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Uni Watch DIY Project: The Ace of Cakes Scores Again

I’ve previously sung the praises of St. Louis-based reader Marty Hick and his jersey-themed cake designs. He made this one for his daughter, Clara Jane, who celebrated her first birthday over the weekend. A few notes from the father/chef:

This was my first hockey cake. It was also my first double-outlined number and my first NOB.

Most people expected me to do Ozzie Smith [i.e., the most famous St. Louis athlete to have worn No. 1]. But you know what they say — everyone else zigs, I gotta zag.

Mike Liut is my favorite netminder. And let’s be honest: These cakes aren’t just about the recipients — they’re about me, too. And that’s okay.

It sure is. The only downer is that this cake shows the back of the jersey, so we can’t see the inner collar tag design that Marty usually includes. All in all, though, a worthy addition to Marty’s gallery of uni-centric baked goods!

Meanwhile: Another new ESPN column today — a preview of the upcoming Olympics. Enjoy.

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NFL follow-ups: I heard yesterday from Athletic Decals honcho Chris Willis, who was able to shed some light on two issues we’ve recently discussed here on the site.

First, regarding the change in the Patriots’ helmet number font, which I wrote about yesterday, Chris had this to say:

The new equipment manager for the Patriots requested the change in numbers this season. We had tried a couple of things over the last couple of years but nothing really stuck. He decided on these this year.

We were supposed to get them to him the beginning of the season, but things didn’t work out. He may have changed them the last month of the season prior to the playoffs — that’s when he requested them. But he may have waited until the playoffs to put them on.

And then, regarding the white glare marks on the Raiders’ helmet logo, which we’ve discussed a few times over the past week or so, Chris said this:

The Raiders’ helmet decals and what was in the style guide, especially in the ’80s and ’90s, did not match each other. The Raiders may have had the biggest difference as far as the detail in the decal and what NFL Properties had in the style guide (the Oilers had the biggest difference regarding colors), so print pieces were always different than what was on field. During the ’90s an effort was made to reconcile the two, hence the change to the Raiders’ decal.

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Irish update: My little birdie has checked in regarding the plans for Notre Dame Stadium. “Updated renderings will be released soon after the Notre Dae board meeting, with an official announcement excepted late next week,” he says. “Overall, the design will be similar to what was previously released, which has the press box moving to the east side and a new structure replacing the existing press box. The design definitely has spots for two video-style boards.”

I haven’t confirmed any of this. But this source has been on the money for everything else, including Notre Dame’s move from Adidas to Under Armour.

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bowen

Membership update: Several new designs have been added to the membership card gallery (including Spencer Bowen’s card, shown at right, which is based on the Cal football team — a good one!).

As always, you can sign up for your own custom-designed membership card here, and you can see how we make the cards here.

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ESPN reminder and Cubs update: In case you missed it yesterday, my latest ESPN column has assessments and letter grades for all nine of the Cubs’ new throwbacks.

One item missing from that column: the cap designs. Here are mock-ups showing the first five throwback caps. The other four throwback uniforms use the same cap design as the Cubs’ current cap.

Meanwhile, the Cubs will be wearing the Wrigley Field anniversary patch on their non-throwback caps this season. Reader Mike (who didn’t give his last name) has purchased one of these caps already, and there’s a surprise: Instead of an embroidered cap patch, they’re using a ChromaFlex patch, much like the one being used for the Super Bowl jerseys (click to enlarge):

cap.png

To my knowledge, this is the first MLB use of a ChromaFlex patch. As several commenters have already pointed out, ChromaFlex cap patches were used for last season’s World Series and All-Star caps, but I think this is the first time one of them is being used in the regular season.

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Tick-Tock: Today’s Ticker was compiled and written by Mike Chamernik.

Baseball News: Check out this photo of the University of Texas baseball team from around 1930. It looks like they have a pocket or crest on the jerseys. “Have we seen that before?” asks Philip Forester. A 1931 photo of manager Billy Disch shows that the pocket/crest had been removed. ”¦ Ty Cobb and Ted Williams were photographed together in spring training in Arizona in 1960. Unclear why Cobb needed a nametag, but at least it’s Arizona-shaped (from Phil). ”¦ The Brewers will have Jeromy Burnitz’s Turn Ahead the Clock jersey on display at the Brewers on Deck event Sunday (from Blain Fowler). ”¦ David Taub was watching a 1988 game between the Expos and Reds. Randy St. Claire’s nameplate had a “T” just as big as the “S,” only with no period after it. Also, notice how NBC misspelled his name in that graphic. ”¦ Leo Strawn Jr. was looking through books on Amazon and found this passage about the Chicago White Stockings (now Cubs): “Unfortunately, Chicago’s Great Fire burned down the White Stockings’ new field, which seated 7,000 spectators. Although the White Stockings lost their park, uniforms, and equipment in the fire, they decided to carry on anyway. Wearing suits of ”˜various hues and makes, ludicrous in the extreme that had been loaned to them by other nines, the ill-dressed and ill-fated Chicagoans lost the flag by a single game on the last day of the season to the Philadelphians.”

NFL News: Not only was Bill Belichick not wearing a hoodie on Sunday, he was wearing a windbreaker with the old Patriots wordmark (from Drew Arnson). ”¦ A company called Xenith is making helmets that help protect against concussions (from Patrick Hunter). ”¦ This store display shows a Jaguars player with teal socks, but Jacksonville only wore black socks with black unis this year (from Jonathon Binet). ”¦ Here’s a great animated video explaining football for “Liberals, Ladies and Limeys” (from Jennifer Hayden). ”¦ Just in time for the Super Bowl: A 1984 “Bronco Busters” Seahawks T-shirt (from Ben Pearson). ”¦ Maeser Anderson created an illustration of Peyton Manning’s uniform career. ”¦ A teenager in Washington was fired for wearing a Broncos jersey to work. ”¦ Yesterday, Paul said that the only uniform news between now and the Super Bowl is “obligatory photos of the patch being applied to the jerseys.” Well, that was quick (from John Romero). ”¦ Also regarding the patches: A story on the Colorado-based company that produces them (from Joe Hilseberg). ”¦ The New Jersey state police have a Super Bowl cap (from Phil). ”¦ Here’s our first look at players with their Pro Bowl jerseys.

College Football News: The University of Minnesota’s bookstore is selling commemorative Gator Bowl T-shirts. That’s odd — the Golden Gophers played in the Texas Bowl this year. Oddly enough, no Texas Bowl shirts are available on the site (thanks, David Teigland). ”¦ Pitt has a logo for its 125th season (from Andrew Schall). ”¦ Eric Bangeman found footage of the 1979 edition of the short-lived Challenge Bowl, which was a game between Big Eight and Pac-10 all-stars. I wasn’t able to find out much about the bowl game, but I did find an interesting rule: if a team scored and still trailed by more than eight points, they received the ensuing kickoff.

Hockey News: Quebec Nordiques forward Steve Sutherland wore what looks to be a fiberglass mask to protect a broken jaw in the 1977 WHA Avco Cup Finals (from Curtis Peddle). ”¦ The Hershey Bears will wear Olympic-themed jerseys Sunday. ”¦ “I like the way Charlie Finn of Colgate parks his blocker and paddle while getting a drink,” says Tris Wykes. ”¦ This blog post has a bunch of photos and videos of past USA Hockey jerseys (from Ryan Bohannon).

Grab Bag: Formula One’s Force India has gone BFBS. “I’m not a fan,” says Ben Cox. “The old scheme was beautiful and evoked the Indian flag, and this just looks garish.” ”¦ BK Racing will change one of its full time Dr. Pepper-sponsored cars to No. 23 next year, for the “23 Flavors” synergy. This is not the first time NASCAR has had a number be part of the sponsor (from David Firestone). ”¦ Inglewood’s Forum has been reopened and is hosting Eagles concerts this month. “Natch the roof is a giant Hotel California LP,” says Michael McGivern. ”¦ Adidas’s Boston Marathon jackets are now on sale (from Brinke). ”¦ Nearsighted rugby players can now wear goggles, at least on a trial basis (from Caleb Borchers). ”¦ Motocross champion Ryan Villopoto wore Seahawks colors and a logo patch at the Anaheim Supercross on Saturday (from Sean Clancy). ”¦ The US ski team suits have an abundance of stars and stripes. ”¦ This Sunday, US Lacrosse will have its final scrimmage and trim the roster to 30 players for the Federation of International Lacrosse Championships this summer. John Galloway, David Lawson and Max Seibald have custom Nike Huarache 4 LX cleats for the day. “On a side note, check out this awesome University of Washington Cascade R,” says Willy Sullivan. “The decals are by ZimaGear, the company that made up the Bucco Bruce from the other day.”

 
  
 
Comments (97)

    Curious as to why it’s odd that the ‘old’ patriots wordmark was on the back of the windbreaker. It’s not like it’s out of circulation completely, it’s still the wordmark used on the chest of the jersey.

    Paul,

    The US Lacrosse info was from me. I was just too lazy to log out of my wife’s account! And yes, Willy is a HER and it is HER real name.

    Curious, there is a link to a NEW helmet manufacturer, Xenith. They have been around for a bit of time now, even regularly outfitting HS, College and NFL players.

    The Jags/Niners display is perhaps the best store display I have ever seen (even if the guy is tackling a player with out the ball!!).

    RE: the kid “fired” for wearing the wrong jersey…..

    He was fired for not returning to work. So actually he abondoned his job. Good luck with THAT unemployment claim, kid. Should’ve checked the employment laws in your state. Oh yeah, you’re a dumb kid. You don’t even know there ARE employment laws in your state.

    PS: kids quit/get fired every day over stupid things that seem like world-enders in their minds.

    This is not/barely news.

    PS: can you tell I’m in the employment biz?

    I think there’s a bit of stupid on both sides. On one hand, the kid should’ve just taken the damn Denver jersey off and gone back to work. On the other, the place he worked at shouldn’t have made a big deal about it anyway. If you tell your employees they can wear a football jersey, then you really should allow both sides.

    At my workplace, during the season we’re allowed to wear “a college shirt” on Saturdays. I’m in Columbus, but I’ve worn a yellow Michigan shirt multiple times and no one’s ever cared. I might get a little bit of good-natured harassment, but that’s it.

    I would agree.

    I read elsewhere that they were told they could wear Seahawks jerseys or their regular work uniform. But who really knows (or cares).

    As for the pick of the NJ State Super Trooper Bowl cap…the person in the pic CANNOT be a trooper…or can he? Do they have rules as per facial hair?

    The 2013 world series cap patch for the Sox and Cards was Chromaflex. Not sure about the 2012 world series with the Giants and Tigers, but the regular postseason cap patches for both 2012 and 2013 were not Chromaflex.

    Oh, and this past all-star game also used Chromaflex patches for their caps. And again, not sure about 2012.

    I also checked the 2013 All Star Game cap on MLB Shop, and it appears to have a Chromaflex patch as well.

    link

    The hat the New York Yankees wore during the final home stand of Mariano Rivera’s career had th Chromaflex patch.

    link

    Oh, and that Challenge bowl newspaper clip was pure gold. Old Kmart ad for a 7.88 oil change, WHA references, John Mahaffey holding a one-stroke lead over Lee Trevino in the Bob Hope!

    Any chance these ChromaFlex patches actually stay on the cap over time, unlike the glued on embroidered patches? How are they affixed? It looks like it would just peel off.

    WOW. No STILL no red billed cap for the Cubs even with 1994 throwback. Not cool. Why do they resist bringing this one back even as part of the throwback unis?

    How much do Chromoflex patches weigh? (I know they are just rubberlike–not metal or anything). Seriously, would it make the cap “off balance” on your head? I know this sounds like I’m being a wise@$$, but I’m serious. I wonder if they make a cap feel “different” on your head in any way. Just wondering.

    If Chromoflex is what I think it is, they weigh less than nothing. There’s an excellent chance there will be plenty of “Cubs patch peeling off” posts this summer. however.

    SB

    They feel weightless and won’t make one side of the hat feel heavier.

    Those hat patches aren’t sewn on so we may see instances of patches coming loose during the season for the Cubs.

    “Zima Gear decals on a Cascade R”

    WTF? Would somebody please use English here? Ha, ha. The only “Zima” I know is that ill-fated swill from the early 90s. And we’re supposed to know what a Cascade R is?

    ZimaGear is a Florida based decal company specializing in Lacrosse helmets.

    Cascade is a Liverpool, NY company that specializes in sports helmets, most notably Lacrosse, where it is the industry standard.

    The R is their latest model, that was debuted last spring during the NCAA Mens lacrosse tournament:

    link

    The sale of Cascade to Bauer actually happened in June 2012. Bauer paid $64 million for the company. They make Mark Messier’s helmet, the M11.

    For what it’s worth, Bauer already makes lacrosse equipment. They make the Maverik brand of lacrosse sticks, heads, shafts and protective gear.

    Huh! I did not know that, Teebz. that explains why Cascade/Maverick always do promotions together.

    BTW, I am an STX gear guy when it comes to Lax, but Maverick is the outfitter of choice for NCAA teams like Notre Dame and Yale. They make great stuff.

    link

    link

    I thought the first use of the chroma flex patch was on the ASG caps last year, followed by the postseason.

    Xenith has been around for about 7 years already. Probably the most popular player to wear their helmet was Ray Rice for the Baltimore Ravens.

    link

    They are decent helmets, but no helmet is close to being concussion proof. My biggest hang up with them was the lame facemask styles, but their new helmet they are releasing this year has better mask styles available.

    link

    I’m not finding evidence online, but back in the aughts when researching uniform options for the local vintage baseball team, I reviewed a collection of sporting goods catalogs from circa 1870. Saw a number of shirts with pockets. I don’t know how commonly they were actually worn by anybody, but it was definitely a thing to some extent in early baseball. I’m just surprised to see a team with such a detail, if they are pockets, as late as 1930.

    David Taub was watching a 1988 game against the Expos and Reds.

    I know it’s a minor nitpick, but “between” is a better word than “against” for that sentence.

    Another Nascar Sponsor/Number tie-in (along with a fun side story).

    In 2006, Richard Childress signed Jack Daniel’s as a sponsor for one of his cars. The new sponsor wanted to run the #7 to coincide with Jack Daniel’s “Old No. 7 Brand”.

    link

    However, the year before, the number had been claimed (perhaps not coincidentally) by Robby Gordon, and his sponsor, Jim Beam.

    link

    So the new Childress team chose to run the no. 07 Car instead.

    link

    To add to the NASCAR sponsor related unmbers was Clint Bowyer’s Jack Daniels car from a few years ago. #07 for the “Old No. 7 Brand” link

    Re: the Bronco Buster shirt… the Seahawks did beat the Broncos big (31-7) in their only playoff meeting before now, back in the 1983 AFC Wild Card game (held on 12/24/83, back when the playoffs actually started before New Year’s). The Seahawks and Broncos split their regular-season series that year, with each winning at home.

    The Red Sox wore the Fenway Park 100th Anniversary patch on their hats during the first homestand of 2012. I’ve got one, pretty sure it’s chroma flex.

    “if a team scored and still trailed by more than eight points, they received the ensuing kickoff.”

    IIRC, the Blue-Gray Game (college all-star game like the Senior Bowl) that used to be played on Christmas Day used those same rules at some point during the game.

    I agree the old Force India livery looked better, but I don’t think this is BFBS. Their title sponsor, Sahara, has a lot of black in their logo: link

    And it was done to give the team more international flavor while still having India’s colors. They didn’t want to be viewed as “the indian Natl team” and the colors do pop way more on a black background.

    “… Meanwhile: Another new ESPN column today – a preview of the upcoming Olympics. Link coming soon…”

    There’s nothing I like more than international events (Olympics and World Cup lead the pack) where nations vie for sartorial coolness. Can’t wait for Paul’s column.

    The US uglies for the opening ceremony are in keeping with recent history oscillations between cool understatement and pop-art eyesores.

    The USA opening ceremony duds make the athletes look like Americans. It’s just that they make them look like Americans from like the late 1980s.

    As usual, Canada takes the gold in opening-ceremony fashion:

    link

    That blanket toggle coat is beyond perfect.

    Wait, Lauren is issuing this peacoat to Team USA:

    link

    Major upset! Canada slips to silver, USA edges in for the gold in Olympic fashion.

    that Gator Bowl-UM shirt article reminds me of this sporting goods store that purchased $500,000 worth of AFC Champions Partiots gears. No Joke. $500,000. I saw it on yahoo

    Maeser Anderson created an illustration of Peyton Manning’s uniform career

    Very good idea, even better execution. Would have been cool to see the actual number fonts, though.

    If the Gophers would have defeated Wisconsin or Michigan State in either of their last two games, they probably would have ended up in the Gator Bowl. That’s what everyone was hoping for but I didn’t know they had gone that far as to print shirts.

    Interesting that neither Nebraska, nor Georgia (the ACTUAL participants in the 2014 Gator Bowl) show that T Shirt Template as being available through their online stores.

    The picture of the Pro Bowl jerseys appears to show them using a Chain Maille mesh template. Was that previously shown when releasing the Pro Bowl jerseys?

    Bigger question – might it suggest that NFL teams use Chain Maille mesh in the near future?

    The USA medal ceremony jackets are my favorite US uni elements at the games. Even if it looks like an astronaut’s suit – it really, really doesn’t, but hey – what’s wrong with that? Space is cold, like the Winter Olympics, which is something Americans know on account of being the only country ever to go to the moon and back. And being second-place all-time in Winter Olympics medals. A spacesuit-like Olympics jacket would be like a chocolate-in-my-peanut-butter moment for Team USA.

    Agreed on the medal ceremony jacket.

    And from a practical point of view, you want the athletes to be comfortable when they’re standing out in the cold, waiting for the anthems to start. As they said back in 2011, puffy coats FTW.

    Excellent piece, Paul. Can’t wait for the follow-ups. Agree that silver award-ceremony jackets are really pretty cool.

    I’m too dumb to figure out how to reply to the blog itself, so if somebody can guide me, that would be great. But I’ll throw this out here in the meantime:
    My (generally unreliable) memory of the 1984 Olympic hockey jerseys was that they wore the jersey pictured in the run up to the Olympics, but then swapped the red and blue on the white jerseys, making blue the more dominant accent color at the Games. Does anybody else recall this?
    I honestly have no idea if the pants remained red or also switched.

    Regarding “teen fired for not wearing Bronco jersey” – that’s a little inflammatory. The company did respond on Tuesday. They have uniforms they wear to work, and an exception is made – for Seahawk jerseys on game day. The kid didn’t wear either the approved uni or the approved exception, so he was asked to change and given the time off to run home. He never called back or showed up again, and that’s the official reason for termination.

    They *say* if people wear opposing jerseys (which this wasn’t, technically, but still) then there exists the possibility of customer-employee conflict, which is probably justifiable. Thin, but justifiable.

    Here’s the way it played out in my head:….

    Boss: Hey Gang let’s all wear our Seahawks jerseys tomorrow to show support. Or just wear your regular uniform.

    (that night)
    Kid: Hey dad, some folks are wearing the hawks jerseys tomorrow.
    Dad: You know what’d be funny….if you wore your Broncos jersey.

    (next day)
    Boss: I said Seahawks jersys. Go home and change.
    Kid: (under his breath) @#!*&#!

    (at home)
    Dad: Shouldn’t you be at work?
    Kid: I was sent home to change.
    Dad: !@#$*&@! them! I’m calling my lawyer!!

    I’m still trying to figure ut the kid knew he was fired if he never went back. ????

    :^)

    I think I saw somewhere he showed up for work the next day, and they told him he’d been canned for leaving them shorthanded on a weekend shift. But yeah, the family response is to call the media and make a big deal out of “he got fired for wearing his Bronco jersey”.

    FWIW, just about every bank and grocery store in the greater Seattle area has been letting their employees wear team garb Friday-Saturday-Sunday since Thanksgiving.

    For what its worth, this years’ Boston Marathon jackets have been unveiled but they aren’t for sale. They don’t go on sale until race weekend, and then only at the race expo in Boston.

    Did anyone get a screen grab of the Minnesota Gator Bowl shirts? Looks like they finally figured out their mistake and took the product down.

    Non-uni related question:

    Is this the first time two former post-merger* division rivals will be meeting in the Super Bowl?

    *Steelers have met the Cowboys and Cardinals, both division rivals at some point in pre-merger days.

    Yes and no. The Raiders/Bucs game was the first time that 2 teams who had previously played in the same post-merger division faced each other in a Superbowl, since Tampa had played in the AFC West in 1976. Of course, with the odd schedule and single year alignment, the Raiders & Bucs weren’t exactly “rivals” in the same sense that Denver/Seattle were.

    Didn’t realize Tampa had been in the AFC West (!). Learn something new everyday.

    And one more for the trivia buffs: Super Bowl XLIII‎ matched up two opponents that were formerly the same team.

    Following up on Paul’s excellent ESPN piece on the Olympics, Ralph Lauren has unveiled opening ceremony Olympicware.
    link

    The Jaguars teal socks photo is from a store in London for promoting the International series game between the two teams in the photo. Maybe London just didn’t get the memo?

    I don’t hate the leotard effect as much as Paul and others here, but the teal socks with black jerseys and pants for the Jags looks great! Wish they’d switch to that.

    That Washington lacrosse logo in the last link is an outdated logo. Many fans (including me) don’t particularly like it, in part because the football team was generally bad after it was introduced. Many people call it “the weasel,” because it doesn’t really look like a malamute. (SportsLogos.net still shows the weasel as up-to-date, but it isn’t, according to university materials).
    Lots of weasel comments here: link
    UW athletics brand guideline here–yeah, the huskies don’t actually have a dog logo right now, just the W, which is kinda sad.
    link

    Some surprises in the cap logos selected for this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame induction:

    link

    Short version: Bobby Cox — Atlanta; Tom Glavine — Atlanta; Tony La Russa — no logo; Greg Maddux — no logo; Frank Thomas — Chicago White Sox; and Joe Torre — New York Yankees.

    La Russa, whatever, I’m not shocked that he’s a coward. But Greg Maddux? I’m sorry, but the man is a Brave. He’s not going to Cooperstown on account of what a hot young Cubs prospect he was, or how much he helped the Cubs not make the playoffs in his dotage. He’s going to Cooperstown for being the part of the backbone of the most dominant team in modern baseball history, the 1990s Atlanta Braves.

    This shit is why players should have no say in the matter. Cooperstown should choose, and if the player really doesn’t like the selection, let him boycott his induction and see how that works out for him.

    While I agree Maddux should have a Braves “A” on his cap for the HOF plaque, he wasn’t just “a hot young Cubs prospect.”

    Maddux won 95 games as a Cub, including helping the club to the ’89 NL East title and his first Cy Young in ’92. He was a proven commodity well beyond being a prospect.

    Tack on the 37 wins he had for the Cubs in his return to the North Side and he racked up a not-insignificant 132 of his 355 wins with Chicago.

    My math was off. He had 38 wins in his return between 2004-2006. Make that 133 total wins as a Cub.

    “Coaches vs. Cancer” uniforms for the Marquette Warri- errrr Golden Eagles. Remind me to not watch that game on Saturday:

    link

    Ryan Villopoto’s got the old logo on his butt, the one with two shades of blue, not the new blue and grey.

    This is what happens when I step away from Uni Watch for a while… the Cubs reveal some godly throwbacks and I miss the chance to comment on them!

    Wow, do I love those ’20s and ’30s classics! Particularly the use of the McAuliffe font on the ’29 jerseys; they used that font for a few years in the ’30s (in 1929 they didn’t yet have numbers; they would get them in ’32) before inventing their traditional font. Notice also how the “2” and “5” looked a little different in the early years of the Cubs’ font (link), and Majestic aced that. If they’d used today’s font I don’t think most fans would even have noticed.

    And the 1942 vests! I like the accurate undershirts, though if I were designing new home alternates for the Cubs, I’d use solid blue undershirts.

    Actually I love them all. Well, all except that boring, insipid gray road alternate, which is as pointless as it is flavorless, particularly if the regular Cubs font version is still around.

    One more thing, which I just noticed now.

    I first saw the Chicago Whales’ jerseys from the Federal League as a kid maybe 30 years ago; in a book about Wrigley Field, maybe. I never thought too deeply about them except to notice that they shared the Cubs’ colors and had a similar wordmark.

    But look carefully at that C that surrounds the word “Feds”.

    See it?

    Top right corner.

    link

    Maybe everybody knew this already. But my mind has been blown.

    The kid didn’t wear either the approved uni or the approved exception, so he was asked to change and given the time off to run home. He never called back or showed up again, and that’s the official reason for termination.

Comments are closed.