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When the ‘Leotard Look’ is very, very good

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By Phil Hecken

Paul has an ESPN column today — look here.

Meanwhile: We’re about ready to wrap up the look at Olympics uniforms (kits, singlets, suits, etc.) today with a wonderful (and very thorough) post by my final Olympic Correspondent, Catherine Ryan, who has done a tremendous job on the article that follows. It’s a little long, even by my standards, but it’s really worth reading (and clicking through) the entire post. Cathrine is obviously very passionate about the subject matter, and it shows in her writing. The first two sections have no links, but they are great descriptors of the uniforms (written by Catherine’s friend Katie Moore, a former gymnast) and the Games of 2012 — certainly a good set up for anyone (like me), who enjoyed watching the young ladies, but who didn’t give much thought to the outfits they wear.

One note of caution — Catherine uses what she calls the “Maroney-meter” to rate the teams/gymnasts. What is that? The “Maroney-meter was just a fun play on the fact that McKayla Maroney has become infamous for her bored and judgmental facial expressions. She’s become the diva of the team (and an internet meme) so I just thought people would get a kick out of some of her facial expressions.” HA! That’s great. You’ll enjoy as well.

So. without further ado, here’s Uni Watch’s look at…

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Olympic Gymnastics
By Catherine Ryan

When I emailed Phil a few weeks ago in response to his Olympic Correspondent post, my eyes may have been bigger than my Uni Watch stomach when I excitedly ”˜claimed’ gymnastics. Despite being an avid follower of the sport, my lack of flexibility has ensured that the only apparatus on which I could ever medal is the couch. So, while I felt confident I could cover the more traditional Uni Watch elements of the uniforms, I reached out to a close friend, and former gymnast, in hopes that she could shed some light on the more practical, tactical, and strategic uniform choices that often go unnoticed by the casual fan. It seems important to start with this basic introduction to the gymnast’s leotard.

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A Gymnast’s Uniform
(By Katie Moore)

Usually, when we watch the men’s and women’s gymnastics teams compete in the Olympic Games, the only thing we are focused on is the mind-blowing twists, turns and flips that the gymnasts perform before our eyes. It is difficult to not be mesmerized by the combination of flexibility, strength and grace in their routines. That being said, the ability to move from one skill to the next with ease and comfort is not only due to their athletic prowess; other factors, like the gymnast’s uniform, can make all the difference in performance.

At first glance, it may seem that all competition leotards are essentially the same, except for the colors and designs that designate the gymnast’s team. However, there are several other factors that are taken into consideration when the uniforms are designed.

Olympic gymnasts are carefully measured before the Games to ensure that their leotards are tailored to avoid the slightest discomfort or distraction during competition. Gymnasts can face deductions for uniform malfunctions, such as if the material around the hip is too high or too low or if any of their undergarments become visible in the middle of a routine. The judges already have a keen eye for mistakes like wobbles, missed connections, and leg separations, so it is crucial that the uniform does not become another cause for lowering a score.

Female gymnasts usually wear long-sleeved or three-quarter length leotards when they compete, as opposed to the sleeveless style that they wear for practice sessions or podium training. The three-quarter length sleeves have become more popular, especially throughout the past few Olympic Games, although the full-length sleeves are still used by many gymnasts as well. It is mostly based on personal preference: for example, some gymnasts prefer the three-quarter length so that they do not have to roll up the extra fabric when they wear grips for the uneven bars or wrist guards for the floor exercise.

Women’s gymnastics uniforms are usually made of either lycra or spandex in order to provide a snug fit that stays in place when the gymnast moves. The material should not be too loose; otherwise, the gymnast might constantly be tugging the leotard to readjust it””an automatic deduction in all levels of gymnastics. While the materials have not changed much throughout the modern history of gymnastics uniforms, the colors and designs of competition leotards have become more complex in recent years. Leotards with more intricate patterns and bedazzling jewels have replaced the simple uniforms of the ”˜70s and ”˜80s. Last Sunday, the American women’s gymnastics team made their debut in London for the qualification round donning purple, full-length sleeved uniforms with silver jewels in the shape of stars on the front. This design is a prime example of how the American women’s team competition uniforms have evolved from the days of Mary Lou Retton’s simple red, white and blue American flag-themed leotard from the 1984 Games.

Although women’s gymnastics teams are required to wear matching uniforms during the team competition, they are permitted to wear whichever leotard they choose for the all-around and event finals. This allows them with more opportunity to showcase their personality and style in the individual competitions. One of the most memorable uniforms from the women’s all-around final of the 2008 Beijing Olympics was Nastia Liukin’s hot pink leotard with sparkly silver jewels on the front. Her consistency and grace earned her the coveted gold medal, but it is likely that her brightly colored uniform also helped her stand out among her competitors.

On the men’s side of the sport, the competition apparel is pretty different. Male gymnasts wear a sleeveless uniform paired with long pants (except for vault and floor exercise, in which the pants are replaced with shorts). As might be expected, the men’s outfits have much more simple designs than those of the women’s team (the “bedazzling” effect is non-existent), but the importance of a tight fit on the gymnast’s body is equally as important. In the men’s team finals on Monday, the American gymnasts sported simple red, white and blue leotards with matching red pants for the competition. It seems that men’s gymnastics uniforms have not undergone the same design evolution as the women’s have, preferring to maintain the simplicity of the country’s colors with minimal flair. With regard to the length of leotard sleeves and pant length, this too has stayed pretty consistent.

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The 2012 Olympic Games

Since 1992, the US National Team has been outfitted with leotards and apparel from a small American company called GK Elite. The company is based in Reading, Pennsylvania and is the exclusive supplier for the US Olympic team as well as nine other national teams. The popularity, and reach, of the GK Elite brand grew after the company signed a licensing agreement with apparel behemoth adidas. GK Elite is the exclusive gymnastics apparel provider for adidas and maintains exclusive sponsorship agreements with popular gymnasts such as Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson.

Prior to the games beginning, I reached out to GK Elite to inquire about the uniforms they designed for this year’s Olympians. A representative from the company explained to me that the designs are not released in advance and that the recent cover of Sports Illustrated was an unprecedented event for the company. Typically, the leotards are revealed during competition. While this no doubt creates suspense and excitement for fans of the sport, it did throw a wrench into preparing this post!

So, without further ado, here is a summary of all the team uniforms as well as the uniforms revealed by each American gymnast during individual competition.

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US Women’s National Team

During the team final, the US women wore the same leotard they revealed earlier this summer on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The leotards were a bright red with a sequined pattern featuring a star cutout. The sleeves, all full-length, featured an adidas-esque bejeweled stripe and the standard USA design on the right upper-arm.

Maroney-Meter: Pleased

Podium Wear

The US Women’s Gymnastics team won the gold in the team competition and gave us the perfect backdrop upon which to analyze their podium wear. The reception of Team USA’s podium wear has been mixed.

While some say the design is boring, monotonous, unpatriotic, and would cause “Betsy Ross to roll in her grave,” others say the design is clean and draws attention to the right place: the medal. I have to agree with the latter camp. While perhaps a navy or white design may have been more patriotic/festive, I think the dark gray really allows the medals to pop, unless of course you bag a silver.

The podium jacket features the USA Olympic Team patch on the left chest and “The United States of America” across the back. Additionally, just in case we missed the swoosh, Nike churned out some sort of radioactive slipper-sneaker. Now, a moment of silence for Russia’s podium wear.

Maroney-Meter: Bored

Team Russia

While Bosco took a wild, albeit calculated, swing and a miss with the podium wear, I think the company did a fantastic job with the team leotards. The red and white is simple and clean and the pattern in the center is reminiscent of the Russian coat of arms. The left sleeve also features the full Russian coat of arms. While the bedazzling has its place, it’s nice to see a uniform that uses color and creative designs. In all seriousness, it was difficult to find photos of the Russian athletes where they weren’t crying. Not sure if the tears were due to their upcoming silver medals or those upcoming podium jackets.

Maroney-Meter: Indifferent

Team Romania

Despite its rich tradition in gymnastics, Romania has struggled to design a leotard that doesn’t make me cringe. While I applaud the efforts to stick with a design based on the Romanian flag, the color scheme of the flag doesn’t do the designers any favors. I’ve never been a fan of blue, red, and yellow being used together as it can’t help but look like “My First Leotard.” However, this year I was pleasantly surprised. The design, as expected, featured the colors of the flag but balanced it out nicely with white. In the past, they have attempted white but, at the same time, adjusted the amount of yellow on the uniform resulting in either an extremely boring leotard or one that looks discolored.

Maroney-Meter: Empathetic

Team China

China’s women were unable to medal at the team final but they did make a decent showing in the leotard department. The leotard is red with a golden flame-like pattern streaking across the front. The pattern features a couple different gradients across the chest and down the arms. Additionally, the competition-worn uniforms featured a patch on the center of the chest. Nothing crazy and nothing too surprising. It was a step-up from the creepy and over-the-top leotards China graced the world with in 2008.

Maroney-Meter: Annoyed

Team Canada

Team Canada came storming into their first Olympic team final competition in bright red leotards nearly entirely covered in bling. The center of the leotard featured a bejeweled maple leaf. I really disliked the arm patch. It’s too small, it’s a strange shape, it’s positioned way too high, and it even looks like it’s been attached off-kilter. Canada needed to make up for these qualifying leotards where they managed to make the entire team look like a bunch of out of shape fans that just won a fantasy camp contest. Sorry, Canada.

Maroney-Meter: Unimpressed

Great Britain

Great Britain has taken a lot of flack for the lack of red in their official Olympic wear. It should come as no surprise then that the British women’s gymnastics team showcased midnight blue leotards for the women’s team final. The design was distract from the athlete, I wouldn’t have minded if the host country, hardly considered a gymnastics powerhouse, had taken some aesthetic risks to stand out from the competition. The individual competitions featured a couple more exciting leotards, but overall, the team’s look was just plain boring.

Maroney-Meter: Irritated

Italy

Oh, Italy…why all the blue? The design is a little strange and the white armpitspoon (?) looks strange when it rounds back around the opposite shoulder. Additionally, Italy seemed to be wearing the worst-fitting uniforms of the entire competition. Overall, the design isn’t terrible but it was difficult to remember what country was competing as the blue really made them look identical to Great Britain in some shots.

Maroney-Meter: Feigning Interest

Japan

Wow. I’ll admit that when I first saw it I was a little confused by the striping. It reminded me of the military flag that the Japanese navy used to use during WWII. At the last Olympics in Beijing, Japanese fans were warned not to fly this flag because it is offensive to countries that have fallen victim to Japanese aggression in the past, especially China. So, I was a little surprised that it seemed to have been incorporated. However, the design is extremely popular within Japan and the more I watched, the more I realized the striping oddly complimented the movements of the gymnasts. It was hypnotizing! I love that the design focused on the true Japanese flag and, although the design was busy, I really think it was a great leotard.

Maroney-Meter: Leaving

Best Dressed of the US

So, for individual competitions, the Olympians can showcase their own leotards. I didn’t think a single Uni Watch reader would be willing to sit through my analysis of every leotard so I focused on the Americans who performed individual events.

1. McKayla Maroney (Vault)

While “Air Maroney” will be remembered for her near perfect vault routine in the team final, it was her leotard during the vault final that was truly perfect. White leotards make gymnasts look like princesses. Plain and simple. Maroney absolutely rocked this stunning leotard. There really isn’t much to say; the color, the rhinestone design, and the fit were all perfect. It doesn’t even matter that she didn’t nail the vault, the girl’s a rock star.

2. Aly Raisman (Beam/Floor)

Love it. How could you not? It perfectly combines some American spirit with a beautiful design that seems to incorporate both shooting stars and a feathered wing pattern. The back is simple while the arms are covered in rhinestones. It is Retton-esque. Jordyn Weiber rocked the same leotard while directly competing with Raisman in the women’s floor final.

3. Gabby Douglas (All-Around)

Ok. Now, the Uni Watch community can appreciate a divisive trend when it comes to uniform aesthetics. That divisive trend, in the world of leotards, is hot pink. This team, uh, well, LOVES it. They love it so much that it’s become a running joke. McKayla Maroney even sports hot pink Beats. Also, London seems to love it. Regardless of your feelings, Gabby Douglas won the Gold medal in the women’s all-around while rocking this. Gabby said that when she first walked into the complex in London she was shocked to find that the entire gym was hot pink. So, considering she didn’t have that knowledge in advance, I can forgive her for basically wearing camo. Girls will be girls. Plus, everyone knows it’s the accessories that make the outfit.

(Douglas also wore a silver version of the same leotard during the uneven bars final)

4. Jordyn Weiber (Qualifications)

The Weibs had a rough Olympics despite the epidemic of Weiber Fever we were all experiencing prior to the beginning of the games. Regardless, Weiber can rock a ”˜tard (that’s leotard, without the leo.) During qualifications, the team wore purple leotards with silver stars across the front.

Worst Leotard of the Games: Vanessa Ferrari (Italy, Floor Finals)

I don’t even have words. If you told me this picture was taken after someone told her she had to wear that leotard I would believe you. It has one sleeve. I’m going to get upset if I keep typing.

Uni Watch Appreciation note: Male gymnasts and their ”˜rups.

Assorted Male Teams

United States
China
Great Britain
Japan
Ukraine

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CatherineRyan

Catherine Ryan is a second year law student living in New York City. She lives and breathes Yankees baseball, Giants football, and Villanova basketball. When she’s not studying, she loves reading, watching The Office, and mercilessly picking apart uniforms from a darkened corner of her apartment. She thanks Phil and the Uni Watch crew for this great opportunity!

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Great job on that Catherine! Big round of applause from me — and I hope the fine Uni Watch readership — on a job well done!

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olympics-london-2012

More Olympics:

This section will feature updates, lesser news, and reader submissions from the XXXth Olympiad — keep the Olympic news coming in! (Usually in the order in which I receive them — think of it as an “Olympics Ticker”.)

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More observations from Uni Watch faithful, and more…

* “Maybe you’ve already covered this on the blog, but reading the ESPN and Deadspin coverage of Olympic track, the pictures indicate that sometime between the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, track athletes switched from wearing numbers to wearing their names. (2012 vs 2008). I don’t follow track and field at all, so is this switch something universal in international track, or does each meet hand out identification plates according to their own specifications? It seems kind of weird that many nations that don’t use the Roman alphabet would have their athletes’ names written out in Roman letters, but is this just because the Olympics are in London? (Sidenote – I think it would have been kind of cool for the 2008 identification markers to have been written in Chinese characters and the 2004 ones in Greek, but that’s just me; NBC probably would have hated it.)” (Kevin Malarkey)

* London 2012 are investigating how a bucket of unofficial condoms found its way into the athletes’ village without official consent. This was also reported by NPR (and sent to me by Paul).

* “I noticed that Bernard Lagat wore the wrong uniform at the Olympics. he is wear the USA singlet from ’08-’11 not the one everyone is wearing during the Olympics. You notice the USA is in white instead of blue and the white on the shoulder. The High jumper from Russia lost his jersey mid-way during the meet so he high jumped first in a t-shirt then borrowed a teammates jersey for the rest. An athlete is given two bibs to wear during the competion, one with the name on the front and the race bib number to be worn on the back. High jumpers only need to wear one because they land on their back and the pins could cause an injury. You can tell later in the meet he borrowed someone else jersey because he was the only one jumping with a number on the front, not the name. Finally in the 1500 meter final, the Norway runner’s short get ripped. Luckily he had something underneath it.” (Anthony J. Gonsalves) Also spotting the Lagat miscue were Cody Dannen, Brennan Feldhausen and Ryan Bohannon, who sent along this screengrab. Also spotting the Russian losing his shirt was Ben Sandrowitz.

* “Took a quick glance at Uni Watch and didn’t see a link to this satirical piece in The New York Times, of all places, imagining the Olympics in New York City. 2012 was the year that Bloomberg & Co bid for.” (Tom Mulgrew)

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IMG_1562

Click to enlarge — Photo Credit Stefan Chilvers

Thursday Morning Football:

Our resident Brit, uni watcher, and colourizer extraordinaire George Chilvers has prepared for our edification a another review of the uniforms kits in the semi-finals of the men’s soccer football at the Olympics. His son, Stefan Chilvers, who brought us the absolutely breath-taking tilt-shift photography seen on Monday, was beside his pop (seated a mere six rows from the pitch — making it impossible for the poor lad to engage in tilt-shift for this time around). How crushing. Anyway, for the next to last time…

here is George’s review:

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A much smaller contribution today as the Olympics Mens Football Tournament saw out the two semi-final games on Tuesday evening. At Wembley, Mexico took on Japan. Japan continued with their now familiar dark blue outfit with the narrow red stripe, while Mexico wore their third different kit of the tournament when they turned out in all white, but still with the shadow Aztec motif. Japan scored after only 12 minutes but the Mexicans hit back twice. As the game entered its last seconds Japan pressed forward for an equaliser, only for Mexico to secure their place in the final with a 93rd minute goal.

At Old Trafford, with us now low down near the pitch, where tilt-shift photographs aren’t effective, my son Stefan turned to panoramas and close-ups. Korea wore their red shirts and socks with blue shorts, while Brazil avoided the shorts clash by wearing white shorts with a broad blue stripe, along with their usual yellow and green shirts and white socks. Although Korea tried hard the result was hardly in doubt and a Brazilian masterclass saw them cruise into the final with a 3-0 win.

The bronze medal match will take place on Friday at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (remember how to spell Millennium ”“ we don’t want any embarrassment!), while the Final will be on Saturday at 3pm local time at Wembley.

As this is a short article (for me) I will give praise to both the USA and Canadian Women who took part in an absolutely brilliant semi-final. Team USA were only ahead for 30 seconds in the whole 120 minutes of the match ”“ but it was the important final 30 seconds. They now meet Japan at Wembley on Thursday.

And as this is a site for obsession about kits/unis whatever I thought you might like my little analysis of the Mens football tournament:

• Green worn 4 times ”“ 3 wins (75%), 1 draw and no losss
• Yellow worn 7 times ”“ 5 wins (71%), 1 draw, 1 loss
• Blue worn 13 times ”“ 6 wins (46%), 4 draws, 3 losses
• Red worn 17 times ”“ 4 wins (24%), 7 draws and 6 losses.

But the colour you really don’t want to wear:
White was worn on 19 occasions. Only twice was it the winning colour ”“ just over 10%. 8 draws and 9 losses.

I have no idea what that means, and obviously yellow and green are skewed by the successes of Mexico and Brazil, but this is the place to post such analysis ☺

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Thanks (again) George! Bloody good reporting. And a helluva talented son. That panoramic is as beautiful as the tilt-shift.

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NUA_Logo_5

#NoUniAds Campaign…Day 21

This will be a regular feature on Uni Watch until the NBA rescinds its incredibly offensive and stupid proposal to place corporate advertising on uniforms.

And now, a personal note from Paul:

It’s important that we keep making our voices heard: Call the NBA’s publicly listed phone number (212-407-8000), ask for Adam Silver’s and/or David Stern’s office), e-mail deputy commissioner Adam Silver at his his publicly listed address (asilver@nba.com), and tweet to @NBA with the hashtag #NoUniAds. Do it now.

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A bit of bad news came out yesterday in our fight against corporate takeover of unis, as noted in this article (h/t to R Jeffrey Downe). The important parts are as follows:

• “Jordan Bressler … says he expects NBA team owners to approve a ‘trial period’ of about three years when small logos would be emblazoned on the front of team uniforms.”

• “The other unknown, of course, is how fans will react, since none of the four major U.S. sports leagues have ever sold advertising on game jerseys. One ESPN SportsNation poll found that 71 percent of respondents opposed the ads, while a separate poll showed that 78 percent said they would be less likely to buy a jersey with advertising on it.”

• “The bigger issue would be if the ads grow after a few years and become the focal points of uniforms, with only a small team logo on the shoulder, as is the norm with most soccer teams worldwide. Says Mr. Bressler of buying NBA jerseys in the future, ‘You could be asking yourself, “Is this a Walgreens jersey or a Bulls one?”‘”

Clearly readers, more opposition is needed! Keep your letters, like those below, coming!!!

More of your letters to the NBA (some edited for brevity):

Patrick Duffy:

I’m a 25 year old die hard basketball fan from Rochester, NY, writing to voice my concern over the proposed selling of advertising on NBA uniforms.

Living outside of an NBA city, instead of spending my money on seeing games live, I spend it on NBA licensed jerseys. When I do make a trip to Cleveland or Toronto, I sacrifice money on good seats to buy a jersey from the pro shop while at the game. I take my jersey collection seriously, and would estimate I buy 4 – 6 replica jerseys, and 2-3 authentic jerseys a year. My NBA collection is well over 100 jerseys, accrued from years of collecting.

I feel it’s only right to let you know that if advertising does end up on NBA uniforms, I will be done with your brand of professional basketball. I’m sure you won’t lose the casual NBA fan, but what of your core fan base? The casual fan went away when Jordan retired. They chastised your “Thug” league when Artest, Iverson and Spree were living off the court the way they played on, and they turned on the NFL, and forgot you weren’t there during you last work stoppage. That wasn’t me and my friends. It takes a betrayal of what we hold closest to us for our abandonment. Prepare for the inevitable Adam “30 pieces of” Silver nick name that will eventually adorn your Wikipedia page.

Thank you for you time

Patrick Duffy

Ethan Crooks: (his response to “Chelsea”)

Just so I’m clear, the NBA is validating its decision to sell-out its tradition by comparing itself to leagues that have next to zero tradition or cultural impact (MLS, WNBA, NBA-D) or to a sport that has – and has always had – a business model that is reliant upon corporate sponsorship for it to function (NASCAR). Oh, and the PGA? An individual sport with no jerseys compared to a team game with jerseys steeped in lore and history? Chelsea, seriously? How about the leagues you have decided to leave out? I pray that the MLB, NFL and NHL do not take your lead and bastardize their product until it is unrecognizable (we both know that is where you all are headed). Although I would be willing to bet that having the New York Yankees’ pinstripes brought to you by Crayola would put a smile on Mr. Stern’s face.

If you don’t mind, could you please elaborate on how, exactly, adding a brand name and shallow catch phrase to a Celtics jersey would assist the NBA to “remain competitive in the global marketplace?” I fail to see how that strategy beats cultivating the game through youth programs around world, using your players as embassadors for the game and utilizing various media streams to get your game into as many households as possible. In other words, what the NBA has been doing better than anyone else since the mid-1980s.

I find it disturbing that I have to stand up for a league to protect it from itself. Again, thank you for your reply.

Tom Mulgrew:

The proposal to include ads on NBA uniforms is an outrageous insult to basketball fans. The over-commercialization of sports has reached new lows when a major American sports league contemplates 2 x 2 ads on its smallest in sports uniforms.

The current leader in uniform stupidity, Major League Baseball, with its highly visible Nike swoosh on players’ undershirts, would be easily eclipsed by the NBA ad patches.

Please reconsider.

Regards,
Tom Mulgrew

Thanks for keeping the faith readers! We can stop the NBA if we can keep up the pressure.

#NoUniAds!

Thanks to Tim E. O’Brien and Chris Giorgio for the image in the upper right of this section!

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Screen Shot 2012-06-24 at 10.32.36 PM

“Benchies” first appeared at U-W in 2008, and has been a Saturday & Sunday feature here for the past two years.

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Wow, even in the primordial ooze…

8-9-12 d-evolution

Click to enlarge

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ticker 2

Uni Watch News Ticker: Great find from Rob Spalding who came across this photo of Freddie Mercury and Brian May of Queen with personalized Toronto hockey gear. Bonus: though they were performing in Montreal that January night in 1977. … Willie Gabel found a “Cool story about when the AFL put out their own shoe line back in the 60’s!” … Mark Fightmaster and John Smith both sent in the news that the Cincinnati Bengals just announced that they are going with retro-themed cartoon covers for their Gameday programs. The article has a preview of this Friday’s game program against the Jets. “Considering the mockery that is the team’s uniforms, at least they are getting this aesthetic right,” says Mark. … An NHL 13 preview video shows the Predators reverting back to their navy 3rd jersey with the checker board trim, which I loved. The jersey wasn’t used last year at all (thanks to Alex Melendez). … More news from the “whatever happened to the old Rbk NFL unis?” department: The Cleveland Browns donated their old Reebok Uniforms to the players playing in the Cuyahoga County High School All Star game in June (good spot by Jeff Moulden). … “Came across this on eHow on how to wear stirrup socks,” says Yancy Yeater. “Idea for your site: A how-to style guide.” Funny you should say that, Yancy, because I, Ricko & Robert Marshall did just that a couple years ago. And I think we may revisit the stirrup again soon. … Politics and sports don’t usually mix well, especially when one isn’t aware of the other. Fortunately, the nation’s best Governor is ready to fix things. … Zach from Big League Baseballs is sharing another new baseball release that “I figure will interest your MLB fans. We’ve posted the first pictures of the new 2012 World Series baseball here.” … Erik Nystul lets us know that BYU Football is now adding the flywire collar. … “Ewwwww” was the subject line in an E-mail Paul forwarded to me from Kawika Asuncion, which read, “Interesting: Yellow Collar on the new Vikes’ Away Nike Jersey? On nike.com, The “game” jersey, it is purple. Nike.com Elite jersey. Very Interesting.” … George Chilvers sends an old but interesting article on Brasil’s football kit. … Dan Wunderlich reports UF has a new field design for 2012. They also just put new grass in this summer, says Dan. … Trent Knaphus notes Utah basketball is doing a summer trip to Brazil and changed their uniforms for the trip. … Gerry Appel says the Ball State “Fighting Football Cardinals” are getting new jerseys. These jerseys no longer have the extraneous black stripes or the black trim. The jerseys now only have Ball State’s true colors, cardinal and white. … The Eagles will have a moment of silence before Thursday night’s game. The Eagles players will have “GR” stickers on their helmets (thanks, Brinke). Also from =bg=, “Did I miss something? Eagles sure look like kelly green here.” Do we FINALLY have “confirmation” on the new Nets unis? Gabe Billig “found these pics (home and road) online available to buy so maybe these are the jerseys? ( and they r ugly!).” If only someone has seen these jerseys could confirm. … Alan Poff writes, “The Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs are celebrating “What Could Have Been Night” Saturday, Aug. 11, by donning Lehigh Valley Woodchucks unis. And, for a cool $32, you can buy this exclusive 59Fifty Woodchucks cap. … And finally, there was lot of speculation buzzing around that TO was wearing a Packer “G” at his Seahawks press conference today. It is actually a new company called “G Rip Apparel” (big thanks to Johnny Okray).

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And there you have it. Make sure you give a big warm Uni Watch round of applause for Catherine on that tremendous lede, and thanks to all who contributed to the ticker, the Olympics updates, and of course the fine folks who are doing their damnedest to keep uni ads OFF the NBA jerseys. Back with Morris Levin tomorrow, who always has a great Friday View from the Elysian Fields.

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“A Yankees jersey worn 3 sizes too big with ground scraping pajama pants looks just as shitty as any colored jersey worn 3 sizes too big with pajama pants.”
–THE Jeff Provo

 
  
 
Comments (165)

    yup, it’s based off a concept that’s been out for a few months, and seller of these is a counterfeiter (or at least someone who sells knock offs).

    can’t say whether that’s the design or not, but the jersey is fake,

    I’m pretty sure the Eagles reebok practice jerseys were that shade of green last year too. And that is nowhere near kelly green. It’s just less shiny midnight green.

    Couldn’t Paul verify if the images have been leaked…seems like the simplest answer is one he could provide…

    Bravo, Catherine! Fantastic job! And good luck with your 2L year…

    With regards to your preferred apparatus, the “couch,” you could just call it the “still chairs” or the “uneven cushions.” Or add some handles to make a “pommel sofa…”

    Agreed! Genius idea there.

    And Villanova basketball? You’re my new friend, Catherine!

    If you can get me to read about gymnastics, you’ve accomplished something. And that Maroney-meter is genius.

    Great work Catherine. I give gymnastics equal time since my wife puts up with the other events I like. For the last few Olympics I’ve sure enjoyed it. You’re take on that Italian floor/beam ‘tard with the 1/2 sleevy thing was nuts on. Maroney Meter was a nice touch too. That girl can fly.

    Missed opportunity to use the same image for every emotion on the Maroney-meter.

    The Ecker article in Crain’s gets at the two key points in the uni ad issue for the NBA.

    First, no way do the ads remain a “discreet” 2×2 patch on the side. Within a decade of adoption, the ads will dominate the jersey front, just as they do in international football. It’s the nature of the beast, and I’m sure the folks in the NBA are perfectly eyes open about this. So when Stern or Claire in marketing or whoever talks about the ads being unobtrusive and minor, he or she is lying to us. There’s only one plausible endgame here, and Ecker commits good journalism by putting it out in front of people to see. This isn’t about little ads in 2013, it’s about giant ads in 2016.

    Second, in Ecker’s report, his sources seem to be assuming that each team would sell its own ads and keep the bulk of the revenue. But since by definition the teams that can charge the most for ad placement are the teams that are already most profitable, this move has nothing to do with helping struggling teams improve their bottom lines. Rather, the teams in better financial shape will get stronger, and so mathematically the teams in worse financial shape will get weaker. I know David Stern isn’t exactly a math whiz, but surely he’s got staff who can explain such basic arithmetic to him. It’d be one thing if the league were to sell ads and distribute the revenue to each team evenly, but this is a recipe for exacerbating the league’s financial and competitive imbalances.

    Second-and-a-half, as a simple matter of basic microeconomics, it’s also a lie for the NBA and its shills to suggest that this new revenue will slow or offset rising ticket prices. At least if we accept the NBA’s other claim about rising payrolls being the driver of rising ticket prices. Any new revenue will either be banked as profit (or spent as general revenue to offset current operating losses) or it will be spent on payroll. Because the NBA operates on the socialist model of state ownship of the means of production (most of its arenas are built and owned by local governments), teams have little ability to invest new revenue in capital. Instead, they will spend new revenue on labor. Which means that if the ads bring in, say, $50 million a year league-wide, player salaries will simply jump up across the league by a little less than $50 million. Current “need” to increase ticket prices will not be mitigated or offset, at least not beyond the first year, when payrolls are already largely set.

    So did the EHow article mention whether the tall loop of the stirrup goes in front or back? I may have missed that part. Wouldn’t want to look like an oofus out there.

    It failed to mention that the high side goes in the back, which makes me question the whole article. My son plays high school baseball and travel baseball in the summer and it’s just sad when I see kids wearing their stirrups backwards.

    Very nicely done, Catherine. An entertaining way to get through a ton of information. Thorough and fun! But…

    While Bosco took a wild, albeit calculated, swing and a miss with the podium wear, I think the company did a fantastic job with the team leotards.

    link?

    I thought it was confirmed that the Nets jerseys would have “Brooklyn” on both the road and home jerseys? If so, they can’t be real….

    Those Queen jerseys have an odd-looking Maple Leafs crest. Looks like a variation of the shape of the 1967-70 leaf with the 1970-present text. The bottom of the leaf’s straight like the 1970 logo, though.

    Seems to fit in with Harold Ballard’s Leafs, giving out inaccurate jerseys like that…

    Agreed. The whole article was very well done, but grading gymnastics uniforms on the Maroney-Meter was truly inspired. Excellent job, Catherine and Katie.

    Those Predators jerseys aren’t new navy alts and I don’t think they will be bringing them back this year. They have the old logo on them and were available in last years game to wear as well.

    Yeah, those games always have tons of throwback jerseys for teams to wear. I would imagine this was one of the Preds’.

    Yeah, EA NHL typical doesn’t remove uniforms from the game, so anything made since NHL 07 is pretty much still wearable. This is almost certainly the case. Too bad though I liked the more tame styling of that alt, even if blue and white are overdone.

    If only EA NFL (aka Madden) didn’t remove uniforms. I still don’t understand why they removed the ’98-’08 Niners uniform when they added the current one, but they kept the “80’s throwback” uniform. So San Fran has 2 uniform sets which are damn near identical, and an entire decade is ignored. Meanwhile, the Bills silly experiment with navy blue *is* still in the game.

    But I suppose that’s just EA Sports for you. It’s just incredibly sad that NFL2k5 still has more uniform options than Madden ’12 or ’13.

    So why do men gymnasts mostly wear pants, and women don’t? Women seem to have the more practical uniforms here, and we see men wearing roughly equivalent unis in some other sports (some wrestling disciplines, for example), so it’s not like male athletes find it degrading to expose their thighs.

    Great gymnastics uni report, BTW. Wish I’d known half this stuff before the competition!

    Given that “wardrobe malfunctions” result in a loss of points, I’m kinda surprised they haven’t gone to full bodysuits. Getting a leotard to stay perfectly in place with all the movement they do can’t be easy.

    i passed today’s post on to some non-traditional UIW’ers. the other day i got the sarcastic text…what’s your expert opinion of the russian warm-ups. so i’m guessing she will dig this post, and especially the maroney meter.

    Interesting. The Browns haven’t worn the brown striped socks since 2007 (as part of their throwbacks–you have to go back to 2001 for the last time the it was part of their regular uniform set) but yet had plenty to donate. Ditto with the brown pants, though at least they wore those more recently. I’d say, wear white pants with the white jersey at home, orange pants with the white jersey on the road, and orange pants with the brown jersey all the time.

    I grew up with the Kardiac Kids Browns and their brown jersey/orange pants combo. Am I the only one who thought it was hideous; like a candy bar wrapper? I’m OK with orange pants/white jersey though.

    I’m a Steelers fan and I think its a good look. Teams in the NFL’s traditional areas (anywhere in the Great Lakes region plus Pittsburgh, Dallas, Washington, and New York) should stay with their old school look. I’m OK with the Ravens, and Cincy? They can be the trend-setter of the division.

    Oy. I wish the Bengals weren’t trend-setters. They fail at that, miserably.

    Their old school look fit very nicely into the Great Lakes region tradition…

    link

    Browns wore white pants long before the orange ones; their current look is as old school as they can get! Honestly though, as long as the new ownership doesn’t mess with the helmets I can probably deal.

    Amazing gymnastics coverage, Catherine. A+ job!

    I was going to make a not-so-subtle Maroney joke, but then I looked her up on Wikipedia… Guess I’ll have to wait until next year for the joke ;)

    And as always, a nice job by you as well, Mr. Chilvers. I think that blue Japan kit, with the red stripe down the center, might be my second favorite kit of these Olympics. It’s rare to see something like that, and I think they pull it off amazingly well.

    It’s too bad the Men’s Gold medal match will be a flop-fest. Thank goodness for the women’s game.

    How in the hell is 3 YEARS a “trial period” ?? Trial periods are basically like a week, 10 or 30 days generally speaking.

    I’ve concluded weeks ago based on their mass reply letter which they (in their minds) already justified the ads & that the NBA is going to go forward with ads no matter what we say because they’re greedy motherfuckers. They’re too gutless do any serious restraint measures in their link so they would rather sell out their uniforms because it’s so much easier.

    Hey man, whatever. I’ve got plenty of other sports on my plate. I don’t need the NBA. Half the teams wear some shade of blue that you can’t even differentiate from anyway.

    I really hope that the NBA’s TV ratings and attendance drop like a stone when they start this bullshit, but I don’t think it’ll actually happen. Once they put ads on the jerseys, they’re not going away. At the end of this “trial period”, they’ll be making the decision to either keep the ads the same size, or make them bigger.

    Does anyone have a few billion dollars so we can start up a new, ad-free professional basketball league?

    Secondly, do you think after 3 years of lowered fan revenue they might actually admit their mistake and take the ads off? No way. That’ll be an excuse to keep them on and maybe add another to make up for the lost revenue from putting ads there in the first place.

    I think you’re right though, I see very little changing, I don’t think most average fans will care.

    I will say this though, I really appreciate the well written anti-ad letters that appear on this site. It’s a challenge to remain optomistic and positive while getting your point across, those are the letters that might make a difference. On the other hand I’ve read some real doozies here which IMO don’t help the cause. Someone wrote something like “keep that crap off the jerseys” and another wrote that they wouldn’t let friends buy their kids anything with an ad on it.

    With these letters the fans are trying to sell the NBA something, and they’re not going to be buying if the writers come off as threatening or semi-psychotic.

    Absolutely ridiculous & wasteful. Another example of sports getting too big & important. A grass field & bleachers should be more than enough for high school football.

    So you think a few sets of bleachers will seat 18,000 people? The school has over 5,000 students to begin with and sells season tickets to high school football. I grew up in the northeast where high school football is a joke. Down in the south it’s not uncommon for HS football games to draw 5000 people, high school state championships are played in NFL size stadiums.

    Secondly, money from the fed/state is very limited for high school sports. Hence the reason there’s always booster drives, etc. Allen HS raised the money privately as it said in the story. No funny business here, no tax money for things like this.

    I do dealings with school districts and can tell you, nobody is getting $60M from tax dollars for a stadium, money does go first toward education, and concession stands and cake drives usually raise money for other elective things.

    “Allen HS raised the money privately as it said in the story. No funny business here, no tax money for things like this.”

    ~~~

    unless i’m reading this wrong, the article says:

    “Allen raised the money for its new stadium as part of a $119.4 million bond package in May of 2009 that passed with an impressive 63.66 percent of the vote.

    Even with such support, there have been critics who say spending $60 million on a football stadium is outrageous at a time when education budgets are being slashed.”

    now, im no financial genius, but to me a “bond” package is generally repaid with taxpayer money over the life of the bond

    now, maybe it’s the tax money from the city of allen (and not spread out over the state), but how is this NOT still taxes to be paid to cover the bonding???

    not saying this is “funny business” (hey, almost 65% of the town voted for it), but this is most CERTAINTLY NOT “money raised privately”

    and yes, they’re getting other shit besides a stadium that would make the cubs blush, but it’s still money that needs to be repaid by tax dollars

    The stadium doesn’t need to be that elaborate; not even close.

    Something is really wrong these days when “$60 million” and “High School football stadium” does not even raise an eyebrow. This is my favorite part of the article:

    Allen won a 5A state title in 2008 despite the inconveniences of the old stadium.

    Check and mate. Everything Allen school district athletic director Steve Williams says around that part comes off as incessant whining of “I want this” and “we had do to that”. The entitlement of people today is sickening.

    So you think a few sets of bleachers will seat 18,000 people?

    I really don’t give a shit if it can or not, Tom V.

    Or “we had to do that”, actually.

    You can’t possibly justify a $60 million high school football stadium. Not even in Texas.

    So concealed78, I am guessing you’re one of the Allen residents who voted against the stadium?

    And as for “We had to do that?” Lets put it to a vote.

    Oh, about 2/3rds approve of using their tax dollars for it.

    Not sure why you’re so upset someone else deemed they needed something and got a 2/3rds vote to stand by it and got it. I hope they consult you next time they want to build a new stadium so you can set them straight.

    “…So you think a few sets of bleachers will seat 18,000 people?…I really don’t give a shit if it can or not, Tom V…”

    Ok…but thats the point. They get 18,000 people at their games, how do you expect them to watch the game?

    Or do you just not give a shit that 18,000 people show up (some with season tickets) to watch a game but can’t see? What a conversationalist.

    i don’t want to speak for mark, but i believe his point, and it is one i share, is that we as a society probably have some seriously misplaced values if we believe that high school football *needs* a $60M stadium or that 18,000 people’s lives will be ruined without it

    seriously, that shit is fucked up

    Heck, when I lived in the DFW area in the late 70’s, I went to a Plano Wildcats playoff game at Texas Stadium and it wasn’t even the state championship game.

    I find the low voter turnout for the bond referendum more outrageous than the high construction cost for the stadium.

    School boards know how to get what they want (which is often different…and more costly…than what they need), and they seldom relent until they get exactly that.

    …including the property tax bills!

    link

    “…Collin County is the 2nd richest county in TX…is considered one of the wealthiest counties in the US….has one of the nation’s highest property tax rates. It also ranked ranked in the Top 100 for amount of property taxes paid and for percentage of taxes of income.

    Everybody knows football is big in Texas.

    This is why I think we shouldn’t use sarcasm on the Internet because things are read at face value & no tone. Personally I like to use emoticons but I can see how that comes off as cutesy or lame.

    actually, that’s precisely why sarcasm on the interwebs works so well

    Pacer’s don’t have many fans but here’s a list of the biggest HS basketball gyms in the country and where they are:

    link

    Out of the those 16, 13 are in Indiana. The biggest HS gym on that list seats 9,200 fans and the school has 1,200 students!

    I think they cost slightly less than $60 million though…

    “The Pacers don’t have that many fans, do they? ;)”

    You’d be surprised… (I’m a Bulls fan if anything, but my exile to Indiana, I met quite a few Pacer fans.)

    There is so much more to this story.

    The districts who are building those palaces are generally affluent districts. These are the same districts where people like the supremely evil Dan Patrick (not the sportscaster, but a radio talk show host turned Evangelical politician, truly a horrible man) lead the charge to radicalize school textbooks and undermine funding to poor districts in the state.

    The facilities are used a lot like colleges use new buildings: they’re recruiting tools. Poor, talented kids from districts with aging stadia are “encouraged” to move to the “have” districts. There are schools in greater Houston that have become major football powers, within a season or two of opening their doors. The kids are little better than gladiators. The whole thing stinks.

    You really haven’t lived until you’ve attended a Texas high school playoff game, and heard hundreds of people chant “ghetto school” at the kids in your school’s marching band.

    Could someone help me date this vintage Tulane (I assume) hat? I’ve been trying to find a guide to old New Era tags, but can’t seem to find anything. Thanks for your help!

    link

    As far as MLB hats are concerned, that New Era tag is pre-90s. They used the ballcap logo until the mid 90s. (Can dig through the collection later to see.)

    The white panel makes me think post-60s so you’re shooting 70s or early 80s, before the ballcap logomark.

    Haven’t said this before, and should have.

    The coverage of Olympic unis by our correspondents/volunteers has be absolutely extraordinary. Insightful, thorough and fun reads.

    Really, really great job. Kudos to all.

    My latest ESPN column is up (it was actually up about 90 mins ago, but then we had to pull it because of a coding glitch, which has now been fixed):
    link

    It was me. A few years from now, I created a time machine, then I went back into the 60’s and caused Mr. Met to be created. I’m also the reason that the Patriots started out wearing red jerseys instead of blue, and I gave the Pirates the idea to mix & match their various uniform combinations back in the 70’s.

    Unfortunately, the machine broke, and I’ve been stuck here in this timeline, growing older and unable to get back home.

    Remember here: link where I put the Brewers in a gold jersey? (only a few months before the Brewers *actually* wore a gold jersey) Or here: link where (among other things) I shifted the Bears TV numbers onto the shoulders? (Where Nike moved them for this season)

    I’m far more important than you realize…

    ;)

    Frick, if I’m building a time machine, I’m buying IBM & Starbucks stock & going to Doors & early Led Zeppelin concerts while dining on Harland Sanders original chicken.

    Weren’t you told by Paul to stop bothering me, Timmy?

    Boy, you just love promoting yourself, don’t you.

    Me > having fun
    You > being on a self-righteous superiority trip

    Hard to see the joke when my post (not being even remotely hinting at being of serious nature) and your’s (referencing one of the worst men in history & *you* destroying him & being a world-wide hero) in comparison. Yeah, REAL obvious joke. Makes me look like a total selfish prick in comparison.

    Again, people. Sarcasm doesn’t work on the Internet. Don’t compare going to rock concerts vs killing dictators in completely hypothetical situations.

    Of course, the hardest part about time travel is finding enough period cash to take with you so that you can do things like buy stock or bet on sports without your from-the-future currency getting you arrested as a bad counterfeiter.

    I’d just bring a fully charged iPhone. Sure, I wouldn’t get service, but I could still show them a screen that shoots birds at pigs that fits into my pocket.

    if i ever get the chance to hop into THE’s time machine, i’m going back to October 13, 1960… just up the hill from where i’m sitting right now. if Bates St existed back then, that is ;-)

    Yeah, I have it confirmed from a source I’m not at liberty to mention (Popular Athletic Uniform Lad) that those are not the actual Nets unis.

    Plus, people are right, the actual Nets unis have Brooklyn on both the home and road.

    “A Yankees jersey worn 3 sizes too big with ground scraping pajama pants looks just as shitty as any colored jersey worn 3 sizes too big with pajama pants.”

    Yeah, no. A white or gray Yankees jersey 3 sizes too big is still better than a navy alternate 3 sizes too big or even the proper size.

    I saw what you were trying to do.

    You hate everything modern. If we lived by your standards, we’d be mailing typewritten letters to each other because the Internet wouldn’t exist.

    Post cards, baby.

    Written with a quill pen.

    Ever have a pen pal? Man, those were the days. Now the mail carrier just brings bills and ads. I remember when the sound of the mail truck used to be exciting…not so much anymore.

    Here’s a nice Benny Hill Show reference.

    [pointing on chalkboard] “When you ‘assume’ you make an ‘ass’ out of ‘u’ and ‘me’.”

    Never heard of a typewriter, Jeff? And yes, handwritten letters are a lot more personal & human. Internet & computers have their uses but I still snail mail my bills & draw by hand. Referencing link, I totally dig the idea of not having to re-draw every single frickin’ panel over and over.

    “I still snail mail my bills & draw by hand”

    me too.

    i feel way more connected to my work when i draw it out by hand first. it’s the main reason i carry my Field Notes about 90% of the time (shameless plug, i know).

    also in school, i drew on the board for about 2 years before i ever jumped into any computer aided drafting programs. can’t tell you how invaluable that was to my progress!

    lastly, write a handwritten letter every chance you get. take your time… make it count…

    I miss my rotary phone, too.

    But my Foreman grill and iPod are pretty cool, so the present isn’t so bad.

    “Here’s a nice Benny Hill Show reference.”

    ~~~

    yeah, i’m pretty sure that’s from the Odd Couple

    . . .

    fuck handwritten letters, but there are lots of good things from the past (proper uniforms, manners), and not so good things (racism, bigotry, the use of native peoples imagery on uniforms, etc.)

    a proper balance is needed

    That’s because “ass” was deemed to be a short version of “jackass.”

    If it weren’t, the Biblical passage that “Moses tied his ass to a tree and walked forty miles in the desert” would have made him Plastic Man of the Sinai.

    I just pleased that at no time in the discussion of the women’s Olympic beach volleyball unis did Vilk say…

    “I’d wear that.”

    I’m a one-piece man myself.

    Funny you mentioned that – I just showed today’s gymnastics report to my five-year-old daughter. She doesn’t give a hoot for sports, but she’s been begging me to tape the Olympics for her. After seeing every country’s leotards…she’d wear them all. Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, dontcha know.

    She did pick out a favorite, though (close your eyes, Paul):
    link
    And of course, she loved the pink version as well.

    And “Retton-esque” should be added to the dictionary to mean “excellent.” So of course that means I liked this:
    link

    Maroney’s very nice white leo was missing one thing…a smile above it. Is it just me (I don’t watch every minute of gymnastics, so I need some perspective here), or did this year’s competition have the most girls having the least amount of fun? I know it’s gold-or-bust for most of these countries, but do the math – you can only have one gold per event. If you still make it to the podium, consider your metaphorical glass half full and at least smirk.

    Again, kudos to Catherine and Katie for a great look at this sport. Thanks.

    More interested in the fact that BOTH squads are in change strips.

    USA in all blue and Japan in red over white. WHY? Japan in blue versus the USA’s red/white hoops would have been just fine.

    Blue. Canada wore all white.

    As I understand it, the red/white hoops is the USA primary kit. US Soccer says so too.

    link

    But I think Japan was technically the “home” team for this, so would have had first choice of uniform. Which is to say, I believe that the blue jerseys were mandatory for USA, not a matter of choice.

    The official programme for the football tournament shows USA’s first kit as red over blue, and the change kit as all black. So that tells us nothing :)

    Certainly, Doug – but that’s what the programme shows. I’m just reporting it not defending it ;)

    Yeah, what the hell!?!? Figured US would be in red hoops/white shorts/white socks and Japan in all blue.

    The Japanese keeper had to change tops before the game too. Almost all keeper kits are matching tops/shorts; hers don’t match. In international competitions, the referees’ colors can’t match any players’ colors, including keepers. Referees are in yellow, so the keeper changed to a gray top (probably a training top).

    I was going to try to avoid any spoilers, but since you guys aren’t, fuck it.

    I’ve said it before, but I stand by the statement: I’d have Alex Morgan’s babies. No shame in my game!

    what spoilers? this is being shown on live TV…not like the canned stuff we get at night that doesn’t even get shown until US primetime…THOSE are the events you can’t spoil

    Ahhh, got it. I retract my first statement and re-enforce my latter.

    well, it appears we’re not only out-psyching them (wearing our change strip) but cheating too

    Have you no sense of decency, Nike? At long last, have you left no sense of decency?

    You had to go and make bullshit champion t-shirts for the Olympics? You are human tennis elbow. You are a pizza burn on the roof of the world’s mouth. You are the opposite of Batman.

    Is there a sports site that shows daily photos of NFL teams, like Yahoo Sports/NFL…used to do? I always went there to see the latest uni-looks from camp, etc.

    On another topic, surprised (or maybe not) that no one has commented on the too-obvious suggestive lead photo.

    Maybe try Daylife? Enter in the team’s name that you’re looking for, and they should have the latest photos.

    Actually, my comment on the lede photo was going to be that if any of the rest of us put a comment to it like the lead heading, we may have been banned from the site altogether. Oh, while the cat’s away …

    while i’m much less mature than paul, i’m not sure that either the hed or the splash are as “suggestive” as your minds might wish it to be

    the hed, which i wrote, remarks more on how we all complain about how football players who wear link have what we like to call a “leotard look” (and which technically isn’t even correct since a leotard link)…

    nevertheless, when we complaint about link, we (or most of us) call it the “leotard look”

    so, in reality, the hed was meant to convey a good connotation to the term leotard…a semi-play on words, if you will

    it wasn’t meant to evoke prurient thoughts from the readership, although it obviously has

    Daylife, never heard of, OK thanks.

    PS anyone wonder how long it will take for that co with the Packer-like G to get a note from the league?

    Not sure if this has been mentioned yet in Olympic news here on Uni Watch, but Jamaican sprinter is in hot water with the IOC for wearing a custom $500,000 watch.

    link

    Also, second paragraph “colorway” – HA!

    My wife and I were discussing this (in general) last night. So, they use new, ultra-plasmatic lycra unitards that shave 1/100th of a second off their 100m times, but wear watches, necklaces, paper bibs, and cornrows in their hair … If I was running a sprint in the olympics, any exposed skin would be shaved and/or lasered away.

    Thanks to Kawika for the shot of the Vikings collar. That’s as fucked up as a football bat. Syrup of ipecac would be better. The Viks unis for me, are like Wayne Hagin for Paul.

    Just reading Ms Ryan’s piece and believe it is beyond superb. The regular uni-watch contributors have a new standard to meet.

    link

    Not only do they identify the wrong player (fail) but they confuse the Coyotes uniform with the Red Wings (Epic Fail).

    The Russian leotards were just branded as Bosco, and not made by the company itself. The leotards were made by an American company called Alpha Factor. They boasted about it in e-mails to USA Gymnastics members. They were very proud to have created the Russian team’s look, which I found odd since their e-mails were sent at the same time Ralph Lauren was taking heat for having the opening and closing ceremonies wear made in China. Here’s the press release from Alpha Factor:

    link

    We went to the Bosco store in London at Westfield Mall, which was connected to Olympic Park. Extremely expensive stuff, but very nice. They outfit all of Russia, Spain and Ukraine. Many other countries, unlike the US, have their entire Olympic team branded by one outfitter, unlike the hodgepodge of the US. That is why you’ll see gymnasts in adidas leotards (a USA gymnastics sponsor) even though the gymnasts pitch GK leotards and then wear Nike on the medal stand.

    I much preferred the Team GB look that Great Britain had. Most of their jerseys/swimsuits/singlets/competition gear had the same look. It was a unique and very nice look. They looked like an Olympic team!

    Watching the Steelers game right now. Looks like only the QB’s are getting the full set of stripes. Everyone else–even the kicker–have the bottom part cut off. And I can’t really tell, but it looks like they must’ve reversed course and adopted the Flywire. That was the one thing that they DIDN’T take from Nike.

    Also, looks like the numbers on the back are bigger than they have been, and lettering for short names on back is still narrow.

    there’s a female referee (or line judge, or whatever position she’s in) on TNF on ESPN

    awesome

    oh, and the pack look identical to last year, but the chahghahs have the nikelace in contrasting fang collar

    The Packers were one of the handful of teams that are using the old Reebok template. The Eagles, Falcons, Panthers, and Raiders are, too. The Steelers adopted everything except Flywire but looking on the field tonight I would beg to differ. Unlike a lot of teams the Flywire wouldn’t affect their look, since they’ve always had a solid collar matching their jersey color.

    But it looks like they have a thing blue area around their numbers before the orange outline. This wasn’t there in the past.

    If that’s the case and it’s not just Fox Chicago’s terribly low quality HD broadcast, this angers me greatly.

    Don’t know IF IT WAS JUST ME, but for the most part I liked the USA Team Women’s Gymnastics Leotards with the all RED and SILVER Glitter, but, I COMPLETELY DISAGREE with most people on that WHITE with SILVER Glitter Leotard that McKayla Maroney wore for individual Vault Finals and Gabby Douglas wore for individual Balance Beam Finals. I thought the WHITE looked like the top half of LONG UNDERWEAR that you wear under ski clothing. The WHITE didn’t look like a Princess at all! Just underwear, it was TOO PLAIN and NOT PATRIOTIC at all, you couldn’t from a distance tell that the USA Gymnastics Women were even from the USA in the WHITE UNDERWEAR Leotards!!! A very pretty, but again NOT Patriotic Leotard was the Silver one that Gabby Douglas wore for the Individual Un-even Parallel Bars competition. The Silver in my opinion would be appropriate perhaps to stand out as an individual for TRY-OUTS to get onto Team USA, but once on our Olympic Team I think a selection of wearing one of our Flag Based Designs are much better for the World Stage such as the Olympics in London 2012. My FAVORITE Leotard of all BY FAR that any of the USA Women wore was the Floor Exercise individual competition that Aly Raisman had worn. You could see from across the room, heck from across the Olympic Arena that she was from the USA and PROUD OF IT in her Red, WHite, and Blue with the Stars and Stripes wrapping around her body!!! Seems like our Olympic Team uniforms blend in with everyone else. I don’t know again IF IT IS JUST ME, but I think we should be PROUD that we are of the USA and somehow our UNI’s should be more distinctive and NOT blend in with all the other countries of the world. Don’t even get me started on the ALL RED of the Track and Field UNI’s…….that’s another post all together! Lastly DID ANYONE NOTICE THAT ON THE USA WOMEN’S SOCCER UNI’s there was NO USA LOGO what so ever on the T-Shirt, Shorts, Shoes or Socks???? The USA Women’s Soccer uniforms were just plain majorly Navy Blue with White Graphic numbering and lettering with some Red trim around the V-Neck collar line of the top. Is it just me or did anyone else notice the LACK of the USA Logo too on the Women’s GOLD MEDAL Soccer Team UNI’s???? POST UP and PLEASE LET ME KNOW if anyone else is noticing this same issue!!!!

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