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Monday Morning Uni Watch

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Greetings from the eye of the storm, or maybe the upper thigh of the storm. It’s raining, and it’s supposedly gonna rain a lot harder, but for now I’m fine, so let’s carry on as per usual, shall we?

The big story of the day yesterday was clearly the Steelers’ bumblebee throwbacks. Personally, I loved them (aside from those pointless black side panels, which were a bit of a buzzkill). It helped that just about every player wore the socks properly — really enhanced the effect. Lots of additional photos here. Now let’s start lobbying for them to keep this design in the rotation next season.

As it happens, my friend Heather McCabe, who lives around the corner from me, was at the game, because her boyfriend, James, grew up in western Pennsylvania and his parents had bought them tickets. She had never been to an NFL game before; indeed, I’m not sure she’d even watched an entire NFL game on TV before. I checked in with her last night to get an eyewitness report, which went roughly like this:

Uni Watch: So what did you think of the uniforms?

Heather McCabe: I thought they were great.

UW: What about James and his family — what did they think?

HM: His father was utterly contemptuous of them. Like, total disdain.

UW: Did you sense that fans around you shared his opinion?

HM: James said he heard some fans grumbling about the uniforms, but I didn’t hear anything like that myself. Judging by the number of people who were wearing the jerseys, the feeling about them couldn’t have been so bad.

UW: Did the uniforms help keep you engaged with the game?

HM: Yes! I hadn’t expected the Redskins to look so similar to the Steelers. Their pants were almost the same color! So from a strictly practical standpoint, the stripes were pretty useful for helping me differentiate the two teams. Also, it was just plain cute.

Let’s have a nice hand for Uni Watch on-site reporter and honorary Yinzer-for-a-day Heather McCabe (who’ll now get to be an honorary Yinzer for a few additional days, because she’s stuck in Pittsburgh because of the storm). Meanwhile, in case you missed it on Saturday, Phil and Tim Brulia ran a really good piece on the story behind these throwbacks.

In lesser but nonetheless noteworthy developments:

• The Eagles wore their black alts for yesterday’s game against the Falcons.

• In that same game, Atlanta return man Jacquizz Rodgers took the opening kickoff with his jersey hiked up (he ended up taking a knee). Classy dude.

• The Rams and Pats wore the “International Series” patch for yesterday’s game in London.

• In that same game, Tom Brady went back to wearing his old helmet. He was asked about this at the London press conference before the game and said, “I’m just trying some different things out, nothing really in particular. You may see the old one back this weekend. We didn’t have very good games the last time I wore that [newer] helmet. Time to go back to the old one.”

• Also from the London game: Although the Rams were the designated home team, one of the end zones had the Patriots’ logo. That used to be really common.

• The Bears wore their Monsters of the Midway throwbacks. Contrary to what I had reported last week, their helmets were logo-free.

• Holy yikes: James Jones of the Packers played part of the fourth quarter yesterday with a cracked helmet. But wait — Aaron Rodgers had the same crack in the same place. Either something’s seriously wrong with those helmets or else those aren’t actually cracks. I’ve asked Giants equipment director Joe Skiba if he can shed any light on this one.

• Giants defensive lineman Marvin Austin emerged from a pile-up with a badly torn jersey, apparently caused by a Dallas facemask.

• As had been expected, the officiating crew at the Dolphins/Jets game used pink penalty flags, and the kid who came up with the idea presented the flags to the zebras prior to the game. In what can only be described as a missed opportunity of tragic dimensions, this oh-so-special moment was not accompanied by the sounds of one of history’s greatest albums. Even worse, Nike found a way to piggyback onto the festivities.

• During halftime of that game, the Jets retired Dennis Byrd’s number. Nice job with the period-appropriate jersey.

Turning to Saturday’s college action, you should start with yesterday’s content from Phil and Terry. Once you’re done with that, you can check out these additional tidbits:

• Middle Tennessee State did the blackout thing.

• During the halftime show of the UNC/NC State game, the following discussion took place:

Rece Davis: Let you have a look at these headgears that the Tarheels are wearing. Mark, what do you think?

Mark May: Yuk. Ugly.

Lou Holtz: Why are the fans colors different than the uniforms of North Carolina?

Rece Davis: North Carolina has some of the best colors in college football. Why are they messing around?

• Damien Williams of Oklahoma had part of his helmet decal come loose.

• Another week, another new helmet for Oklahoma State.

• Ohio State quarterback Braxton Miller wore the undershirt from last season’s Amateur Pacifist costume. Oddly, enough, he didn’t wear that undershirt last year in the AmPac game against Wisconsin — he just wore plain gray.

• Oregon running back Kenjon Barner was wearing a Pupello pouch that was basically my worst nightmare.

• Auburn added a military appreciation decal. Because, you know, otherwise we might not know that they appreciate the military. The line “A Spirit That Is Not Afraid” is from the Auburn Creed.

• Pitt beat Temple, which means they now get NOBs.

• Northwestern State ditched their usual helmet logo (a Louisiana outline with an “N” and a flaming pitchfork) in favor of a secondary “NSU” mark.

• Tulane wore a pink T on their helmets, instead of their usual green, for you-know-what. It’s actually the second straight game they’ve done this, but we hadn’t noted it until now.

(My thanks to all contributors, including Leslie Blair, Jimmy Couto, Joe Giza, Chris Hilf, Wayne Koehler, Dan Medina, Storm Miller, Chris Mycoskie, Charles Neiswender, Ryan Robey, Don Schauf, Brandon Seale, Todd from Atlanta, Joe Walsh, Lee David Wilds, and of course Phil.)

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Uni-cane: One of the more fascinating revelations to emerge from the hurricane is that New Jersey governor/blowhard Chris Christie has a fleece pullover embroidered with his name and title. Very uni-like! He’s been wearing it for a few days now.

Let’s follow the thinking on this: Now, if it was just a regular day, he’d be wearing a suit and that would be that. But if it’s a crisis situation, like a hurricane, then he gets to wear the sporty fleece pullover, presumably to show that he’s a man of action who’ll be getting his hands dirty and actively participating in the physical rigors of crisis management. Of course, Christie is physically unsuited to actively participate in anything more rigorous than sitting in a chair (and I don’t mean that as a zinger — it’s just a fact), so the pullover isn’t about practicalities. It’s just about image. And putting Christie’s name and title on the pullover conveys the message that he’s heading a strike force, a SWAT team, an elite crew of action-deployed specialists who have their names and titles on their pullovers. Or maybe there’s no crew — maybe he’s just a SWAT team of one. Either way, someone on Christie’s staff clearly understands the power of a uniform.

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Fun with pumpkins, continued: From now through Halloween, I’ll happily post photos of any uni-related pumpkin carvings you folks come up with. Here are today’s submissions:

• Nick Troutman did an absolutely spectacular job with this NC State pumpkin.

• Thomas Lutz has made two pumpkins — New York Football Giants and Penn State.

• Love this St. Looey Cardinals pumpkin by Marcus Clowers.

• Here’s one of the nicest ones of the season: a Cal Bears pumpkin by Spencer Bowen.

• Most Specific Pumpkin Design of the day goes to Mark Rulkowski, who did a carving of Michigan freshman tight end Devin Funchess.

• From Chad Jeske, we have this Bucky Badger pumpkin.

• Stephen Coulter celebrated the World Series with this pair of pumpkins.

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PermaRec update: Remember that varsity-style speedskating jacket I recently wrote about? The guy who originally owned it is shown at right. You can learn more in the latest entry on the Permanent Record Blog.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: The Giants wore their “SF” road grays for Sunday road games throughout this season — but not last night in Detroit. “A friend of mine writes for the San Jose Mercury News and was at the game, so I tweeted him to ask about the jerseys,” says Brinke. “His first response was ‘Really, does it matter?’ But then he said the World Series teams are only allowed one home and one road uni.” … Marco Scutaro was wearing some sort of head wrap to keep his ears warm last night. Or maybe it was just a Fudd cap, but I don’t think so. … Ladies and gents, your new Astros logo, obligingly leaked by a Houston sporting goods shop. … Late-breaking NBA news, as the Heat — or, rather, the HEAT, as they prefer to refer to themselves — will have six uniforms and a 25th-anniversary patch this season. Full details here. ”¦ Good article on Penn State’s stitcher. “My favorite quote is at the end, where she says how she’ll be glad if Nike ships them the jerseys next year with the names already on them,” says Chris Flinn. … Pickerington North High School in Ohio has a weird helmet — it’s sort of toasted (from Michael Lisi). … Really good, really funny story about the guy who wears the Marlins jersey to the World Series games (from Nicole Haase). … Earl Bennett of the Bears has been fined for wearing orange cleats. I was confused by this, because I thought team-colored cleats were kosher this season, so I asked NFL spokesperson Joanna Hunter, to responded: “Solid team-color shoes are not permitted. Two-team-color shoes are permitted.” So there you go. … Phillies second baseman Chase Utley has a foundation for animals. Check out the logo he’s using. Nice (from Art Savokinas). … The statue of Bobby Bowden shows the Sprint logo on his headset (from Brian Wulff). … Looks like Kung Fu Panda has been breathing Ethier (from Greg Long and Jared Buccola). … Check out the cool sleeve patch worn by the 1952 Dallas Texans. The opposing team is the Packers, by the way (from Tom Farley). … Man U has bought back the sponsorship rights to its practice kits (from Brendon Yarian). … Tracy McGrady, now playing in China, has been wearing sneakers with his own photo on them (from Leo Thornton). … Here’s a nice slideshow of old Michigan football program covers (from Erik Best). … We all know Peyton Manning has this weird compulsion to appear in as many commercials as possible. But now he’s actually going into the inedible corporate “pizza” biz? That’s sad. … Here’s an article about Portland’s first championship basketball team, the Portland Indians, who won the 1947-48 title in the old Pacific Coast League. But the article never uses the word “Indians” — it simply refers to the team as “Portland.” The last sentence of the article explains why: “Editor’s note: Portland’s team name was omitted from this story in keeping with the Oregonian’s policy not to publish Native-themed nicknames.” ”¦ “While watching the CFL game between the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Hamilton Tiger Cats, I saw Dominique Harris of Hamilton and Carl Volny of Winnipeg get their helmets stuck together, writes Gerry Dincher. “The officials struggled for a few seconds to get them unstuck. Eventually they took off the helmets and some equipment guy did the job.” And as Matt Wilson points out, that game was color on color. ”¦ Speaking of the CFL: No photo, but Graham Bakay says the zebras in Saturday’s Saskatchewan/Toronto game were wearing toques instead of caps. “I’ve seen them wear earflapped caps before, but never toques,” says Graham. “It looked really weird, but it does seem very Canadian. Game conditions weren’t particularly cold by Canadian standards ”” minus-4 °C (25 °F) — so I’m not sure why they went all polar on us. At least they weren’t pink.” ”¦ I think it would be safe to say that the makers of CytoSport do not have a licensing deal with the NFL (from James Comfort). ”¦ Northwestern High School in Indiana uses Northwestern University’s colors, but their helmet logo is an upside-down Miami “U” (from Jeremy Edom). ”¦ Each Notre Dame locker is stocked with Double Bubble (from Warren Junium). … Interesting observation from Reed Adams, who writes: “The new Spurs alternates mean that they are no longer the only current NBA team never to have had an alternate uni. They’ve had throwbacks and Noche Latina one-offs, but never a true alternate. The only other team close to that is the Knicks, but when they added the black in the ’90s, the aways were initially alternates for a year or two before the homes were added and put into full-time use.” ”¦ Roberto Santiago wears stirrups while working as a rugby ref — very nice. ”¦ Gee, ya think there are enough ads on an NBA backboard assembly these days? But don’t worry, corporations don’t have too big an influence on American life (screen shot by William Locke). ”¦ Decent slideshow of assorted NFL throwbacks here. ”¦ I was back-and-forthing with DIY gumball helmet king Bill Jones the other day. “I have to say, all the one-offs, the chrome, the carbon fiber, and the matte finishes are making it hard to keep the hobby going,” he said. ”¦ I’d never heard of the comic strip “Close to Home” until now, but yesterday’s installment featured a swoosh joke (from Coleman Mullins). ”¦ ” I was participating in the medical coverage of a Philadelphia-area high school football game this past Friday night,” says Jason Kerzer. “A defensive lineman got his thumb stuck in another player’s facemask. Here’s a picture with a circle showing where his thumb was stuck, but we were having trouble removing the rivet indicated by the arrow. As soon as the play was over, all the trainers and medical personnel ran on the field with screwdrivers and other tools to get the facemask off, but no one had any idea how to remove that rivet. Eventually, the upper two screws [on either side of the nose bumper] were removed with a traditional screwdriver, which freed his thumb (which sustained no major injury). After five minutes of searching YouTube after the game, it became apparent that all one needs to do is poke the center of the rivet with a pen and it pops out.” ”¦

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Sandy update: As of right now — Monday morning — I’m fine. Twenty-four hours from now, however, I may not have power and/or internet access and/or cell service, I may not be able to drink water out of the tap, and I may start doing that cartoon thing where I look at the cats and they start morphing into an image of a roast chicken. So it’s entirely possible that content here on the site could be a bit spotty over the next few days.

I’ve pre-loaded some content that’s scheduled to auto-post on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, so there’ll definitely be something on the site for those days, but it might not include a full Ticker or other frills. Meanwhile, for everyone else who’s in the storm’s path, be safe.

 
  
 
Comments (208)

    As I posted yesterday, the numbers (and, of course, names) on the Steeler throwbacks were unreadable from the upper deck. The stripes weren’t bad, and those side panels weren’t so noticeable during the game, but they need brighter backgrounds in the boxes, or even just white block numbers if they’re not worried about throwback accuracy.

    Tigers white instead of Giants white? It certainly didn’t look like a bright white live.

    STEELERS 1933/1934 THROWBACKS

    Great. Different. Loved them. The matching socks made the uniform! The too-large Black sidewalls took alot away from it, but what-the-hell, we’ll live with it.

    Plain Black helmets would have been better.

    I could stand to look at them twice a year for awhile. They are certainly so unique as to merit going to the trouble of having them. Could we take them for an entire season – NO. Twice a year for 2-3 years – YES!

    Count me as a fan.

    I’ve been wearing my EBAY-purchased, pretty-authentic #7 Big Ben Nike sewn#s replica around New Orleans since August – 100% compliments – particularly when cited by Stelers’ fans – they go nuts over it.

    And yes, immediately upon seeing the ESPN highlights, I thought of Curley and the Three Stooges football episode “The Three Little Pigskins” …. This Steelers’ throwback is really too close to Curley’s uniform. Wow!

    Looking at the Three Sttoges “Three Little Pigskins” episode, Curley’s jersey looks just like the 1933/1934 Steelers/Pirates. The critical difference – curley’s jersey had a Black patch with White numerals. That would have looked better for the Steelers/Pirates.

    Too bad they did not chose them in 1933/1934 ….

    I’m fairly sure the Packers helmet thing has been highlighted on this site before. I seem to remember it being the decal for the helmet stripe has a clear section, presumably to help it sit neatly over the hole in the helmet that the stripe cuts in half.

    I was just about to post the same thing. There was a post a few weeks back on this site that highlighted the helmet stripe sticker had an extra wide patch in it.

    Paul, I’ll give you a call early on Thursday to see if you’re still good for the interview. Obviously, I’m not going to subject you to mundane questions when safety is in question. Here’s hoping that you make it through safely with little disruption for the kitties and yourself.

    Stay safe, East Coasters, and be vigilant.

    One thing that bugs me about that Steelers throwback is that they just went with the modern helmet, should have asked the Skins if they could borrow those sweet fake leather heads.

    If MLB has imposed a rule that teams can only wear one home and one road uniform in the World Series, that must be something new, since the Rangers just last year wore three different jerseys (blue alt, road gray and home white). And it’s obviously not a postseason rule, either.

    If so, good, I like the idea, but if this rule had been in place in 2005 when the Astros played, I’m not sure Drayton McClane wouldn’t have had them wear the brick softball tops both home and away.

    Depends on how you interpret “only one home and one road.” The full rule might be “one home, one road, and one solid alt.” Of course, most teams only have one road jersey to begin with.

    The larger likelihood is that the guy Brinke was tweeting with was just talking out of his ass. But still, the scenario I’ve just laid out is possible.

    The geometry of what is defined as an “alternate” eludes me, but it’s possible that this explains why the Giants weren’t wearing their Sunday caps(orange bill) last night.

    Those Steeler unis were horrendous, nausea inducing abominations. Whoever had the idea and whoever put together the design should be beaten, severely. They were moth balled for good reason. Let our eyes never have to endure this type of abuse again.

    I think that was the point. They are truly over-the-top. I think that they are so over-the-top fuggly that they are genius beautiful. What is the sense in a Throwback that moves a stripe here or there, changes a facemask, or crams too many stripes where sleeves no longer exist. Go for immortality, go for the top. Go over the top.

    That’s what they did here.

    Get rid of the Black sidewalls NEXT YEAR (!) and we’ll have greatness personified.

    By the way, if the early-NFL Pirates wore these for only one game (!) in their entire existance, what were they doing purchasing three-four sets of rather elaborate and detailed, I dare say EXPENSIVE jerseys for 10-12 games a year back in the impovershed early 1930s? A bit extravagant, no?

    I’m not disputing the accuracy of the one-off claim, I’m just curious how Depression-era teams would buy soo many uniforms given the times ….

    As a long time Steeler fan, I agree 100%…the concept seemed ok, but watching them play in them was painful. Perhaps making the top a solid yellow and keeping the striped socks could work.

    NickV,

    Good point. VERY good point.

    Thinking a young Art Rooney was not exactly frugal. He was a noted pony player even then, so maybe the budget for the convicts came from a good day at the track?

    Just a theory.

    Maybe he thought flashy jerseys would be an attraction, and decided after a year that good football would be a better attraction (even if it took 40 years to achieve).

    Interestingly, I have heard from many different sources in the jersey collecting world that for years Steelers game worn jerseys were incredibly difficult to get because Art Rooney would donate them to the Pennsylvania prison system for either wearing(!) in prison tackle football leagues or an effort for their in fundraising?

    Anybody know anything about that?

    Also, if I’m not mistaken, in the “Football America” TV mini-series tied to the NFL’s 75th Aniversary in 1994, there was a segment on prison TACKLE football without equipment where the prisoner/players wore actual NFL game jerseys donated to the prison.

    Jerry Jones own Papa Johns here in the D/FW area. What’s wrong with being a business man? Manning is just having something to fall back on when his career is over. So does anyone have issues with Magic Johnson’s businesses?

    Manning is just having something to fall back on when his career is over.

    I’m gonna let the hilarity of this sentence speak for itself.

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    As for the rest of your comment, no, there’s nothing “wrong” with having other business interests. It’s just sad that the business in question here is inedible corporate “pizza.”

    You can love whatever junk food you like. I love certain junk foods, too. But it’s really pathetic when an athlete — someone who supposedly cares what goes into his body — endorses a junk food (which is what Papa John’s most assuredly is). And it’s even sadder when it’s a junk food that competes with Mom&Pops, as corporate chain “pizza” does.

    But it’s really pathetic when an athlete – someone who supposedly cares what goes into his body – endorses a junk food (which is what Papa John’s most assuredly is)

    Yeah, because the local Mom & Pop pizza place is just SO healthy, right? Pizza is not a “healthy” food, regardless of whether it’s being made by an evil corporation or by some 70yr old Italian woman’s personal recipe.

    Yeah, because the local Mom & Pop pizza place is just SO healthy, right?

    Straw man argument — that’s not what I said.

    What I said was (a) it sucks for an athlete to endorse junk food and (b) corporate chain junk food is a worse phenomenon than Mom&Pop junk food.

    Corporate chain “pizza” is about the worst. It simply has no reason to exist. It’s a shame anyone endorses it, athlete or otherwise.

    Paul, now I do disagree with you. I have tried to eat inedible mom and pop pizza before. The best dough I’ve ever eaten (bagel, pizza or bread) was baked in NYC. Your argument is mass production + supply chain + logistics = corporate? It’s always about the ingredients. A local pizza store can serve crappy pizza just as poorly as a corporate pizza giant.

    One thing I’ve noticed is that Domino’s, Papa John’s and the like are able to survive in small towns, whereas Mom and Pop places don’t seem to be able to. I don’t know that they’re driving Mom & Pop out of business, as a lot of these places never had Mom and Pop pizza.

    So is corporate pizza better than no pizza? Not the question that was asked, I know, but the actual state of affairs in a lot of the country.

    A local pizza store can serve crappy pizza just as poorly as a corporate pizza giant.

    That sounds reasonable, except for:

    1) A local place isn’t constantly rejiggering its menu to include cheesy bread, stuffed crust, bbq sauce pizza, chicken wings, and the jillion other focus-group-tested corporate nonsense items that corporate places try to sell. One reason corporate chain “pizza” isn’t really pizza is that it doesn’t even TRY to be pizza — it’s just a delivery device for whatever concoctions have come out of the corporate food labs lately.

    2) A local place is usually run by people who’ve worked there a while — in other words, people who know how to make pizza. Corporate chain outlets are staffed by kids who last about 6 months before they quit and move to the next job. They don’t know (or care) jackshit about pizza.

    3) In part to combat the problem cited in item #2, corporate chain “pizza” outlets have strict protocols for how many pieces of pepperoni go on each slices, how many ounces of cheese go on the pie, etc. A robot could do it (and they’d definitely hire robots instead of teenagers if they could). That’s not food; that’s “food.”

    Can Mom&Pop pizza suck? Sure. But corporate chain “pizza” is DESIGNED to suck.

    So… let’s pretend I open up a pizza place, and my pizzas are just fucking awesome. So, word spreads… and I’m overwhelmed… so I open another location and use the same recipe… and then another… and another… and another… how many locations am I allowed to have before I’m transformed from great pizza place into horrible evil corporation?

    You and I both know it’s not about the number of outlets; it’s about your sourcing practices, your labor practices, your quality-control practices. There’s no formula for this, but if it looks like a duck, etc. And Papa John’s (which started out exactly the way you desribe, as a little shop in Indiana) smells a LOT like a duck.

    Mom and Pop places aren’t prevalent where I live, and those that exist rarely deliver. If you want a pizza delivered in most rural areas/small cities your options are: Papa Johns, Dominos, and Pizza Hut, and in rare cases there will be a non-chain store that delivers. If you want something else you go to a restuarant that specializes in Pizza.

    I get your argument in a place like NYC, but elsewhere its a different story.

    To me, judging pizza on how corporate the restaurant is is pointless. Not all of us are blessed to live in major metropolitan areas where pizza choices are vast and spectacular. I have one “mom and pop” shop, which really makes its money off shipping frozen pizza throughout the region. Their in-house pizza isn’t great and costs about four times more than it would frozen or at a Dominos, Pizza Hut, etc.

    Is corporate pizza the best? No. Nor does it claim to be. You don’t go to McDonalds expecting a gourmet meal, you go because its cheap, convenient and familiar. Not to mention it makes the real stuff taste even better.

    So what makes Papa John’s nasty? Its okay to me, but they are all the same to my stomach. Pizza is pizza.

    That is your opinion. So is gas sold at a mom and pop Exxon gas station better than the gas sold at the Exxon corporate store. More than likely, its the same gas, refined the same way. The only difference is the wholesale price they pay.

    Beginning an argument with “That is your opinion” does not move the ball forward, since most of what we debate here is opinion. Think harder.

    Now then, let me get this straight: You think the notion that all gasoline is the same is analogous to all pizza being the same?

    By extension, you must think all foodstuffs of any like category are therefore the same. Bread is bread. Chocolate is chocolate. Steak is steak. Beer is beer. Cheese is cheese. (That one’s *definitely* true, because cheese goes on pizza, and we already know all pizza is the same!) Right?

    I think you’re confusing food and commodities.

    While I do not disagree, there is no need for corporate in your statement. My apologies for no strikethrough. “inedible pizza” would have been more than sufficient.

    There’s a big need for “corporate” in this argument.

    The things that make corporate chain “pizza” profitable (cheap/frozen/synthetic ingredients, a vertically integrated industrial supply chain, a cheap labor pool with a high turnover rate, etc.) are the same things that make it inedible.

    Its your site, Paul. So I will never fault you for expressing your opinion. I will, however, say that your argument today comes off as a little elitist. Saying all “corporate chain pizza” is garbage is obviously your opinion, and again, you’re entitle to it for sure. It just seems like you’re trying to pass off your hardcore opinion as fact.

    Just MY opinion!

    Yeah, it’s really “elitist” of me to prefer Joe & Sal’s on the corner instead of a multi-jillion-dollar corporation. Nothing says elitism like sticking up for the little guy….

    Look here’s my point: There’s a difference between a pizza joint that’s a business and a business that happens to serve pizza.

    I happen to respect the former and have contempt for the latter. You don’t have to share those opinions, but that’s not the point — the point is that there’s a difference between the two approaches.

    No, not at all. I think my point wasn’t well-made. What I’m saying is that it comes off like you see your opinion is fact. I stand up for mom and pop every chance I get. And I agree, the local place I grew up eating at is 1 jillion times better than chain pizza. But that just doesn’t make it fact. Its our opinion.

    Didn’t mean to ruffle feathers man.

    Ah, so you’re saying I’m being an arrogant snot (or maybe more than a bit)…. And maybe I am! And for that I’m sorry. Really!

    But that’s not the same as being elitist.

    OK, time to make dinner. I deboned a big pork shoulder earlier in the day, and now I’m gonna pop it in the oven…

    [Insert joke about how I’d call Papa John’s if they’d deliver during the hurricane here.]

    Manning started doing spots for Schnatter last year when he was out. He was dressed as an official doing a coin flip in the spots that ran during the playoffs.

    Whatintheheck are these things/strings flailing off of Webster’s uniform? I noticed them yesterday but couldn’t get a screenshot til today.

    link

    Here they are again against the ‘Skins.

    link

    I must have been sick that day.

    But my questions still wasn’t answered.

    I haven’t noticed it on others. At least not enough to make me wonder what it was. It looks like some sort of lace (maybe from shoulderpads(?). But why? What is the function (if there is any)?

    Robin is right about the Packers helmet. They use a one piece stripe decal which come in a few different shapes depending on helmet style because of the hole placement.

    My initial reaction to Christie’s pullover was so that no one would steal it. The I realized that the only one who could steal it would be Omar the Tent Maker.

    I was at the Steelers game yesterday and I thought the throwbacks looked fantastic on the field. Great looking game overall in fact, with the Skins in their excellent gold pants roadies.

    I think it’s important to remember that was exactly the purpose of unis of that era…to look good on the field, to the folks in the stands. It was, after all, the 1930s.

    Judging them by how they look on TV is certainly relevant, but not exactly the only viewfinder to employ.

    i didn’t see much of the game because i had to help out a friend. but from what i did see, as a steelers fan, i loved the jerseys! i knew they’d look good in game action. also, i actually think the side panels are really cool looking. i like how it seperates the front stripes from the back stripes. love the use of the current helmet, but not too hot on the pants color. i think they should have either wore the usual pants, or should have created a black set

    all in all, was fun to see on an NFL field. i’ll take it for two games a season!

    I agree with my boys on this one. My opinion of this uni had grown cold over the weeks but I think that was more from the stand point of wanting to buy one.

    I also enjoyed getting the texts from my mom about how much she hated it!

    Now the million dollar question is: when/where can we buy those socks? I must have those socks.

    Oh, and JB, you look great in that Lambo M&N throwback. #nohomo (not that there’s anything wrong with that)

    I am forever indebted to Kearns for finding that thing at M&N. Perfect fit, right number, right color. And being 50% off was nice too.

    Speaking of the socks, as the lead photo shows, some Steelers players had gold at the bottom of their socks, while others had black. Two questions:

    1. Why the discrepancy? Why not start with either yellow or gold at the bottom for everyone, and alternate stripes up from there? and

    2. Shouldn’t the Steelers have had some inches of white at the bottom of their socks?

    Bonus question:

    1a. If Comrade Marshall makes these as a stirrup selection someday, will he put black or gold at the bottom?

    I loved those Steelers unis…I can’t see what everyone is so hacked off about. They looked especially good on a rain-soaked field of real grass. If anyone looked stupid out there yesterday, it was RGIII and his moronic pinkarm.

    I got’s a half-marathon to run in two weeks…I’d like to be wearing those socks when I do it!

    The story about the high school player getting his thumb stuck and the trainers not knowing how to free it is pretty troubling. If a school is going to have a certain helmet, someone should be required to know the ins and outs of it, for safety and liability purposes.

    There was a good reason that for 50 years Helmet earholes were ROUND and protuberances and other holes were kept to a minimum. Modern helmets have too many larger holes, angles and sharp creases on facemask angles.

    Someone will soon lose a finger, or become crippled, because of the newer style helmts. This will occur needlessly, because of these recent changes. The helmet manufacterers need to wake up and fix this.

    A disaster is coming. You”ll see. You’ll see …..

    I agree with Gus it is troubling that they medical team didn’t know what to do. When I played in college I remember the trainers practicing removing screws on helmets. This was so they could do it as quick and safely as possible if there was a head or neck injury. The trainers or doctors should know how to work with all the equipment they may encounter.

    I was the one that submitted that story and I do agree with your concern. I was talking with the team physician and the trainer after this incident and they were saying that before the season started the trainer was researching whether or not there is a special tool needed to remove this particular rivet and he couldn’t find anything. I found this rather peculiar which is why I hit the internet as soon as I could and found the solution quickly. Needless to say, this will not be a problem in the future.

    Pretty much everyone I don’t actually like on Facebook and Twitter was bitching about the Steelers throwbacks. Also, Steelers fans I know seemed pretty down on them. I don’t get it: it’s just one game, and the bumblebee thing is itself fantastic. Such a common and effective look in soccer, but I’d never before thought to notice its absence in gridiron football. Ought to be a thing.

    The bumblebee look isn’t “manly” enough for American football. Soccer players know good and well that they are men. Football players have to wear menacing uniforms and huge pads to compensate ;)

    Though since the look probably reminds people more of prison stripes than a bumblebee, and since horizontal stripes work best for teams with black and something light as team colors, the Saints may be the better choice to adopt the look.

    Well, that’s good to hear, because next week the Steelers are planing on wearing these: link

    In sticking with tradition, however, they will only wear a logo on the right side of the banana hammock.

    I don’t think Governor Christie is trying to look like the captain of a SWAT team. He’s trying to look like the president of the United States. For a generation or more, since at least Nixon but maybe LBJ, presidents have commonly worn windbreakers with the presidential seal and their names in casual situations like disaster tours. (Casual as in, not suit-and-tie dressy.) Not entirely positive, but I believe it’s become tradition for the crew of the president’s Air Force planes to present the new POTUS with the navy windbreaker.

    Anyway, I assume that the windbreaker is of a piece with Christie’s GOP convention speech, where he seemed to assume or even hope that his own party’s candidate would lose to President Obama and clear the way for Christie to run for the White House in 2016. He clearly wants the job, and next time is probably his only realistic opportunity to run. And so suddenly he’s dressing up like the president in front of TV cameras. Watch for Christie’s pretending-to-be-president to stop if Mitt Romney takes the oath of office in January.

    I only saw a little bit of the Steelers unis but I have to say I liked them. Can’t wait to see them again when they play the Ravens on SNF (Go RAVENS!!!)

    I am not sure why you would say that Jacquizz Rodgers wearing his jersey up during the opening kickoff evidences a lack of class. I haven’t heard why he had it up, but the most likely explanation is that he put on, or adjusted, the Flack Jacket, then forgot to pull the jersey back down. To me, this evidences being focused on his job, not a lack of class. Although I like this site, too often insults get hurled around gratuitously.

    Your conjecture that he was adjusting his flak jacket and “forgot” to pull his jersey back down is just that — conjecture.

    Here’s my conjecture: Since we already know that lots of players hike their jerseys up during pregame warm-ups to look “cool” (we’ve seen that many times and discussed it here a few times), Rodgers was just trying to extend his pregame fashion statement from the pregame period into the game itself. And yeah, that’s not too classy, since it’s just another “Look at me!” bullshit move.

    My conjecture, like yours, is just conjecture. Personally, though, I’ll take mine over yours.

    Yes, that is my point, until you know why it happened it is conjecture for either of us. Maybe we are arguing whether he is flighty or classless, but I don’t think that it is fair to label someone classless when this is the only fact you are basing it on. I fault you for labeling him classless without more info. In my opinion, doing so is classless.

    How would your work feel if you came out of the bathroom with your pants undone? Nothing’s visible, no indecent exposure, but your fly is open, your belt is undone and everyone can see it.

    Now lets say that in the bathroom, you just remembered your TPS reports were due and that’s why you forgot to zip up. You think your coworkers will think that’s ok?

    They wont. What they will think it that it’s a sign – not that your focus is so great – but rather that you can barely focus on getting dressed and doing your job at the same time. Classy.

    See above. I disagree thta this is classless. Over my 48 years I have seen plenty of people forget to zip their pants, and not once did I think, “Wow he is really classless.” And I certainly didn’t go around the office saying so. To do so, would be, well, classless.

    As a Steeler fan, when I first saw the unis I hated them. Then as I saw them in person at stores, I was like, “ehh”. Then as I watched the game I thought they looked really good during game action and they really grew on me.

    is it just me, or do the corners of the H in the Astros new logo look a bit like home plates?

    There’s one thing that bothers me more than the pink penalty flag – even the background of the “FLAG” in the scoreboard bug is pink

    I like that CBS did that as a courtesy to viewers who might be confused as to why they’re not seeing yellow flags.

    Also, it’s a bit odd that Nike, for that kid’s T-shirt, decided to put the swoosh on a football, considering they don’t make the NFL game balls.

    it would be more “sinster” if it weren’t for the fact they’ve been using that logo as for their football related gear for years now

    Exactly. That’s an extremely old logo. Plus, who’s to say the kid didn’t just happen to wear that. Do you really believe Nike made him wear it?

    I remember Rudy G. sporting NYPD/FDNY jackets with his name and title embroidered on the front in the wake of 9/11. Also the President will also show up in light military gear (usually an bomber jacket) with the same treatment when flying into combat zones to address the troops.

    Still, the award for best (and most outrageous) uni on a politician is, the winner and still champion… link

    Now, see, unlike Christie, Rudy was trying to dress up like a member of the SWAT team. I give him high marks as an effective mayor, but being an effective big-city mayor, regardless of one’s party, requires something of the temperament of an autocratic dictator. You have to have a lot of link in you to run a big city well.

    Which is why I will never vote for a successful mayor for president.

    Some examples of how presidents do it:

    Reagan: link

    Bush the Elder: link

    Clinton: link

    Bush the Lesser: link

    Obama: link & link

    I know I’ve seen photos or video of Nixon in a military jacket with the presidential seal, but I can’t find any online. Ford was unusually comfortable in his own skin for a president, and served only briefly, so he may not have worn, or been photographed wearing, that kind of a jacket. He was the last president to regularly wear three-piece suits, after all. Carter, to the chagrin of many Democrats who’d been out of the White House for eight years, did away with a lot of the symbols and perks of the office, especially the swag with the presidential seal on it. I’m not aware of any photos of him wearing that sort of gear. Reagan brought back the regal trappings, and invented much of the theatrics of the modern presidency, such as the (civilian) president returning military salutes. The first president to wear team gear when throwing out a baseball first pitch, the Gipper was often seen in jackets with the seal of his office, and all of his successors have followed suit.

    Tracy McGrady should get himself a custom embroidered fleece jacket to go along with those kicks.

    Just back from a 15-minute walk around the neighborhood. Precipitation at the moment is just a light drizzle (I didn’t need an umbrella); wind is gusty but not crazy. Surprising number of businesses open, including a nail salon *that had two customers*! Maybe they’re offering a “hurricane manicure” special…..

    It will supposedly get a lot worse around 6pm.

    Best of luck to everyone.

    We lost power @ 0730. Thankfully, we have a generator and our cable/internet is still intact.

    The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is reporting Rodgers may have had a cracked helmet yesterday. I think it should be mandatory that everyone in the sports reporting business read Uni Watch everyday before they do their reporting.

    My guess on the black side panels for the Steelers jerseys is that they couldn’t find a way to make the stripes line up front-to-back when the jersey was put together and the side panel was their fix.

    Which is fine by me. I kind of like how the black side panels broke up the gold stripe pattern. That felt more like a feature, not a bug, to me, though I’m sure that if it were feasible to have done the full stripes on that jersey template, they’d have done so.

    My thought exactly. YBMTI.

    The black panel is lame, but misalligned stripes would have been Hooorrrriblllle.

    This whole argument is ridiculous. Have you ever owned (or at least seen) a striped T-shirt? There are seams along both sides, and the stripes line up. Not that hard to do.

    I would assume that this is precisely why most t-shirts don’t have horizontal stripes. Clearly it’s more difficult to match the stripes than not to match stripes. Further, for this style of football uni, you have to match the stripes on four seams, not just two.

    I don’t think anyone’s stupid enough to believe that it can’t be done. But it is pretty self-evidently harder to do, which is to say more expensive to produce, and harder to do well. Better, maybe, to do it and do it well than not to do it. But better not to do it at all than to do it poorly. Do you trust Nike to handle with any kind of excellence this kind of attention to detail that profits Nike nothing? I don’t. Nike does things well when doing them well benefits Nike. When the only benefit would be to the client or the consumer, Nike runs very shoddy production.

    Oh, for fuck’s sake…. Scott, are you wearing a dress shirt with any kind of pattern on it (stripes, checks, plaid, tattersall, whatever)? If so, look at the left breast pocket. See how it lines up with the pattern of the rest of the shirt? It’s EASY.

    Here’s the real story: All NFL jerseys have those stretch panels on the side. Sometimes they match the color of the rest of the jersey (Giants, Packers, etc.), and sometimes they’re a different color (Bengals, Vikings, etc.). Even the Bucs’ recent mesh-fabric throwbacks had these stretch panels on the side:
    link

    Now, could Nike put stripes on the side panels? Sure. And could they have made sure that the stripes lined up? Double-sure. But they chose not to. Maybe the stretchiness would have distorted the stripes (like with Reebok’s super-stretchies). I can see that as a plausible explanation. I just think the black panel looks like shit, that’s all.

    Of course. But when you start custom–overstretching and vacuu-sucking these “shirts” over football gear on these guys, i would immagine it would get a bit more tricky.

    Paul, of course Nike chose not to. This is probably a good thing, since Nike is not likely to have sewn the side-panel well enough to match the stripes properly. And this is not a matter of opinion. This is an empirically verifiable fact. Take a look at the photo at the top of this very column. Note how the sleeve stripes do not meet the stripes at the front or rear of the shirt. Yet I have a closet full of shirts whose sleeves meet the front and back with the patterns matching very closely. This is not significantly more difficult than matching the pocket, or matching the left and right sides of a shirt, and yet Nike failed to do so. If Nike could not do that right, and obviously it could not, then neither would Nike have done the side panels right either.

    Furthermore, it’s quite common to see low-price dress shirts where the pocket or the left and right sides don’t quite meet at the right spots in the pattern. This is because, and this is so obvious as to not really need saying, matching patterns takes more effort and requires more wastage of material than not matching. It is therefore more expensive to do, which we can verify empirically by observing that the higher a shirt’s price, the more likely it is to have patterns perfectly matched across seams. So, again, we’re talking about increasing the cost of production in a way that yields no material benefit to Nike. Tell us again, Paul, how Nike has a strong track record of sacrificing its own pecuniary interests for the sake of its clients or consumers? Rhetorical question: We both know Nike foists shoddiness on its clients and consumers wherever possible, and only chooses to pursue excellence when doing so will specifically and significantly benefit Nike itself.

    Perhaps the issue here is that you think I’m justifying Nike’s douchebaggery and shoddiness. I’m not. I’m assuming it, even accepting it as a fundamental condition of Nike’s corporate being, and trying to judge what is against the standards of what is reasonably possible, not against the fantasy of Nike caring about its clients. The latter is a perfectly legitimate basis for criticism, and amounts to s higher form of criticism, but the former is just as legitimate and more practically useful. To say that the Steelers should have had stripes go all the way around the torso is, in reality, to say that Nike ought not supply NFL uniforms. Which I stipulate. But so long as Nike is the supplier, I believe that it can be demonstrated that striped side panels would likely not have been sewn properly, and that being the case, I believe that black panels are preferable.

    I didn’t mean to make excuses for Nike – just positing what I thought was a reasonable explanation for the panel. I thought it looked like shit as well, surely with a little effort and carefulness they could have done it right instead of giving a half-assed effort.

    I have plenty of shirts that seem to match up stripes fine as well. I also have a few cheap-ass ones that didn’t bother. I would also have hoped Nike would aspire to do better.

    Probably a bit late, but that screw on the Ridell helmets is called a Quick Release. Ridell sends a specific tool to remove those screws, but you’re right, a pen gets the job done as well. While they might seem trivial to some, as an equipment manager at an SEC school, they’re way faster than removing the screws from a Pro Air 2, where the t-nuts may become stuck, and considerably faster than the spring-loaded quarter turn garbage that new Schutt helmets are loaded with.

    So it looks like the Heat are capitalizing on those all-black jerseys (which WON’T be a part of this year’s rotation) with all-red and all-white formats. It seems that the only permanent change to their attire (since a lot of these seem to be this-season-only specials) is the standard black uniforms will now say Miami instead of Heat on them.

    Living in an area that sees its fair share of hurricanes (or at least the threat of them) I can tell you that Governor Christie’s attire is “par for the course”.

    Here is south Louisiana, most presidents of the civil parishes, many board members of those parishes, and mayors of incorporated cities break out all sorts of customized gear during disaster situations. The most recent example, Hurricane Issac, saw a variety public officials in windbreakers, “light military” clothing, personalized polo shirts with name/various state agency logos/titles, and the like.

    They’ve gotta spend all the money from those traffic light tickets somehow, right?!

    (Lived in Orleans Parish the past few years, those things were effing ridiculous)

    Hamilton and Toronto have some classy unis! Love the stripes on the sleeves of the Ti-Cats!!

    Last night at Penn Station:

    “I spy with my little eye something white.”
    “Is it . . . the ceiling?
    “No.”
    “Is it . . . the letters on the Exit sign?”
    “No.”
    “I give up.”
    “The sports thing on that guy’s backpack.”
    “What?”
    “The–like–check.” [Kid points to swoosh.]

    Texas Tech unveiling a new uni today. It will be their “Texas Pride” uni.

    link

    It will most likely include a chrome helmet…

    link

    So tired of chrome helmets.

    They look decent when sitting on a shelf in a display case. They look like shit when used in an actual game.

    It’s a slight nod to their 1939 uniforms in the shoulders. If you reverse them you get the old look. link

    With the NFL International Series games having the Jaguars as Londons resident home team for the next 4 years and given that week 8 seems to be a good week for throwbacks it might be cool if the Jags wore the London Monarchs 1991 uniforms ,it will also help them cultivate some home support in London as I still have doubts a London franchise can work as I doubt anyone here it he UK will give up there teams to route for a London team ,I certainly won’t drop my Giants after 27 years to support a London team!!!!

    That’s what you say now, but if they’re in the AFC…

    I doubt a London team is feasible on a thousand levels any time soon, but if it ever will be and they but a team in foggy London town, all the young’uns will flock to it 10,000 times more passionately – and immediately – than you probably flocked to the G-Men (this is on the assumption of two things. 1) There is a fanbase wanting an American football team of some sort in London, and 2) That you are in fact a Briton of some variety and knew little of the game and it’s rules to begin with whereas this generation is growing up with the interwebs [a series of tubes] and a game in Wembley every year).

    With the NFL International Series games having the Jaguars as Londons resident home team for the next 4 years

    Wait, what? You got a source for that claim? The NFL schedule does follow a formula where a large percentage of games are already known beforehand, but I really can’t see them putting the same team in London for multiple seasons like that.

    link

    Yeah, they signed a deal with the NFL since they can’t sell out their place in Jacksonville, they’re seeing if less supply will result in a (proportionally) higher demand.

    As UK New England Patriots fan since 1985 I could quite easily support a London team as well as the Pats. I would happily support LOndon apart from when/if ever they played the Pats.

    As for the Jags wearing a throwback Monarchs uniform, I imagine that would be highly unlikely as the NFL are obviously very protective of the image they portray for the International Series games – note the complete absence of pink at Wembley yesterday even though it is still October.

    “note the complete absence of pink at Wembley yesterday even though it is still October.”

    That was the best part about the Bears being over there last year when most teams suffered through five games of that shit.

    …That and this Matt Forte run: link

    @Robin ,I agree the NFL is very protective of the brand so it’s unlikely but one team playing here for 4 seasons changes the dynamic slightly With The old WLAF as it was them very much an NFL run league and the league owning the name and logos its not impossible , if it was announced and Nike released replica jerseys by June or July of the season they where gonna do it and the league really got behind it ,it would be interesting to see how many people show up at Wembley in Monarchs jerseys ,it was just a thought!

    The semi permanent team made more sense when it was going to the Rams, since Stan Kronke is the majority owner of Arsenal.

    Google it .,Jacksonville will play one home game a season in London for the next 4 years, in total there will be 2 games in London next season with one in late September and one in the usual slot of late October!

    *sigh* Celestia dammit, NFL.

    No one wants a team in London. The only reason those games sell out is because it’s still a novelty.

    While it’s easy to poke fun at Gov. Christie and the other politicos who don custom gear, there’s one potential innocent explanation. Most places in the US use the “Incident Command System” as a way to respond to major emergencies. One minor part of that is having easy immediate identification of all the folks who have a role.

    I work in a hospital and we have vests of different colors that folks in different roles are to wear when we’re having an emergency incident or even an emergency drill. That way any outsiders can immediately tell who is in charge of what. While someone who gets as much publicity as that governor would seem to be universally recognizable, if he’s dealing with someone from, say the Coast Guard, it could be helpful for there to be an immediate easy ID.

    I’m trained in ICS as well and have done two real incidents. If the state governor has a role in the ICS (above the Incident Commander presumably) that sounds like a recipe for disaster. On one incident, I was tasked with explaining to our company’s president why he didn’t get a vest too.

    Not saying he’d have an operational role, but just so folks would know who he is in terms of briefings etc.

    Your explanation could be plausible except that no other governor on TV for Sandy, not Jack Markell of Delaware or Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania or even Mike Nutter, mayor of Philly, was pretentious enough to be dressed in any monogrammed apparel. He’s a f’ckin’ blowhard of the most egregious kind. He sarcastically ripped a Democratic mayor of a seaside town on regional TV and then praised a Republican governor (Daniels, Indiana) for sending a few trucks to NJ. Then he circled back and ripped the mayor again with no proof or indictment except for supposedly not doing what Christie has suggested. What a gigantic piece of sht, and I mean sht even more than gigantic.

    The fact that nobody knew how to remove the rivet on that Revo Speed is disturbing, since it’s designed to be a quick release rivet designed to pop out to make it easier to remove a facemask from a critically injured player’s helmet.

    The team trainer did say after the incident that he tried to find a special tool for that screw but came up with nothing (don’t know where he was searching). Of course this won’t be an issue in the future. Thankfully, the injury was minor.

    Every Winnipeg Blue Bombers away game is a color on color match up since they changed their away jersey from white to gold before the start of this season.

    Has it been mentioned here that the Islanders’ logo doesn’t feature Brooklyn or Queens on its version of the island? Seriously, compare the logo: link to the Island: link They aren’t there.

    From deadspin: link

    As right as you are, Tim, that was probably due to the fact that the NHL was very aware of territorial rights in the past (and to some degree, still are). Queens and Brooklyn would be considered “Rangers territory” due to the proximity to Madison Square Garden whereas the Islanders got everything else on Long Island.

    The only reason the Islanders ended up on Long Island was to prevent the WHA from moving into NHL territory with the new Nassau Coliseum built. The NHL rushed a team into the new rink and technically had to split the geographical region in order to keep the Rangers happy.

    While totally fair and probably true, I’ve never noticed that or thought that was the case. Maybe it’s just because I’m not from the NE but reading that deadspin article was a glass shattering moment. I mean, the Isles have said they’re not changing the logo but the location of their new stadium isn’t on their logo. When your logo is a graphic representation of your geographic location, that seems weird…

    Having grown up on Long Island as the child of Brooklyn parents, I was always aware that the logo didn’t include Brooklyn or Queens. And that never seemed odd to me — Brooklyn and Queens are part of the landmass of Long Island, but the team was clearly meant to appeal to the suburban fan base in Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

    Nobody in Queens or Brooklyn calls himself a Long Islander. The name of the team was geared to appeal to Nassau and Suffolk. Makes sense that that’s what’s shown in the logo.

    My wife is from NYC and it drives her batty when I refer to Bklyn or Queens as “way out on Long Island”. She doesn’t get quite as bent when I call the Bronx “upstate”.

    Actually the longest island team is the Rangers (at least in terms of longevity). I suppose “Manhattan Rangers” would have been too provincial a name.

    Of course what I meant to write was “Manhattan Islanders” instead of “Manhattan Rangers.”

    “The only reason the Islanders ended up on Long Island was to prevent the WHA from moving into NHL territory with the new Nassau Coliseum built.”

    Got that right.

    I love me some hockey history, Rick. I have to thank you for the WHA stuff you sent me for teaching me about that period of time. If it wasn’t for a wise old Jedi like you, I may not have learned about how the WHA shaped the NHL. ;o)

    NHL wanted not only the team at Nassau County, but knew it would force the WHA Raiders into the least attractive dates at MSG, behind the Knicks, Rangers and probably the circuses, rodeos, etc., etc.

    I thought I heard last week that when the Islanders joined the NHL from the WHA, there was something worked out with the Rangers and Islanders that a possible move around NYC by the Islanders would not be cause for a relocation fee nor could the Rangers block the move.

    I think it was said by John Shannon of Sportsnet, who can be a blowhard, but once worked for the League Office, so he could have his facts correct.

    Admittedly, I didn’t cause enough to do due dilligence on the matter.

    Sinc the Islanders were never part of the WHA and were founded seven years before the NHL-WHA merge and were founded in the same year as the WHA was founded, I’m not sure where you’re getting this info from. In fact, just putting the Islanders into the WHA makes it wholly incorrect.

    If John Shannon made that error, he should be fired with prejudice immediately from Sportsnet for not knowing a damned thing about the NHL or the WHA (not surprising about the last part).

    I for one am a big fan of the Steelers’ jerseys. I love how they resemble the hoops that are synonymous with rugby jerseys. I would also be interested to know how they were made.

    Hey guys, long time reader, rare commenter. I’m a recent graduate of the University of Miami, and was wondering about that high school using an upside down version of our U… isn’t that a copyright violation? If so, why hasn’t it been reported? Thanks!

    why hasn’t it been reported?

    By whom? To whom? Maybe you should report it!

    Countless high schools around the country use the logos of pro and college teams. Sometimes they end up getting a cease-and-desist letter; more often they don’t. Some schools police this stuff very tightly (Wisconsin, for one), but most don’t.

    Irrespective of the ethical issues, I think it’s just lazy and unimaginative to use someone else’s logo. I’ll be proposing a possible solution to this problem later in the week.

    “Sometimes they end up getting a cease-and-desist letter”

    ~~~

    see: wisconsin, university of

    Even though my high school (The Benet Academy Redwings [which was never racial, and always about the raptors that lived in the woods near the school]) had this logo link for the school and this link for athletics, our football team – for years – wore a variant of the old Seahawks helmet logo:
    link
    link
    link
    Apparently they switched in the last few years to a Block B:
    link
    link
    Which, I think, is pretty disappointing. The old logo is so kitsch it’s unreal. I just think even the ripoff logo was better than a plain ‘B’.

    The worst part about this logo is that NHS (Howard County) used to have its own logo. It wasn’t particularly good, but we had one.

    Now, it looks awful.

    Also, never thought I’d see my alma mater on Uni Watch. Good day today.

    “…By whom? To whom? Maybe you should report it!…”

    Great comment, the very rare times I hear someone say “somebody should do something about it!” there’s always the response “you ARE somebody.”

    More East Coast citizens shying away from rough weather. In Chicago we’d called Hurricane Sandy, late November. Wimps.

    Just when I thought Tom was the biggest a$$hat on this board for his ridiculous Christie rant, you, Sammy, take the cake with this one… Someday, I hope I get to see your picture on the front page of USA Today standing in front of what used to be your house after a storm like this rolls through…

    Steelers went to the top fashion designers of the 30’s to study the cut and patterns of the retro unis they wore yesterday. Folks, the emperor has NO clothes… WTF? That was the most embarrassing selection of throwback jersey ever.

    link

    Stupid people.

    Paul, I’ve always admired your work, but the Pink Flag reference just bumped me into a whole new realm of appreciation. Seriously. That is some spectacular taste in music you’ve got going on there man.

    More Astros news: the team is offering “authenticated” jerseys in the new style. What an authenticated jersey is, and why you would pay $250 for one as opposed to a normal jersey, I have no idea? Anyone have insight?

    link

    I *think* it’s just a limited retail edition, for eternal “I was one of the first retail suckers” bragging rights. Depending on how much authentic and replica MLB jerseys actually cost, relative to the $250 here, this is either a ridiculous money grab or much ado about nothing.

    My guess as to why the Steelers have the black side panels is simply to make the “big & uglies” look slimmer. Only the little cornerbacks can pull off wrap-around stripes!

    My other assumption would be to conceal any tailoring for specific players. Not that it can’t be done; it just makes life easier for the team tailors.

    Lastly, on the retail side, the ladies in Honduras & El Salvador do a pretty good job lining up other stripes (such as the Seahawks) however, that may have been a concern. The Seahawks bootlegs are atrocious; the ladies in China are screwing the pooch on those jerseys (see ebay).

    I don’t mind the black panel; I just think it is way too wide, but that is nike’s new template…

    It’s probably been said a few times already, but the “crack” in the Packers helmets is excess clear tape so as to go over the vent/holes so the stripe doesn’t curl up due to not be sealed to a surface.

    Pretty sure (most definitely) I read that same issue on this website a while back haha.

    I’ve been a uniwatch reader since day 1 and like the content but I’ve been checking Creamer’s site more and more… you don’t have to deal with Lukas’ opinions as facts.

    True enough. I check Creamer’s site a lot myself. Has its uses. I’d like to think there’s room in this world for two (or maybe 22) uniform sites.

    Agreed – & like I said, fan of the site. It’s just sometimes– ya just want the material on it’s surface… but when you get to know all the characters that comment, you can’t help yourself but read – & that’s a good thing too.

    “During the halftime show of the UNC/NC State game…”

    Don’t tease this poor band nerd like that. Especially not after the stories emerged of the UNC-NC State band beef.

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