By Phil Hecken
And now the moment (some of you) have been waiting for: the first round of WFL design-a-uniform contest entries. For those of you unfamiliar with the origin of the contest, the idea was for readers and designers to come up with a uniform for any WFL team had that team remained in existence today (you can read more here and here).
We received MANY entries, with nine teams receiving redesigns from at least four different concepters. Four of those, the Charlotte Hornets, (Honolulu) Hawaiians, Portland Thunder/Storm (or variants) and the Southern California Sun (or variant) had five or more submissions. We’ll take a look at those, and you can vote for your favorite in each group, today.
We’ll start with the Hornets. With each set, you can click on any image to enlarge. I’ll also provide a link to a description of the uniform.
If you read last weekend’s column, we showed three artists who created “progressions” — for today’s voting, we’ll include only the “final” (2014) version of the uniform. In the case of one submitter, HHH, he did a very minor progression, so those will be included here today. Because the writeups were in many cases fairly long and intricate, in the interest of space, I will link to the uniform descriptions, but post only the design(s) below.
Let’s get it started.
Charlotte Hornets
Jeff Provo:
Description
Jordan Reagan:
Description
Hungry Hungry Hipster (HHH)
Description
Mark Rabinowitz:
Description
Steve B. Creations:
Description
CHARLOTTE HORNETS VOTING
(Vote for One):
Hawaiians
Gene Sanny:
(No Description Provided)
Lenda:
Description
Andrew Seagraves:
Description
Curtis Peddle:
Description
Robert Kramer:
(No Description Given)
HAWAIIANS VOTING
(Vote for One):
Portland Thunder/Storm/Thunderstorm
Andrew Schmidt:
Description
Gene Sanny:
(No Description Given)
Curtis Peddle:
Description
Jeff Provo:
Description
Andrew Seagraves:
Description
HHH
Description
PORTLAND VOTING
(Vote for One):
Southern California Sun
Brian Ross:
(No Description Given)
Curtis Peddle:
Description
Gene Sanny:
(No Description Given)
HHH:
Description
Jeff Provo:
Description
Jordan Reagan:
Description
Andrew Seagraves:
Description
Brian Phillips:
Description
Robert Kramer
Description
Andrew Schmidt:
Description
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SUN VOTING
(Vote for One):
And that’s all for today folks. Make sure you vote for each design, and let all the concepters know how much you liked their designs!
Back with more next time.
Classic Ballpark Scoreboards
I’m pleased to continue with a new weekend feature here at Uni Watch, “Classic Ballpark Scoreboards,” which are created by Gary Chanko. You probably know Gary best for his wonderful colorizations, but he has been a solid contributor for many years, and this is his new project. This segment will appear every Saturday on Uni Watch.
Here’s Gary (click on images to enlarge):
Classic Ballpark Scoreboards – Fourth in a Series
by Gary Chanko
Forbes Field and Wrigley Field share uncommon histories and celebrated scoreboards and are the subjects of this week’s look at classic ballpark scoreboards.
Forbes Field
Home of: Pittsburgh Pirates
Last baseball game:June 28, 1970; Demolished:1971
On October 13, 1960 I had just arrived home after school. Game seven of the World Series had already started at 1 p.m., but I was in time to watch the last few innings (in glorious black & white TV) as the Pirates and Yankees exchanged the lead. The score was tied as the Pirates came to bat in the bottom of the ninth.
The Longines clock above the scoreboard read 3:36 p.m. when Bill Mazeroski’s series winning home run headed over Yogi’s head. If you look closely at the illustration, you may find the ball on its path over the left field wall.
A Few Things to Know
• The original “huge electric” scoreboard was installed in 1911 as reported in this Pittsburgh Post Gazette article.
• In 1947 a utility fence was erected 30 feet just in front of the scoreboard. The smaller distance was intend to boost Pirates slugger Hank Greenberg’s home run production. Called “Greenberg’s Gardens” it later became known as “Kiner’s Korner” after the next Pittsburgh slugger, Ralph Kiner. Then in 1954, the fence was moved back to the original 365 feet.
• The Longines clock, towering 14 feet high atop the 25 feet high scoreboard, was not in play. Balls hitting the clock were a home run. Contrast that ground rule with Ebbets Field where the clock was in play!
• During the 1943 season a 32 feet high plywood U.S.Marine stood just to the right of the scoreboard and was in play.
Wrigley Field
Home of: Chicago Cubs
Home of the Cubs since 1916; May exist forever!
Now serving fans in its 77th season, Wrigley Field’s scoreboard was built in 1937, along with the center field bleacher seating, under the direction of the legendary Bill Veeck, Jr. Veeck, as you may know, would later bring the exploding scoreboard to the old Comiskey Park.
Most of the original Wrigley Field scoreboard still stands today and remains manually operated, but the batter’s number, balls, strikes, and outs are displayed electronically in the center portion of the board.
The version shown in the illustration depicts the scoreboard during the early fifties.
A Few Things to Know
• No baseball player ever hit the scoreboard (Roberto Clemente’s drive sailed just left of it). But in 1951 golfer Sam Snead cleared it with a 2-iron from home plate.
• There are 318 openings on the 89 feet long scoreboard, including four openings for umpire numbers.
• The tradition of flying a win or loss flag on the scoreboard flag masthead began in 1940 and still continues.
• The 10-foot diameter art deco clock was added to the scoreboard in 1941 and reportedly has never lost time since installation. What!
• The scoreboard was originally painted a red brown color that became a distraction to hitters during the late afternoon. In 1944 it was repainted green to reduce the afternoon glare.
• Although the iconic scoreboard will remain unchanged, the Cubs are planning major renovations to Wrigley Field as depicted in this latest illustration. Plans include a 6,000 square foot Jumbotron scoreboard in left field.
Next time the series will feature celebrated scoreboards from two notable ballparks: Shea Stadium and Crosley Field.
If anyone is interested in purchasing a digital copy of these posters, Gary is working on an online purchase option. In the interim you can contact him directly at Classicscoreboards@gmail.com.
U.W.F.F.L. News
From UWFFL news reports:
By Rob Holecko
> The UWFFL has announced its end to its work stoppage. It has announced three changes in the personnel structure of the league office. Paul Newton has been named the new Commissioner by the league’s Board of Governors, and as his first order of business he has named Andrew Seagraves “Director of Competition” and former commissioner Rob Holecko will take the title “Commissioner Emeritus”.
> At his introductory press conference, Newton said that the UWFFL schedule will resume on Saturday, October 4, and he apologized for the three weeks of inactivity. “We didn’t get this right. We will do better.”
> He also endorsed the AAIFA (“or AAFIA or AFAAIA or whatever it’s called”) and said he loves everything Roger Kramer (“err, I mean Robert”) is doing with that league, although we “still don’t understand the whole deal with the cards”. And he expressed an interest in the AAIFA becoming an officially sanctioned UWFFL-affiliated league, although he allowed he didn’t really know if that would really make any difference at all because he “just became commissioner three hours ago and didn’t even know where his parking space was yet.”
New UWFFL Commissioner Paul Newton appeared on Friday’s Dick Schaefer Show on 970 KDSF in San Francisco:
Uni Watch News Ticker:
Baseball News: Great old shot from Bruce Menard: The Babe & The Bird (1921) “Pigeons Carry Score To Yankee Fans On NY’s East Side.” … If you’re into “2”s, well, then, even this might be too many 2s for you (thanks to Duncan Wilson) — unfortunately (or fortunately), it appears the whole thing was photoshopped. … Speaking of Jeets, he wore two uniforms Thursday night (I’m surprised he didn’t wear a new one every inning, so Steiner could squeeze a bit more cash out of the public). … “I saw this photo on AJC,” for the Woodland High School in S.C. writes Chris Wheeler. “Looks like they use the Wu-Tang logo and maybe the Nationals W.” … Derek Jeter’s $20,000 sneakers are up for auction (thanks, Brinke). … Our friend Chris Creamer confirms this Washington Nationals 10th Anniversary logo will be worn as a uniform patch next year. … Chris also brings us news that the Brewers will retire #1 in honor of Bud Selig, in honor of his tenure as MLB Commissioner, former Crew owner, and “hero” of Milwaukee baseball.
NFL News: Fansided has been doing this for a couple weeks now (they must read the 5 & 1): each week they pick their top 5 uni matchups for the NFL. Only they do it before the games are played, leading to this proviso: “Please keep in mind that some teams make last-minute changes to their uniform combinations, so unless we have some type of official confirmation from the team, the best we can do is give our best guess as to what the teams will be wearing each week.” … Buried (no pun intended) in this article on Rod Bironas’ funeral is this uni-related tid-bit: “Several other female friends also wore Nikes. Bironas had an endorsement deal, and he wanted those around him wearing Nikes. On this day, they gladly obliged. Bironas’ buddies wore Chuck Taylor sneakers with their suits, another look Bironas was known for, whether it was for a casual event or a black-tie affair.” … The Bills will be wearing all white Sunday vs. the Texans. … Here’s an article listing the 10 best retro NFL unis of all time, that should be made permanent. I’d agree with about seven of those. Maybe six. … “One of my Facebook friends who lives in the Seattle area wore this (Russell Wilson tie) for ‘crazy tie day’ at work,” writes Matt Larsen. … Here’s something I never noticed before — the Steelers sleeve stripes actually are “full” stripes — I never noticed they continue under the armpit. I thought only Big Ben (and maybe a kicker) had the full treatment, but the way the jerseys are cut, it always looked like the stripes are truncated. … Wow — severe screwup on this Pinktober jersey (h/t D.C.).
College Football News: Perhaps misunderstanding the definition of the word, the Washington Huskies will be wearing their “Stealth” uniforms (black/black/black) versus Stanford today (h/t Kieo’s Stepdad). … The Missouri Tigers will be going chrome/white/white versus South Carolina (via Trevor Hartshorn). … Here’s a look at the “Red Rising” helmets Nebraska will be wearing tonight (as part of their “Red Rising” costume against Illinois. … The Illini will be countering with orange/white/orange. Sounds like we have a solid contender for the “and 1” (h/t JP Young). Interestingly, this article asks why the Illini have only worn white helmets so far — “According to rumors swirling on Illini message boards, Illinois’ blue and orange helmets aren’t available. Supposedly, the blues haven’t come in yet,” (thanks to Adam Anderson). … Indiana will be wearing the candy-striped chrome helmets vs. Maryland today (via Andrew Lentz). … The Tennessee Volunteers will be wearing white/white/white versus Georgia (h/t Chad Fields). … Today’s Purdue game will feature the Motion P selfie shots from season ticket holders and students. Purdue is also honoring the 1989 team (first to wear black helmet), who went 3-8 (h/t Rob). … Southern Miss will be wearing this jersey vs Rice tonight (via Southern Miss Equipment). … Here’s a look at the sweet throwbacks Virginia will wear today against Kent State (h/t UVa Equipment). … Looks like Texas A&M will be wearing this black/maroon fade helmet today against the Arkansas Razorbacks (via Travis Paro). … Southern Illinois will be wearing black jerseys with cancer victim and survivor NOBs this weekend against Western Illinois. … Vanderbilt will be wearing gold/white/gold versus Kentucky today (from Trés Lawless). … Ole Miss has painted their end zones and 38-yard-lines to honor Chucky Mullins — they’ll also be wearing “38” on their helmets. … The U will be wearing white/”smoke”/”smoke” today vs. Duke (via Jeff C.). … Here’s one we all missed: For the second year in a row, Fordham wore patriotic jerseys (those are from last year) for their game against Columbia this past weekend, which is for the Liberty Cup — this Cup was established in 2002, a year after Sept 11 (both schools were scheduled to play the weekend after 9/11 but game was postponed). More pics here (Thanks to Chris Lewis). … The Baylor Bears are going white/white/green tonight against Iowa State (h/t BaylorPride). … Last night, the New Mexico Lobos went silver/white/white with new numbers and turquoise accents against Fresno State (from Tyler Brooks). … The Akron Zips will be attracted to shiny things today, as they’re busting out their metallic gold hat (thanks to Coleman Mullins). Here’s another look. … Syracuse will be wearing orange helmets today; here’s what one looks like before the blue “S” is applied. Anyone besides me think they should leave it blank? … And speaking of Syracuse, will they be breaking out the gray jerseys against Notre Dame today? The answer is yes.
Hockey News: Interesting spot from Mike Engle, who writes, “Ever notice that the Avalanche sleeve numbers aren’t “hollowed out?” Check out the 8, 9, and 0 digits on the home and away jerseys. You would think you would see through the “holes” of the digits and see the base layer of jersey fabric. But nope, it’s solid. And it’s tacky as shit, IMO.” See here, here and here. He adds, “Though to be fair, it looks like the numbers *are* hollowed out on the thirds.” … The Tampa Bay Lightning introduced a fake third sweater. Hilarity ensued (thanks to Matt Larsen). If you watch that thru till the end, the Lightning will be unveiling their real third sweater today.
Soccer News: OK — this one is kinda bizarre. It being “National Lumberjack Day,” the Stephen F. Austin Lady Jack soccer team gave away foam axes at yesterday night’s game against the Lamar Cardinals (via Matt Bellner). … Female soccer players are suing FIFA for staging the next Women’s World Cup on artificial turf instead of grass, which they say is gender discrimination (thanks, Paul).
Grab Bag: LeBron James and Anderson Varejaon were wearing different colored headbands at Cavs media day (thanks to Brandon Bush). … This video indicates that Georgetown has new navy uniforms as well, in the same template as the grey ones featured yesterday (from Caleb Weaver). … Here’s a pretty cool article on what goes into designing the U.S. Ryder Cup uniforms (from Brian Graham). … Looks like the Sacramento Kings are wearing their 30th anniversary patch (h/t Felix Fernandez). … The NBA’s new fitness program, “Everybody Up,” so of course there is a logo for that (from Conrad Burry). … Looks like Montana has new gray uniforms for hoops (h/t Cubby Wendt).
And that will do it for today. Big thanks to all the concepters for their WFL submissions (Don’t Forget To VOTE!), as well as Gary for those classic scoreboards, and Rob for the UWFFL update. Back with SMUW tomorrow. Looks like we’ll have some good 5 & 1 candidates today!
Speaking of the 5 & 1 — the lovely Catherine Ryan will return to the 5 & 1 duties tomorrow, so everyone please be on the lookout for good (and bad) games. Send in your suggestions to her at UW5and1@gmail.com. OK? OK!
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
“With all these smokescreens clouding the issue, it’s getting hard to tell the difference between who the actual douchebags are and who are the grandstanding assholes that are trying to cajole teams into changing their team nicknames by not using them.”
— Jim Y.
Wow… Here’s an article listing the 10 best retro NFL unis of all time, that should be made permanent.
Their image for the Eagles (which they do credit to uniwatch) is actually my photoshopped version. Sweet.
Also, while I don’t care for the design, I love the Overcast-Drizzle as a team name.
Interesting take on the retro NFL units that should be made permanent. Only thing, though, the Eagles picture is HORRIBLE! That is such a poor job of photo shopping! That’s not how it should look. In the uni design they’re using (late 70s-early 80s), there were more sleeve stripes.
Yes, they did originally have more sleeve stripes. They also had more sleeve to work with. With today’s uniform cuts, I thought it worked better to just eliminate those stripes rather than trying to cram them all in a space they don’t fit.
Correction it’s Rob Bironas not rod
Love the classic scoreboards. Can you provide a link to the previous entries in this series–not sure that I saw them all. Thanks JohnK
Past scoreboard postings can be found on each of the three previous Saturdays. Use the Archives search function above to access these weekend postings beginning with September 6th.
Glad the Brewers are retiring number one. To me it is a “me first” number – an attitude that has no place in a team game.
I wish the Detroit Lions would wear their Alex Karras-era uniforms, with the lion logo, stripes, and grey facemasks but no black or white trim.
Meh… I’d rather see them go back to the 1980 uniforms with the white-trimmed silver numbers, if they were going to go back to something. I actually like the current uniforms though, minus the black facemask which should really be blue.
Agreed with The Jeff! I’d rather go back to 1980, and failing that, at least get rid of the black (which IMHO is a vestige of the dark age I call The Matt Millen Era–Millen played most of his career with the Raiders, and I have speculated that _that_ was why the Lions added black to their unis, rather than any BFBS trend going on at the time).
While it might seem like just another case of FIFA being the big bad corrupt men’s club that it is (and it is, don’t get me wrong), I do actually have some sympathy for them in the case of the Women’s World Cup lawsuit. For one thing, there’s a certain disingenuousness over the complaints about “game-changing, dangerous and demeaning conditions” when many of the women involved in the lawsuit play week in and week out on artificial pitches for their clubs. Second, the use of artificial surfaces is now a fairly common occurrence in the men’s game – widespread in MLS, becoming increasingly used in other world leagues and as of a couple of weeks ago a men’s UEFA international qualifier has been played on artificial turf.
Where FIFA’s case really falls down is over whether there are double standards specifically around World Cup finals. Basically, the way they actively endorsed and sought out the artificial turf solution for the Canadian tournament doesn’t jibe with how FIFA have fairly specifically sought out real grass for both past and future men’s finals.
Yes, exactly. Nobody is disputing that club soccer can (and does) use turf. But if the FIFA World Cup *FINALS* are the culmination of the sport (so we’re distinguishing it from qualifiers), then put it on grass, especially because it wouldn’t even be a question for the men. If you can put grass in the Pontiac Silverdome for World Cup games (true story in 1994), then you can lay down grass in Canadian venues for the women. EASY.
Not to mention last year the USMNT World Cup qualifier in Seattle was played on a grass pitch placed over the existing artificial surface.
But as I say, attitudes are presently shifting and there’s a general attitude emerging that artificial surfaces are suitable for all levels of the sport. One could argue that it was only a matter of time before a major finals featured artificial turf surfaces. Also, I think a very big difference between 1994 and the World Cup to be held in Canada is that the Silver Dome was just one venue. In Canada five of the six venues had artificial turf to begin with. Requesting them to resurface over 80% of their venues is a much less reasonable request.
Canada I think is a very deserved recipient of the tournament and it seems like it is going to be very well equipped to host it. To penalize them on the grounds that the existing – acceptable in most levels of the sport – choices for pitch surface (choices I’m sure made with considerations of climate, cost, maintenance and use beyond the month long tournament taking precedence) would be incredibly harsh. All in all, I’d consider this a fully acceptable concession to ensure the tournament as a whole is of a good quality.
While MLS has a number of artifical pitches, it seems like many of the imported Designated Players from Europe skip those games. i seem to recall that Thierry Henry doesn’t play away matches.
Given FIFA has a license to print money, installing real grass or picking stadiums that already had real grass should not have been a hardship.
Apart from Henry, who are these “many of the imported Designated Players”? The thing is, even Henry doesn’t hate them outright as he has described Portland’s artificial pitch as “the amazing one”: link
That Derek Jeter with the photoshopped 2s on the scoreboard was done by me. Here’s my story on it: link
I love the fact that the announcer doing the 1960 World Series did not know that the new Yankees pitcher was Ralph Terry, not Art Ditmar
That was Chuck Thompson (a Senators commentator at that time) working the game on NBC radio. Mel Allen was on the call on the TV side for NBC, and he correctly noted it was Ralph Terry on the mound, who, two pitches into the 9th, served up the Bill Mazeroski Series ending homer.
Having recently escaped from the rainy PNW to sunny California, I think that the name and grey uniform for the Portland Overcast Drizzle are the most appropriate uniform elements that I have ever seen.
Some top-notch designs for WFL. My faves: The Jeff’s Hornets, Thunder and Sun; HHH’s ’80s Hornets; Andrew Seagraves’ Hawaiians and Thunder. Shout out to HHH for the use of LA County flag elements for the Sun. Interesting idea that almost worked.
Many thanks!
Today Georgia Bulldog team captains Todd Gurley and Hutson Mason wearing black captain C’s. In the past the C has been white.
A little correction: Varejão without the til (like on the man’s jersey) is bad enough. No need to go full “they must speak spanish in Brazil” bad with Varejaon.
I loved the turquoise the Lobos brought back last night. They need to drop the red and go turquoise and silver full time.
Also this will be the most unpopular statement of the day but I already have my “and 1” locked down with the Northwestern game. Wildcats going white pants on the road instead of much better black or purple options and that team they’re playing removing the names? Terrible. All they need is the numbers on the helmets and gray facemasks to make the game look even worse.
Or if they keep the red, use it as an accent reminiscent of Coral Stone.
I’d prefer to see it dropped but used the right way the red would make a good accent color.
Also that Lightning third sweater (the real one) is terrible! Does Yzerman know an NHL sweater can have more than 2 colors? I love the home blue and would like the road white if they removed the Tampa Bay wordmark from it. But this third is a huge miss. I’ve seen it mentioned as a Kings ripoff but to me it looks more mike an old Wild ripoff. Sadly with a few tweaks the joke sweater they showed the players looked awesome and should’ve been what was used leafing this as the “joke” one instead. Very disappointing but at least they didn’t change the name to the Tampa Bay Blue and go with a logo that looks like a cheap microbrew trying to still be trndy.
Also also trndy is the trendy way to say trendy. Trying to flip between baseball pre-game shows, NCAA football, and UW is not working very well this afternoon.
Brewers should retire 0 for Selig to represent all the great things he’s done for baseball.
Or the number of winners at his ASG.
A few years back I did an link graphic. I also did a potential link of the board back when the NL had 16 teams and the AL was at 14.
Nice work tracking the changes. Identifying year over year changes on these scoreboards is no easy task.
Thanks, Gary – your write up inspired me – good work on your old scoreboard articles. It’s right up my alley. I actually know more now about the Cubs sb history, but don’t want to update the graphic at the moment. I was also working on a Comiskey sb graphic a few years ago, but kind of maxed out my processor with the details!
Wow! Andrew Seagraves really nailed the CA Sun uniforms! That is exactly how I would picture them if they were around today. As I mentioned I saw all the WFL teams in person except the Americans, but it is the California Sun that I remember the best after 40 years. I even went on their sidelines in 1974 to get a better look at them, I remember a lot of the players had sun tans. They were also all yelling Kill the King! from their sideline.
My father (King Corcoran) actually tried to get himself traded to the Sun, he wanted to be a movie star after his playing days. Tom Fears told him no, though he thought he was a good QB, he was too crazy and too much trouble to deal with. So that was the end of that.
Great job on these WFL unis everyone, looking forward to seeing the Philadelphia Bell.
Jimmy Corcoran
A nice, subtle stripes vs. stripes game in Serie A (Italy)- Juventus vs. Atalanta
link
A nominee for the 5 and 1. Best uniform (Stanford road whites accented with red) versus worst uniform (All black with purple sleeves, purple numbers and gold trim of Washington).
Huskie looked great. But they should have worn all black shirts!!
Weren’t the Seminoles correcting their gold pants and switching the away #s to garnet?
The jersey switch will be later this season. The pants…Nike always has trouble with teams who have old/Vegas/metallic gold as a color…
Big 12 tells Bill Snyder to update his sideline gear
link
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To Syracuse in their gray football uniforms: “Do you get a free bowl of soup with those uniforms? They look good on you, though.”
..I guess it’s really the font I hate the most, though.
Those wouldn’t be half bad…for Georgetown
Aggie wore white hats with the maroon aTm logo on them today. Razorback should have had on the red hats with red britches.
Mustang looked good getting blown out by Horned Frog today.
Bear should have worn green hats with the green britches!!
‘Uh oh’ on the Nationals’ commemorative logo… it says “10 Years” which actually would be 2005-2014. 2005-2015 should be referred to as “10th Anniversary.” Common mistake on these kinds of logos…
Okay, those Nebraska uniforms are bad. I do like that red color, though. Very rich. Even though it’s a modern design, you could picture that color on an old woolen Nebraska jersey.
The radio guys for Nebraska were getting guys’ names wrong all night, saying it was because the numbers were so hard to see.
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