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A Question of Ownership

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Got a note yesterday from reader Michael Guy, who informed me that Mississippi State will be wearing white alternate uniforms against Texas A&M on Nov. 8 to commemorate the 2000 Independence Bowl. That game, which was the last time these two schools met, was played in a snowstorm and is commonly referred to as the Snow Bowl — hence the white uniforms.

Michael then injected a whiff of corporate intrigue into the proceedings by telling me the following:

At the time of the 2000 Independence Bowl, Mississippi State was a Nike school, and Nike owns the rights to the interlocking “MSU” logo they used at the time [see photo above]. Since they’re an Adidas school now, it is unlikely that Nike will allow Mississippi State to wear the exact uniforms that they wore for the 2000 game. So they’ll be wearing this helmet design instead.

I found that very interesting on a number of different levels, so I left a voicemail with MSU media relations honcho Mike Nemeth, who called me back a little while later. Here’s how our conversation went:

Mike Nemeth: Now, the first thing here is that this is not a quote-unquote throwback game. We wanted to recognize the Snow Bowl and do some things around that, but the uniform itself is not going to be a throwback. We may do a special uniform for that game, but it won’t be a throwback to the 2000 uniform.

Uni Watch: I see. So that was never the plan.

NM: Right. Now, what you were told about the logo, that is actually correct. But there was never an intent to go back to that uniform or that headgear.

UW: In other words, you can’t use that particular logo, but that’s beside the point, because you didn’t plan on using it anyway.

NM: That’s correct.

UW: So even if you did have permission to use it, you would not opt to use it in this game.

NM: Probably not, since we’re not going to use any of the rest of the uniform from that time.

———

And that’s it. It’s hard to tell which is the chicken and which is the egg here (i.e., maybe they had no plans to use that logo because they know they’re not allowed to), but it’s interesting nonetheless, no?

Leaving aside the specifics of this one game, I hadn’t realized Nike had proprietary rights to some team logos. Usually when a designer creates a logo or identity system for a client, the client owns everything. Case in point: Nike created the Broncos’ uniforms in 1997 (at the time it was the first instance of a major-level team uni being designed by a uniform outfitter, instead of just manufactured by the outfitter from someone else’s design). But when Reebok took over the NFL’s uniform contract in 2001, the Broncos didn’t have to come up with a new uni or logo — Reebok just started manufacturing the Nike design.

But that’s apparently not the case at Mississippi State. Obviously, if that’s what was spelled out in the school’s contract with Nike, then that’s that, but I’m surprised the school would have agreed to such terms. Are there other examples of this? If anyone knows more, please let me know.

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ESPN contest reminder: I’m currently running a contest to rename and redesign the Hornets. Details here.

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Collector’s Corner

By Brinke Guthrie

Big week here in the Bay Area, as construction on the 49ers’ new [Silicon Valley company name here] Stadium has finally begun. So I thought I’d poke around for a few Candlestick gems, beginning with this 49ers 3Com snowglobe. Then there’s this 1973 Giants program — pardon me, that’s the Young Giants — with Chris Spier on the cover. And no collection of ’Stick memorabilia would be complete without on of these Croix de Candlestick pins, which were given out to fans who survived the ballpark’s frigid conditions. [I actually wrote about these pins a few years back, because at least one Giants player — I think Atlee Hamaker — wore one of the pins on his cap during a game. But now I can’t find that entry in the archives. Grrrrrr. ”” PL]

In non-Candlestick finds:

• Here’s a nice-looking 1970 NHL calendar banner with logos galore.

NFL IHOP alert! I got this very same 1972 mug from eBay and use it all the time. Speaking of mugs, this one’s for Paul.

• This 1970s NFL bedspread sure feels like Sears to me!

• Great-looking 1970s ABA Nets bank!

• These 1960s NFL bobbles are terrific. I have the Bengals one.

• Absolutely killer 1976 NY Giants poster, right here.

• Here’s a nice batch of 1970s WHA patches.

•  And if you have a spare three grand, you can own a piece of the original Kingdome dugout!

Seen something on eBay or Etsy (or anywhere else) that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Big congrats to Phil, whose recent contest to rename/redesign the Indians was featured on NBC Sports’ HardballTalk blog yesterday. … “The U.S. Olympic Wrestling Trials were in Iowa City over the weekend,” writes Jesse Gavin. “What I did not know is that there’s a tradition in wrestling that if you are retiring from competition, you symbolize it by taking your shoes off and leaving them on the mat. 2008 gold medalist Henry Cejudo took it one step further and threw his shoes into the crowd.” … If the Nordiques hadn’t moved to Colorado in 1996, they would have had a new uniform design. Over the years, many people — probably including me — have linked to this image of the unused design. But the colors in that mock-up are wrong. Jeff Barak tells the full story and sets the record straight here. … Jeff has also found a site featuring tons of beautiful old Finnish hockey sweaters. The interface is a little clunky, so I’ve gathered some of the nicest examples here. If you want to see more, go to this page and use the drop-down menu on the right to see additional designs. … Latest example of public officials looking to sell out our civic institutions: A Baltimore city councilman wants to sell ad space on the city’s fire trucks. “It’s pretty bad when our public services have to stoop that low,” says Troy Robison. Agreed. … Latest team to play G.I. Joe: Fordham baseball (from Chester Baker). … Joe Huggard found a page that shows all the uses of the old English “D” at Comerica Park. The photo of the “D” on the back of the mound includes a view of the stadium’s cleat cleaner, which is orange. Aren’t those usually white? Don’t think I’ve ever seen an orange one before. … Oooh, I love this chain-stitched speed-skating award patch. … I didn’t know Willie Horton had worn a helmet in the field until Jonah Stutz sent me this shot. What’s that in his mouth — gum? Can’t be a cigarette, not on the field like that. … Tim Lincecum wore gray undersleeves yesterday. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a Giants player do that before. ”¦ Interesting that the Mets wore their snow whites in the first game of yesterday’s doubleheader and their pinstripes in the nightcap, which means everyone had to change pants, instead of just jerseys, in between games. ”¦ Has a basketball uniform ever had skinner shoulder straps than these? (Good one from Mike Raymer.) ”¦ Interesting note from Brooks Simpson regarding the Yankees’ stirrups from that throwback game last Friday: “My daughter was with Lonn Trost, Yankees CEO, this weekend (she babysits his grandchildren in Arizona). Trost told her he had previewed an earlier version of the stirrups and rejected them because the red was too bright.” ”¦ Sleeve piping issues for K-Rod last night. “Maybe because they wear the alternates so damn much,” says Derek Meyferth. ”¦ David Taub’s Diamond Uniform Database, in which he’s tracking what each MLB team wears for every game this season, is now located here.

 
  
 
Comments (122)

    Those Finnish hockey sweaters are amazing. I’m moved to quote Jim Vilk. SaiPa (which somehow didn’t hit the compendium) could be best in show.

    Brought a smile to my face today. I could go for one of those “First Person Shooter” sweaters in the lower left.

    Most excellent find, TSG.

    What is that “creature” on the Karhu-Kissat sweater? Frog? Badger?

    Is that a running track on the JS(L)U sweater (middle row, first)? The first assumption is that the sweater is for some sort of larger athletic club.

    Karhu-Kissat translates as “Bearcats” so that animal seems to match.

    I spent a bit of time looking up a sweater from my home province (Karelia, so there should be something like Joensuu, Kuopio or Lieksa) but I wound up finding a sweater from my actual home town, or at least what it was called prior to the amalgamation that became Thunder Bay: link.

    I’d wear the HooPee and KIF sweaters (love the #0 on the latter).

    The #8 on the FPS sweater looks like a yellow ribbon. Interesting look.

    What about the UGA logo? How does that work out since it was originally leased from the Packers if I remember correctly.

    Well, what about it? Yes, UGA leased the logo (and so did Grambling). But that’s a case of a team using another team’s logo, not a team using its OWN logo. Apples and oranges.

    I have never ever heard of a designer having rights to a work they were commissioned to design. Although in theory, I can understand some instances when that would work…it’s hard to understand it in the context of a school logo.

    Why would Miss State agree to something like this? Why would Nike even want Miss State’s logo rights?

    Was Nike testing the waters to see how it would go before trying it with the “Big Boys”?

    Would the Baltimore Ravens original logo controversy fall into the catagory of a team not being permitted to use its’ own logo (or was that a simple case of theft?)? And speaking of Baltimore, did not the 1990’s CFL team face legal resistance from the NFL Indianapolis franchise for attempting to use the Colts monicker (though not the logo of course)? I wonder if the Detroit Lions protested the BC Lions in a similar fashion back in the 1950’s.

    you wrote out “quote-unquote” instead of just using quotes…that seems weird. That would be like me saying quote-unquote, quote-unquote in this post.

    He said it, so I transcribed it. It’s not an uncommon way to quote someone when they speak that way.

    If I had put “throwback game” in quotation marks, like I just did in this sentence, you might have wondered how I knew to do that. Was I imposing an editorial judgment on how he had said those words? Was I implying that he was being ironic? None of that would be acceptable when quoting someone. So instead I quoted him exactly as he spoke, which is the right way to do it.

    Nice to see that old-time Euro sweaters that actually looked like hockey sweaters instead of skating billboards.

    What a crazy “8” on that FPS sweater! Looks like someone made it out of a piece of ribbon.

    Do I have to be the first to complain about the zipper going through the stitching?

    Ok, maybe not. Still pretty cool.

    Paul,

    Nike owns the Circle I logo that Illinois uses on some of its uniforms and apparel.

    link

    Nike is the only company allowed to produce gear with Oregon’s O on it. Don’t know if they own the mark or if that’s just part of the contract, though.

    Only Nike can make t-shirts with that O. This is why you frequently see blank helmet Oregon merchandice or a generic “OU” Or a bad script during the final 4 or bowls.

    oh good call.

    link

    i’ve never noticed that.

    never the less, state should get that logo back. i mean look at that pic of wayne madkin. the msu logo is on the helmet and the sleeve. it was such a huge part of the university.

    The Detroit Tigers “D” story was fascinating. Very interesting and I never noticed it before.
    I find it intriguing that the team plays along and uses both versions in their home ball park.
    The whole thing makes me wonder that when the team orders various signage and markers throughout the ball park that they simply just show the new vendor some old signage containing both style “D” and the vendor for whatever reason just picks the “D” that is easiest to replicate on whatever type of sign or marker they are creating.
    Anyone know about this?

    I’ve noticed the difference forever, and I do prefer the hat logo over the jersey one.

    According to Okkonen, the earliest use of the “jersey D” with three left-side vertical strokes came in 1908, although there were variations used until 1934, when the team settled on a home jersey design that would be used almost continuously to this day (1938 and 1960 saw short-lived changes; a zipper-front in ’38, and a spoonless script “Tigers” in ’60).

    The hat logo is just an odd case of divergent evolution.

    I’d always guessed discrepancies in Detroit’s “D” (and for that matter, the Yankees’ “NY”) were brought about to take advantage of optical illusions. Light objects against dark backgrounds have a tendency to sparkle, so you can get away with skinny strokes punctuated by exaggerated corners (“punking”). Dark insignias can be overwhelmed by the bright background fabric in direct sunlight, so fattening the strokes and rounding off the corners (“bloating”) achieves the task of making both monograms appear alike to the unaided eye.

    True, there must be attention paid to the colors of the mark/lettering and the background, but one really only needs need to thin out the monogram when it’s light on dark and fatten it when it’s dark on light. The design differences that Detroit perpetuates don’t make the two Ds appear more similar; it’s what makes them appear different. They are totally different letterforms.

    I wonder if other companies that produce jerseys for college teams own the logos as well. I bet it’s one of those “minor details” that’s overlooked when signing the multi-million dollar contracts.

    There’s an old saying that if you owe the bank a thousand dollars, the bank owns you, but if you owe the bank a million dollars, you own the bank. (Change that last to a billion and that’s actually part of what went wrong in the panic of 2008.) Anyway, the saying works as a metaphor for Nike and colleges these days. Paul is right that design work is normally done for hire, such that all work product belongs to the client. And normally, the client is actually the stronger party in the deal, so it has the negotiating power to set the terms of the contract. But now here comes Nike, with billions in revenue and more lawyers than most companies have people, and on the other side of the negotiating table you’ve got a handful of university athletics folks and maybe one or two members of the university’s counsel. Even if the AD folks aren’t the business-naive rubes they usually are, the power dynamic in the negotiation is completely reversed from the norm. A normal design firm probably wouldn’t even think of trying to retain ownership of finished work product; that Nike would do so is an artifact of the disproportionate power it brings to negotiation with an individual school. (Also a result of the fact that Nike doesn’t do design at all anymore.)

    Consider, on the other hand, the NFL, which brings more money, sophistication, and power to the table than Nike, and which seems to have wrangled Nike into a relatively normal supplier-client relationship of the sort that Nike basically doesn’t do anymore for individual teams it outfits. (The NFL is famous for the quality of its legal department; God probably couldn’t win a negotiation with the NFL’s general counsel.) So maybe it’s time for the NCAA to act as a merchandising cartel for its members, or at least or conferences to do the same, so that Nike isn’t able to dominate its relationships with individual schools but must face a more equal partner as it does in the NFL.

    The schools enter into contracts with Nike, adidas, etc. at will and are paid quite well for it. The schools don’t need oversight to protect them.

    This is one case of Nike “owning” a logo and I bet the wording is more “exclusive rights” to that logo which is how its worded when it comes to the Oregon “O” and the Illinois “Circle I” Just like the new ASU marks, Nike had exclusive rights to those for 1 year. This happens all the time in the world with technologies so its not all that different.

    And example of it going the other way: Texas A&M’s T-star was designed by Nike but you see it on adidas product all the time now.

    The True Nords Strong and Teal! That prototype jersey is one of the better uses of real from the 1990s, and much better than the muted blue I’ve seen depicted all these years. If it weren’t such a downgrade for the Nordiques, I’d almost say it was a shame we didn’t get to see that sweater on the ice.

    The best thing about autocorrect is that it gives us all a free pass for typos and fat-fingering. Either autocorrect caused the error, or autocorrect failed to correct the error. No way I’m leaving that get-out-of-typo-free card unplayed!

    (I assumed that since everyone knows the T and R are next to each other, what with it being called QWERTY and all, it would be clear I was mocking myself for the typo there. Apologies to any autocorrect programmers out there who thought I was actually besmirching their work.)

    The link reminds me of the link. Both featured dark blue and white with contrasting upper sleeves… though, granted, much of the other details are different.

    Nordiques “New” Jerseys

    I have actually seen one of these jerseys on sale at Ebay or somewhere similar about 3-4 years ago. It was exactly as your source asserts it to be.

    As I understood it, the jersey (the Dark one) for sale was the prototype actually used in the photo shoot.

    Not being much of a hockey fan… was there a story behind them going with a Siberian husky on their sweater? Or was it simply, “hey, we need a fierce animal in our logo”? I love the old Nordiques logo and hate it’s no longer in use (along with the Whalers). While the uniform Paul linked doesn’t necessarily look bad, in a vacuum, it would have been a huge downgrade for that franchise, IMO.

    Absolutely agree, Chris. As a matter of fact, when I perused the WHA logos in Brinke’s link, I noticed how among them the Nordiques stands out and holds up well. Then moments later I read about the proposed new jersey–the clunky, snarling tealwolf–and couldn’t believe it.

    No argument from me. Insignia design was in a golden age during the ’60s and ’70s, but had perilously diminished during the ’80s. Look at the busy lumps of crap that passed for logos during hockey’s expansion in the 1990s, and compare them to the sharp, linear symbols of the “Expansion Six” and the WHA. Almost every logo of 1970’s vintage is a work of art.

    I absolutely love logos from the 70’s. They were so crisp, bold, and graphic! Despite their abstract simplicity they all had deeper meaning to them. They looked great no matter what the size and when reduced to just black on a white background. They were also easy to make out from a distance. How many recently designed logos can you say these things about? Not many!

    I echo everything Jim and walter said.

    I miss those beautiful blue Nordiques uniforms with their fleur-de-lis and absract/clever igloo. I think about them every time I see the cartoonish, ugly Avalanche.

    Is the original Nordiques logo really supposed to be an abstract igloo? I always thought it was just a lowercase “n” with a hockey stick and puck next to it. I can now see that the negative space of the bottom part of the “n” looks like a front view of an igloo’s entrance. But the angle of the stick ruins the silhouette of the igloo’s dome. I think that’s why the logo never, ever looked like an igloo to me. Add the fact that I never knew what Nordiques meant and you get serious logo confusion!

    Personally I think the logo looks more like a side view of an elephant than an igloo, LOL!

    link

    I’m from New Orleans and the fleur de lis is omni-present. However, there are so many versions of it, it was hard to find a good one that I liked, when, in 1994, I decided to run for New Orleans’ City Council, and wanted to use the Fleur De Lis as my principal logo/trademark for the campaign.

    After many weeks of looking for one I really liked, I saw a highlight on ESPN with the Nordiques wearing it, and actually remembered that it was their ogo many years ago that had germinated the idea that I use it on political signage. The next day I reached a source, had the Nordiques logo faxed to me, and used it for the campaign. At the time, I was the second guy to use it in a political campagn (Louis Charbonnet was the first in 1983).

    Today – post-Katrina, almost 80% of political candidates in New Orleans use the fleur de lis o their signs and mailers.

    I have always had a soft spot for the Quebec Nordiques, and despite being American, loath the fact that those teams left Canada.

    I had to have the Nordiques explained to me as a teenager; I chalk it up to the language barrier. Short version: It’s French for “Eskimos”. The monogram, which to me was too clever by half, was a red igloo, but its entrance could be interpreted as the counter of the “n” or the hockey stick. I repeat myself, but at first blush I thought it an elephant pushing a lawnmower. But I stand by my assertion about 20th Century logo design.

    I linked that picture on here months ago, and I wasn’t the first one, either.

    Naw, those purple & teal prototypes were hideous and extremely dated. They would probably be wearing a black or navy & red version by now. Always liked the Nordiques light blue version as opposed to the darker royal version.

    Love it or hate it, the proposed Nordiques new jerseys were going to be a vibrant and contrasting dark blue, teal and black, not a dull, low contrast dusty blue, silver and periwinkle. Thanks so much to Paul for linking to our story to set the record straight. The incorrect image has frustrated and driven us crazy for years now and it’s very cathartic to have the chance to get the correct information out to the public. We’ve also linked to the full size versions of the jerseys and now the logo if anyone needs copies of the correctly colored ones.

    JeffB

    “which means everyone had to change pants, instead of just jerseys, in between games.”

    I was listening to the Giants radio broadcast, and Duane Kuiper was noting between games that the first thing he wanted between games of a doubleheader was a clean pair of pants. Weird.

    Those Finnish hockey jerseys are gorgeous. I wonder though, the one with the V on the front (top left corner), what’s with the C between the numbers?

    Also, according to Google Translate and the automatic translate in Chrome, this team’s name is “Miami Dolphins”:

    link

    Atlee Hammaker was wearing a Croix de Candlestick pin while pitching in the 1983 MLB All-Star Game. He was the one who gave up the grand slam to Fred Lynn.

    According to Baseball Almanac, link. (Scroll to the bottom.) Looks like he was fond of 14 excepting that one year change. Anyone know why?

    And the “Croix” was given to fans link. At the ‘Stick it was the least they could do.

    Could that be a toothpick in Willie Horton’s mouth? Or perhaps a piece of a drinking straw or coffee stirrer?

    Not a log/uniform design, but maybe similar situations occur to what happened when the Phillies had a design firm create the Phillie Phanatic:
    “In his book Pouring Six Beers At A Time, Giles wrote of the worst decision of his life when it came to the creation of the Phanatic. The design would cost $5,200 for both the costume and the copyright ownership, or $3,900 just for the costume with Harrison/Erickson retaining the copyright. Giles chose to just buy the costume. Five years later, when Giles and his group of investors bought the team from Ruly Carpenter, the franchise paid $250,000 to Harrison/Erickson for the copyright.”

    well, you’re the guy who told us the Mets are planning on wearing their snow whites for day games and the pins for night games, so why did the team sticking to their protocol surprise you?

    That Finnish hockey jersey site has a nice little section on international jerseys, showing not only the history of their own country’s jerseys, but a few jerseys from other countries as well.

    Apparently, Spain at one point went with link based on the link

    … and link Hip-checks ahoy!

    I believe, based on the dates on that page, that St. Louis copied the style that Spain originally used.

    And based on Spain’s hockey success, it’s clear to see why St. Louis were popular in this style.

    now i know why Miss State doesnt use the MSU logo. that was easily my fav logo.

    why doesnt some of the alumni of MSU like Will Clark, Eric Dampier, ect… buy the logo back from Nike. I would flip out if Russel Athletic owned Auburn’s AU.

    there’s gota be someway to get the MSU back…its a big part of the university

    I ran the text through Google Translator and got this:

    Hockey arrived in Spain in the early 1900s by Canadian and British players will show the matches. Country joined the International Hockey League in 1923 and three years later, it participated in the European Championship tournament in the tournament. Thereafter, the ice näivettyi decades. In the 1970s hockey hobby was up and running again.

    No reference to a date for the uniform. Besides, the uni has the textless Nike swoosh, which suggests it could not have been earlier than the mid-90s, when Nike made its big push into hockey.

    I was going off the fact that Spain hasn’t been playing in any major hockey tournaments that I’ve heard of.

    However, you’re right, Rob – Spain has participated in the IIHF World Championship Division II since it began in 2001! So it would appear Spain did copy St. Looey!

    On the Mets thing, Terry Collins protocol this year is snow whites during home day games, pinstripes at night. That’s probably the reasoning behind yesterday’s doubleheader look.

    Wow, check out the goggles on Kareem here:

    link

    I’m guessing this would have been from early in the ’74-75 season, when he first started wearing goggles.

    The piping on K-Rod’s jersey has been like that for almost a week now. Guess they don’t care enough to fix it.

    Didn’t Johan Santana have that same “problem?” I think it’s a product of forcibly stretching the sleeves out for a little extra room. Since Santana and K-Rod were once teammates with the Mets, it’s plausible that K-Rod could have picked up the quirk.

    In case anyone’s hesitant to click the link, the DP video he’s referring to is completely SFW.

    What’s that on Timmy’s left wrist? That’s the first time I’ve seen anything on a pitcher’s wrist. (Exception: One MLB ASG that encouraged everybody to wear yellow wristbands. It was the one where Michael Young hit a game-tying triple. I forget the year.)
    //Pitchers normally aren’t allowed anything on their wrists, because it would be “distracting.” The alternative is to rig a wristband on the cuff of the glove itself, as in Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson.

    And without any research, I think it was 2004, actually. I vaguely remember it was Miguel Cabrera’s first year wearing #24 with the Marlins. Tony Perez (of the Big Red Hitting Machine) was a base coach for the Marlins, and made Cabrera “earn” “his” jersey number. After a (regrettably for me, I’m a Yankee fan) great year in 2003 wearing #20, he earned the #24 then.

    Lincecum wore a saint bracelet on the cover of ESPN magazine. I wouldn’t think he’d wear it in a game, except on his non-throwing arm. Can’t see the video on my phone, so I can’t say for sure.

    I couldn’t help but notice in Collector’s Corner of the 1960s/1970s & heavy-NFL slant in each edition. I know auction listings are done on a whim, but I was hoping for more of a seasonal sport theme & wider range of eras or something. Just a general comment.

    Up until recently Disney owned the Oregon Duck trademark. It was interesting because everyone loved the duck mascot, but you could not buy anything with the duck on it.

    In early 2010 Disney released their Donald Duck trademark on the Oregon duck though.

    link

    Really? I remember buying several T-Shirts from UO’s student store in the late ’70s, all with Disney-esque ducks on them.

    “Special dispensation?” Or earlier than the Disney deal?

    I am pretty sure, the agreements are all very hush hush labeled as trade secrets but look online today, I still can not find any shirts with the “donald duck” on it.

    On the cleat cleaning device on the Tiger’s mound….my guess is that it used to be white, but the brick dust or whatever they use on their mound and infield has stained it over time.
    Just a thought.

    Skinner should be skinnier in the third to last ticker item. Also, thanks for your wonderful blog. I like to share it with my 5 year old son who is learning how to properly dress for his baseball games.

    Best news of the day – the Blue Bombers are ditching the 90s look and going back to their original simpler logo.

    link

    Also from the article: The Bombers, along with every other CFL team, will also be unveiling new home and away jerseys on May 1.

    Seriously, people on twitter need to follow Andy Graf of the SI Vault. He releases photos like this beauty of the ‘Hawks and Leafs from 1966: link on an almost hourly basis. Beautiful and cool stuff.

    His twitter account: link

    Agreed.
    I submitted an amazing picture of George Plimpton (yes, the author of Paper Lion and “The Curious Case of Sidd Finch”) playing goalie for the Bruins, against the Flyers, in a pre-season game. Plimpton’s wearing #00 with circular FNOB, and the Flyers are wearing #4 patches for Barry Ashbee. It was in the Ticker here, thanks to my email to Paul, but I initially found that picture from the SI Vault Twitter.
    Plus, his occasional swimsuit pictures are nice.

    What’s your favorite thing from Plimpton’s list of objects thrown by Rangers fans?

    Okay, so I remembered that back before NHLUniforms.com was rebooted as the Hockey Uniform Database in 2008, they had “bonus uniforms” in the year-by-year sections that included some unworn jerseys – including the Nordiques’ new unis (which were listed under 1996-97, the year they would’ve debuted if not for the team moving).

    Looking up on the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, I found the image from the old site, and link

    So, for fun, I’ve link.

    Has a basketball uniform ever had skinner shoulder straps than link

    Wow, I hope not!
    At first I thought he cut them, but check out link

    It does look as if the “spaghetti straps” got rolled up a bit in that first photo, though.

    i think jim vilk still has (and wears) a pair of shorts just like those

    i always wondered what that button was on atlee hamaker’s hat, and now i know. thanks uni watch.

    Nordiques “New” Jerseys

    I have actually seen one of these jerseys on sale at Ebay or somewhere similar about 3-4 years ago. It was exactly as your source asserts it to be.

    As I understood it, the jersey (the Dark one) for sale was the prototype actually used in the photo shoot.

    $30 for the IHOP mug??! Don’t think I paid much more than $6 or $7 bucks for the ones I’ve found and I’ve got all 3 now.

    Yeah, the eBay effect I guess. I have the same mug (as well as the AFC version which is in orange) that I bought at the local thrift store for 99 cents each.

    The Mets are wearing the snow whites for the first time at night this season, I think.

    #slumpbuster– Yeah, that has to be the thinking behind the decision. And hopefully, they’ll never break out black tops this year. So far so good.

    That’s the first time I can remember seeing the white shirts being used all season, I forgot how good they look.

    With due respect to the poster above who liked that interlocking Mississippi State logo, I don’t think it holds much favor among fans. We always referred to it as the “MSJ” logo because the S cuts off the left upright on the U.

    I’ve always preferred this interlocking MSU logo, traditionally used by the baseball team (and still in use, contrary to what this website indicates):
    link

    Anybody doing the uni-tracking thing this season? I hope someone tracks the Marlins. We should have a pool to see how many times they’ll actually wear the orange hats. My money’s on 0-5 times.

    Too bad the MLB free preview is over…sure would have loved watching the Blue Jays and Orioles:
    link
    That would have topped tonight’s Top Five list.

    Hey, I’m glad some of your readers enjoyed seeing my Tiger’s “D” pictures from Comerica Park. I got some great comments left on my blog today. Thanks.

    Anyone still up and watching the Braves, was it just me, or does Eric O’Flaherty’s jersey not have an apostrophe in the NOB? Just looked like OFLAHERTY.

    Subject: MSU’s Nike Interlocking Logo

    Our Athletic Director at the time, Larry Templeton, agreed to let Nike have the rights to the Nike interlocking MSU logo. He was our long-time athletic director and did good things, but when it came to marketing the university and fundraising and pushing the MSU brand, Templeton was behind the times (hence signing over our logo). The new AD Scott Stricklin (and first starting under the previous AD Greg Byrne — now at Arizona State), are much more on the forefront when it comes to marketing, fundraising, and branding. Templeton was more interested in being in the black (breaking even on revenue and expenses) than really pushing and growing the athletic department in the modern age. MSU does much better with this stuff now. The interlocking MSU is cool (baseball uses an overlapping MS), but the new M-State with the Bulldog is much better. We have “this is OUR STATE” billboards set-up all over the state (part of the rivalry w/ Ole Miss), take advantage of Twitter, utilize each of the coaches in marketing and selling the university, broader fundraising efforts, wear maroon fridays, were the 1st to incorporate #HailState on (twitter signatures) on our fields (football endzone), etc.

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