseys. The shots of those three players are a mix of footage of those players in their actual uniforms along with footage of actors in the jerseys made by AIS, edited into what looks like continuous football action. I noticed the problem when I saw the commercial the first time also.

This shot is actually LT in his real jersey. Now that I have studied it a little more, I can see the problem. We put the bolts on backwards. If you look, the actual pictures of Gates and Tomlinson have the bolt with the first jag inside low and outside high. The AIS jerseys have the bolts the other way.

This explanation matches up with yesterday’s Chargers/Seahawks preseason game, where all of the Chargers’ shoulder bolts had the upper-front point facing forward (additional views here, here, and here). So there you have it: an all-too-rare case of someone taking responsibility and admitting his mistake. Thanks, Bob.

Membership News: We’re almost caught up on membership designs. Lots of good new stuff in the design gallery, including, as you can see at right, our first Bad News Bears treatment. Also newly added: a San Diego Chicken design. (I confess that I had never noticed the Chicken’s jersey logo until member Michael Rawson asked for it on his card.)

The next batch of designs, which Scott should have ready in a day or two, includes a really brilliant request that’s gonna look sooooooo cool — stay tuned. Meanwhile, new members are still welcome, so keep those orders coming.

Uni Watch News Ticker: No photo yet, but David Conley reports that Tiger Woods’s baby girl, Sam, “was actually wearing a red jumper with a large Nike swoosh on it when they showed her on TV yesterday after Tiger won the PGA.” And if you’ll excuse me for a second, I need to go throw up. … Okay, I’m back: The Celtics have announced that Scot Pollard and Eddie House will be wearing Nos. 66 and 50, respectively. Why? According to Friday’s Boston Herald: “‘Because all the other (expletive) numbers were taken here,’ Pollard said, looking around a conference room that had the numbers of Bill Russell (6), Tom Heinsohn (15), John Havlicek (17), Robert Parish (00), Larry Bird (33) and Kevin McHale (32) hanging on the wall.” (With thanks to Matt Englander.) … If you’re into modifying the uniforms on your video games (as discussed in detail here), you’ll want to check out the customization videos on this page (with thanks to Trev Ulmer). … Shorpy continues to be a great source of old uni photos, including this shot, captioned as follows: “Opening Day at Hilltop Park, April 4, 1908. New York Highlanders and Philadelphia Athletics” (as forwarded by Bob Andrews). … Brilliant catch by Peter Fahey who notes that Red Sox uniforms often have an upside-down 8 (the bigger opening should be on the bottom). … Elena Elms reports that the Durham Bulls will be wearing Livestrong jerseys, to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation, on August 19th. … While doing a bit of membership-related research, Scott Turner came across this photo, taken in 1984. “How come Dorsett’s got a big star on his chest?” he asks. Good question. Anyone..? … If you haven’t read Game of Shadows, some of its most damning evidence about Bonds concerns his uniform: “[Giants equipment mananager Mike] Murphy could document Bonds’s physical changes via the changes in his uniform size. Since joining the Giants, Bonds has gone from a size 42 to a size 52 jersey; from size 10 1/2 to size 13 cleats; and from a size 7 1/8 to size 7 1/4 cap, even though he had taken to shaving his head” (with thanks to Matt Schudel for forwarding that quote). … Bryan Redemske notes that Chris Duncan, like all the other Cardinals, wore red shoes on Friday but switched to black on Saturday. … Matt Algeo reports that the Russian national baseball team wore throwbacks the other day. “Who knew there was a Russian national baseball team, or that they were around long enough to wear throwbacks?” he writes. Details and additional pics here. … Not often that you see “Sr.” on a nameplate. The player in question is Nebraska wide receiver Chris Brooks, whose young son is Chris Brooks Jr. (nice find by Brian Hansen). … Small item about Rick Ankiel’s uni number history about halfway down this page (with thanks to Tom Chalifour). … Dave Gardner sent along a few hockey-related links I hadn’t seen before, including a discussion forum for vintage goalie masks and a gallery of Russian jerseys. … “Found a cool gallery of lacrosse photos from the Victoria Shamrocks of the Western Lacrosse Association, a semi-pro summer box lacrosse league in Canada,” writes Thomas Langan. “Looks like some of the jerseys get recycled, as evidenced by the tape over the name. Some nice retro-looking jerseys too.” … “This blog entry has two uni-related tidbits,” writes Kim Kolb. “One is about a United midfielder trading jerseys with Beckham, the other is about some guys trying to steal the Galaxy’s laundry, leading to a chase through the bowels of RFK Stadium.” … The Twins’ recent I-35W memorial decal provides a uni-related connection for this excellent story about how a new signage typeface is being used on American highways. … Soccer note from Jeremy Brahm, who reports that Montreal Impact goalie Matt Jordan was injured with a broken jaw a month ago but is now playing with a mask. … My worst nightmare recently came true down in Virginia, where the Richmond Braves had a purple jersey promotion (with “thanks” to David Rosenthal). … Latest MLB team to pull the totally bush move of wearing their BP jerseys for a regular-season game: the Mariners, who did it yesterday, apparently because it was so hot and muggy and they don’t have a Cool Base road jersey option. … Speaking of the M’s, many of them are wearing a custom-designed undershirt. Details here (with thanks to Jerry Gardner). … Amusing column here about the PGA’s no-shorts rule (good spot by Alan Kreit). … Eyebrow-raising note buried in Phil Mushnick’s Sunday New York Post column (as spotted by Seth Horowitz): “The University of Utah’s new basketball coach, Jim Boylen, could be the guy we’ve been looking for. At Boylen’s urging, black has been eliminated from the team’s uniforms. ‘Our [school] colors are red and white,’ he explained. ‘Black is not one of our colors.’” … The Texans are the latest team to publish their jersey schedule for the upcoming season (good find by Seth Harris). … No photo, but Morris Levin reports that Bruce Froemming is still wearing his All-Star Game cap. … “Adam Gaylord plays his college baseball at Stanford, but this summer he’s been playing for the Waterloo Bucks of the Northwoods League,” writes Matt Nelson. Sunday he sported these nice stirrups.”

229 comments August 13th, 2007

Switching to a Completely Predictable Color Scheme Is the New Black

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.

247 comments August 8th, 2007

…But I Know What I Like

If you’re a regular reader of this site, I’d say there’s a pretty good chance that you used to doodle uniforms or at least logos in the margins of your notebooks back in junior high. No shame in that — I did it myself, and so did uniform designer Todd Radom. But when it comes to uniform doodling, we’ve all got nothing on Marty Hick.

I met Marty a few weeks ago at the Uni Watch party in St. Louis (he’s the one who wore the super-cool St. Louis Cardinals necktie). At one point during the party he went outside and then returned carrying a cardboard box. When I asked him what was in it, he was all noncommittal. “I’m can’t show you yet,” he said. “I need a few more drinks before I’ll be ready for that.”

A few beers later, I asked Marty if he was ready to give me a peek at his stash. Still a bit wary but now clearly eager to share, he hauled the box onto the bar, reached in, and pulled out a big stack of notebooks — notebooks filled with amazingly detailed uniform drawings.

I flipped through the notebooks as Marty explained that he’d been making these drawings for years. But I soon stopped listening to him, because I was too busy engrossing myself in the drawings, which were incredible. There were stripe patterns and studies, comparative pants concepts, logo redesigns, Olympics uniforms, baseball sleeve treatments, all-star designs, NFL sock comparisons, some bizarre corporate brand uniforms, and more. It was a mother lode of obsessive-compulsive uniform illustrations.

The most interesting artistic trope in Marty’s drawings was his habit of combining home and road designs in the same drawing (additional examples here, here, here, and here), which created a weird In-Betweener or Lokai and Bele effect. When I asked him why he did that, he replied, “To save ink.”

By this time Marty’s initial reticence had given way to exuberant self-promotion. “Look, look at that!” he said as I flipped the pages. “Look, a logo on the Bears’ pants! Who else would think of doing that? Nobody! Look at that Islanders concept! Look at that Rams redesign! And look, here’s where I reconfigured the American and National Leagues in three divisions each — years before they actually did it themselves!” Somehow this all came off as charming instead of egotistical. I mean, really, how could you not be charmed by this? (You can see even more of Marty’s work in this slideshow.)

It was pretty obvious to me that Marty didn’t create all this artwork because he wanted to; like all creative visionaries, he did it because he had to. So I got his address and then, when I got back to my hotel room, I immediately ordered him a copy of Blackstock’s Collections, the book of obsessive “visual lists” that I reviewed a few weeks back. In the spirit of Blackstock’s work, as well as his own, I hope he’s doodled a few drawings in the margins.

Membership News: Lots of cool new stuff in the membership gallery, with lots more to come in the next few days. Remember, you can click on your card’s icon to explain what the design is based on and why you chose it, and you can also leave comments for anyone else’s design.

Meanwhile, every enrollee should now be listed on the membership roster. If you’ve signed up and don’t see your name listed, please let me know and I’ll make things right.

I’m happy to report, incidentally, that we’ll soon have a very special raffle — one that will make all you glad to have those three bonus raffle entries that come with membership. Details soon.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Oklahoma will have player names on the jerseys this season. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Although not truly uni- or logo-related, this is really, really cool. Details here. … Dennis Hurley has created a gallery of Cork City FC uniforms. … Brandon Roberts notes that Kentucky appears to have a new white helmet stripe this season. … College hockey report from Tom Konecny, who writes: “Though no official announcement from the school, the top two pics on this page appear to be the new Bowling Green State University hockey jerseys.” … The Bengals have once again published their jersey schedule for the upcoming season. Why can’t every NFL team do this? … In a vaguely related item, Chris Gilligan reports that this year’s N.Y. Giants season tickets show the team’s uniform history (additional images here and here). … Despite what you might think, I had nothing to do with this video (but Vincent Barone says his sister did). … Remember how we all noted some inconsistencies in the shoulder lightning bolts on the Chargers’ new uniforms when the design was unveiled a few months back? Check out this commercial, which shows the new uniforms in action. Not only do the bolt styles vary from player to player, but compare this view of LT to this view — and it’s the same play! … The Lakers have a new 60th-anniversary logo. … The Nats and Cards wore Negro League throwbacks on Friday. Interestingly, the Nats had throwback caps but cheated by using their navy road helmets, even though it was a home game. … Justin McGrail notes that the Celtics are plastering Kevin Garnett’s image everywhere in a numberless jersey. … Chaminade University is sponsoring a logo design contest (with thanks to Chris Chaussee). … “The Ottawa 67s of the Ontario Hockey League wore special jerseys during pregame warm-ups to honor longtime coach Brian Kilrea’s 2000th back in February,” writes Joe Dunman. “Luckily they didn’t all wear the jerseys during the actual game — the play-by-play guy would have gone crazy.” … Several readers have asked about this photo, which recently ran in SI and appears to show Hank Aaron wearing a two-digit number starting with 5. Now, the Hammer actually wore No. 5 when he first came up, later switching to his familiar 44, but I can’t find any info about him wearing fifty-something (or fifty-anything). Joe Hilseberg notes that neither of Aaron’s minor league teams was called the Braves, so that rules out that possibility. Anyone know more about this? … Might just be the lighting, but it looks like the Wizards are changing their trim from bronze to gold. … Willie Randolph added a “B.R.” inscription to his cap the other day, in memory of Bill Robinson. … Interesting NHL logo-o-rama site here. … Syracuse has unveiled a helmet revision, and if you squint a bit and break out the magnifying glass, you might just notice it. … Matthew Hackethal recently came across some old 1986 Topps stickers that show some of the Braves wearing really shitty-looking mesh-backed caps. “The photos appear to have been taken during batting practice (Dale Murphy’s shows him leaning against a batting cage),” he writes. “I’m wondering if this was just a spring training thing or did it continue in to the regular season.” Anyone..? … This always cracks me up. … In fact, it cracks me up so much I’ll show another example. … Not quite uni-related, but an interesting superstition. … Chosen logos (nice find by Matthew Scher). … The batting helmet from Bonds’s 755th homer is heading for the Hall of Fame (thanks, Vince). … June Jones apparently has some unorthodox coaching methods (thanks again, Vince). … Here’s something you don’t often see: an NHL/NASCAR connection (the trifecta for Vince). … Someone has tracked Florida State’s record by uniform combo (with thanks to Bob Jordan). … Rutgers has apparently tweaked their football jersey (compare to last year’s version). … The following item was buried in yesterday’s column by Newsday’s Ken Davidoff: “The commissioner’s office issued a memo last month to remind teams that proper uniform tops are to be worn at all times. That means that managers such as Boston’s Terry Francona can no longer go with the sweatshirt look.” I’ll believe that when I see it. … We’ve seen the Steelers’ 75th-anniversary logo before, but here’s how it looks on their jersey. … Several readers reported seeing a green dot on the back of many players’ helmets during yesterday’s Steelers/Saints Hall of Fame Game. Haven’t been able to find a photo. Anyone know more about this? … This site got an insane number of hits over the weekend, and I can’t figure out why. Not complaining, mind you — just mystified. Links from my Friday ESPN column account for some of the increased activity, but there’s gotta be more to it than that. Did some big mainstream site link over here without my being aware of it?

161 comments August 6th, 2007

Uni Watch Grab Bag

Coupla things I’ve been meaning to get to, all of them slightly bigger than typical Ticker fare but not quite weighty enough to merit full-scale blog entries of their own. So without further ado…

And then there are the Browns.

• We all know that the A’s have been wearing white shoes for over 40 years now. So when Michael Turner recently wrote to ask if I had any photos of the A’s wearing green shoes in the early ’80s, I said, “Nope,” and privately wondered what the hell he could have been thinking about.

Shows what I know. Turns out there are quite a few shots of the A’s wearing dark shoes on the road in 1982, although it’s tough to say if they include green — maybe (here’s another potential candidate), maybe not.

Interestingly, Dressed to the Nines (which I obviously should have consulted before so blithely dismissing Turner’s query) shows the A’s wearing green footwear on the road in 1983, and what appears to be black cleats in ‘81. But for 1982 — the year in which all those photos were taken — they’re listed as only wearing white. (And yes, almost all those photos were of Rickey Henderson, but I also found dark-shod pics of other players, so it wasn’t just a Rickey thing.)

We actually bid that job. We had a gold fabric that was a little less brassy than the one Majestic used. The problem is that Majestic gives each team such a large marketing credit that most clubs want to get all of their uniforms as near as free as possible. It’s very frustrating for us, because we really feel like we are being “played” by clubs a lot of the time, but Majestic hands over the big money to squash guys like us. Ninety percent of the time, these [throwback] projects are being handled by the [team’s] marketing department, and they generally lack the experience to execute a uniform’s details flawlessly.

My father, Doug Gordon, was the head equipment manager at Clemson University from around ‘83 to ‘94. The “Clemson cut” pant was originally made by a clothing company called Powers. The rep from Powers would come help my father fit the entire baseball team with their pants. The Clemson cut is called so because Clemson was one of the first schools to fit players by their waist, calf, thigh, and inseam sizes. They were custom-fit for each player to fit their legs. Most players got three pairs each, due to the fact that they always wear the white-styled pant. The web site you have shown [in the link above] is odd to my father, because the Clemson cut pants never had stirrups in them. I myself am an equipment manager at the University of South Carolina, so I just happen to have an interest in the whole uniform genre.

Gotta love that — the family that equipment-manages together, uh, what rhymes with that? Too bad about the whole calf/inseam thing, though — this may have been ground zero for the ruination of baseball hosiery.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Very telling fold of the fabric here (as spotted by David Fleming). … “I went to my brother-in-law’s senior art show at Washington University in St. Louis this past weekend,” writes Dan Brown. “While I was there, I saw this painting by Elena Rodriguez.” Man, someone needs to commission Elena for a big mural, pronto! … Veeeery interesting blog entry here regarding the cost of English Premier League sponsorships (with thanks to Dominic Litten). … Here’s an eBay auction with another jersey featuring the number on the “wrong” side. … Some really sensational uni-related bits (and, by any standard, some very cruel moments of sexism) in this video of Babe Ruth teaching women who to play ball (nice find by Crhis Manes). … Good article here regarding cyclists pulling their socks up high (as forwarded by Lee Wilds). … Yesterday I linked to a photo gallery from the shooting of the Ernie Davis biopic. Turns out that a reader who prefers to remain anonymous was watching the film shoot through a fence and took some great additional pics, as seen here, here, here, and here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: I didn’t realize that the Rockies originally had logo-emblazoned stirrups! The photo is taken from this timeline. … Cathy Reeder sent along some interesting Florida Little League photos, including shots of a kid with mismatched socks, a kid with no socks, and a team that wears its uni numbers on the caps. … Remember Frank DiPino? Yeah, I barely do either, but apparently he wrote, “Get Somebody OUT!” on his underbill, and you can have that cap for your very own here (nice find by Eric Stangel). … Not only do the Diamandbacks and Astros now have similar color schemes, but as Chris Shastid points out, they have similar problems regarding the integrity of their lettering across the placket. … The Yokohama Bay Stars will be wearing these uniforms during the Japanese interleague games. “They’ve added a brick-red panel and color to the cap, plus a gold neckline,” writes Jeremy Brahm. “But look at the serif on the 2 — it would look fine without it, but it is huge.” … Great contribution from Larry Brunt, who writes: “I’ve been reading a bunch of baseball picture books with my four-year-old, including Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man, by David Adler. The illustration that accompanies the text of him taking himself out of the game that ended his streak is here. I’m quite impressed that the artist (Terry Widener) included the historically accurate sleeve patch the Yankees wore in 1939 for baseball’s centennial.” … Thomas Harris notes that there’s some good stuff going on in the Coastal Plain League (”The Nation’s Hottest Summer Collegiate Baseball League”), including some killer stirrups being worn by the Thomasville HiToms and the completely endearing logo being used by the Columbia Blowfish (who also appear to have one of history’s greatest mascots). Even the league’s logo gets it right. … Bosox pitcher Julian Tavarez has been wearing Big Papi slippers in the clubhouse (where he’s also been spotted wearing a “Manny Being Manny” T-shirt) and even in the dugout on days when he’s not pitching.

223 comments May 23rd, 2007

Old Joy

New ESPN column today — here’s the link.

Meanwhile: I want to use today’s post to catch up on some history-related items I’ve been meaning to cover, beginning with a web site that several readers have pointed out to me: Antique Athlete. It’s basically a bunch of pricey memorabilia, but the photos are a gold mine of old-school uni goodness, including plenty of killer examples from the worlds of baseball (here, here, here, and here), football (here, here, here, here, here, and here), basketball (here, here, here, and here), and hockey (here and here). Plus there’s old advertising, a truly amazing series of mascot-based bobbleheads (here, here, here, and here), some old pennants — even a pennant pillow! Have fun poking around, and let us all know if you buy anything.

Speaking of old uniforms, last month I wrote an entry about baseball in Alaska. It included a link to this photo, showing a player getting ready for the annual Midnight Sun Game, played at night, without lights, on the longest day of the year. Now longtime Uni Watch supporter Doug Brei has provided some additional info and photos about the Midnight Sun Game phenomenon:

The Midnight Sun Game is still alive and well, and recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. It’s still played every year in Fairbanks, under the natural light of the sun (they’ve never turned the lights on for a Midnight Sun Game), between the Alaska Goldpanners ABL team and a team from the “Lower 48.” They begin the game at 10:30 p.m. each year on the day of the summer solstice. At midnight, they stop the game and everyone stands up and sings the “Alaska Flag Song,” Alaska’s official state song.

Here’s a recent article on the Midnight Sun Game, along with an article about the 1906 game. And here are some photos from the 1908, 1933, and 1949 games.

Brei also shed some light on another item from that original Alaska entry. As you may recall, it included a link to this photo, whose caption said it was an “indoor baseball” team. Indoor baseball was a new concept for me, so I asked if anyone knew more about it.

Several people offered bits of information in that day’s comments section. But Brei has now provided the most complete account: “Indoor baseball was big enough in the first two decades of the century that Spalding actually published official guides on it,” he wrote. He also provided the following excerpt from the 1903 guide, which explains some of the game’s interesting equipment-related nuances:

The game of indoor base ball was invented in Chicago in 1887, and came about through a frolic among the members of the Farragut Club, who, in a spirit of fun on Thanksgiving day of that year, threw an ordinary boxing glove around the hall, which was struck at by one of the boys with a broom. Some twenty members had assembled, as usual on holidays, and George W. Hancock, seeing the possibility of a new sport, said in a bantering way: “Say, boys, let’s play base ball,” and the wrestling mat was hauled around cornerwise and a broom obtained. One of the boxing gloves was used for a ball, and, with the boys in position, they commenced their sport without rule or wisdom, but there was great fun. … It was thus that Mr. Hancock gained the title of “Father of Indoor Base Ball,” for he went home and thought out some rules that would equalize the different points of the game and directed Augustus J. White how to make a ball which could be seen at night and fill all the requirements of the game. And so the sport was evolved.

Raffle Reminder: Today’s the last day to enter the raffle for the David Wright batting practice jersey. If you want in, send an e-mail (one entry per person) to uniraffle at earthlink dot net by 9 p.m. eastern tonight. I’ll announce the winner on Monday.

Uni Watch Midwestern Road Trip: I’m tentatively planning to be in Minneapolis on May 11th and Chicago on May 12th, and I’m looking forward to convening Uni Watch gatherings in both cities. The Twin Cities confab will take place at the always wonderful Nye’s Polonaise Room (figure on 7:30ish, but I’ll firm up the details when we get closer to the actual date); haven’t yet settled on a venue for the Chicago gathering — stay tuned.

It also looks like I’ll be in St. Louis in the near future. More details to follow soon.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Good site here breaking down the 2007 MLS uniforms. … Also from yesterday: Case Western’s uniform and logo style guide is available in this PDF file — highly recommended. … Richard Craig notes that Philip Rivers was doing a bit of mix-and-match uni action while throwing out the first pitch at a recent Padres game. … Personally, I’m OK with all the players and teams that will be wearing No. 42 this Sunday. But if you think the whole thing has gotten out of hand, you’re not alone. … UMich-centric version of Uni Watch (or at least that’s how the authors describe it) here.

181 comments April 13th, 2007

If the Snood Fits… (Or: Manny Being Manny, Part 367)

Here in Brooklyn, we’ve got a lot of Orthodox Jews. And as you may know, Orthodox wives usually wear wigs, in keeping with traditional Jewish notions of feminine modesty (additional info here). Every now and then, however, you’ll see an Orthodox woman wearing a snood — basically a glorified hairnet (additional info here) — instead of a wig. And back in 2004, when there was a bit of a wig crisis, snoods were suddenly everywhere.

And that made me happy, because I love the word snood. It sounds like one of those inherently humorous Dr. Seuss words — snood, snood, snood. I’ve always hoped I’d have some occasion to work it into a Uni Watch article, and now I finally have.

What I never imagined (but maybe should’ve guessed) was that the snood-clad athlete in question would be Manny Ramirez. Check out the head wrap he’s been wearing for the past two days. That ain’t no standard-issue MLB do rag like the one he wore last year, and it ain’t that Nike skullcap he was wearing earlier this spring, either. That there, my friends, is a snood.

Notwithstanding Manny’s amusing efforts to fit his new headwear under his cap and helmet, or the none-too-enthused reaction coming out of Boston, his snoodery raises some interesting questions. Has he converted to Orthodox Judaism? Is he considering trans-gender surgery? With Passover fast approaching, will he be hosting a Seder? Does he know where to pick up a nice loaf of challah?

Let me be the first to predict that Manny will be wearing Muslim garb by next week.

Charge Ahead Back: Now that the Chargers have officially unveiled their new uniforms, I’m less enthusiastic than I was before. My main concerns:

• Shoulder bolt positioning: Look at Kassim Osgood (No. 81) and Nick Hardwick (No. 61) in this photo — their shoulder bolts are horizontal! Looks ridiculous.

• Shoulder bolt orientation: I’d assumed that the inconsistencies we all saw in the preliminary photos would be cleared up by the time of the official unveiling. But compare the jagged points on the three jerseys’ shoulder bolts. On the home design, the top points are facing forward and the bottom points are facing back. Same goes for the road jersey. But on the powder blue alternate, the top points are facing back and the bottom points are facing forward. Personally I prefer the powder blue’s orientation, but the bigger issue is that this needs to be consistent.

• Road socks: Unitards are for uni retards.

• Helmet: What the hell is that wordmark doing on the back of the helmet?

Personally, I still like the number font, the white helmet, and a few other elements, but this is no longer the clear success I initially thought it was.

Want to see more? A video of the unveiling is available here.

Raffle Reminder: In case you missed it yesterday, the good folks at Distant Replays have provided us with three more gift cards — $200, $100, and $50 — and we’re raffling them off via a March Madness-based contest devised by Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek. For details, scroll down to the “Distant Replays Gift Card” section at the end of yesterday’s entry.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Spectacular breakdown here of Pittsburgh hockey uniform history, including the Hornets, Pirates, and Yellow Jackets (courtesy of Chris Hilf). … Richard Grossman recently took a tour of Petco Park, which includes an exhibit on San Diego’s baseball history. Along the way he snapped this photo. Wondering what the insignia stands for? Look here. … Reprinted from Tuesday’s comments: The AHL’s Syracuse crunch will be wearing an orange shamrock on St. Paddy’s day, to protest SU’s exclusion from the NCAA tourney. Details here. … Also from Tuesday: This 18-second video shows the main advantage of wearing a double-flapped batting helmet. … Came home from shooting pool on Tuesday night to find the following note from Adam Lecowicz: “So the Bulls are wearing green and the Celtics are wearing white in Chicago. It’s seriously taking me 30 seconds to figure out what’s going on because my instincts keep telling me it should be the other way around. It’s worse than the NHL suddenly wearing dark colors at home. I think my head is going to explode if I keep watching.” … We think of team-branded merchandise as a fairly recent phenomenon, but Uni Watch auction consultant David Brown has turned up a Cleveland Indians apron from 1948! … Good article here about golfer Shingo Katayama and his cowboy hat (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Check out the batting helmets worn by the Springville (Utah) Red Devils high school team (as spotted by Paul Bridge).

147 comments March 15th, 2007

I Was Rollerblading Before You Punks Were Even Born

By Vince Grzegorek

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

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

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

Other highlights include:

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

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

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

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

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

78 comments March 14th, 2007

Homeland Insecurity

[Editor’s Note: Before we proceed with today’s entry, I’m happy to announce that the winner of the Distant Replays $250 raffle is Robert DeCorte. Thanks to all who entered.

Now then: Today’s post is the latest contribution from Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek, who’s giving some well-deserved space to that really popular sport that I never write about. — PL]

I know you’re excited about soccer in 2007, especially with that Beckham guy heading to the Los Angeles Galaxy. So for all of the people (the five or six of you) who may take a first look at the MLS this season, and for some of the more casual futbol fans, I thought this was a good time to put on some shin guards and take a look at soccer uniforms, which don’t always get their fair shake here at Uni Watch. But there’s plenty to discuss, because there’s another foreign export besides Beckham heading for American soccer: uniform advertising.

Although jersey ad patches have crept into a few low-level sports (arena football, lacrosse, minor league hockey), major-level team uniforms in America have remained largely ad-free. That’s not the case in the rest of the world. Jersey advertising and sponsorship have been a part of soccer uniforms in Europe, Asia, and South America for some time, and jersey advertising also appears in NFL Europe and European hockey. But soccer is where jersey advertisements are most widely known.

The trend began across the pond in the late 1970s, when UK teams thought they could raise some extra revenue by selling jersey sponsorships. Liverpool was the first team to officially sign a deal, wearing Hitachi on their jerseys during the 1979 season. (Hibernian had worn uniforms featuring Bukta [a uni manufacturer] in 1977, but that situation falls into a slightly different category, since the company already had a relationship with the team, and Bukta didn’t pay the club to feature the logo.) Seems simple enough, but there were logistical hurdles. Until 1983, television broadcasts had a strict ban on filming games featuring logo-emblazoned uniforms, so for four years teams wearing sponsor logos were forced to use different uniforms for televised matches. Even as the rules relaxed and teams took advantage of the more receptive atmosphere, broadcasters initially refused to embrace the advertising revolution, mandating that sponsor logos worn during taped games could only be half the size of the versions worn during non-broadcast matches.

Nowadays, jersey sponsorship has evolved into a gigantic humongous gigundous business. Manchester United signed a deal last year with AIG that will net them a cool $106 million over four years, and Chelsea is proudly wearing Samsung across their chests for $18.7 million a year. While European clubs usually have only one sponsor logo on their jerseys (see additional examples here, here, here, here, and here), Mexican and South American teams generally go the more garish (and lucrative) route and pile on sponsors on top of sponsors.

And then there’s Barcelona, which has always refused to wear a sponsor logo — until this season, when Barca took a jersey sponsor for the first time in its 107 year-old history. The difference? The sponsor is UNICEF, and Barcelona is PAYING the charity almost $2 million dollars a year for the privilege of wearing the logo.

What does that all mean for the MLS? Well, upon its creation the MLS inked deals with sponsors and allowed their logos to be displayed on the backs of the jerseys and on shorts (for example, Budweiser, Sierra Mist, Honda, and RadioShack), while the jersey fronts remained free ad-free, and divided the proceeds amongst the clubs. Last year, however, the MLS changed its rules to allow the individual clubs to sell the space on the front of their uniforms (although Commissioner Don Garber took some of the fun out by not allowing ads for hard liquor, tobacco, or gambling).

Real Salt Lake was the first team to take advantage of the opportunity, signing a deal that will display the XanGo brand name on their uniforms. (Technically, Red Bull owns the New York team, so having their logo on the uniforms doesn’t count as a sponsorship deal.) Word is already out that the New England Revolution will take a sponsor this season too. And Chivas, owned by Mexican billionaire Jorge Vergara, will likely wear the Bimbo name, just like Chivas Guadalajara, a Vergara-owned team in Mexico. (Just to be clear, Bimbo is a company that makes bread, although I would vote for sponsorship from this Bimbo, this Bimbo, this Bimbo, or this Bimbo as well.) Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Galaxy will presumably be able to strike a mega-bucks deal, thanks to Beckham’s arrival.

So what of it? Does the MLS jersey sponsorship mean the Pandora’s Box of professional sports advertising in the US has been opened? Does anyone really care, since we’re just talking about the MLS here?

Personally, I’m conflicted. I think MLS teams that take on jersey sponsors may actually look more professional, because I associate top-level soccer with leagues in Europe or Mexico or wherever, and that’s the way it’s done. On the other hand, this isn’t something I’m fully prepared to accept. I realize the MLS doesn’t have the attendance, fans, or revenue that the NBA does, for example, and I know these teams could really use the extra cash, especially when competing for the attention span of a country that doesn’t really care about soccer, but I firmly believe that uniforms do in fact represent something meaningful, and that not everything should be for sale.

What do you think? How do you feel about the new changes for the MLS? How would you feel about a similar situation occurring in baseball, basketball, football, or hockey? Is it inevitable? Is there a way it can be done tastefully?

E-mail your comments to Uniwatchintern at gmail dot com, and I’ll print a sampling of responses in a future entry.

Tangential Bonus Material: Can’t get enough soccer uni info? Here are some additional resources:

• Two great sites detailing the history of European and International soccer kits (including this controversial design worn by Arsenal from 1991-1993, affectionately nicknamed the “bruised banana”) can be found here and here.

• MLS kits from the league’s inception until last year can be found here. New uniform designs will be used this year, which will be another change in addition to the jersey sponsorship. (Asked about wearing the old-style Galaxy uniforms with yellow and green, David Beckham gave this response.)

• Here is an amazing site that details some of the more interesting uses of cool fonts and numbers on soccer uniforms, including my favorite, which was used by Sevilla in the 2006 UEFA Cup Final (they used italics!). The site also shows how you can fashion a remarkably accurate version of the block-numbering used by the 2006 Dutch team using Dutch toilet paper. With the exception of the last item, the site’s attention to detail, accuracy, and history are definitely worthy of Uni Watch.

• Remember seeing this picture of David Beckham throughout the news after the official announcement that he was coming to play for the Galaxy? Notice the mixture of upper and lower case letters? Me too. Personally, I think it looks pretty slick. The font is called Peignot. Anyone know any other cases of teams using upper- and lowercase letters on jersey nameplates?

• Councilmen in New Castle County, Delaware are sending soccer balls to Iraq to try and bring the Iraqi people and American troops together with sport. Good idea in theory, but who really thought this ball design was a good idea?

• Finally, since I’m from Cleveland, I have to give proper recognition to one of my favorite soccer teams (and logos) ever, even though it’s a long-defunct indoor team: the Cleveland Force.

187 comments January 19th, 2007