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A Close Look at Ball Sacks (no, not that kind)

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I’m a member of SABR — the Society for American Baseball Research — which means I subscribe to SABR-L, the organization’s listserv. Much of the info on SABR-L involves statistical number-crunching, historical esoterica, biographical info, and so on. Occasionally, though, uni- and equipment-related queries come up. Such was the case a few weeks ago when a SABR member named Bob Bogart posted the following:

You know those pouches that the home plate umpire wears to hold the new baseballs that have yet to be used?

1. What is the capacity (in baseballs) of those pouches?

2. Is there an ideal capacity that umpires prefer to not exceed rather than the maximum capacity, enabling better maneuverability in the event the home plate umpire needs to hustle to another base to make a call? Or doesn’t it make a difference?

Just wondering. Thanks for your help.

I had never thought about this before. Within a few hours, a gentlemen named Michael Shapiro — apparently a former umpire, although he didn’t specify at what level — responded like so:

Generally, the pouches can easily hold about half a dozen balls each. Any more than that is problematic for a number of reasons, not the least of which is running from one base to another. Of course, it’s a matter of personal preference, since some umpires use one bag and some two.

Personally, I used two bags, but that was in leagues that didn’t have the luxury of tossing balls out of the game after one scuff. I’d put the balls that came back to me in the left-hand bag and toss the new ones in from the right. I never had more than three in the right-hand bag and would rotate them through as the game went on, so that the balls would get pretty even use.

Interesting. But a much more detailed response came the following day from another ump, Barry Deutsch:

These pouches, more properly referred to as ball bags, hold different capacities of baseballs depending on the manufacturer. I prefer the “wide mouth” style, so I don’t have to mess around angling my hand into and back out of the bag. I prefer a square-shaped ball bag; some of them come in a more trapezoidal shape.

I like to have at least four in each bag and I wear two, one on
each hip, although some umpires in amateur ball wear only one. It might be a uniform requirement for umpires in professional leagues to be bilaterally bagged [apparently not ”” PL]; I think it looks better, more polished, and certainly more balanced, with one bag on each side.

I could fit five balls in each bag if I wanted to, which I might on a day when the grounds are wet and I know I’ll be throwing out a lot of damp, muddy balls and putting a lot of dry ones into play. But most of the time I’m satisfied with four in each bag. Five on each side tends to weigh them down. As Bob Bogart mentioned, there’s also a maneuverability factor that comes into play with a bag or bags crammed full of baseballs: I might
subconsciously slow down and not hustle as hard if I thought baseballs might come spilling out of my ball bag because it was too full.

When I get down to three or two baseballs (total, not on each side), I start signaling for more, as I don’t like waiting until I’m down to one and then the next thing you know there’s a foul ball and suddenly I’m completely out of baseballs and then the game gets held up while I’m waiting for new baseballs, and I hate it when the game gets held up! Most umpires do — we want the pace of every game to flow smoothly and uninterruptedly. The idea is to keep enough baseballs on hand — four to eight — to be able to keep the game moving and put a new ball in play immediately after a previous one goes out of play without feeling pressured to ask for more until the half-inning is over.

Styles of ball bags and the total number of baseballs held in each is generally an individual umpire’s choice; there are no hard and fast rules about how many baseballs to carry or whether to use one bag or two, although some college and professional leagues have specific uniform requirements for their umpires that include using two ball bags as opposed to just one. And not all identically shaped ball bags are the same, as some have separate pockets on the insides for whatever — indicator, lineup cards, writing implements, gum, stopwatch (which we’re now required to have in college ball), and other small accoutrements of the trade.

Faaaaaascinating! I hereby nominate “bilaterally bagged” as the best uni-related term to show up here on the site in many a moon. (If you want to go bilaterally bagged yourself, there are several ball bag options available here.)

Meanwhile, I know several of you out there are umps. Anything to add on this topic?

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In case you missed it yesterday, my annual college football season preview is up on ESPN. As is always the case every year, additional tidbits of information started showing up soon after the column was published, so here are some updates on a few FBS teams:

• The two games sponsored by the corporate chicken sandwich douchebags will both be color-vs.-color.

• Arizona State is letting fans vote for which uni combo the team will wear on Sept. 22 against Utah, and students will be able to vote for the uni that’ll be worn on Oct. 27 against UCLA.

• I’m told that Auburn’s NOB lettering will be larger, like it was two years ago.

• Florida’s nose bumpers will now feature the new Gator head logo, and the neck bumper will have the new “Florida” wordmark. Also, the Gators are getting a new field.

• Lots of rumors about Georgia Tech possibly wearing this honeycomb helmet design on Monday. Also, Tech may have a lot of new looks this season.

• Houston will wear throwbacks on Nov. 10 against Tulsa.

•  Nevada has added a center stripe to its helmet.

• I wrote that North Carolina would wear its white helmet at some point but that the exact date had not yet been specified. Turns out it’s slated to be worn on Oct. 6 against Virginia Tech.

• I wrote that Penn State would be wearing a blue ribbon jersey patch. I’m now told that that it will be a helmet decal, not a patch.

• The uni numbers on Texas Tech’s red and black jerseys are now white, which seems like a big plus in terms of visibility.

(My thanks to all who contributed info, including Josh Coney, Pat Davis, Trey Groce, Jeff Hunter, Thomas Lenneberg, Mike Moore, Aaron Newman, and Guy Ryan.)

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Attention Ryan Connelly, Doug Keklak, Jason Bernard, Jennifer Sweet, and all the rest of our Pittsburgh readers: One of you needs to buy this sign (and when you do, you can send a thank-you note to Frank Bitzer). … New third kit for Tottenham (from George Chilvers). … James McNamara spotted a home plate ump wearing some sort of arm sleeve the other night. That’s a first, at least for me. … Oh, baby — now that’s a basketball uniform (big thanks to Mike Hersh). … A school district in Utah is looking for logo submissions (from Jon Alviani). … Hmmm, shouldn’t these two folks be sitting the other way around? (From Brady Phelps.) … This is awesome: The restroom signs at Citizens Bank Park show little figures wearing stirrups (from Tim Donovan). … Jeff Ash found some more photos of those padded aprons worn by Packers linemen during practices in 1962, presumably to save wear and tear on the body. More photos can be found scattered throughout this gallery. … Skip down to the fifth graf of this story to learn something interesting about Felix Hernandez’s jersey preferences (from Brian Terreson). … Small note at the very end of this article indicates that the Sabres will have a new third jersey in 2013-14 (from Timothy Tryjankowski). … Cowboys QB Rudy Carpenter almost lost one of his numerals last night (screen shot by Lance Phelps). ”¦ Bishop LeBlond High School in Missouri has a rather unusual soccer uniform. The jersey is so bold, it’s easy to overlook the initials on the socks (from Brady Graham). ”¦ Several readers noticed that 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh seemed to have a cover-up patch on his shirt for the recent preseason game against the Broncos. ”¦ Matt Thomas was reading this obituary of former NBA/ABA player Art Heyman and noticed the ghosted “4” under his under number. Must have been a recycled jersey. ”¦ Good article on the comeback of the Prince tennis brand (thanks, Brinke). ”¦ Rare sight at last night’s game between the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and the Wilmington Blue Rocks: powder blue vs. powder blue! (Photo by Adam Brodsky.) ”¦ Here’s another potential leak of the new Nets uniforms, this time via a McFarlane figure (from Jamal Worobec). ”¦ I’ll be off the grid for most of today, starting at 11am, so everyone play nice. See you tomorrow.

 
  
 
Comments (144)

    I usually come to you for solid information, but bringing politics into it by refering to chik-fil-a as “douchebags” severely hurts your image.

    The political aspersions being cast here are yours, not mine. If you knew anything about my work, you’d know that this has to do with my feelings about corporate sponsorship in general (I generally refer to corporate nonsense as “douchebaggery”) and Chick-fil-A’s recent efforts to bully an artist who’d made “Eat More Kale” T-shirts.

    As for my “image,” I don’t even know what that means (and I suspect you don’t, either).

    I think its more about the freshness of the political debate around Chick Fil A, because I thought the same thing as Ben when I read it. Not that I thought it hurt your image either way, because everyone is entitled to their opinion, but my brain went to the uproar over gay rights, not to corporate sponsorship douchebaggery. So while I wasn’t offended by the comment, it didn’t occur to me that it was about sponsorship as opposed to politics.

    Bigotry doesn’t exactly help Chicken Sandwich Inc.’s cause. But I’ve been vocally opposed to their corporate machinations for a long time, well before they became a political football (so to speak). The mere existence of something called “the Chick-fil-A Bowl” is an embarrassment.

    Personally, I think that this debate should be kept in perspective. A large group of American believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. Unfortunately, we have stopped being civil in political debates, and calling someone a douchebag is not helpful, particularly when a large group of Americans have this belief (and all you have done by saying this is hardened the other side’s position toward you).

    The Chick-Fil-A owners have only said that their interpretation of the bible does not support gay marriage. I may not agree with their position, but that is hardly acting like a douchebag (IMO).

    I’m officially proposing new legislation that a Christian man and a Christian woman should not be allowed to legally marry. It’s just my opinion so I don’t have to justify this stance with any evidence or particularly well thought out moral philosophy. A large proportion of Americans agree with me so be civil or suck on it, I don’t particularly care either way.

    I officially stopped reading this blog years ago. I still read it unofficially most weekdays though.

    In my opinion(IMO)and in my dictionary, if you were were to have an entry for douchebag/douchebaggery, the corresponding image would be Chik-Fil-A’s logo.

    Isn’t that more cultural?
    But if you want say it’s about political affiliation/alignment, then I guess that’s telling.

    I’d like to believe that Paul’s application of that label would be no different even if the games were ‘sponsored’ by Ben and Jerry’s, Target, or The House of Mouse.

    I’m certain that it would be the same reaction, it just wasn’t the initial thought that I, and probably quite a few others, had when reading it. After seeing Paul’s response to the comment, the light bulb came on and I felt pretty dumb for not realizing it to begin with.

    Until the most recent uproar, I always thought the name of the chain was Chick-A-Fill. It rolls off the tongue more easily than “chick fill ay.” Ha.

    the corporate ‘sponsorships’ would be slightly less offensive if they used names like ‘House of Mouse’ instead of their actual corporate names.

    Or take this weekends NASCAR race for example, its called (something like)The Atlanta motor speedway 500 presented to you by Penzoil. Much less offensive than the Mineike Car Care Bowl.

    Those high school soccer jerseys remind me of the jerseys we wore when I played YMCA soccer when I was 8 or 9.

    Seriously, what the hell is going on here? Orange and Red are way too close.
    And with both teams normally wearing white helmets, NC State better break out those red ones to stand out.

    Is “Mytle” Beach close to Myrtle Beach? Lol good thing you didn’t make that mistake “fot” Tottenham… Sorry, I’m an editor for our local paper.

    It’s funny Ben says ‘I usually come to you’ but has no clue on Paul’s stance on corporate sponsorship. More like ‘hey first time reader, and I feel like being a whiney troll today, yeah, politics will stir up the pot’.

    And also, why would an opinion about ‘politics’ hurt his ‘image’.. Shouldn’t he have the right to voice said opinion on politics? And I’m also curious as to what he thinks Paul’s ‘image’ is.. Considering he usually comes here ..

    It’s funny how all the Chick-Fil-A supporters claim it’s owner has a right to express his 1st amendment rights without repercussions, yet they are the first ones hollering whenever someone else voices their opinion. “Everyone is entitled to their 1st amendment opinion, as long as it’s the same as mine.”

    Broad generalizations like this are inflammatory, inaccurate and contribute nothing constructive.

    Put a gold GT outlined in white and navy on that honeycomb helmet, and we have a winner.

    Reading that article about GT combinations, they indicated that there would be the GT logo on the honeycomb helmet. FYI

    That should look fantastic with the logo on it. Too plain on its own, but should look great with the logo breaking it up.

    I love the Croatia-esque look for Bishop LeBlond HS.

    Too bad that jersey will be illegal next season. The other team in the picture is in dark uniforms and the NFHS has decreed in soccer that one team MUST be in white jerseys and socks without any contrasting trim colors starting in the fall of 2013. I believe shorts may be any color.

    I live 3 blocks from LeBlond and and that is the first time I have seen them. I think they look cool, all except for the purple anyway.

    Saw some tweets from Ohio State’s beat writer yesterday suggesting that OSU may have some uni tweeks in the offing. Urban Meyer wouldn’t go into details, only to say that its nothing major. They hinted at darker gray pants. Meyer did say that the changes were between Nike and the higher ups. One of those higher ups mentioned was Archie Griffin so I feel confident that Nike won’t just take charge and make them too crazy. Its not unusual for the uniform to change slightly when a new coach comes to town. Bruce, Cooper and Tressel all had minor changes to the look when they took over. If not right away, then shortly after.

    Rumors of possible slight change to Ohio State unis with Urban Meyer. According to message boards.

    * Meyer seemed to indicate Ohio State uniforms will be slightly different this year. Possibly a darker shade of gray?

    * He said Nike met with his leadership committee. He didn’t care what they decided as long as they didn’t change tradition.

    * The one condition was that any changes had to be approved by Archie Griffin and other former Ohio State players.

    LOL I don’t have the money for the jagoff sign today, since I recently opened an account with eharmony.com. But if its still up in a couple of weeks I’d consider it. Good find.

    “I don’t have the money for the jagoff sign today, since I recently opened an account with eharmony.com.”

    ~~~

    what?

    As a HS/College official we umpires get particular about our bags. I have 6 4 Softball/2 Baseball. I am a 2 bagger with usually 6 balls total for BB. 4 for SB. I always have to have an even number of BB’s or SB’s on my right hand bag, superstitious. I never have food in mine, but heard a Major League story that the first person to wear 2 bags in the majors was so he could keep his snacks in one of them. I have to modify my SB bags so i can use a larger lineup card holder. Most companies will sell ball bags of all cloth, but some are coming with nylon backing so you can stay dry.You also need to color coordinate your bags with what shirt you are wearing. You always want to look sharp.

    Let us all praise the ball sack. Have to assume that it’s only the name itself that has prevented the ball sack from becoming a branding billboard. I mean, it’s the most literally billboard-shaped thing on the diamond, a large rectangle of unmarked fabric. And yet we don’t see ball sacks in bright corporate colors, or with giant swooshes or whatnot. Those things could be Nike chartreuse with an 8-inch carbon-fiber-gray-honeycomb swoosh. But they’re not.

    Maybe Nike could invent improved ball-gripping fabric lining so that a full ball sack doesn’t risk spilling out when the ump runs up the line to make a call. Plus, you know, mesh panels to wick moisture. Because everything on a playing field needs those.

    How about if umpires start wearing things (clips?) to hold the spare balls on their back belt (like tennis’ Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario used to wear) The average umpire could probably fit 6 balls across their back, and the more rotund umpires, maybe 8 to 10.

    link

    Then they wouldn’t have to worry about their balls falling out of their sacks & the ball boys could see when they get low on balls.

    The umpire’s arm sleeve seems to have some padding on the top of the forearm. I could have used one of those when I umpired Little League; foul tips really stung when they got you there.

    I’d assume that major league foul tips of that sort are really painful, and that umpire suffered one too many.

    I never even thought of that. It definitely makes sense; when the same umpire was on the bases for the next game, he didn’t have it on. I don’t know what this crew’s next assignment is, but it’d be interesting to see if he’s wearing it again the next time he’s behind Home.

    I know it didn’t come through in the crummy screnshot, but it’s a Phiten product (that little white blur on it is their logo, which was a lot clearer in the actual video). I assumed it was some kind of giant “titanium energy-boosting forearm brace” or something, like their bracelets and necklaces and stuff.

    I like how the “Who” and “I Don’t Know” have the scorekeeper’s positions on the numerals. I got the names right off and then it hit me. Very clever uni!

    By the clues we’re picking up for the Nets’ uniform, that’s turning into one of my favorites in the NBA. BTW, I won’t give the Knicks a pass on their GFGS.

    I’d give the Knicks a pass on GFGS, except for the new Nets unis. If a crosstown rival suddenly remakes itself in stark black and white, then it’s self-inflicted brandicide to wrap yourself up in gray. You’ve just been ceded the entire color spectrum! Use color!

    From what we’ve heard, the Houston homecoming uniforms won’t necessarily be a throwback like last year, but rather a non-standard uniform. I’ve heard it will be, wait for it, grey. We are also going to have a major uniform overhaul after we decide on our new provider in conjunction with joining the Big East/opening our new stadium.

    if the nets unis have that stripe down the side of the pants and the shirt, thats a BIG plus.

    I’m probably in the minority on this but I’ve never liked color on color. It reminds me of old electric football games that included plastic generic teams and both teams were color on color. I’ve always thought it looked cheap.

    no mention of Notre Dame now having gold in their grey facemasks.

    also rumored that USC will have a similar touch in their grey facemasks as well.

    photos posted on Uni-Watch Twitter page yesterday

    I like the idea of that Georgia Tech helmet. I mentioned yesterday that Virginia Tech’s “turkey foot” helmet is fun, and so is this one. I wish more school’s would be creative like this. I would much rather see a school incorporate an artistic design using school colors, rather than taking their existing helmet (or jersey, etc.) and making them black or gray.

    Maybe these are all unintended consequences of the Maryland eyesores from last year… other schools are thinking, “well maybe we can do something that’s outside of the box like that, but maybe not as far outside the box”

    Yeah, I didn’t necessarily hate the Maryland stuff, just the fact they had so many combinations. The fun designs lose their luster when they are anything more than a one-off. A school needs to pick a basic home and away uniform, IMO; then throw in an occasional alternate. Oregon being Oregon is their gimmick, but anybody else doing it is tiring.

    Like so many things, moderation is the key to these being “good” or “fun”, and not just plain stupid.

    The International Cat Video Festival is at the Walker Art Center here in Minneapolis tonight.

    Now there’s some news.

    I guarantee that there’s no other blog with “Cat Video’s” and “Ball Sacks” on the same screen.

    “I guarantee that there’s no other blog with “Cat Video’s” and “Ball Sacks” on the same screen.

    ~~~

    at least not one that is SFW

    this has got to be a concept. everyone on the auburn team would have to wear a visor. look how shiny that thing is.

    That is a concept given to the guy holding it. He took part in some football camp, and as a gift, the guy hosting it, gave all the kids a helmet. He just happened to get that one.

    Don’t worry they aren’t real, I don’t have a link for you but I read a story about it. Its a helmet they give away to certain players at a certain camp, this particular player got an Auburn version of it

    They put the Tattoos and Tramp Stamps on the MacFarlane Figures! Is there ANY escape from the hip-trash aspect of pro sports, other than tuning it out altogether? Thank Heavens that Dl Hovan never rated a MacFarlane Icon. You could use it for a scarecrow ….

    On a lighter not, including the tattoos as a detail is sort of like an equivalent to Kramer drivng the passenger bus and making all the stops along the way to the hospital to save that lady’s cut-off pinkie toe!

    My alma mater, Saint Norbert College, will also be playing in Ireland before the ND/Navy game. Their normal helmets have a fleur-de-lis on them, but they’ve “Irished” up the decal for the game.

    link

    and I hate it when the game gets held up! Most umpires do – we want the pace of every game to flow smoothly and uninterruptedly.

    Let’s hope you never have to call a Yankees/Red Sox game…

    Good article on a piece of equipment most of us never even consider.

    As for that link my first thought was, “Hmm, don’t know if I’d wear that.” Upon further review, I determined that’s because I don’t like the logo or its placement. Put a different logo down lower and I’d wear that.

    I like the numbers being separated and placed on the collar bone area. Don’t think I’ve ever seen that until now.

    ?I like the numbers being separated and placed on the collar bone area.”

    Something of a challenge for numbers 1-9, though.

    “Let’s hope you never have to call a Yankees/Red Sox game”

    If those games get any longer Jerry Lewis will be hosting them.

    So I know the story about the Mets’ color scheme deriving from the blue of the Dodgers and the orange of the Giants, but aren’t the Mets’ colors the same as those of the Flag of New York City? Isn’t that why the Knicks’ colors are what they are?

    Islanders don’t play in confines of NYC but Nassau County flag is orange and blue none the less.

    I think it’s an urban legend that the mets took the Dodgers/Giants colors. I’m more inclined to believe they chose the colors because they’re the official colors of NYC.

    I love me some tasty Chick Fil A sandwiches anytime I can get ’em! Love ’em even more as of late.

    [YosemiteSamVoice]
    Wooo bigotry! Goes on a chicken sandwich like ketchup on fries. DEEEEEE-lish! Slather it on like Bar Bee Kyew sauce on a rack a ribs.

    mmmmm MMMMM is that good.[/YosemiteSamVoice]


    You stupidity and trolling aside, that stupid fucking chicken sandwich place is called “douchebags” here not for their morally reprehensible and constitutionally indefensible position on marriage, but rather have been taken to task here for years for their terrible corporate sponsorship practices and their litigious streak against artist.

    But don’t let facts get in the way of a good troll.

    I am active in politics, I love sports, and I love food. I will patronize and eat at any place that I find good – regardless of their politics.

    I happen to believe in “live andd let live”, and I do not oppose same sex marriage, but I will eat at Chick-Fil-A, and more importantly, my daughters insist upon eating at Chick-Fil-A. Like Jules from “Pulp Fiction”, I guess that kind of makes me a chicken sandwich guy. You take on the task of attempting to please my kids. Be my friggin guest. You’ll know better after 20 minutes.

    I try to seperate my politics from my business from my eating. Part of Civility is living on the same planet with people that vote opposite of what I like, and still being able to walk past or with them on the same sidewalks, follow or go before them in the same bathrooms, and eat next to them in a restaurant.

    If the crazy insane Kill-All-The-White-Peoples’ 25 yr old know-it-all grad student’s mom has a good restaurant, and her food is good, and I’m reasonably certain that I will not be poisoned (venues allowing to see into the kitchen helps) then I’ll go there. I have never heard of anyone being poisoned in any restaurant yet.

    Live and let live. That’s life. That’s all it is.

    Eat food that tastes good, I get that.

    But I refuse to eat at Chick- Fil-A because I got violently ill the only two times I ate their food.

    Haven’t had it since December 2002 and wont ever have it again in my life (Seriously, my roommates and I had over 20 free chicken sandwich coupons in the summer 2010 and I used precisely 0).

    Color was invented by Chick-fil-a in 1998. This is their problem with the gays, they took the rainbow as their symbol and chick-fil-a wants their colors back.

    I get more bored every time I see leaks of the Nets uniform. HOVA will not be accused of overdesigning this one.

    The Orioles are wearing their orange alternates today. Usually they’re only worn on Saturday home games. Is this the first non-Saturday game they’ve worn them for?

    It looks to me like Jim Harbaugh did his own D.I.Y. with his favorite sweater. Does the NFL require a team logo on coach apparel?

    My guess is the 49er logo patch was cut out from last seasons Reebok sweater and attached to his Nike Stanford sweater covering the ‘S’

    link

    We can only hope…..and Jeffrey Loria should be banned from ever being able to purchase a sports franchise…..(in my opinion – not saying change laws…..I know how testy some folks are on here lately)

    link

    You forget that Loria was allowed to dump the Expos on MLB and purchase the Marlins from John Henry. Whose group won the bidding to purchase the Red Sox from the Yawkey Trust, despite not being the high bidder (putting the trustees at legal hazard for a breach of fiduciary duty lawsuit).

    Montréal is a worthy baseball city, and justice all but screams that they get a new team. I don’t see it coming until the pool of players can support 32 teams (it barely supports 30 right now). Perhaps when Cuba has a free, democratic government.

    There are a couple of great photos of one of the San Francisco Seals’ uniforms being worn at the end of the photo gallery in a Seals Stadium retrospective posted today at sfgate.com:

    link

    The GT helmet made me smile when someone alerted me to it – I designed something similar for a corn-themed team in one of my fake leagues a while back.

    link

    Very interesting post today Paul. I’ve never really thought of why umpires have multiple ball bags or not, how many balls they carry in each bag, etc. So, I learned something new today.

    I absolutely despise the Georgia Tech honeycomb/golf ball helmet. They should definitely go back to their 1990’s look. I do like the link for Arizona State’s uniform voting, maybe Oregon will start doing that for every single game every year if they keep all of these uniform combinations coming in.

    That 3rd kit for Tottenham is disgusting. It reminds me of my Reds away kit: link. Since when has gray/black become such a prevalent color option for many sports teams? I can understand the idea behind color neutrality and all, but only a few teams can pull it off well enough that it looks good.

    Last but not least, corporate douchebaggery does define Chick-Fil-A as much as the term would define Coca-Cola and McDonald’s.

    Awesome Catch of the Day! I visited the Superdome 20 years ago, and somewhere in the building they had a miniature of the building, and it was either made out of pennies, or the top of wit was covered in pennies. It was pretty cool, I wonder if it’s still there.

    Nah, the coins are all gone. Damn kids used ’em up on the penny pony when they became Katrina evacuees.

    On a related note, I recall there being a CN Tower model made of Lego at the real CN Tower, probably in the gift shop. This was about 30 years ago so I doubt that it’s still there.

    Great Manny Mota “Expos” baseball card photo in ESPN article today on remaining Montreal Expos fans:
    Photo: link
    Article: link (picture is half way down)

    Little off topic here. My 10 year old son is starting to play travel baseball. We have the team name…”Elite”, but we need a professionally done logo. We need it ASAP, like yesterday. Would love for one of you skilled graphic designers to help us out. We can’t pay but would gladly provide you with a tshirt or hat. Please let me know if anyone can help. Thanks a lot.

    According to local sports reporter, Purdue players have talked of a helmet sticker to honor Neil Armstrong. Not enough time for this week’s game, but shooting for their game vs Notre Dame on 9/8.

    Wow, the Art Heyman ticker note brought me back to going to Tracy J’s Watering Hole on 19th St. in Manhattan. He did the whole glad-handing Jake LaMotta thing there as a greeter/host, would saddle up to the bar, slap you on the back, make sure you were having a good time. I didn’t know who the hell he was at the time, but he felt like he came out of a time machine. RIP, Art.

    I think I can conclude that the Nike sleeve treatment is better than the Reebok sleeve treatment on the Jets jerseys. Reebok always had the shoulder inserts too high and too vertical, resulting in too much white on the sleeve (of the green jersey, and vice-versa) and the jersey looking too much like a vest. The shoulder stripes here appear angled outward when viewed chest-on, and you can actually see the shoulder stripe and green shoulder when viewed sideways-on. Much better. Not as good as the Starter jerseys from 1998, but I like it.

    I’m still concerned that the shade of green is wrong, but I’ll have to see the jerseys in person to be sure. Overall the Jets look nice. If they’ve ditched the green pants and start wearing the proper socks with the white jerseys, they’ll be all set.

    “If they’ve ditched the green pants and start wearing the proper socks with the white jerseys, they’ll be all set.”

    ~~~

    they do wear the proper socks

    but…if you insist on them having more green on top…then they need to wear green stirrups with white stripes like they did when you won your only super bowl

    the solid green hose should only be worn with the green jerseys

    I don’t think so; I think those white socks with the two green stripes were meant for the green pants. I think they wore the solid green topped socks only from 98-02. Will check. But the old socks (green top w/ white stripes) would be even better.

    I was right; check out link. From 75-77 and 98-01 they wore solid green-topped socks only. The white socks coincided with the green pants in 02.

    didn’t say they never wore them

    but they don’t belong with the white tops

    they can wear them with the green tops, AT HOME, like they should

    Allright, well, I disagree. I don’t like the white socks with the white pants. A white unitard is not much better than a solid-colored unitard (stripes notwithstanding). The green-topped socks look much better; they break up the white leg and nicely balance with the green sleeves. Plus, I don’t care for the green pants in the first place and the white socks were made for, and therefore belong with, the green pants only. The Jets never wore socks like that until the green pants came along (first in 1990, then again in 2002). Kind of like the late, unlamented Mets black two-tone cap; it was made for and belonged with the black jerseys only, but they decided to wear it with the whites, grays and pins even though it didn’t match and didn’t look good.

    Vandy hostiong South Carolina in their SEC opener.

    Vandy wearing disgusting Black Monochrome look – Everything Black. Oh yeah, but it “looks tough” ….
    Just like any East Panhandle State Consolidated Regional Jackass Junior College JV team would ever hope to wear.

    I usually pull for the underdog in such games – where I’m not connected to any team, which usually means that I’d be pulling for Vandy anytime there were on TV. The Black monochrome makes it hard for me to do.

    Maybe Chattanooga has their Old Gold jerseys back ….

    Not sure if anyone mentioned it yesterday, but Tottenham released a new 3rd kit…

    link

    Under Armour is really setting the bar high with innovation *rolls eyes* the kit could be worse, I guess.

    Think that Georgia Tech honeycomb will show up on TV? I don’t, especially when the GT logo is applied (hopefully in gold). I hope they’ll add two navy stripes around the middle gold stripe. That wouldn’t look too bad. I still hate the black facemasks.

    Tech is being real coy about whether there will be new unis, though several previous reports seem to think so. It is just like GT to keep them hidden (while most teams publicize thier new unis. GT probably doesn’t want to deal with all the complaints for the usually crapy uni.

    It’s supposed to be a surprise to the players (much like what UMD did for their opening game last year, practice in the regular ones, then come out wearing the new ones).

    There’s also the fact that the original source stated that they weren’t sure whether they would be able to have the entire set by the time the season started, with the possibility of introducing the other jerseys next year.

    Jason Wilde, ESPNWisconsin senior NFL writer, tweeted that Graham Harrell was wearing a Reebok jersey at some point during the game tonight. He said a KC player ripped his first jersey, and there may not have been a back up. No pictures online yet, and to be honest I was not watching this pre-season game. I know, I am a bad shareholder. Harrell is wearing a Nike one now. I will try and find out more details.

    False alarm. Harrell is not wearing a Nike jersey. His got ripped, and had no back up, so he is wearing a Reebok jersey with the logo blacked out. Obviously you can see the logo coming through. I am at work and have no way to take a screen shot. Any one else watching the Packer game get a picture?

    Photo confirmation… kind of. You can obviously tell there is no Nike logo on the sleeve, but it is hard to see that it is a blacked out reebok logo.

    link

    Apparently Marco Scuturo was wearing the giants Sunday alternate for a portion of the game tonight. Might be able to grab a screen grab.

    Apparently Marco Scuturo was wearing the giants Sunday alternate for a portion of the game tonight. Might be able to grab a screen grab. He started the game with right uniform and at somepoint switched to the Sunday alt then switched back. Giants announcers caught it but I don’t have the time to watch the entire game.

    The “GT” logo will be added to the helmet when it will be prepared for game use. The Buzz logo is unlikely. The school has sought to use the “GT” mark as its primary brand over the Buzz logo.

    ____________________________________

    That will look great. GT needs to keep these new helmets.

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