Skip to content
 

Auction Action, Football Edition

Screen shot 2011-02-17 at 9.49.16 AM.png

A few weeks ago I got a note from a reader who I won’t name. “I get to work every day at 7:30 and use this quiet time to do a ton of research,” he wrote. “But now our Nazi IT dept. has decided to block us from viewing just about every blog and site with streaming media. On top of that, I can’t get to my fantasy hockey and basketball teams on Facebook.”

That’s a pity. But his loss is our gain, because the reader in question — if you’ve been paying attention lately, you should be able to figure out who it is — has apparently been using his newfound free time to delve into lots of photo and auction sites, and has been submitting more great stuff than ever. Here are his picks, all football-related, from the recent Hunt Auctions sale:

• Never seen this KC Chiefs logo before — and with good reason.

• Speaking of Super Bowl pennants, it’s sort of quaint to see such a misguided Raiders design. Aside from the nonsensical color scheme, the player is clearly a college gridder (note the bare legs). Also: This item provides further evidence that the term “Super Bowl” was in wide use well before Super Bowl III. Also-also: Weird to see “fla.” not capitalized, no?

• Very rare to see one of these lace-up football vests. I love the dots at the top and bottom of the “C” logo.

• As you know, I collect uniform catalogs, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with such a magnificent cover illustration. Seriously, is that beautiful or what?

• I reallyreallyreally like this 1949 Arkansas Razorbacks schedule poster, especially the typography they used for “Arkansas.”

• Here’s another schedule poster from that same year, this time for Tulane. It’s a completely different style but just as successful and appealing. I’d love to have these last two items hanging side by side.

• One problem with Hunt Auctions is that they don’t provide a “click to enlarge” interface for their photos, which is very frustrating when you come across an item like this one. Look at that primitive NFL shield — wish we could get a better look at that. Pretty inexcusable that they didn’t provide a close-up shot of it.

• Speaking of primitive NFL logos, look at this! Surprisingly enough, that logo is largely unchanged and still in use today. Also: Note the unusual basket-weave embroidery pattern on the upper patch. Not sure I’ve ever seen that on an embroidered patch before.

• Can anyone decipher this logo? “NWC,” maybe? Whatever — it’s a failed design.

daytona-500-logo-2011.jpg

• Here’s a fun one to go out on: Vince Lombardi shilling for Nestlé’s Quik. Must have been during his Redskins tenure, given the cap color.

+ + + + +

On Sunday, Uni Watch webmaster John Ekdahl provided a viewer’s guide to the Daytona 500. He attended the race later that day and has now provided a short post-race report:

It was an absolutely perfect February Florida day for the Daytona 500. Everyone was pumped for the dropping of the green flag, but the silent three-finger memorial salute for Dale, Sr. on the third lap was one of the most incredible live experiences of my life. NASCAR fans are the best.

The fans were really pulling for Dale, Jr. at the end before a flat tire took him out of the running (he ended up crashing right after he had to come in to change it), but rookie Trevor Bayne’s victory was a popular one, and everyone was generally excited for him. Still, the biggest victory of the weekend went to yours truly: My wife, after doing her best to humor me these last few years by watching NASCAR with me on television, joined me in Daytona for her first race ever became a bon bona-fide fan.

Thanks for all the comments (and the help in clarifying some points) on Sunday. It appears we have some closet motorheads lurking here at Uni Watch.

+ + + + +

Uni Watch News Ticker: Jason Bay says he’ll considering giving up his uni number to Jason Isringhausen if Izzy makes the team. ”¦ Double-whammy for Chatttanooga hoops, which wore color at home and went BFBS on Monday night (with thanks to Chris Holder). ”¦ Here’s a great photo of a Boston Braves satin uni (good find by Mike Hersh). ”¦ Just when you thought there wasn’t anyplace left to put a swoosh, along comes the parachute brigade. ”¦ Latest reason to like R.A. Dickey: He bikes to work (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Small item toward the bottom of this article indicates that Justin Morneau “plans to wear a helmet during batting practice ”¦ [and] will wear the newer, more protective batting helmet at the plate” (good spot by Kenny Tobler). ”¦ Yesterday I linked to a photo of LSU’s purple pants from 1995. Here’s a game photo, although it’s in black-and-white (with thanks to Jack Quinn). ”¦ Why didn’t anyone tell me about this until after it was almost over? ”¦ Matt Paver notes that Tim Lincecum appears to have switched his footwear from Reebok to Mizuno. ”¦ Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Excellent piece on the story behind the Buffaslug. ”¦ While looking for something else, I came upon a page devoted to Texas Rangers uni number history. ”¦ Best thing about that chick who pitched BP for the Indians: She did it while going high-cuffed. ”¦ Big news out of Chisox camp, where Ozzie Guillen is wearing team-branded stirrups! (Good spot by Michael A. Gargano.) ”¦ Meanwhile, someone on Guillen’s staff is wearing stirrups in my preferred style, but I don’t know who that is. Anyone..? … Holy moly, look at these awesome new hockey tees from Mitchell and Ness! Too bad about (a) the price, and (b) the annoying M&N script on the right (with thanks to Mike Hersh). ”¦ New uniforms apparently in the works for Pitt football (thanks, Kek). ”¦ Here’s an unusually good article about an Indianapolis company that designs live mascots. High recommended reading. ”¦ Ladies and gents, your new New York Knicks, listed by their new uni numbers (with thanks to Matt Harris). ”¦ Here’s a shot of the 1972 Bills with inconsistent NOB fonts (rare non-Raiders submission by Bill Kellick). ”¦ Andrew Gerbosi notes that Chelsea’s black kit has its own unique name/number style, instead of the standardized EPL design. Anyone know why? ”¦ Reprinted from last night’s comments: The Canucks lost a letter last night. ”¦ Yesterday I linked to this item about Brandon Inge, in which he said, “I wore them down in high school, but it felt like I was wearing slacks. If I want to wear slacks, I’ll get a 9-to-5 job.” Sounds good, but then George Flory sent me this photo from Tigers camp — that’s Inge on the left. Gotta walk it like you talk it, Brandon. ”¦ Here’s a fun rant about “abuses of the colour palette” in soccer (big thanks to Jason Smith). ”¦ Here’s the latest article trying to create an air of inevitability about ads coming to North American uniforms. Not on my watch!

 
  
 
Comments (177)

    All EPL/BPL sides in competitions other than league matches use a different font; the “regular” font you’re used to seeing is only used during league matches.

    Manchester United plays this afternoon (tonight in Europe) and you will see the same thing on their kits.

    Gotta say Chelsea’s was very plain; it looked like the old style EPL font from the early 90s. They used to use what I would call the “Adidas” font; the numbers were created by using the three stripes.

    As an ex-pat living in the UK, I can tell you that Chelsea’s old-school drop-shadow number font isn’t exclusive to their black kit. It’s what they use when they’re playing non-EPL matches (i.e. their Champions League tie last night). I guess it’s a way of letting their hair down when they’re liberated from the EPL’s standardized name-and-number font. Several other teams do the same thing–Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur come immediately to mind, but I’m sure there are others. Anyway, point is that even if Chelsea had been in their traditional blues last night, they’d have had the drop-shadow font.

    Thanks for the answers… but my real question was why is there a number switch between EPL and Champions League kits? I knew that the numbers were the same regardless of which color kit was worn, but more wanted to know why and where these numbers came from? Did Chelsea use that font and numbering before EPL standardized everyone or is this just a random design choice?

    The reason Chelsea’s kit had a unique name and number font is because the game yesterday was played in a UEFA competition, not an English FA one. Anytime an English team plays in Europe, they have their own unique style. Take this Liverpool Europa League jersey for example.

    link

    Liverpool wore their UEFA numbering in the FA Cup as well.

    You see what happens when you do that? Manchester United beat you. HA.

    I saw this Providence College sports bus the other day. Sharp looking and a great, rolling billboard for Friars athletics: link

    The Nazi IT Dept. regime ended a little while back. We can now get to the blogs, but my fantasy hockey and basketball leagues are still blocked. That’s gonna hurt when baseball season starts.

    In general, I agree (with a few exceptions, like the Phils’ Liberty bells). But at this point, I’m happy for anything that draws attention to stirrups.

    Team logos on socks don’t bother me, unless I already dislike the logo.

    MLB clubs don’t sell their socks for some reason, so it doesn’t smack of a marketing move.

    Boy, I was going to comment on the Chelsea numbers, but you guys already jumped all over it. Well done, Uniwatchers!

    Great get by Mike Hersh – that Boston Braves uni is amazing. Who wouldn’t want that! Dummy I am, I’d wear it every chance I got. Too bad somebody obviously didn’t know the damage hanging it on a metal hanger would do. What a shame – I learned that lesson the hard way too.

    That’s definitely not “Jame Howard” but Melvin Hill. Seems like a horrible mistake by that newspaper. Here are the stats for the game which list Melvin Hill as the only LSU QB that played in that game: link

    Paul: Typo brigade alerts.

    1. Unless Lombardi is wearing a bloody sock on the Quik label (or spewing right wing views on talk radio) he is “shilling” for the product, not “schilling.”

    2. You also have “thbisi” in the ticker instead of “this.”

    “we gonna be out there like Oregon runnin’ around with all these different colors on and all that.” Please we don’t need another Oregon east of the Mississippi. If they want to wear differnet unis all the time than they should just bring back this:
    link
    or this:
    link
    or one of Pitt’s other great historic unis as part of some sort of uni rotation.

    we don’t need another Oregon east of the Mississippi.

    ~~~

    (fixed)

    and i had that exact same conversation with kek last night, right down to bringing back to royal & mustard with script pitt

    Navy and metallic gold with the script “Pitt” would work just fine as well. Plus, make the panther-head logo a bit more prominent as a secondary logo (either the “steelmark” version or the cleaner one).

    If Pitt becomes the Oregon of the East, say goodbye to Kek. The combination of blindness and hairy palms will prevent him from ever using a computer again.

    LMAO! So Bernard, can I invoice your company for a new monitor since I spit coffee all over mine and it will no doubt be ruined!

    I think that uniform in the first link, with royal and mustard, is one of THE greatest color combinations, and hence uniforms, of all time in college football. It’s a damn shame that a school with as much tradition as Pitt wants to try to intimidate Oregon with flavor-of-the-week unis. I wish they’d do a “historical rotation” of uniforms over the alternative, but I think we all know this will (probably) end badly.

    And that has me wondering, since Nike is so involved with Oregon sports, do they really want to let other schools steal Oregon’s gimmick? We’ve heard rumors of Oklahoma State, now Pitt? Seems a bit strange.

    Is our problem with Oregon the number of uniform combinations or the colors they use?

    Consider if Pitt uses their current color set or an altered one like one of your suggestions, I don’t think it would be SO bad.

    I think the thing that annoys me about Oregon is that half the time they’re not wearing school colors. This might be hard to do with Pitt

    Unfortunately, already started down this path with BFBS in last year’s Pro Combat.

    I read that Pitt had white, blue and gold in pants and jerseys last year. My understanding was they were available to use but never did. Either the blues or the golds didn’t match and they never pulled the trigger.

    Truth be told, I have no problem with the current uni set, albeit it’s a little plain. If they would fix up the problem with the matching you’d have those combos, plus the pro combat and add a throwback, they’d be good to go.

    “I think the thing that annoys me about Oregon is that half the time they’re not wearing school colors. This might be hard to do with Pitt”

    Wait… in your mind you can’t picture the iconic “Pitt” script, on a black carbon fiber helmet, in neon yellow/green day-glo colors? Because I bet Phil Knight can.

    See this is where I contradict myself a bit, because by stretching your imagination.. the neon green/yellow highlighter is still some form of green yellow. I have issues with a team going comepletely grey and white or black and have a pinch of “team” color.

    What can I picture for pitt? Probably a yellow similar to wvu’s canary shoes… a dark, blackish blue maybe? I really don’t see them going back to the script except for maybe special games (like when oregon goes with the UO helmet)

    I used to be right with you Paul on the stirrup stylings – this being the best way to go link But lately I’ve changed my tune. I like ’em lower. I think comes from the reason for stirrups in the first place, and that much sani showing doesn’t seem to fit, but I can’t be sure. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve no problem with them higher, and I like each player getting to do his own thing more than anything, just sayin’ I’d wear them low. One more thing, I don’t like the high cuff look with sneakers. Has to be real baseball spikes to pull it off well.

    Another one more thing, what the……. link

    yes comrade ben. high openings killed strypes and ultimately killed stirrvps, to love them is to be a traitor counter revolutionary trotsky. seriously, if i thought people would go for it, ALL stirrups, except for historical anomaly pairs like the 10 cent beer nights, would be 4’s. but i know people want the openings, so i bend to the 5″, they still stay classy san diego. the real killer to the 7/9 cause is modern players don’t know how to wear their pants.
    ~from each, to each

    It’s all a matter of preference, of course, but to me the lower 4″ openings just look SO much better. The whole point is showing your color, not sani. Kind of makes me want to Photoshop the superstretch look out of my little league pictures circa 1983.

    in the 80’s, when everyone had the band stirrvps, on my high school team, i would wrap mine around my foot a couple times to bring the opening own. and players today think stirrvps are uncomfortable…pffft, try that. sometimes when i slid it would tighten up around my foot, then i would have to dance around second base trying to losen it up so my foot wouldn’t fall off. i couldn’t very well stop the game for my fashion statement, and i think my coach thought i was trying to distract the pitcher and playing heads up ball, but i just had a case of the wrap arounds. luckily my nickname wasn’t “wheels”, so this didn’t happen too often.

    i’m not saying shots of the 60’s ballplayers are not nifty, but i prefer the 40’s. and obviously i kid about the totskys in our ranks, but i really do think that when those ball players started wearing em high, they pounded the first nail in the stirrvp coffin so i don’t like the look on principle.

    Aside from that horrible caricature, that Chiefs Super Bowl pennant is just horribly arranged. The so-called logo should’ve been further to the left, and “New Orleans, LA.” pushed to the right, with the Super Bowl legend fitting in between so as to read “Super Bowl – New Orleans, LA.” (if not “Super Bowl IV”). Then, it’d make some sense, compared to its current configuration that makes it look like they’re the Kansas City Chiefs of New Orleans!

    And why does the description say that it’s “circa 1969”? They don’t know the year? It says Super Bowl IV in the description, so why would they not be able to pin it down better than “sometime around 1969”?

    Things that make you go “Hmmmmm”…

    Well, if you think about it, seeing as how the 1969 AFL and NFL Championship Games were played on January 4, 1970…

    Inge may have been talking about in games. I’ve seen a number of players over the years who don’t get their uni totally “game ready” (especially their pants) until after infield and BP. In the case of the photo shown, looks like a ST workout.

    For some it might simply be psychological. A mental signal. Okay, get the pants bloused now, time to get serious, a “game face” thing.

    —Ricko

    Why do teams continue to use BFBS? Well to follow up on Chattanooga’s black uniforms from Monday night (their colors are blue and gold), the local paper tells us today that their “black out” was a link. Nevermind that it was the next-to-last home game, and one where 3,000 free t-shirts were given out – if you listen to the AD, more people showed up because the uniforms (and free shirts) were black.

    I’m not saying that the whole “black out” gimmick doesn’t get people more excited than usual for your average game. I just think it’s stupid and shows a lack of creativity by the school’s marketing team. Of course, I’m sure we Chattanoogans can now expect more black outs in the future. Yay.

    The use BFBS because they are IDIOTS lacking in any imagination whatsoever, who can not for their lives or livelihoods think of a single original thought or idea that may attract fans to their teams or games, and are too shallow and insecure to allow using the history and traditions of their programs to interfere with their desperate and pathetic attempts to appear hip and relevant.

    They are too dense to realize that BFBS actually peaked as a trend (however pathetic) OVER ten years ago. Still, they persist, for lack of anything else, and ad deserate need to DO SOMETHING COOL AND HIP !!!!!!

    These are the same types of people – there are literally hundreds in and around sports – that in stadiums play rap music between many plays during NFL games, sometimes turning the volume up and down 3-4 times in 30 seconds, because they can not allow a single play to go forward without asserting their insecurities and idiocy into a sporting event ….

    “…play rap music between many plays…”

    Y’know, I see this complaint a lot (about pretty much every sport) and I have to ask, why does hip-hop get mentioned so often as the offender? ALL KINDS of annoying music gets piped in between plays and during timeouts at sporting events. Yes, there’s some rap, but it’s certainly not the only genre represented. I hear plenty of pop, “classic” rock, metal, etc.

    I’m not singling you out, Nick. This is just a convenient jumping-on point for me.

    Nick, James is right. Rap isn’t played *that* much during a sporting event. Maybe in pregames or something, but usually during a game it’s a corporate mix of all types of music. Some of it has been played for decades. I used to work Cavs games back in the 80s and 90s, and there was a certain point in the 4th quarter where they always played Mitch Ryder’s “Devil With A Blue Dress” during a timeout. I got tired of it quickly, but 20+ years later arenas are still playing it. I was watching an NBA game from some other place last month, and during a 4th quarter timeout there was “Devil With A Blue Dress” again.

    But yeah, rap/hip-hop (not a fan of 95% of it, but to each his own), the NBA and NASCAR fans get a lot of grief on here at times. I may not be a NASCAR fan either, but I’m glad Brinke reminded us that, by and large, they are some of the best fans in sports.

    My new Google laptop I got (free btw, ask if you want details) came with instructions: ‘do not get near water, moisture, or rap music.’)

    I mentioned HIP HOP and RAP because that is the overwheming majority of the blarring music bites played during 20 second intervals between darn near every play in the Superdome during Saints games. What is even more disgusting are the idiot control panel dunces that will turn the volume up and down 2-3 times during the 20 second “features” of their wonderful music.

    Yes, 1-2 times every month they will play the Ramones’ “Hey Ho, Let’s Go”, or Ozzie’s “Crazy Train” for 20 seconds after a comercial break or before a kickoff, but instead it is usually HIP HOP and RAP, and usually stuff that most people over 22 never heard.

    If you don’t like that I criticize it, TOO BAD. You can feel free to like it and not complain. I have to hear it if I want to attend a Saints game. I do not like it.
    And I want to complain.

    Now, go out and buy a pair of BFBS Black Saints spandex leotard pants to wear to a parade, or to wear at home while you watch the game, because they really make the Saints players look tough ….. and then later on you can tell me how Melo’s wife’s Hip Hop rap career turns out – I won’t be listening, but I’ll appreciate the update – for cultural reference reasons only …..

    No one said you had to like it. Heck, as I said I can’t stand 95% of that myself. And apparently things at the Superdome are different than other places. Might I suggest the decaf tomorrow morning, though?

    Sorry, Jim V. and you guys, I’m just still sick over the BFBS and the rest of the mess I have to wade thru to watch a Saints game. I love Sports Talk and Mike & Mike, and I am sick of two solid months of “Melo-drama” and his wifes desires for a hip hop career dictating that a franchise such as Denver has to lose agood player in orderto appease such crap. Add that to the Chris Broussard’s of the world promoting this crap and all of it. Thank God the Jazz traded D. Williams and we were spared another year of this Lebro-lite rerun ….

    I knew the Saints would lose to Seattle – if they wore the Black Leotards – as they are in the Sean Payton era 4-0 in the playoffs wearing Gold pants, 0-2 in the playoffs wearing Black Leotards, and yet they still do it anyway. We are aNATIONAL EMBARASSMENT losing to the Seahawks . We will FOREVER be the losers to the first 7-9 Playoff team. It is akin to the Lions’ Perfect Season ….

    This whole discussion of BFBS and hip hop just re-churns the curdled milk of my disgust …. sets me off a bit. My apologies to you guys, but not to the idiots that bring BFBS and play RAP during a running 35 second clock ….

    No problem, Nick.

    Well, at least you won’t have to worry about the black pants this year…since there won’t be any games…

    Wow, and I thought *I* was upset about it…

    But I agree completely. The funny thing to me is, when it’s a college team being the offender, you have to stop and think that they are at least a few marketing students on campus that would be willing to take a stab at coming up with some kind of creative marketing that doesn’t have to include black jerseys/t-shirts. It strikes me as the typical small-college thinking of taking a gimmick that a bigger team has done, and apply it to their own school. Some gimmicks are good, some aren’t. At least when Georgia does a “black out”, they are using a color that is traditionally part of their color scheme. Chattanooga, to my knowledge, has never used black in ANYTHING.

    As for music, and why rap is picked on the most… let’s be honest, rap is the most polarizing of musical genres. You either like it, or you HATE it – very few in-between opinions. I think that’s why it gets singled out. But again, I agree – there is way too much “clutter” when it comes to stadium noise. Heck, go and watch a game from as recently as, say, 1990. It’s astounding how quiet the game seems when the announcers don’t talk constantly between plays, there’s no piped in stadium music, no constant barrage of replays, etc.

    One of the reasons college hoops is infinitely superior to the pro game is that the NBA arenas pipe in way too much music while action is taking place on the court. At the college arenas, the music is usually performed by student bands and the only noise being made during action comes from the fans and the cheerleaders.

    Other than the NBA, does any other sport allow music to be played during actual game action?

    Adding to the music thing, I go to a couple of TCU football games per season. The piped in music absolutely kills the atmosphere in that place. It is a depressing sight to see the marching band sitting idle in the stands while “Welcome to the Jungle” blares on the speakers during a timeout. Memo to NCAA schools – the atmosphere at NFL games sucks. Don’t try and emulate that.

    “You either like it, or you HATE it”

    I like it, and I hate it.
    It’s an affair similar to the one I have with sports.

    Bottom line?
    When your fan base isn’t knowlegeable enough…
    the game is not enough.

    Yeah, yeah, some will say, “But it’s entertainment”.
    Yes. Especially if your product sucks.
    And/or your fans don’t care about your team.

    —Ricko

    Which is why I’d make a terrible sports owner. A few years ago, when I went to an Indians game and saw places in the concourse where you could play a video game (at least it was an MLB game, but still…) I told the person with me, “If I owned this team my motto would be, ‘If you aren’t here to watch the game, go home.'”

    I don’t mind a *little* piped-in music (as long as I can still hear myself think) and I don’t mind some entertainment, but I’m there to watch the game.

    that’s the problem, jim

    no one is there to actually *watch* the game anymore

    if it’s not for the other entertainment, it’s to see and be seen…of course, when you are asking the kind of prices for tickets, most of those what actually want to *watch* a game are priced out

    Not only that, but in my eyes, there’s the problem of the ever-shortening attention span. Oh, our team is suddenly down three runs? Well shucks, I’m bored, let me check Twitter or Facebook or start texting my BFF. Or look, another timeout, what can I do to stay occupied for these three whole minutes? I think it’s why, like I mentioned above, TV talking heads have to be spewing verbiage constantly and/or replays have to be showing. I mean, if we just showed the huddle after a big play, how exciting would THAT be?

    The Chelsea 3rd kit is using their unique numbering because thats not from an EPL game thats from a Champions League match. A couple weeks back they wore their home kits in a Champions League match with the same unique numbering. The only time EPL teams wear the standard EPL numbering is for EPL league matches.

    For you NY Knickerbocker fans out there. Mitch Modell was on WFAN660 in NY this morning and said that becasue the Knicks we re considering a change to their uni colors and fabrics for next years set,Reebok is short on NY Knick blanks.There are only about 5,000 available for Melo #7’s for the next 45-60 days.

    The Indians are wearing block C batting helmets at the moment. I have never seen this before. Just wondering if this will be for spring training only?

    Saw those too. My guess is that those will be the road batting helmets. For the past few years they have worn the road helmets during spring training.

    Regarding the early use of the term “Super Bowl,” I vividly remember hearing the term for the first time in the middle of the 1966 season. CBS had a Saturday afternoon “This Week in the NFL” kind of show and one week they had a phone interview with Jackie Gleason, who was quite a football fan and whose show was no doubt scheduled to air that night on CBS and in some need of cross-promotional support. And I remember during that interview (conducted by Jack Whittaker, I think) them talking about plans for an NFL-AFL championship game at the end of that season and I think it was Gleason who said, “I guess they’re calling it the Super Bowl.” It was the first time I heard such a game was being planned and the term Super Bowl, though not official, was already being prominently used.

    Yes, this is correct. The term “Super Bowl” was used from the beginning, even if unofficially that first year or so.

    “Speaking of Super Bowl pennants, it’s sort of quaint to see such a misguided Raiders design. Aside from the nonsensical color scheme, the player is clearly a college gridder (note the bare legs).”

    The NFL sells a Giants t-shirt with the same logo:
    link

    What??? There once was generic art are all over the place on program covers and souvenir items and such? There wasn’t mandatory similarity, quality control and strict adherence to the concepts of “image” and “branding?”

    The world hasn’t always been as it is today???

    Something to ponder (because it’s true), until color baseball cards came along in the early ’50s, most MLB fans likely had never even SEEN the logos of all the teams. And almost certainly not in color.

    For teams and leagues, such things were WAY down the list of priorities, if they were pondered at all.

    —Ricko

    Re: the vintage Arkansas schedule poster: anyone else catch that they were scheduled to play “Texas University” and “William and Mary College” instead of “University of Texas” and “College of William and Mary”?

    I could maybe understand the William and Mary thing, but Arkansas and Texas had been in the same conference for over thirty years at that point. They should have known their conference opponents’ names.

    Texas A&M refers to the Longhorns as Texas University in their fight song as well, so it might have been commonplace back then. As an aside, most all of the old Big 8 schools refer to themselves as (Insert name of state) University instead of University of (Insert name of state), which is their official name.

    “Texas University” is a term of disrespect, part of a rich panoply of derision the old Southwest Conference members hurl toward Austin. They’re known as “T.U.” and the “Tea Sippers”. At University of Houston, the student center courtyard features an enormous metal statue of a longhorn steer, having its throat ripped out by an attacking cougar. If you aren’t a tea-sip and you live in Oklahoma, Arkansas, or anywhere in Texas, you really hate the University of Texas.

    The 1949 TULANE Football Schedule shown above, or at least the cartoon charectar included on it, is drawn by famed New Orleans cartoonist John Churchill Chase, who for decades wrote local editorial cartoons, and even had a daily LIVE TV editorial cartoon that the drew in real time during nightly nescasts on WDSU TV News to adrdress local or national issues of the day, and he designed HUNDREDS of College Football program covers throughout the South in the 1940s-1960s era, mostly Tulane and LSU programs, but quite few others including the Florida Gators, etc.

    Almost all of the covers used the same charectar in home team garb using mischevious antics and tormenting the mascot of the opposing team. Really unique, good stuff ….

    John Chase, as he was more popularly known, was a pretty big deal in New Orleans. His editorial cartoons were and are classic works. His NCAA Football program covers are often for sale on EBAY.

    Quite right, Nick. John Chase also designed the mascot/logo for Archbishop Rummel High School (the Raiders)in the 1960s.

    link

    A little different from most interpretations of “Raiders” in that rather than a pirate or viking, the Rummel Raider appears to be a Confederate cavalryman.

    I guess it’s not surprising as this was an all-white suburban school in the South during the tumultuous civil rights era…..

    I’ll venture to guess that the WHL NY Raiders never really adopted a Confederate icon as their mascot during their 1-2 seasons in NY.

    They did, however, post pretty cool sillouette posters of a generic hockey player all over Manhattan and Brooklyn that year, because I happened to be visiting NY for three weeks and saw them everywhere that I looked.

    Today, in Manahattan, that is standard operating procedure for every new HBO/Showtime/Fox release or series. Last January the Cinemax (?) “Spartacus” posters where EVERYWHERE in Manhattan …

    When I read arguments about ads on jerseys for the NBA, NFL or MLB and that the “it is common in European soccer”, I always laugh.
    As a French guy who watches soccer as much as American sports, I’m thinking “don’t you have enough ads already in the American sports?”.
    The big difference is, in soccer, the ads on the jerseys are pretty much the only ones the audience will see during a game (with the ones on the sidelines I must admit) because first, there are no timeouts every fucking 4 minutes of play, and second, every stat, weather update or lineup is not “presented by your New York, New Jersey and Connecticut Lexus dealer”.
    I always thought that flow of advertising on timeouts/stats/constant TV breaks could be dealt with because at least the jerseys were for the most part pure and simple, but it seems like it won’t be for long.
    That said, I believe that I am as big a fan of American sports as there is in Europe, so it’s not a knock on American culture or anything, it’s just that it makes me understand why I was not surprised that the first guy on Earth to ever get an ad as a tattoo was an American citizen.

    Agreed. You can’t compare the 4 major US sports to European soccer leagues. The no commercial thing is what sets them apart, plain and simple. I hate to see all the ads on a clubs jersey, but if it means no commercials, no shameless plugs for erectile dysfunction, and a faster game, I’m cool with it.

    If the 4 majors plaster ads all over the uniforms then they’d better stop with all the damn commercial breaks and “brought to you by…” shit.

    You’re right and if it improved game flow I would probably be in favor of putting ads on the jerseys, but what would end up happening is that the ads would go on the jerseys and the commercial breaks wouldn’t go away or would come back fairly quickly.

    I too agree but there’s an inherant problem with our sports that isn’t in soccer. Football and Basketball have time outs, there’s a large amount of natural breaks. Sure there TV time outs now but we’re not getting rid of all the breaks if we rid ourselves of tv time outs.

    And what do you think the networks will do with these natural breaks? Now we’re in a situation where we have jersey ads and commercial breaks.

    Soccer’s jersey ads came about because there was no time for breaks so revenue needed to come from somewhere which is semi-understanable. The revenue already exists in football and these jersey ads would simply serve to create more.. which I’m not too keen on

    I agree that there are natural timeouts in football, baseball or basketball (even if, one would agree that TV creates unnatural timeouts like in middle of quarters in NBA, before AND after a kickoff in the NFL). But there was and there still is kind of a balance (commercials all around the game, but not on the freakin jerseys).

    I’m afraid this balance is in jeopardy and that soon, those same NFL billionairs (the owners) who would be willing to cancel a season for another billion to share between them, won’t resist the possibility to add yet another $20-25$ per to add a giant MacDonald’s in the middle of a beautiful NFL or NBA jersey.

    The first of the major North American leagues that starts putting ads on uniforms will lose me as a fan. I’m already tenuous at best with all 3 (4?) after years of corporate homogenization and escalating greed, and as a uni guy that would be the last straw for me.

    For a team that has been gone for 14 years, its interesting to see how much new merch for the Whalers keep coming out with and how good most of it looks.

    As soon as I first saw this shirt link

    I immediately thought of those Cubs undershirts: link

    I was in the NHL Store in New York about a year-and-a-half ago buying some Whalers merchandise and one of the workers mentioned that the Hurricanes’ owner was in the store earlier that week (the store is in the same builiding as the NHL’s NY HQ) and was complaining that there was too much Whalers’ gear out and not enough Huuricanes’ gear. The store’s manager let Mr. Hurricanes know that Whalers’ gear is by far their biggest seller.

    It was never about a lack of a fan base in Hartford… it was all about Karmanos wanting a publicly-subsidized stadium, and not getting it.

    I think there’s a solid argument to be made about the Whalers having the best logo in professional sports history, and a huge part of it is how well it keeps selling a decade and a half after the team moved.

    I tend to think it’s largely a failure as an illustration. Much too static in form, much too darkly shaded, and it’s actually a bit sloppy about where it draws the eye. But man oh man, if that were a sculpture, it would be a masterpiece. It would be something like football’s equivalent of the link or the link. There’s a raw physicality to it that cries out to be material, dimensional, rather than charcoal on paper.

    “There’s a raw physicality to it that cries out to be material, dimensional, rather than charcoal on paper.”

    According to the description, it is.

    Description: Wilson Sporting Goods die cut football store display c.1940s. Highly visual heavy cardboard stock display measures 25.5″x31″. Appears to offer a 3-Dimensional game action scene when set up with easel backing. Has been mounted to backing (likely reversible) and visible portions exhibits minimal wear: Apparent EX/MT

    Re: Chelsea’s names/numbers, a lot of English clubs use custom fonts for European competition – see what Arsenal & Man Utd have been using in the Champions League as well.

    Yes, a point I made earlier today, that a number of players do such a thing. Thanks for seconding the motion, and providing the photos.

    We do realize that there are MLB players who change into completely fresh unis between BP and the game, right? Some even shower. No one’s ever mentioned that?

    If a player says he’s going high cuffed, it doesn’t have to mean “every time I step onto the field.”

    —Ricko

    In regards to ads on uniforms – I completely disagree with the notion that it would happen as a result of current labor negotiations.

    You could add $10 billion to the current revenue stream and nothing would be improved regarding current negotiations. In fact, it would become worse as the two sides decide how the NEW money is to be split up.

    RPM has new stirrups up for sale with the preorder deadline set for this Sunday. How about a mention in the main body so those who don’t follow the comments will have a reminder.

    i pushed the deadline back, and may do it again, i think it reads monday now, might make it tuesday by the end of the day. and for those who are perplexed by the “rawhide”, it is a class A team in california that i outfitted. i had ’em send 6 here because i liked my design. that being said, one is mine, and another 2 are already gone, yet have stayed in the great state of missourah.

    we need to organize a wiffle ball tournament mr duncan.

    I seem to recall a time when this sort of information was conveyed to the masses via grand announcement, accompanied by link.

    Now we’re reduced to finding out about new offerings in the comments.

    It seems apparent that the link have gained the upper hand since Revolution HQ retreated west of the Mississippi.

    ha.
    there will be an official announcement, but i didn’t make any posters this time, i spent all my time on a colourization of an image that was way too small to make look right proper. that’s the last time i make that mistake, it’s images of the revolution from here on out.

    Someone will have to look this one up because I do not have DVR. The episode of PTI on ESPN yesterday had a short story on the fans who stormed the field after the Panathianaikos and Olympiakos match is Greece. Funny thing is, they had the Basketball team logo for Panathianaikos up instead of the soccer club.

    Hey,

    I’m the guy with the thunder update…
    (link)

    Someone suggested I take a crack at the Sac Kings since they might be on the move and I was wondering what color scheme to go with:
    Current – link
    Old – link
    My idea(slash combination) – link

    all of which are based on this old logo – link

    And if you like that check out my uni concept page where I have done my ideas for basketball, the BigTen and the entire NFL.
    (link)

    Thanks

    try ’em all, see what works for you. but your “combo” is unique.

    link ha hahahahhha hha ha. sort of like the bowling pins they don’t play football, so let ’em wear white at home tip from his hoosier concept…he put you in vertical stripes. thanks tim, that was awesome!

    Heh. Yeah, the corrupter of Ohio’s youth tipped me wise to that one yesterday.

    Someone sent in a similar concept that Phil featured in the weekend uni tweaks not that long ago, too.

    I like. I’d rather see them go with regular pants and Broncos throwback-style vertically striped socks, but I think I could handle that once a season or so — maybe for the Bucket game.

    JTH, yeah the Hoosiers went from classic but boring a few years back to just plain hideous last year. Huge step backwards.

    Even though I came up with the concept for the striped pants (My teambuilder version was on uni tweaks) I think the pants would be best used only on special occasions a la Bucket Game and Hoosier Hysteria weekend.

    tim~ i might not love to see it on the field, or maybe i would, who knows until you see it, but my inclination is that it might be a taaad over the top. either way, i love the concepts, really fun, and if i can tease jimbo, all the better.

    james~ sure, i done seen what they been pickin up and puttin down, but really? hey, your school, you like it, i say fine. but where is the cream, wheeeere is the cream?

    i’ll play if you can find online tiddly. actually, if you could find head to head online tiddly, that would trump paper-scissors-rock, and i would be in your debt.

    RPM- I get it, it’s mostly a gimmick but right now IU’s football program is a joke – a gimmick is a step up in our world (Thankfully I’m the son of a Northwestern grad, go cats).

    And as far as cream goes, the ‘cream and crimson’ is just the lyric that fit into our fight song better than red and white, our actual colors.

    tim~
    i know you were having some fun, i said as much, i was teasing jim, that’s all.

    i think jth might debate you on cream being a phantom colour, you have used it in the past, and it is an official school colour. then again you have used both scarlet and crimson too, so who knows what your identity is. not matter the colour, like you said, you don’t have a great program, but you link, 114 out of 120, and the cats and 117 out of 120, so things are not any better on that front.

    RPM,

    to confuse the IU color situation even more, a common chant /nickname is ‘Go Big Red’ link

    And the ‘Cats used to be horrendous but they’ve been on the up and up since the early to mid 90s and have currently a great HC and a consistent program.

    Bah. Does any team that refers to itself as Big Red actually have “red” as a school color?

    Scarlet, crimson, carmine, rose madder, cardinal, ruby, whatever — it’s all still red.

    Maybe Cornell should change its nickname to “Big Carnelian?” And Oklahoma and Nebraska fans should go with “Big Crimson” and “Big Scarlet” for their beloved teams.

    My sister went to Denison University where their team name was The Denison Big Red.

    Not too creative but their school colors were red and white…

    JTH, I wasn’t gonna say anything, but since someone else did I thought I’d help out.

    Parkersburg High School, in Parkersburg, WV, goes by Big Reds as well. Their colors? Red and white. Pretty legit school too, grew up 20 minutes from there and we always lost to them, (their site says #6 in the nation). The school was also one of the finalists for that “titletown USA” competition on ESPN a while back…

    link

    in case anyone cares…

    Deron Williams will wear #8 for the Nets. Devin Harris will wear #5 for the Jazz.

    I understand that they’re trying to appease the fans, but the half measure of just putting the black outline on the numbers feels just that- half assed.

    I would have preferred they kept the original design, perhaps with a white bolt on the pants- no outline.

    As is always happens, nobody thinks the old design is so great until it gets taken away. The original Lightning duds were a hodgepodge, given a bit of a boost by having graced Tampa Bay when they won a Stanley Cup. I give them credit for trying to think more timelessly, with a look that will age better. That said, I’m glad they kept the jagged bolt on the breezers– those are unique. Putting black outlines on everything would have made it look like the Penguins’ throwbacks. Staying with the black would have rendered the change unnecessary.

    The white outline on top of the black outline on the numerals is a bit much. If they just had only the black outline (like what’s shown with the pants bolts), it’d be a more subtle effect.

    Of course, since that numeral font looks rather amateurish, I’m not assuming that’s what the font on the back of the actual jersey will look like.

    Great stuff all around TimE.

    If the Kings move to Anaheim, the Old is too Clipperish. The Current is a combo that just plain ain’t good – at least the way they wear it. I’ve yet to see a black/blue combo or black/purple combo that I like. Always looks like a big ole bruise. Your idea has the most possibilities, but be careful, those colors can clash big time if done without serious calculation.

    Dig the website. Wish I had the knowhow to put that together. I always get slammed when it comes to tech knowledgy. Guess being a (very limited) microsoft guy has it’s drawbacks.

    My hopefully soon to be released moderated comment was supposed to be up above in reference to Tim. I hear computers are a wonderful thing if you know how to use them.

    Wait… Anaheim? There are already two NBA franchises in that market as it is! Besides, if any team should move to the Honda Center, it ought to be the Clippers! I’ve never been happy about two NBA teams sharing an arena with an NHL club; having one basketball team (in addition to other events) makes it tough enough to maintain good ice, while two just makes it worse.

    I like the purple/blue combo. As long as there’s some white to keep them from bleeding together. Trax is right about having to be careful with those colors.

    Clippers ought to contract, along with Memphis or New Orleans. Although Mr. Griffin just made the Clips relevant…finally.

    Kings should go back to KC. If they move to Anaheim, you think the LA Kings would make a fuss? Two teams named Kings in pretty much the same market might be construed as a problem for them. Not saying I agree, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that’s brought up in the conversation.

    Tim, can you take a stab at the Nuggets? With Melo gone, it’s time for a new look. Normally I like bright colors but I never warmed up to the current unis. As much as I’d love to see a return to this,
    link
    this,
    link
    or even this,
    link
    I don’t see it happening. So I’d like to see what you’d propose.

    just get the nuggs out of that shiny shit and the powder is good to go…

    that being said, they could definitely use a new font or two

    Yeah, they do look better this year than last…
    link
    …and maybe the font would be enough to sway me.

    I like the Grizzlies’ powder better:
    link

    I’m working on the California kings right now and should be done within the hour, but I’ll work on the Nuggs tonight and tomorrow.

    One observation from the link to the falling letter in Rogers Arena. I notice they’ve made all of the championship banners “uniform,” even the ones that were secured when the Canucks were not wearing blue and green. IMHO, the 1992-93 Smythe Division Championship should be in black, orange and gold, with the flying skate featured prominently. (Best Canucks logo/color scheme ever!)

    I have no idea how to get a screengrab, but Andray Blatche’s NOB is spelled wrong right now…BALTCHE

    You do know the reason that the Nike Swoosh is on that parachute is because it’s from the Nike SPARQ training line, right? It’s a product they developed and produced, so it makes sense to have a logo on it.

    I understand you have a vendetta against Nike, but it’s okay to let a company brand their products.

    Wow. Nike invented the parachute?

    I said it before and I’ll say it again. I learn something new here every day.

    No, they didn’t.
    But if they decide to produce and sell one, why aren’t they allowed to brand it?

    oops… let me try this again… Knicks vs. Bucks blue on green (if this doesn’t work I give up)-
    link

    Hi uni watch. I have an inquiry I’d like to pursue. Back when the the Florida marlins played a game against the Atlanta Braves in 1997, they had the number 32 written on their caps. This game was the famous Livan hernandez vs Greg maddux game where livan had the huge strike zone. I was wondering why the marlins put 32 on their hats. Any info Is appreciated.

    Hey, NickV…

    You said this:

    If you don’t like that I criticize it, TOO BAD. You can feel free to like it and not complain. I have to hear it if I want to attend a Saints game. I do not like it.

    I don’t care whether you criticize it or not. I was just asking a question. So what if you don’t like rap? That’s fine with me. It takes diff’rent strokes to move the world. I understand that.

    I don’t understand what makes you think that I like the constant barrage of noise at a sporting event. I don’t recall saying that. In fact, I recall using the word “annoying” to describe the piped-in music.

    As for this part:

    Now, go out and buy a pair of BFBS Black Saints spandex leotard pants to wear to a parade, or to wear at home while you watch the game, because they really make the Saints players look tough ….. and then later on you can tell me how Melo’s wife’s Hip Hop rap career turns out — I won’t be listening, but I’ll appreciate the update — for cultural reference reasons only …..

    I have no idea what you’re trying to say here.

    I see what you did there. Nice DD reference!

    As to your below post, no worries. We all have something that sets us off.

    Sorry, Jim V. and you guys, I’m just still sick over the BFBS and the rest of the mess I have to wade thru to watch a Saints game.

    My temporary hatred of rap is motivated by the Melo -drama of the past few days – as I love Sports Talk and Mike & Mike, and I am sick of two solid months of “Melo-drama” and his wifes desires for a hip hop career dictating that a franchise such as Denver has to lose agood player in orderto appease such crap. Add that to the Chris Broussard’s of the world promoting this crap and all of it. Thank God the Jazz traded D. Williams and we were spared another year of this Lebro-lite rerun ….

    I knew the Saints would lose to Seattle — if they wore the Black Leotards — as they are in the Sean Payton era 4-0 in the playoffs wearing Gold pants, 0-2 in the playoffs wearing Black Leotards, and yet they still do it anyway. We are aNATIONAL EMBARASSMENT losing to the Seahawks . We will FOREVER be the losers to the first 7-9 Playoff team. It is akin to the Lions’ Perfect Season ….

    This whole discussion of BFBS and hip hop just re-churns the curdled milk of my disgust …. sets me off a bit. My apologies to you guys, but not to the idiots that bring BFBS and play RAP during a running 35 second clock ….

    Chelsea’s black kit isnt normally like that, when EPL teams play in European competition they use a different name and number styling, typically.

Comments are closed.