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Monday Morning Uni Watch

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As you can see at right, Bills fullback Corey McIntyre got in the holiday spirit yesterday by going with a Halloween-themed mouthguard. Fun move — good for him.

In other NFL developments from yesterday:

• That Bills game was played in Toronto, so Buffalo wore that weird “Hi, we’re counting this as a ‘home’ game” patch.

• Even by Jags standards, Maurice Jones-Drew’s jersey was seriously fucked up. Yeesh.

• Justin Tuck of the Giants, playing in his first game since Week 3, wore a new facemask. He had been out with a neck injury, so the idea behind the new mask is that the gaps between the bars are too small for an opposing player to grab Tuck’s mask and wrench his neck.

• The Broncos wore their orange alts. As most of you know, orange will be their main jersey color next season, although it isn’t yet clear whether they’ll simply redesignate the current alts as their primaries or if they’ll have a new design altogether. (I’m assuming the latter.)

• The Rams looked sharp in their throwbacks.

• The Texans wore their corrupt corporate contractor jerseys.

• LeSean McCoy of the Eagles suffered a minor jersey tear last night.

• Turning to Saturday’s college action, it looks like Duke’s freshman backup QB, Anthony Boone, cut off the lower shin sections from a pair of Nike elite basketball socks and wore them on his forearms.

• Here’s the latest installment of Brian Gundell’s weekly Pac-12 uni tracker.

• And in case you missed it yesterday, Phil and Terry provided lots of additional NCAA coverage in Sunday’s entry.

That’s it for the weekend football action, except for this thought: Today is the last day of October, which means no more pink, at least for a while. Halle-freakin-lujah.

(My thanks to all contributors, including Ben Harris, Matthew Henderson, Kevin Stephan, and of course Phil.)

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Plumber wanted, inquire within upstate: Something very odd is going on in the city usually known for chicken wings, shitty weather, and Super Bowl losses. Buffalo is becoming the go-to place for uniform leaks.

First, back in September, a retail store in Buffalo prematurely put the Senators’ new alt jersey out on the sales floor. A day or two later, the same thing happened, also with a Buffalo shop (I think the same one..?), to the Maple Leafs’ alt jersey.

And now Buffalo will also go down as the place where the world got its first glimpse of the new Marlins cap.

First off, I can confirm that the cap is legit. It’s not the only cap the Marlins will be wearing next season (there’s one other that I’ve seen, and I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there’s another waiting in the wings), and I don’t know if it’ll be worn at home or on the road, but it is definitely part of the team’s 2012 wardrobe.

The guy who wrote that piece implies that he found the cap at a New Era shop. New Era, of course, is based in Buffalo, so that kinda makes sense (although you’d also think an official licensee like New Era would know enough not to leak a design, right?). Prrroooobably no connection between this leak and the other two leaks. But still, like they say, twice is a coincidence, three times is a trend.

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Rip Torn was unavailable for comment: A few follow-ups to Friday’s entry about David Freese’s torn jersey. First, in case you didn’t follow the discussion as it unfolded in the comments section, it turns out that the Cardinals have been tearing jerseys off of their teammates for a while now — like, since 1942! I wrote a short piece about this for ESPN.

Also, I had included the following note at the end of Friday’s entry: “I hear Freese’s jersey will is headed for Cooperstown. Tom Shieber, if you’re reading this, are there any other torn jerseys in the Hall’s collection?” Tom quickly responded with the following communiqué:

We have a number of jerseys and pants that are torn or ripped. I’m having our collections staff look into this now, but some quick research reveals a few that I can readily describe:

• The pants worn by the Rockies’ Eric Young when he stole six bases in one game against the Dodgers on 6/30/96 are on display in our newest exhibit, “One for the Books.” They are understandably torn.

• A jersey worn for many years by Max Patkin that’s on display in “Sacred Ground,” our exhibit about ballparks, has numerous tears and rips that had been “repaired” by Patkin over the years.

• The jersey worn by Pedro Martinez during the 1999 All-Star Game had the undersides of the sleeves split along the seams. This was done intentionally. [Pedro did this for years, until MLB banned the practice. After that he had an extra panel of fabric sewn into his sleeves, because he liked them to be extra-roomy. ”” PL]

I’m sure there are a number of other jerseys in our collection with sleeves that were cut off or made ragged. Ron Guidry’s undershirt from 1978 is very ripped and torn. It’s an awesome artifact. Fergie Jenkins’ undershirt that he wore while with the Cubs is also quite ragged.

In addition, I got a note from reader Robert Hay, who remembered that the “Glory Years” exhibit, which ran at the Museum of the City of New York back in 2007, included this amazing artifact. That’s the jersey Johnny Podres was wearing when he pitched a shutout to win Game Seven of the 1955 World Series — the fans tore the jersey apart in the ensuing celebration. That jersey now resides at the Brooklyn Baseball Gallery at MCU Park (formerly Keyspan Park) at Coney Island.

Finally, several readers point out that the Blue Jays had a similar ritual for walk-off wins in 2010. “All season they’d pull the jersey over the head of whoever delivered a walk-off win,” says Didymus Henley. “It was never done to the extremes that the Cardinals went to, though.”

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Party reminder: Remember, the next Uni Watch party will take place on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2pm, at Sheep Station in Brooklyn.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Some uni changes in store for the Orioles. … Here’s a fun story about an Islanders fan who ended up with the team’s 1993 division championship banner. ”¦ On Friday I Ticker-linked to a Google Maps photo of a swimming pool in Palisades, New York, with a Cubs logo. As several readers quickly pointed out, Bill Murray lives in Palisades, so that’s apparently his house. … Speaking of Google images, Richard Stover spotted a tugboat in East Boston with a Bosox logo. ”¦ Good news out of Philly, where the Eagles have confirmed that they will not be wearing black this season. … I love the uniforms and the location in this Rockefeller Center baseball team potrait (great find by Bruce Menard). … I don’t keep track of facemask manufacturers, but Eric Buzard says Brett Keisel of the Steelers is wearing a Riddell Revolution mask on a Riddell Speed helmet. … Welcome news from Benji Boyter, who writes: “The word from a friend inside the Clemson athletic department is that coach Dabo Swinney wants to get back to a more traditional look, so no more purple pants this season. Apparently he wants orange/white or orange/orange at home and white/white on the road. This harkens back to the 1981 National Championship season, where then-coach Danny Ford referred to the all-white road unis as the ‘taking care of business’ suits.” … Some guy in Australia, of all places, has DIY’d himself an incredible NHL standings board. “Dear god, it’s beautiful,” says Rob Ullman, and he’s right. … Think it bugged Phil Esposito to be conducting a youth clinic and have a kid show up in a Habs jersey? Also, look at the upper rows of seats — they look wider than the seats in the lower rows, no? (As noted by Mike Delia.) … New basketball uniforms for Georgia Tech. No sign of the white set yet (from Douglas King). … It’s not often that you see a color photo of the Illinois sesquicentennial patch that the Cub and Chisox wore in 1968. “Maybe they’ll have bicentennial patches for 2018,” says David Teigland. … This is interesting: Part of the old basketball floor from Michigan State’s Breslin Center has just been installed at an East Lansing ticket broker’s office (big thanks to Eric from Spartan Jerseys). … Check out how Xavier’s 1953 football team had a big X on the front of their helmet (nice find by Larry Bodnovich). … Adam Hainsfurther sent along shots of some new college basketball shorts from the store where he works. “One shot has Air Force, Fresno state, OSU (white), Illinois (white), Notre Dame, and Texas,” he says. “The others have AF, Illinois (orange), Notre Dame (black), Texas (orange), Gonzaga (BFBS), MSU (white), and Stanford. There’s also shots of ASU (BFBS), Arizona, Purdue, Oregon, Georgetown (BFBS), Marquette, UNC, Kentucky, and Miami. I know that Marquette, ASU, and Illinois are all new, but I’m not sure about the others.” If anyone can help sort through this, I’m all ears. … It’s a little hard to see, but Andy VanPelt found himself at a red light behind a car that had a little magnet featuring a white Saints helmet. What’s that about? … Here’s something cool: an old stadium cushion with a blanket inside (thanks, Kirsten). … Elvis Andrus wears No. 1. But on Friday night he was wearing a No. 8 wristband. That’s Yorvit Torrealba’s number (good spot by David Trett). ”¦ Here’s the logo for the 2011 Nippon Series (from, of course, Jeremy Brahm). ”¦ While look for something else, I noticed that Penguins coach Dan Bylsma has been wearing a purple ribbon (and sometimes a purple necktie) as part of the Hockey Fights Cancer program. ”¦ Chelsea wore a jersey poppy to mark the 90th anniversary of the British Royal Legion and begin the lead-up to Remembrance Day (from Chester Baker). ”¦ Wait, two other EPL teams also wore poppies over the weekend: Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion (from Joe Hollomon). ”¦ New basketball uniforms for Utah State (from Brian Watts). … Good catch by Terence Kearns, who spotted Ryan Callahan’s Rangers pants peeking out from under the shell of his USA Olympics uni. … I hadn’t noticed that Penn State QB Matt McGloin’s mouthpiece has the colors of the Irish flag until Trey Jones pointed it out to me. ”¦ Jorge Cruz thinks it’s time to revive this NBA lockout logo that originally ran in SI back in 1998. ”¦ A worker at a uni-cleaning company in Kentucky was killed when he got pulled into a dryer (from Ta-Cheng Lee). ”¦ Oregon State volleyball did the pink-out thing the other day. “Even the libero went with pink numbers on black shirt,” notes Eric Fisk. ”¦ The excellent Mets Police site recent ran some of Dan Twohig’s photos from the 1986 championship parade. Of particular note: The team’s ballgirls walked the parade route in full uniform, and their unis included sansabelt pants. ”¦ Hey look, idiotic college football players aren’t the only ones who can do the open-palm saltute. ”¦ The last uni-related glitch of the baseball season: During Saturday’s World Series celebration in St. Louis, Chris Carpenter was wearing a cap with an upside-down “St.L” logo (good spot by Eric Spoonmore). ”¦ Latest item to be rescued from the trash: the Colts’ original 1953 charter from the NFL (big thanks to Tom Farley). ”¦ EPL typo: Roger Johnson of Wolverhampton had a misspelled NOB on Saturday (screen shot by Timothy O’Malley). ”¦ The high school that Jeremy Brahm attended back in the day went with pink uni numbers on Saturday. ”¦ Also from Jeremy: An Oregon high school is considering raising funds by selling sponsorships on the basketball court floor. Key quote, from the school’s athletic director: “I’ve joked I’ll rename our gym if the price is right.” Yeah, that’s hiiiiigh-larious. … Mike Rowinski made himself a groovy 49ers jack-o-lantern.

On a serious note, hope everyone got through the weekend storms alright. If any Uni Watch readers are among the millions who were left without power here in the northeast, I hope the juice gets turned back on pronto.

 
  
 
Comments (210)

    The two hockey jersey leaks in Buffalo were from the same store — The Sabres Store inside First Niagara Center.

    Assuming that the Espo picture was taken in the “old” Boston Garden, I sat in the first row once and those were the smallest, width-wise” seats I ever sat in.

    Those “large” seats up high look to me like pairs of seats without armrests in between. The lower seats have what appear to be one seat number marker on each seat, while the upper seats appear to have two markers spaced as you might expect them to if two people are expected to squeeze into them.

    The upper seats are wider, but they appear to have 2 numbers on each seatback, so it looks like those are tandem seats.

    Exactly. Some of the old barns still have ’em — the Allman Arena in Stratford, Ontario, for instance.

    That shot was definitely not taken at Boston Garden… but interesting to learn more about the tandem seats! Thanks guys!

    I’m guessing that’s the Sault Memorial Gardens.

    Phil and Tony Esposito used to run a summer hockey school there. It turned out to be a big deal in 1972, both of them were late to training camp for the Summit Series because they wouldn’t break their commitment to run the hockey school for the kids.

    Later photos seem to show single seats down low, tandem seats up higher.

    link

    Time Warner Cable Arena, currently home to only the AHL Charlotte Checkers, has narrower seats down low. I believe the cutoff is row K or L in the lower bowl. It’s not a tandem seat thing, just a slightly narrower seat where the tickets are more expensive. It’s just enough to catch my cell phone or car keys when I stand up depending on which side I’m leaning.

    Like Mike says, that’s not Boston Garden.

    In the ’80s, Garden management replaced the 2nd balcony on either side of the building with luxury boxes. To recover some of the lost capacity, they replaced what had been the upholstered seats near the floor (the “loge”) with smaller molded plastic seats. Those are what Peter remembers.

    Forgive me if this has been discussed before, but are the Cowboys new to the Captain’s Patch deal? Each Dallas Captain’s Patch I saw last night was of the “one-star” variety. I wasn’t sure if this was because they never used them before, or for example, this really is Tony Romo’s first season as captain.

    I’m on board with this as well. I’ve seen many of these around town (I live in New Orleans) and they were sold after the Super Bowl. Some folks have had them on their cars ever since and they’ve faded into all sorts of strange colors, in my experience (I’ve seen a few that have helmets that look green due to sun exposure).

    I may be crazy, but it looks like the fleur-de-lis is gold on the sticker. That would definitely mean it is an incorrect design and not just faded. It is also interesting that the gold lettering doesn’t appear to be faded in the same way as the helmet (if indeed it is a faded gold helmet).

    Not sure though, it is hard to tell in the picture.

    It’s not a gold fleur de lis, it’s just the lighting. The magnet is most definitely faded. It’s probably been on the car since February or March of last year so the sun has put a beating on it.

    Here’s the design in question: LINK

    As a resident of NOLA, I can attest to the sun fading the crap out of any bumper sticker. And gold/tan do fade into strange colors, or completely fade to white.

    The Sun is rather unforgiving down here in summer.

    And not many people have garages.

    The Notre Dame shorts are the same as last year’s. They wore last year’s design for this year’s team photo, so it would seem that they’re not changing designs for 2011-12

    Illinois’s shorts are the same as last year’s, too. UNC is the same from afar, but the new lasered holes in the short graphic shows that the current uniform is being transferred to the HyperElite template.

    Speaking of Denver Broncos uniforms, I wonder what uniform Tim Tebow will be wearing next year. TSA screener…? UPS driver…? Roto Rooter guy…?

    I have a feeling Tim Tebow will be joining Danny Wuerffel in beginning his ministry…in the near future.

    I think there are a lot of people on that Bronco team who will be wearing a different uni next year.

    Tebow’s playing lousy on a really lousy team. Recipe for futility. A disaster by any measure.

    And don’t mean just Tebow.

    With that windup he’s got, teach him a split fingered fastball and put a Rockies jersey on him.

    Oh, he’s got issues, buckets-ful of ’em, but anyone who thinks the reason the Broncos looked so bad yesterday was all about Tim Tebow knows exactly zip about football.

    He’s just an easy target for the “under-knowledged.”

    I was kinda hoping to see the black jerseys this year for the Iggles…’cause I know they’re gonna do a redesign next year or something like that.

    Not like I don’t love the Kelly Green throwbacks, but I loved seeing the Eagles black during Thanksgiving time.

    The only thing worse than the black jerseys are the midnight green (but at least they are green.) I realize the Luries wanted their own mark on the team, but somethings shouldn’t be changed just because you can.

    I dont mind the midnight green on the Eagles. I dont like them nearly as much as the kelly green of course. But the Eagles unis are at least logical from an evolutionary standpoint. You can look at most teams and see a clear timeline of uni evolution and it makes sense. The one team I can think of that this doesnt apply is the Tampa Bay Bucs. If you lined up that team in the current uni against the creamsicle Bucs, you would think they were two completely different franchises. They totally jumped the rail and started over. I think the White Sox in baseball would be an example of this. Maybe the Pirates too, but they have been black and gold for so long most of us only know them that way. The NBA probably has a few more example than the other major sports leagues, Cavs and Hawks come to mind. How many franchises have gone through such sudden and different transformations from one design to the next without changing cities?

    How about the padres going form mustard/yellow in the 70s to now being a navy and white team — although I guess it was kinda gradual because first in the late 80s they were brown/white and then orange/blue and now just the blue.

    And actually the Devil Rays/Rays have drastically changed twice (even though they’ve only been around 13 years) first from purple/black/rainbow to green then to blue.

    Chris Canty has the same type of facemask. He wears it because of the eye injury he suffered before he got drafted by the Dallas Cowboys.

    link

    Thanks man! Such a sick looking shirt. I don’t know why they ever decided to go with the two shades of blue they have for an away kit now.

    I am surprised there is no mention of Washington’s yellow pants against Buffalo. That was a big deal on Twitter for some reason. Also, Troy Aikman pointed out Ryan Fitzpatrick’s wedding ring and thought it was something new that Fitz hadn’t done before.

    … Or unless you’ve been watching Fitz for ten years and hoping that one season he would finally get an offensive line and a dependable running back. And maybe get the interception problem under control. Nice to see him in a good uni, too: both Bengals and pre-2011 Bills pretty cringe-worthy.

    And I think you’re right, Kyle: Skins looked great, played like shite.

    Yeah. Aikman was really shocked by the ring. He said that he had never worn his on the field.

    Then he made a lame joke about Mrs. Fitzpatrick (an NCAA all-american soccer player by the way) requiring Ryan Fitzpatrick to wear it after he signed the big contract.

    I can understand not wanting to wear a wedding ring on a football field. It seems like it would be really easy to get it caught in something and break your finger.

    When I was in high school, my school would hold open gym for an hour or so after school twice a week for students. One guy had his class ring on while playing, and tried to go up and dunk it, but the ring got caught in the hook on the hoop where net is attached and it completely ripped his ring finger off as he came down. Fortunately they got him to the hospital right away and they got it re-attached, but it was gruesome.

    Great news that the O’s are going back to the cartoon bird logo on the cap. They had one of MLB’s WORST caps with that dead looking bird logo.

    AGREED! Have been waiting for the return to the cartoon bird ever since they made the switch. The ornotholigically correct bird never looked right on the field or on merchandise. It looked like it came stright from the Encyclopedia Brittanica (if you’re under 30, that’s what us old folks used to call the internet).

    NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! The ornithologically correct bird is one of the best logos in baseball! The cartoon bird hold nothing but nostalgia!

    The cartoon bird hold Orioles are nothing but nostalgia!

    (fixed)

    Aside from the new ballpark, do you really want to remember anything from the Angelos era? Go back to what worked, and that includes the smiling bird. Maybe success will follow?

    I do like the current bird, though, so I can at least understand – if not feel – your pain.

    Nah, the cartoon bird is such a joke of a logo that it will only remind us of what a laughingstock the O’s have been under Angelos. I understand why people don’t like the detail of the Audubon logo (they’re crazy; that’s one of the best caps in baseball history, but I get where they’re coming from). But taxidermy and stupid cartoon head aren’t the only alternatives here. Birds could go with something less cartoony but still not literal like this, or go with a cartoon that’s more whimsical (and with a body!) like link.

    I’ll have to see it first. I’d be surprised if it looked a lot like the one on Jim Palmer’s hat. Teams almost never adopt an old insignia without some kind of tweak.

    Judging from that article, the bird won’t be the same cartoon bird they used before. It sounds like it will be a combo of both. Which is really scary if you’re am O’s fan. I think it will be closer to the Louisville ‘mean’ cardinal with teeth than the jovial oriole from the Palmer days. Let’s hope they come up with something good. But I won’t hold my breath.

    Yeah, I won’t be excited until I see it.

    The O’s and Nats are tied for being my 2nd-favorite team, but if they go with a snarling mean bird logo, then the curly W’s will be alone in the runner-up spot.

    Well, let’s keep a look out at sporting goods stores in the greater Buffalo area and we should have our answer soon enough.

    Forget history for a second. Imagine that the Orioles are an expansion team for a minute. Now imagine a uniform unveiling in 2011 where cartoon bird caps are introduced for the first time. Shouldn’t be hard to now imagine the giggling and pointing fingers coming from the crowd.

    Orioles management may just be making Marlins management look like geniuses.

    I was at Camden Yards on Saturday, and there was no sign of a new logo anywhere. The official team store was closed for renovations, but I was in the Baltimore Hall of Fame which is right outside the gates of Camden Yards and all of the New Era 5950’s were on clearance for $24.99.

    I even asked the Oriole mascot who attended my work event about the changes, but sadly he doesn’t talk ;)

    BTW I would encourage Paul and all other haters of purple to stay far away from Baltimore on Raven game days. Its a purple f’in nightmare. WOW they were even wearing purple combat camo pants.

    “I don’t keep track of facemask manufacturers, but Eric Buzard says Brett Keisel of the Steelers is wearing a Riddell Revolution mask on a Riddell Speed helmet. …”

    True, but what’s interesting is that it’s a Riddell Revolution mask made by Schutt.

    Here’s their complete set: link

    I was gonna say it didn’t look like a standard revo mask. The curvature at the bottom is different than Riddell’s, which tend to follow the line of the jaw pads.

    I was surprised when I saw the poppies on Chelsea this weekend. As the link says this is a normal November 11 (Armistice Day) tradition in England (and Canada) but it is still October!

    The key is that the none of Europe’s top league will be playing on the weekend of November 12-13. It is an “international match” break. The best players have to be released to play for their countries, so the leagues shut down.

    With Chelsea on the road for its next two games, they won’t be home again until the 20th, which would have been rather late for Armistice Day observances. Hence poppies blooming in October.

    I must admit I thought it was a bit early. Most clubs I think will wear them on their shirts next weekend.

    I too normally hate the international breaks, especially when it’s for a friendly, but as I’ve got tickets to watch England play the World Champions at the new Wembley (which I haven’t visited yet) perhaps I’ll forgive them this time :)

    Take a look at link from the ’86 Mets parade. Notice anything odd?

    The ball logo has a minuscule (almost imperceptible) interlocking NY. Or at least I assume that’s what that odd white mark on the left side of the skyline is.

    It’s (almost) what Paul has been referring to that as the “Wilpon logo” – except it’s more than a decade before it officially appears.

    No, I have never used the term “Wilpon logo.” The skyline logo either has the NY or it doesn’t — no slang terms for this have ever been used (at least not by me).

    I use the term “Wilpon script,” which refers to the bastardized version of the Mets script insignia (Wilpon above, classic below):
    link

    That Islanders banner story had me raising my eyebrow, because the Red Wings have kept their 1987 and 1988 Norris Division Playoff Champions banners up, and I’m pretty sure they’re still up at the Joe!

    A small detail, but the high school selling gym sponsorships is actually in Washington state (just over the river from Portland, hence the Oregonlive.com coverage).

    Yeah it’s actually my wife’s alma mater. Prairie High School. I work at a teen center that services this school district. I get the whole anti-corporate stance, but in this case his reasoning for emblazoning a logo on the gym floor is to keep their athletic department afloat. Unfortunate but as far as I’m concerned it’s a necessary thing to make sure these kids have teams that they can play on and not just the big money makers like football and boy’s basketball, but things like girl’s bowling. I know you’re anti corporate but how is this any different than putting ads up on the outside of a high school football stadium or on the fence so that everyone can see them? The reality is that if a corporation is willing to pay an athletic department to put their advertising somewhere people can see it there is nothing morally or ethically wrong with that. Would it be better if a corporation just donated money without being advertised? Sure it would. Is it ok for them to put an ad up? Sure as long as they’re supporting the kids.

    I have to say I absolutely don’t care about ads for youth or actual amateur teams. They need the funding, and they’re not representing a community on a larger scale. They don’t have the cashflow a pro (and these days, I count college in that) team has either. Rename the gym, plaster the uniform, whatever. Nobody’s buying the jersey, it’s all about keeping the program afloat rather than maximizing profit.

    Teal shirt guy?
    I have not seen any mention of the new NFL sideline official in the teal shirt. He has the same uniform as maroon shirt/K ball guy (black officials’ pants and black officials’ hat) but is wearing a teal shirt and a communications headset. Based on what he was doing I assume he was the relay from the booth upstairs down to the referee to let him know if there is any need to review a scoring play.
    I am a season ticket holder for the 49ers and I did not notice him before today and as a daily uniwatch reader I would like to think I would have. As this been mentioned / noticed before?

    … Some guy in Australia, of all places, has DIY’d himself an incredible NHL standings board. “Dear god, it’s beautiful,” says Rob Ullman, and he’s right. …

    ***

    Is he ever. Insanely wonderful.

    Before I clicked the link I was thinking “hmm, that sounds like hyperbole, really how nice can a simple…OH MY GOD, WANT ONE!”

    That board would be amazing to own. It would almost make me forget that the Jackets are %#@$%^ joke. I wouldn’t mind seeing their logo on the bottom of that beauty though.

    That thing is a beauty. I would love to take on a project like that someday. I also seem to have a memory of reading about that same guys first attempt (the first picture in the article) and thinking the same thing. Just Amazing.

    Now he’ll have more time to devote to promoting Shoe Polish for Men hair products. Think this will have an effect on where Albert signs? I think all Cubs’ fans with photoshop skills should be forwarding pics of Albert in a Cubs uniform just to show him how good he’d look in one. As a Reds fan I sure hope he goes to Texas or the Angels.

    I’d be floored if Albert end up with the Cubs. In Epstein’s intro press conference, he was asked his point of view on free agents. He was very clear (paraphrasing here) that his team has strong feelings about paying players based on future potential, NOT based on past performance. IMO, while he wasn’t holding up a picture of Albert with a “no circle” through his face, he might as well have been.

    Guess I’m not doing enough watching of unis, but I’m out of touch on the possibility of the Broncos changing their uniforms. To me, this is a mega-event in the uni world. The Broncos spacesuits are the worst thing that I can think of happening to uniform design. They’re not only the worst uniforms in pro football but also the reason most of the teams in college and high school dress like complete garbage on a weekly basis. Let’s hope Nike kills them.

    Nike designed the current unis. I doubt they’ll blow them up. But since they will be going orange as a primary color I think they will try to tweak them just enough so that fans will have something new to buy.

    Ugh. The good news is no more navy link. Hopefully there won’t be an orange version of that.

    As for the idea of there being worse uniforms, I agree. I forgot about the Vikings (but without the Broncos set, atrocities like the current Vikes set may never have happened). And when the Broncos are wearing white pants, their unis are actually better than some of the link Tennessee trots out despite having sweet colors. Is it so hard to have some sort of half-discernible theme uniting your helmet, jersey and pants?

    Tis a shame, that… seeing how that’s the only way those side panels really work properly. Mono blue and mono white. They look funky on the blue over white or orange over white.

    Apart from the socks, which should be the lighter blue, those Tennessee uniforms look great.

    What is this “burnt orange” that the article refers to? Looks more like a generic orange to me. Or maybe it’s “athletic orange.”

    There is a story that when the Broncos decided to get rid of their infamous brown unis, they placed a telephone order for Burnt orange, which was misheard as bright orange. So it could be that calling the jerseys burnt orange (when they clearly aren’t, as any Texas Longhorn will tell you) is just a nod to history.

    I don’t get the hate for the blue Denver uniforms, either. It must be over an attachment to the old Orange Crush suits.

    I wouldn’t mind seeing the Broncos use blue pants with those orange jerseys. Don’t believe Denver has ever used that combination.

    Wouldn’t quite work, because of the way the side panels on the jerseys and pants get matched up.

    Pondering the imponderable.
    What possible reason was there that this uni needed a redesign…other than “must go to darker shades” movement?
    link

    That’s exactly why I argue about it, Vilkster.

    They’re a perfect example:

    The Rams changed their colors from “blue and gold” to “blue and gold”.

    Or…

    The Rams changed their colors from “royal and yellow” to “navy & gold”.

    One of those sentences is a hell of a lot clearer than the other.

    /sorry, I had nothing better to do…

    Why’s that tough? Or necessary? Such things aren’t uncommon. Pitt has done it over the years, going back and forth between the versions. Same with UCLA among its various teams (esp. baseball, which uses ath. gold, but has been known to switch, year-to-year, between navy, royal and powder).

    Anyone who seriously pays attention to unis knows to check which version…navy, royal, columbia, gold, old gold, vegas gold…and take it from there.

    Without a single bundle-ized undie.

    Why do you people fight so much against making things easier?

    Telling someone the color in a clear obvious way, vs generalizing it and making them double check. Why do we have to be so intentionally obtuse?

    If you order two cheeseburgers from McDonalds – one regular for you, one without pickles for your friend – would you want to have to open up both of them to figure which one has the pickles, or would you prefer the fast food drone just told you? There ya go. Same thing. Sure, I can go double check whenever someone mentions a “gold jersey” and it’s not that difficult, but why should I even have to?

    Because it’s like trying to rightly rename Hit & Run “Run & Hit”.

    We uni geeks know there are versions of gold. Hell, most people do. Because gold is so valued by human civilizations we see it everywhere (sunsets, fields of grain, autumn leaves, a woman’s hair, on an eagle…), and we long ago accepted we’d deal with it in all manner of hues, shades, materials and finishes.

    Given that, the uni-universe has established modifiers known to all.

    I suppose the new guy can walk into the room and say, “I hate that movie, change the channel.” Everyone who’s watching it probably will just say, “Oh, right.”

    It’s like Lily on HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER hating the word “moist.” Sorry, Lil, society ain’t gonna drop it just because it bugs you.

    Or in other words, as that annoying old song says: “That’s just the way it is… some things will never change…”

    I hereby say “blah” to that.

    Blah!

    /or to quote the song again: “hey old man how can you stand to think that way”

    //and I hope it’s in your head now ;)

    For one thing, you seem to be offering a solution for which there is no perceived problem, except for those who think LSU’s pants and Lemonheads are the same color.

    For another, it’s a seriously low-priority issue in the grand scheme of things.

    All in all, only slightly above advocating long and loud that your particular favorite should be included among the standard syrups offered at IHOP.

    Hey now, people try to fix non-existent problems all the time, just look at the team that started this whole conversation. :)

    There ya go.

    Wisdom comes only with age.
    Really tough to be young and wise.

    Nice to see its working for you, too. :)

    Speaking of that, this weekend I realized I no longer have to sweat something most of you guys still do. I’m old enough that I don’t have to worry about dying young.

    If ever there was an age-old conflict, it’s the “The Way Things Should Be Instead Of The Way They Are” school vs. the “Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff” school.

    I’m reminded of those in the feminist movement who wanted “manhole cover” changed to “personhole cover.”

    That’s easy: “sewer lid” or “turtle door” depending on whether your city is home to any toxic ooze.

    Next…

    yeah…but they never won the super bowl wearing the navy & metallic gold…they won it wearing the royal & athletic gold

    sure, the uni swap was in the works before the SB, and one could, maybe, make the argument that the change has been keeping them from winning since…

    What I don’t get is that royal and cheddar is SO much brighter in the muted lighting of a dome. Those colors “sit farther forward,” if you know what I mean.

    All the navy and old gold do is blend into the muted background. Well, not totally, but more than the Rams’ previous unis did.

    Just saying I don’t think it was thought through thoroughly.
    Unless, I suppose, they wanted a uni separation from the L.A. version of the team…then went out and won a SB after the change process had been initiated.

    Well there is the whole OCD thing about the helmet being darker than the jersey… Not saying that they *needed* a complete overhaul (just make the helmet lighter, yo), but the redesign did fix that issue.

    Just about every team in the 20th century that wore a royal jersey with a “royal” helmet, the helmet that was a noticeably darker blue…Giants, Chargers, Rams, even the Pepsi Alouettes…

    Or the royal trim on a light helmet was closer to navy (Colts, Cowboys…)

    I always figured it might have had something to do with the manufacturing process. All I know is that when the Elway Broncos came out in a helmet that actually WAS royal (or closer to it) the difference was obvious.

    As a Chargers fan I constantly lament the change to Navy and the loss of the “gold” pants with the bolt down the side.

    What are people’s attachments to all of these old uniforms anyway. I mean from a purely aesthetic point of view I personally think the old Broncos and Rams unis were meh, drab and boring. We can’t just change all the teams back to their old unis or that would be going “OFOS”(old for old sake). I personally don’t mind the Rams current look and like the Broncos new look(I prefer the orange and am glad that that they are switching that to the primary) better than the Orange Crush look. By the way the Broncos won their Super Bowl’s with this look. I currently have the Broncos sitting 7th and the Rams 19th on my NFL uniform ranking.

    What are people’s attachments to all of these old uniforms anyway.

    Yeah, if you rooted for a team wearing a certain design for, oh, most of your life, why would anyone be attached to that?

    Fair point. Some of the older designs that people are attached too just aren’t that good though. However, that’s all a matter of opinion. The Orange Crush fascination is different in that they never won in those. I was an 8th grader and a freshman when they won the Super Bowl’s, so for me those are a classic look.

    “By the way the Broncos won their Super Bowl’s with this look.”

    And the Rams won their Super Bowl with the royal and athletic gold. What is your point?

    Point being that you can use the same argument for keeping the Broncos design as you can for going back to the Rams old design.

    Marlins cap would look okay if the logo was a bit smaller. Logos have gotten too big. Theory: subtlety can make even a bad logo look great on a cap. Or a football helmet. Less is more.

    I’d wager the “M” itself is close to the standard 2″ (or so) dimension. The leaping fishy makes the whole thing look bigger.

    Actually mindful of what I’d prefer MLB did for their Ballpark Patriotism hats…just add Old Glory to the regular hat, extending to the one side and above the logo.

    The flying fish is what kills the logo for me. It would look very Miami Art-Deco without the fish and it would certainly be better balanced.

    “very Miami Art-Deco”

    I think that’s the whole idea.

    The kitschy new home run celebration whirligig thing offering further evidence of same.

    Yeah, of course that’s the whole idea. The point is that the fish element takes away from that effect. It looks like badly designed punctuation, or like a cheap seafood restaurant circa 1991, whereas the M looks like Miami art deco. Jdreyfuss nails it for me: without the fish, that would be a great cap. With it, it’s possibly my least favorite in MLB right now.

    I am glad they kept all those colors in play on the cap. That at least is interesting, even if executed poorly.

    Scott nailed it. The essence of Art Deco is thematic balance. The fish knocks that logo askew and ruins it.

    We’re sort of saying the same thing.

    ‘cept I’m saying that “overdone” (ref: the hat and home run neon extravaganza) could be considered part of the Essential Kitschiness.

    A matter of interpretation, I suppose.

    Classy kitsch is just slightly oxymoronic, isn’t it? :)
    Like attempting an organized clusterf–k.

    Ah, wait. We ARE looking at it differently.

    You guys are looking at it as art-deco.

    I’m seeing it a Florida kitsch.

    And there’s no denying some things wander from one to the other. Just saying, in that context I won’t argue with you. And wasn’t really, so sorry about any misunderstanding.

    Chelsea was not only EPL team with the poppy. From what I saw on Match of the Day, all the managers were wearing them, as were the pundits on MOTD.

    I would also expect to see them turning up in Canada this week, on coaches and media types on Hockey Night in Canada.

    There are a number of junior teams that often have Poppy related sweaters this week or next, and usually auction them off for Charity.

    From what I remember last year the teams just wear it that weekend, but the staff and media start a few week or so prior.

    I blame the NBA lockout.

    “Hey, you were supposed to be GONE most of the time for 6-7 months a year. What the hell, I didn’t get married thinking I’d have to SEE YOU every day!”

    Well one of them is a basketball player so that sort of gets rid of the “I’m a man” excuse. The other is all over the cover of magazines and if you’ve been in a supermarket anytime in the last 5 years you’ve probably seen her, but I suppose ignorance is bliss.

    I suppose you could have been responding to the “divorce pool” comment and not the “who are these people” comment. In which case the “I’m a man” argument totally works as well as the “basic human decency” argument to not root for people getting a divorce.

    You could play the “I’m a man” card and say that you’ve only seen her sex tape. :>

    I can’t find a picture of it, but I remember Deandre Levy from the Lions wearing a fanged mouthguard earlier in October. I don’t know if he wears it normally or just wore it for the October games though.

    So…uh, I was just watching the Vikings/Panthers game and I saw this: link

    What’s up with the 2 purple circles on the back of Ponder’s helmet? I haven’t noticed anything like that on any other players.

    The dot-inside-the-circle just to the left of the flag?

    I think they’re quietly field-testing next year’s Breast Cancer Awareness logo.

    Boo! Get off the stage!

    Seriously though, they look like impact accelerometers. It’s probably a concussion study thing.

    That was before I noticed the second one higher up on the helmet. Ergo the misplaced attention focus and, um, analysis.

    No, just have long thought that graphic–well, a pair of them–would make a great bumper sticker.

    I mean, if some feel the need to announce their gender preference to the world on the back of their vehicles, shouldn’t others be able to proudly proclaim, “I’m a Boob Man”?

    I’m not serious, of course. And I’m NOT homophobic. Just one of those “think about it” and what’s “look at me” and what isn’t? things. :)

    But we digress…

    Simple answer – they are circular covers for the inflation points on Ponder’s Revolution Speed helmet. You’ll sometimes see these on teams that don’t have some kind of center stripe on their helmet – some teams use them, others just leave the inflators exposed (they are white on Riddell helmets) as supposedly they have covers that can’t be damaged (per Riddell’s website).

    Some teams use clear ones; the Vikings just happen to use purple ones to match the helmet shell. Evidently he wanted an air pressure adjustment on the lower inflator so they had to cut part of the decal open (showing the small white circle inside the decal.

    Remember either last year or two years ago when everyone thought that Favre had a helmet withou ear holes when they were in Green Bay and in some domes? He just covered the ear holes with these decals.

    I don’t know if this has been observed before; While watching the Stanford-USC game on Saturday, I thought I saw Andrew Luck reading a wristband play card on another player. Sure enough, I noticed it again a couple plays later. I didn’t get a screen grab unfortunately, but did find the following photo from a game against Duke earlier this season. link

    That’s center Sam Schwartzstein with a play card on his wrist, and I’m pretty sure that’s who Luck was looking at against USC. What is odd is that Luck appears to have a card on himself, so is this an additional set of plays for Luch to look at? Have other quarterbacks ever read plays from the wrist of another player?

    Just a guess, but in a complicated enough system, they’ll have a subset of line calls for different formations and scenarios. That would be the center’s call, so Luck might be calling the base line set before the center’s pre-snap reads.

    From what store were those new college basketball shorts posted? I’d like to order some of those shorts!

    re: Ripping uniforms to shreds:

    Those of us who are old Red Sox fans think immediately of Jim Lonborg on Oct.1, 1967 (“…and there’s pandemonium on the field”), who reached the dugout with only the arm ringlets left from his jersey.

    link.jpg

    link

    -Monty-

    Apologies if its been mentioned already, but am I the only one who has no idea what you mean by “corrupt corporate contractor jerseys” for the Houston Texans?

    And I’ve had my morning tea!

    I was wondering that myself, since Bob McNair doesn’t do anything but own the Texans now and their biggest corporate sponsor’s (Reliant Energy) primary logo color used to be blue and is now black.

    Reliant Energy changed their logo to the following:

    link. I can’t find there old logo. It may still be up at Reliant Stadium.

    I’ll take a crack at it: They’re called the “Battle Red” jerseys, and the team is owned by the CEO of Halliburton (?)

    Bob McNair is retired and he never owned Halliburton. He retired when he sold his energy trading company, Cogen to Enron before its collapse.

    Sorry, was never the CEO of Halliburton, and as far as I know, never any more involved with them than any other energy company is with a large industry contractor.

    The wearing of the red jerseys has always been promoted/sponsored thusly: “Battle Red Day, Presented by Halliburton.” Been like that for years, since the inception of the red alts. It’s listed here, for example:
    link

    I know of no other NFL uniform that’s sponsored in this manner. And I can think of few more repellant corporations to be associated with than this one.

    I actually wasn’t aware of that. Interesting. Yeah that’s a bit overstepping as far as corporate sponsoring goes.

    I lived in Houston for eight years and never knew that. It’s a shame; I always liked the red uniforms better too.

    I confess I’m a little surprised that people didn’t know about this. I used the “corrupt corporate contractor jerseys” shorthand because I thought the Halliburton connection was common knowledge. Guess I was wrong.

    I don’t mean to sound like you all SHOULD have known — just explaining that sometimes I’m wrong about how widespread certain bits of uni-knowledge are.

    Perhaps it’s a sign that we’ve become so inured to corporate sponsorship that it no longer has any effect on brand awareness and thus should go away. Okay probably not. On the other hand, since Halliburton is strictly a business-to-business service contractor, what’s the point of a (theoretically) highly-visible sponsorship deal anyway? PR?

    From the flickr set of college hoops shorts – can anyone tell if the University of Arizona shorts are black or navy? If they are navy, those are the same SoD unis from last year. If they are black, that would be UA’s first BFBS jersey I can recall. If it is, I imagine it will be used for the 1/28/12 home game vs. U. Wash. ESPN College Gameday will be there and UW has a history of going BFBS vs. Arizona (see Saturday’s football game). Of course, if those pictures are of navy shorts, ignore the above.

    Why would they be black when the team colors are navy and red? Oh, yeah. People do that nowadays and it’s not considered weird to the general public.

    I know this is kinda random, but I just felt like putting this on here.
    Here is my full ranking of NFL uniforms in descending order
    Hate Them, Nike Please Help
    32 Cardinals
    31 Jaguars(all Nike can do is get rid of the stretchies because they were redesigned less than 5 years ago)
    30 Vikings
    29 Giants(too bland and please bring back white pants)
    28 Bengals
    27 Panthers
    26 Seahawks
    Not completely horrible but wouldn’t mind a Nike redesign
    25 Falcons
    24 Ravens
    23 Dolphins
    22 Patriots
    21 Buccaneers
    Tradition says keep them, but I’m not a huge fan and a minor tweak could go a long way
    20 Steelers
    19 Rams(Yeah I realize they don’t fit the category but this is where I have them ranked)
    18 Cowboys(Someone please match the silver’s and blue’s)
    17 Chiefs(sorry Vilk, not my cup of tea, or maybe they are because I don’t like tea)
    16 Raiders
    I like these alright but not my favorites
    15 Browns
    14 Eagles(I for one actually like the darker green)
    13 Colts
    12 Texans
    11 Titans
    Top 10(With minor tweaks some of these could move up the list even higher)
    10 Saints(match the golds)
    9 Bills(shoulder or sleeve stripes? the world may never know)
    8 Lions
    7 Broncos(thank you for switching back to orange)
    6 Jets
    5 Packers
    4 Bears
    3 Chargers(a switch to powder blue as the primary would vault them to number 1 for me)
    2 49ers(fixing the truncated sleeve stripes would make this uni untouchable)
    1 Redskins(yellow pants vault them to the top but if they matched the striping to their other pants it would make them that much better)

    Have the Giants and Lions switch places.

    Then, switch the Cards and Seahawks,
    Panthers and Falcons,
    Ravens and Eagles,
    Dolphins and Titans,
    Steelers and Broncos,
    Rams and 49ers,
    and of course, Chiefs and Skins.

    I’d do a little more, but that’s good enough for now.

    Chargers need their lighting bolt jersey stripes on top of the shoulder like UCLA stripes…not on the edge of the shoulder. That ruins it for me.

    any list with the bengals above the giants is automatically invalid

    and any list with the titans at #11 is worse than those lists you find on bleacher report

    I dunno…. the Bengals only real problem is those silly white side panels.

    The Giants have the red/blue identity issues (no red on the blue jersey, no blue on the white one) and they’ve got the stretchy distorted pant stripes.

    Once again, historically the Giants and the Mara family gave somewhat equal emphasis to red and blue.

    Prior to mandated white jerseys, the Giants had both red and blue jerseys, giving them the ability to “not match” opponents. When white jerseys became a requirement in the mid-’50s, they kept the solid blue one and flip-flopped the colors on the red one (and wore them with red socks) to preserve, as best they could, that emphasis on both colors.

    The current Giants unis–but for some details and oddities due to current cut and fabric–are among the most accurate throwbacks (as a regular uni) in all of pro sports. Up there with the Braves’ return to the tomahawk-look in the late ’80s.

    As to “Big Blue,” I don’t know that the team has ever referred to itself as such. Pretty sure that’s a fan and media creation, and doesn’t reflect how the team sees or represents itself.

    Yeah, I know that. Accurate throwback doesn’t mean good uniform. There are better ways to equally emphasize both colors, if that’s even their goal anymore, considering they haven’t worn the modern red alt for 4 years now.

    That’s a convenient justification…and also rather discounts the value or validity of the team’s history/tradition of placing somewhat equal emphasis on red and blue. Yes, they haven’t worn red except as an alternate since white became a requirement. But they also ARE wearing an accurate replication of their first mandated white jersey…and what was worn with it.

    So it sorta depends on intent, doesn’t it?

    If it’s meant to—allowing for changes in cut, etc.—be a throwback, then the essential judgement should be how accurate it is.

    Beyond that, it’s analyzing and fault-finding with a 60-year-old concept. That, you can say sucked. But you can’t argue that they stayed awfully true the throwback design platform they established.

    It’s like when Richard Schickel reviewed “The Sting” in TIME magazine and faulted the film for not taking the opportunity to address “why men turned to crime during the Depression.” Huh? He completely missed the filmmakers’ intent. It wasn’t drama with social comment, it was comedy.

    I should be clear, The.

    Advocating a Giants re-design is a position a lot of people take, and that’s certainly a valid one.

    I just think farting around with the current set would fly in the face of its basic concept.

    – 2 shades of silver
    – 2 shades of blue
    – unnecessary black trim
    – wrongly colored and inaccurate throwback alternate

    Yep, they’re just fine.

    Found another high school re-appropriating an old XFL logo — Leavenworth High School is using the interlocking Las Vegas logo (LV is the Kansas license plate abbreviation for Leavenworth County).

    link

    Could barely discern it until I actually looked at that one helmet and realized it was pretty clear after all…

    … oh, and Avalanche numbers.

    About Duke’s QB’s arm sleeves. I’m not sure such is the case in this particular incident but Nike actually made arm sleeves with the design from the Elite Basketball socks on them. There is a chance those sleeves could actually be sleeves by design.

    link

    Upon further investigation, there were articles about and pictures of this hat back in September.
    hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/09/24/photo-of-miami-marlins-cap-suggests-leaked-logo-is-legit/

    That Marlins link isn’t opening for me in multiple browsers.

    That’s pretty funny. The team must have prevailed upon the Miami Herald to pull the story.

    Basically, it’s the logo we’ve already seen, on a solid black cap.

    The image in the NBC Sports story (linked in the comment above mine) is Photoshopped. However, it is a good approximation of what the real cap looks like.

    Same for me too. I guess that’s what I get for being late to the show. Also, the NHL standings board article, all his photos are not displaying due to exceeding bandwidth on photobucket. I guess us uniwatchers blew it up.

    Judging by the pregame show, looks like a few of the Chiefs, including QB Matt Cassel, are wearing red shoes. Or maaaaybe they’re pink, but I don’t think so.

    not sure about the red, but brandon flowers is wearing red socks and black shoes…with a bit of red in them..

    82 (didn’t catch his name) is definitely in red socks and shoes tho

    So will we find out about the NBA Lockout being lifted and what Nike is gonna do to the NFL in a store from Buffalo, because if so I can get an RV and hop on there in a few days. Anyone joining in?

    Not sure if anyone caught this, but the Giants have gone as far as to paint all the outlines in their endzone pink (logo included!) link

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