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My Team’s Tied for First, How About Yours?

Today is Opening Day — the real Opening Day, not that Japanese thing from last week or that post-sundown thing from last night. And in honor of this national holiday — the Holiest of Holies, as Robert Marshall calls it — I’ve embedded my favorite baseball anthem, “We Want a Hit,” at the top of the page. I’ll have it on heavy rotation today, and I strongly suggest you do the same.

The Rangers don’t play their first game until tomorrow, but Ian Kinsler is already in midseason uni-form, so to speak. On Monday he made a sliding play in the outfield and emerged with the “A” flopping off of his jersey (photos by Andrew Woolley; click all of today’s photos to enlarge):

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And on Tuesday Kinsler’s hair was poking through the vents on his batting helmet (screen shots by Marcus Solis):

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If these two games are any indication, Kinsler is primed for a helluva season. Torn pants, a broken belt, maybe an NOB typo — big things, Ian, I’m expecting big things.

The A’s played two regular season games in Japan last week but then came to the States and played four more spring training games . That led to an odd situation that reader Mike Rowinski picked up on: “During Tuesday night’s A’s/Giants game, I noticed in the 1st inning that Brandon Allen had his Japan Series hat on. Someone else must have noticed too, because by the second inning he had changed hats”:

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Speaking of the Bay Area, DT Tobener has spotted something that the rest of us (or at least I) missed: The sleeve piping on the Giants’ new headspooned road grays has moved up from the edge of the cuff to an inch or so above the edge:

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And no, that isn’t a case of botched stitching or random stripe placement — those two stripe positionings are noted in the 2011 and 2012 MLB Style Guides, respectively. So this is a case of a very subtle but intentional adjustment.

Meanwhile, a few quick notes from last night’s Cards/Marlins game:

• Rafael Furcal is the latest player to be wearing one of those little protective cast thingies on his hand while running the bases (screen shot by Scott Novosel).

• Carlos Beltran had a similar but less cast-like contraption on his hand when he ran the bases.

• We got our first clear view of how the Marlins’ stadium patch looks on a jersey.

• Ditto for the Cards’ championship patch.

Okay, I’m talking the rest of the day off. Can’t wait to see the Mets in their glorious black-free uniforms this afternoon. Whoever you’re rooting for, hope you’re playing hookie so you can watch them (and if you’re team isn’t playing until tomorrow, the rest of us will have an extra hot dog for you today). It’s been a long winter — now let’s play ball.

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Culinary Corner: Let’s say you like your steak medium-rare. The problem, as you may have noticed over the years, is that a medium-rare steak is only medium-rare in the center but gray toward the edges, because the surface of the meat near the heat tends to cook a bit more. So whatever your preferred doneness is, you usually end up with a gradation — well done at the edges, rarer toward the center. A uniform level of doneness, with the same color and texture running throughout the meat, is almost impossible to achieve.

Until now. Thanks to a technique that’s been making the rounds since it appeared in a cookbook last year and was then featured in a New York Times article back in January, you can have a steak that’s blissfully free of that gray surface ring yet still has a nicely browned crust. And all you need, aside from a good piece of beef, is a freezer and — get this — a blow torch.

Here’s the deal: Start with a steak about an inch and a half thick and pop it in the freezer overnight (yes, I realize it seems counterintuitive to freeze a good steak, but work with me here). When you’re ready to cook, remove the steak from the freezer and place it on a rimmed baking sheet.

Next, take a propane torch (preferably one with an on/off switch instead of the kind that you have to light with a spark; if you don’t have one, you can pick one up at the hardware store for about $40) and use it to sear the top and sides of the steak. Keep the flame moving so you don’t overchar or scorch any given spot, and keep going until the meat’s surface looks appetizingly browned. Basically, it should look like a fully cooked steak, even though it will still be frozen everywhere but on the surface (photos by Kirsten Hively; click to enlarge):

Blow-Torch Steak

Blow-Torch Steak Blow-Torch Steak Blow-Torch Steak Blow-Torch Steak Blow-Torch Steak

When the steak surface looks good, pop it into a very slow oven — 200 º or even less, if your oven will go that low. Between the frozen steak and low oven temperature, the cooking time will take a while. Figure on at least an hour, depending on the oven temp and the steak’s thickness. After 45 minutes or so you can stick a meat thermometer into the side of the steak and see how it’s doing (you can’t get the thermometer in there at the beginning of the process because, again, the steak starts out frozen). For medium-rare, you’re shooting for the low 120s.

When the steak hits your desired internal temp, take it out of the oven and let it stand for 10 minutes before serving. When you slice it open, you’ll find an absolutely uniform level of doneness with no no gray ring:

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Blow-Torch Steak IMG_1321.JPG IMG_1324.JPG Blow-Torch Steak IMG_1328.JPG

Gorgeous, right? This is because the blow torch only cooks the very top surface of the frozen meat, and the slow oven lets the rest of the steak cook evenly.

A few notes on this process:

• For reasons that aren’t clear to me, the articles I’ve read regarding this technique all say to torch just one side of the steak before popping it in the oven. This means the other side doesn’t end up with a charred crust. Next time I’m gonna trying torching both sides.

• You know how a steak usually arrives at the table sizzling at the surface? You don’t get that with this technique. Also, the meat may get cold (or at least room temp) more quickly than usual. You can counter both of these issues by using the old steakhouse trick of preheated plates and a drizzle of hot melted butter.

• You may be wondering, as I was, if the torch imparts a propane odor or flavor to the meat. The answer is no. Even when I held the finished steak right up to my nose, the only aroma I got was of nicely cooked beef.

• Playing with a blow torch is really, really fun. What should I use it for next?

Blow-Torch Steak

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As you’ve probably heard, data from the 1940 census was made available to the public this week. That’s the subject of a new post on Permanent Record.

Uni Watch News Ticker: A Nike/NFL change that I missed: The Titans used to have a contrasting navy collar. But now it’s light blue, like the rest of the jersey (big thanks to Joseph Walker). ”¦ Utah State will unveil its now logo and branding package on April 28 (from Karson Kalian). … Andre Torres hooked up with Pro Helmet Decals to create some custom bat knob designs for himself and his kids. … Nice Missouri helmet history video segment here (from Rob Bratney). … Here are two very cool March Madness infographics, based on team colors (from Robin Edgerton). … Remember how Phil Knight was suggesting that the Longhorns might wear those new practice uniforms on Sept. 1 against Wyoming? A reader who prefers to remain anonymous checks in with this: “One of my good friends works for Texas equipment. These jerseys were shown to the players last Wednesday in anticipation for the fall. The staff, and the head guy, chip Robertson, is insistent that the uniforms will never be worn anywhere but the practice field, where the three jerseys will be rotated weekly among the three different groups — offense, defense, and QBs. Texas, specifically Mack Brown and DeLoss Dodds, is very attached to the game jerseys that are currently used. These practice jerseys are just a way to make the players happy, because some of them wanted to wear flashier jerseys at some point during their time here.” … Elena Elms made herself a batch of her famous uni-themed cookies in honor of Opening Day. … I’m still calling it St. James Park — and so is the local council (from George Chilvers). … Is BYU going BFBS Amateur Pacifist? Could be, according to this item. And Michael Bischoff adds the following: “One of my roommates is a lineman on the BYU football team. He came back from practice saying that next season BYU will have a Pro Combat game. The only piece of the uni that he described was a black helmet, and said that we were wearing colored jerseys. But none of our big games are at home, so I’m assuming that means that our Pro Combat game will be on the road, probably against Boise State. Unless Nike does something with Oregon State, which would be a home game for us.” … New “smart fabric” for British military uniforms (from Tom Mulgrew). … Very nice uniform, including striped stirrups, being worn by Sinton High in Texas (from Todd Hotz). … Dog bites man (from Ryan Hess). … Legal kerfuffle in Wisconsin over a high school that’s been ordered to stop callings its teams the Indians (from Jarrod Leder). ”¦ Magnificent striped stirrups being worn by Orange Lutheran High School from California. Really like those pale-yellow stripes (from Thomas Stafford). ”¦ Mike Rich reports that the Braves played an exhibition game on Tuesday against their top minor league prospects, with the minor leaguers wearing their respective team uniforms. “In this this highlight video of Dan Uggla’s home run, you can see the Braves in their home whites and pitcher Sean Gilmartin in a Mississippi Braves (AA) road gray,” he says. “You can also see a few defensive players in the Lynchburg Hillcats (High-A) road green jersey, and I think I see the red sleeves of the Gwinnett Braves (AAA) road gray jersey as well. Plus the batboys are in the Gwinnett home whites.” ”¦ New home kit for the Carolina RailHawks (from Andy Dunbar). ”¦ “I’ve just received a newsletter from Sportsdecals,” writes Stefan Schubert. “They are now offering very large decals that cover most of the football helmet. Not sure if that will become a trend on the high school level, but this is definitely the first time I’ve seen decals like this.”

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Kicking the Habit, Day 3: You know, this is turning out to be a lot easier than I’d expected. I simply decided not to drink the stuff anymore, and bingo — I’m not drinking the stuff anymore (even though I have two bottles in the fridge, mocking me). And today should be a breeze, cuz it’s Opening Day, which means I’ll be drinking beer. I wish everything could be this simple.

 
  
 
Comments (251)

    Those Sinton High unis are sharp! The only thing that would make them look better is if the “S” on the cap matched the one on the jersey. But other than that, my word!

    Titans uniform. Does the collar look light blue because of the FlyWire like all the other jerseys (which takes on the main jersey color) or is it really light blue? What does the back look like?

    FYI – the ball of paint site has crashed due to bandwidth problems.

    Sometimes, we here at UW have been known to destroy a site or two with our curiosity. For that, we apologize.

    Although it seems a bit older (only 18,500 coats),I can’t imagine there is another ball of paint.
    link

    Interesting steak prep discussion. I’ll have to re-read that several times. Please let us know how torching both sides works.

    To date I’ve only used my kitchen torch (smaller than that one) on creme brulee and goat cheese; will need to expand on that.

    It’s not surprising that the torch doesn’t leave any residue or aftertaste. Lightweight fuels like butane or propane tend to burn very cleanly. That also means not to use some industrial torches that use fuels like kerosene or gasoline, because those do leave a residue.

    I take my steak just below medium rare, but I also like the subtle texture differences as you bite through the gradations. I’d like to try this method, but I’ll probably stay with my usual grill when I can or pan grill when I can’t.

    Nice mustard and brown t-shirt. Teamsters (but shades of vintage Padres)

    Another day , and still no serious critique of the Seahawks. (You did say you would take your time on this one) You’ve either plotting to write the mother of all lambastings, or …. (or maybe it’s an unexpected ramification of the lack of diet coke)

    I say, unique colours inspire fan devotion. the Broncos in the 70’s were orange crush. To the best of my knowledge there’s never been a navy blue out since they made the change(not a unique colour).

    Cleveland has brown, a very fitting colour for the city

    Seattle now has neon green, which is also fitting, and they’ve used it overall correctly, in modest portions. although the outlining on the numbers should be white. If one can get over the snot green references, it works as well as it can, while providing Seattle with something unique.

    Shirt is yellow and black, not mustard and brown.

    Seahawks: I just needed a break from all the Nike/NFL overload. Last two days have been exhausting, and today is Opening Day. I’ll get to the Seahawks either tomorrow or next week.

    Oakville, Seattle was unique when they played in their original blue and kelly(?) green. Now, I have no problem with the dark blue and neon green–it is an attractive combnation of colors–but the way they put that disparate junk together is an embarrassment.

    How far that uniform has fallen. My eye goes right to that nike swoosh on the shoulder. As nike intended, I’m sure.

    The original Seahawks uni was solid, with particular high marks for the distintive helmet design. I would not say from a colour perspective it was overly unique. Royal blue during that period of time was everywhere. Green was common. You might say the combo was unique, and it was for the NFL, but I think more or less the same time period, you had Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Mavs adopt more or less the same colours

    I think there may be a small emerging new trend in uniforms, which is going for something unique. Look at Nashville Predators adopting yellow has their home uni, Florida Marlins have elements of uniqueness (less apparent) and now the Seahawks.

    As to the design, I take admittedly a very simple view, how’s it going to look on tv. Taking that simple view, places little emphasis on barely visible over-design issues, is it a great uni …no, but it won’t look terrible on TV in my opinion

    I have this feeling that the majority of people here wouldn’t have liked anything that Nike put out for the Seahawks unless it was a 1976 or 1983 throwback.

    Royal, kelly & silver actually LOOKS good. Those sets were properly executed as well.

    This manufactured fake navy blue, neon green & gray with its stupid feather pattern motifs & helmet sticker, non-nonsensical panels, graphics printed numbers & name tag wordmark is a pile of puke. It looks total bush league. It is beyond tacky.

    I like the color palette that the Seattle Seahawks are now using, just not (at all) how it’s executed.

    Lee

    I actually liked their recently deceased uniform set, I just didn’t like that they insisted on going monochrome with it. It wouldn’t have hurt to pair a dark jersey with light pants and vice versa.

    “You may be wondering, as I was, if the torch imparts a propane odor…”

    As someone who works in natural gas processing, I am obliged to state that propane does not have an odor. The added mercaptans do. History lesson for those who may not know why the odorant is added:

    link

    Paul:

    I used to drink four to six cans of Dr Pepper a day until I decided to lose weight and go on a diet. I gave it up cold turkey and have only had one can in 2 + years.

    Water is really good.

    Today’s posting is why we love Uniwatch. Opening day, obsessiveness ( and this is in NO WAY a negative) and steak. It gets no better. Were I not a member already, I would join.

    You’re meat knowledge is half the reason I respect you as much as I do. I came for the uni talk, but I stayed for the culinary corners.

    So that technique is only for medium rare. Will that work for medium or medium well?

    It can work for any doneness (personally, I like rare). But if you like your meat cooked above medium-rare, you’re hopeless anyway. Just buy cheap-ass meat and do whatever you want with it, because it’s gonna be tasteless no matter what you do.

    Sorry, didn’t mean to sound harsh. But seriously, once you pass medium-rare, the quality of the meat and the way you cook it stop mattering, because you’ve cooked most of the flavor out of the flesh by that point. If it’s how you like it, then fine — you like what you like. But you may as well buy inexpensive meat and save yourself some money, because higher-grade stuff won’t taste any better.

    I don’t have a DVR so I can’t get a screen shot, watching the Red Wings game last night, it appeared that Jiri Hudler was wearing an old helmet with the Stanley Cup Finals logo on the right rear/lower corner of his helmet. Also, can’t wait to see one of the best unis out there at 1:05, Go Tigers. .

    I dunno, I like my med-rare steaks with that ring. But different strokes for different folks, I guess.

    I would love to try the blowtorch method to cook a med-rare steak only because it employs a blowtorch, and you can wow everyone coming over to your house for dinner. Or your wife/girlfriend while shouting “SEE, I CAN TOO COOK!”

    Paul,

    I have to respectfully disagree, this gem from 1983 is clearly baseball’s best anthem:

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    Happy new unis day

    Absolutely correct on both song and unis. The Blue Jays in blue at last. Who knew how good that could feel?

    That sounded like a really bad Randy Newman impersonator. Speaking of Randy Newman, his musical compositions for “The Natural” are some of his best work.

    @ Paul, I dropped Diet Coke as well on January 1, 2011, for no particular reason at all (other than the fact that I was drinking 6 cans per day), and like you I was able to just “stop” and haven’t looked back. Coffee and water consumption has increased, but it has felt good to avoid the stuff.

    So the last ticker item with the large helmet decals, that would be like the helmets Boise State wore against Virginia Tech a couple of years ago (and a few other games since then).

    link

    Not really. They have just used one very large decal. This concept is different as it has the normal decals on the side plus large decals in the back and in the area that normally has normal stripes.

    It seems to me that MLB has diluted the importance of Opening Day over the years by (a) splitting the schedule so that not everyone opens on the same day, and (b) opening the season in another country.

    My team, Oakland, opened last week in Japan in games I couldn’t watch unless I subscribed to MLB.tv. Today, there are only two American League games out of a possible seven.

    The idea of an “opening night” that features the defending champions is a great one — I was attracted to watch Cardinals vs. Marlins even though I’m not a fan of either team. That’s one NFL idea that MLB has lifted that is a good one. How about another: Having most of the teams open on the *same* day.

    I would adhere to the first game of the season being in Cincinnati like it was for a good 113 years.

    I would disagree to that NFL idea. MLB had a good thing going & doesn’t need to stoop to these other leagues for gimmicks. Of course the only thing Selig cares about is making more money. Tradition is the furthest thing from his sullen mind.

    If not all — or most — teams open on the same day, then it’s not really “Opening Day,” no matter whether there’s a game in Cincinnati.

    You don’t get it. The changes have done nothing to enhance the game itself. It’s all been some cheap marketing drawing card. Any stupid idiot can make money on for sport if they come up with enough crazy schemes e.g. more playoff teams. No surprise to me that the All Star Game & World Series ratings are in the tank.

    So you’re saying the game itself needs to be enhanced. How do we do that? Change the rules, juice the balls, introduce steroids…They’re all frowned upon by MLB and it’s fans. So the game itself has to stay the same. The only thing they can do to enhance the game I guess is do things not related to the game, turning stadiums into malls with restaurants, playing games in japan, and coming up with camo uniforms. Yeah those cheap marketing drawing cards are what is going to keep the game current.

    why does the fucking game need to be enhanced?

    oh, right, because no one watches anymore because their attention spans aren’t long enough or they’d rather play video games

    i know this is heresy but there are some things that should NOT be changed to fight for the nintendo generation’s attention, and baseball is one of them

    sadly, i know that is no longer possible, but it doesn’t mean we can’t keep fighting to keep the beautiful game (and no, that’s not soccer) pure

    the beautiful game (and no, that’s not soccer)

    It is if you put the word “indoor” before it…

    While I preseumably don’t have comparable intake levels as yours, Paul, I am presently in the process of transitioning from coffee to Diet Coke. I had forgotten that Diet Coke seems to keep me more focused throughout the day than coffee does…

    But the health benefits of a natural beverage like coffee certainly outweigh whatever it is that Diet Coke is and whatever it does to your body.

    I loved today’s post Paul, leavened with your sense of humour to boot.

    Up until a few years ago, I was a chronic drinker of regular coke, even in the morning (“I like my caffiene cold” I would always say.) But I kicked the habit and maybe have consumed 1 or 2 cans since then (in the rare rye and coke, before I switched to gin and orange juice). I was surprised at little I missed it. Now I get sick at just thinking of the taste. And don’t get me started on Pepsi….

    The Mets are not only tied for first, they actually have a half-game lead! Why? Because the Marlins got the jump on everybody else, and link

    Yeah, but technically they only have a half-game lead on fifth place, they are tied and thus have zero game lead on the other three teams.

    Opening Day? Phooey. Not only the Japan thing, or the “Opening Night” thing. If the baseball season doesn’t begin with a Reds game in Cincy, or with a presidential first-pitch in Washington, then it’s not really Opening Day. Season now begins with a whimper, not a bang.

    Also, new rule: Home openers should always be day games so families can attend. But every team that opens on the road should start with a night game so that fans can watch after work on TV. And we’ll let the physicists figure out how to make that work.

    Given that the supposed “average person” works during the day, wouldn’t night games be more accessible for both home and road fans to watch?

    Ugh. Spoken from a true non-baseball fan.

    Jeff at pre-08/08/88 Wrigley Field: “Why doesn’t this place have lights? This is stupid!”

    Because having your kids skip school and calling off work is the responsible adult thing to do, obviously.

    The great game of baseball would suffer soooo badly by playing 6pm games during the week and earlier daytime games on weekends. Really. We’re in an economy where both parents typically work. The 50’s sitcom family with the stay-at-home mom and the dad who can take off work whenever he wants to just doesn’t exist anymore. So, as a sport, we can wonder why attendance is down, or we can play games when more people are actually able to attend. Hmm…

    “the dad who can take off work whenever he wants”

    ~~~

    uh…maybe the stay-at-home-mom was true, but i’m not sure what dreamworld you lived in if you thought the dad could just take off whenever he wanted part was…

    if anything, that’s much more likely today than 50 years ago

    If they made everyone open on Opening Day & a national holiday like they should, that would take care of these problems.

    Enough with this Opening Day in Japan shit. They certainly SHOULDN’T get Opening Day; not by a long shot. Why should they get that privilege? Do they start the Nippon Professional Baseball season in the United States? No, they don’t.

    “If they made everyone open on Opening Day & a national holiday like they should, that would take care of these problems.”

    ~~~

    pre-zactly (as paul would say)

    i’m stuck in the fucking office so i’m lucky if i get to hear 5 minutes of the holiest day of the year on the clock radio that sits beside my desk, and basically needs tinfoil for an antenna

    but i DO get tomorrow off…which is the stupidest thing…keep religion out of politics please

    other than the fact that i can *enjoy* a 3-day weekend, i have NO REASON to be off tomorrow, but today, whilst the rest of you enjoy baseball in the sun…i get dick

    keep religion out of politics please

    Well, since your religion is baseball, you should be opposed to Opening Day being a national holiday, right?

    And your boss can count on you to man the office at Christmas, too. ;)

    They should start the season in Albania. And stay there.

    Baseball is kind of making me sick.

    Sorry I didn’t see this Wednesday, when it started:

    The Pro Football Hall of Fame is doinglink where fans can vote on which uniform they prefer. Today’s featured the 87 Seahawks vs. the 26 Duluth Eskimos. They’re taking voting on one per day.

    Looking ahead I noticed the 1985 St. Louis Rams. Really?

    There are some beauts ahead, like the ’42 Bears, ’60 Eagles and ’78 Oilers, but what jackwagon put the ’09 Cards in a best jersey contest?

    Man, that steak looks amazing. It reminds me of when I was on Yonaguni Island, Japan’s westernmost point, and had the chance to eat freshly-caught tuna straight out of the nets. One of the fishermen thought that I, being a Westerner, wouldn’t want to eat it raw, so he hands me a nice big blowtorch to cook it to my tastes. Get a little plate of soy sauce with wasabi mixed in, and you’ve got some great-tasting fish.

    Just goes to show you that everything is better when blowtorches are involved.

    Just noticed link: it has metric distances on the walls, underneath the Imperial.

    Back in the ’80s you saw lots of that, since it looked like the US was going to make metric the standard. Then the new wave of retro ballparks went back to retro measurements.

    Is this the first post-1995 stadium to put metric distances on the walls? The last new stadium I can think of that has them is the Skydome, and that’s in Canada where metric is already the standard. In places like Boston, they actually removed the meters from the walls.

    This Miami thing is a nice step forward.

    Oh Phil, the Metric system – it’s no good!

    Is it really worth all the aggravation just so things could be divisible by 10 & end in zero?

    How many millions and millions of dollars would cost to replace all those Speed Limit signs, car speedometer dashboards, kitchen measuring utensils, measuring equipment, gas station signs, redesigning & packaging of food boxes, items, bottles & cans, pizza boxes, Quarter Pounders, and I think you would have to include Celsius for Meteorology, too. Or even worse it would sound for the game of football: “Michael Turner just rushed for 17 metres on the play!”

    I’m too set in my ways with miles, gallons, quarts, cups, tablespoons, teaspoons; not to mention all the end of “measuring jokes”: “Oh yeah lady, you can suck on my big 25.4 centimeter record!” and The Who didn’t sing “I can see for kilometers and kilometers and kilometers and kilometers”.

    It’d be like the Queen of France coming in and telling you how to do things! That’s why we left Europe! Such a conversion to the Metric system would take decades to implement, including people like me who would intentionally refuse to learn the system.

    And you called ME Canadian?!?

    Just… no.

    Playing with a blow torch is really, really fun. What should I use it for next?

    Tim’s keyboard.

    ;)

    “Who cares about baseball if I never get featured on the weekends again, it’s almost playoff hockey!”

    ~~~

    fixed

    Maybe we can compromise, I’ll wear my one pair of stirrups (the Blackhawks inspired ones) and I’ll celebrate O.D. and Playoff Hockey.

    Teebz,

    Do you actually wear stirrups when you play hockey?

    In my (very limited) experience, I’ve seen exactly one person wearing them, and he said they were from his high school team in the 80s.

    Pretty much everyone else wears some variation on link.

    I do, Jim. My team, thankfully, wears the black and purple of the Kings, so the puck marks aren’t all that bad when I re-use them year after year. LOL

    I order them from an old-school guy here who still brings them in. The stirrup portion is no more than a shoelace’s width, but it’s enough so that I can pull my socks up high, strap my skates on (I like them tight around my ankles), and tape my socks in place.

    While Opening Day is one of my favorite days of the year, unfortunately as a Yankee fan, it has been seriously harmed since they open in Tampa this year. The dome stinks for a number of reasons. 1) No threat of weather issues means Game 1 is on Friday, after many other teams. 2) You can’t tell that “spring has arrived” since the sky involves concentric rings and lighting structures.

    And the franchise formerly known as the Montreal Expos still has nothing planned? Can you even get a pretzel in the shape of a #8 at Nationals Park?

    Also from the same A’s – Giants exhibition game on Tuesday night, Giants second baseman Charlie Culberson had his name misspelled as Cluberson. I don’t have the screen grab but it is easy to see as the Giants walk off the field shaking hands.

    Not that I have any problem with the Packers making no changes, but I wonder if they even tested the new stuff. I could totally see the responsible Packers staffer going into the meeting with a Nike rep and just repeating No No No No No until the Nike guy gave up and walked out.

    so…what does that mean exactly (the article)…

    they’re not using any nike product? are they simply stripping the reeboxes off of the jerseys and replacing them with swooshticas?

    The “article” (if you want to call it that) means nothing. Zero new info. I guess picking up the phone and calling the Packers for some insight was too much effort…

    Anyway: Yes, it’s Nike product, but done to the old Reebok specs.

    There’s a nice Opening Day infographic up on ESPN’s Page 2 site:

    link

    There’s a few inconsistencies with the team logos that I first thought might be due to the time period that each individual graphic or fact was mentioning. But the logo used for the Brew Crew in the graphic on the number of RBI on Opening Day is wrong for 1980. And the graphic with the presidents depicts them in two different unis, which I thought would be broken down by whether they were Democrat or Republican. Upon further review, however, that does not appear to be the case. Unless many of our early-20th century presidents were closet Dems.

    And the Blue Jays logo used in the Opening Day Winning Percentage graphic is the original, not the updated one. That’s not the current Orioles mark either, and the Cleveland Indian looks off as well(?).

    And that’s not the Nationals logo anymore, either. Or the Rockies & that’s their pre-1993 logo.

    Congrats on losing the Diet Coke, Paul. Mountain Dew Code Red was my downfall, so I quit all sodas cold turkey nearly 2 years ago. Only water, milk, unsweetened iced tea, and (lots of) craft beer for me.

    So whats the big deal about everyone not starting the season the same day?? A very casual perusal of Retrosheet shows that MLB has been stagger starting the season since the beginning of the Expansion Era. It’s called, ‘getting maximum exposure for your sport when your season starts’.

    And surprisingly, not every team can open at home for some reason. The Yankees are in TB, because – surprise – its an attractive matchup! NEXT year, you’ll be able to freeze your butt off in an expensive YS seat, as the Yankees play someone REAL exciting like, say, Cleveland or Kansas City.

    And as far as the Japan games are concerned, can anybody here spell ‘m-a-r-k-e-t-i-n-g’?? MLB literally makes HUNDREDS of millions of dollars over there with broadcasting and other tie ins over there. People in Japan are so crazy about MLB, that they jammed the airport to meet the Oakland Athletics of all teams! Not only do the teams play two games, but they also meet fans, play exhibitons against Japanese teams, and also visit with our service people over there. Whatever tiny bit of ‘tradition’ that gets lost by the series is more than made up by the goodwill, and investment in the fan base over there. And of course, they do it a week ahead, is so the two teams can readjust to the jet lag when they come back.

    The fact that the Rays are competitive is irrelevant to the schedule: the Yankees have to play their division 72 times a year. Aside from the cheap Network rating grab 1st game, Opening Day scheduling is completely random. Logically you’re suppose to schedule at least the first week of MLB games in warm weather climates & domes. Wouldn’t have to if they actually started the season later & tightened it up with scheduled doubleheaders or a playoff schedule system with logical off days. And why put down Cleveland or Kansas City – they could be competitive next year; you don’t know that. And they will have to play them sometime anyway.

    What exactly does playing regular season games in Japan really do? Besides stealing two home games from the A’s (which is more like intentional punishment from MLB for low attendance & not getting a new stadium built) & taking way revenue from Oakland vendors & local businesses as well as their Opening Day? Oh that’s right, it lines Selig’s pockets with more money. Just wonderful. Do we have to trample on tradition every single time or make up farces just for the sake of more revenue? Just so MLB can sell more caps, jerseys & MLBTV it’s just alright? I couldn’t care less about MLB wanting to make more money because it craves it. Starting the regular season outside North America then going back to Spring Training games, one-game road trips to showcase new ballparks, having 4 different Opening Days is just beyond ridiculous.

    I don’t really see anything wrong with it. I think they did play the two games in Japan far too early though. They should have held them this week.

    The gap is to allow the Athletics and Mariners a few days to recover from jet lag. Sure they could start with the others, but three or four days off immediately thereafter? Not appealing.

    In honor of Passover I’ve dedicated this year’s 4 questions to my Amazin’ Mets opening day.

    Q: Why on this day do we have hope of a successful season when on all other days we can’t even admit to our closest friends that we root for the orange and blue?

    Q: Why on this day do we embrace the health of the team while on all other days we curse the medical staff as incompetent morons?

    Q: Why on this day do we feel that the Wilpon’s are reasonable owners who try their best when on all other days they are regarded as elitist pricks who we only wish were completely bankrupted by Bernie Madoff?

    Q: Why on this day do we go to the stadium and say this is a nice place for a game when on all other days we curse the Brooklyn Dodgers and Fred Wilpon’s infatuation with them while ignoring everything that made his team great throughout the successful year?

    sorry i am late to the party today, but i had to make a trip out to strawberry hill and krizman’s sausage house. aaaanyway…

    i only wish the cornmother could grant everyone a victory today on this sacred day, but since that isn’t possible, i just hope everyone enjoys their frankfurters, bier and biesbol.

    we made it through another year gents. the sun will shine, the ladies will sport their summer dresses, we take our bike rides along the lake, and we can listen to a game on the transistor. life, as they say, is good.

    …and on the the 96th day in the year 2012 the great cornmother’s mighty left arm hurled a cob into the fire of hathor and said “let them play ball. crack me a boh, and dress my my frank with mustard and onions.”

    sayeth the congregation…aaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaa-aaaaaa-meeeeeen.

    preach on comrade!

    ~~~

    they’ll come to kansas city for reasons you can’t even fathom…they’ll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they’re doing it…they’ll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past…of course, i won’t mind if you look around, you’ll say…it’s only $20 per bottlestopper…they’ll pass over the money without even thinking about it: for it is money they have and peace they lack…

    and they’ll walk out to your bleachers…sit in shirtsleeves on your perfect kansas city afternoon…they’ll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of your baglines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their baggers…and they’ll watch the game and it’ll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters

    the memories will be so thick they’ll have to brush them away from their faces…people will come comrade

    the one constant through all the years, comrade, has been baseball…the cornmother has rolled by like an army of steamrollers…it has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again…but baseball has marked the time

    this field, this game: it’s a part of our past, comrade…it reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again

    Oh…people will come comrade…people will most definitely come

    preacher gauntlet dropped with that post my brother, and i will get to it after i finish my alter.

    by the by, i am going all radio today, no tv. picturing every game as best i can in 1977 duds, so no uni-watching, just uni-daydreams. daytwah-sawx leads it off on the tiger radio network, the sawks in their red caps and narly grey of the day, the daytwahs in their typical glory. if only the tigers were on the road, i could picture the chicago bear-esque feather edge stirrup in my mind’s eye.

    sportin’ the 67 sens to go with the jackalopes jersey, you? or did i miss it? i need to read all the comments today.

    stupid champervilker with his all right-proper dead-on analysis of my brain-pan’s marker set…i guess there is a first time for everything. ziiiiiiiing, ba dum bump, henny youngman is up next;)

    i believe ogden nash said it best in “Line-Up for Yesterday”…

    L is for Lajoie
    Whom Clevelanders love,
    Napoleon himself,
    With glue in his glove.
    (addendum)
    G is for gash
    that had on his shin,
    it lead to the stirrup,
    which washed away sin.

    switched to linklink an hour ago.

    ssssspeaking of mr. randle and other random things, i found link as i was looking for that 78 card
    …the link played a tune on high as len randle blew it foul and breathed a sigh. good gooly miss molly was link ever hot. i think i need to move her higher up on the personal religion tip. she need sto be some sort of sacred goddess of blod rushing or something.

    Another one for the “ya learn something new at UW every day” file.

    I had no idea that she ever played at the Stadium.

    I enjoy uniwatch. I’m in just about every day.
    I get a kick out of it when Paul gets the red ass and swears at the comments.
    Oh yeah, I sort of envision Paul sitting in his apartment today in some vintage Mets grad drinking Pbr’s.
    Happy opening day my friends…The sun shines again.

    Does torching your meat like that give off a lot of smoke? That’s the big problem I’ve got in my small, poorly ventilated apartment.

    A little bit of smoke, but not nearly as much as you get when searing the meat in cast iron skillet. Just open your window and it should be fine.

    With the Mets, Blue Jays, Orioles and Marlins all improved, starting to think that Braves road nonsense with red de-emphasized is my new number one “grumbler” in MLB (Astros, Rockies and Padres being lost causes for the moment).

    It just goes totally against the basic design platform of the Braves’ unis. And a gorgeous platform it is.

    Have same reaction to the Heat’s “all-blacks.” Just…dumb. Pointless. Other than looking tough, I suppose. And having more gear to sell.

    Totally agreed. The Braves roads are some of THE best in baseball. No reason to mess with that.

    Something really bizarre just happened at Shea: Gary Carter’s four children (or maybe three children and his wife, not sure) just threw out the first pitches. The four people catching the pitches included Keith Hernandez and Darryl Strawberry, who are left-handed. But all four people catching the pitches — including Mex and Straw — wore RIGHT-handed gloves.

    Strange.

    My initial reaction is linkI would imagine it’s just hard to find a lefty catchers glove and the powers that be didn’t want anyone wearing a fielders glove.

    My second thought is that they all wore a righty because Carter was a righty.

    Humiliate any minority other than left-handers like that and you’d have team officials falling all over themselves in apology. But it seems that even in these politically correct times, it’s still perfectly OK to assume that everyone is right-handed, even famous baseball players who were seen live and on TV throwing the ball lefty thousands of times.

    I was at that Atlanta Braves/Future Stars game at Coolray Field. The Rome Braves uniforms were there as well, which has “ROME” on the front with an embossed look, and the NOB is gray, not white lettering.

    link

    Best news of the new season (so far): the Pirates have a new dead-center camera. Their previous camera was one of the worst in baseball.

    The Orange County Register is conducting a poll ranking presidential first pitch form.

    link

    I went through the slideshow and had a few questions/observations.

    1. The photo of Ford was from the ’76 All Star Game in Philly (notice the jacket worn by fan with the Kodak) not Arlington.

    2. Carter never threw out an Opening Day first pitch? The photo used was from the ’79 WS (Three Rivers, Pittsburgh game 7)?

    3. Is Bush 41 on the mound in Arlington or Baltimore? That does not look like Toronto (but is it?).

    W. apparently warmed up for like 15 minutes before throwing out the first pitch at the 2001 WS because he wanted to look strong and commanding.

    The result? I strike right down the center of the plate with decent speed.

    Perhaps the greatest success of his presidency.

    And maybe one of America’s enduring moments.

    Was almost impossible to be watching and not be a least a little bit moved that he nailed it. Philosophy and politics aside, it sort of said, “We’re still here, and we can still bring it.”

    Listening to the FAN right now and Josh Lewin (Hagin’s replacement) just reviewed the Uni’s; he said that the Braves are wearing “…blue jerseys that strangely have blue numbers…”.

    I like him already.

    He’s been in texas with the rangers. Which may or may not be equivalent to a rock.

    Umps wearing both ‘MS’ (Marty Springstead}, and ‘HW’ (Harry Wendelstedt} on their left sleeves now. Think the reason both were not on the sleeves in Japan, is because the shirts wer not finished in time to accompany the umps going over there.

    What’s disgraceful is that THOSE are the alternates and not full time home uniforms.

    That is, in fact, the primary home uniform of the New York Mets. The whites are, in fact, the alts. Now stop talking shit. ;-)

    Part 2 of my ballpark food survey is now posted online, just click the link below.
    link
    I’m a little ticked that the credits disappeared, so I’ll try to get a rewrite to have the credits reinstated. For now, thanks to (in chronological order by the article):
    Chris Hickey (thrice), James Nagasawa, Bruce Jaynes, John Okray, and Jake Hurley.

    Great article!

    I can’t believe I missed contributing my favourite ballpark food ever, smoked meat at the Big O. Eaten on a picnic table on the concrete concourse while drinking a Molson Ex out of a bottle.

    Something doesn’t seem right about those Nikelace collars. Look at Minnesota’s new link and link uniforms. They have full-contrast collars with the Flywire technology. Why couldn’t they do that with the new NFL uniforms?

    They DID do it for the Colts and Giants and Jets. The two-tone thing is just one of those “because we can” bullshit maneuvers.

    But the collars for the Colts, Giants, and Jets are the same color as the rest of their respective tops. I meant why couldn’t they do so for the teams with contrast collars that are a different color than the jersey (Saints: gold collar on a black jersey; Dolphins: aqua collar on a white jersey, etc.).

    They did it for the Houston Texans, they just want it to stick out and force people to notice and therefore think about Nike.

    It’s all about Nike. smh

    I’m sticking with my theory.

    The nine teams that opted not to go with the Nikelace (the four that are otherwise using new-tech unis, and the five who are sticking with the previous style) are probably holding out for Nike to make adjustments so that the Nikelace is hidden beneath a traditional-looking collar… except that Nike doesn’t want to make those adjustments, because they want to show off their proprietary technology.

    The Indians are looking good with the smaller block lettering on their cream jerseys. I still do not care for the red caps though.

    they logo looks off too me… really needs some sort of outline(same goes for the blue alts as well)

    yo brown-bag, you need to get steven, errrr the bagarazzi on your link. i nearly spit my “milk” this morn. just sayin like minds and all.

    When Sylvester and Twan are in shock at that thingamabob in Marlins Park, you know it’s a good day (a day that would’ve been even better if the Braves didn’t lose to the Mets -_-).

    stuff, as the kids say, happens. still roughly 161 to go, you miiiiiiiight be able to catch em, then again maybe not….which at best would mean 3rd if the mets are say 1,000 times better then expected.

    by the by, is everybody having roughly the best day every? my manic self is, what a great day.

    this commodore 64 and its keys!!! …”ever”…i don’t need any help in the moron dept.

    “i don’t need any help in the moron dept.”

    ~~~

    oh moose, don’t sell yourself short

    slow news day?

    “Paul Lukas amassed 15,000 additional Twitter followers in just eight hours after he tweeted photo after photo of the new Nike gear.”

    the story is on the interwebs

    Fact remains…Uni-Watch is no longer some kind of secret place for those of us in our odd little subgroup. It is becoming something of the “go to” place for things like Tuesday’s NFL/Nike unveiling.

    It that in and of itself news, per se? Probably not.

    Is it an indication of how this site has grown? Absolutely.

    Actually, the site has NOT grown very much over the past two years, at least as measured by raw traffic numbers. Our baseline traffic has remained remarkably consistent — 13K-15K visits per weekday, 9K on Saturdays, 10K on Sundays. We occasionally have a traffic spike when a big story breaks, but the numbers almost always go back to the baseline soon thereafter.

    A big part of the Twitter explosion on Tuesday was due to ESPN. The same Twitter widget I posted here on the blog on Tuesday was also posted on ESPN — they played up the Nike/NFL thing, and my coverage of it, bigtime.

    Site traffic on Tuesday: 83K.

    Wednesday: 39K

    While it would be nice to retain some of those new people who discovered the site over the past two days, I suspect we’ll be back to our baseline numbers within a week.

    To be clear: I’m always happy to have more people reading Uni Watch, but high readership isn’t my goal per se. Covering something that I care about, in a way that I find enjoyable and satisfying, is the goal. If that appeals to a mass audience, great; if it’s only a niche audience, that’s fine too.

    On a remotely related point, my family(mother, brothers and sisters) eagerly point out to me, that my rather obscure obsession of my childhood(the 1970’s) of sports uniforms has become so mainstream.

    “It is becoming something of the “go to” place for things like Tuesday’s NFL/Nike unveiling.”

    ~~~

    *sigh*

    just like paul envisioned it all those years ago

    Everything is indeed good with the world. Its like the last 16 years of shitty logos and black uniforms never happened.

    link

    link

    Yep, uniform wilderness years are over.

    Not sure if a Cleveland/Toronto game has ever look better.

    Great that it’s gone into extra innings, as I was at work for most of it. But it looks like there is only about 10 – 20% of the crowd left (cold day)

    I missed being a Blue Jays fan. Sorry, good citizens of Toronto, but when it comes to sports I am a wee bit superficial. Hope you’ll take me back with open arms.

    Welcome back,

    If the saying that in baseball you’re going to win 50 games and lose 50 games, it’s what you do with the other 62 that count is true. This is one of those 62 games. (it’s in the 15th inning)

    What the hell are you doing Raj

    Shite – we win – one of those 62. 16 Innings (they’re saying longest opening day in terms of inning) In a fashion that will only get the increasingly bubbling awakening of long dormant fan interest – STOKED!!!

    “Everything is indeed good with the world. Its like the last 16 years of shitty logos and black uniforms never happened.”

    ~~~

    damn styczen, until i clicked on those pics, i thought you were talking about MY team

    I was honestly not thinking of the Mets when I posted that.

    Your team may have had crappy black uniforms, but your logo never changed to a steroidal bird with fingers and a fucking tattoo.

    link

    I am revolted.

    At least with the Bears’ orange alternate jersey, there is a historical precedent for the Bears in an orange jersey, but this is disgusting slap in the face.

    Pics from Bears HQ, or it didn’t happen. But let’s for argument’s sake say that these are real. This — assuming that they didn’t do this in 1932 or earlier — will only be the fourth time in team history that they’ve worn orange trou. The other three times? link, link, and link. Just so long as they don’t pair ’em with the orange tops, I’m fine with these.

    Two things:

    1) I stand corrected

    2) I shoulda been clear. I will only believe these are real when I see them in real life, until them, the thought of Nike floating these – even as a ‘what if…’ disgusts me.

    Fair enough. But the idea of alternate pants could work for some teams. Of course, it will be up to the teams to decide if they want this stuff or not (just like they had a choice in how they wanted their collars), and I won’t rule out the realization that some teams will abuse this and come out with some ass combinations *coughtexansandtitans*, but we’ll just have to wait and see.

    If the Bears want to variate from their normal road uniform – link – they already have alternate pants to vary the look – link and that’s without becoming an abomination to the eyes.

    Leave the Blue-White-Orange combo where it belongs, Denver – link

    Although, the longer this preseason goes on, the more it seems like I’ll be rooting for the Chicago Broncos – link

    Cutler, Marshall, Wilhite, maybe orange road pants…

    Hmm. I’m torn. I really don’t want to see those on the field… Cleveland is the only team that I think should have orange pants, but I love the idea of having them in Madden as an extra option anyway.

    Cleveland Denver is the only team that I think should have orange pants”

    ~~~

    (fixed)

    wouldn’t go by the unis in Madden. in Madden 12 they had the default away unis for the browns as White tops and brown pants. i can’t remember the last time the browns wore that combo

    The last quote in that post is very scary. Let’s hope by game, they mean the video game and not actual game. I doubt it though…

    “We even have some of the details and jerseys Nike hasn’t revealed just yet. There are a lot of great alternate uniforms this year that people are going to love. There are some big surprises that are coming with helmets and things like that, that people don’t know about. I can’t wait until they see it in the game.”

    A Non uniform related question

    When does what Greg Williams actions (former Saints def-co-ordinator), cross the line and become criminal – with today’s news , it must be getting close. This is one sick and stupid puppy.

    I couldn’t help but notice the bright yellow logo (Wilson?) on the umpire’s throat guard today in the Jays/Indians game.

    New?

    Also, that Indians cap today might have been the most plain looking hat I’ve seen in years.

    yes really. is it really hard to believe/understand that the local fans like the logo?

    Missouri helmet – I noticed on the video on the top shelf in the background, among a bunch of other Big XII helmets, I noticed a gold (yellow, really) Mizzou helmet with a black “M” and another gold one with the oval tiger logo. Go to the :40 mark for a good look. The gold with the black “M” has been floating around for a couple years, but I’ve never seen the oval one. Any thoughts? Possible decoy for 4-14-12?

    Long time reader, first time posting. Thanks for the hard work!

    Two of the Indians were wearing new batting helmets today.

    link

    Is that the new Gazoo on Shelly Duncan (on the left for you non-Cleveland fans) and I don’t recognize the lid on Jack Hannahan.

    I apologize if I am late this this ballgame, but am I the only person who thinks the obvious outcome for that school in Wisconsin is to change the team name to the Berlin Krauts?

    My girlfriend really likes these Detroit Tigers shoes. Fortunately (or unfortunately, I’m not sure which) they don’t come in her size.

    link

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