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Posts filed under 'Zippers/Fly/Etc.'
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: We all know about the futuristic uniforms that most MLB teams wore in 1999. You may also recall that about six months ago I linked to a hilarious SportsCenter diatribe about said uniforms. That video mentions that the ’99 Turn Ahead the Clock program was actually based on a “futuristic” Royals/Mariners game from the previous season.
I hadn’t been aware of that game, or else I’d forgotten about it, until I saw it mentioned in the SportsCenter report. And I’d forgotten about it yet again until yesterday, when the pseudonymous TC (the same guy who brought us all the cool stuff in this report) sent me a two-minute video taken from a 1998 installment of This Week in Baseball, which provides lots of jaw-dropping footage from the Royal/Mariners game in question. TC has asked that the video not be YouTubed, but he’s allowed me to make screen grabs.
Some quick background: The game was played on July 18, 1998, at the Kingdome. It was a simple one-game promotion by the Mariners, much like today’s throwback games. And the time-warped year was supposedly 2027 (as opposed to the 1999 futuristic program, which was set in 2021, because the whole thing was sponsored by Century 21).
Now then:
• The Mariners’ design was at least vaguely similar to what they wore for the Century 21 promotion the following year. But the Royals’ concept of futurism underwent a big change from 1998 to 1999.
• The Royals used a standard rear jersey design, while the Mariners got a bit more creative (both of which are better than the vertical type treatment most teams tried in ’99).
• Both teams wore special helmets for the game. The M’s put big-ass uni numbers on the front and a logo decal on the earflap side, while the Royals did the reverse.
• Both teams looked like they stole their pants piping from the NFL.
• The M’s wore their jerseys untucked and their caps backward (except, apparently, for their pitchers).
• Junior Griffey wore silver shoes and a silver glove.
• Left out, as usual: the umpires.
This promotion strikes me as idiotic but harmless, which is more than you can say for the 1999 program, which was a corporate boondoggle for Century 21.
Photo Follow-Up: A few days ago I linked to the photo shown at left (here’s a larger view) and wondered what was up with Willie’s non-pinstriped Mets home uni (a design that didn’t yet exist in 1976, when the photo was taken). Quite a few readers suggested that Willie was actually wearing a road uniform (the Mets used the same script insignia on their home and road jerseys that year), and that the photo was simply overexposed, creating the illusion of a white home design. Okay, but then why was Hank wearing a road uniform as well? What circumstance could have brought both of them together in road attire in 1976 (when Mays was a National League coach and Aaron was still an active American League player)?
Reader Bill Tyrrell may have provided the answer. Check out the note he sent me last night:
The first game that I ever attended was the 1976 Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown between the Mets and Brewers (August 9th). I vividly recall that both teams wore their road uniforms. According to Retrosheet, the Mets were coming back from a series in Pittsburgh, and Milwaukee had stopped in Cooperstown between series in Boston and Oakland [which would explain why both teams wore road attire]. … The Mets wore their pillbox caps that day. The only part that doesn’t figure is that the photo appears to have been taken at night — the HoF game was played during the day.
Faaaaascinating. And here’s a little postscript from Bill: “Although a coach at the time, Mays made a pinch-hitting appearance and singled. Aaron had one at bat, striking out swinging before we gave him a standing ovation.”
Membership News: After a few marathon data-entry sessions, I believe every membership enrollee is now listed on the active roster. The only exception is Patrick Ratliff (let me know which number and design you want, at your convenience). For everyone else, if you signed up in the past week and don’t see your name on the roster, let me know.
It’ll take a while to get all the new orders printed, laminated, and mailed, so bear with us — thanks. Meanwhile, we now have our first non-charter member, Sean Sandoloski, who signed up yesterday. And so the new era begins.
Also: Several early enrollees have mentioned they now regret their original card-design choices and wish they had asked for something else. You can request a new design when renewing your membership next year, of course. But if you’re suffering from a serious case of buyer’s remorse and can’t wait until then, existing members can get a redesigned card for $15 (which, I assure you, is a very fair price, given the amount of time and effort that go into creating these things).
As an aside, I should mention that Scott and I are both having a blast with this project. A lot of the requests you’ve given us have been really interesting and imaginative, and we usually learn something even from the simple requests. Thanks for making this endeavor such a success.
Tech Crap: If you’re reading this, you’ve successfully managed to access the site (duh). But I’m continuing to get sporadic reports of people who can’t log on — aftershocks from Wednesday’s server problem, apparently. If this happens to you, or if you hear of it happening to someone else, try googling “Uni Watch” and then entering the site via the Google link. If that doesn’t work, type the site’s full URL into a fresh browser window (including the “http://www” at the beginning) instead of using a bookmark or a shortened version of the URL.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Reebok is planning to open an hockey-themed store (with thanks to Neal Schaffer). … David Conely notes with digust that KG left the stickers on his cap when throwing out the first pitch at Fenway the other day. And several readers noted with even greater disgust that they gave him a home jersey with his name on the back — sacrilege! … Great article here about Penn State’s equipment manager. Click on the photo for a cool slideshow (nice find by Bryan Koval). … The 49ers’ memorial helmet decal for Bill Walsh will look like this. … More info on those new Utah hoops unis here (as forwarded by Bryan Packer), and larger images here. … This year’s Little League World Series uniforms are shown in this PDF file (nice find by Tony Lombardo). … “Snapped some interesting shots on a recent trip to Graceland,” writes Patrick Woody. “Elvis was a big sports fan, and his entourage would play football and baseball games in full uniforms. Note the stirrups with the football pants, which could be accurate — or just the result of the exhibit curator being clueless.” … Big Blazers fan Clark Farrand notes that first-round pick Greg Oden was given a number-inclusive jersey for his NBA Rookies photo shoot but second-rounders Taurean Green and Josh McRoberts had to go number-free. “I guess I kind of understand, in that since they haven’t earned roster spots yet, they haven’t been assigned numbers,” writes Farrand. “But wouldn’t you think that if they were considered good enough to be sent to the photo shoot, they would at least give them temporary or expected numbers in case they do make the roster?” … According to a small item buried on this page, Marlon Anderson wanted to wear No. 8 with the Mets, but that number, while not officially retired, is out of circulation, in deference to Gary Carter. … New uniforms this year for University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Further details, and a link to a photo gallery, here (with thanks to Ronnie Poore). … New design for Tulsa as well (additional view here, with thanks to Tod Meisner, who also reports that Rice’s new helmet will look like this). … And new Air Force unis too (additional pics and info here). … Brandon Hall turned up a site featuring some amazing vintage NFL posters. For the full selection, look here and here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: I’d forgotten that the 1976 pillbox cap trope also extended to the World Series umpires. … Riley Anderson reports that plate ump Kerwin Danley worked the first half of Tuesday night’s Angels/Mariners game with his fly unzipped. No photos yet, but Vince is working on it. … The Nationals had Walter Johnson’s grandson throw out the first pitch last night and then wore throwback caps, which I thought looked pretty good.
August 3rd, 2007
The College World Series is currently taking place in Omaha, which happens to be the home base of reader Bryan Redemske. Bryan’s a longtime Ticker contributor (he works at a newspaper, so he often sees wire-service photos before I do, and he once forwarded me the amazing shot of a Nebraska pitcher with a vulgarity on his underbrim, which almost ran in his paper until they Photoshopped it at the last minute), but I’ve never seen him as jazzed up as he is for the CWS. As he put it in an e-mail to me the other day, “Fire up the F-150, round up the kids, park on some guy’s lawn for $15, and bring the SPF 50. It’s time for some ping.”
Bryan’s prepared a pretty detailed assessment of the CWS teams. So without further ado, I hereby turn over the floor to him (with the caveat that he wrote this on Sunday, before any teams had been eliminated):
Some general observations: Most of the teams wear stirrups, which is cool. Most of them even have them on right. A lot of guys wear flat bills. Memo to flat-billed guys: You look like idiots. Signed, Everybody.
As for the specific team uniforms, we have to start with Cal State Fullerton, which is easily the class of this year’s CWS uniforms. They’ve had the same design for a while now, and for good reason. While some don’t like orange and blue, I think it works. Orange is used only as an accent color, which makes it much more tolerable. The grays are pretty solid, too. I’m generally not a huge fan of gray pinstripes in any application, and the Fullerton wordmark is on the small side, but there are bigger fish to fry in Omaha. The blue alternates are great, too.
The high of Fullerton, unfortunately, leads to the disappointing low of Oregon State. The Beavers have a serious identity crisis: Half their gear is made by Wilson, the other half by Nike, so nothing matches. The Nike pinstriped grays are just short of criminal. Huge rear number, too. And then the “OS” hat … it didn’t match either. And the OSU hat, their regular lid, also doesn’t match anything. The only thing that saves the team from disaster is its standard white uniform.
Arizona State has a pretty good thing going right now. Their primary home and away uniforms are simple and classy. Basically, just change the cream to gray, and you have the roadies. There’s a yellow jersey, though, so they’re not entirely without fault [and let's not forget the maroon version -- PL].
On some level, I’m sure it’s really cool to have “Eaters” on your jersey, as the UC Irvine Anteaters do. Unfortunately, I think it’s the same level as those white South Carolina hats that just say “Cocks.” Every high school baseball player within two hours of Omaha is pining for a UC Irvine shirt that says “Go Eaters” or “Eaters All the Way!” or maybe “Eaters for Life.” Anyway, the Anteaters’ colors are pretty great — blue and white mainly, with a little bit of gold in there — but their uniforms are a total mess. The home whites are clearly based on the MLB batting practice template of a few years ago, complete with contrasting shoulder gussets and piping; the roadies are a gray version of the homes, but with more yellow. The caps are the only thing good about the entire wardrobe.
Mississippi State coach Ron Polk is old-school. You’d think he’d prefer the classic look, like how Stanford has had the same uniforms for about 400 years. Well, you’d be thinking wrong. Of the Bulldogs’ three uniforms, the only constant is the hat — the classic interlocking MS in white on a maroonish background. It should be easy to build a uni around that, but apparently it’s not. The home whites have “State” across the chest, in a strange, oddly spaced font. The number font, however, is totally different. And crappy. And there’s weird piping and contrast-colored inserts on the sleeves and armpits. The alternate maroon jersey has the same contrasting pattern (in gray, this time), but a completely different “State” and number font. Finally, the all-gray uniform harkens to days past — nice, but what’s up with the thick-ass piping?
North Carolina is one of Nike’s black-jerseyed “elite” teams, and that design turned out to be even uglier than expected. When that jersey stays hidden, however, the Tar Heels are pretty easy on the eyes. Their look is, if nothing else, pretty consistent, with a nice vertically arching “Carolina” on three of their jerseys (sleeveless white, sleeveless gray, sleeved blue), and the sleeved whites and grays have “Tar Heels” in cursive. The latter two have some seriously thick piping, and don’t look near as good as the first three.
I like Rice’s simple, classy uniforms. The whites have “Rice” in an Old English font on the chest; the grays have “Rice” in an Old English font on the chest. Are you noticing the consistency here? The only way Rice can go wrong is by wearing the blue jersey, which has some seriously bad shoulder stripes that take away from a simple design.
Louisville has been the source of some nasty-looking uniforms over the years, but I was only moderately offended when I saw the Cardinals’ baseball togs. The black jersey and cap are very simple, but the white vests are really simple. But what the hell is that extra triangle of black doing in the armpit? And white shoes? Please. They work in very few places. At least it’s after Memorial Day. [Brian submitted this piece before the Cardinals' red jersey made its appearance, but I think we can safely say that he would not approve of the shoulder stripes. -- PL]
Talk about a Herculean effort! Serious thanks to Bryan for what is probably the most in-depth analysis of college baseball uniforms anyone’s ever written, and bonus thanks to Jesse Gavin, who attended a few CWS games and provided several of the pictures I linked to.
Plumber’s Job Available in DC: Leaks of sensitive information are a way of life in Washington. The Capitals discovered that yesterday, when several views of their new jersey (no, not this bogus one) began circulating on the web. By now many of you may have seen them, but I’ve decided not to show them here, because (a) the colors are off, (b) the uni numbers, pants, and socks aren’t visible, so it’s hard to get the full effect, and (c) the team was nice enough to invite me to the official uni unveiling on Friday, and even let me designate a surrogate to attend in my place when I said I couldn’t make it myself, so it’d be bad manners to spread the leak further. I’ll have plenty to say when the full uni is unveiled.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Yet another glitch for the Giants, who called up Luis Figueroa on Monday and then sent him up to bat with no name on his back. … Interesting article here (forwarded by Mark Snider) about the minor league Boise Hawks’ new uniforms, including the following tidbit: “Boise has new uniforms, logos and color scheme this season, moving away from the blue, white and red it used to wear. However, as a Chicago Cubs farm team, the team must wear blue cleats — it’s an organizational dictate — all Cubs’ minor league teams must wear blue shoes.” … More football players playing softball, this time at Brett Favre’s annual charity event (full photo gallery here, courtesy of Jeff Ash). … Nice catch by Chris Creamer, who documented this case of inconsistent Rs. … Norm Johnson checks in with a good story: “I was watching the Pirates vs. Mariners game tonight, 6/19. Mariners announcer Dave Niehaus had an interesting uniform tidbit about the ‘79 All-Star Game, which was played in the Kingdome. Apparently, Reggie Jackson’s uniform arrived in time for the game itself, but not in time for the American League team picture. According to Niehaus, he posed for the AL team picture in a Mariners jersey!” Anyone got a photo of this? … Nicole Haase was in Baltimore over the weekend, and noted approvingly that the Orioles’ mascot wears bona fide stirrups (but also, unfortunately, has a bad case of cap logo creep). … UConn is looking for a new uni supplier (with thanks to Keith Thibault). … First-hand report from a source on the field at Shea Stadium, who writes: “Jeff Cirillo had his fly open during his last at bat on Tuesday, and then he zipped it up after the first pitch.” The latter maneuver, alas, isn’t visible in the game video. … Proud Portland resident Jeremy Brahm has provided some shots of the interesting skyline-patterend jersey worn by the Portland Winterhawks this past season (additional pics here and here). The team also had a special 25th-anniversary Saturday jersey, as seen here, here, here, here, and here. … Take a hockey player off the ice and he totally loses his mind (disturbing find by Vince Grzegorek).
June 20th, 2007
Exactly one year ago today, I uploaded this entry, thereby launching the site you’re now reading. At the time, I had two primary concerns: (1) Would anyone notice? (2) What the hell would I write about the next day, and the day after that, and the day after that? (Confession: I intentionally launched the site on a Wednesday, so I’d only have to come up with three entries for that first week.)
A year later, the site has been a much bigger success than I ever could have imagined. Except for that little server hiccup back in February, we’ve had fresh content every single non-holiday weekday, and on a few weekends to boot. I’m proud of that, and you should be too, because so much of the material comes from, or is inspired by, you. I’ve also had invaluable assistance from webmaster John Ekdahl (who, aside from all the technical help he’s provided, is the one who came up with the idea for this site in the first place), design director Scott M.X. Turner, and intern Vince Grzegorek. In addition to all their behind-the-scenes help, John and Vince have also given me occasional days off by writing blog entries, as has Todd Krevanchi. I’m super-grateful to all of them.
So what’s on tap for Year Two? In my fantasy world, I’d like the site to become less of a blog and more of a magazine, with separate sections devoted to various sports and uniform elements, additional writers (I would love to have a regular column written by someone at Nike or Reebok — a “voice from the corporate side,” as it were, to counter my relentlessly anti-corporate stance), a message board, and so on. That isn’t going to happen without a major sugar daddy, something I’ve so far been unable to attract. A more realistic fantasy, or so I’d like to think, is for Uni Watch to become self-supporting, meaning that I’d be able to focus on it exclusively, without devoting time to non-uni-related writing.
And that leads me to a big announcement: We’re are about to start offering (read: selling) multiple levels of Uni Watch memberships, the most immediate benefit of which will be a super-cool plastic-laminated membership card, designed by our own Scott M.X. Turner. The front will look like this, and the back will be styled like the back of a jersey — you’ll be able to pick a uniform number and your last name will appear in your choice of typography: vertically arched, radially arched, straight, or, for you old-schoolers, no name at all. I’ll add an “Active Roster” page to the site, listing all current members by uniform number and membership level. (Sorry, no duplicate membership uni numbers — if someone else already has the number you want, you’ll have to choose another number, just like on a real team. Update: There’s already been such a scramble by people trying to call dibs on certain numbers that I’ve decided to make the numbers non-exclusive, so you can have whatever number you want, even if someone else already has it.)
So what does membership cost, and what do you get in return? Here’s the breakdown of the various one-year membership levels and their respective benefits:
Level One: Wool Flannel ($25): Benefits are as follows:
- Official Uni Watch Membership Card
- Uni Watch fridge magnet
- Three bonus entries in all Uni Watch raffles
- Your name featured on the Uni Watch “Active Roster” membership listing
Level Two: Vertically Arched ($50): All of the benefits listed above, plus a special Uni Watch T-shirt, available only to members. This design is still in development and should be ready in about a week, but trust me — it’s gonna look great.
Level Three: Chain-Stitched ($100): All the benefits listed above, plus a CD containing the digital art files for three rare, hard-to-find uniform style guides: NFL 1972, XFL 2001, and MLB’s 1999 “Turn Ahead the Clock” series.
Level Four: Leather Helmet ($250): All the benefits listed above, plus Uni Watch design director Scott M.X. Turner will create a logo for your team, fantasy league, company, civic association, church group, or just for you.
Level Five: Satin Piping ($500): All the benefits listed above, plus I will conduct a “Uni Watch Profiles” interview with you, a transcript of which will be posted on the blog. During the interview we will discuss your favorite uniforms, your uni-related pet peeves, your cap collection, or anything else uni-related that you want to talk about. You will be uni-king for a day!
Level Six: Striped Stirrups ($1000): All of the benefits listed above, plus I will fly to your town (or to the nearest city with an airport) and host a Uni Watch party at the local venue of your choosing. Probably your best chance at attending a Uni Watch party if you live in, say, Wichita. Continental U.S. only. If you live within a 100-mile radius of New York City, I will take you and a guest out to dinner either before or after the party. If you and some friends pool your resources to come up with the fee, you will all receive membership cards.
I may come up with other benefits, and I’m also hoping to get some e-merchants to offer some discounts to Uni Watch members, but that’s all still in the “We’re working on it” phase.
So you’re probably thinking, “Is this just a money-making scheme, or a glorified donation program?” To a certain extent, yes. But I’ll be frank with you: I need some more money from this project. The site now eats up a significant amount of my time (easily 25 hours a week, often a lot more), and it’s starting to cut into the time I’d ordinarily devote to “real” work. Obviously, nobody’s forcing me to do this, and I can stop anytime I want. But I don’t want to stop — I love working on the site. I just need to be able to justify the increasing bite it’s taking from my schedule.
That said, I also think the membership program is a fun little sub-project. The benefits ain’t bad, and I’m pretty stoked about the membership card myself. All in all, I think membership at any level is a fair deal.
That said, I’m fully aware that some of you are students, and/or have families to support, loans to pay off, ad bankruptum. I also realize that many of you have already donated and/or bought raffle tickets in the past. Believe me, I know. I’m not trying to put the squeeze on anyone, I’m not trying to lay a guilt trip on you, and I can assure you that access to the site will always be free. I’m just asking for a little help, from those of you who are able to give it, so I can keep doing this thing we all enjoy — a thing that is rapidly approaching the status of a full-time job.
I won’t even accept any membership purchases until the Level Two T-shirt design is finalized. While we’re waiting, I’ll get the ball rolling by raffling off a membership — send a note to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (one per person, please) and I’ll pick a winner when the T-shirt design is ready.
Okay, enough of that. Thanks for a great first year, people — looking forward to more.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Nice note from Greg Evans, who writes: “Anderson, South Carolina, has a new Class A independent team called the Joes, after Shoeless Joe Jackson. Shoeless Joe was an upstate South Carolina native, and supposedly got his nickname while playing semipro ball in Anderson. The team logo is pretty cool, especially compared with the cartoonish logos of most other minor league teams. Also, the inclusion of a pair of spikes on the cap is a nice touch.” … Tuesday’s post mentioned the troubles that the Red Bulls have had fitting Dave van den Bergh’s name on his jersey, but I didn’t have a photo. Now, thanks to Kenn Tomasch, I do. … The Broncos’ memorial helmet decal for Darrent Williams and Damien Nash will look like this (with thanks to Andrew Mason). … Jeff Scott (who has a pretty sharp Cardinals blog) notes that the Majestic logo has been missing from David Eckstein’s road jersey for several days now. … In a related logo-anti-creep item, Kevin Gee reports that the MLB logo has been missing from the back of Carlos Lee’s batting helmet, and “it just doesn’t look right.” … “Hey Paul, a while back you linked to one of my pictures of the Oregon Marching Band, in our numbered, helmet-attired glory,” writes Matt Takimoto. “The helmets have since been retired — apparently we looked like Nazis to some of the older, donor set here in Eugene — and we are now selling them to raise money for the band.” Takimoto said he’d even try to arrange a raffle for us — stay tuned. … A confused and outraged Brandon Hall wonders why Lindy Ruff was wearing a Senators-colored necktie the other day. … Lots of great old West Virginia high school football uniforms on display in this gallery (kudos to Brad DiCola). … You know how a book’s index will have listings formatted like “Stirrups, Uni Watch’s obsession with” and “Purple, utter loathsomeness of”? Check out the jersey insignia for D3 school St. Thomas University (great find by Mike Miller). … According to a small note contained in this article Ted Lilly and Lou Piniella “enjoyed a novel bonding moment recently when Lilly informed Piniella that his fly was unzipped during a conference at the mound” (with thanks to sharp-eyed David Chisholm). … So this horse and this Mexican wrestler walk into a bar… (as spotted by Jeremy Brahm). … Bill Pinsak notes that Ben Roethlisberger was wearing Nike tri-bolt shorts the other day, instead of standard-issue NFL Equipment shorts made by Reebok. … Photos of Miami’s new football jerseys (first discussed here) are starting to circulate — look here, here, and here.
May 17th, 2007
Do you ever get jealous of people who somehow score front-row seats right along the first- or third-base line? They get to reach down and scoop up foul grounders like low-hanging fruit, players and coaches flip additional balls to them, and they’re close enough to the action to see a stray thread on a player’s jersey. And most of them didn’t even pay for the tickets! Ah, but reader Jackie Grady justified her primo vantage point at Monday night’s Marlins/Dodgers game by documenting a classic uni-related gaffe. Here’s her report:
I was sitting in Section 1, Row AA. These seats are on the field, between the visitors’ dugout and the visitors’ bullpen. Of course, I brought my digital camera.
In the top of the 1st, I noticed that Brad Penny’s pants looked funny and it appeared that his fly was open. While hoisting up my camera, I exclaimed, “OH MY GOD, A UNI WATCH MOMENT!” My friend Lynne, who knows that I read your blog, said, “What is it?” I said, “Penny’s fly is open.” Laughter erupted in the seats around us as I began taking pictures. But it was tough to tell for sure, and questions began circulating about whether it was perhaps just some dirt. There was considerable discussion about whether the dirt was there from Penny, ahem, adjusting himself.
I continued to click away and someone from behind remarked about how I’d spent the entire inning focused on the pitcher’s crotch. My friend also snapped some pictures and inquired, “Would Uni Watch really call out the guy and expose to the world that his fly was down?” I gave a rather annoyed look when I responded, “Yes.”
After the inning, I began reviewing the pictures and was able to zoom in on the area in question, confirming that his fly was down. The camera was passed around and adults laughed like school kids. When Penny took the mound in the 2nd, the issue had been fixed.
Jackie later caught a foul ball, but I think you’ll agree that she more than earned it with her ace camera work. Penny, meanwhile, joins the likes of Ray King, Chris Cooley, Anquan Boldin, and Marcus McNeill in the Uni Watch XYZ Gallery.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “I went to the Cardinals game tonight, and Anthony Reyes was selected to catch the first pitch,” writes Tyler Kulasza. “Apparently he does not show the stirrups for games that he is not scheduled to start.” … Nice striped stirrups being worn by the Sam Houston baseball team (with thanks to Glenn Stern). … Not sure if we’ve covered this before, but just in case: Interesting shot here of Paul Shmyr captaining the 1978-79 Oilers while wearing a “K” instead of a “C” (as spotted by Jacob Bestebroer). … Great little video survey of Padres uni history here (with thanks to Mat Strauss). … Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek notes that Don King was wearing a Rangers jersey the other day. … Vince also reports that all sorts of stuff from MLB’s recent Civil Rights Game is being auctioned off. … More trademark litigation (as forwarded by Bob Jordan). … Speaking of litigation, New York City’s ban on aluminum bats is being challenged in court. … “The new font on the back of the 2007-08 English Premier League jerseys found here,” writes Dominic Litten. “If you look at the previous font, you’ll notice that the lion in the EPL logo at the bottom of the number is different as well. That’s because the EPL has changed their logo from this to this. Details, details, details.” … Someone on the Chris Creamer boards posted this fascinating backgrounder on how the Royals’ logo was developed. … Mets reliever Joe Smith has a series of uni-related rituals (with thanks to Dan Herr). … Nick Bell notes that Peter King’s latest column includes the following tidbit: “A rookie free-agent named Xzavie Jackson is in camp with the Bengals, trying to make the team as a reserve defensive lineman. That’s notable because there never has been a player in the history of American professional sports whose first or last name began with the letters ‘xz.’ ” Bell adds the following: “Because the Bengals already have Dexter Jackson, who will almost certainly stay on the team, Xzavie Jackson will get an ‘X’ on the back of his jersey if he makes the roster.” … Nike’s latest brainstorm: matching 99-cent store outfits for doubles partners Rafael Nadal and Carolos Moya at the Rome Masters. And don’t forget the matching Capri pants (with thanks to Todd Krevanchi). … Reprinted from Monday’s and Tuesday’s comments:Michigan and Michigan State wore pink softball uniforms the other day, and even the umpires got into the act. Additional pics here, here, here, here, here, and further details here and here. … Looks like the Bucs have new practice jerseys (as spotted by Rob Montoya). … “I noticed Dee Brown of the Utah Jazz uses an orange mouthguard,” writes David Arnott. “That suggests it’s the same one he used at the University of Illinois.” … Interesting query from Dan Bauso, who writes: “A while back I tuned in to ESPN Classic and watched a rerun of NFL Game of the Week, the old recap series starring Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier. This particular episode was 1969, Week 13. That week, Joe Namath and the Jets played in Houston against the Oilers. The announcers made no mention of it, but Namath clearly wore an all-white jersey with a green ‘12′ on it. It had no side piping/stripes, as was present on the rest of the Jets’ jerseys.” Anyone know more about this? … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Looks like I’m not the only one who gets a bit obsessive about socks.
May 9th, 2007
A few years ago I went to a ballgame at Shea Stadium and, by fairly amazing coincidence, ended up sitting next to the guy who does all of the Mets’ stitching and embroidery (you should’ve seen my face when he told me what he did for a living). He turned out to be a swell guy, but on some level I was just a teeny bit disappointed, because I had hoped that the team’s stitching was done by some ancient little-old-lady seamstress who’d been on the job for decades. Every team should have one of those, right?
The Iowa Hawkeyes have one, and she’s straight out of central casting. Her name is Betty Madden (perfect, right?), she’s 82 years old, and she’s been sewing repairs on Iowa’s unis for 46 years.
I learned about Betty when reader Matt Nelson pointed me toward a short video about her. It shows her stitching here, snipping there, and pinning all over the place. Smart lady, too, at least judging by this quote: “The uniforms aren’t made of the same material as they was when I started 46 years ago. The material then was fabulous, but now it’s cheap.”
You can check out Betty for yourself here (the audio will start before the video starts streaming, but don’t worry about that — just give it a few seconds). And as long as we’re talking about behind-the-scenes videos, Jose Frontanes has discovered a decent five-minute clip featuring Maryland’s equipment manager, who’s got a serious collection of game-used helmets and jerseys (the latter of which show off today’s ridiculously truncated “sleeves”). The clip has lots of really stupid editing effects — must’ve been produced by a sophomore film student — but it’s still worth checking out. Look here.
So much for the soft sell: Due to overwhelmingly underwhelming demand for the Uni Watch temporary tattoos, I’ve changed the pricing structure. Instead of $5 for the first tat and $1 for each additional one, it’s now a buck apiece for the first five, and 50 cents for each one thereafter, with a five-tat minimum.
The basic point is the same: Gimme five bucks. Not into temporary tats? Gimme five bucks anyway. Why? Because webmaster Johnny Ek and I work really, really hard on this site. It’s usually the first thing we deal with when we wake up, the last thing we deal with before going to bed, and a whole lot of what we deal with in between, often at the expense of our “real” jobs (the ones that pay us, y’know, “real” money). We’re not complaining, mind you — nobody put a gun to our heads and told us to create this site, and we love doing it — but we don’t think we’re out of line asking for a measly $5 contribution to help keep the furnace lit. And if you don’t think our tireless efforts are worth five bucks, well, we respectfully suggest that you think a bit harder.
Am I trying to guilt-trip you? Definitely. But unlike all those family-, girlfriend-, and boss-induced guilt trips, this one can be cured quickly and painlessly: Just PayPal five whole dollars — or more, if you’re feeling particularly holiday-spirited — to paul_lukas at earthlink dot net (or if you don’t do PayPal, mail the dough to Paul Lukas, 671 DeGraw St., Brooklyn, NY 11217). We’ll both feel better afterward.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Several readers report that the scuttlebutt in Ohio is that the Buckeyes will wear white in the BCS Championship Game, just like they did last time around in the Fiesta Bowl. … Latest chapter in the ongoing soap opera of Wisconsin’s “motion W” logo, courtesy of Matt Brukman: “Under Armour is running an ad with a pee-wee football team sporting Wisconsin’s ‘Motion W’ helmets. Of course Wiconsin has a deal with Adidas, so I doubt UA got clearance to use the logo. There’s a quick video here — it’s very compressed and blurry, but I captured one frame that clearly shows the W. … Mark Bolding, whose excellent site is a Uni Watch favorite, is campaigning for Rice’s Todd Graham to be named Collegiate Coach of the Year. The uni-related connection? Rice has been wearing a “39″ helmet decal this season, in memory of freshman Dale Lloyd, who died earlier this year. … In case you missed it in yesterday’s Comments section: Chris Cooley had some XYZ issues on Sunday (and unlike Marcus McNeill, Cooley doesn’t have the excuse of having two broken hands). … Logo Creep Alert from Andy Ingram, who notes that Fabio Cannavaro was wearing a swooshstika lapel pin while accepting the Golden Ball award. … Good info in the “New Threads” section of this article regarding the Redskins’ return to burgundy pants (with thanks to Mark Fightmaster). … Some Rockies uniform chatter — including a horrifying suggestion that they use more purple — can be found in the middle of this Q&A article. … Wanna see some serious hockey stripes? Look here. (Full details here, courtesy of Adam Strohm.) … Sleeve-centric note from Ryan Barto: “In Jason Campbell’s first start against Tampa Bay last weekend, his sleeves were the classic cut. It seemed like everytime the TV camera zoomed in on him after a throw, he was either rolling them up or just messing with them. This past weekend against Carolina, he came out of the tunnel with the cropped sleeves.” … Speaking of QB sleeves, Matt Hasselbeck went bare-armed in last night’s snow bowl. According to a quote buried in this article (but alertly spotted by reader Nick Collecchi), “If it hadn’t been the Packers, I would have worn [long] sleeves” (as his former teammate did). … Amateurs.
November 28th, 2006
This past weekend was a bonanza for alternate uniforms, including several making their inaugural appearances. Check it out:
• The Bobcats wore their new navy alts (additional views here and here), which I like quite a bit.
• The Nets unveiled their solid-red alts (also look here, here, and here). Now let’s hope they quietly retire them.
• The Jazz dressed in light blue. According to “Baby Blues” section of this article, several players thought the shorts lettering looked “like high school,” an assessment with which I agree. (Another note from that article: Robert Hyde, president of the team’s Fanzz merchandise stores [now there's a brilliant store name...], is quoted thusly: “The NBA won’t let you use black anymore [for alternate jerseys].” First I’ve heard of that.)
• Maybe the prohibition on solid-black alternates explains why the Wizards have gone with their controversial two-tone alts, which made their debut over the weekend. I still like the stars and stripes, although I wouldn’t argue too hard with anyone who finds the whole thing a bit much. (Question: Notwithstanding last season’s Bulls-as-Stags throwbacks, when’s the last time an NBA team wore two-tone unis?)
• Notre Dame broke out the green jerseys (which I happen to love, so I’m running lots of additional pics here, here, here, here, and here).
• The Titans wore their light blue pants for the first time (additional pics here, here, and here). I prefer the navy pants, although I like the reference to the franchise’s old Love Ya Blue days.
• I’m not positive, but I think yesterday marked the first time the Rams have worn these white pants (which didn’t fare too well).
And that’s not counting the Eagles’ black jerseys, the Panthers’ blue jerseys, the Lakers’ home whites, or the Broncos’ blue pants, all of which are now reasonably familiar sights. “Uniform”? Apparently not.
While you were watching football…: Yesterday I accompanied a lively crew of folks from the very wonderful City Reliquary to the annual Rosendale Picklefest, where there was much munching of deep-fried pickles, among other nutritious options. The proceedings included music from an “authentic” German band, whose members were attired in traditional lederhosen. I had my photo taken with one of them, for reasons that I think will be obvious to most of you.
Our next stop was the excellent Century House Historical Society, where Uni Watch hedge fund analyst Jenny Strasburg alertly spotted photos of old women’s and men’s basketball uniforms hanging on one of the walls. Those stripes on the men’s jerseys are pretty wild — I’ve seen similar stripes used as side panels, but never quite like they’re used in this old photo. All of which goes to show that historical uni-related research can take place anywhere, even during a field trip to a pickle festival.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Chargers’ Marcus McNeill is playing with two broken hands — which apparently makes it difficult for him to zip up his pants (über-thanks to Tim Walsh and Vince Vincenzo, both of whom submitted screen-grabs). … Interesting Boston College uni-numbering tradition explained here (scroll down to the “New jersey” section, and thanks to Dave Conley for the tip). … Michael Rich notes that Rutgers uses different helmet-numbering formats depending on which helmet design a player is wearing. … Good account of DeAngelo Williams’s super-shiny shoe soles in the middle of this Q&A page (with thanks to Ryan Campbell). Multiple sources report that Williams also wears the Univeristy of Memphis logo on his mouthguard, but if you can see it here, your eyesight is better than mine. … All that fuss, just for this? (And although you can’t see it in the photos, Robert Madel notes that Nolan was wearing white socks, which suggests that he still has a lot to learn about wearing a suit.) … Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard showed up at yesterday’s Eagles game wearing a pretty cool retro jacket. … In case you missed it in yesterday’s Comments section: Interesting note in the middle of this page regarding Jocelyn Thibault’s new mask (here’s his old one). … And here’s an article about the new NHL jerseys (although it’s long on speculation and short on solid info). … This web site turned six months old last Friday. Thanks to everyone who’s helped make this a really great half-year — looking forward to more.
November 20th, 2006
New ESPN column today (a day earlier than usual, to coincide with the start of the NHL season) — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: I have only two phobias. One of them involves mushrooms, but we’ll save that for another time. The other one is a morbid fear of being stuck on a train with nothing to read. And yesterday, for reasons not worth getting into here, I was riding the New York City subways a lot. So, faced with lots of train time and deathly afraid of ending up without enough printed matter, I did something I rarely do: I bought copies of all four New York newspapers, instead of my usual one or two.
And if yesterday is any indication, I may have to start doing this more often, because all four papers had noteworthy uni-related content. Here’s the rundown:
New York Post: The sports section featured this photo of Alex Rodriguez, taken during Monday’s workout at Yankee Stadium. An intriguing shot, this — was A-Rod, a lifelong pajama-clad player, planning to break his playoff jinx by hiking up the cuffs and showing some sock? Alas, as we all saw last night, that turned out not to be the case.
Daily News: Weirdest uni-related item of the day. The front and back pages were occupied by a huge wraparound illustration filled with caricatures of prominent Mets and Yankees. The illustrator chose to dress the Mets in their black caps with blue brims — regrettable but unsurprising. Here’s the kicker: The Yankees were depicted with blue brims as well (here’s a close-up of the two skippers) — what the fuck? Perhaps the illustrator is a long-suffering Mets fan who wants Yankee partisans to know how it feels when a team’s classic design is sullied by unnecessary contrast-colored brims. Or maybe the illustrator (and the art director, and the editor…) just has his head up his ass. Either way, I practically jumped out of my subway seat when I saw this one.
New York Times: Not sports-related, but the Business section had a really good story about the new uniforms at Wal-Mart. Highly recommended.
Newsday: Some guy named John Valenti, who apparently spends most of his time writing about bank robberies and Long Island politics, came up with a brilliant idea yesterday: “I know,” he said to himself, no doubt feeling all clever and innovative, “I’ll write an article about sports uniforms.” This is such a revolutionary concept, I can’t believe I didn’t think of it myself. Seven years ago. Uni Watch Long Island bureau chief Alleen Barber, who’s an editor at Newsday, assures me that Valenti’s “a good guy.” So in the immortal words of H.I. McDunnough, maybe it’s just that his advisors are confused.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Justin Morneau’s a big hockey fan, as evidenced by the NHL logo that’s occasionally visible on his undershirt. The logo was much more plainly apparent on Sunday, during the Twins’ division title celebration. (Good catch by Matthew Strauss.) … Ryan Armbrust has noticed something odd: Many Nike-outfitted college football teams wear pants with no fly. Check it out: Missouri, Ohio State, Penn State, Nike catalog. Standard lace-up fly at
Iowa, though. Miami, too. “I mean seriously, how far away are we from solid neck to ankle unis?” says Armbrust. “I give it like four more years. Oregon is going to be playing a late- season game somewhere cold and they’re going to walk out looking like a bobsled team. This really bothers me, although I am not sure if it’s from the pants or from looking at numerous photos of men’s crotches all morning.” … Jim Leyland’s kid wears bogus stirrups (good catch by Shawn Knowles). … Sharp-eyed Tom Kot writes in with the following nameplate item: “I just caught the replay of Saturday’s Indiana/Wisconsin game, and at the beginning you can see the backs of freshmen Adrian Burks and Aaron Burks. Their nameplates are ‘Ad. BURKS’ and ‘Aa. BURKS’ — all uppercase accept for the second letters of their first names. Couldn’t find any pictures but I’ve never seen lowercase lettering on a nameplate except in a case like McDonald [lots of similar examples here], and I’ve never seen ‘Aa.’ on a nameplate either.” … Several sources are reporting that Florida State’s special Seminole tribe tribute unis, due to be worn on October 21st, will look like this this, but then those same sources say the uni will be solid-black, even though the photo looks more like solid-green (full details here and here). … I’ve noted before that Tigers “closer” Todd Jones wears one jersey sleeve shorter than the other. But Steven Malcolm notes that Jones also had some serious XYZ issues earlier in his career. … A trademark attorney named Anthony Verna interviewed me last week because he wanted to discuss sports branding on his blog. The resulting post on his site is available here.
October 4th, 2006
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