We’ve come a long way from the days when Topps would clumsily airbrush a new uniform onto an old photo of a player who’d joined a new team. Nowadays, a player who’s changed teams — or who’s even the subject of trade rumors — gets Photoshopped into a new uni lickety-split.
But what does that digital uni-swap process actually entail? I’m not a Photoshop guy myself, so I couldn’t tell you. But Bryndon Minter, who does creative work for the NFL’s social media channels, gave us a fascinating insight into that process the other day by tweeting a time-lapse video showing how he took a photo of Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon, who’d just been traded to the Patriots, and gave him a Pats uni. Check this out:
Pretty cool, right? I wanted to know more, so I got in touch with Minter and asked if he could tell us a bit more about how he approaches this type of task. Here’s his response:
To start, I look first for images from formal photo shoots. Those are a lot easier to use, because it’s usually a higher-quality photo and the players aren’t wearing a helmet. If those aren’t available, I try to find a badass photo of a celebration or anything showing emotion.
Honestly, I don’t have a ton of Photoshop experience — I’ve primarily focused on shooting/editing video. My first jersey swaps were for Colin Kaepernick, who was rumored to be potentially going to the Ravens, Seahawks, or Dolphins in May 2017. Didn’t really try again until the Richard Sherman 49ers signing, which happened at 6pm PST on a Saturday night. The first draft was awful. I scrapped it, completely restarted. Not sure how the quality is so drastically different, but from the second Sherman version on, I definitely started getting better at it.
I don’t really have a set way that I carry these out. Sometimes it’s colorizing the jersey hue, other times it’s “Frankensteining” and taking similar elements from other photo assets, like I did in the Josh Gordon time-lapse (pulled from a photo of Stephon Gilmore in same helmet and similar stance). The whole thing took three hours.
I’ve gotten a lot of requests from designers, so at some point I’ll most likely do a few tutorials on how I do these.
Fascinating! Big thanks to Minter for sharing these insights with us.
Meanwhile, speaking of Gordon, he appeared at his first Patriots practice yesterday and was wearing a wristwatch, which seems odd, no? (Nice spot by Joey Ellis.)
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And speaking of Photoshop: The Trail Blazers yesterday became the latest NBA team to sell out to a corporate uniform advertiser. As per our well-established protocol, we will neither name the advertiser nor show its ad. But we will show that an ad-clad Trail Blazers jersey looks like shit, which is all you need to know (click to enlarge):
There are now 24 ad-clad teams, including three that have joined the ranks in the past six weeks. There are six remaining ad-free teams.
(My continued thanks to Nic Schultz for his Photoshoppery.)
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And speaking of the NBA: Utah Jazz point guard Ricky Rubio has been hinting for about a week that the team has a new uniform in the works, and yesterday he got to show it off — a purple throwback that matches what the Jazz wore from 1986 through 1996. Here’s how it looks from the back:
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Too good for the Ticker: Check out these two NBA photos from a 1962 Warriors/Pistons game. There’s a lot to admire here, but the most uni-notable thing, obviously, is that one of the Detroit players — apparently Walter Dukes, at least according to the Twitter hive mind — is wearing his warm-up top on the court! I can definitively say that I’ve never seen that before. Anyone else..?
(My thanks to John Cannon and @ursus_arctos59 for their contributions to this section.)
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Contest reminder: Today’s the next-to-last day to get your entries in for my Jets-redesign contest. As usual, the best entries will be featured in one of my upcoming ESPN columns. Full details here.
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Cap reminder: In case you missed it on Wednesday, I’m happy to report that all fitted sizes of the Uni Watch classic cap, available exclusively from Ebbets Field Flannels, are now back in stock. Grab your preferred size before they sell out again!
Meanwhile, two weeks ago I asked for feedback on our flex-fit alternate cap, and a bunch of you said, “Actually, I’ve been meaning to buy that one, but I keep forgetting or putting it off.” If that’s you, go ahead and order one already. Thanks.
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The Ticker By Paul
Baseball News: The Red Sox had a division title banner made, but it fell off the truck that was transporting it. A few Sox fans found it and will return it — for the right price (from Mike Chamernik). … The Marlins’ teal throwbacks were such a big hit this season that they’re bringing them back for 2019 (thanks, Phil).
Pro Football News: The Browns’ mono-brown Color Rash uniforms will finally make their on-field debut tonight. … Meanwhile, check out the Browns’ striped end zones! They represent the team’s 16 Hall of Famers (from @Cdud1970 and Jerry Wolper). … WR Jordan Matthews, who returned yesterday for a second stint with the Eagles, will wear No. 80, not his old No. 81. … The AAF — the new pro league debuting in February — released four of its eight team names and logos (from Tod Meisner).
College Football News: Colorado A&M-era throwbacks on tap this weekend for Colorado State. Love that green/orange color combo. … Sportswriter Steve Rushin found his dad’s 1952 Purdue Big Ten championship belt buckle while poking around in the basement (from Jen Hayden). … Yesterday we reported that Iowa State would wear a “CBA” memorial decal for slain ISU golfer Celia Barquín Arozamena. Now comes news that ISU’s opponent this weekend, Akron, will also wear the decal (from Kary Klismet). … Here are this week’s uni combos for Washington State and Arkansas (thanks, Phil). … Throwback uniforms this Saturday for Montana (from @clarkbarniner).
NBA News: Here’s an old Bucks team photo that appears to show Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wearing stirrups over his tube socks! Not sure what that was about (from many readers).
Soccer News: Manchester United has new pink uniforms, and some fans are not pleased (thanks, Phil). … New uniforms for CSKA Moscow, which has switched from Adidas to Umbro (from Ed Zelaski). … Also from Ed: New alternate kit for Red Bull Salzburg. … “Outside the Stade de Suisse in Bern is an old scoreboard from the first stadium on the site, the Wankdorfstadion, and a picture of it in action in the 1954 World Cup final,” says our own Jamie Rathjen. “In advance of the first Champions League group stage game for the local team, BSC Young Boys, against Manchester United, the ads in the picture have been covered up because UEFA only allows ads for Champions League advertisers to appear in and around the stadium.” Douchebags. … Nike has produced a new mashup kit for FC Barcelona, featuring elements from all of the team’s kits over the past 20 years. More info here. … New third kit for Scottish club Hibernian (Jamie again). … Good story from Denis Hurley: “In 1990, Cork City wore a new away shirt against Dundalk, but it proved to be the only time they wore it. However, when the clubs played again the following week, Dundalk forgot their away shirts, so they ended up borrowing the City jerseys.” … For last night’s Portland Timbers game, the jersey numbers used elements from all of the players’ home country flags (from @bryant_rf).
Grab Bag: Check out this super-cool book that presented a design proposal for an identity system for the 1976 USA bicentennial (from James Gilbert). … “Pizza” chain Papa John’s, looking to turn the page on the era of disgraced founder John Schnatter, may have a new logo in the works. … The airline Cathay Pacific misspelled its own name on a jet livery (from @deadendnights and David Cline). … More memorials for slain Iowa State golfer Celia Barquín Arozamena: Michigan’s women’s golf team wore red ribbons for her, and Ladies European Tour players will wear black ribbons and observe a moment of silence for her during the first round of the Mediterranean Open (from Kary Klismet). … Oktoberfest uniforms for the German volleyball team United Volleys (from Jeremy Brahm). … Speaking of volleyball, the U. of Florida is doing a jersey giveaway (from Evan Murray).
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I’m visiting my mom today, so I won’t be keeping as close an eye on the site as I usually do. Play nice while I’m away, okay? Thanks. — Paul
The egg timer at the New Era offices — the one that rings every few weeks to remind them it’s time to feed the retail beast by cranking out another line of “lifestyle” caps that nobody really needs — apparently went off recently, because yesterday they launched a new series of NFL team caps called “Elements.”
In other words, your usual pointless retail slop. None of which would matter to us here at Uni Watch, except for the one thing: In a situation like this, what do they do with the Browns, whose logo is just their helmet? Here’s the answer:
And there you have it. According to New Era (and, presumably, according to the Browns themselves, since teams have to approve these designs), the Browns’ most prominent logo element is a facemask! Too funny. Is this the first time a facemask has ever been featured as the primary logo on a baseball cap? I’m guessing yes.
Perhaps a better question is whether this will be the last time a facemask will be featured on a cap. Once you open that door, there are plenty of possibilities. After all, lots of NFL players have had distinctive grills that became their visual signatures, plus you could have a whole line of designs just for Archie Manning (collect ’em all!). Do a limited-edition, premium-priced design featuring Y.A. Tittle’s kithen sink rig and you’ll be sitting on a pot of gold in no time flat. Hell, you could even include a few MLB players in the mix!
My usual position with any Browns-related merch is “Put Brownie the Elf on it!” But in this case, I’m glad they went with the facemask. Much more absurd and thought-provoking. Thanks, New Era!
(My thanks to Jim Tischler, who brought the Elements caps to my attention.)
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Speaking of caps: I’m happy to report that all fitted sizes of the Uni Watch classic cap, available exclusively from Ebbets Field Flannels, are now back in stock. Grab your preferred size before they sell out again!
Meanwhile, two weeks ago I asked for feedback on our flex-fit alternate cap, and a bunch of you said, “Actually, I’ve been meaning to buy that one, but I keep forgetting or putting it off.” If that’s you, go ahead and order one already.
Hey, wouldn’t it be great if we did a Uni Watch “Elements” cap? It could feature just the wing. Or just the stirrup. Or just the undersock. Or just the stripes.
Or not.
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For all photos in this section, click to enlarge
Now that’s a throwback: Colgate, an FCS school, has something special planned for this Saturday’s game against Lafayette. The university is celebrating its bicentennial, and the football team is marking the occasion by wearing 1932 throwbacks. That was the season Colgate famously went, as the saying goes, “undefeated, untied, unscored upon, and uninvited” (to the Rose Bowl).
Here’s a game shot of the original 1932 unis:
Obviously, they can’t go without front uni numbers 2018, so they had to come up with a solution that looked old-school while still meeting NCAA requirements. I’d say they did a pretty good job of that:
For the back numbers, they actually applied panels of a burlap-like material to the jersey and then applied the numbers to those panels:
For the helmet, they’re going with a hydro-dipped faux-leather texture pattern, with decals to simulate the old leather stitching:
This was all the brainchild of Colgate assistant equipment director Broc Hazlet. You can read more about the design process in this excellent article from the Colgate website.
One other notable item here: Colgate will be wearing white at home for this game.
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Too good for the Ticker: There’s sooooo much going on in this 1969 shot sent my way last night by longtime reader Marc Viquez. Dig:
• The Reds did not wear a patch for their 100th anniversary in ’69 (although they did wear the MLB centennial patch). But it turns out that they had a logo for the team centennial, which they used for their on-deck circle.
• I’m pretty sure that’s the earliest example I’ve ever seen of a logo or graphic being used for the on-deck circle. I think of that as a 1970s and ’80s phenomenon. (Update: Longtime reader/contributor BSmile reports that the Yankees, of all teams, had a team-logo on-deck circle in the mid-1960s.)
• I’m old enough to remember when it was fairly common — or at least not uncommon — to see players kneeling or squatting on deck, as Pete Rose is doing in this photo. At some point, that fell out of vogue. When you think about it, it’s pretty ridiculous. Why wouldn’t you be standing as you get ready to hit? (Update: Note that Rose and the batboy both have little cushions — maybe colored bases? — to kneel on. Never seen that before! Big thanks to reader/commenter Mangler for pointing that out.)
• Never really noticed before that the late-’60s Reds had a Tigers-like profusion of belt loops on their pants.
• At first glance, it looks like the bat boy’s pants have few belt loops than Rose. But upon closer inspection, it appears that he simply missed at least two of his loops.
• Batting gloves were fairly rare in 1969, but Rose is wearing at least one of them. Some very quick photo research indicates that he sometimes wore one in ’69, but not always.
• Nowadays, bat boys are required to wear helmets. Back in the day, they wore caps. (And the “BB” jersey is very nice, of course.)
That’s a lot of mileage from one photo, right? Big thanks to Marc for sending it my way.
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Contest reminder: Just a few days left to get your entries in for my Jets-redesign contest. As usual, the best entries will be featured in one of my upcoming ESPN columns. Full details here.
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Celebrity sighting: Who was that alongside me in Soho last night? None other than the pseudonymous DIY genius Wafflebored, who’s in town to celebrate his birthday. The Tugboat Captain and I met up with him and his lovely partner, Carmen, and it was a genuine thrill to meet the man behind so many great jerseys. I’ve featured him many times here on the site, but do yourself a favor and follow his blog, which documents his many amazing jersey projects.
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New Uni Watch HQ pays porch dividends: Until now, I’d never lived anywhere that had a front porch. And I have to say, there’s something really nice about sitting on said porch, safe and dry, while enjoying wifi and Diet Coke (not necessarily in that order) during a thunderstorm.
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The Ticker By Alex Hider
Baseball News: The Orioles wore their braille-lettered uniforms last night against the Blue Jays. Paul first wrote about them earlier this month (thanks to all who shared). … Mets 3B Todd Frazier went high-cuffed last night, and his socks appeared to be a lighter shade of blue than the Mets’ usual royal (from Justo Gutierrez). … Fashion designer Ralph Lauren is throwing out the first pitch on Thursday, but don’t expect him to dress up. He says he isn’t going to “worry” about what he wears (from Tom Turner). … This family borrowed the Seattle Mariners logo for its family reunion (from Michael Miller). … The Staten Island Yankees raised $8,000 on behalf of their GM, who is battling breast cancer, thanks in part to auctioning off their pink cancer awareness uniforms (from Phil). … The Phillie Phanatic wore green for Irish Heritage Night last night.
NFL News: Resurgent Bucs QB Ryan “Fitzmagic” Fitzpatrick is the talk of the league right now. But it’s Dolphins DB Minkah Fitzpatrick who’s filed a trademark for the “Fitzmagic” nickname. … Yahoo took some liberties with NFL helmets in this graphic (from Dylan Nowak and @RipVanWhiskey). … A restaurant in Wisconsin has a black, yellow and white mural on a wall, and the color scheme makes a Packers helmet look like a Grambling State helmet (from Christian M. Zummer). … David Whitley put together a Raiders concept uniform.
College/High School Football News: We missed this one, but Stanford and UC Davis went color-vs.-color on Saturday (from John Furstenthal). … Iowa State will wear a memorial decal Saturday to honor Celia Barquín Arozamena, the ISU golfer who was murdered on Monday (from @cylinen). … Matt Schudel was taking a look at Davidson’s old yearbooks and noticed that the Wildcats wore plaid or checkered numbers on their white jerseys from about 1956-1962. … A Connecticut high school football website now has its own uniform column (from David Kranz). … Cross-listed from the NFL section: A restaurant in Wisconsin has a black, yellow, and white mural on a wall, and the color scheme makes a Green Bay Packers helmet look like a Grambling State helmet (from Christian M. Zummer).
Hockey News: ’Canes RW Justin Williams was recently named team captain, and he’s offering to cover the cost for fans who wants to add a “C” to their jersey (from Ted Arnold). … Speaking of Williams, his “C” will be on the right side of his jersey instead of the standard left, at least on the team’s alternate jersey (from Keaton). … Staying with the ’Canes, they played a color-vs.-color game with the Lightning yesterday (from Bobby Fenton). … A Bruins blog speculates that the team will have a vintage third jersey this season (from Sara Schieve). … The Preds are painting team murals around Nashville, and they uploaded a time-lapse video of this mural of a front-facing sabertooth tiger. … The Atlanta Gladiators of the ECHL have new uniforms (from Phil). … Ohio University has new 1958-inspired green sweaters to go with the white jerseys they debuted last season (from Trevor Wilson Patton). … The Utah Grizzlies of the ECHL have their center ice logo ready to go (from Brian Prutch). … Jägermeister is now the “official shot” of the NHL, but hockey fans, that doesn’t mean you need to drink it. And really, why would you ever want to?
Basketball News: Looks like the Trail Blazers are getting ready to reveal a new uniform. The announcement will apparently come later today (from Jarrod Campbell). … The refs probably had a tough time calling fouls on the Celina High School (Ohio) basketball team during the 1943-44 season. Check out that number selection! (From Kyle Shaner). Same goes for 1947 Arlington High School (Illinois) team (from Andy Garms). … New uniforms for North Carolina. Not sure if the color is actually lighter, or it’s just the lighting in the photo. Here’s another shot (from @heelsupdates and Jason Collins). … Nebraska unveiled new pinstriped home uniforms yesterday (from Shamus McKnight).
Soccer News: New Champions League kits for Napoli (from Josh Hinton). … Also from Josh: The South American uniform manufacturer Dana has copied a bunch of notable kit designs from other outfitters, including Nike’s much-discussed 2018 World Cup kit for Nigeria.
Grab Bag: This what U.S. players will wear in the Ryder Cup next week (from Phil). … ColorWerx, the website that tracks the colors of pro and college sports teams, has changed its name and URL to TruColor.net.
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G’mar Hatima Tova to all who are observing Yom Kippur today.
I’ve written a lot this year about the 1963 Kansas City A’s — the team that introduced the franchise’s now-familiar green/gold color scheme. (To see the posts I’m referring to, look here, here, here, here, and here.)
Now we have yet another entry about the ’63 A’s. It comes from longtime reader/contributor Ferdinand Cesarano, who was recently reading a book called The Kansas City Athletics: A Baseball History, 1954-1967, by John E. Peterson. “To be honest, it is not a well-written book,” says Ferdinand. It does, however, have a very uni-notable passage on page 179:
Norm Siebern … was Kansas City’s lone representative on the [1963] All-Star team but did not appear in the game because Yankees manager Ralph Houk [who was skippering the American League squad that year] felt the green and gold uniform would embarrass the American League.”
Wow! Pretty amazing to think that Houk would effectively bench an All-Star because of his team’s uniform. Imagine if the same kind of snub had been directed at, say, Bob Watson, who was the Astros’ lone All-Star in 1975, the year that the tequila sunrise uniforms debuted, or at Goose Gossage, who was the sole White Sox All-Star in 1976, when the leisure suit design debuted. (Actually, Gossage didn’t appear in the ’76 All-Star Game, but there’s no indication that it had anything to do with American League manager Darrell Johnson’s feelings about his uniform. Then again, we didn’t know Siebern’s absence from the ’63 game was uni-related until now, so hey, anything is possible.)
As for Siebern — that’s him pictured at the top of today’s entry — he was selected as an All-Star again in 1964, but he had moved on to the Orioles by then. He appeared in the ’64 All-Star Game as a pinch-hitter and flied out. The lone A’s All-Star that year was John Wyatt. Houk wasn’t managing the American League team that year (White Sox skipper Al Lopez had the honors), so Wyatt got into the game, allowing Charlie Finley’s signature color scheme to finally make its All-Star debut. Wyatt didn’t exactly cover himself in glory, though: He allowed two runs in an inning of work as the American League lost again, 7-4.
Another day, another NHL alternate: The Blue Jackets are the latest NHL team to announce an alternate uni for 2018-19. As you can see above, it’s an Adidas-updated version of the alternate that they wore from 2010 through 2017. Looks like they’ve changed the cream elements to white, although maybe that’s just the lighting.
Additional info, including the dates when this jersey will be worn, is available here.
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Collector’s Corner By Brinke Guthrie
Are you ready for some footb — er, lunchtime? Have to say I’ve never seen one of these before: a Wilson NFL football-shaped lunchbox. It has a sticker on one side saying, “Play Football,” and the hinges open up to reveal a water bottle. Doesn’t look like there’s too much room for a banana, Triscuits, or Oreos, but there you go.
Now for the rest of this week’s picks:
• Kinney Shoes (The Great American Shoe Store, don’tcha know) offered this NBA snapback trucker cap back in the day. Maybe you got it for free when you bought some sneakers?
• Take a look at this 1970s Texas Rangers shot glass, complete with their original “Baseball Hat” logo. Speaking of that logo, did you know that the reason the R and the S are rendered at a larger size is because the owner at the time was Robert Short? It’s true!
• Nice-looking vintage NFL logos on this early-1970s towel. I believe on the left you can pick out Ron Johnson (30) and Bob Tucker (38) of the New York Football Giants. Wanna say that’s Don Perkins from the Cowboys on the right, parallel to Johnson, but he retired in 1968.
• Check out how much time there is until kickoff with this 1970s Rams wind-up watch. Has a Swatch-y look to it.
• Bundle up for those upcoming cold fall and winter games at Soldier Field with this 1970s-1980s Bears scarf.
Seen an item on eBay that would be good for Collector’s Corner? Send any submissions here.
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Contest reminder: Just a few days left to get your entries in for my Jets-redesign contest. As usual, the best entries will be featured in one of my upcoming ESPN columns. Full details here.
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KRC update: The latest installment of Key Ring Chronicles is a really nice story about a key tag from a pizzeria. I like this one a lot. Check it out here.
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The Ticker By Alex Hider
Baseball News: It’s September, which means Cubs 2B Ben Zobrist is riding his bike around Chicago in his full uniform. He did the same thing in 2016 and 2017 (from Brinke). … Marlins superfan Marlins Man — the guy who shows up at almost every notable sporting event in an orange Marlins jersey — won a charity auction and will get to be a “player for a day.” He was given a black jersey at a press conference yesterday, but will the Marlins wear his beloved orange when he goes on the field tonight? They haven’t worn orange this season (from Billy King). … The newest member of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball is the Milwaukee Milkmen. Here’s their uni set (thanks to all who shared). … This picture of Ernie Banks from 1957 (note the cap piping) shows him in white stirrups with blue stripes, but Dressed to the Nines says the ’57 Cubs usually wore blue stirrups with white stripes (from Phillip Santos). … Pretty cool project: A guy from Idaho has been making a mythical minor league baseball league that would be based in Idaho and giving the teams backstories (from Geoff Baker). … For anyone who keeps score during baseball games, this is the pencil for you (from Matthew Alego). … Twitter user @PhillyPartTwo found this framed Bugs Bunny baseball print for sale on eBay.
NFL News: The cleats Bucs WR DeSean Jackson wore on Sunday were reminiscent of old Vans sneakers (from Collin). … Shaquill and Shaquem Griffin, the brothers and defenders for the Seahawks, have been wearing standard NOBs this season, with no FIOB (from Kenneth Guckenberger). … Eagles K Jake Elliot is featured wearing a Bengals jersey in Yahoo’s fantasy football app. He played for Cincinnati during the 2017 preseason (from KT). … Seahawks P Michael Dickson was wearing super-short biker shorts and what appeared to be a codpiece for last night’s game against the Bears (from @BackAftaThis). … Surprising to see NFL Primetime using an outdated Jags helmet (from Trey Volk).
College Football News: Texas A&M will wear 1998 throwbacks, which include the faux-mesh numbers pioneered by Nebraska last season, on Oct. 6. Here’s a good look at the helmet (thanks to all who shared). … Georgia Tech will break out new blue jerseys on Saturday against Clemson, pairing them with gold helmets and white pants. They’re calling the jerseys a “nod” to the 1990 championship jerseys, but they’re just the current set with a blue shirt. … UAB will wear the names of sick children on their NOBs in partnership with Children’s Harbor on Oct. 20 (from Lauren Webster Veach). … Florida State will wear gold/garnet/gold on Saturday (from Phil). … This may have been ticked at some point, but former BYU QB Jim McMahon wore a blue facemask in the 1980s while the rest of his team wore white (from John Fitzgerald). … Donovan Mitchell of the Utah Jazz was at Utah’s game last week and blacked out the Under Armour logo on the jersey. He has an endorsement deal with Adidas (from @B_handy).
Hockey News: Panthers C Aleksander Barkov will wear the “C” for the Panthers this season (from Moe Khan). … The Caps are among the teams that will have ads in the corners this season (from @bryanwdc). … Tennis legend Roger Federer visited the Blackhawks and they gifted him a custom sweater (from Brinke). … Not uni-related, but the NHL has launched a new website that will track notable franchise and league records.
The Lions wore white over silver-ish for yesterday’s game against the 49ers. It’s the first time they’ve worn that uni combo since establishing their current uni set last year. In 2017, all of their white-jersey games featured blue pants. Lots of additional photos of yesterday’s game here.
In other news from around the league yesterday:
• Speaking of new uni combos, Washington went burgundy over white for the first time since 2012 (or 2013, if you count preseason games):
• The Jags wore their teal alternates against the Pats, and they looked great — or at least as great as this set can look, given the unfortunate lack of gold trim. Here’s hoping they redesignate the teal as their primary jersey next season (click to enlarge; lots of additional photos here):
• Two field-design changes for the Titans, who had their home opener yesterday: They’ve added their 20th-anniversary logo to their end zones, and their yard markers are now rendered in the team’s jersey number font (click to enlarge):
• Speaking of field design, the Rams had their home opener yesterday as well, and they showcased new end zone lettering (click to enlarge):
• For the second consecutive week, the Panthers went mono-white with black socks, instead of the usual blue. Perhaps this is their new standard protocol..?
And that’s it. Pretty quiet week. The Seahawks play the Bears tonight in Chicago, which should be a fairly decent-looking game.
(My thanks to all contributors, including Gabe Cornwall, Bill Fenbers, Joe Friedli, Lee Wilds, and Jim Wyatt.)
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Home theater: Before smart phones, before YouTube, before television, there were only two ways to see moving pictures: at the movie theater and via flipbooks, the latter of which are every bit as illuminating and charming today as they were generations ago.
Imagine if you were a kid in 1937 and the only way you’d seen Joe DiMaggio was in newspaper photos and the occasional newsreel at the neighborhood cinema. With these flipbooks, you could watch his swing over and over, pattern your style after his, and so on. So cool!
(Big thanks to longtime reader Jon Solomonson for this one.)
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Contest reminder: Remember, I’m currently running a Jets-redesign contest. As usual, the best entries will be featured in one of my upcoming ESPN columns. Full details here.
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The Ticker By Jamie Rathjen
Baseball News: Part of the reason Astros 3B Alex Bregman wears No. 2 is that he was the second draft pick because the Diamondbacks passed on him. He previously said he also wears the number in honor of Derek Jeter (from Mike Chamernik). … Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia gave retiring Mets 3B David Wright a No. 5 from the Fenway Park scoreboard (from Kevin McLaughlin). … The Reds wore red away from home possibly for the first time since 2013 (from our own Alex Hider). … Reader Eric G. found this 1990 White Sox prototype that’s new to us. Jersey historian Bill Henderson said it looks legit to him.
Football News: Left over from Saturday: New metallic orange helmet for Bowling Green and new black helmet for Buffalo (from Blaise D’Sylva). … Akron’s backup long snapper Kyle Bauman was missing his NOB. “Also worth noting many members of the kicking squad had jerseys made from shiny mesh material (similar to the old NFL Reebok template),” says John Koziol. … Back in 1983, Auburn K Al Del Greco had the wrong color facemask.
Hockey News: The Islanders moved their pants maker’s mark to the side stripe. Here’s a better look (from Jason Greenberg). … Here’s some NHL/NBA uniform mashups (from Adam Gignac). … The Sharks now have three Karlssons in training camp — defenseman Erik, forward Melker, and center Linus — but they won’t wear initials with their NOBs. … Finland’s national team is to have a new logo and uniforms for their 90th anniversary next year. … The 2020 AHL All-Star Game was awarded to Ontario, Calif., and there’s already a logo (from @TheLAKnight). … The Kings wore new “LAK” jerseys for an intrasquad scrimmage. “Wonder if it might be a third jersey logo preview?” says Jack Wade. … If you’ve always wanted to own an EA Sports hockey jersey, here’s your chance (from Lucan Denfield).
Basketball News: Division II Alaska’s women’s team wore the white versions of 1985-86 throwbacks originally worn by the men’s team for a Senior Night photo shoot, suggesting those uniforms might appear at the end of the season (from Tony Robillard). … Also posted in hockey: here’s some NHL/NBA uniform mashups (from Adam Gignac).
Soccer News: Liga MX team Santos Laguna wore 35th anniversary shirts against Club León, but the referee made them change midway through the first half to create more contrast with León’s white/green/green kit. Santos changed to their black and green second shirt and at halftime also changed to black shorts and socks (from Lucan Denfield). … Elsewhere in Mexico, Monterrey (left) and Chivas wore shirts that were both predominately white on the back and were deemed not to clash (from Josh Hinton). … Also from Josh: Everton wore shirts with their advertiser’s charity initiative on the front yesterday. … Fulham wore this season’s second-choice kit for the first time this weekend, so they’ve now worn four kits in their first five Premier League games. … English top-tier women’s team Yeovil Town received their own solid green Nike kit this season; Yeovil’s men’s team wear green and white hooped shirts from a company called TAG. … The Europa League ball is now made by Japanese company Molten. The competition had used Adidas since it became the Europa League in 2009-10; before that, when it was the UEFA Cup, the ball was whatever the home team used. … Aston Villa’s jersey sales are way up, thanks in part to a deal with fashion designer Luke Roper (from Lucan Denfield).
