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By Kris Gross, on May 25th, 2018 
[Editor’s Note: Paul is on vacation and will return on May 30. Deputy editor Phil Hecken is running the site until then. Today we have our own Kris Gross covering yesterday’s big MLB/Uni News]
By Kris Gross
THE SWOOSH IS COMING.
In news announced today by SportsBusiness Daily, Under Armour is out as the official on-field apparel provider of Major League Baseball’s future, and Nike is in. Under Armour was supposed to take over in 2020 with the on-field rights, but financial issues have caused UA to back out of the deal. Under Armour will save around $50 million by relinquishing the rights.
You didn’t think MLB would let all that money disappear, did you? And that’s where Nike stepped in. According to a source cited in the SportsBusiness Daily article, the deal with Nike is about 80% finished. You can look for an official announcement of the partnership during July’s All Star festivities in DC.
The “UA” logo was going to appear on the chest of all MLB uniforms, but that is likely to be filled by the swoosh now. We don’t know for sure what the jerseys will look like, but see below for some college teams with the maker’s mark front and center.
Currently, Majestic makes both the on-field and retail jerseys, but that comes to an end in 2020. Nike will provide the on-field product, while Fanatics will handle the retail side.
We are wading into dangerous territory here people. It won’t be long until most fans no longer even think about the Nike logo on the front of the jersey, leading to an easier acceptance of advertising that is no doubt on its way. I guess we’re past the point where we can hope for clean, ad free jerseys. But Nike, please, can we at least get jerseys that seem to be properly made?
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The Ticker
By Kris Gross
Baseball News: The Royals have unveiled the uniforms they’ll wear on Turn Ahead the Clock Night on June 30 (from Sean Patton). … No logo creep? Phillies manager Gabe Kapler Gets It (from Kyle Caffrey). … A poll was taken on the Facebook broadcast of yesterday’s Blue Jays’ game, asking fans which logo they like best (from Steven Schapansky). … This news has been a long time coming, but it turns out that a change in the baseball resulted in a spike in home runs since 2015 (from Todd Meisner). … Following up on yesterday’s Ticker item about the Orioles Old English B, Jeff Wilk has made a discovery. Head to the :27 mark of this Getty Images footage, where we see the Old English B on an Orioles helmet. Great find! … The Rangers became the first team in MLB history with two players with hyphenated last names in the starting lineup (from David S). … The Orioles will have “University Nights” with school-colored O’s caps beginning in August (from Andrew Cosentino). … Don’t let the Mascot Hall of Fame lie to you. Mr. Met was not the first MLB mascot (from Nelson Warwick). … Come for Ken Rosenthal’s piece on how MLB is changing how it commemorates Memorial Day (Athletic link), stay for his Uni Watch shoutout. … Dustin Pedroia went high cuffed during his appearance with Triple-A Pawtucket (from @josh_claywell). … This hideous Alex Rodriguez/Michael Young frankenjersey was spotted at Wednesday night’s Rangers’ game (from Eric Patetta). … The Rochester Red Wings become the Hop Bitters tomorrow. … Speaking of the Red Wings, we’ve got some bike shorts action (from Will Musto). … New lid for the Portland Pickles (from Tessa Sainz). … The Potomac Nationals will give away Trea Turner road runner bobbleheads tomorrow night. … Michigan State players turned the Michigan logo upside down in the Spartan dugout at yesterday’s Big Ten tourney game (from @sponmedome). … Good thing UA’s not taking over the MLB contract? “Cal baseball pants have stripes that start at the waist and go down to the thigh,” says John Furstenthal. “Cal softball pants have stripes that start at the thigh and go down to the bottom. Same school, different shortened pants striping pattern. Strange.”
NFL News: The league told Bill Belichick that players have to wear numbers in OTAs, so he gave rookie RB Sony Michel No. 51, which he of course won’t wear during the regular season (thanks Brinke). … Set aside three minutes to watch rookies attempt to draw their team’s logo (from John Sabol). … Speaking of, Fan Juicer surveyed over 1,400 fans to rank NFL logos (from Peter Quinn). … The Packers are selling these sweet retro jackets in conjunction with their 100th season (from Johnny O). … Rockets F/G Gerald Green got the Oilers logo braided into his hair. … Tell me if you saw this one coming: the radios used during the Watergate break-in were disguised as NFL-branded Chapstick tubes (from Tim Shriver).
College Football News: Alternate uniforms inbound for Iowa State (from @cylinen). … Adidas has created Turnover Chain shoes for Miami head coach Mark Richt (from Adam Apatoff). … New helmets for Southside High School in Fort Smith, AR (from George Mitchell).
Hockey News: The Coyotes will unveil their third jersey at a draft viewing party on June 22 (from Richard Morin). … The Washington Post has collected the best custom fan jerseys from the Caps season so far (from Mark Smith). … James Moser was on vacation in Detroit and found this Pistons/Red Wings logo mashup.
NBA News: The Rockets wore Santa Fe High School patches last night (from Max DeFilippis). … Also posted in the NFL section: Rockets F/G Gerald Green got the Oilers logo braided into his hair. … Also posted in the hockey section: James Moser was on vacation in Detroit and found this Red Wings/Pistons logo mashup.
Soccer News: You can see what kits all 32 World Cup teams will wear here. … Louisville City FC wore their away kits at home for their US Open Cup game on Wednesday night (from Josh Hinton). … George Chilvers passed on this kit and needs help identifying it. “We think it’s a football shirt, but to our knowledge it’s not a national team shirt.” Any ideas? … Here’s some notes from our own Jamie Rathjen: Chelsea Ladies are changing their name to Chelsea FC Women. … New primary kits for Atlético Madrid and Athletic Bilbao. … More new kits for Scottish Championship team Inverness CT, with the reveal coming at Loch Ness!. … Counting is hard for Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC (from Josh Hinton).
Grab Bag: The Burnaby Lakers of the Western Lacrosse Association have white nameplates with black lettering this year, a change from white letters last season (from Wade Heidt). … Indianapolis 500 driver Oriol Servia’s helmet is causing controversy (from Todd Usher).
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By Phil Hecken, on May 24th, 2018 
[Editor’s Note: Paul is on vacation and will return on May 30. Deputy editor Phil Hecken is running the site until then.]
By Phil Hecken
Late last evening, during their “State of the Franchise” event, the San Francisco 49ers unveiled a new alternate uniform set — which is a throwback to the throwback they wore during their 1994 Super Bowl Championship season. That year, you’ll recall, the team wore both red (at home) and white (on the road) jerseys as the NFL was celebrating its own 75th Anniversary Season. Those unis looked like this:
Yesterday’s uniform introduction brings back the white jersey of the 1994 (which itself was a throwback to the 1955) set. Here’s how the Niners introduced it…
The uniforms are pretty clean and simple. White jerseys with three red stripes on the shoulder caps, red numbers with black drop shadow, white pants with a red/black/red stripe down the side. Basically an exact duplicate of the 1994 throwbacks. The one major change, unfortunately, has to do with a very stupid NFL gimmick: Color Rash. The 1994 uniforms had red undersocks. These, in order to meet the monochrome mandate of color rash, will have white socks. It’s not a bad look (if there is one monochrome look I like, it’s an all-white one), but it’s not the same as having the red socks.
The new throwbacks replace the dreadful all-black uniforms the 49ers wore for color rash outfits the past couple seasons. In this sense, these are a VAST improvement.
Here’s more looks at the unis:
 
Yeah, I know — seeing Richard Sherman in a 49ers uniform is pretty jarring. Get used to it.
Quarterbacks, of course, get a slightly different cut for the jersey. And the 49ers even brought back a legend to model the unis (and he looks like he could still catch 20 TDs and get 1,000 yards receiving):
I like what the 49ers are doing — and they have the New York Football Giants as a model — creating a throwback uniform that satisfies the ridiculous Color Rash parameters. Interestingly, both teams made the all white uniform the designated CR uni. I’m not 100% certain if the team will wear the uniform just once or more (and with red socks?).
Here’s a slightly more detailed look at the elements:
The helmet itself is the same shell (due to the one helmet rule), but with two differences: a throwback decal and a throwback nose bumper:
You can see more photos here. You can see video of the event here.
OK. I like these a lot. Interestingly enough, I didn’t especially like them when the team introduced them (and then proceeded to win the Super Bowl) back in 1994. But nostalgia has a way of wearing off on one, and I must confess, I’m pleased with this (re)incarnation. But even better is the fact that the team finally ditched that awful BFBS uni (which the team wore with red socks in a non-CR usage). So in that sense, this is also addition by subtraction.
Your thoughts?
Big thanks go out to our own Brinke Guthrie and Roger Hacker, Director of Corporate Communications at the 49ers, for his help with the images.
The Ticker
By Alex Hider
Baseball News: As the C-Flap becomes more popular with Big Leaguers, Little Leaguers have begun copying their favorite players — so much so, that Little League Baseball is sending emails to parents asking them not to install C-Flaps onto helmets, as the modifications could void manufacturers’ warranties (from Brian Rowland). … The Red Sox will give away Mensch on a Bench bobbleheads on June 5 (from Phil). … William F. Yurasko stumbled upon this video of the Senators Opening Day in 1955. The video appears to show manager Paul Richards wearing a cap with what appears to be an Old English “B.” Marc Okkonen’s database makes no mention of this cap. Anyone know anything about it? … Good photo of Red Sox legends Ted Williams and Johnny Pesky boxing during Navy training during WWII (from James Gilbert). … Padres P Cory Spangenberg’s name was so long, scoreboard operators at Nats Park needed to render it in a smaller font (from David Raglin). … A Mexican restaurant in LA sells T-shirts inspired by both the Angels and the Dodgers (from Chris Cruz). … The Portland Sea Dogs will wear Iwo Jima jerseys on Memorial Day (from Ryan Rudman). … The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp will wear fauxbacks on May 31 for ’90s night (from Phil). … The New Jersey Jackals of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball have a new scoreboard (from John Cerone). … Houston Baptist University will wear Santa Fe High School caps during their conference tournament this week to honor the victims of last week’s school shooting (from Steven Key). … The American flags on the sleeve’s of Baylor’s jerseys are backwards, per the flag code (from Shannon Breaud). … VCU has some big ol’ numbers (from Greg Pitts). … Roy High School in Utah is poaching the Yankees logo (from Brice Wallace). … Jake Yergert recently visited the Colorado History Museum’s “Play Ball” exhibit, which has some great uni-related stuff. He took a ton of photos for your viewing pleasure, which you can find here. … The 2018 MLB Draft logo suffers from an apostrophe catastrophe (good spot by Joe Baka).
NFL News: The NFL has signed a deal that Fanatics to make all team merchandise, including jerseys, for the next 10 years. Even though Fanatics will be making the jerseys, they’ll still carry the Nike logo, and Nike will continue to make on-field jerseys (from Richard Hindle). … Someone put together a GFGS concept for the Dophins (from Phil). … NFL owners have agreed to adopt a policy that will allow for teams to be fined if players make political demonstrations during the national anthem, and will also allow for players to stay off the field during ceremony. … The 49ers and Jets were the only two teams whose owners did not vote for the proposal. [I have two new favorite owners — PH] In fact, Jets chairman Christopher Johnson said he will pay any fines for players who choose not to stand!
Hockey News: We have our first look of what the Stanley Cup Finals patch will look like on the Golden Knights’ home and road jerseys (from Moe Khan). … Speaking of the Kinghts, here’s a good recap of that copyright standoff between them and the Army (from Dave Kottler). … New uniforms for Bay High School (Ohio) (from Phil). … Rheingeist, a brewery in my hometown of Cincinnati, makes good beer in bitchin’ cans. Turns out those bitchin’ cans make one bitchin’ hockey sweater.
NBA News: The Rockets will welcome survivors of the Santa Fe High School shooting at their next home playoff game and wear a ribbon on their jerseys to honor the victims (from Ignacio). … I think we missed this last week: At the NBA Draft Lottery, Nick Gilbert, son of Cavs owner Dan Gilbert, wore a bow tie made out of a piece of the floor the Cavs played on during their 2016 championship season (from James Gilbert).
Soccer News: Two new 2018-19 kits for Scottish Championship team Ross County (from our own Jamie Rathjen). … Couple of kit leak updates from Josh Hinton: Southampton’s 2018-19 third kit (also from Chris Morris) and Arsenal’s 2018-19 sleeve advertiser (also from Moe Khan). … Here’s a ranking of all the kits that will be worn during this year’s World Cup (from Phil). … This may have been ticked before, but every year since 2012 (including this year’s kit), the Canadian National Team has included stitching that mimics the soundwave made when singing the first line of “O Canada.” (from Ryan Farrar).
Grab Bag: For Goodyear’s annual salute to the U.S. military, all tires at this weekend’s race in Charlotte will be branded with “Support Our Troops” instead of the customary “Eagle.” … The Marines sent Lids a cease-and-desist letter asking them to stop using their name to sell camo baseball jerseys (from WB Young). … Friend of the site Todd Radom did an interview with the Chicago Tribune about his new book, which you should totally pick up (from Jerry Kulig). … Here’s an all-inclusive “ugliest uniforms in sports” ranking (from Phil). … Etihad Stadium, a stadium just outside of Melbourne, Australia, is being renamed Marvel Stadium in partnership with the comic book brand (from William Blevins). … Apparently the Golf Channel had been using the wrong “Block A” for the Arizona Wildcats. That changed yesterday (from Selena Castillo).
By Paul Lukas, on May 23rd, 2018 
[Editor’s Note: Paul is on vacation until May 30. Today we have a guest entry from Brad Eenhuis, who’s going to fill us in on a DIY project he recently completed. Enjoy.]
By Brand Eenhuis
I love jerseys from all sports and love basketball shorts as well. In the past, I would take my ideas for custom shorts to a local seamstress and have her sew them for me. I hated waiting for my stuff, worrying that they might not get all of my little details correct, and it was also getting expensive. So I recently took a couple of sewing lessons from a local shop and stole my Mom’s sewing machine, which hadn’t been used since the 1980s, from her basement.
I’ve put my new skills to work with a few DIY projects. This is my latest one, and while it’s not perfect, I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
Here’s the deal: I’ve always loved the Phoenix Suns’ old shorts from the 1970s and ’80s. Loved the half-sunburst on the side — just thought it was cool. I could never find them available for purchase, so I decided to make them myself.
Surprisingly enough, it took several months of trips to Goodwill to finally find a pair of plain white shorts:
For the graphics, I was going to buy tackle twill, since it’s the easiest to cut and sew, but I didn’t want to weigh the shorts down (plus I wasn’t sure if I could actually do this project successfully, so I didn’t want to spend a lot of money on tackle twill, which usually runs $15 a yard). So I decided to use material from other clothes at Goodwill, using lightweight dry-fit material. Luckily, Goodwill sorts stuff by color, and they have half-price items each week . So I got an orange dry-fit golf shirt and a purple dry-fit workout short for my fabric. The whole project came in at under $10.
That was the good news. But I found that cutting and sewing dry-fit was a challenge. Nothing wants to cut nice and neat. Still, I managed to cut out the sun, the outline, and the “Suns” lettering, which was the most tedious part:
 The one mistake I made is that I left out the purple striping should have continued under the sunburst. I didn’t realize it until the shorts were complete, but I think they turned out great anyway:
 
Not perfect by any means, but I’m very pleased. Can’t beat $10, either. Now I’m looking for my next project.
• • • • • •• • • • • •The Ticker
By Alex Hider
Baseball News: Indians P Trevor Bauer wrote “BD 911” on the mound during last night’s game against the Cubs. There’s been a lot of speculation that the code means “Bush Did 9/11,” but Bauer says he wrote “BD 91.1,” which is “a personal thing of importance to me”(from Mike Chamernik). … Speaking of Bauer, his helmet decal was trying to come loose last night (from Derek Brownlee). … More from the Mariners’ upcoming Turn Ahead the Clock Night: A look back at the original TATC game and Ken Griffey Jr.’s influence on the uniforms (from Jeremy Brahm). … Astros players worked out in black T-shirts honoring the victims of the Santa Fe High School shooting yesterday (from Ignacio). … ESPN flipped the Red Sox and Orioles logos in one of their recent stories (from Andrew Cosentino). … The Sussex County Miners will wear Star Wars jerseys on June 9 (from John Cerone). … Also from John Cerone, the New Hampshire Fisher Cats will host Poutine Fest and wear Franco-American jerseys on June 23. … Mark Miller snagged this Aaron Judge bobblehead given away by the Stockton Ports. Judge grew up in the Stockton area, so he’s dressed in his Linden High School uniform — a school of which Mark is an alumnus! … Not sure if this was ticked yet or not, but the Hickory Crawdad wore pink for Mother’s Day two weekends ago (from Phil). … Vanderbilt’s Ethan Paul had a 3D batting helmet logo snafu during yesterday’s game (from Jonathan Schexnayder and Joe Moroney). … Former SEC Commissioner Mike Slive died last week. The conference is memorializing him with a sign at the SEC Baseball Tournament this week (from Phil). … Darien High School in Connecticut has some pretty clean uniforms and nice striped stirrups (from John Dankosky).
Football News: Looks like Vicis, who up until now has exclusively made football helmets, will now be working with the military (from Patrick O’Neill). … We have our first look at Johnny Manziel in a Hamilton Tiger-Cats uniform (from Griffin Smith). … This is a good feature on William & Mary’s equipment manager (from Tom Turner).
NFL News: The Niners are reportedly unveiling new throwback uniforms tonight. Phil will have the full recap in tomorrow’s edition. … Speaking of the Niners, rookie WR Dante Pettis was photographed in an old jersey with truncated sleeve stripes in Rookie Premier this weekend. Not only that, the Niners can’t even keep the jerseys consistent on their website (from Scott Seeger). … The Giants signed WR Russell Shepard yesterday, meaning there are now 10 sets of at least two players on the team that share a last name (from Bryan Prouse). … Former Rams DE Robert Quinn was traded to the Dolphins this offseason, so this camp flier got creative to photoshop him in Miami colors (from Brian Spiess). … Speaking of the Dolphins, looks like they got practice jerseys to match their new jerseys (from Zachary Cintron and @Frankie__Doodle). … Pittsburgh Central Catholic’s logo seems to be inspired by both the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears (from Mark R. Hirschfeld). …
Hockey News: The Memorial Cup, awarded annually to Canada’s top junior hockey team, is celebrating its 100th season this year, so “100” was painted on the ice behind the net (from Wade Heidt). … The ECHL’s newest team is the Newfoundland Growlers. … A Minnesota company, Elevate Hockey, is making hockey sticks with multiple bends in them, which is supposed to allow for more leverage, a quicker release and a faster shot (from Mike Chamernik). … Lots of patches for the Acadie-Bathurst Titan (from @burkeman78).
Soccer News: Brandi Chastain was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame on Monday, and just like Ronaldo’s statue, her plaque doesn’t bear much resemblance (from Kary Klismet). … Spanish club Sevilla has signed an apparel deal with Nike (from Josh Hinton). … Adidas will continue to sponsor the UEFA Champions League until 2021. That mostly means they’ll continue to make the league’s official game ball. … More from Josh Hinton: Wil Ohler, a St. Louis high school goalkeeper with leukemia, is accepting donations of soccer balls to donate to other sick children with a passion for soccer. “What I thought was interesting, aside the awesome charitable act, was the variety of brands and balls that he received,” Josh said. More on Wil here.
Grab Bag: Robert Indiana, a famed pop artist and the man who designed the famous basketball floor at Milwaukee’s MECCA Arena, died Saturday at 89 (from Adam Herbst). … If you miss NFL helmet carts, maybe racing helmet carts can help scratch that itch. Here it is in action (from Arwien Reza and Jake Young). … This is what USA Lacrosse will be wearing in the world championships later this year (from Dan Siegel and María Canales).
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By Paul Lukas, on May 22nd, 2018 
[Editor’s Note: Paul is on vacation until May 30. Today we have guest entry from Ticker assistant Anthony Emerson, who’s going to fill us in on a notable chapter in soccer uniform history.]
By Anthony Emerson
In 1995, Manchester United was on top of the world. Fresh off a runners-up campaign the Premier League in the 1994-95 season (having won the title in 1992-93 and 1993-94), they had some of the most popular players in the world in Eric Cantona and Brian McClair, as well as some special youngsters who would soon become world-famous, including David Beckham and Ryan Giggs. And although nobody realized it at the start of the season, 1995 would also see United pull off an unprecedented uniform maneuver.
Naturally, a club as large and popular as United knew the growing power of kits in the 1990s. New printing techniques and the explosion of the replica kit market led to some of wildest and most famous designs in football history, many of them geared toward retail sales. So, it should be no surprise that Manchester United’s 1995-96 away kit was specifically designed to be worn with jeans.
The kit (shown above) was a grey number with a darker grey shorts. The front of the kit featured a graphite polo collar and stripes. It was the typical 1990s mishmash of design elements, but it wouldn’t have looked out of place on the floors of Manchester’s famous nightclubs.
The team itself, however, went on a bad run in the kits, losing the first match of the season despite David Beckham’s greatest ever goal. After the opening day defeat, United won five in a row and eight of ten in their traditional red-and-white kit before hitting a run of bad results in the grey:
• They fell on the road to Arsenal.
• Then they drew 1-1 against lowly Nottingham Forest, their only goal coming by way of a penalty.
• They lost to arch rivals Liverpool on Dec. 17, and the kit was mothballed for the next several months as United didn’t play any team that wore red at home, allowing United to wear red on the road.
The grey kits made their return, however, in a late-April match in Southampton. The sunshine was bright, and United altered the kit to include white shorts and white socks, rather than the darker grey.
United fell behind quickly and was trailing 3-0 just before halftime. United’s manager, the famously stern Scotsman Alex Ferguson, demanded the team change. As United player Lee Sharpe told The Guardian in 2006:
The manager just stormed in and said: “Get that kit off, you’re getting changed.” Those were the first words he said at half-time. I don’t think he liked the shirt anyway — our results had been poor whenever we wore it, and we certainly never played in it again.
Sharpe himself said he felt that the bright southern English sunshine dimmed the already drab grey and made United players unable to distinguish their teammates from the crowd.
In any case, United switched into the previous season’s third kit, a blue and white number. The kit was outfitted for the 1994-95 season; it had the golden Premier League Champions patch on each sleeve, as opposed to the black-and-white non-Champions patch on the grey kit.
United played markedly better in the second half, with Ryan Giggs scoring a late goal to make the score a more respectable 3-1. Whether it was the kits providing a new motivation or Southampton merely taking their foot off the gas (probably both), United left the match and the kits in the past. United won their remaining three matches to claim their third Premier League title in four seasons, lifting the trophy — in the blue and white kits
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United was fined £10,000 for the kit change (or nearly $25,000 i today’s money). Ferguson claimed in 2012 that “[i]t was the best £10,000 I’ve ever spent.” I’m not aware of any other team that has changed kits at halftime.
United’s next visit to Southampton, in the 1996-97 season, saw the return of the blue and white kits, but the results weren’t much better for Ferguson’s club. United lost, 6-3.
Of course, United went off for the remainder of Ferguson’s tenure at Manchester United, winning 10 more Premier League titles and a host of other honors, including two Champions League titles. However, United went the rest of Ferguson’s time at the helm — from 1996 to 2013 — without ever again wearing a stitch of grey.
This past season, however, United donned (horrendous) grey kits again, albeit rarely. The shirts include a silhouette of the United trinity statue outside of Old Trafford. The statue depicts United legends Denis Law, George Best, and Bobby Charlton, which is a nice nod to three of the club’s most important players, but makes for a weird dark-grey splotch on the kit. According to the impeccable resource UnitedKits.com, United wore this kit just eight times in all competitions, winning four times, drawing twice and losing twice (including in an embarrassing EFL Cup loss to lowly Bristol City) — a much better run than the last United grey kit, even with the loss to Bristol City.
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The Ticker
By Alex Hider
Baseball News: Yesterday, the Mariners unveiled their (throwback?) Turn Ahead The Clock jerseys that they’ll wear on June 30. … Mets P Jason Vargas started last night’s game by wearing an alternate cap with the team’s home jersey. He eventually put on the correct cap (from UK Mets). … Reds 1B Joey Votto pretended to flip down imaginary sunglasses — and flick them back up — Sunday while fielding a foul ball (from Mike Chamernik). … The Connecticut Tigers will play as the New England Lobster Rolls on July 14 (from Phil and Wayne A. Jones). … The Tacoma Rainiers wore rainbow uniforms last week. … The New Hampshire Fisher Cats will wear Teenaged Mutant Ninja Turtles jerseys on Nickelodeon Night on Saturday (from Phil). … The Hillsboro Hops unveiled a new powder blue jersey the other day (from Chase Stevens). … There’s a water taxi in Baltimore that is named after Cal Ripken Jr.’s consecutive game streak (from Andrew Cosentino). … Just a day after eight students and two teachers were killed in a school shooting, the Santa Fe High School (Texas) baseball team took the field wearing black T-shirts that read “Santa Fe Strong” and “10” on their right arms. Their opponent, Kingswood High School wore the shirts over their jerseys in a pregame prayer. There was also a tribute in the Santa Fe dugout made of tape, and Santa Fe players memorialized teammates and friends in their eye black (from Phil). … Last evening, Mets backstop Devin Mesoraco got hit on the elbow on a backswing from a Marlins player. About 2 innings later, he ended up wearing a compression sleeve to keep the swelling down (from Eli Ganias).
Football News: Looks like Massillon High School in Ohio will be wearing Oregon State-style helmets this season (from Brendon Yarian). … Southern has announced an apparel deal with Under Armour (from Phil).
NFL News: Jags rookie WR DJ Clark was photographed at the rookie symposium wearing the team’s old jersey — but with the new helmet (from Trip Ronon). … Looks like Falcons QB Matt Ryan is changing helmets (from Cody Adair). … Jets S Jamal Adams wore a cap with what looks to be a new logo in a recent Instagram photo. Anyone know anything about it? … 24/7 Sports ranked the best uniform combinations in Washington history (from Phil). … Here’s an extremely radical redesign for all 32 NFL teams (from Dan Tarrant). … Seattle Seahawk Marcus Johnson is the first Seahawk to wear the Schutt F7 helmet, which Michael Princip had a hand in designing!
Hockey News: The Golden Knights will not wear their inaugural season patch during the Stanley Cup Finals. The Finals patch will be used in its place (from Mike Chamernik). … A Target near Columbus was selling a Blue Jackets cap with “Washington Capitals” written on the brim (from Jonathon Sluss and Sean Golden). … Check out JT Miller’s hair sticking out of vent in his helmet (from Al N. Kreit). … UW favorite Wafflebored has now finished his awesome Edmonton Flyers sweater.
NBA News: At least one columnist suspects that legalized sports gambling will mean more ads on NBA jerseys, including the return of sleeved uniforms. I tend to think that more revenue from gambling would lead to less need for jersey ads, but I guess time will tell (from Todd Usher). … The Los Angeles Forum didn’t sign a naming rights deal until 1988. But David R. Truman‘s sports calendar still called the arena the “Great Western Forum” despite talking about a 1986 game.
College Hoops News: Not much has changed on the apparel-driven summer basketball circuit, despite an NCAA Commission’s recommendation to substantially reform Nike’s, Adidas’s and Under Armour’s influence on youth basketball. … These are the basketballs that Lavar Ball’s Junior Basketball Association will use when the league opens play next month (from Josh Hinton).
Soccer News: Couple of notes from Josh Hinton: Athletic Bilbao of La Liga had their 2018-19 home jersey leaked yesterday. … Here’s a look at all of the leaked and released boots for 2018. … Coventry City FC will wear a new uniform in an upcoming playoff game — because they “ran out” of their typical home jerseys (from Lee Greely and Josh Hinton). … Manchester United is the latest club to get jerseys made of recycled plastic (from Phil). … The Houston Dash of the National Women’s Soccer League has been running a “Way Back Wednesday” promotion where they give away posters with ’80s themes (from Ignacio). … Here’s how @3rdDegreeNet’s MLS kit tracker stands after 12 weeks.
Grab Bag: Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, or IUPUFW, is changing its name to Purdue Fort Wayne. The name change goes into effect in July, but the school has been rolling out new branding the ahead of time (from ColorWerx).
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