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What’s in a Name?

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Twelve years ago today, the very first Uni Watch column was published in the Village Voice. Almost immediately, there was confusion about the column’s name. It seemed easy enough to me: “Uni Watch,” two words, both capitalized, with a space in between, simple. But some people apparently found it challenging — Uniwatch, UniWatch, Uni-watch, Uni-Watch. Sigh. Even worse, many of the people invoking these bastardized terms were Uni Watch readers, who were supposedly detail-oriented. Not.

Things got a bit more confusing in 2006, when John Ekdahl approached me with the idea of launching this site. Ideally, of course, we would have used uniwatch.com as our domain name, but that had already been taken by some guy in Panama. So after debating other options, we settled on uniwatchblog.com — which, as it turns out, I immediately regretted and have hated ever since. It’s too long, it’s unwieldy, it doesn’t match the name of the site, plus I hate the word “blog” and the notion of being “blogger.” It also created a slew of new mistaken names — Uniwatchblog, UniWatchBlog, Uni-Watchblog, and on and on.

John and I have wanted to make some big changes to the site for a while now, and number one on my list has been that domain name. Unfortunately, uniwatch.com is still owned by the guy in Panama. He isn’t doing anything with it, so I recently called his office and asked if we could buy the name from him. The good news was that he speaks fluent English (handy, since I don’t speak Spanish); the bad news was that he refused to sell the domain name to us, for any price. Did I mention that he isn’t even doing anything with it?! Grrrrr.

So we considered a bunch of other options: uniformwatch.com (too lame), paullukas.com (too personal, plus I hate the double-l), athleticsaesthetics.com (the short version is that we didn’t trust anyone to spell it properly; the long version is, well, too long to explain here). After we dismissed all of those ideas, John noticed another option that was available.

And if you look at your browser’s address line, you’ll see what that option was.

Ha! Didn’t notice that until just now, didja? Yes, that’s our new address. It’s the exact same site (for now) — if you go to the old URL, or to any page located within the old site, you’ll be auto-redirected to the new one. (Or at least that’s the idea. There will no doubt be a hiccup or two, so please bear with us today.)

Using a hyphen isn’t ideal, of course, but at least it’s much clearer now that “Uni” and “Watch” are two separate words. And I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am about “blog” having been excised from the site’s name. All in all, I’m very pleased.

So welcome to our new site, which is exactly the same as our old site, only with a much better domain name. Give us another dozen years and maybe we’ll finally train everyone to get “Uni Watch” right.

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The thing I’m usually doing when I’m not doing this here thing: Remember my “Permanent Record” project, about those Depression-era report cards that I found in a discarded file cabinet? Although I haven’t talked about it much, I’ve been working on it for over a year now (and some of you have been helping me with the research — thank you!).

My plan for most of that time was to write a book. More recently, however, the project has gravitated toward the internet, and today I’m happy to report that “Permanent Record” will appear as a four- or five-part series on Slate (which was briefly the home of Uni Watch, in between the column’s Village Voice and ESPN days). The series will run during the week of Sept. 12 — a perfect back-to-school time frame for a story about report cards.

I’m super-excited about this. I also have a lot of work ahead of me — interviews to transcribe, writing to do, notes and photos to sift through, more writing, and still more writing. It’s probably gonna occupy every spare moment I have between now and September. One result of all this is that I may need to take a day off from Uni Watch a bit more often, or I may start getting more selective with Ticker contributions. I hope none of that happens — I never want to ease off the Uni Watch throttle — but, realistically, it may be necessary over the next few months. My thanks in advance for your patience and understanding.

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Actual uni-related news, imagine that: Former Royals pitcher Paul Splittorff died yesterday, and KC will be memorializing him with a sleeve patch. ”¦ Regarding teams changing uniforms and logo in mid-steam, a source at Arizona State tells me this: “We debuted our new logo on April 12, but sports like baseball and softball are still playing, using fonts and logos that are being discontinued. We have to use the new logo for all NCAA tournament stuff and TV graphics, but that logo does not appear anywhere on the uniforms. It has been a nightmare.” ”¦ Michael Kinney notes that Kentucky hoops recruit Marcus Teague’s AAU uniform appears to have after-market swooshes. Looks like they just stuck them on there. ”¦ Gazoo alert! That’s Jordan Schafer, recently called up by the Braves (as noted by Jonathon Binet). ”¦ Mike Raymer reports that Loganville High in Georgia is wearing a baseball jersey that looks like a cross between a T-shirt and a practice shirt. ”¦ Colby Lewis pitched for the Rangers from 2002-04 and then pitched for several other teams — including one in Japan — before returning to Texas in 2010. According to a Twitter chat Lewis engaged in on Tuesday, he’s wearing the same cap this season as he wore during his first stint with the team years ago (with thanks to Greg Stamps). ”¦ Several sensational pics of the 1918 Cubs on this page (big thanks to Matthew Robins). ”¦ There’s a petition drive underway to get the Postal Service to issue a Wilt Chamberlain stamp (with thanks to Morris Levin). ”¦ A Rays fan got tossed from the Trop for wearing a “Yankees Suck” T-shirt. Given how miserable the Trop is, this punishment seems like a kindness, kinda like that old joke about the contest where first prize is a all-expenses trip to Philly for a week, and second prize is two weeks. ”¦ Here’s the logo for the Japanese baseball all-star game (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). ”¦ Latest MLBer to double up on the lifestyle collars: Jason Pridie (screen shot by Jared Blank). ”¦ Yankees reliever David Robertson is from Tuscaloosa, which as you know was recently devastated by twisters, so he recently started a charity fund to help the tornado victims. Robertson is also a high-cuffer, so check out the name of his charity. High cuffs would’ve been a more accurate name, of course, but we’ll cut Robertson some slack on this one (with thanks to Dan Frydryk). ”¦ I know the Cubs routinely wear blue with red trim, but Mike Quade’s windbreaker pullover sure has a lot red. That’s more than just a trim color. ”¦ All sorts of Gold Cup info and graphics — and sorta-kinda infographics — here (with thanks to Matt Carlson). ”¦ Perfectly reasonable question from Coachie Ballgames, who asks why former Bulls player and St. John’s grad Bill Wennington would wear a USC-colored Dodgers cap to throw out the first ball at a Cubs game. ”¦ Here’s an interesting piece on cycling attire (with thanks to Scott Allen). ”¦ As the Reds and Phils reached the 19th inning last night, it looks like someone at ESPN was getting a little punchy (as noted by Scott Gladin).

 
  
 
Comments (191)

    Regarding Bill Wennington’s cap…I believe that’s a Loyola Academy (a suburban Chicago high school) cap, which his kids may attend.

    It’s Loyola Academy…for sure. MJ’s older son also attended. Bill Murray, too!

    It’s definitely a Loyola cap. His son played football there before goin to BC to play football.

    For all those team who are suing schools for using their trademarked logos, did the Dodgers license their “LA” to Loyola, like the Packers do for Georgia and Grambling?

    I thought maybe the LA cap was for “long a**” time since the Cubs won a World Series. (Sorry. I’ll be here all week.)

    uniwatch.net and uniwatch.us don’t appear to be taken…

    …and you might as well just officially add the hyphen to the name now. You’re never going to get people to stop using it when it’s part of the site address.

    If budget permits, you may want to purchase related non-dotcom URLs and just point them to uni-watch.com. Otherwise, they will be purchased and squatted by some guy in Panama too.

    Anyway, congrats on the new URL. Should help with future press citations as well; in my experience journos are accustomed to treating hyphens in site names as spaces, so it should be easier to have the site cited as “Uni Watch” now.

    Curious about the .com opinion … is that purely about perception, or is there any functional difference between .com, .net, or the other options available?

    (former – and future? – JimWa)

    There’s no functional difference.

    Most people do tend to automatically assume .com for everything though.

    So… with PanamaGuy squatting on uniwatch.com, the hyphened version is probably the better choice, at least for getting new readers. (Even if it means Paul getting annoyed at people calling it Uni-Watch now)

    I don’t think it’d matter much for the regulars.

    I believe purplesucks.com is available…

    The new name has a good beat; I can dance to it. Good choice, Paul.

    Twelve years ago today, the very first Uni Watch column was published in the Village Voice.

    First sentence in today’s post. Happy B-Day, Uni Watch!

    Happy Birthday as well, Paul. On next year’s 13th are you going to hold a Bar Mitzvah for the site?

    Re: “Given how miserable the Trop is…” man that was cold! sure it may have been outdated by the time the Devil Rays started in ’98, but the AC in the place lets you forget all its sins, especially in July and August during the day!

    You haven’t lived unless you’ve visited the Rogers Centre (nee SkyDome) in Toronto. It’s the ’57 Ford Skyliner of stadia construction (retractable hard-top).

    The Trop isn’t that bad, especially in Florida in the summer. The current ownership group has done a lot to make the atmosphere better.

    A retractable dome at the fairgrounds would be a better draw, people from Orlando and Lakeland would come more often, but the Trop is serviceable.

    If it was at the Fairgrounds, I would bet that you would lose a lot of the fans in St. Pete that attend Rays games.

    Why? the same reason that Tampa fans don’t trek to The Trop very often, the bridges.

    Channelside, South Tampa or Toy Town would be a better location than the Fairgrounds.
    ===============================

    Paul,

    Please don’t take this the wrong way or that I am attacking you, I just want to know. Have you ever been to The Trop, or are you basing your opinions on what others say?

    Sure, The Trop has a lot to be desired, but it really isn’t that bad.

    As for me, I really LIKE the Trop, I’ve been going to games for 14 seasons and have never had a problem there. Sure, it’s not Camden Yards and doesn’t look good on TV, but it’s comfortable and well run. I think the attendance woes are more a function of the market in general (see Bucs, Tampa Bay) than the location of the Trop.

    Just don’t go south of the I-275/I-175 split.

    Unless you are in an armored car.

    The blog name is fine… It’s ironic how many equipment this, uni that domain names are taken.

    Continue doing your thing Paul, Happy Anniversary and we need to do a Hall of Fame New England Tour.

    Newport-Tennis
    Springfield- Basketball Hall of Fame
    Cooperstown- Baseball

    You’re missing two on there. Volleyball HoF in Holyoke, MA, and the US Soccer HoF is close to Cooperstown, Oneonta, I believe.

    Plus if you swing by Route 2, I’ll buy you and Paul a beer.

    Soccer Hall of Fame in Oneonta closed down in 2010. A shame, since it was a good facility.

    Whaaaaaaaaat? A friend and I were planning a baseball-soccer HoF road trip for the summer.

    I’m sure he’ll be glad to hear this, at least.

    No worries. When you’re dealing with people who are interested in design, I’ve noticed that everything you do becomes open for critique.

    You’d probably get readers dropping their two cents on you if you decided to spray paint your bicycle green and gold, too.

    Paul:

    Congratulations on a wonderful run and for making athletic aesthetics more of a mainstream topic. I wish you many more years of success. As for the URL name, I think either work (and perhaps we could take a mission trip to visit that fella in Panama to change his mind….

    Leave the guy in Panama alone… he’s probably just waiting for the right moment, then he’s going to start up a Uniwatch company and sell devices which help one tell time.

    Yeah because it’s still 1911 down there, he’s probably hoping to market a watch that isn’t gender specific. . .. Though I’m pretty the word “uniwatch” in Panamanian is how they say “Hey! Yankee lady – you need watch?” He might do better with ” UWannaWatch.com.” Either way he’s still a jag.

    Congrats Paul!!! Uniwatch scratches that daily itch that we all have and best of luck on 12+ more years!

    I hope the Wilt Chamberlain stamp will be peel-and-stick as I can’t imagine too many people would want to lick it.

    The Permanent Record project sounds really interesting, and I will check it out. I hope it brings more joy than pain to the people you find. I hope also that LI Phil will help take up any of your slack, but hopefully with more Ticker-type material than tweaks.

    Just now I realize I used the word “hope” quite a but in a very short space. Maybe my home state’s link got imprinted at an early age or, more recently, that of the Obama Presidential campaign.

    I’m not normally one for court battles, but the Rays fan should pursue legal counsel. MLB has no right to remove him for that t-shirt, and the Rays organization should be publicly reprimanded for being so ball-less.

    In no way, shape or form, is the word “suck” obscene or indecent, the two legal measures for distasteful words. ‘Offensive’ is open to interpretation, but there likely isn’t legal grounds to stand on.

    The Town of Cary, N.C. tried to force a resident to remove “Screwed by the Town of Cary” painted on his garage. US district courts ruled no way.

    I’d consider “screwed” in the same nomenclature as “suck.” The guy should stand firm and demand a refund, if not more.

    It’s interesting how far “suck(s)” has come. It’s short for, of course, “suck(s) cock,” and was originally an anti-gay slur. One reason disco was routinely the target of “Disco Sucks!” taunts from 1970s rock fans (as opposed to disco stinks, rots, etc.) is that the disco scene had a big gay component.

    That’s another thing: with Kobe Bryant and Joakim Noah’s anti-gay slurs, how did we (as Americans) come to use words like “gay”, “fag”, “faggot”, and “retarded” in the same connotations as “stupid”, “lame”, “that sucks cock“, “loser”, “douchebag”, and “asshole”?

    I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: If I was in third grade, and a teacher gave me an ultimatum on how I should word my displeasure for something with very limited options, I would rather say “that’s so fucking stupid” instead of “that’s so gay” or “that’s so retarded”, but that’s just me. This is coming from the guy who never uses profanity in front of instructors.

    None of those words should be used here, including the junveile d-bag. This site is better than that. The sports standard should be: Would John Wooden or Bob Shepherd use them if they were running a general circulation newspaper or website?

    While I wholeheartedly agree with the overall “jackassedness” displayed by the Rays, I don’t think the fan would have a case to sue.

    Ultimately, it’s their park, their team, and their discretion about what is acceptable. As much as it should be, going to a baseball game wearing whatever you want is not a right protected in this situation. They can ask you to change or leave if that’s what floats their boat.

    As for the Rays, don’t they struggle with attendance anyway? Regardless, what a crappy way to treat your fans, let alone your season ticket holders.

    “…what a crappy way to treat your fans, let alone your season ticket holders.”

    Especially those who’ve been supporting your bland uniform-wearing butts since your Devil Ray days back in 1998. Pitiful conduct on the management’s part.

    As another native Alabamian, kudos to David Robertson. Not only was he born in Birmingham, but he also played his college ball at Bama (which is in Tuscaloosa, of course). I knew the Yankees themselves had donated something like $500k to tornado relief in the state, so props to them as well. I can never call myself a Yankees fan, but that was definitely a classy move by that organization.

    Congratulations on the anniversary Paul. This site is so much of a daily routine that I would really miss it if it were gone. Definitely one of the most entertaining sports blo – I mean, sites, out there.

    If you describe that look to me without my seeing it, I like it. If you’re asking if the photoshop job that my 11 year old (that’s the border collie, not one of my biological kids) could have put together is legit, I’ll go with “it aint real!”.

    I know it ain’t real, but a Quakers-esque throwback would be absolutely KILLER…

    Take another trip. Sure, it’s not AT&T Park (or whatever SF is calling it), but it’s much nicer on the inside.

    Yes, they’ve improved the Trop a little since the Wade Boggs era, but it still doesn’t compare to outdoor facilities. Catwalks and baseball don’t mix.

    Getting a real baseball stadium soon is key to keeping the team in that market. Hopefully, something can be worked out in these difficult economic times.

    I think the extraordinarily strong lease terms at the Trop are more than key enough to keeping the team in that market. I know MLB and the Rays like to pretend otherwise, but they really don’t have a walk-away option in the near or medium term.

    Which makes me all kinds of happy, since (A) the Rays are a good club, and I like ’em just fine where they are; and (B) this whole self-hoisted petard originates with MLB awarding an expansion team that obviously should have gone to the DC area to Tampa Bay entirely in order to keep alive the cynical build-us-a-stadium-or-else-we’ll-move-to-DC threat it’d been using to extort public funding from several other teams for more than a decade. It all worked out in the end, unless you were a fan of the Expos or Marlins, but still. There’s something approaching poetic justice in MLB and the Rays being as badly hosed as they are with regard to their lease at the Trop.

    I moved to Tampa and have been to Tropicana Field many times. The place is garbage. It has absolutely no baseball atmosphere and is in a shitty location. They should build a retractable roof stadium further north near the Howard Frankland Bridge or near downtown Tampa.

    Sorry Paul, I posted above before I read the whole comments section.

    The Trop is a much better place than it was a decade ago.

    Other than being a dome, the only thing it really needs is a good pressure washing and steam clean. Like mot other MLB parks do.

    Saw another trend starting last night….during the Phils/Reds game the home plate umpire wore his hat brim foreward with the mask on. Never noticed it before last night but was never looking, can’t seem to find a pic, but just something interesting to keep an eye out for.

    Home Plate umps not only have always worn their hats brim forward, but they also wear hats specifically designed for that purpose
    (I’d post a link, but I am HTML-iterate . . .what ever happened to those buttons, anyway?)

    I think Doug Harvey’s visage on his HOF plaque has that short-brimmed home plate umpire cap.

    I think those caps had the brim pointing downwards (instead of facing out) and was shortened so thier mask could easily fit over the shortened brim.

    There are four kinds of umpire caps:

    Eight stitch for the field

    Six stitch – which is called in the business a ‘combo cap’, since you can wear it both on the field, and if you are good enough pulling your mask off, under the mask.

    Four stitch – which, of course fits under mask, and still offers SOME shade. and the

    TWO stitch, which umps call the ‘beanie’.

    The beanie is now considered very old fashioned by most umps, and the great majority of umps wear the four or six stitch under their masks. One thing that has facilitated the use of the six stitch is the vast improvement in the quality of the materials used in making the straps. If you watch old baseball films, the HP umpire used to rarely take off the mask – the old material made it very difficult to so easily, where nowadays, we are able to whip it right off with great ease while in action.

    The Philly joke reminds me of one I heard about Purdue football but can apply anywhere. “I was heading to the Purdue game and had to run into the store real quick and left my two tickets on the dashboard with the car unlocked. When I came back out there were four tickets.”

    I think that one was particularly popular during the Fred Akers era. (Bad football, bad black helmets…)

    Anywhere between Jim Everett and Brees and after Brees and maybe Orton it is applicable.

    Hey Paul,
    Great posts as always. Congrats on the new URL. I can provide some clarity on Wennington’s hat choice at the Cubs game. The cap is from Loyola Academy, a private prep high school in Chicago’s northern suburbs. It’s an assumption on my part, but it’s likely one of his kids goes there.

    correctomundo. robbie wennington is a loyola academy rambler, class of 2010. may or may not be other wenningtons there currently.

    yeah, see I’m sayin’ “hey it’s a space” but you have to type in a hyphen in your browser…. It looks like a hyphen, but it is really a space.

    See, I “get it”TM

    Rob-Holecko

    Needs a 5&1 list, though.

    Best Space Suits:
    5. link Love the diagonal zipper, but a bit shiny, no?
    4. link Oh, those bulbous helmets!
    3. link Yes, the jet pack makes your butt look big, but that’s what makes it cool.
    2. link To paraphrase JFK: “We choose to go to the moon not because it is easy…but because these space suits are freakin’ awesome.”
    1. link Almost Penn State-like in its beautiful simplicity.

    And the bad one: link Those Soyuz knockoff have just a little too much striping for my tastes.

    Thank YOU – always wanted to see what I looked like with a space helmet…

    That report card project is a brilliant idea , Paul, completely socko. Can’t wait to see what you do. Seriously, I’m over the moon for you.

    “Almost immediately, there was confusion about the column’s name.”

    Well, then it kind of fits you. Right, Mr. Lucas Lukas?

    You know, the Lucas thing was a major bane when I was younger, but it’s gotten somewhat better in recent years. Best of all, I don’t think any venue for which I’ve written has ever gotten it wrong in my byline.

    Yet.

    I was told to turn my “Yankees Suck” shirt inside out at a Yanks/O’s game at Camden Yards in the late ’90s.

    More accurate, Sox fans have worn an extra t-shirt over their Yankees Suck t-shirt before entering the park..since 2004.

    (I’ll admit, I did this in ’04. I was 17 at the time, sue me)

    “Red Sox have banned “Yankees Suck” t-shirts from Fenway since 2004”

    Why? It’s not like they’ve have a long-standing rivalry for the better part of a Century… e_e

    I actually did notice the URL change before the site loaded, which I noticed took a little extra time today. Go me! And I like the change, Paul.

    Also noticed I had to reenter my comment name and all, too. I’m assuming that has to do with the URL change.

    Paul- Congrats on the new URL. Any chance that AAU team in Kentucky bought those uni’s in Chinatown?

    link

    Follow up to Jordan Schafer wearing the Gazoo helmet yesterday. According to this blog, he wore one of the batboy’s helmets b/c the team, which has been on a long road trip, didn’t have any helmets on hand small enough to fit him. They did go to the trouble of putting the number decal to match his jersey number (1) on the back of the helmet, though.

    link

    I’m just hoping that moving Permanent Record to Slate increases the odds that it becomes a book anyway. Many a good book began life as a magazine article or online series. And this is so a book project.

    Guess I woulnt be able to wear my “Mr. Met says FUCK the Yankees” shirt there either.

    It is the best shirt I have, but my wife is totally embarrased everytime I wear it.

    Happy anniversary, Uni Watch!

    During last night’s Phils-Reds game the cameras cut to Phils’ broadcasters Tom McCarthy and Gary Matthews as an inning was about to kick off. Sarge and Dusty Baker are old friends, and McCarthy proudly displayed a set of Baker’s wristbands. McCarthy wore them as he called the game. Matthews had scored the wristbands off his old friend on his partner’s behalf.

    Why would anyone prefer the stirrups to show more white than color. There’s enough white, more color, including stripes is needed. Even if players are somehow mandated to go high cuffed with stirrups they will not wear them uniformly. I think socks are the answer to a uniform uniform.

    I was watching a bunch of 1966 Mets footage last night, and this little man in my head kept saying, “PERFECT stirrupss… Those are PERFECT stirrups,” again and again. That really was the golden era, the perfect ratio of color to white, the exact right level of pant cuffery, just the right fabric and tailoring style to drape just so.

    Agreed about the pants. But to me there’s just a smidge too much white sani showing.

    yup…loved that one, they were showing it during the rain delay…great time for unis

    the night before (pre-game) they were showing the 1964 unis, which had N#OF (an even better uni, imho) … plus the road games had some REALLY old parks you don’t even think about anymore…

    and of course, perfect blousing and stirrups for every player on every team

    and yes patrick, i agree — a tad too much sani on nolan

    Pants are just right at mid calf but too much white in the sturrips for my taste. A couple of inches is enough. Question- Why are the backs of ‘rupps cut higher? It makes no sense and shows more white. The players probably have a fit having to find the front. They aren’t getting paid enough for all that work. I remember an announcer, during a screen shot of a 2 in 1 side stripe saying “The players hate having to put on two socks”!

    I could definitely live with those pants coming up a bit.

    But to me Hank is showing the perfect amount of sani

    link

    Just my preference though. I think what I don’t like about Nolan’s stirrup style is that they are already stretching northward, toward the 70’s. When I see that style, I can’t help but be reminded where they are heading.

    To me, Hank isn’t showing quite enough sani. But I realize many of you folks feel differently.

    Why the higher cutout in the back? To make room for the bulging calf, natch. Also, the line from the lower cutout in the front to the higher one in the back creates a nose-down prow-like effect — streamlining.

    The overall point about the 60’s (specifically early-mid 60’s) being the Golden Era is right on. The absolute apex of baseball uniforms. Look at both leagues around that time – not a bad looking team in the bunch. Most teams around this time were wearing the best uni in their history.

    I agree about the ‘stretching trend’. The ’70s side stripe was an example of allowing players to create their own fashion trends, jocks are not known for their fashion sense and should not have the freedom to alter uniforms. Since managers can’t controll their stars there should be an MLB rule regarding cuffs, stirrup’s or socks0. The first base ump isn’t to busy to write violations on a card and send it to the league office. Fines could be imposed. After 50 years I stopped watching baseball. They look like slobs.

    Am I crazy or is link wearing a pair of link in that photo? I don’t see an upper white stripe and the red stripe appears to be the same width as the white.

    Glad I came back to the comments today. I just received my pants for my softball season, and need to get them tailored. Is there a consensus of how far below the knee they should be when rocking five inch rups. As always I appreciate the feedback.

    Nope, not crazy, Hank’s likely wearing Senators socks.

    That photo’s almost a sure bet to have been taken in L.A.’s Wrigley Field while “Home Run Derby” was being filmed.

    Evidently Aaron’s Braves socks didn’t get packed. He must have borrowed a pair of stirrups from either Jim Lemon or Harmon Killebrew, both of whom were in the competition.

    Yeah, lotta supposition there, but anybody else got a reasonable scenario that gets Hank Aaron, Senators socks and L.A.’s Wrigley Field all into the same photo?

    Scott Rogers or someone probably can find Aaron’s appearances on “Home Run Derby” and see if the Senators socks made it onto the show (on Aaron, that is).

    Not to mention the golf glove on Aaron’s left hand. Betcha that shows up on “Home Run Derby,” too.

    Makes perfect sense, Ricko, Wrigley Field being the piece that ties it all together.

    Hopefully someone can find some Aaron HRD clips to confirm before I get home and see if I still have any copies I taped 20+ years ago (and a VHS player to play them on, of course). I still haven’t gone through all my stuff to find compelling evidence on the shape of the block “W” on the 36-37 Nats caps as was discussed yesterday.

    Hard to tell, but there are some very brief moments when you can see they aren’t Braves socks on Aaron. Have to really be looking for it, though, so I’m sure on B&W TV it made no difference.
    link

    Show ran more than one season. Guys like Jim Lemon and Bob Cerv appeared later.

    We’re searching in parallel. link interesting in that Aaron has the Senator ‘rups on while Mathews brought his Braves ‘rups.

    Also, all of those Home Run Derby guys are wearing their stirrups absolutely perfectly.

    “Why the higher cutout in the back? To make room for the bulging calf, natch.”

    Actually, the back stirrup was cut higher long before stirrups were worn anywhere near the calf muscle (and I suspect Paul knows that).

    So, once again lest there be no confusion…

    Original stirrups were cut even, but very soon the back one was cut a bit higher to be certain to clear the shoe, thereby keeping the colored sock away from where blisters might develop at the contact point of shoe and the tendon (and keep dye out of said blister).

    So “higher in back” wasn’t about fashion, was about infection avoidance.

    As players began to pull stirrups up, no one ever re-adjusted the sock-making pattern and the “high in back” rule of thumb survived even though it no longer had anything to do with dyes, etc.

    I still don’t see how it’s so hard for MLB to mandate that some sock or strirrup be visible. The minor leagues do it, and the NFL does it. It’s simple and no one has the guts to do it, or doesn’t care.

    the mid late 60’s are a’ight, but it was more the beggining o the end. baseball was perfection in the immediate post war era, let’s say link. baggy flannel, stirrups that still had stripes, puffy leather that still took skill to flash, cocked caps, all of it. now if you want to talk hockey perfection, 1966 is in the midst of the glory years, but i’ll cut the blogger some slack here since it is uniwatch’s birthday. by the way, i didn’t notice the domain change, but i do like it.

    You changed the URL! That tears it! I’m never coming back here again.

    Until tomorrow.

    Meant to mention here, too, I popped in and watched a bit of Purdue vs. Penn St. baseball last night, and whoever was pitching for the Nittany Lions was sporting some ‘rups. No screenshot, though, nor do I even have a name.

    On the topic of college baseball, I saw a repulsive black jersey worn by Grand Valley State. It was solid black, with a smallish “GV” near the left collarbone. Unlike other teams, the logo was smaller, and placed higher than we’re used to seeing. No blue to be found on this jersey, either.

    Fair enough. I don’t want to be known as a Firster. But overall my awesome levels are off the charts today.

    Congrats on the domain name cleanup. I kinda hated the ‘blog’ part of the name too. It really sucks all credibility out of a sentence.

    ‘I write for a website’ vs. ‘I write a blog’ [shudders]

    What’s wrong with writing a blog, Tim? If you write for Bleacher Report, do you really want to be proud of that? LOL

    Personally, the change seems to be more aesthetic for Paul than anything else, but whatever works is ok for me. I’m still coming back regardless of the URL.

    There’s nothing wrong with blogs or bloggers. Hell, I got my start as a zine editor. But as a longtime professional journalist, I didn’t like how the URL led some folks to sort of mentally categorize me as a blogger.

    Teebz, I’m with Paul on the ‘blog’ topic. I would rather be known as writer or a journalist than a blogger. It’s just an icky term.

    Now, in college, I often argued for the legitimacy of (certain) blogs, but that doesn’t negate the fact that the term blog sounds like a term for a polluted marshland.

    InsideTheHall.com is a fantastic Indiana (university) basketball blog. This is a great blog. I write for a small sports blog.

    I mean, timeobrien.com (which it’s actual name is “Tim E. O’Brien dot com” not “Tim E. O’Brien” or “Tim E. O’Brien’s blog”) is a blog, but I don’t refer to it as such because I don’t like the term. I just call it my website.

    Careful, Tim. Teebz is a blogger — hell, his site is called Hockey Blog in Canada — and that’s fine.

    I have no problem with any of the terminology per se; it’s literally descriptive of plenty of people who produce plenty of great work on the web (including Teebz). I just don’t like it as applied to me, because I’m a full-time professional journalist.

    It’s just my opinion on the name.

    Plus, it sorta means nothing. It started out as a noun (weblog) that go turned into a verb (‘we blog’) and is now a noun/adjective again (Hockey Blog in Canada [although that’s called a ‘blog’ to complete the play on words since website is two syllables and he needed one]).

    Referring to yourself as a blog doesn’t actually diminish your work or credibility but it just doesn’t ring ‘professional’ to my ears.

    you should call it “tim e. o’brien’s web log”

    which is precisely what it is and how the name “blog” came into being…cuz, u no, evrythng is shorter on teh interwebs

    I can see the dislike for word blog. To me a blog is something someone writes on a frequent basis and has a few followers, not real professional but just an online journal if you will.

    Folks like Paul and Teebz and Creamer take “blogging” to an entirely different level. I often imagined Paul had to add the “blog” for some weird reason, be it something to do with ESPN, another owner, etc. All in all it never really bothered me one way or the other.

    Teebz:

    Just thought of this, was ‘Hockey Site in Canada’ ever considered?

    I understand ‘site’ might be confused with ‘a physical location’ but still, it rhymes with ‘night’…

    Is the new minority owner of the Mets (or his mother) a DIYer?
    link
    “Enter Einhorn, the 42-year-old president of the private investment firm Greenlight Capital, Inc., who spent the first seven years of his childhood in New Jersey and as a young boy, once dressed in a homemade Mets jersey for Halloween.”

    Not sure if anyone mentioned it yesterday or today, the Blues used their current logo during the 97-98 year when they were wearing their diagonal jerseys. The logo was used at center ice and all advertizing, even before they debued their 3rd jerseys, at the time, before making it the full time jersey. They also talked about wearing the jersey during the playoffs, but they couldn’t – forgot what the reason was.

    the hat that bill weddington is wearing isn’t a dodgers cap, it is for loyola academy which is located in wilmette, il. they have used that logo for years.

    I think some of the confusion regarding the site’s official name may come from the site’s twitter account which uses the handle “@UniWatch”. That could quite possibly be where the one word UniWatch is coming from. To better distinguish that it is in fact 2 words, an underscore can be utilized on twitter and even in the site address since a hyphen is sometimes treated as its own element and not a space, where as an underscore is almost exclusively viewed as a space.

    I know underscores are lame, but it has become increasingly popular and more main stream since twitter and would surely do a better job of distinguishing that there is a space between “Uni” and “Watch”.

    Re: the Mets person getting “punchy” and misspelling “catcher”:

    Do they really type that in by hand every time? That’s crazy. I figured that was automated for speed. At least a list of all 12 possible positions, and you click a button.

    Same with names. They have a list of the gameday roster… figured they clicked from a menu.

    And I’ve been to the trop too, albeit 6 or 7 years it’s been now. Out of all the stadiums and arenas and things I’ve been to it ranks at the bottom. Just so gray inside with all the concrete and the gray dome, its a sunny day outside but a gray day in the trop.

    If you move it to downtown tampa or out to the fairgrounds, hey, its always going to be good for one set of folks, and bad for the other. Fairgrounds might tap into the orlando and disney market more, while alienating the st pete folks. Of course, if your excuse to not go to a ball game is because you have to cross a long bridge you’re not really much of a fan. I live outside orlando and annually make trips to jacksonville and tampa for games.

    Hey Paul,

    Next time you’re down around the Tampa area, I’ll treat you to a game at the (not new but still) improved Tropicana Field. Tickets, food, you name it. I’ve been going to games since ’98, and while it is certainly in the lower bracket of quality when it comes to ballparks, it’s no longer a barren wasteland. So it has that going for it…

    Anybody from the Tamp-St. Pete area remember the defunct minor league hockey team who played at the defunct Bayfront Center?

    It was the St. Pete Renegades, colors were orange and black, and they had a big “R” as the logo.

    The Suncoast Suns, The St. Petersburg Parrots and the Florida Rockets also played at Bayfront.

    The Rockets split games in Orlando and Jax’ville along with St. Pete.

    The Rehegades wore Flyers jerseys with the big R on them.

    They only played 20 games (10-6-4).

    We can take him over to Ferg’s for a blackened grouper sandwich and a few adult beverages.

    Is it because MLB considers itself “classy”, or is it that the NFL just doesn’t give a damn? I’ve seen so many foul, off color, vulgar shirts (and most of them funny as hell) at NFL games, and to my knowledge, people are free to wear pretty much whatever the hell they want to a NFL game.

    Or, have I just been to the wrong games?

    By the way, the new url suck balls.

    Not sure if anyone has mentioned it today but here’s a look at the black Rutgers football uniform and helmet.

    link

    Interesting way to begin the Killebrew Memorial.
    Family and teammates from his Met Stadium days gathered around home plate at MOA.
    They then boarded a special #3 train on the LRT (MOA is its southern terminus).
    The train will stop at the Metrodome to pick up players from the next generation of Twins.
    From there, on to Target Field where the fans are waiting.
    Fox Sports North covering it live, of course, including shots from a helicopter following the train en route.

    I believe that cap is from loyola academy, a high school in the northern Chicago suburbs

    In honor of your obsession with the Portland striped sleeve undershirts, may I suggest beavershot.com?

    And this is what your NBA Finals will look like:
    link
    Deja vu, it’s 2006 again.
    Unless they wear the BFBS, there’s a slight uni nod to the Heat. But I don’t always root for the laundry.

    GO MAVERICKS.

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