Tuesday Morning Uni Watch

Last night’s Packers/Seahawks tilt will no doubt go down as one of the most storied games in NFL history (especially for anyone who had money riding on the outcome). But even before the debacle of the final play, the game had generated a fair number of reader observations. To wit:

• An ESPN graphic during the game showed the Seahawks’ offensive line wearing last year’s uni and quarterback Russell Wilson wearing this year’s. That is a seriously weird editing choice.

• Turns out the Packers made a small uni adjustment this season that none of us had noticed until last night: They now have a little football-shaped name and number on the back of each helmet. This continues a four-year trend of unusual helmet decals for Green Bay. In 2009, they put a number at the base of the white stripe; in 2010, the number was put in an oval and joined by the player’s name; in 2011, they stayed with the same decal design but moved it away from the stripe; and now they’ve maintained the same decal positioning but come up with a new decal design. Has any team ever had such an extended run of inconsistent helmet numbering? (For more on the Pack’s history of helmet numbers, look here.)

• Several readers e-mailed me to point out that Packers coach Mike McCarthy has a specially modified cap to hold his Sharpies. The weird thing is that I initially wrote about this almost exactly three years ago and even said it’s the kind of thing people tend to notice during a Monday Night Football game.

• Two Aaron Rodgers fans in the stands had radically different approaches to NOB lettering.

• I think we’ve noted this before, but once more won’t hurt: Rodgers has a little “12” embroidered onto his cap.

• The evening’s most uni-notable moment may have come during the post-game analysis, when ESPN commentator John Clayton appeared on the air even though he clearly hadn’t been expecting to be on TV.

(My thanks to all contributors, including Matt Harris, Geoff Lott, Mark Magowan, Kevin McCreight, Leo Thornton, Kevin Wright,

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Collector’s Corner

By Brinke Guthrie

This is a big week for the Brooklyn Nets, as their new arena is about to open and their uniforms are about to be unveiled. With that in mind, let’s kick off this week with a late-1970s Nets warm-up made by Russell.

As for the rest of this week’s finds:

• Going through NHL withdrawal because of the lockout? We’ve got a full 32 pages of hockey fun (says so right there) with this 1970s Boston Bruins coloring book!

• Nice set of 1970s NFL magnetic helmet standings boards. I had these very same helmets but they were push-pins on my (naturally) NFL Sears bulletin board. Whoops, did I say magnets? Sure did!

• Want your own pair of Astros Tequila Sunrise pants? Got ’em right here. They’ll go well with this cap.

• I like this early-1970s “Pete Liske-era” Eagles helmet.

• If you collected Vikings Coke caps in the 1960s, then you needed this to put them on!

• Here’s a big lot of NFL and AFL patches from the 1960s.

• Never seen this before — a 1982 Illustrated NFL Playbook from Gatorade.

• While searching for hockey items, I came across these vintage bubblegum boxes from Zip, Gipsy, Dubble Bubble, Swell, and Big 5.

• And here’s one from Paul: Check out the crazy collar striping on this Wisconsin basketball warm-up top.

Seen something on eBay or Etsy that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here, and you can follow Brinke on Twitter and Facebook.

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Membership update: A new batch of designs has been added to the membership card gallery (including Kyle Allebach’s Eagles throwback treatment, shown at right). The printed/laminated versions of this batch should mail out this afternoon, at which point we’ll be fully caught up! Until the next order comes in, that is.

As always, you can order your own membership card by signing up here. Okay? Okay.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: America, fuck yeah. UNC will be pandering via that flag-desecration helmet this Saturday. … Also this Saturday: the debut of Arizona’s copper helmets. … Up until yesterday, I knew of only two FNOBs in MLB history: Ron Jackson and Carl Taylor. But now Joe Hilseberg has found a supposedly game-used FNOB jersey for Dan Ford of the 1982 Orioles. I’m skeptical, though — there were no other Fords on the Orioles in 1982, or during any of the other seasons Dan Ford spent in Baltimore. Unless we see a game photo, I’m putting this one in the “I doubt it” pile. … Ottawa’s new CFL team will probably not be called the Rough Riders (from Rocky Lum). ”¦ Lots to like in this 1967 shot of Johnny Bench. The Reds only wore that uni design for one season, and note the unusual “5” style (nice find by Frank Bitzer). … Jets QB Mark Sanchez removed his eye black stickers toward the end of the first quarter on Sunday. Yunel Escobar hasn’t yet returned my request for comment (from Brian Farkas). … Funny note from Jim Tischler, who writes: “I read your site religiously every day. My wife gets upset that I spend so much time with uniforms. She actually would prefer I look at porn. So every once in a while, she’ll yell down the stairs, ‘Are you looking at that uniform web site again?’ And I’ll reply, ‘I swear, I was looking at porn!'” That’ll be our new slogan: “Uni Watch — So Great Your Wife Will Want You to Watch Porn Instead.” … Amelie Mancini has unveiled a new series of Left Field Cards designs. … Many of you have probably seen this Senators prototype, which began circulating when Ottawa fans were lobbying for an NHL franchise in the early ’90s. Until now, though, I’d never seen this version of it (great find by John Muir). … Bills defensive lineman Kyle Williams appears to have had some modifications to his Nikelace and neck roll. Seems like further confirmation of the adjustments I first reported on last week (from Charles Pritt). … Here’s a video clip about the shoes Nebraska will wear against Wisconsin this weekend (from David Westfall). … No photo, but Joe Giza notes that Kellen Winslow Jr. made his Patriots debut on Sunday and did not add “Jr.” to his NOB, despite the new rule allowing him to do so. … Simple way to end the NHL lockout, at least according to one columnist: Put ads on the uniforms. “Dumbest thing I’ve read all day,” says Rob Ullman (but that’s presumably because he didn’t read anything on Bleacher Report). ”¦ Here’s another video clip of Atlantic High and their two-tone football uniforms, this time from last Friday’s game, which they lost (video courtesy of John Bennardo):