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EXCLUSIVE: Meet the Guy Who’s Been Leaking NBA Unis

By Paul Lukas, on November 6th, 2020

Over the past week or so, the Twitter account @camisasdanba (“Shirts of the NBA”) has been leaking an inordinate number of upcoming NBA jersey designs — mostly City alternates. Several of the leaks were quickly confirmed via official team unveilings, with each confirmation adding more presumptive legitimacy to the remaining unconfirmed designs.

As you may recall, back in May I rounded up a bunch of anonymous sources who’d leaked information to me in the past and let them explain why they did it. But the situation with @camisasdanba was different — it’s highly unusual for one source to leak such a large, steady stream of designs like this. Even more unusual, @camisasdanba is based in Brazil!

The Twitter account’s owner and I had briefly been in touch last week, so I knew he spoke English. On Wednesday I asked if he’d be willing to do an interview, and he quickly agreed. I offered him anonymity, but he said he was happy to use his real name, which is Igor Coelho. That’s him in the photo shown above.

I interviewed Igor last night via direct messaging. Here’s a transcript of our chat (with some extremely light edits to clean up some of his English):

Uni Watch: Please tell me a little bit about yourself. How old are you, where do you live, and what do you do for a living?

Igor Coelho: I am 33 years old. I live in Rio de Janeiro, one of the most famous cities in Brazil. I work with communication, marketing, and advertising, but focused on the education market, in elementary schools.

UW: How did you become so obsessed with NBA uniforms?

IC: My first contact with the NBA (as far as I can remember) was in 1998. I remember the first thing that caught my attention was the jersey numbers. The players used different numbers — in soccer I was used to numbers 1-11 — and I felt that it reflected in some way how they performed on the court. Somehow David Robinson matched jersey No. 50, for example.

Soon I started to notice how carefully the uniforms were designed, how carefully the court was designed. I remember that in the first Finals that I watched, I was very impacted by the different logo on the court. It influenced the atmosphere of the game and made a big impression on me.

Shortly thereafter, a friend of my father’s traveled to the USA and brought me a Shaquille O’Neal jersey as a gift. The jersey was huge! To this day it doesn’t fit me LOL. But it’s so beautiful — has very bright colors, a number that represents Shaq, details that connect me with the early 2000s.

I never stopped watching the NBA, my interest in communication grew, I studied in advertising school and ended up mixing my profession with my passion for the game.

UW: I know there have been Brazilian players in the NBA, like Nenê and Leandro Barbosa. But is the NBA popular in Brazil? Are games available on TV, and do people wear NBA jerseys?

IC: The NBA is increasingly popular. Basketball competes with volleyball as the second most popular sport here. We have a national championship that is evolving. Every Brazilian who reaches the NBA becomes an idol for us. Leandro Barbosa (we call him by his nickname, Leandrinho), besides being very charismatic, achieved many things and is the favorite of the majority, along with Oscar Schmidt, who is historically our best player.

Fortunately, we have access to many games here on TV. Three channels broadcast NBA, one of which is open to the entire country. We can watch a different game from Monday to Friday, with a few double rounds. People who can afford cable TV, have a huge choice of games.

Until 2018, only sports stores sold NBA items. But then the first official NBA Store appeared. It is a very expensive product for most people, so the market for counterfeit shirts is large.

But I feel that people feel good, that they see value in NBA jerseys not only for the sport, but also to express their lifestyle and dress. Here in Rio de Janeiro, it is common to see people on the street wearing NBA jerseys and T-shirts.

UW: Okay, let’s talk about the leaks. You’ve been leaking lots of designs lately. How did you get access to all of these jerseys before they were officially unveiled?

IC: Well, the first jersey I confirmed was the Brooklyn Nets Classic Edition. In this case, there was already a rumor that was reinforced with the photo that Kyrie Irving published on Instagram Stories.

In any case, I was already doing a daily job of accessing many websites, stores that traditionally receive products before others, stores in countries close to where Nike factories are located, Reddit pages, always looking for some jersey, T-shirt, jacket, something that indicates the creative path the teams are taking. I try to read most press releases to understand how each team is positioned. All of this is the hardest part of the job.

Then I met a person who had a friend, who had a friend, who had a friend … who could see these pre-releases. Then it was a matter of connecting with the right people.

UW: Could you explain more about that? Who was the person “at the end of the food chain,” so to speak? Was it someone at a retail store? At a wholesaler? At Nike? Somewhere else?

IC: Actually, the information I published came from three different sources. One is a Nike store in the USA. Another has contacts with Nike factories in Asia. Another has contacts with factories in Central America. None of them actually works at the factory, which delayed the information reaching me a little.

UW: Interesting. So these photos you posted didn’t actually come from Brazil, is that right?

IC: Right

UW: Did these various people — the friends of friends of friends — understand that you’d be posting their photos on Twitter?

IC: Yes. They even follow the repercussions, but they preferred not to be tagged. It is very common for people to bring me some info and ask not to be tagged.

UW: Did you post each leak as soon as you could, or did you choose to space them out over time?

IC: Most of the leaks I received on different days and times, so I posted them as soon as I received them. I had the job of doing some checking, confirming if the jersey I was seeing made sense, trying to interpret if it was really real and, if it was, looking to see if someone else had already published it.

One day I received three images at once and intentionally spaced the posting times to try to increase the engagement with my profile.

I still have another leak, but I couldn’t confirm that it is real.

UW: Interesting. So you try to verify the design’s legitimacy before posting?

IC: Yes. With these brand-new City Edition jerseys, it is difficult, but I try to check as far as possible. This includes searching for other items in the same collection, such as “shirseys,” and reading recent publications from team profiles to try to find any clues. I am a jersey collector, so I can check some details of the construction of the Nike Swingmans and compare.

I am very cautious with the things I write. If I’m not sure, I try to make that clear to my followers.

UW: Do you know why the Kings jersey did not have a number?

IC: No. I didn’t even ask about it. I thought it was a jersey ready to be customized.

UW: You sometimes showed the front and back of the jersey at different times (or even different days). Was that because the front and back photos came from different people at different times?

IC: Exactly. Sometimes they came from the same person, but I tried to make her as comfortable as possible to send me only what she wanted and when she wanted it. In some cases the person who sent me the photo was not the person who took the photo.

UW: I realize this may sound like a silly question, but why did you choose to leak the designs? Was there anything you hoped to accomplish, or did you just want to share the photos?

IC: I’ve been following the jersey unveilings for a few years now and I know that makes basketball fans and uniform fans very excited. “Camisas da NBA” is something I love to do, and I have huge goals for it. I knew that the uniform release period would be critical for me, but I did not expect that one day I would have the opportunity to give information like this firsthand to the whole world. I felt it was something that would give my content a huge reach.

UW: Could you tell me more about the “huge goals” that you have?

IC: For “Camisas da NBA,” I will open a website soon. I want to have more space to write and not leave my content anchored on Twitter. I plan to create some products like a “Camisas da NBA” jersey and an illustrated guide to the 2020-21 season uniforms. I learned to edit videos and I liked it! So I hope to produce more content for YouTube.

I studied advertising and marketing. I think the experience I have accumulated in my job can be useful for the expansion of the NBA, to increase the reach and sales of its products.

Here in Brazil we are far from the teams’ history. It is not obvious to us why the Denver team is called the Nuggets; it is not obvious why Timberwolves wear lime green. I hope that my love for basketball and time spent researching uniforms will become more than a hobby. I am always looking for work opportunities in this area.

UW: Trust me, it’s not obvious to anyone why the Timberwolves wear lime green!

IC: LOL

UW: How have people responded to your tweets with the leaks? At the very least, I see that you’ve gained several thousand followers!

IC: It was very funny because people did not expect so many leaks from the same source and in such a short time. More than that — leaks from Brazil! That was totally unexpected.

I received MANY messages asking for uniforms from various teams, but I was not able to get them all. People were already acting like, “What’s the next jersey you’re going to post?” or “When are you going to post my favorite team’s jersey?” I had some fun time with some reactions.

When I published the first leak, I had just over 6.000 Twitter followers and at the moment I have 10.000.

My tweets even appeared in newspapers! Even at Fox San Antonio and The New York Post! This is crazy! I never imagined that!

UW: Teams usually don’t like it when their designs are leaked. Have any of the teams tried to contact you? (Or the NBA, or Nike?)

IC: I was afraid that would happen! Actually, I still am, LOL. But so far it hasn’t happened.

UW: Did you see that tweet from the Spurs, where they joked that they were looking for a plumber to fix leaks?

IC: Yeah! I confess that I even saved that tweet. It will be a funny memory.

I didn’t know if I was taking any risks. As an advertising professional, I can imagine that they may have been upset because it interferes with disclosure plans. On the other hand, it can increase people’s demand for uniforms.

UW: Do you expect to have more leaks to share soon?

IC: I have one more image that I couldn’t confirm. I believe it is an Earned Edition or a 2020-21 jersey, but I chose not to publish it.

Aside from that, I can’t say if I’m going to get more leaks. I don’t pressure my contacts to send me more stuff.

UW: Igor, those are all the questions I have. Is there anything you want to tell me that I haven’t asked you about?’

IC: I wanted to say that “Camisas da NBA” is not a profile of leaking jerseys. My favorite content is the news, the story, the context, to give another value to the uniforms. This research is my passion.

This period was chaotic, but it gave me the opportunity to meet people I admire a lot, who taught me a lot about uniforms (sometimes without even knowing it), and who inspire me daily to keep my profile active.

———

Igor may work in advertising, but he has the instincts of a really good journalist. He follows his nose, develops contacts and sources, tries to verify information before he goes public with it, and keeps things under wraps if he can’t verify them. I tip my cap to him — he’s doing great work.

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Click to enlarge

Major NFL prototype find: On the left is the “feather” helmet design that the Washington Football Team wore from 1959 through 1964, when they were still called the Redskins. On the right is the “spear” helmet design that they switched to in 1965.

And in the middle..?

That is a prototype design that was supposed to be used in 1965 but was apparently discarded in favor of the spear design. It was recently discovered by Gridiron Uniform Database researcher Bill Schaefer, who found it in this article that appeared in The Washington Post on March 20, 1965 (click to enlarge; pertinent passage highlighted):

 


 

I’ve never seen that logo before. Leaving aside the problematic Native American imagery, it’s pretty hilarious to think that there was once a time when an NFL team changing its helmet design would essentially be a footnote to a story about the team adding fewer than 1,000 seats to its stadium. Also, I love the note above the headline: “Insigne on Helmets Changed.” Insigne!

It’s not clear why the team didn’t stick with the headdress logo, or exactly when the decision was made to scrap it, but they had switched to the spear design by the start of the 1965 preseason, so the headdress design never made it onto the field.

I know I say this a lot, but it’s always so interesting to see how certain things get buried and forgotten in the historical record while others become part of sports lore. I mean, 1965 isn’t that long ago, so it seems surprising that we (or at least I) had never seen this design before. Fascinating!

(Super-duper thanks to Bill Schaefer for sharing this with me.)

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Pin Club reminder: We’re now down to only 39 of Uni Watch Pin Club’s November design. It’s available here while supplies last.

Need to get caught up? Here are the January, February, March, May, June, July, August, September, and October pins (sorry, April sold out!), along with our 2020 Press Pin and our basic winged stirrup pin.

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The Ticker
By Anthony Emerson

NFL News: Dolphins QB Ryan Fitzpatrick cut his pants into bootyshorts during practice as a tribute to WR Isaiah Ford, who was traded to the Patriots on Tuesday (from Kary Klismet and Mike Chamernik). … Nowadays, when players change teams, Photoshops of the players in their new uniforms quickly appear on the internet. Nearly two decades ago, NFL Films gave us the early-aughts version of the same thing with Jake Plummer. As you can see, it’s really hard to change the old Cardinals uniforms into a Broncos uniform! (From @LexMarston.) … NFL Officiating’s official Twitter account posted a graphic with some woefully messed up helmets (from James Fuse and @MoxMulder).

College/High School Football News: LB Dean Ferguson will wear Beamer’s No. 25 jersey for Virginia Tech, while the team is going going mono-maroon (monoroon?) against Liberty (from Andrew Cosentino). … NC State is going full BFBS against Miami tonight (from Gabe Cornwall). … Also from Gabe, UNC is going white-white-blue against Duke (also from James Gilbert). … Boise State going BFBS against BYU (from Matt Rashford). … Houston is going mono-white against Cincinnati tomorrow (from Ignacio Salazar). … Also from Ignacio, Rice is going mono-blue. … Troy is going charcoal-white-red (from Chase Blake). … In that same game, Georgia Southern will go blue-blue-white (from @TrojanWallF5 and Ben Whitehead). … Vandy is going black-white-black against Mississippi State (from Russell Riese Jr.) … UCLA athletes — including the football team, whose season is about to start — have the choice to add a social justice patch to their uniform (from @boxseatbanter). … BC is wearing throwbacks again (from Bill Abely). … Oregon is going yellow-charcoal-charcoal against Stanford (from Jakob Fox).

Hockey News: The SJHL’s Flin Flon Bombers have formally unveiled their new sweater (from Wade Heidt).
 
 

NBA News: NBA 2K screenshots seem to indicate that the Hornets’ Jordan maker’s mark has grown larger.
 

College/High School Hoops News: Louisville men will have “UNITY” printed beneath their rear uni numbers this season and will also wear a “United as One” patch (from Lachlan McLean). … New court for the University of Waterloo (from Wade Heidt). … New uniforms for Kansas.

Soccer News: MLS expansion team Austin FC is teasing their kit (from Jim Howicz). … Following up on an item from earlier this week: The reason the Fulton County, Ga., elections administrator was wearing a Timbers lanyard during a press conference earlier this week is that his brother lives in Portland and sends him gear. Full (paywalled) article here (from @stevis23 and Ed Żelaski). … Here’s something I noticed while playing FIFA but didn’t fully register at the time: The FA has redesigned the sleeve patches for the FA Cup, and for clubs that have won the Cup, they’ve added a tab with a number indicating how many times they’ve won it (from Tom Gronek).

Grab Bag: The Australian Football League’s Sydney Swans seem to have updated their logo (from Kevin Joseph). … Timmy Donahue sends along an interesting article about why U.S. military helicopters have Native American names. … The UNC field hockey team posted an animated GIF of each season’s team portrait over the last 40 years, providing a de facto look at the evolution of field hockey uniforms during that period (from James Gilbert).

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And that’s a wrap for this week. Obviously, these are stressful days for many people — my thanks to all the site’s commenters for helping to keep Uni Watch a safe, fun diversion (for me as well as for you!). Enjoy Phil’s weekend content, stay well, and I’ll see you back here on Monday. — Paul

7 comments   Leaks, NBA

Eternal MLB Pant-Length Debate Began With King Carl

By Paul Lukas, on November 5th, 2020

Embed from Getty Images

The photo above is from 1937. The gent on the left is New York Giants screwballer Carl Hubbell (most famous for striking out five consecutive future Hall of Famers in the 1934 All-Star Game). As you can see, his pant legs go down lower than those of teammate Gus Mancuso, who’s seated next to him.

Here’s another 1937 shot of Hubbell and Mancuso, this time accompanied by teammate Mel Ott. Again, Hubbell, who’s in the center, appears to be cuffing his pants lower than the others:

Embed from Getty Images

And here’s one more shot of Hubbell, this time posing with several other pitchers from the 1936 National League All-Star team:

Embed from Getty Images

That’s Hubbell, second from the right. Again, his pants are cuffed a bit lower than those of (from left) Van Lingle Mungo, Dizzy Dean, Lon Warneke, and Curt Davis.

Normally, I wouldn’t think anything of this. I mean, it’s not as though Hubbell was wearing pajama pants, right? His cuffs may have been a bit lower than everyone else’s, but they still seemed relatively era-appropriate.

But it turns out that Hubbell’s low-cuffery (relatively speaking) was neither random nor unnoticed. In fact, it was a major issue back in the day! We’re going to explore that rabbit hole today.

This topic first came to my attention when Baseball Hall of Fame curator Tom Shieber recently sent me an item that ran in the Aug. 6, 1942 edition of The Sporting News. The entire piece, much of which is about the Cubs’ then-groundbreaking uniforms, is worth reading, but the first two paragraphs are the ones that are of interest to us regarding Carl Hubbell and pant length, so let’s focus on those (click to enlarge):

In case you’re having trouble reading them, here’s a transcription of those first two grafs:

Leave it to baseball to develop singular angles, and strange topics for discussion. Now they’re talking about uniforms. Not so far back, the question of how to wear a pair of pants on the field came in for a lot of debate. Some orthodox pants-wearers insisted it was contrary to baseball ethics and the traditions handed down by Charley (Old Hoss) Radbourne, Christy Mathewson, and Cy Young to let the pants droop until they meet the ankles.

This droopy-pants style is said to have been invented by Carl Hubbell. He explained that the elastic interfered with circulation in his knees. Hubbell liked a lot of circulation in his knees, ergo, his habit of letting the trousers go down below the calf. Joe DiMaggio and other worthies adopted the Hubbell system, and there was the very Abner Doubleday to pay.

Faaaaascinating! Of course, saying that Hubbell “let the pants droop until they meet the ankles” is an overstatement. Still, it’s interesting to hear that his inseam length was considered distinctive (and controversial!) at the time. I’d never heard that before.

The DiMaggio reference is interesting as well, because I’ve always thought that for all of DiMaggio’s supposed stylishness and suavitude, his pants and stirrup stylings left him looking rather dumpy and uninspired on the field:

While looking for more photos, I found this shot of Hubbell showing a lower-leg style that does indeed look very much like DiMaggio’s (although, as the Sporting News piece suggests, maybe it was the other way around):

But was that Sporting News item just a random reference by one writer? I did a bit of digging and, to my surprise, found countless references to Hubbell’s pants in various 1930s and ’40s newspaper articles. One of the most amusing examples is this UPI article about Game One of the 1936 World Series that ran in many newspapers on Oct. 1, 1936, which makes it abundantly clear that Hubbell’s pants were a hot topic at the time (click to enlarge):

That writer was really laying it on thick, eh?

Hubbell was apparently so closely associated with long pants at the time that his name even came up in non-baseball contexts. An article about a women’s softball championship game that took place in Reading, Pa., in 1939, for example, described one team as wearing “Carl Hubbell pants”:

Hubbell retired after the 1943 season. But the influence of his notorious pants-droopery was apparently still being felt seven years later, at least judging by a St. Louis Post-Dispatch item from March 8, 1950, that uniform designer/historian Todd Radom turned up. It’s short and hilarious, so I definitely recommend reading the whole thing (click to enlarge):

This is fascinating on so many levels. For example:

• This item provides yet another example of a writer saying that Hubbell wore his pant legs “down near the ankles,” which still seems like an exaggeration.

• Although this item was published 70 years ago, Ford Frick (who would ascend from National League prexy to baseball commish the following year) sounded almost exactly like many of us still sound today, no? Frick wanted players to “look the part” by wearing the uni “as they did in the old days,” because that’s “how to put on a uniform properly.” Hmmm, sounds familiar!

• Similarly, the shoulder-shrugging inability to police pant lengths because players are gonna do what players wanna do also sounds like something that could be said today.

• The idea of going high-cuffed in order to maintain a higher strike zone is something that a few players and broadcasters still mention periodically today.

• The notion of big leaguers applying peer pressure in order to get young players to wear their pants lower is yet another thing that still goes on today. In 2010 I wrote an ESPN column that included the following:

If you want to see players wearing their cuffs up high, they’re not hard to find. First, watch some high school or college games, because many of the coaches are old-schoolers who require their players to go high-cufffed. Then check out some minor league action, because many MLB teams require high cuffs throughout their minor league systems.

All of which makes today’s young players associate the high-cuffed style with crotchety old fuddy-duddies who told them how to dress a certain way. Once they make it to the majors, they want to leave that style behind, just like they stop wearing double-earflapped batting helmets. And if a player doesn’t feel that way himself, he’ll often face peer pressure from teammates. Check out this quote from David Wright’s blog in 2006 (yes, Wright had a blog): “The veterans on the team give me a hard time about it when I wear the pants up. … I guess the general feeling is that the pants-up look is a high school or college type of style. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but there’s a high value on looking and acting like a professional in this clubhouse.”

The more things change…

There are two things about all of this that I find particularly interesting, and sort of puzzling:

1. I’ve been writing about uniforms for over 20 years and had never heard about any of this. Todd Radom tells me he didn’t know about it either. Hubbell died in 1988 — were his pants mentioned in any of his obituaries? I looked up half a dozen obits from assorted major newspapers; none of them mentioned his pants. Neither does his Wikipedia entry (or, for that matter, his Hall of Fame plaque, but I guess we can forgive them for that omission, given the limited space). So for whatever reason, the notoriety of Hubbell’s pants faded and didn’t become part of baseball lore. It’s so odd to see which things become part of the game’s storytelling tradition and which things don’t.

2. If increasing pant lengths were already a topic of debate in the 1930s and ’40s, it’s surprising that they’re still a hotly contested topic today. Like, you’d think the long-pants partisans of Hubbell’s generation would have prevailed once Ford Frick and his ilk died off, right? That’s how these things usually work — younger people embrace a new style, older people gripe about it, and then the older people are eventually gone, creating a vacuum that lets the newer style take over. But the debate over MLB pant length seems to have gone in recurring cycles, never completely resolving one way or the other. Interesting!

In any case, those of us who detest low-cuffery can now lay at least some of the blame at the doorstep of Carl Hubbell. Who’da thunk? Here’s hoping that debate rages for at least another 70 years.

(Mega-thanks to my longtime pals/allies Tom Shieber and Todd Radom, without whom this entry would not have been possible.)

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Too good for the Ticker: The video above is only 10 seconds long, but those are 10 really good seconds. Those Chargers uniforms! Those Raiders uniforms (always loved the silver numbers on the white jerseys)! That field! That stadium! That scoreboard!

Very, very tasty.

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Pin Club reminder: In case you missed it on Monday, the Uni Watch Pin Club’s design for November is now available. It’s a limited/numbered edition of 200, and as of this morning there are only 45 left. You know what to do!

Need to get caught up? Here are the January, February, March, May, June, July, August, September, and October pins (sorry, April sold out!), along with our 2020 Press Pin and our basic winged stirrup pin.

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The Ticker
By Paul

’Skins Watch: After a Michigan high school agreed to change its team name from “Redskins” to “Red Wolves,” a nonprofit called the Native American Heritage Fund gave the school district more than $215,000 to help pay for the change in signage, uniforms, and so on (from John Chapman). … The Weyauwega-Fremont School District in Wisconsin will no longer call its teams the Indians (from Brian Kerhin). … Residents in Eaton, Colo., are voting on a new mascot and logo to replace the local high school’s cartoon Native American. … Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College is dropping the “Indianhead” from its name (from Timmy Donahue). … The CFL’s Edmonton Football Team — formerly the Eskimos — hopes to have a new identity early next year (from Wade Heidt).

Working Class Wannabes™: An article about the Minnesota Vikings says the contrast between WRs Justin Jefferson and Adam Thielen “is salt vs. pepper, age vs. experience, and blue-collar vs. sizzle.” … Miami Hurricanes defensive coordinator Blake Baker says, “We’re really encouraged by our freshman class. They’re blue collar. They come to work every day, don’t say much, quiet group, but they’re the real deal.” … South Alabama baseball coach Mark Calvi, talking about his new hitting coach, says, “”He is blue collar and has done an outstanding job recruiting.” … An article about a high school football player who’s committed to Georgia says, “He hopes to add a blue-collar work ethic and personality to the locker room.” … A high school football coach in Texas, talking about one of his players, says, “He’s as hard-nosed, blue collar as you could ever want.” … An article about the Eastern Michigan football team says, “This EMU program has been built on blue-collar attitude with hard work since the arrival of Chris Creighton seven years ago, with Rynearson Stadium re-labeled ‘The Factory,’ and the turf changed over to grey to match the floors of the automobile plants which dot southeastern Michigan.” … An article about “player of the week” candidates from last week’s high school football games in Pennsylvania says one school’s quarterback “turned in a blue-collar effort” in his game. … A high school girls’ basketball coach in Missouri, talking about one of his players, says, “She is a blue collar kid who isn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves and go to work.” Bingo!

Baseball News: A 1984 Padres prototype jersey is up for sale on eBay for a cool $1,900. But hey, free shipping! (From Jonathan Collura.)
 

Pro Football News: Interesting article on how NFL postgame jersey-swapping has been affected by the pandemic. … I’m sure Bears WR Ted Ginn Jr. will be glad to know that the official notice of his job being terminated was advertised by a car company (from several readers). … Disappointing news out of Buffalo, where it looks like the Bills will be going mono-blue this weekend. Their basic blue-over-white look is so good — such a waste to go mono (from Collin Wright). … Officials in the Spring League are wearing very unusual uniforms.

College Football News: Cincinnati is going black-black-white this weekend (from Chad Lehman). … Iowa State is going BFBS (from Sean Jankowski). … Whoa, look at this old Dayton helmet — love it! … Oops: Ohio QB Armani Rogers’s NOB was misspelled as “Rodgers” last night (thanks, Alex). … In last night’s Toledo/Bowling Green game, Toledo was flagged for having two No. 10s on the field at the same time (from Tyler Riordan).

NBA News: Here’s a rundown of all of the uniforms that have been officially unveiled so far for the 2020-21 season. … Looks like the new NBA season, which at one point looked like it would be pushed back at least until mid-January, will likely start on Dec. 22.

Soccer News: Second-tier English club Brentford wore their third kit at home the other night (from Stuart Davis). … A soccer jersey rendered as string art? Sign me up! (From Trevor Williams.) … The election director of Fulton County, Ga., made a public appearance yesterday wearing, of all things, a Portland Timbers lanyard (from @bryant_rf).

Grab Bag: As part of the whole Movember thing, the Pringles spokescharacter in the UK and KFC’s Col. Sanders in France are going clean-shaven. More info on the KFC switcheroo here (from Timmy Donahue). … The logo for next year’s Indy 500 has been revealed (from Roger Cooper). … Here’s a good look at “I Voted” stickers from all 50 states (from Alan Kreit). … Interesting piece about how much college athletes might earn from being allowed to profit off their names, images, and likenesses. … An amateur designer has come up with a good fix for the new Gmail logo. … New uniform for the Latvian Volleyball Federation (from Jeremy Brahm). … Under Armour is severing ties with more than 2,000 wholesalers and focusing on direct-to-consumer sales (from John Cerone). … Dixie Beer, a longtime New Orleans brand, has a new name (from our own Scott M.X. Turner).

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58 comments   History, MLB, Pants, Stirrups

One-derful: Murray, Tua Poised to Make NFL Uni History

By Paul Lukas, on November 4th, 2020

Click to enlarge

It’s rare enough to have a uni-related occurrence that’s never happened before, like a World Series game with each team using a single-digitized pitcher. But we appear to have something even rarer coming up this Sunday: a first-of-its-kind uniform occurrence that we know about in advance.

That’s the situation on tap for this Sunday’s Cardinals/Dolphins game, as both projected starting quarterbacks — Arizona’s Kyler Murray and Miami’s Tua Tagovailoa — wear No. 1. At first I figured that was fairly unusual but not unprecedented. After a bit of research, though, it appears to be an NFL first — a genuine uni-corn!

Let me anticipate some of your questions:

Wait a minute — the Cardinals played the Panthers last season, and Cam Newton was still with the Panthers then. So wouldn’t Murray and Newton have started against each other?

They would have — if Newton hadn’t been injured early in the season. He played only the first two weeks of the 2019 season, so he wasn’t active when the Panthers played Murray’s Cardinals in Week Three. So close!

Wait a minute — Jeff George and Warren Moon both wore No. 1 and were in the league around the same time. They must have started against each other!

Nope. Here’s the thing: Although you may associate George with No. 1 (as I do), he actually wore that number for only three of his 12 NFL seasons — 1994, ’95, and ’96, when he was with the Falcons. Moon was with the Vikings during those seasons, and the two teams did face each other during that period — a Week Two game in 1996. But Moon didn’t play in that game for the Vikings — Brad Johnson did.

Wait a minute — I definitely remember a game from about 25 years ago where both teams had quarterbacks wearing No. 1.

You may be thinking of this 1995 Vikings/Lions game. Moon started for Minnesota and Scott Mitchell (who wore No. 19 throughout his NFL career) started for Detroit. Late in the second quarter, Mitchell momentarily left the field and was replaced by Don Majkowski, who wore No. 1. He was in the game for one play and then Mitchell returned.

So for a brief moment of that game, the active quarterback for each team was wearing No. 1. For all I know, there may be other examples of similar situations involving backup quarterbacks. But the distinction we’re talking about today — the thing that’s never been done before but is on tap to take place this Sunday — is having both starting quarterbacks wear No. 1. So that Vikes/Lions game doesn’t qualify.

(As an aside: The sight of Majkowski wearing No. 1 may be jarring for those who, like myself, primarily think of him wearing No. 7 for the Packers. But he wore No. 1 at UVa, so he already had a history with that number before wearing it for the Lions.)

Wait a minute — you mentioned Cam Newton a minute ago. He plays for the Patriots now and still wears No. 1, and they played the Dolphins back in Week One of this season. So didn’t the matchup of No. 1s happen then?

It would have — if Tagovailoa had been the Dolphins’ starting quarterback at the time. But Ryan Fitzpatrick was Miami’s starter until this past Sunday.

Wait a minute — the Dolphins and Pats are going to play again on Dec. 20, so we’ll have Newton vs. Tagovailoa. Not only that, but the Pats are playing the Cardinals on Nov. 29 — Newton vs. Murray. Won’t those games qualify?

Yes! After never having a matchup of No. 1-clad starting quarterbacks in its century-long history, the NFL may now have three such games in less than two months! But that’s assuming that Tagovailoa, Murray, and Newton all stay healthy (and also that Newton doesn’t get benched — no sure thing, given his recent play), so we can’t count on those as sure things.

The one thing we probably can count on, barring any sort of midweek mishap, is that Murray and Tagovailoa will make NFL uni-numerical history this Sunday. I love it when stuff like that happens.

Is it possible that your research missed a previous instance of this happening?

Absolutely! Want to look into it yourself? Go for it — prove me wrong!

(Big thanks to my old college friend Michael Bressler for pointing out the Murray/Tagovailoa oddity to me and thus sending me down this very enjoyable rabbit hole.)

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Pin Club reminder: In case you missed it on Monday, the Uni Watch Pin Club’s design for November is now available. It’s a limited/numbered edition of 200, and as of this morning there are only 60 left. You know what to do!

Need to get caught up? Here are the January, February, March, May, June, July, August, September, and October pins (sorry, April sold out!), along with our 2020 Press Pin and our basic winged stirrup pin.

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The Ticker
By Lloyd Alaban

NFL News: Steelers WR JuJu Smith-Schuster and RB James Conner were fined $5,000 by the league for not wearing their hosiery properly (from multiple readers). … In a new anti-pandemic move, the NFL is expanding the bench area and requiring all players to wear face coverings after games (from Mike Chamernik).

College Football News: Throwbacks this week for Utah as they face Arizona (from Timmy Donahue). … The Clemson Uni Tracker has been updated. … Columbia released a uniform history celebrating the program’s sesquicentennial this month (from Jace McKeighan). … New uniforms for the University of Sherbrooke (from Wade Heidt).

Hockey News: The Henderson Silver Knights, minor league affiliate of the Golden Knights, will unveil new uniforms on Monday (from Wade Heidt).
 

NBA News: The NBA is reportedly considering allowing teams to add a second jersey advertisement as a way to recover revenue lost during the pandemic. Gross.

College/High School Hoops News: New unis for Virginia men’s (from our own Jamie Rathjen). … New GFGS jersey for Kansas (from @ForFreidom).

Soccer News: New kits for J League club Albirex Niigata (from Ed Zelaski).
 

Grab Bag: The BBC is getting called out for allowing its broadcasters to wear Remembrance Day poppies despite the network’s supposedly strict rule against virtue signaling (from David Raglin). … The U.S. Air Force has tested G-force suits for female airmen (from Timmy Donahue). … Also from Timmy: New uniforms for Iberia Parish sheriff’s deputies in Louisiana. … One more from Timmy: Troops can now wear fitness gear at military commissaries. … Voters in Mississippi overwhelmingly approved a new state flag design yesterday. … Nike announced plans to lay off 700 employees.

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Our latest raffle winners are Travis Schroeder and Dan Rabinovitz, who’ve each won a copy of Chris Creamer and Todd Radom’s new book, Fabric of the Game. (I was originally going to raffle off just one copy, but the publisher encouraged me to do two!). Congrats to them, and here’s hoping everyone else buys a copy of the book. — Paul

14 comments   NFL, Uni Numbers

Uni Watch Bookshelf: ‘The Fabric of the Game’

By Paul Lukas, on November 3rd, 2020

Click to enlarge

Today is Nov. 3 — a date that many of us have been awaiting with increasing anticipation and anxiousness. For those of us of a particular persuasion, it’s a date we thought might never get here. Indeed, as the pandemic has dragged on and this crummy year has done its worst to make our lives as miserable as possible, the promise embodied in Nov. 3 has served as the light at the end of the 2020 tunnel that’s kept us going. We’ve been counting down the months, weeks, and day for what seems like forever, but now that date has finally arrived.

I’m referring, of course, to today being the official publication date for Fabric of the Game: The Stories Behind the NHL’s Names, Logos, and Uniforms, the much-anticipated new book by longtime Uni Watch pals/allies Chris Creamer and Todd Radom. It’s a sensational book, as you’d expect from these two gents — you should own it.

The book examines the origin stories behind every past and current NHL franchise, including how the team came into existence, how it got its team name, and how its logo and uniforms were developed. The text is packed with quotes and passages from archival sources, and is supplemented by tons of color photos and illustrations (including some developmental logo sketches, which are fascinating!).

Each team gets its own chapter. I’ve decided to share the one for the Ducks, because it does a particularly good job of showing the book’s range in terms of text, photos, logos, and so on (for each page, you can click to enlarge):

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Great stuff, right? The book is hardcover, color throughout, has a foreword from former NHLer Lanny McDonald, and runs 280 pages. As you’d expect, there are lots of great little details, like sweater-themed endpapers and the hilarious authors’ photos:

Obviously, I’m biased, because Chris and Todd are both longtime friends of mine. But seriously, it’s an excellent book — an essential addition to any uni-centric library, and a great gift item to boot.

And at $24.99, it’s a bargain. You can order it from the online behemoth, of course, but consider getting it from your local indie book shop — they need all the help they can get these days. No matter where you order the book from, though, you’re going to enjoy it. Trust me.

But wait — one lucky Uni Watch reader will get the book for free, because Chris and Todd have offered to let me raffle off a copy!

This will be a one-day raffle. To enter, send an email with your mailing address to the raffle in-box. One entry per person. I’ll announce the winner tomorrow. Good luck!

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ITEM! Quadrennial Election Day purple project: As you may be aware, there’s another reason Nov. 3 is a notable date on this year’s calendar. That means it’s time to revisit, as we do every four years, a phenomenon I’m mildly obsessed with: the trend of TV reporters and pundits wearing purple on Election Day.

For the uninitiated: The idea here is that the Democrats are blue and the Republicans are red, so mixing the two together yields the supposedly nonpartisan color of purple. Wearing purple thus becomes the reporter’s way of signaling, “Just reporting the facts here. Not rooting for either side.” (Yes, I realize many reporters are rooting for one side or another, but that’s not the issue here. The issue is simply the phenomenon of TV reporters wearing purple on Election Day.)

Longtime reader Griffin Smith, knowing my interest in this trend, already tweeted some screen shots this morning! Dig:

In the past, I’ve invited people to email Election Day screen shots to me, but that eventually became overwhelming, so let’s stick to Twitter this year. If you spot any TV news reporter, pundit, analyst, or talking head (local, national, broadcast, cable, public access, whatever) wearing a purple necktie, purple dress, purple suit, or any other purple clothing or accessories, take a screen shot and tweet it with the hashtag #PurpleReporters2020. (Please do not tag @uniwatch in your tweet — just use the hashtag.) Also, please include the name of the reporter and the TV station or network. Thank you in advance!

Speaking of Election Day: This political season has been stressful for many of us, but I’m really proud of how we’ve stayed on-topic and kept the Uni Watch comments section free of partisan electioneering. Let’s please keep it that way today. Thanks.

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Click to enlarge

NBA leaks, continued: The latest purported City alternate leak from Brazilian spigot @camisasdanba is the laughably bad Kings design shown above. About eight hours after the leak began circulating, the team went ahead and officially announced the design:

In other NBA developments:

• The purported Warriors leak is now confirmed, as the team officially unveiled the design. Note that they managed to include their jersey partner’s advertiser’s name in the headline and, in what may be a record, a whopping 12 times in the text.

• The Nets’ previously unveiled tie-dye throwback now has a matching court design:

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Collector’s Corner
By Brinke Guthrie

With today having special significance in the United States, Collector’s Corner is happy to lead off with this dynamic presidential duo of Washington Nationals Abe Lincoln and George Washington racing bobbleheads. The seller notes these were from the 2018 All-Star Game FanFest. Perfect for Election Day!

But wait, there’s more! How about a complete set of racing president bobbleheads (and one garden gnome)? This is quite the impressive collection, and includes Hoover, Coolidge, Washington, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Jefferson, and Taft bobbles, along with a Teddy gnome. If you’re a Nationals fan, you’ll likely vote for this set, right? 

Now for the rest of this week’s picks:

• This 1970 NFL poster should be quite popular with People Who Get It™. It’s called “The Evolution of the Uniform.”

• The NFL Players Association endorsed this 1970s faux-Steelers Mean Joe Greene jersey shirt.

• Terrific NFL helmet logos on this 1970s spiral notebook.

• Check out this 1960 set of 13 vintage penny arcade baseball mini-telescopes, from the Plastic Processes Co. of Freeport, N.Y. Peer inside and you’ll see stars like Mickey Mantle, Warren Spahn, Yogi Berra, Eddie Mathews, Gus Triandos, Joe Adcock, Luis Aparicio, Nelson Fox, Don Drysdale, Roy Sievers, Elston Howard, Chico Carrasquel, and Willie Mays.

• This 1939 42-page booklet is called Play Ball America!. “Baseball Centennial 1839-1939; How You Can Celebrate Baseball’s Birthday In Your City!” The problem here, of course, is that the notion of baseball having been invented in 1839 is a myth.

• Another baseball milestone item here: This is a Jim Beam decanter celebrating the 1969 MLB 100th anniversary.

• Did Joe DiMaggio really play in these Starline baseball shoes? They’re about as low-tech as you can imagine, but then these are from the 1950s. “It Pays To Play With EJ” — that’s a reference to the Endicott Johnson shoe brand, which was a big deal back when we actually made shoes here in America.

• This Babe Ruth pocket knife has a great illustration of the Babe right on the handle. Uni Watch colors, too!

• Wilt Chamberlain endorsed this mint condition 1960s Spalding basketball. It’s naturally official size and weight, with a “NY-Weave Built Permalite Cover.” 

• Finally, in tribute to one of my heroes, we have this 1966 Corgi Aston Martin DB5. R.I.P. to SC, the original 007. 

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Click to enlarge

Pin Club reminder: In case you missed it on Monday, the Uni Watch Pin Club’s design for November is now available. It’s a limited/numbered edition of 200, and we already sold 105 of them in the first day. You know what to do!

Need to get caught up? Here are the January, February, March, May, June, July, August, September, and October pins (sorry, April sold out!), along with our 2020 Press Pin and our basic winged stirrup pin.

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The Ticker
By Alex Hider

Baseball News: While going through his dad’s stuff, @uselessdoug found an old 1988 World Series program that included a six-page spread on the history of baseball uniforms by none other than the great Marc Okkonen. … Denver Broncos coach Vic Fangio wore a Rockies pullover during a press conference on Monday (from @sportsdenpod).

Football News: The turf tape that Saints RB Alvin Kamara wears on his arms goes all the way up to his shoulders (from Benjamin Thomas). … Cross-listed from the baseball section: Broncos coach Vic Fangio wore a Colorado Rockies pullover during a press conference on Monday (from @sportsdenpod). … Columbia has published a history of its football helmets on its website to celebrate the program’s 150th anniversary (from Jace McKeighan). … The ACC Tracker has been updated through week eight.

Hockey News: We have our first look at the Sharks’ 30th-anniversary patch, thanks to this video. The team all but confirmed its authenticity in a subsequent tweet (from Kurt Zamora and Chris Avila). … Golden Knights G Logan Thompson has a new mask design (from Wade Heidt). … LW Patrick Maroon has won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Blues and Lightning, but his name isn’t engraved consistently on the Cup — he’s listed as “Patrick Maroon” with the Blues and listed as “Pat Maroon” with the Lightning (from Wade Heidt). … Quinnipiac’s new alternate uniforms have reportedly leaked (from @nickyguerrero). …New 65th-season logo for the Rochester Americans of the AHL (from Joseph Pitirri). … This 1978 interview with then-NHL President John Ziegler discusses the Maple Leafs’ decision to use NOBs only on the road. He also discusses the decision by Maple Leafs owner Harold Ballard — who also owned the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats — to paint the Tiger-Cats logo on the boards against league rules (from an anonymous reader).

Basketball News: The Heat’s jersey advertiser has been bought, so the team will have a new ad patch next season (from @livensleazy). … Not the best photo, but we have our first look at the new uniforms for the Temple women’s team (from @UntillTheNight).

Soccer News: This blog counts down the seven best uniforms Diego Maradona wore during his time with Napoli (from Ed Żelaski). … Barcelona wore a new combination of their third uniform this weekend, wearing black shorts and socks instead of green. Reports indicate that players pushed for the changes because they thought it looked better (from @texastrevor). … In the UK, schoolchildren from low-income families are eligible for a free school lunch every day. That offer is typically extended during winter holidays, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been slow to move on legislation that would make that possible in 2020. According to Mark Gillingham, a group of soccer fans started the #KitsForMeals movement, where fans wear “notable, obscure or interesting football shirts,” post photos of the shirts on social media, and donate to Fare Share, a charity supporting meal provision.

Grab Bag: Syracuse is adding championship banners and retired numbers to the rafters of the Carrier Dome (from @PhillyPartTwo). … Michael Jordan’s new NASCAR team, 23XI Racing, unveiled the new paint scheme for Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 car on Monday, and it features a very Bulls-esque color pallette (from Mike Chamernik). … We’ve got another NASCAR/football jersey crossover from Luis Fernando, this one for driver Chase Elliott. … English Rugby Super League club Wigan Warriors have a new badge (from Mark Cartman). … Splenda incorporates an American flag into their UPC code to indicate that it is made in America (from David Raglin). … The U.S. Navy has approved new uniform rank tabs that should stand out better on camouflage uniforms. The old tabs were harder to discern, which led to sailors having to stare at each others’ chests to discern their shipmates’ pay grades (from Joshua Tretakoff). … “I voted in Maryland by dropping my ballot in a drop box,” says Andrew Hoenig. “They did not include any ‘I Voted’ stickers in the envelope. But today, when I received an email notification that my ballot was accepted, I was given the option to download a digital sticker.”

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I’m making an exception to my usual anti-electioneering rule, because our own Anthony Emerson, who compiles the Tickers that run on Fridays and Saturdays, is running for a seat on the school board in his hometown of Portland, Me. Keeping my fingers crossed for you, Anthony! — Paul

31 comments   General, NHL, Uni-centric Books
 
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