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Monday Morning Uni Watch

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In the first weekend of NFL games after the Newtown massacre, the only NFL teams that responded with memorial gestures were the three clubs whose fan bases include Connecticut: the Patriots, Giants, and Jets. On Saturday night, however, the Lions and Falcons both wore “S.H.E.S.” helmet decals (very similar to the one that the Jets wore on Monday night), which made me wonder if the entire league would follow suit on Sunday.

Sure enough, that’s exactly what happened, as teams wore the “S.H.E.S.” decal in more or less the same spot. Interestingly, the Patriots scrapped their previous memorial in favor of the league-wide design. The Giants did likewise. (The Jets also swapped out their old decal for the new one, although I don’t have a good photo of the latter.)

One team, however, did not get with the program: Washington. Why do Daniel Snyder and Robert Griffin III hate innocent, murdered six-year-olds?

In non-Newtown-related developments:

• The Ravens wore their black alts.

• Speaking of the Ravens, wideout Jacoby Jones didn’t even try to show any whites on his socks.

•  Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers doesn’t usually wear a visor, but he wore one yesterday.

• James Laurinaitis of the Rams had a crooked team wordmark on his jersey.

• NFL first down markers usually have horizontal stripes. But one of the ones in Saturday night’s Lions/Falcons game had chevrons instead.

•  NBC used some Reebok-era Seahawks head shots last night.

(My thanks to all contributors, including M.B. Crain, David Dinsmore, Josh Hunsucker, Aaron McHargue, and Ernest Penaflor.)

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PermaRec update: The guy on the left is Russell Ries, who found a bunch of photographs, uncovered a nasty story lurking behind them, and then contacted the family they once belonged to. The guy on the right is the family member to whom he eventually returned the photos. You can read the full story, which is pretty compelling, in a new entry on the Permanent Record Blog.

Also, there’s a new PermaRec entry about a guy who puts an unusual spin on a common hobby: He collects old snapshots that he finds at flea markets and such (nothing new there), but only if they have something written on them. The result is a series of partially told stories that leave you salivating for more. Details here.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: A Dolphins blogger — who could be fulla shit or could have a line on some completely reputable, legitimate info — has posted what he says is a rough draft of the new Dolphins logo. Strikes me as more of an alternate to their current logo — not bad, but I kinda miss the helmet on Flipper. Meanwhile, if you read that whole blog entry, it says the Vikings are due to have retro-style uniforms next season. I don’t know how legit that is either, but I can tell you I have heard from a reputable source that the Vikes are due for some sort of revision next season. ”¦ Odd move by Ohio State basketball, which has gone to a new court design in the middle of the season. … NOB typo alert! That’s Bills cornerback Butch Byrd — not Bryd — from the AFL Championship Game on Jan. 1, 1967. The Chiefs won and advanced to face the Packers in the first Super Bowl (from Timothy Tryjankowski). … Really interesting article on why Kyrie Irving of the Cavs wore a black mask for one game (from Patrick Gaughan). … Check out the awesome return address design on the envelopes used by the New York Rangers before the current MSG was built (big thanks to Aaron Scholder). … Bill Henderson’s jersey guide includes a little sidebar box explaining how the 1973 A’s recycled some of their 1972 jerseys with the older version of the “A” logo. Now Richard Paloma has found some additional examples of this — from the ’73 World Series, no less! During the player introductions for Game One, three Oakland players were wearing the old-style jerseys. Those screen shots come from this video clip. … The NFL has given a grant to a Colorado school to help pay for new football uniforms, because a former NFL player now coaches for that school (from Matt Cook). … Our friends at Grey Flannel Auctions have set up a new web site documenting the uniforms of the ABA. As you’ll see, there are many holes in their visual database. If you have photos or jerseys than can help fill those holes, hold onto them for now — we’ll be running a contest shortly. … Love the ski cap being worn by Chiefs backup QB Dean Carlson (from Bill Kellick). … “This branding binge [around college football bowl games] is telling us a couple of things. On a metaphorical level, it’s telling us we’re no longer a nation that grows tangible things like cotton and sugar; we’ve instead become a nation of marketers seeking to grow vaporous things known as brands.” That quote comes from this excellent article about bowl sponsorships. ”¦ Here’s a very useful page where you can download most uniform suppliers’ catalogs. ”¦ Xavier wore Sandy Hook uniforms on Saturday. ”¦ The NFL is now selling gumball helmet-style pencil toppers (from Jon Solomonson). ”¦ Also from Jon: Here’s a visual timeline of UCF mascots. ”¦ There’s a mannequin of Franco Harris making the Immaculate Reception at the Pittsburgh airport, and a similar mannequin at the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum. But Dave Rakowski points out that both mannequins are flawed. ”¦ Speaking of the Immaculate Reception, its 40th anniversary is being celebrated with a historical marker. Unfortunately, the marker is corporate-sponsored (from Chris Weber). ”¦ Stanton Smith found this vintage NFL blanket at his in-laws’ place over the holidays. ”¦ An elementary school in Dallas has heisted the Titans’ logo — even the colors! (From Tim Reyes.) ”¦ I like this sign at Lambeau Field (from Jeff Ash). ”¦ “Please proceed to vomitory”? They’re apparently using the third definition (from Dan Fuller). ”¦ Basketball teams in the Missouri Valley Conference apparently wear a conference logo patch on their shorts. That would be bad enough, but they wear the logo on a rectangular background. Way too clunky (from C.J. Hague). ”¦ NFL.com keeps running this ad showing Texans QB Matt Schaub wearing two gloves. “I’ve never seen him wear even one glove, let alone two,” says Marc Mandin. ”¦ Drew Arnson made some stirrups-themed holiday cookies. “The one of the left is what I wish the Mets’ socks looked like,” he says. ”¦ Riverside City College in California wear a very close copy of the Bengals’ uniforms. Woof! ”¦ I can never get enough of Kurl King sweater labels. That comes from this gorgeous sweater. ”¦ Check it out: If you’re a god-forsaken Russian orphan, you get to wear a cool windbreaker. ”¦ Here’s a doozy of an NOB. That’s Jerome Gauthier-Leduc of the Rochester Americans (from Matt Donnelly).

Tomorrow: The results of the reader-appreciation raffle.

 
  
 
Comments (44)

    i’d also say that the statues are awfully generous with how far off the ground he “caught” the ball

    Under Dan Snyder, the Redskins have cosponsored a few shooting events with the NRA. Normally, I wouldn’t suggest that anyone is a big enough a-hole to decline to wear a league-wide memorial for murdered children on account of either political opposition to tangentially related issues or personal piqué at having a handful of anti-gun activists protest outside his little kiddie shooting clinics, but this is Dan Snyder, so I will in fact suggest exactly that.

    In any event, the Redskins’ refusal to honor the victims of Newtown should henceforth be mentioned every time someone attempts to defend the innocence of the name “Redskins.” Not only was the guy who chose the name one of the biggest racial bigots in the history of American sports, but to this day the team with the possibly racist name behaves like you’d expect it to behave if it meant the name as a racial slur.

    Makes sense. Or it could be something really stupid, like “We couldn’t get enough S.H.E.S. stickers for our team in time, so we didn’t put them on”.

    …Why do Daniel Snyder and Robert Griffin III hate innocent, murdered six-year-olds?

    They hate them. Yeah, that’s what it is.

    I think at a certain point you get a little desensitized to all the “tributes”. (Perhaps a fitting analogy to how a society can get desensitized to violence itself) And it might be a totally innocent reason.. the stickers didn’t come in in time, there was a miscommunication, they thought they were optional, they were optional but all 31 other teams chose to wear them, etc.

    And I don’t know about Snyder/Redskins ties to the NRA or anything like that that the earlier commenter raised. But if they were trying to make a political statement by specifically not wearing them, then that’s one thing.

    But I think after a week of endless tributes about Sandy Hook Elementary is it possible we are getting to the point where we are oversaturated on it? We know it was a horrible tragedy. Everyone knows it. At this point I see another “tribute” about it I don’t think “they are honoring Sandy Hook” but instead “they want everyone to see that they are honoring Sandy Hook.”

    Maybe the Redskins could have said, “We chose to not exploit the tragedy anymore by not participating in the endless unending honoring of it with stickers.”

    When NYJ, NYG and NE each had their own unique stickers last week, you knew that they really cared about them, being in their own backyard. Now the league wants to show that it cares, so it mandates that all 32 teams wear a sticker, that doesn’t mean that the other 29 teams care or don’t care, or care any less than the Giants, Jets and Patriots, it just means the league itself cares. What if NYJ, NYG or NE had eschewed the league mandated sticker but chose to stick with their own sticker? Would the NFL have fined them?

    The league should have slapped a big sticker on their New York league offices and let the other 29 teams do what they wanted.

    As a Dolphins fan, I will miss the helmet, but I am pleased with that leak. In today’s era of logo design, it shows quite a bit of restraint, in my opinion. Much better than what I feared it would be. Hopefully it’s the real thing.

    I really love the PermaRec story. Really, it’s pretty damn incredible to find out how the photos and medals made their trek from beginning to end.

    I always smile when you mention the helmeted Dolphin on Miami’s logo, Paul. My very first exposure to your work was on this topic in the Village Voice in 2000, and I’ve been a fan of yours ever since. Thanks!

    “Awesome” Vikings jerseys? I can’t wait to see them! They haven’t worn awesome in quite some time….

    I believe the chevrons are on the “drive start” marker. I’m pretty sure this is on the side of the field opposite the chains.

    In that set of Franco Harris pics the guy wrote that in the one on the right the numerals were too thick. While they not have been as thick IRL as on that counterfeit looking jersey, they were still thick. In ’75 they thinned out for some reason. I always liked the ’68-’74 jerseys better because they looked more intimidating.

    Great find on the note in the Bill Henderson book that 1972 A’s green jersey was evidently used in 1973. It would seem that this practice went on into 1974, as well. I recently saw a clip of Ken Holtzman’s home run in Game 4 of the 1974 World Series, and I noticed that his jersey had the 1972-style A.

    Re: “please proceed to the vomitory” – I worked as an usher at Lincoln Financial Field from its opening up until a couple weeks ago, and yeah – they rever to the openings as “vomitories”, or just “voms”. No fans have any idea what you’re talking about when you direct them to a “vom”. They’re also very uniform oriented, and would have mannequins set up showing the day’s uniform for each type of staff – concessions, marketing, ushers, etc. Even down to the undershirt color.

    I designed some grandstands about 7 or 8 years ago for a high school and got a laugh when I first learned they were called vomitories as did the rest of the folks we were working with.

    I learned that Sophomore Year of High School when I took a theater class. Its where theatre goers were supposed to direct their vomit if the massive amount of alcohol they consumed did not agree with their stomach.

    I’ve used it a few times since but no one knows what I’m talking about, you would have figured they would have come up with a name by now that doesn’t refer to vomit.

    You know, if the Miami Dolphins were an expansion team and they came out with that alleged new logo, I’d think, “Not bad for a slick, computer generated logo.” Would look real good, especially, on the letterhead of a bank or hotel chain’s stationary.

    But, man, they had this:

    link

    This classic, iconic fella, full of character and fun and Florida and history and eccentricity. Why would you go and mess with that?

    I think we all know why they changed the classic logo: merchandise sales for both new & retro gear.

    As for the leaked logo, it could had been much, much worse. I never liked the 1997 update or the addition of navy. There’s just too much added clutter that detracts more than it adds.

    I’m very much in favor of them adding it has an outline (not a drop shadow), much like how the Bills did. Change the font to a skinnier block (like they had before the change back in the 90s), and it could help the numbers pop without being too much of a distraction.

    Meanwhile, Christmas has come one day early with the news of the ABA style guide!

    Thank you Grey Flannel Auctions for your efforts. The collection’s got a way to go, obviously, but the site looks great.

    Did anyone else catch the typo on The Law Firm’s link? Not easy to see in this shot, but it was spelled “Ells” instead of “Ellis”.

    Bizarre that Jerome Gauthier-Leduc would wear both of his last names in the AHL, when he only wore Leduc in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League:

    link

    Has that ever happened? A player adding his other last name to his jersey after switching leagues? We’ve seen players drop them (Magnus Paajarvi Svensson of the Edmonton Oilers going with just Paajarvi professionally in North America), but has anyone used only one then switched to both?

    RIP to the patron saint of sportswriters, Oscar Madison.

    I bet there were plenty of intersting uniforms, real and fake, on the OddCouple.

    strange, isn’t it? each man’s life touches so many other lives…when he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?

    My Vikings getting new uniforms comes as both a shock and a relief to me. I never liked the ones they came out with in 2006 (?), but wow they’re already changing them? Seems quick, but it’s a good change. You’d think they’d wait for the stadium change, like many teams in the past have done. I like the throwbacks they rock once a year (except they haven’t this year…). Hopefully they’ll be something like those!!

    Great Christmas gift. Viking redesign!

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