There’s no getting around it: The pink Mother’s Day accessories look a lot better when you’re already wearing a pastel tone to begin with. At the other end of the spectrum, the pink gear looks particularly bad if you’re playing dress-up soldier.
So how many pink accoutrements did you count yesterday? I spotted jersey ribbons, wristbands (also worn by some of the umpires), bats, compression sleeves, eye “black,” shoes (apparently described in the Mets’ broadcast booth as “Hello Kitty shoes”), Tooth Fairy necklaces, catching gear, and batting gloves. I’m sure there’s more that I missed, right?
Of course, it’s possible to mark Mother’s Day without any pink. But that doesn’t raise cancer awareness, right? Oh wait, I forgot, all the pink crap doesn’t raise cancer awareness either.
That’s it for today’s lede — sorry for the abbreviated entry, but I didn’t get back from St. Looey until yesterday afternoon and am still catching up. We’ll return to full-length content tomorrow, plus I’ll have an ESPN column on Thursday that I think will qualify as a minor bombshell, so you have that to look forward to. Cool? Cool. — Paul
IMPORTANT! The St. Louis Uni Watch party was great, but I appear to have lost the little sheet where I wrote down all the attendees’ names and what they were wearing. So if you were there, please shoot me a note and remind me what you were wearing, so I can prepare a proper party report. Thanks.
Raffle results: The winner of the free Pop-Up Magazine ticket is longtime reader Scott Gleeson Blue. See you on Wednesday, Scott! For those of you who didn’t win but still want to attend, a few tickets are still available.
Membership update: Only two new designs have been added to the membership card gallery since our last update. But one of those is Vincent Braron’s card, shown at right, which of course is based on Jorge Campos’s infamous goaltender attire. Have I mentioned more than a few dozen times that the ugliest uniforms make for the best Uni Watch membership cards?
As always, you can put that maxim to the test by signing up for the membership program here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I have a piece on baseball hosiery in the new issue of Vintage magazine. Most of what I wrote about will be familiar terrain to Uni Watch readers, but Vintage is a special magazine — amazing production values, fascinating content (aside from the piece I wrote, I mean). Recommended. ”¦ In Friday’s entry I mentioned that I no longer had the photos for the Dodgers’ spring training “X” jersey. Fortunately, JD Denison saved them from when they originally ran a few years ago. ”¦ An old Bruins jacket, found on eBay, has become the team’s latest good-luck charm (with thanks to Jim Flynn). ”¦ Speaking of the Bruins, Joseph Newman notes that Tim Thomas wears Vaughn leg pads but has a Reebok blocker — an unusual case of inconsistent gear brands. ”¦ Dave Eskenazi reports that Ebbets Field Flannels honch Jerry Cohen has appropriated Dave’s old SF Seals Stadium sign for the EFF window. ”¦ The Seattle Sounders debuted their dark-gray road kits over the weekend (with thanks to Kenn Tomasch). ”¦ Jeff Ash sent along this shot of his son Evan. “They don’t do stirrups at Green Bay East High School, but they are into black socks,” says Jeff. “Some kids do the pajama pants, but not Evan. Proof that Uni Watch makes a difference.” ”¦ A few college baseball teams played solider dress-up over the weekend, including Ole Miss, Alabama (with thanks to Tim Burke). ”¦ In happier news, Arkansas wore Northwestern-striped stirrups on Friday night (as noted by Jimmy Shaddock). ”¦ Nice stirrups — and new tri-colored caps — for Auburn, too (with thanks to Jeff McClendon). ”¦ Here’s a new one, at least for me: special uniforms to raise awareness of organ donation (with thanks to Terry Mark). ”¦ Wedding band alert! The guy in the center there is Lloy Ball (an American), who’s playing in the championship of the Russian League (good spot by Chris Reininger). ”¦ It was KC A’s Appreciation at Kauffman Stadium the other day, so Robert Marshall and Kate Perryman enjoyed a photo-op with Charlie O. ”¦ Phillies minor leaguers are required to go high-cuffed, and that includes Chase Utley while he’s on rehab (with thanks to Michael Lapinski. ”¦ Here’s a really great story from Matthew Cann: “Everyone on the driving range did a double take this morningwhen these guys pulled up and hit some balls. They play in a charity tournament every year, honoring a friend of theirs who died, and they always come ‘in costume.’ This year they dressed as the Phillies’ four aces — authentic jerseys, pretty authentic-looking pants with red belts, and the guy dressed as Oswalt even showed his socks like Roy does. I also like that the tallest guy appropriately wore Halladay’s jersey, and ‘Cliff Lee’ was a lefty.” ”¦ “I work at the Portland airport,” says Greg Riffenburgh. “Recently I noticed all the Alaska Airlines customer service employees wearing Portland Timbers all day, but didn’t understand why until I saw this.” More photos here, and the story behind the design is here. ”¦ Trevor Williams found an old article indicating that the NFL wanted the Browns to adopt a helmet logo in 1998, plus an additional article about the Browns’ secondary logos. ”¦ Trevor has also been trying — in vain, so far — to solve the 1962 Broncos helmet logo color mystery. Although he hasn’t hit paydirt yet on that, he’s come up with some interesting articles about the Broncos’ jersey change from orange to navy in 1997. Look here, here, and here. ”¦ Researcher Peter Nash’s latest opus is about an old Lou Gehrig jersey. ”¦ Has PNC Park always used such a goofy typeface for its outfield distance markers? ”¦ While looking for something else, I came across an article about the company that prints “Motorola” on the NFL headsets. ”¦ Is it just me, or are more ballplayers than ever being caught with their tongues sticking out?
The great thing about that Goshen organ-donation game is that, unlike the specific diseases with “awareness” industries (breast cancer, AIDS, diabetes, for example), there’s both an actual need for greater awareness of organ donation and awareness itself can produce immediate, positive outcomes. If you’re not a donor, get yourself to the DMV and have that put on your license, and tell your family. If you then get hit by a bus, you can thereby save half a dozen lives that would otherwise not have been saved. Whereas all the pink wristbands in MLB, the NFL, and whatever, will cumulatively save zero lives ever.
(Not that there’s anything wrong with supporting the big disease industries. It’s just that what breast cancer, AIDS, diabetes, etc need isn’t “awareness.” They resources. I do fundraising events for several of those diseases, because they don’t need “awareness,” they need cash. And the big sports tie-ins do very little to raise funds, relative to the effort expended. They really are “awareness” events for diseases that everyone is already aware of. Well, resources or education: If instead of wearing pink, the starting lineup of the Phillies would demonstrate proper breast self-exam techniques between innings, that would have some value.)
starting lineup of the Phillies
I think you meant “Eagles Cheerrleaders”, then it becomes not only educational but a multi-sport promotion. :)
“Whereas all the pink wristbands in MLB, the NFL, and whatever, will cumulatively save zero lives ever.”
Not strictly the same thing, but hasn’t there been a spike in the number of men scheduling prostate exams every year following the “blue” promotion on Father’s Day?
Or has that not held up as the seasons pass?
Hello Kitty shoes = spot-on observation.
Well put. Look, I’m no fan of breast cancer. Cancer sucks. But come on… what woman isn’t aware of the risks, and the fact that they should get checked regularly at a certain age? And I’d be hard pressed to believe breast cancer cure researchers are hurting for money (which is a good thing… I’m glad they’re well funded… but the fact is they really don’t need all this awareness stuff.)
By that reasoning, Budweiser and McDonald’s (to name two) are really stupid to keep spending money on advertising.
Yes. Yes they probably are. Does McDonalds *really* need to advertise for any reason other than the occasional “hey, we’re selling a new sandwich” type of thing? Are they really gaining anything from shoving their logo in my face every 15 minutes when I watch TV? Or could they not perhaps spend a bit less on advertising and a bit more on employee salaries and thus actually improve the economy as giving people more money would promote more consumer spending?
Right.
Speaking of that…
link
Stupid stubborn Browns and their “proud” tradition of having no logo. Their resurrection in 1999 would have been the perfect time to put a logo on the helmet. Despite the “official” history, they were a NEW team. They could have started their own traditions. But no…
/The damn team shouldn’t exist anyway. The Browns became the Ravens. Cleveland should’ve been called something else.
/*hiding*
i think the best reason for the browns to continue having no helmet logo is simply because you hate it
that’s the best tradition of all ;)
Whether we agree with it or not, the NFL position was that the “Browns” never left Cleveland; they just didn’t play for a while…and Cleveland fans chose to buy into that.
Yet, they still hate Modell. Go figure, guess they want it both ways. “The Browns never left, but we hate the guy who moved them to Baltimore.”
From a marketing standpoint, under those circumstances likely the last thing the team wanted to do was anything to call attention to their being the “new” Browns. That just wasn’t their position, or their spin on the reality of it. They weren’t starting up, they were re-starting.
I just really don’t like that Cleveland got to be special. The city of Cleveland needs to get over itself. I wonder if we’d have had all of the drama over a certain NBA player switching teams if he’d been playing in Detroit instead.
As for the Browns themselves and the blank helmet… I think it’s dated and just seems like a case of living in the past and pure stubbornness. They don’t really have the winning tradition in their current uniforms of a Yankees or Celtics, nor have they actually gone as long without change as they’ve had both the orange and brown pants, and the 1984 thing. They’ve had the distinction of being the only team with no helmet logo since 1968. (Denver in ’67, remember?) Since then, they’ve won exactly 0 championships. Would another change really hurt? Hell, 7 of their 8 championships came *before* they had brown stripes on the helmet. If they really want to be retro for whatever the hell reason, they should go all the way back to white helmets.
Maybe the Browns attitude is, “The last time we won an NFL championship we looked pretty much like this and, by god, we’re gonna look like this until we win another one.”
But you’re right, from the outside looking in, there’s a sort of “Woe is us” attitude that Cleveland relishes in. We don’t win much, but at last we still get a lot of attention for how we get screwed all the time. Win a 100+ games in ’54, then go 0-4 in W-S. The Drive. The Fumble. King James vamooses.
Almost like Cubs fans. ‘Cept it’s a whole city, and all sports.
“Non-Titletown, USA.”
Sorry, Definite Article, but I love that no-logo-ness.
The lack of a helmet emblem makes them unique. With an insignia, they’d be just another team.
Great comeback from Al Lerner. May he rest in peace knowing the Browns’ helmets will remain logo-free.
At least ee’re talking about the Browns right? Like Walter said below, they are unique. I don’t know that a CB on the side would be anymore exciting than nothing. The Bears have a small wishbone C that adds zero excitement to that helmet. They dont even have stripes. So you can say the Browns have more going on with their helmet in total than the Bears. The stripes add up to more than two puny C’s right? Either way, a team should reflect what the city is and wants. If they forced a logo on them, the fans would revolt. And shouldn’t we be glad they are actually doing something with the fans in mind? If you’re an outsider and you think its boring, who cares? Root for your team and revel in their logo. I doubt that anyone thinks a change in uniform would create better results. (81 Bengals, and 97 Broncos notwithstanding)
this whole conversation is nuts. there has to be room for some sort of traditional team jeff, not everyone has to have ome sort of stupid crazy glitter helmet and pit stain to be acceptable. an there not be some room in your life for a wee little tradition? did you not kiss your mother yesterday for tradition, or did you spit on her too? i personally think the browns have the best uniform in pro football. not because it is traditional or unchanged, but simply because it is the best. orange and brown is a fantastic colour combo, the stripes are perfect everywhere they exist, and the helmet is just fine. if it ain’t broke don’t fix it. i realize that not everyone would agree with that, and that is just super, root for a different team. how freaking hard is that?
but even crazier the that whole cleveland should change just to change BS. how do clevelanders think they are special jeff? i nary heard such nonsense. the browns shouldn’t exist? why the hell not? this is one instance in franchise jumping where the league got it right. and don’t give me this franchise is more important then city-city crap-crap ricko. you obviously never lost a team, and don’t tell me the lakers, it was hardly a league when they left. i don’t even care about the records, just the colours, let the ravens celebrate otto graham, i mean baltimore really cares about otto not unitas, oh wait, they don’t. but any team that moves should automatically change their name. boo-hoo jeff, cleveland finally got lucky on something sports related, what a load of crap. maybe i am hyper sensitive because i lost an nfl team twice, but if the browns were running around maryland my maryland i would vomit.
while i am at it rick, cleveland fans are nothing like cub fans, that is insulting. there is nothing lovable loser about cleveland, nu-thing. if you want to draw a parallel between two cities, and i am not particularly enamoured with their fans, try the red sox before their series win and cleveland. both fatalist, and both angry bitter sob fan bases. the cub fan base is a freaking joke outside of their core of loyal fans. the cubs sell their friendly confines, the browns and indians played in the mistake on the lake, totally freaking different.
“while i am at it rick, cleveland fans are nothing like cub fans, that is insulting. there is nothing lovable loser about cleveland, nu-thing”
Huge difference, and I apologize for not being totally clear on it. Cub fans are a sub group (which sort of includes me, I guess, them being my first favorite team) that does have a sense of humor and perspective about their lot in life. Cleveland gives the impression of an entire city suffering with a kind of teeth-gnashing group angst they lug about, grumbling the unfairness of things every step of the way. The common ground I meant was the losing. Not the way they handle it.
As to the Browns still being in Cleveland. That’s one instance where the team name, etc., DID stay behind. The league said so. That said, I have no problem whatsoever with the Browns being the Browns, and sticking with what is easily one of the best-looking and iconic unis is football, even without a helmet logo. Actually, partially because of that.
by the way rick, i forgot about the northstars, oops. but wouldn’t most people have been happier id the wild were the northstars again?
and i am not saying all cub fans are stupid, that would be stupid, just the wrigley fans, and cub fan has to own them too. there has been a difference since harry and wgn paired up. and you nailed cleveland fan there, it is a bitter group.
by the way rick i wasn’t trying to rail ya, but if i gave jeff crap for what he said, i had to give you crap too. i know you think the franchise is important, but the fans get shit on constantly, the least they could do is not kill out teams. baltimore orioles is so much better then baltimore brons, just like the new your orioles would be a travesty.
you could tell how frustrated i was by my rate of typos in my first post.
A woman I know says that they should’ve renamed the Cleveland team, with better, (she said “non-ugly”) colors that someone could wear other than at Halloween and a better name, like the Bulldogs, which would’ve been historically correct too, given the history of Jim Thorpe’s Canton Bulldogs.
The Browns’ name and history belong in Cleveland though. It always struck me as silly when Laker fans brag about championships George Mikan’s Lakers won in Minneapolis, or when the SF Giants claim John McGraw and Christy Mathewson’s achievements with the NY Giants.
So all of 3M’s accomplishments before they moved a huge chunk of their operations to Austin, TX, are no longer part of the company history?
That company in Austin didn’t produce all that tape?
Or Post-It Notes?
Only the Minnesota wing?
don’t compare a sports franchise to people who make two-sided tape, the civic pride is completely different. i can’t remember the last time anyone bought a 3m t-shirt to go cheer on the assembly line. but even if i indulge you on this, look at akraon and rubber, baltimore and pittsburgh and steel, and the corporations that just up and moved, and left misery in their wake. there is just as much importance to the people that worked for the company as the companies themselves, they are just as much part of that company’s legacy and inprint.and that is just like fans of teams, they are as important to the franchise as the tag of ownership. because the colts are not in baltimore, the people that are old enough to remember their glory years should wipe out those memories because the company up and moved? the civic pride that goes with this stuff all of a sudden didn’t happen? they get to just take that to indy? they get to take unitas? nertz to that man.
I like it that 3M sponsored MuchoMachoMan in the Derby Saturday. Clever marketing.
The Browns’ name and history belong in Cleveland though.
~~~
legally, yes
but this is an unique situation which has not, and should not, been applied to any other franchise
we don’t need to have this discussion again; it’s like teams wearing camo to honor the military — everyone has an opinion and we rehash the same old arguments over and over with no one changing their minds
some feel records/accomplishments/titles belong to the city in which they occurred
others believe they belong to the franchise which has every right, legally and otherwise, to relocate
there’s pretty much no gray areas here…and very few people, once they have made up their mind one way or the other, will change
90% of the comments is a re-hash, and the frustration over the repetition is exactly why i don’t do this very much anymore, i read the entry because that is what i truly love, then i am done. but i had a free morning, and jeff was jeff, so moose was moose, and rick gave a reality lesson. even if it wasn’t a topic re-hash, it is still the same pattern.
i can’t seem to type today, but…
i have no problem with the franchise acknowledging championships won in other cities. the franchise not LA can take pride in that. but the franchise did win them. but by the same token, in the rafters at the minnesota basketball club’s stadium, sorry i forget their name, they should also hang those minnesota laker championship banners. the team moved, but the city did not, the city still won just as much. this is one time i for sure take the everyone gets a cookie argument. i might aso take this opportunity to add that every major league city that had a negro league team should also hang the banners of those championships, that civic pride should also be recognized, and those championships celebrated. rather then one day of 42, every time you go to the ballpark there is a teaching opportunity if you want to take it.
I suppose this is a prototype “Subjective v. Objective/Emotional v. Logical” discussion.
Subjectively, cities retain their memories.
Objectively, businesses retain their property.
Emotionally, fans cling to their favorites.
Logically, the business moved to another city.
Neither side is truly wrong, in their own invidual framework.
Now, if I point to the law, then some will say that takes the emotion out of it. Well, that is exactly what law is SUPPOSED to do, take the emotion out of it…give us a place to turn for reference so we DON’T respond emotionally, but with logic.
Both arguments totally apply to these situations and, as I said, both are right from their own point of view. But, when it gets right down to the nut-cutting, the legal position has to lead, mostly for the societal applications.
(Sorta like when someone complains about government looking into NCAA Football Playoffs…or lack therof. Huge business, possible anti-trust. Can’t ignore that just because it’s sports).
Like we talked about before, pro sports franchises are in that unique position of being both civic AND business entities. Your argument on which of those is the more important generally dictates where you fall on the side of colors/name staying in the city or moving with the franchise. For me, the civic side has more weight. I love that the Browns name stayed with Cleveland, and in a perfect world every name would stay put when a franchise relocates. Then again, in a perfect world franchises wouldn’t relocate.
So for pro sports the laws of business and corporate property should be suspended?
That’s why I give the legal side more weight. As emotional as such things may be, those emotions need to be set aside.
Target Center is where the Timberwolves play NBA basketball (allegedly), not the centerpiece for NBA history in Minnesota. For them to display Laker championship banners would be appearing to claim, or share in, the accomplishments of another organization. To me, it is to their credit that they choose not do so.
Now, if someone establishes a “Pro Basketball in Minnesota” Museum (or the Wolves create an area for that), fine. They can chronicle it all, every bit of it. Lakers, Muskies, Pipers, Fillies, Timberwolves, Lynx… Fine line, I suppose, but a valid one.
And don’t say, “The cities built the facilites…” Yes, they do. But nowhere in those arrangements do they get ownership in the franchise in return. Again, bottom line, we need to go by what’s on paper, what’s appropriate under the law. Because, y’know, that’s how we do things.
“Again, bottom line, we need to go by what’s on paper, what’s appropriate under the law. Because, y’know, that’s how we do things.”
Because it isn’t a perfect world.
just want to step in real quick and say that for all things “fail” in the pirates organization… they actually honor the crawfords & grays, and negro league in general, pretty well.
“So for pro sports the laws of business and corporate property should be suspended?”
Nope, just saying sports franchises are in a unique position that other businesses are not.
“in a perfect world franchises wouldn’t relocate”
~~~
that’s it in a nutshell, innit?
the city itself can’t physically move, but the franchise, being transient, can
some cities, one might argue deserve to lose a team, whether (in the case, for example, of two-team MLB cities) they simply can’t support two franchises or the fans simply don’t come out to the games
other teams have greedy bastard owners who, if their every demand isn’t met to have the public build them a new palace at their own expense, simply find one who will — in this instance, i would side with the city being able to keep the colors and name…im looking at you, baltimore…irsay never should have been able to take the colts lock, stock and barrel in the middle of the night to indy, but since he did, he should have left the last vestiges with him in balto
we’ve actually had this precedent before — in 1961 — involving, ironically, minnesota
the cal griffith senators (nats) picked up and moved but left the city the name and, i guess, the colors; im not sure it was to the extent that art modell had to leave the brown history/name/colors in clevo when he moved the browns, but it’s certainly not the first time something like this has happened
i think you’ll find that in most cases when a team relocates, the desire to keep the name and the colors are directly proportional to the cache of said name…
winnipeg jets to the desert? pfft…there’s no history there (i mean REAL history/titles), rename them, leave the jets for the next manitoba team
the giants or dodgers (or colts) moving west? hell yes those colors and logos have TREMENDOUS cache…their value is much greater and there is no way those were getting left behind
the senators to minnesota? pfft…one world series title (in the 1920s?) — and that name? not worth cal griffith’s time to appropriate that
it all depends upon the circumstances and the value of the letterhead
Why not use a more current example along with your Minnesota one…the Winnipeg Jets RETURNING from the desert? I am sure True North Sports will be leaving any trace of it’s time in Arizona to the sands of time in the desert…
rick this isn’t an emotional/logical the two are mutually exclusive argument, so you can’t try to pretend to take the high road and say emotional people are saying some of a franchises history belongs to the city, while your argument from the tower is based on logic/this isn’t a perfect world so suck it up babies. that’s just BS. obviously someone owns the team, and so they also own their history. obviously if they so choose they can take the name with them(although i don’t know why utah wants a team called the jazz). but some of that history just as obviously belongs to the town, that is just as logical, unitas passed for more yards in colts history then blah. but he also passed for more yards in baltimore history then blah. you don’t see that? and if a city gets a different team, they should acknowledge the city’s past champions, and past records too. unitas should be listed under the colts franchise, and baltimore city. why can it not be both, it does not have to be exclusively one or the other. in 58 the colts franchise won a championship, but you know they won that in baltimore not indianapolis, so it should be listed as both, there should be a 58 banner in raven stadium because the city’s football history isn’t just the ravens. emotional civic pride aside, we build them stadiums ,give em tax breaks, why not vilify someone like model(and lerner) when they punch us in the sack? and why not pressure them into leaving behind what they shouldn’t have taken in the first place. cleveland got lucky because they got screwed at the right time, if only baltimore was as lucky. rather then say it shouldn’t have happened, we should figure out how that will happen every time.
I wasn’t taking any kind of high ground, just offering that sometimes we have to detach, technically speaking…if for no other reason than to hold onto our sanity. That’s especially true when teaching the history of the game, because such separations often ARE the history of the game, and need to be explained and understood.
Your “meeting” Charlie O. as part of “Remember the KC A’s” is a fabulous opportunity from any angle for anyone who cares about Kansas City baseball, and we have to assume it’s with the Oakland A’s blessing. Therefore, it’s a credit to all involved. For the Royals to simply “appropriate” him, though, would be wrong.
And it was Phil who got into the “some” discussion. :)
“A woman I know says that they should’ve renamed the Cleveland team, with better, (she said “non-ugly”) colors..”
She obviously does not Get It.â„¢
just wanted to chime in that this: link is a damn fine, simple, clean logo that I really wish the Browns would adopt as their primary. I’d actually put it up with the Packers’ and Bears’ logos in terms of design.
That said, I agree that they shouldn’t put it anywhere near their helmets. The blank orange helmet is unique and cool. It reminds you of old school play, big dudes just plowing into each other. But having a picture of that helmet as their primary is just lazy.
that’s a fine logo, so is brownie the elf, slap on t shirts and sell them, use it as a brand. tshirts with an orange helmet are not the greatest, just the onfield uniform. but that’s all cool. and i know you are not calling for it, but it speaks to exactly why it shouldn’t be slapped on the helmet. just because you can, does not mean you do it. would that really be an improvement or would they still be the gloriously beautiful brown and orange team that most people think aesthetically stinks, but with a B or an elf on their lids?
that browns logo would look great on a white helmet! maybe a 2 games per season alt?
no
…when the steelers stick a logo on the other side of their helmet the browns should do this ryco. never.
the uber-traditional steelers adopted an alt helmet though, didn’t they?
besides, this isn’t an argument about tradition anyway. i’m saying, that browns “football, b, stripes” logo would look sharp on a white helmet with the appropriate stripe pattern. it’s good design, plain and simple…
the stillers have a throwback, not a new uni. and for what it’s worth, i think the yellow helmets make them look like big headed aliens, it’s the stillers mars attacks look., i hate it. love the jersey and pants, hate the helmet. as for the browns, i am all for the browns wearing white at home again, it is the best uni in sport. then when they have to wear dark go brown over orange. so i am not saying they can’t mix it up a bit. i am saying don’t touch the helmet. heck, it they want to don the all white chapeau against the ravens because good guys wear a white hat, i would even go for that, get all otto graham on bawlmer, go ahead. but slapping a logo on a white helmet for the hell of it, because they can is crap. it would be as stupid as the steelers putting a logo on the other side of the helmet because everyone else wears two logos, it is just plain a bad idea. by the way, glad to hear the pirates honour the crawfords, that is very cool. kc should do that with the monarchs.
Yeah I like that B just fine. But they’ll never,
EVER,
put a logo on that helmet.
i’m not that bright. thought the browns logo was their non-logo. and, that is too subtle for some, i guess.
no, i think jeremy gets that, and i know i do. but if they want to slap some elf or B on tshirts, or have fox use it as their broadcast graphic, that’s all well and fine too.
all i know is i am so sick of slick. everything has to be made super slick now to be appreciated. whatever happened to enjoying some of the under belly of things? some of the grit? eat with your hands and down to the marrow now and again. but i digress, specific to uniforms…oh no, the browns ain’t slick enough, so we better ditch everything, and make them shiny and new for no good reason, the gamers in columbus might think we are boring, it’s just bunk. why would the team rebrand when they came back when the whole point, the whole uproar, was bringing them back as is unchanged? cleveland didn’t want something new, they wanted something that should never have been ripped from them in the first place. change the browns, pffft. i’d sooner agree dying my shorthairs lavender was a good idea.
“all i know is i am so sick of slick.”
Seconded.
Heartily.
i can hardly walk in an art gallery anymore.
There is nothing wrong with the Browns unis. Nothing.
Not that it will matter. In time, there will be no sports unis to speak of. Every team will be like the link Every game will have a cause, with its own custom-made uniform. The ratchet has been turned, and there’s no going back. Enjoy those logo-less helmets while you can.
Do we know that these MLB teams “require” their minor leaguers to go high cuffed, or do they just not stock any long pants for farmhands (nothing longer than, say, 28″ inseam or so, except for the really tall guys)? Do they have no choice, that is. Systemwide, it would save have a lot of farting around with (and money spent on) tailoring.
“Here are your pants, son, and the socks to go with them. And when you’re gone, we’ll give the pants to someone else.”
Not disputing it, just asking how formal the “requirement” is or isn’t as a matter of policy.
Yes, several teams require it throughout their farm systems — I have confirmed that many times.
That’s what I wondering.
And, as always with such things, it’s on a team-by-team basis, not MLB-wide.
(I apologize for missing it).
I’m not advocating a mandatory rule for the bigs, but you’d think shear vanity would drive major leaguers to ditching the pajamas. We celebrated Willie Mays’ birthday last week. He introduced the tailored look and result was terrific. Willie was such a talent MLBers should want to emulate him, not mock him!
Many people said the same sort of thing when players (Mays being one of those in forefront) started pulling their stirrups up so high they were almost nothing but ribbon. Thought it was simply horrible and a disgrace to a baseball uniform.
Calvin Griffith even took the Twins stirrups away from them during spring training in the early ’70s. If they weren’t gonna let ’em show, he figured, why bother with them at all.
I’d have to guess it’s team by team, at best. It’s not that hard to find pictures of minor league guys wearing the same pants as the majors.
For example:
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I can also say that MLB the Show doesn’t have any indication of it being a requirement when you play with the minor league teams. My created “me” is one of only 3 players with visible sockage that I’ve noticed on the team I got placed on – the Montgomery Biscuits. I’m sure the combination of visible socks, a blue softball jersey and my “THE JEFF” NOB would drive certain people crazy, of course. (Granted, video games aren’t exactly a reliable source)
see the typo in the Motorola article on the caption of the picture?
“Promo Products prints the ‘Motorolla’ on the band that goes across the top of NFL headsets.”
You can see here that both catchers in the Sox/Twins game had pink accented gear. Varitek is auctioning his off for the Susan G Komen foundation.
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If MLB is going to add the ribbon on to the jersey, why don’t they change the logo to just be pink and white too? It’s just an option…
Good one. I’m gonna add that to the text.
So this story, and the TV interviews it generated, doesn’t create awareness?
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I’m not saying all the pink gear is the best idea ever, or that it looks at all good, but I do think to say it doesn’t call attention to the subject of breast cancer is almost…naive.
(This was supposed to be a couple comments down.)
Arrgh.
i am all for them wearing pink and trying to generate awareness, but i think they need more stories like that, and more promotion of the cause
Some of that falls on the media, and on the PR departments of the teams and local cancer organizations. Instead of getting caught up in who’s wearing what that’s pink, find other such stories among the players.
So that begs a question. Trevor Plouffe’s story was told widely hereabouts. Were similar personal stories brought forward in other markets, too, or did they keep it as shallow as covering only PFMDS (Pink For Mother’s Day Sake)?
Don’t give them any more ideas, it’s bad enough already.
but if they promote it as breast cancer awareness, and do something else besides the ribbons, people might actually understand what it’s for – and not that there are a bunch of men wearing pink on mother’s day and baby blue on father’s day (prostate cancer awareness).
if not, we’ll have this same discussion in a month and a half
VaTech baseball went with a throwback look for Mother’s Day this past weekend…
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Unfortunately, these did not include the nice NW striped socks/stirrups.
Has any MLB team, in the last 80 years, worn white (or even one color) NW stripes on a dark sock?
Don’t think so.
But they were all over Little League, etc. from the 40s through the early 70s. Standard sporting goods store fare. Pretty much the ONLY striped sock you could get without a special order. Even three equal stripes were rare.
Hence, to me that will always be a very, very “kid baseball” look.
Actually, VT has had those unis all season.
It’s looks like they’re just celebrating beating James Madison, something the football team couldn’t do.
Dorky update on the R.A. Dickey bat article from last week:
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I found another picture of the PNC outfield markers and it looks like they were using a different font. Not sure the date of the photo.
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Here’s a picture from I believe 2008 that shows yet another style of typeface.
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Being to PNC Park many times, that’s the first i ever seen that font. Though it looks like they may change it on a year to year basis. I think it should be the same font as their jersey numbers…it’s such a unique font.
There’s a typo in the headline on the Sounders ‘Shale’ kits. They are supposedly playing the Columbia Crew. I think this might be news to those who live in Ohio.
As someone who actually does live in a Columbia (MD, not MO) this is more than a little amusing.
Tulsa Talons (AFL) went camo on Saturday night against Chicago Rush.
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Steve Stone referred to the White Sox as looking like “giant link” during yesterday’s game.
Thats Great.
So who played the role of Choo-Choo Charlie?
Ozzie of course ….
“… Here’s a really great story from Matthew Cann: “Everyone on the driving range did a double take this morningwhen these guys pulled up and hit some balls. They play in a charity tournament every year, honoring a friend of theirs who died, and they always come ‘in costume.’ This year they dressed as the Phillies’ four aces – authentic jerseys, pretty authentic-looking pants with red belts, and the guy dressed as Oswalt even showed his socks like Roy does. I also like that the tallest guy appropriately wore Halladay’s jersey, and ‘Cliff Lee’ was a lefty…”
***
Still a great country.
Wouldn’t it be great to get a story on these guys? What goes into their costume decision? How much symbolism they use in who wears what? Based on this one shot, I’d love to see a slideshow of their other appearances.
Hi Seth – I should have gotten their info and tried to set up an interview – you are right, that would have been great to get their backstory. My bad! It’s the first time I’ve sent something in like this so I now I know what to do when I get the opportunity.
I failed to mention that they even got the under-shirts right – Halladay with the full red sleeves, and Hamels with the cut-off sleeves near the elbow. Great attention to detail!
The Washington Wizards are unveiling their new logo & uniforms at 11 EST tomorrow. From what I’ve heard they’re some kind of mash-up between the Unseld-era striped unis and the Webber/Howard-era red unis…
Nice shot of White Sox catcher Ramon Castro’s non-pink eye-black shout-out to his mom, but that photo raises another question: What’s with the “BMNM 27” on the collar of his chest protector? His uni number is 27, but does anyone know what the initials stand for?
“Ramon Abraham Castro and his wife, Brenda, make their home in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico with their daughters, Mairym, Natali and Misoti”
B.M.N.M. = Brenda, Mairym, Natali, Misoti
Thanks, Phil.
Interesting story about the Bruins jacket on Ebay… but no picture?!
-Jet
Yeah, that kinda killed me too…
Much like the hard hat in the Calgary Flames dressing room, it has taken on a life of its own. Here are a few images:
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the penguins had a shovel they passed around. love when teams do this
At the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, I couldn’t help but notice corporate logos on many of the jockey’s pants. I did at least 37 seconds of research on this just now, and it didn’t appear they’ve had anything like this in the past.
Any horse-racing experts have any knowledge in this area?
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(those are Ram truck logos)
added 12 seconds of research … didn’t hear if this was the first time, but I did learn that the ads caused controversy:
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Not the first time. But it still totally sucks.
Dodge Ram is a particularly bad sponsor — no animal other than a horse should be in the discussion during the Derby.
A Dodge Ram isn’t an animal, it’s a truck – and what’s one thing they always advertise in truck commercials?
Horsepower.
;)
I don’t see the point, not like yo can make them out all that well with the speed of the race and the dirt…but yet again we are talking about it now. DAMN YOU!!!!!!!!! (holding fist in air in defiance)
Paul Konerko used pink cleats yesterday and went 5 for 5. link
There’s talk that he might tape them with black tape so he can wear them again.
I’ll bet Brian Wilson would be more than happy to take a Sharpie to them.
Anybody else want a UniWatch iphone app? I can’t get this site on my phone for some reason. Paul??? :)
As long as it works on both iPhone and iPad, I’d be for it.
What’s the problem? I don’t have a problem with this site on my iphone.
And it works whether the “mobile theme” switch is on or off.
Speaking of powder (wait, Carolina) blue — the Tar Heels looked great on Saturday.
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If this were Facebook, I’d click on the “Like” button.
I really wish the Royals would just lose the drop shadowing. This looks perfect and so would our powder blues.
Wow do they follow UniWatch or what? I just commented recently that they should wear all Carolina blue instead of gray pants like they normally do.
Baseball, Lord of the Rings, New York Times corrections:
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Buddy of mine was spreading that over all conceivable social networks yesterday, calling it the “greatest correction ever.” Having spend some time in newsrooms, I can attest that it’s not the greatest correction ever. But it’s close.
Quite close.
When I was put in charge of a newspaper’s weekend crew once, we had a story with extensive quotes from a scientist named link. My news editor, the backup managing editor in the situation, came to me with a proposal: Let’s run a photo of the singer link, and print a same-day correction. I came very close to letting her do it.
Any pics of the new Wizards unis?
Tomorrow.
Today
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Watchin golf yesterday and Lucas Glover beat Jonathan Byrd in a playoff. Glover was wearing a wedding band, rocking an awesome beard, and neither him nor Byrd were wearing gloves! weird.
The announcers commented that they were probably the only two players in the field not wearing gloves.
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Did anyone notice the Astros wearing their gray jerseys yesterday? I think this was the first road game in ages they wore them when the home team did not wear red jerseys.
Houston has a gray jersey? Where was it- witness protection?
So, moose, what’s link say?
And when did you get the gig as understudy to link?
Ha! Good one.
it’s a little hole in the wall in columbus called dick’s den. when kate went to recruit columbus last year, i had her go there for a drink, and she got me the shirt. they do have what is called the norwich marathon, which is some crazy 10 mile(?) race with booze, and pitcher drinking at the beginning and end. it is slightly nuts, but it is, or was, a fun joint.
galifianakis has peach fuzz compared to that horrible monstrosity i am growing. i should shave, but i don’t feel like it. besides it is about to be miserably hot and humid here in the devil’s jockstrap(90 today, 87% humidity was the called for), and i figure a santa beard is just the ticket o staying easy breezy beautiful covergirl.
time to shave moose
i shore the beard yesterday, not necessarily for mom, but just coincidentally on mom’s day
if you don’t like it shorn, you can grow it back in like 2 weeks, i know you
you’re getting like brian wilson, and that’s not necessarily a compliment
Being a Rockies fan sucked yesterday for two reasons:
1. Continued losing skid.
2. Pink & Purple make a great color combination for a 6 year old girls soccer team, NOT for a Major League Baseball team.
Double suck!
As a Giants fan and Bay Area resident, I thank-you for the sweep this weekend.
I will remember these games when we go to the HOUSE OF HORRORS aka Coors and get pounded 19-7 or some crazy score.
Buccos are .500 in May, we are holding a parade tomorrow to celebrate
I know how you feel with the Buccos right now. The Royals have a winning record, we’re already planning the Plaza Ticker Tape Parade. We can finally forget those bad memories of 18-11 and Hillman as well.
Wish the same could be said about the black sleeveless jerseys, saw one at the K on Saturday night, the Mule game. Should have hit the guy as hard as possible.
My girlfriend’s parents are good family friends with the head trainer for the Celtics, and he called them this morning asking if they had any elbow pads lying around he could come pick up. Apparently they had some old hockey gear and he came and got the elbow pad to give Rondo a little extra protection today. It’s hard to definitively say that he wore it, but Rondo definitely has something bulky on his elbow that’s covered by the other padded sleeve, if for nothing more than to cover up other manufacturer’s logos.
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entry, but I didn’t get back from St. Looey until yesterday afternoon and am still catching up. We’ll return to full-length content tomorrow
I was very much looking forward to killing millions of women this year but now that all MLB fans are aware of my existence I guess I’m shit out of luck. Aw, shucks….but wait! Hope springs eternal for me! If the NFL gets locked out this year millions of Americans won’t get to watch football players cavort about for an entire month wearing ridiculous fluorescent pink shoes, gloves, towels, and various other miscellany. With any luck the entire country will have forgotten the lesson MLB taught them on Mother’s Day and I’ll be free to ravage America’s female population once again! Muahahahaha, the world will be powerless to combat me without their precious professional athletes raising awareness about me!
Completely agree about the hideousness of Jorge Campos’s gaudy uni choices. But, soccer does not have “goaltenders.” The goal is so big, and soccer goalies have so much more to do, that they can’t really just “tend” their goal as their hockey counterparts do.
New WIzards Uniforms
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