Monday Morning Uni Watch

I don’t have a photo, but there was a point in the first half of yesterday’s Giants/Eagles game when Ahmad Bradshaw was carrying the ball while his mouthguard was stuck on the top of his helmet. If anyone DVR’d the game and can get us a shot of that, I’d love to get a closer look.

In other NFL observations from yesterday:

• Check out the NFL logo on Tom Coughlin’s postgame interview cap. Looks like a hybrid of the old and new logos — new football and stars, old lettering.

• Alge Crumpler lost a good chunk of his helmet decal.

• Good thing Bill Belichick doesn’t play in the NBA: He’d get fined for wearing an upside-down headband.

•  The Ravens wore solid black. Ewww.

• I don’t normally pay much attention to commercials, but I almost fell off the sofa when I glanced up and saw a new NyQuil spot that shows Drew Brees backwards. Even weirder, Brees appears properly oriented a few seconds earlier in the spot. What gives? If you watch the commercial carefully, you can see that the flopped image is actually a shot of Brees looking at himself in a mirror, but it happens so quickly that it’s easy to miss that. Very odd choice.

• Turning to college action: On Saturday I wanted to make this recipe, so I went to Brooklyn’s Chinatown, Sunset Park, to shop for a few ingredients. Found what I needed and then popped into a bar, which had the Humanitarian Bowl on the teevee, and that’s when I spotted a Fresno State player with a big ol’ cast on his hand — looked like a club. We’ve all seen that before, but the difference this time is that the player in question, Robbie Rouse, is a running back. Couldn’t believe it when they gave him a carry. Then he caught a pass! That was his only reception of the game, but he got 14 carries — amazing. Couldn’t find a photo from the game, but here’s a shot of him from practice. That’s exactly how the cast looked in the game. Can you imagine carrying the ball with that thing? (Recipe turned out great, but I’ll have more on that later.)

• Nobody much pays attention to Troy’s football team, so it wasn’t until the New Orleans bowl that people started noticing the punter’s amazing beard.

• In the D-II national championship game, Delta State QB Micah Davis had his jersey completely shredded in the first half. They stitched him up, but it looked like his uni number had changed from 12 to 17.

• And in the D-III title game, Wisconsin-Whitewater’s QB Lee Brekke had a massive gap between the numerals of his uni number.

• And a note from Friday: Eastern Washington’s Bo Levi Mitchell had lightning bolt-shaped eye black. Never seen that before, which is kinda surprising, no? Seems like something that would’ve become trendy by now.

(My thanks to all contributors, including Stu Taylor, John Koziol, Ryan Stone, Clark Ruhland, Aaron McHargue, Nate Farrer, and Sam Graves.)

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A steal on “Stealing Signs”: Mark Penxa is offering a special holiday discount to Uni Watch readers: His “Stealing Signs” watercolors, which usually sell for $150, can be had for only $80 (including shipping) if you mention Uni Watch.

“You and your readers have been so nice to me, and I have even made some really great friends from Uni Watch,” says Mark, “so this is my way of saying thanks for all the support.”

Uni Watch News Ticker: It’s official: Virginia Tech will be wearing orange helmets for the Orange Bowl. Can’t wait to hear what the teams in the Pinstripe Bowl will be wearing. ”¦ Last season Arizona wore blue helmets and then switched to white for their bowl game. This year they’ve worn white helmets (and, for the most part red jerseys at home) and are switching to blue for their bowl game (big thanks to Michael Koch). … Good article about Syracuse basketball shoes (with thanks to Gabe Butler). ”¦ Check this out: the first Zamboni! (Great find by Ben Traxel.) ”¦ Since when do NFL teams have their own team-branded pylons? (Good spot by Ed Lafayette.) ”¦ Wondering what mask designs the Penguins’ goalies were planning to use for the Winter Classic? Look no further (with thanks to Michael Koch). ”¦ What uniforms are these? They’re from Cuban baseball teams. “That site roughly translates to ‘From the Fanatic’s Box,’ and it attempts to ‘preserve the historical memory of all eras of Cuban baseball for future generations,'” says Cort McMurray. “In addition to the logo page, there are also pages for logos and stadiums.” ”¦ A little birdie tells me that when Alabama got their shipment of Nike shoes for the Capital One Bowl, part of the shipment was actually Oregon shoes with the Day-Glo trim. They’re being sent back pronto. ”¦ Those new Big 10 division names may not last for long. ”¦ Throwbacks upcoming for Bowling Green hoops (with thanks to Jon Caraccilo). ”¦ Very cool video segment about Notre Dame’s lacrosse helmets (with thanks to Matt Henderson). ”¦ Check out the weird “LA” logo on the Dodgers jacket in this photo. Never seen that before (good spot by Lucas Casso). ”¦ How long has Indiana hoops had that inlining on the uni numbers? Is that yet another unintended consequence of the new Adidas uni system? (As spotted by Todd Usher.) ”¦ Oooh, check out this tasty Pats shirt. ”¦ When the Sabres unveiled their third jersey, they said the unusual stitching on the uni numbers was based on old-time hockey sweaters. I’d never seen that before, but it shows up on this football jersey — scroll down for several close-up photos of the numbers. ”¦ Here’s a vintage jersey similar to the Steelers’ old Batman design. ”¦ Good Q&A transcript with the Vikings’ equipment manager (with thanks to Mike McLaughlin). ”¦ What’s just as good as a snow game in football? A snow game in rugby. Those shots are from Paris, where Saracens and Racing Metro played a Heineken Cup rugby game (major thanks to Caleb Borchers). ”¦ This is pretty funny: Danny Woodhead of the Pats posing as a Modell’s employee and trying to sell his own jersey (with thanks to Matt Bessette). ”¦ Steven Davidson sent along some pics of his cap and jersey collections. “I’ve been collecting New Era fitteds since I was 13 years old and my collection has grown to over 2000 hats, all of the New Era 5950 model,” he says. ”¦ Excellent discussion of the variances in old-style flannel uniform fabrics here. ”¦ Remember how there were hi-res photos released last week for all of the new Nike bowl uniforms except for TCU’s? Here, finally, is a good shot of that uni. But as I wrote in my ESPN column last week, they may not wear it anyway, because they want to wear purple instead. … Lots going on in this NOB. “That’s Jimmy Saddler-McQueen, who has spent time this season with the Cowboys and currently is on the Rams’ practice squad,” says Patrick Karraker. “He has 14 letters, same as ‘Roethlisberger,’ but he also has the hyphen. So is this the longest surname in the NFL?” Good question. Anyone..? ”¦ Brinke was at the Charles Schultz Museum and took a shot of this sculpture. I know Schultz was a big hockey fan (and player), but what jersey is that? ”¦ “I ran across this 1970s mini-helmet display on Saturday at my wife’s cousins house,” says Mark Shipman. “He just got them out of storage from his step-Mom’s. I’m trying to work a deal with him now.” ”¦ Coaches always tell you to play for the name on the front of the jersey, not the back, but that’s tricky when those two names are one and the same (with thanks to Stan Schwartz). ”¦ Indiana State hoops wears its conference patch on the back of the shorts. “I’m not sure I would wear a patch on my hind quarters that reads, ‘The Valley,'” notes Eric G. ”¦ New logo for the Washington Mystics (with thanks to Scott Sobelman). ”¦ Dillon Scibelli notes that some of the Rangers appear to have an extra padded area on the back/top area of their gloves. “It’s probably because Ryan Callahan broke his hand in that spot while blocking a shot,” he says. ”¦ Longtime Michigan football equipment manager Jon Falk has written a book (with thanks to Mark Loveland). ”¦ “The East Stroudsburg University (PA) wrestling team forgot their singlets while making the six-hour trip to Erie to face Mercyhurst College on Saturday,” writes Ryan Patton. “So ESU wore some old royal blue Mercyhurst singlets, turned inside-out. You can see a faint ‘M’ and the tag/stitching on the guy in blue.” ”¦ The NFL thanked the Lions and the city of Detroit for providing a venue for last Monday’s Giants/Lions game. Only problem is, they used the wrong Lions logo. ”¦ Coupla cool finds by Mike Hirsh, including an 1880s Spalding baseball uniform order sheet, and a 1930s baseball jersey with mini-pennants on the back. ”¦ Interesting double logo rip-off by Kingstree High in South Carolina, whose basketball team uses a Lakers-style insignia and a Jags logo patch on the shorts (as noted by Chris Rodgers). ”¦ “My son just turned seven, so we decorated his birthday cake to look like a hockey rink,” says proud papa James Huening. “We used red licorice pieces for the red line, blue decorating icing for the blue lines, cherry baking chips for the goal lines/creases, and blue sugar for the paint inside the creases. The cake was a bit small so we didn’t bother with all the face-off circles/dots.” ”¦ We’ve seen NHL goalies occasionally wear the old-school waffle-style blocker as a throwback gesture. But have we ever seen the waffle blocker used in a non-throwback context? As you can see in the caption, that photo was taken in warm-ups — Brodeur didn’t actually play in the game, and I’m not sure if he’s worn that gear in a game yet (good spot by Ben Gorbaty). … Here’s a weird one: an MLB sticker trading wallet. I’m sure someone out there can tell us the story behind this, right? ”¦ RIP, Captain — see you at the Radar Station.

About time: Thanks to Saturday’s events, the uniforms of the American military now stand for greater justice and equality, which says more about America than any camouflage football uni ever will. Bravo.