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About the Last Sport I Expected to Be Discussing Today

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I figured we’d be spending today talking about assorted details from Opening Day, but a surprising number of college football items came over the transom yesterday — too many to ignore (not that I didn’t try). The weird thing is that they all seem just odd enough to qualify as one-day-early April Fool stunts. Here’s the rundown, along with my assessments of their legitimacy:

• Oh, I give up. Let’s just dress the whole damn country in camouflage and get it the fuck over with already. Oh, and the helmets have a Jesse Owens decal on the back, whatever. Beyond stupid. April Fool or legit? Wish it were the former, but I’ve confirmed that it’s the latter (unless the OSU athletics dept. has a much deeper sense of humor than any of us ever suspected).

• Are these the new Kansas football uniforms? My first reaction was, “Eh, those look like Photoshop concepts, but at least they didn’t use that Nike Pro C**mbat template that everyone else uses.” But if you go to CoachTurnerGill.com, which is an official Kansas site, and click on the Adidas logo toward the bottom, these same uniform images come up. April Fool or legit? They appear to be legit.

• A Notre Dame blog is reporting that the Irish will have an “old school look” when they play Michiagn this year, among other shenanigans. The same site also claims that the “old school look” will feature a shamrock helmet. April Fool or legit? If you have Alexa installed on your browser, you can see that the Notre Dame blog’s Alexa ranking is over six million, which means about four people read it each day. In other words, this is not a site I’d trust to deliver breaking news. Until we hear from a better source, I’m calling this one as an April Fool.

We now return you to our regularly scheduled national pastime, already in progress.

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Diamond notes: A few observations from yesterday’s ballgames:

• We got our first look at the Dodgers’ Duke Snider memorial patch.

• Big Mo went high-cuffed! Of course, he’d done that during spring training too, but it’s great to see that he’s carried this over into the regular season. I was so happy about this that I almost didn’t mind the Yankees winning.

• The Giants wore Sunday game caps — not BP caps — for pregame warm-ups. Also, their helmet rack included a lid for Ryan Vogelsong, which is odd, because he didn’t make the team. (Both of those are courtesy of Brinke.)

• Reader Shaun Tunick notes that Derek Lowe still has “D. Money” stitched onto his glove (same as last year), but I’m more interested in the label on his undersleeve cuff. Is that a new form of logo creep?

Also, one last bit of late-breaking MLB uni news: The Pirates are adding a Chuck Tanner memorial patch after all (they didn’t play yesterday, so we’ll see how it looks on the jersey today). Very nice patch, but why did they wait until yesterday to announce it, when most people would be too busy with Opening Day festivities to notice? Typical Pirates — even when they do something nice, they can’t get it right.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Remember how the Rams fired their longtime equipment manager a few months back? Here’s an update with some additional info (with thanks to Gary Streeting). ”¦ Some Red Sox uni number changes noted toward the bottom of this page. ”¦ Yesterday I ran an old shot of a Georgetown cager wearing super-high-tops. “That’s Ralph Dalton, a former Georgetown center from the early ’80s,” says Rob Linsky. “He had severe ankle and knee problems and Nike made a special pair of sneakers (Air Legends, I believe) just for him when he returned from an ankle injury/surgery.” ”¦ Great story from Jason Hillyer, who writes: “I recently attended a conference at Girard High School in suburban Youngstown. They really like their stylized G. An amused school administrator watched while I took one of my pictures and joked that the G was copyrighted and could not be photographed. I smiled and asked if the G stood for ‘greatness.’ Not knowing my reference, he looked at me with a strange expression and said, ‘No. Girard.'” ”¦ Patrick Runge sent along two links covering all the soccer kits for the Russian Premier League, here and here. ”¦ Key passage about Bob Feller and Ted Williams, from this article: “‘They never got anything settled,’ says Anne [Feller’s widow]. ‘There was always something to argue about. They’d argue about the stripes on baseball socks, whether they were high enough, or something like that. Who knew you could argue about something like that?'” (big thanks to John Kimmerlein). ”¦ Some original art by classic NFL illustrator Chuck Ren is now available for sale on Michael Princip’s Illustrated NFL site. Even if you have no interest in purchasing the artwork, that page has great high-res versions of some of Ren’s best work — recommended. ”¦ Liverpool FC is going BFBS (with thanks to Chris Edwards). ”¦ Very bottom of this item indicates that the Rochester Red Wings will have new uniforms this weekend (as noted by Daniel Weimann). ”¦ Yesterday’s item about the late Ernie Tyler, who worked the umpires’ clubhouse for the Orioles for half a century, prompted this recollection from Paul Wiederecht: “I met met him while shooting for ESPN, because he also oversaw the on-field photographers. Memorial was one of the last parks without photo boxes, and so I worked on the warning track. Since there weren’t many photogs that weekend, he let me use area between the screen and the dugouts, which was only 60-70 feet from the plate and steps from the dugouts. These were the rules — as you can see, everything had to be portable, and standing during play was a no-no. Kneeling was the accepted position, and even during long innings leaning back on the fence would get you a stern glance from Tyler. He would come over later and softly remind you that ‘mobility’ is important and staying on your feet keeps you out of the play.” ”¦ Two good submissions from Micah Hudgens: Killer stirrups being worn by Wichita Falls Rider High School in Texas, and why the hell does MLB the Show 2011 show the Rangers — you know, the team that went to the World Series last year — wearing blue socks with their red jerseys? ”¦ New uni set for the Asheville Tourists. Interesting to see they’re going with a Euro-style 7 (with thanks to John Freeman). ”¦ Here’s something I’ve never seen before: Jerry Dior’s familiar MLB centennial logo with the words “Professional Baseball” on top. It’s from the latest excellent post on the mighty Fleer Sticker Project. ”¦ This year’s MLB all-star BP caps and jerseys have been released, and hoo boy do they suck.

 
  
 
Comments (242)

    Paul, the Chuck Tanner Memorial Patch link does not work, it sticks the Uni Watch URL in front of the Post-Gazette one.

    At least the All-Star Game jerseys and caps are just for warmups and not the game itself…

    Paul’s link is for a new kit that will feature a grey/silver/red colorway. The picture in the link is black because it isnt’ being revealed until April 14

    About what we’d expect from Arizona… but then, ASG BPs are about the least of Maricopa County’s sports worries right now.

    Of course, most of those carry the tag “City of Glendale”….

    Liverpool going BFBS is nothing new, this is from their trip to Sporting Braga a month ago link

    That’s not Liverpool’s kit, every year they post a blacked out jersey until it’s revealed, which it clearly states on that page will be April 14th. I posted a link a few weeks ago with the rumored kit which looks great but i guess it was overlooked.

    link

    Was gonna point out the same thing Ben (and Ashley for that matter)

    Not exactly sure if Paul put too much thought into the ticker post…Then again, if we didn’t rush to uninformed opinions we wouldn’t be on the internet now would we

    The caption on the Liverpool away shirt says, “The new Liverpool FC Away Kit, the kit worn by the players on their domestic travels during the 2011/12 season, will feature a Solid Grey/Silver/Red colour way and we are confident it will become an instant fans favourite.”

    I think the black in the picture is just being used as a shadowy placeholder, until the big reveal happens, although I believe they have used black as a third shirt in the past.

    Liverpool is not going BFBS. that’s just a teaser. it will feature a Solid Grey/Silver/Red colour way.

    The ND scoop comes from informal meetings Brian Kelly had with the dorms around campus. That ND blog may not get a lot of hits but that same info has been posted by students on various ND message boards.

    Yahoo is now reporting this, but until we see something official, I’m still gonna tread lightly.. today is still April Fools, after all..

    It’s always bothered me that players in the MLB All-Star game wear their respective teams’ uniforms for the game. I like the way the NFL does it, with an actual All-Star game uni, but with players wearing their teams’ helmets.
    Obviously, the close-quarters nature of football makes that more of a requirement than baseball, but I still think MLB should adopt this… of course, they’d wind up wearing horrible things like this year’s BP jerseys, but at least it would lend a more uniform look to the game.
    Thoughts anyone?

    Don’t even think about changing the tradition of each player wearing their own team’s uniform. One of the great things about going back and watching vintage AS Games is seeing the players in their team’s uniform that was being worn at the time. It really takes you back to that time period.

    I’ve been watching the broadcasts of the AS games from the 1970s, and its great seeing the players from that time in their regular uniform (especially since there isn’t much footage of many of these players available). If they were all wearing the same thing, it wouldn’t be nearly as interesting to watch.

    Think about watching Pete Rose crashing into Ray Fosse or Reggie’s titanic HR blast in Tiger Stadium. Do you really want to see those highlights with everyone wearing some boring AS uni?

    You know the other thing that’s a-may-zing about watching old All-Star Games? How skinny all the players are. I mean, we all understand that and get the many reasons why, but it’s still jarring to me when I see guys from the 80s who were just SOOO thin (except for Greg Luzinski, obviously.)

    If it changes, I hold you completely responsible.

    Why not design something specific for the game? Because they can’t get it right. The A on the AL cap? It’s from the leading A on the AL jersey. Naturally. Look at the N (or D?) on the NL cap. Where do they get that from?

    I actually really like those caps. MUCH better than any All-Star BP cap before.

    Yeah, a big thumbs down to that idea. Baseball’s got the best All-Star Game out there (not saying a whole lot, but still) and the unis are part of that.

    yes, these do suck but since when have any been any good in the past oh…ever?

    and they can’t remove the brim sticker for the photo shoot? or is that going to be worn during BP as well, as a nod to popular style?

    Nah, they don’t suck. For what they are, they’re perfectly adequate. C-minus at worst. Maybe also at best.

    My thing is that it’s yet another example of if it’s true, as often argued hereabouts, that too many teams wear red, white, and blue, how come All-Star Game hitting rehearsal gear never seems to be red, white, and blue? Where are all these red, white, and blue teams, and why aren’t they being awarded the All-Star Game? I ask mainly because I’ve been waiting for a decent NL hitting rehearsal jersey in red or blue as a sort of “alt” for the Nats since 2005, and so far there’s only been like two, and they’ve either featured the Gateway Arch or giant halos. Otherwise, it’s been all about teams that wear orange or black or gray that’s not even an actual team color or brick red or whatever.

    If only I could find a 2002 NL hitting rehearsal jersey in size L …

    Rehersal? I like that term. But I do think there is a utilitarian function of sort to the BP jersey. Not the caps, but the jersey, at least.

    settle down scotty ;)

    your nats will get the ASG soon enough and then they can have the most garish red, white & blue BP jerseys history has ever seen

    until then, enjoy arizona, KC & NY

    See? Arizona is Astros red and black. KC is blue and other blue and sometimes yellow and sometimes black. Da Mets are blue and orange.

    So I ask again, where are all these red-white-and-blue teams that there are supposedly too many of in baseball? If there are so darn many of them, how come there will have been exactly two red/blue ASG hitting rehearsal smocks between 2005-2013?

    Though I actually hold out some hope for KC giving us an NL hitting rehearsal smock that can double as decent Nats gear. But just wait: They’ll make it a beautiful dark navy jersey, but instead of script saying “National” they’ll put the letters “NL” on it in the style of the KC logo, rendering it useless for my purposes.

    Speaking of the mighty Reds of Liverpool, according to a BBC article their shirt sponsor, Standard Chartered, “wants the club to sign Asian stars to help tap into commercial opportunities in the region”.

    link

    Is there a way for the club to say “fuck you we’ll sign who we want” without it making them appear to be anti-Asian? I know it’s almost always about the money, but for the love of God can’t we at least be subtle about it?

    If I’m ever in control of a team, the day my sponsor tells me who I should sign is the day I start looking for a new sponsor.

    I think it is absolutely preposterous for a sponsor to have any say at all in the affairs of the club/team/school/etc. You signed up to gain revenue and recognition and not to further your business plan.

    It is all going to far.

    I’ve always supected that was behind the rebrand of the Houston Rockets, at least when it looked like Yao Ming would have a career.

    Brandon Phillips of the Reds went high-cuffed yesterday. Unfortunately he said it was one-day only.

    Rules. We need rules. None of this “I’m doing this today in honor of this, and then I’m going to do this, and then I’m wearing a lavender undershirt in memory of Liz Taylor!”

    Simple, straightforward, how-to-wear-a-uniform rules.

    Like they have in the NFL?? Well collective bargaining is coming up for baseball. Maybe Uncle Bud can slip in a uniform code. Pants no more than 2 – 6 inches below the knee. Stirrups for all. No more than one button undone…etc etc etc..

    Each team can have a uniform police like the NFL does. Would be a lot easier with 25 instead of 53 players.

    Uniform Police doesn’t work. The NFL players still look ridiculous. Patience, my friend…sloppiness will one day be out of fashion and guys will dress better.

    The thing with soccer jerseys is it is hard to say they go black for black’s sake. Away uniforms in soccer often don’t exactly match the color scheme of the home jersey (look at Arsenal’s yellow kits over the years or Barcelona’s different colored change kits), so there’s hardly the same feel to a change like that.

    If Liverpool changed their home shirt from red to black, it would be an atrocity. A black change kit would really just be something different for that year and not a big deal.

    Most of the away soccer kits are different colors not in their normal color scheme is for the reason of making sure they have something different to wear if they face someone with similar colors. For instance when Liverpool played at Chelsea they wore their home unis but at Man U. (who wears red) they wore white). When they played at Sunderland (white and red) they wore their 3rd kit which is black. But given the chance even on the road most teams will wear their home kit.

    I have to say, I really don’t mind those BFBS (or whatever the hot colour is for the hot colour’s sake).

    Soccer teams traditionally hang on to their color schemes for generations. In addition to the on-field clash benefits, these let teams expand merchandising without selling out their uniform history.

    Not only is the Tourists’ 7 euro-style, the A looks like they did the same thing to pi.

    Good catch! It looks like all the horizontal lines are more like tildes. I think it looks great.

    Yeah, well, that was their halfway measure. They wanted to adopt the name “moonshiners”, used by an Asheville club long ago, but “Tourists” has too much history.

    If they were to change over to the Moonshiners, I would have to find a way to buy every item I could and wear them at every opportunity. I could pitch it as a tribute to my high school bowling team too.

    Trying to remember. Was Crash Davis playing for Asheville when he hit set the minor league home run record?

    —Ricko

    Ricko, yes, he was. Babe Ruth played in that stadium, too. It’s a great location, just a few blocks south of downtown, set hard by a mountain in an urban neighborhood. If I am not mistaken, much of “Bull Durham” was made at McCormick Field in Asheville.

    When I was a kid “JO” was short for “jerkoff.” I don’t think that applies to Jesse Owens, but might otherwise apply to those who okayed the camo look.

    I was disappointed to see the Braves starting the year by wearing their horrible blue away jerseys. Seriously, can we nominate those as being the worst (or at least the most boring) jerseys in baseball? It was almost enough to make me root for the Natinals yesterday, just in hopes that the Braves would mothball those terrible things. I love the gray tops anyway. Meanwhile, for what it’s worth, I thought the Nats’ new unis looked decent. Definitely better than the previous home uni.

    I agree. They just don’t look like the Braves without any red. Although the blue alt is light years ahead of the red alt.

    Softball tops really shouldn’t be worn on Opening Day. Shame on the Braves for wearing them yesterday.

    I agree Chris regarding the navy alts. For me, their only saving grace is the “same color” numbers on back. But still, I agree that the standard road grays look outstanding.

    By the way, I know I noticed it last year as well, but I really like the look of the backstop at Nationals Park with the gray brick and all. Looks kinda nice.

    Dark blue letters on a dark blue jersey makes no sense, though I do like the road caps. I like the design of the dark blue jerseys, just not the execution. Yes, the Braves need some red trim in there. And white letters and numbers.

    That’s my biggest problem, the lack of red. It’s weird… in a vacuum, I like the road cap. I even like it with the gray jerseys. Paired with the blue alt, it’s just too much blue. And the blue numbers on back are actually what makes it even worse, in my eyes. They had a blue BP jersey for years that had red numbers, so I don’t understand why they didn’t carry it over to the real thing. Not that I’d want that combo either, because the softball jersey is just not something I’ll ever like.

    I agree with Scott. Shame on them for doing that on Opening Day.

    Normally I hate dull gray, but with the Braves it works, because numbers on the back are big and thick, there’s plenty of red-and-blue piping and trim, and there’s a visually-arresting tomahawk on the front, so the gray becomes the background that it should be. (Contrast with, say, the Rays or (now) Padres, where the road outfit just becomes a boring ocean of gray.)

    The same-color numbers on the blue alt are an interesting twist (the Orix Blue Wave have link) and I like them, but they don’t fit the Braves’ piping-adorned road pants at all. If they had plain white or gray pants, the alt jersey would look a lot less out-of-place.

    Teams really shouldn’t wear color alternate tops especially on Opening Day. Would like to see teams look proper for at least one day out of the year. But since MLB doesn’t care about Opening Day traditions, we can’t expect teams or players to care.

    That “Atlanta” script should really be solid white or white with red trim.

    The Braves shouldn’t wear those softball tops on opening day…or any other day. Their road grays are beautiful – even better than the home whites. The only way they could be slightly better?

    Change the tomahawk color back to dark. link

    Ooh, yeah, that looks good. Is that from the 1948 throwback game with the Cubs? Because I wouldn’t mind seeing the Cubs go back to those link unadorned link too.

    When I own a controlling share, that will be the Cubs’ permanent home jersey.

    Roadies will be the radially-arched CHICAGO w/ red underline.

    No mention of the “big A” logo on the right sleeve of the
    Angels’ road jerseys yesterday?

    Phil, to show I luv ya despite your warped sense of design reality, I’m Friday ruppin the 3 orange striped Mets. Just for you, buddy. One day only, go Mets. No photo allowed.

    Well, at least it looks like the logos on that tie have no black trim, so it’s got that going for it… which is nice.

    nice phil! got’s dem (a)o’s stirrups rockin’ here.

    i also made my stadium mustard approximation last night to be ready today, i almost have it down, we’ll see later today if i finally have it. have my onions ready to make so carmel, and since my grocery stores don’t carry natural case dogs of any kind, i hit the, ahem, sh, world market, for a couple jas of link bad boys. 5 minutes to the first game. ah hour of the phils-rasros, an hours of the cubs-parrots, the full sox-tribe, and then the main event, the mets-fish oryuls-rays.

    Love ya, Phil, but don’t those striped stirrups have less to do with the Mets than a black Mets hat?

    Yeah, there’s that oft-shown photo of Casey with a drawing showing striped hose, but that almost certainly was a rendering that was on hand that they had him hold to make for an interesting photo (pre videotape era and all). I say that because we’ve never seen any evidence to indicate it ever was presented as, “…and this is what we’ll wear.”

    Remember, the Sporting News uni summary in their ’62 baseball preview edition said the expansion Mets homes were “white with orange piping”. That never materialized, either.

    —Ricko

    My point (though admittedly indirect) is, “Are only striped stirrups an accepted party gonfalon? Solids don’t qualify?”

    Looking to be inclusive in no-stripes-in-Twins-territory-ever (like the Mets that way, in fact), I remain…
    Ricko

    did anybody hear that? i think it was someone letting the air out of the balloon. no solids are cool, i have at least 10 solids myself, but it is opening day. a bunting sort of day wouldn’t you say? c’mon rick, lighten up, it’s supposed to be about, you know, fun.

    and besides, i didn’t say they were mets rups — benjamin did

    im simply sporting royal blue with three orange stripes and an orange sani…

    hardly something ever seen on a met

    but i loves them because the *could* have been met rups in some kind of alternate reality…and moose pushed to get them made

    ~~~

    not so sure that the stripe rups would look good with the pins anyway…the pins are more properly paired with solid hose

    Oh, I was just screwin’ with ya, guys.
    (okay, and maybe also venting a little cuz I was at work when I’d rather have been home watching Opening Day, Part Deux)

    …Key passage about Bob Feller and Ted Williams, from this article: “‘They never got anything settled,’ says Anne [Feller’s widow]. ‘There was always something to argue about. They’d argue about the stripes on baseball socks, whether they were high enough, or something like that. Who knew you could argue about something like that?’” (big thanks to John Kimmerlein). …

    ** Can you imagine? Who would ever argue about baseball socks?! What I wouldn’t give to see tapes of those encounters. I mean, the best hitter and the best pitcher of their time going on about the stuff that we go on about? [Don’t get me started on the greatness of Williams; what a guy!]

    ——–

    ” … Patrick Runge sent along two links covering all the soccer kits for the Russian Premier League, here and here. … ”

    May I offer a general rule with a thousand exceptions? The logos of European and Latin American soccer clubs — coats of arms, escutcheons, graphic symbols of all kinds — are really cool. Classy, you might say. That they remain on the jerseys, though often hard to see in the midst of chest billboards and Adidas/Nike/Puma logo creep — is a visual treat. Those new Russian shirts make the case.

    Biggest change in uniform news I’ve seen yet today:
    “Stetson hat to be new Army standard headgear”
    link

    So athletes play dress-up soldier, and soldiers will play dress-up cowboy?

    I guess cowboys will start to wear shoulder pads and skintight shirts, just to complete the circle.

    I ,for one, enjoy the fact that an organization, as big as the US Army, publicly joins in on the April 1st fun, like the rest of us.

    Almost a shame that it’s an April Fool’s joke, since a Stetson or a ballcap are pretty obviously the correct choice for U.S. military casual headwear. The two distinctively original American hats.

    Bad idea even if real. Don’t think our society is ready for so many guys donning one and delivering their version of, “I love the smell of napalm in the morning.”

    from link

    Phillies will wear a black B patch over their hearts all season for the Buck brothers who passed away. Similar to HK patch.

    The Padres finally got rid of the name plates, at least on the new road jersey they wore yesterday in St. Louis. Last name letters are sewn directly on the jersey. Big improvement.

    Also, the picture of the Padres 1969 road jersey in the Fleer Sticker Project about that season’s expansion teams program covers and the 100th anniversary logo, shows the 100th anniversary patch on the right sleeve. The Padres did not wear the patch on their road uniforms, only at home. They did wear a city of San Diego 200th anniversary patch on the left sleeve of the road uniform.

    I think that is simply a crease in the jersey making it appear as though it’s a nameplate. Look at this picture, pretty clear that “HEADLEY” is direct sewn on the jersey.

    link

    If you read the Army-Stetson hat story all the way through, the last sentence reveals it to be an April Fool’s Day joke. The Army won’t be giving up the black beret, unfortunately.

    The Kansas uniforms look like a joke. If they truly wanted to go “throwback,” why not adopt the Gale Sayers-era 1963 unis with cornflower blue helmets, single red stripe, and cartoon Jayhawk. Jerseys were cornflower blue, with just numbers and TV numbers, no jersey stripes.

    Phil would strike through everything between “Kansas” and “joke” and it’d reflect KU football.

    Some joke. They won the Orange Bowl three years ago. I’d take that joke anytime.

    I am not sure if I believe this yet or not. Many fans have been calling for a return to the Jayhawk logo on the helmets, opposed to the KU font. I would be a little surprised to see a throwback uni set that did not include that helmet design.

    One thing that I don’t believe has been pointed out yet is that these mock-ups show that the players’ names are returning to the back of the jerseys. Last year player names were replaced by the Jayhawk logo. Looks like these “new” uni’s have both. Rock Chalk.

    Just a heads up, LFCTV (Liverpool FC’s official website twitter account) reported that the away kit image is just a placeholder and the real design won’t be revealed until April 14th. Although these images have been leaked a little while ago as potential away and third kits for next year: link

    As for the MLB the Show screen shot, it’s not a this year the user can choose hat, jersey, and pants independently before the game, and if you pick say the alternate red jersey, but use the standard home pants, the socks will be the standard home blue. To wear the read the user would need to pick the alternate pants as well…

    I just tested this out in the game. Though it sounded like a fix to the problem it is not. All the Rangers socks in the game are blue. Even the socks for the “H-Alternate” pants.

    The real problem lies within the MLB Uniform Style Guide. From what I hear on Operation Sports, the Rangers’ red socks are not in the guide, so the developers cannot put them in the game.

    Believe me, the devs are entirely aware of the situation and would have put in the red socks if they could. In fact, I believe they had to ask permission of MLB if they could even implement a mix and match uniform function this year.

    Wow, I can’t wait for the NFL to settle their labor issues and get back to work so i can officially start wishing abject failure on Steve Spagnuolo – now THAT guy sounds like a real ‘Jesse Owens’!

    Is there something wrong at the top of the baseball section or is it just me?

    “the Dodgers’ Duke Snider memorial patch.”

    “and why the hell does MLB the Show 2011 show the Rangers – you know, the team that went to the World Series last year – wearing blue socks with their red jerseys?”

    Don’t know, but I like the look. I’d wear that.

    Damn, beat me to it. Although, am I the only one intensely curious about what Grover had to say to Carmelo? Maybe out pointing out that his former team is in line for a 4 seed and his current time could (not likely, I know, but could) be an 8?

    That thing about the Michigan-ND “old school look” for the night game has been floating around for about a month now. It’s not an April Fools thing, but it hasn’t been picked up by the big boys, either, so we’ll see.

    The Natinals screwed up again yesterday, although not on a jersey (as far as I know).

    They misspelled pitcher John Lannan’s name on the outfield wall for the intros:

    link

    The Natinals must be the MLB’s most spelling-challenged franchise. Has to be that great DC skool system.
    link

    Bwa-ha-ha-ha!

    How about, if you want to show how much you honor the victims of 9/11, instead of wearing flashy “patriotic” merchandising samples, you spellcheck your tribute banner.

    With 80 more home games this season, I give the Nats even odds of finding a way to misspell the W on their new home jerseys. Someone’s gonna take the field wearing a curly M.

    At this point, I think it’s quite possible that they’re making these spelling mistakes intentionally.

    Could the two I’s be there intentionally to remind people of the date 9-11 and the year 2011?

    Or are the Natinals just being the Natinals?

    Hey Guys-

    Brian Kelly confirmed the uniformed in his press conference today.

    From the Chicago Tribune Twitter

    ChiTribHamilton Brian Hamilton
    Brian Kelly said #NotreDame throwback unis would be from “Kuharich era.” Said #Michigan has block M, number, and number on helmet.

    Given the stress we’ve already placed on regular troops and the National Guard, maybe it’s time to re-institute the idea of military service being expected (perhaps even a draft) and give those overworked men and women a break.

    Citizenship does come with responsibility, y’know. It isn’t just bellowing that, “I’m a taxpayer!”

    Besides, it would get rid of all this “tribute” nonsense because it no longer would be a only select group of families. It would all of us.

    It would end the camouflage uni nonsense, with the added benefit of ending war.

    Not crazy about the camo helmets. Maybe only for the service academies. The over use of them turns me off too

    I guess these do not look that bad though. The regular helmet is one of the best looking in my biased opinion

    The camo trend is symptomatic of a bigger problem. In the 40’s, when every pro team wore the “Health” patch, it was emblematic of a shared sacrifice, a shared commitment, and a shared obligation. It was a means of unifying communities (you could make an argument that the Colorado Rockies’ Columbine memorial patch had a similar effect on metro Denver: it provided a focal point for community grief, a fixed point in a surreal and senseless moment). that Health patch reminded everyone that our people were dying overseas, defending us, and that we had to do our part for the cause.

    There’s nothing of that in the camo. Its primary function is to Look Cool; any connection or reference to the troops is forced, disingenuous, and decidedly secondary. And there is no sense of shared sacrifice in this gesture: unless you have a child or spouse over there, or you’ve been there yourself, the wars are far, far away from the thoughts of the average American.

    It bothers me, like the gratuitous American flag patches post-September 11 bothered me.

    I think it’d be really nice if everyone could dial the military worship down a notch or two.

    We’ve got 2 national holidays dedicated to the military. Isn’t that enough? Do we really need to “honor the military” at every turn? Give it a rest. At the very least, stop being attention whores about it. Surely there’s ways for a college/team to honor the military without dressing up like idiots with goofy looking camouflage jerseys or helmets and screaming LOOK AT US! WE’RE HONORING THE MILITARY!

    K-State men’s basketball tops have a small shield patch that isn’t bad.

    As a 14-year member of the US military, I love the shout out. I’ve served in conflicts from the former Yugoslavia to Afghanistan and everywhere in between. I’ve lost so many great friends and it’s the little things like this that brings back the good memories of them and the honorable duties they performed.

    Sorry, but I disagree. I’m a veteran as well and I hate when schools/companies(Nike) do this crap. It’s not genuine, it’s a cry of “Look at us! We care!” like The Jeff said, and they don’t.

    I wasn’t trying to be a jerk with my reply to your post above by the way. It was a little sarcasm, because this topic is brought up so often here, as I’m sure you well know.

    See, I’m the opposite. I love it. And if Nike or whoever makes money off of the sales…so be it. That’s what America has always been about. I love the patriotism…even if its done in a commercial-esq way.

    If the players who wore military-themed uniforms had served or promised to serve, I would look at it differently. As it is, it’s simply rank commercialism, trying to look cool without the sacrifice that comes with actually being cool.

    — Veteran.

    Everything Cort said above is absolutely true.

    Like the “Support the Troops” magnet stickers on cars, camo uni’s are, ultimately, an empty gesture. Patriotism has been escalating up to a point, now, where it’s just gotten tacky and out of hand (“Look at ME! Look how patriotic I am!!). It’s another sign of the decline of subtlety in our society.

    (“Look at ME! Look how patriotic I am!!)

    And how cool is it that someone else is doing the dirty work, not me!

    Time to re-tell this, I guess.

    When Rose signed his big bucks deal with Phillies to leave the Reds, his wife asked a reporter…
    “Do they have K-Mart in Philadelphia?”

    Getting of vison of things in the Rose household now?

    I am reminded of an article on Cracked.com a few years ago entitled “8 Aging actors that look like lesbians”

    Pete, Charlie Hustle, dude….wtf?

    i am sure somebody found this before me, but link is pretty funny. money well(?) spent.

    and the onion does link every year, no? but it still makes me laugh.

    You didn’t like…

    “WHEELCHAIR ATHLETE FAKES RECOVERY
    TO GET OUT OF PRACTICE”

    ?

    Oh come on, Ryan…you mean link didn’t make you laugh? This Bucco fan enjoyed it.

    Speaking of the Bucs, they’re wearing the black jerseys with the Chuck Tanner patch on the sleeve. Gotta admit it’s not a bad look…especially with Ronny Cedeno’s socks showing.

    Now, to paraphrase Brinke, =Beat SOMEBODY=

    That patch is going to look amazing on their home whites. Probably pretty sharp on the grays as well!

    thanks jim parkervilker, that’s a good one too. mother of corn people, it’s the start of the baseball season, why so serious? i can’t laugh at an onion article? good golly.

    maybe i should have used dave parkervilker, because even though jim’s name is jim, and i used parker because it rhymed with mother, i am sure someone will point out that jim parker played football, dave parker played baseball so yada yada.

    hey moose

    can you please send me some of whatever it is that you’re on

    i am so stressed i want to punch a nun

    /needs a fatty hug

    Stargellvilker.

    I’d settle for Olivervilker or Tekulvevilker, but I’d prefer Stargellvilker.

    /1-0, baby!

    Kind of Unireated… While doing some work I found this jem from National Air & Space Museum and wanted to share it:
    <a href="link; Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

    Shamefully, I missed yesterday’s UW. So only this morning did I notice Paul’s ticker reference to Skyler Archibald (great name!) and his recommendation of an excellent article reporting on the fresh attempt at Washington State to make sure that all WSU teams wear the same shade of crimson. It’s a matter of honor that no UWatch reference to the the color crimson appears without my having something to say about it, even though I have nothing particularly new or original to offer. Hence I am bound to share with you the note I just sent to Greg Witter, author of the piece and editor of the estimable cougarfan.com:

    Mr. Witter —

    Thanks to a mention in (the indispensable) UniWatch, I just read your excellent column on the need for “Pantone discipline” regarding crimson, that most elusive of colors. You are correct, I would say, in putting crimson on a half-way point between Pantone 201 and the color worn by the Harvard football team.

    Harvard is sadly irregular on this important issue. Lots of different colors pass as crimson in Cambridge, with a general tendency toward maroon (yuk!).

    That cut-your-hand reference is apposite. The formidable early-20th Century Harvard prexy, Abbot Lawrence Lowell, ruled that Harvard’s crimson is “Arterial Red.” No one paid him much mind, and more’ the pity. As long as a tourniquet is handy, accurately drawing crimson presents no major problems.

    Best Wishes,

    For the Buck brothers (part of the ownership group), who passed away.

    The patch wasn’t announced until a few hours ago. Interesting that so many teams (Dodgers, Pirates, Phils) are keeping their memorial patches under wraps until the last minute. Frustrating for those of us who like to think we’re on top of everything, but at least it isn’t a “Look at us!” approach.

    thanks Paul, i thought this seasons uniforms would have been memorial patch less this season but i guess wrong. when was the last time the phillies didnt have a memorial patch on the uniforms?

    Just posting without looking at the comments so I’m sorry if this is redundant. There is no BFBS in soccer. Well I take that back if Liverpool were to have black kits as their primary uni then yes that’d be BFBS, but an away kit in soccer hardly qualifies as BFBS since they change yearly and don’t have to match the team color scheme like the top 4 here in the states. That all being said, the kit is blacked out so you can’t see the design. It says clearly that it will be released later this month. This is a pretty common practice in the soccer world and around this time of year almost every team has the blacked out uni with a release date set for later.

    Two Wrigley Field Opening Day notes:

    1. Kerry Wood came out to pre-game intros with a #10 cap (from Spring Training) instead of the C cap like the other Cubs. As you probably know, it was a talk with Jim Hendry at Ron Santo’s funeral that lead to Wood returning to Chicago WAY under asking price.

    2. After changing to canned muzak in June 2010, the Cubs are returning to organ music as player introductions (from Chicago Tribune online).

    I got a 3rd for ya:

    3. The “Citi” logo to the left of the home / 3rd base dugout, by mid-game the “t” had fallen off & was crooked off the ground, and you could see the caulking on the brick wall.

    I wonder if that sort of stuff happens with the “Citi” signs in Flushing, too. :)

    With apologies to Natinals fans:

    Every opening day, I’m reminded as a baseball fan that I miss link .

    Would the Expos still be in Montreal if MLB had made certain the Blue Jays were added to the NATIONAL League?

    Discuss.

    No. Had nothing to do with league alignment. Team ownership deliberately self-destructed the franchise for an almost incomprehensible, but ultimately successful, pecuniary interests. Closest we’ve ever seen to the plot of The Producers being attempted in real life. The collapse of local fan interest was a result, not a cause, of the team’s demise.

    So a possible rivalry of the ilk of Cubs-Cardinals or Yankees-Red Sox (overall success vs. rest of league notwithstanding) conceivably might not have altered the Expos ownership picture over the years?

    Just saying, such a thing wouldn’t be without effect.

    Considering that Boston is closer to Montreal than Toronto is, maybe that is the rivalry baseball should have tried to create. :)

    No, Montreal was a perfectly fine baseball city and the demise of baseball there had nothing to do with the fans or the Expos being part of the NL East, but rather it had entirely to do with efforts to destroy the fanbase and mobilize a move. It’s funny when MLB talks about being an international sport, and yet it deliberately gave up on the most foreign city in the bigs.

    Even if the Blue Jays had been an NL team, the odds are still slim that a true regional rivalry would have developed anyway. And since the supposedly rivalry-protected Red Sox were actually involved in the ownership shenanigans that destroyed that Montreal franchise, I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest that even if a Montreal-Toronto rivalry had emerged, it wouldn’t have made a lick of difference.

    Plus, the logic is just as strong – that is to say, pretty weak – in favor of keeping Montreal and Toronto in different leagues so as to foster national, rather than strictly parochial, interest in each.

    If the ’94-’95 Strike never happened, I think the Expos would be another A’s / Royals / Pirates / Rays situation due to the economics & Olympic Stadium whom had debt for a very long time & lack of luxury suites, and (as far as I know) a Canadian government with a very high reluctance on funding new sports stadiums.

    You’re talking about a butterfly effect by drastically altering the A.L. & N.L. Eastern divisions & history, tho I don’t think 12 or 13 or 18 head-to-head games a season would have made a substantial dent overall in the franchise. Tho had they won a World Series in 1994 in the peak of MLB’s popularity, who knows. But I don’t think they could have kept that team together; not with escalating salaries.

    Who knows, maybe we would have had the Washington A’s or the Washington Marlins.

    “concealed78 | Your comment is awaiting moderation. April 1, 2011 at 3:27 pm | Reply”

    Ah, the Ghost of Ed Sullivan strikes again!

    Hey, I’m a diehard Natinals fan, and I still link. Used to be one of my favorite NL teams, and one of the link teams of the 1970s. Really, when I was a kid, it was Phillies, Expos, and then a distant everyone else, uni-wise.

    that eMb logo will haunt me for ever. When I was a little kid, I go, ‘what is that.’

    I still do.

    As happy as I am that there’s a MLB team in DC again, I’m sad to know good baseball fans in Montreal are without one. I feel the same way for those old Braves fans in Milwaukee. Sometimes I think Atlanta should’ve gotten an expansion team in the 1960s, the Braves and Pilots should’ve stayed put, and the Mariners wouldn’t have come into being.

    But then I get into rolling “what ifs” and it gets counterproductive.

    I’m amused that MLB moved the schedule to start over the weekend to carry the Opening Day buzz over a couple extra days … so they now match up with the Final Four.

    Nice planning.

    Would be interesting to see how the cumulative audience for baseball telecats this weekned (both local and national) compares to the numbers for NCAA basketball.

    I’m watching baseball today, but not Saturday and Monday nights.

    They should go back to how it was – the Reds would open early on Championship Monday, then the next day the rest of the teams had Opening Day. They didn’t have to move up the season, just bring back doubleheaders or the 154-game schedule.

    It’s not without precedent for the season to start this early. The ’98 season also began in March.

    Indians/White Sox game on at the moment, the Sox still have the same patch on the sleeve as in years past, is the change only for their road grays? I am not liking the Tribes red caps, they should have went with the blue with the red bill look.

    And I thought the White Sox were going to be wearing the black tops LESS this year. So much for that idea.

    COMPLETELY DISAGREE. As a Classics minor in college, I just hope they call the rink the Labyrinth, because no one makes it out alive…

    The logo and type design seem worse than the actual name. I can’t glance at that logo and not see the word “TURDS”.

    Shame they didn’t go with Minotaurs and trust the pun to be subtle, instead of going all bully on us. Plus, what’s a link? Shouldn’t that be “Toros”?

    From an interview with Norm Charlton in the Seattle Thrillist email:

    Were you superstitious? Did you have a pre-game ritual?

    “Most superstitions are just routines, figuring out what exactly works for you. I did have a time in spring training, Rob had given up five runs without getting an out, I came in and gave up six runs on maybe one out, and on the way back to the clubhouse I stripped totally naked, got a bottle of alcohol from the training room poured it on my uniform, glove, jock, everything and set it all on fire. Never wore it again, figured there was some bad luck in that stuff.”

    Did I miss it, or does anybody know why they are wearing a cursive “B” on their jerseys?

    Went home at lunch to catch a few innings of the ESPN game and man, do those home alts look good or what?

    By judging from the crowdshots that I noticed, it sure seems alot of Philly fans would like to see a return to the link , as would I.

    And allow me to pre-apologize to you color gurus for calling it maroon, if that is incorrect. Looks good, whatever it is.

    The Phillies home pinstripes are a classic uniform and the creams are one of the best alts. I don’t think they really need to change anything.

    Word is coming from various Rockies sources that the Rockies have sprung a big surprise and are wearing purple jerseys today. Don’t think it’s an April Fool thing, it’s coming from several sources.

    Will the boys at the MLB offices get their heads out of their asses and ban softball tops on Opening Day‽

    How many times do teams both open up seasons against each other wearing their home and road alternates (respectively)?

    Because that’s exactly what’s happening in Believeland right now with the Sox (in road blacks they’re supposed to wear less of this season, but I’ll believe it when I see it) and the Indians (in their home alts with those hideous red caps).

    Houston and Philadelphia did today, unless you consider the Astros’ brick-red road jersey their primary road uniform.

    Why does that deserve an exclamation point? Now if the Rox had on purple pants I could see the need, but purple jerseys are pretty routine in Denver.

    The purple jerseys aren’t supposed to be part of their official uni set this year, so it IS a surprise. That jersey hasn’t been shown in the MLB Style Guide — until today, I see. Very odd.

    They hadn’t been worn for a few years. I think the last time I saw them worn was “back in ought-six”. The pic I saw also seemed to indicate purple socks, which would be brand-spankin’ new.

    The Rox have not worn sleeveless purple. The sleeveless crud were either solid black with “Colorado” or pinstripted white with the CR logo. The purple jerseys were sleeved and also said “Colorado”.

    My bad, was thinking they were.
    So much “ugly” when I think of that photo of them clustered on the mound (Phil has posted it several times) that I guess “tunic” just creeped in there.

    I wish I’d never sent you that Wear-as-many-colors-as-possible-for-my-60th-birthday photo.

    I find it interesting that the A & N on the all-star caps are reversed from the way that they are on the jersey at the beginning of the words American and National…

    Pirates jerseys are gross. The numbers on the front are so low and none of the gold/yellow matches. It’s like a different shade for the logo, NOB and Memorial Patch.

    Wow A reference to a local high school not far from me. Girard, Ohio. Not far from Youngstown.

    Thanks Jason

    I have no problem with the Ohio State camo. It’s going to be for the Spring Game, thats it. Much like Oregon and their camo numbers at last years Spring Game its going to be for charity, not just a promotional gimmick.

    I don’t care for camo for camos sake, much like BFBS, but when there is a purpose and money is going to good places not Nike/Reebok/Adidas/Under Armour I can get behind that.

    I think it kinda sends a message to both players and fans that lip service is sufficient.

    Selling the helmets for $1,000 each with the money going to Ohio National Guard Family Readiness and Warrior Support Program isn’t lip service.

    Still goes to what I meant.
    They wear them, and someone else ponies up the dough.
    Just like someone else goes to Afghanistan.

    “I did MY part. I wore it.”

    Strictly a personal preference, but I wish the Rangers would settle on Red or Royal. I’d vote for Royal. But for the Palmiero era, it seems to be the color more associated with them.

    Paul, I respectfully disagree with your assessment of the ASG uniforms. I think they look great.

    Also, I’ve heard rumors about the Notre Dame throwbacks before, so I think they’re legit. I heard something very similar to what you said, and that was a month ago or so.

    Has anyone seen the new Central Arkansas Football field? Paul, you are gonna have a field day bashing this one. They’ve taken colored turf to a whole different level.

    link

    and no, that is not an April Fool’s Day Prank. That is very real! Colleges are really pushing it these days eh?

    Are you sure? The article is posted on 4/1, and there was a prank like this last year for a different school, I forget which. Washington State, maybe?

    Phil just reminded me of this, and asked that I remind everyone here…

    Check your cable/satellite directory.
    MLB’s Extra Innings is free this weekend.

    …which means another Lockup marathon here on city cable. Have I said I was checking into a dish lately??? I know. Sorgum moves faster than I do.

    I’m not sure if this has been mentioned before, but it looks like Brian Wilson is wearing an old wool New Era cap in the ad that’s all over the site. That’s pretty odd.

    I was at Dodger Stadium Opening Day. They introduced Jerry Reuss to throw out the first pitch and there was no uni number ’41’ on the front of his Dodger Jersey. Then they announced Tommy Lasorda and there was no ‘2’ on the front of his jersey either. Tommy took the ball from Reuss and gave it to Fernando (while Reuss went behind the plate to catch it)who had no ’34’ on his jersey either WTF? EPIC FAIL!

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