The NFL, continuing its efforts to foist football on the Brits, has two more games slated to take place in London this season, one of which will take place on Nov. 9, when the Cowboys and Jaguars face off at Wembley Stadium. That date happens to be Remembrance Sunday, a UK holiday that’s typically commemorated with lots of poppies. So in a first, the Cowboys and Jags will wear poppies for the occasion. (Don’t know the backstory on poppies, Armistice Day, and that whole bit? Here — get your learn on.)
Every news account of this story has said that the teams will wear poppies on their “uniforms and helmets.” I was a bit surprised by this — a patch and a decal? The Jags are already wearing two patches this season, so where would they even put another one?
Hoping for some clarification, I contacted both teams. The Cowboys’ PR office said they were definitely wearing a helmet decal and that any talk of a patch was still in development. A Jags spokesman told me it was his understanding that the team would only be wearing a helmet decal, not a patch (he’s double-checking and will get back to me). Sounds like the the “uniforms and helmets” line was just careless wording that got parroted from one news outlet to another.
Anyway: On the one hand, the NFL has never met a military-associated occasion it didn’t like, so in that respect this move is fairly predictable. On the other hand, the poppy is a way better signifier than camouflage (although it’s rather controversial in Ireland), and the acknowledgment of another culture’s ritual and symbolism is a welcome counterpoint to the usual “U! S! A!” jingoism. Best of all, there’s something very appealing about the rough, tough, macho NFL embracing a flower. All in all, I like.
Click to enlarge
Postal fun: As most of you know, I’m currently selling Uni Watch 15th-anniversary stickers. I’m only accepting payment via snail-mail, and you have to enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope along with your check or well-concealed cash. Some folks have asked why I’m doing it this way, instead of just accepting electronic payments.
Part of the reason is that it doesn’t make sense to have Amazon Payments skimming their cut from only a $2 or $3 payment. But more to the point, it’s fun to get letters in the mail, and even more fun when the letters include a few bucks — reminds me of my old zine days.
But the best part, as you can see above, is is seeing how people handle the return address on their self-addressed envelopes. Some folks write in my address — sometimes with my full name, sometimes just my last name, sometimes just the address with no name, and in one instance “Uni Watch HQ.” Some people write in their own address, so the main and return addresses are the same. Some people use envelopes from their work, with their employers’ return address already printed. And lots of people simply leave the return address blank.
Also: Some people fold an envelope that’s the same size as the one in which they’re mailing it to me; others use a smaller envelope, so they don’t have to fold it. Some people’s self-addressed envelopes have a stamp; others were run through a postage meter (probably at work, tsk-tsk) or were purchased pre-postaged. Plus one reader forgot to include postage, but I let it slide and comped him a stamp.
I love seeing all the different approaches. If you’d like to contribute to the variety, order your stickers now, before they run out.
NFL Superhero Project
By Thomas Correia
Last week some folks asked if these NFL Superhero logos will ever be shown on their own, sans Underoos. I’m happy to report that I have plans to show all 32 logos on a large-scale image in Week 17. This final image will be made available on Uni Watch and hopefully on a personal site in the near future.
In the meantime, here’s the Underoos design for tonight’s Thursday Night Football match-up between the Vikings and Packers [click to enlarge]:
The Vikings’ hero was a no-brainer, since Vikings are Norsemen and Thor is the most famous Norse god. Perfect, right? The helmet is based on the one worn by Chris Hemsworth in the Thor films. I loved all the detail in it. Add Thor’s beard, long hair and chest disc; and this logo easily became one of my favorites.
On the other hand, I had struggled quite a bit with which hero to use for the Packers, but eventually decided on the Green Arrow. I tried to find a suitable balance between the white “G” and an actual “green arrow” hidden within it. Many attempts were made to make it work, which evolved into what you see here.
Next week: Colts vs. Texans. Who will those heroes be?
Mike’s Question of the Week
By Mike Chamernik
I was a sports nut — and, really, a uniform nut — even as a seven-year-old. Not only did I own a ton of Champion-branded NBA replica jerseys (those are only the ones I still have, I probably had five times as many jerseys), but I also drew sports scenes. I didn’t focus so much on whatever the players were doing; I was mainly concerned about drawing the logos the best I could. Check out that Brewers logo I did. That’s dynamite.
So: When did you become interested in uniforms, what got you into uniforms, and what is your earliest uniform-related memory? Do you have any uni-related stories from your youth (or from when you started to become interested in uniforms)? Post your responses in today’s comments.
Uni Watch News Ticker
By Mike Chamernik
Baseball News: Royals’ bench coach Don Wakamatsu, who makes out the lineup cards that are posted in the dugout, has beautiful handwriting (from M. Skuz). … Last night, the Pirates wore their postseason patches above their Ralph Kiner memorial patch (from Phil). … When it comes to their fans, the Nats are simultaneously tuned in and clueless (from Tommy Turner). … Whoa! A California high school baseball coach in the 1960s invented something called a screwbat to help train players to not roll their wrists when they swing. … A reader named Matt Gamba is searching for a minor league cap he once saw. “It was a black with an orange brim and the logo was of a flame guy — I forget if he was batting or pitching,” he says. Anyone know which team’s cap this might be?
NFL News: The Allgau Comets of the German Football League have a Titans-esque logo (from GP). … Justin Barrientos bought a Houston Lady Oilers jersey from eBay. The Lady Oilers play in the Women’s Arena Football League. “I have looked for pictures of the team wearing this style of jersey, but have not had any luck,” he says. “From what I have found, they usually wear much less in that league! So, I’m wondering if this is something else. Any idea?” … Nike still has a few Johnny Manziel jerseys in circulation that have the bygone Al Lerner memorial on the sleeve, which was removed from the Browns’ jerseys before Manziel was drafted (from Kevin Bresnahan). … Here’s a look at some of the helmets in the Fall Experimental Football League that’s set to debut next week (from Eric Wright). … “I noticed on Monday’s game that Tom Brady was sitting in front of trunk that clearly had something duct-taped out on its lid,” said Jon Solomonson. “I wonder what it said before being taped over.” … Vikings WR Jarius Wright’s alma mater, Arkansas, is proud of him, but they recolored the Vikings’ logo (from John Follett). ”¦ How ’bout them Cowboys! Got that pencil topper from a gumball machine last night. The machine had helmets of all 32 teams. Quick tangent, how useless is a pencil topper? Not only does it get in the way of the eraser, but it gives a weird balance to the pencil when you write. Double tangent: Every time I get something from a sports trinket machine, I always get a Cowboys or Red Sox item. It’s like the cosmos think I’m a bandwagon fan.
College Football News: Orange jerseys for Colorado State Saturday. … Red-and-white is the most popular color combination in college football. The always good-looking green-and-yellow is pretty rare (from Marc Burgess). … Brown wore throwbacks (fauxbacks?) against Harvard on Saturday (from Joel Mathwig). … Here’s why Tennessee has checkerboard end zones (from Chris Howell). … Air Force will have new helmets against Navy. … Here’s a really cool interactive guide to Oregon’s unis from over the years (from John Gurnick). … Arizona State is going black-white-black against USC (from Phil). … Maryland will wear hand-painted helmets Saturday (from Phil). … Western Michigan is bringing back its gold helmets (from Phil). … I love YouTube mashups, so here’s Project Runway critiquing Nebraska’s new unis (from Greg Aquino). … Syracuse might not have its orange unis ready for Friday’s game against Louisville (from Phil). … Here’s a look at Oklahoma’s uniforms throughout the ages (from Phil). … Alabama is cracking down on club teams that use its logo. That is, the school is cracking down on University of Alabama club teams who use the logo (from Dustin Kline). … New uniforms for Florida Tech (from proud alum John Follett).
Hockey News: The German team Red Bull Munich had some great Oktoberfest-themed uniforms last week (from Jonathan Fox). … The Dallas Stars have been trolling opposing fans at Stars games by mocking them on the scoreboard.
NBA News: Here’s a better look at the Cavs’ new court. … Jonathan Dodd says the Mavs have added a small star to the waist of their shorts. “This is the first time I have noticed this,” he says. “Not the best pic, but you can get the idea that the star is the same one they have on the upper back.” … Related to the drawings I did when I was a kid, during my freshman year in high school I made a manga-style comic book art project on a Blazers-Bucks game I attended. Check it out. By the way, it was an absolutely bananas game.
Grab Bag: Helmets will be required in high school girls’ lacrosse in Florida next year (from Scott Jamison). … Here are six of the biggest stadium design flaws in pro sports (from Brinke).
No question it was around age 10, the tequila sunrise 70s Astros jersey. It was just amazing. I remember a JR Richard poster insert in Inside Sports magazine that I had on my wall, despite being a diehard Sox fan. Talked my mom in to getting me a replica jersey when I was a kid (though i’m pretty sure she thought it was hideous.
Ahhh, childhood memories…
I think in a way, I was always interested in the aesthetics of sports uniforms. I think the look of the game was always as important as the game itself.
Some specific memories:
Vermont Green Lightning. I specifically remember drawing the helmet for this team at least as young as 7 years old. It was a green helmet with many, many (too many) little yellow lightning bolts all over it.
Iowa Romans. I had a plain white football helmet, and used that to draw logos on it with crayons (they were erasable!). The name and logo I used for the Iowa Romans was based on the crappy bread our family used to eat, Roman Meal Bread (I lived in Iowa at the time, hence “Iowa”).
When I was 8 or 9, I had my grandma make me some “football pants”. What they were though was a pair of jeans cut off at the knees and a piece of white cloth tape she sewed for stripes.
I had a blue t-shirt with number 22 on it that I’d wear when playing. I was mono color before mono color was uncool.
I spent hours and HOURS drawing and re-drawing NFL logos. Every single one many times over.
When I discovered the World Football League logos, and NASL logos, well that cemented my fleeting desire to have a “logo maker” job.
I really got into drawing football uniforms (I had already redrawn, and created countless logos for football and soccer teams, as well as occasional hockey and baseball teams) when at 13 I created the “North-American Football League”, my dice based football league I created all teams for (but using real football players, and using dice and charts to generate play and game results).
I don’t draw so many logos, but still design football uniforms for the off-shoot of the NAFL, the AFA, which I still play to this day (12 teams, 16 games each, I still use dice & charts instead of computers).
I still use Paint, so the graphics aren’t that great.
Lee
QOTW (which is really several QsOTW): I loved uniforms from as far back as I can remember. First one was a Cowboys replica from the first Cowboys uniform I got when I was 7 in 1964. From then on, I paid attention to teams when I played sports and their uniforms and what made them cool or not which is what got me started.
The NFL’s next attempt to foist football on the Brits will take place on Nov. 9
Actually… the Lions & Falcons are playing in London on October 26, 2 weeks before the Jaguars/Cowboys game. (Why the hell the NFL feels the need to have 3 freakin games in London is beyond me.)
To answer the QotW, I think I first started getting interested in uniforms when I was like 7 or 8, when I received a large assortment of football cards dating back into the 70’s. I wondered why the older cards didn’t have logos on the helmets, or why, for example, the Bills had white helmets when they were red now (now being 1988-ish), and when/why they changed, etc.
“Why the hell the NFL feels the need to have 3 freakin games in London is beyond me.”
Because people buy the tickets.
And Wembley needs to hold events to pay for the construction costs (they haven’t figured out that they can just get the local governments to pay up).
Thanks, Jeff — now fixed.
They want to eventually have a team in London. I read some where that they will probably have games there in consective weeks there next year.
I believe the idea is to have a team in London that has 3-4 week “home stands” and “road trips”.
So in effect, the NFL wants the Port Ruppert Mundys.
I can see how the scheduling would work for the team in London, though why not just go all the way and play 8 home and 8 on the road. But what about the teams coming over? Seems like they’d need to always be coming off a bye week, or at least coming off a Thursday night game the prior week.
Here’s a brand new really good article that addresses a LOT of the questions (including those posed by R.) we all have.
Interesting that every time a bye week is mentioned in the article, it’s in the context of coming after the trip to London. But jetlag is worse traveling east, from the US to the UK, than traveling west. I know London is typically only five hours ahead of me, but every time I’ve been to the UK the first day-and-a-half has nearly killed me. Coming home? Piece of cake.
But good to see that the NFL seems to be taking a systematic approach and testing the logistical and playing challenges with care. The description of the league’s objectives over the course of the current multi-year series is reminiscent of the way the Gemini and Apollo programs tested mission elements in sequence leading up to the moon landing.
Still, my personal priority list runs something like,
1. NFL team in Los Angeles
2. MLB expansion to 32 teams, franchises in Mexico and Cuba
3. Relocate more NHL teams back to Canada
4. NFL expansion outside of US
You know… I’d rather see the NFL absorb the CFL and become a 40 team (sorry Redblacks, you don’t make the cut) North American league with some sort of hybrid rule set than for them to put a team in London and screw everyone over on travel.
Bravo to ArrScott for the Mundys reference! Excellent, excellent novel (some might even call it great).
I can sadly see the NFL putting a franchise in London without realising a lot of the “local” market would be put off by that fact alone. Hope they at least research it if they end up going that way :p
Matt Gamba-
I think you may be thinking of the West Oahu Canefires of the old Hawaii Winter Baseball league. I just so happen to have that hat!
My uncle got a CaneFires hat for me on a trip to Hawaii when I was about ten. I still have and love that hat.
QotW: My first uniform moment i can remember was the change from the kelly green to Midnight Green for the Eagles. i also remember being really concerned about what number a player would be wearing when he signed or got traded to a new team.
LOL. Read below!
haha that is too perfect. i had that exact jersey as well. they lasted forever, and were always off just enough to notice the replica
Ironically, my first big-time uni memory was of Champion as well. I’m going to date myself as a youngin – but back in ’96 when the Eagles went midnight green, Champion was a big seller of their replica jerseys. They were always terrible, but they were always the ones I got as a kid. The green was always off, and the nameplate was completely wrong – in that standard Champion font, which at the time I believe was only used by the Buffalo Bills.
Here’s a Ricky Watters example, for those that don’t remember these things:
link
I still loved my old Irving Fryar jersey, though.
And don’t get me started on mid-90’s Starter replica hockey sweaters…
That ain’t handwritin’. That there’s what ya call kalligrafee.
I started drawing both versions of the Tigers Olde English D around 9 years old. I actually wrote a letter to the Orioles around the same time asking why they stopped wearing their orange jerseys. Funny how tastes change because I loved those jerseys as a kid, no t so much now. I didn’t get a specific response but they did send me stickers and a pocket schedule.
Don’t remember a lot from my earlier youth.
Had an old sticker book from 1974/75 NHL season (born in Oct /68). I had cut out all the logos from one page – don’t know what I used them for. There were crayon drawings of the Flyers logo in a few places in the book.
Liked number shirts back then – favourite shirt was an orange number 29 t-shirt with the numbers on the back and front. There is a picture of me with an orange fall/winter jacket with vertical stripes across one side with a round flyers patch. One of the few things I actually remember is getting my mom to sew a very large St. Louis Blues crest on the back of a jacket when I was young.
RE: Gumball prizes…..
If I have some spare change and see a sports (preferably NFL) gumball/trinket machine, I will always take a chance in hopes of getting some ‘Skins gear.
All the non ‘Skins stuff gets mysteriously deposited on co-workers’ desks or in their mailboxes to match their fave teams. It’s a hoot to hear them try to figure out where it came from, and also to see it proudly displayed at their workstations! $.50 can still bring people great joy.
Totally agree. I can’t resist the thrill of those gumball machines — same as when I was nine years old! I, too, have left countless stickers, helmets and trinkets around the office. I have a pretty good list of friends who are fans of other teams around the country (I’ve moved around a bit) and have even been known to anonymously mail things to them.
I’m not as big of a pro sports fan as I once was, but those gumball prizes will always be my favorites.
“That is, the school is cracking down on University of Alabama club teams who use the logo”
David Brandon should jump all over this – charge the clubs to use the logo!
The sad (or depending how you look at it, encouraging) thing is that the Alabama varsity athletes quoted in the article are the voice of reason:
I don’t think this differentiation is necessary, there is plenty of distinction between the two,” said Hayes Brewer, a sophomore majoring in finance and a member of the varsity tennis team. “Either way, varsity or club, they still represent this school.”
It’s reasonable that a university exercise *some* measure of control over the name choices and uniforms of its club teams – they are in fact representing the school when they compete, and hopefully doing it credit. Accordingly, I’m confounded by the notion that they can’t do so wearing the school’s trademarked logo, yet Joe Frat Pledge is free to puke all over himself outside ESPN GameDay at [Corporate Sponsor] Stadium at [Name of Big-Ass Donor] Field doing so. Seems to me the more prudent course of action is for the school to presume a club team is entitled to wear a trademarked logo unless/until their actual deeds prove otherwise, at which point the school can prohibit them from doing so.
The Alabama club team story is really disturbing. It would not surprise, me, though, to find out that there’s another factor involved beyond the university itself.
Who, again, supplies the uniforms for the Crimson Tide varsity teams?
That story really is crazy, crazy enough to make me want to post a comment, something I never do. I participated in club sports at my college about 5 years ago, and I think almost all of the club teams used official university logos on their uniforms and websites (a google search reveals that they continue to do so). I still wear my logo-emblazoned club tennis shirt from time to time.
Company employees have limited rights to use logos in connection with certain labor-related activities; I wonder if there is a parallel right for a university-student to use a university logo in the same way. If the school is sanctioning the clubs, then the ability to represent the school, via a logo, seems like a given. This would be a different story if the club was not sanctioned by the university; but clearly it is.
Has anyone heard of a similar policy at any other schools?
Agreed, it’s disturbing. This might be one of the biggest douchey moments in college sports recently, which is saying a lot.
Personally, I find this very interesting, as my school (Dartmouth) has taken the opposite stance starting this school year. In the past, to my knowledge, club teams have had some autonomy as to what the could have on their uniforms and gear as long they represented the school identifiably and in a positive light. However, this year, all club sports are required to adhere to the official “style guide” presented by the varsity athletics office, which leaves us with two options for actual school logos: the block green “D” and the Lone Pine.
Other school symbols, such as the weather vane of our library (I’ve seen it been used once or twice) and the shield, are not allowed to be used unless given explicit permission by the athletics director. As for pseudo school imagery, such as the moose, those are likely to be shot down almost immediately.
On the one hand, I appreciate the effort to streamline the athletics imagery across Varsity and Club sports, especially in light of Alabama’s case. On the other hand, as I take some pleasure in designing the gear for the club team I am on, I feel that it limits our ability to have our own identity as a club separate from varsity teams. Just my two cents as a first time poster, long time reader.
What a comedy of errors. Page 21 of the 2014-15 Sports Club Handbook (link) articulates the policy, and says use of the logos “stimulates public awareness and support” of the institution as well as “promot[ing it] as one of the nation’s finest universities.” That message is somewhat undercut, however, by the fact that (1) the first sentence of the section saying that is an unintelligible, incomplete sentence, and (2) the heading on school’s webpage addressing approved club team logos is, erm, unfortunately written: link
Not to mention that if anything, use of the trademarked logo is what stimulates public awareness and support, not use of the hopeless generic “approved” logos appearing on p. 24 of that Handbook. Which with their “UA” configuration arguably suggest a main business rival of their current varsity athletics uniform supplier…
Ooops, wrong link for the Handbook:
link
Unfortunately, it is fairly common for club teams to not be allowed to use the official school logos. That rule however, is rarely enforced. At Florida, we did not have the legal right to use any University of Florida athletic logo as a club sport. We did so anyways. We would submit artwork to a manufacturer and if they didn’t ask any questions, we would have “UF” emblazoned hats and jerseys. There was once when we had to make a slight tweak to a logo so the manufacturer was comfortable but that was pretty much it. Out of respect for the NCAA baseball team who was wore the Slanted F logo, we only used the mostly defunct interlocking UF logo on our gear but that was our decision.
From what I understand, many university logos aren’t owned by the university itself, a marketing company like IMG actually owns the trademarks and my guess is that’s where much of this comes from. The closest thing I have seen to this level of enforcement when I was in school was Clemson’s club baseball team wasn’t allowed to wear purple (they could wear orange). They replaced purple with navy blue in much of their stuff. I think they wear purple freely now.
The whole thing is unbelievable. They are students, they spend tens of thousands of dollars to go to your school. They are the reason any of the sports team exist in the first place. They aren’t profiting off of the trademark. No one is confusing the club baseball pitcher for AJ McCarron!!
I think the whole thing is ridiculous but I could envision a solution that required club sports to put the word “club” on their gear for any sport which had a varsity equivalent (which is something we did at Florida for anything not worn on the field, again out of respect for the NCAA program)
I think the universities actually own the trademarked logos, it’s that many of them outsource the “management” of their logos to Collegiate Licensing Company, which – you’re correct – is a part of IMG. The company is specifically referenced in the Univ. of Alabama handbook I linked to, and in fact was its initial client institution.
link
It’s a sad, but not surprising reality: the university and the athletic department are two different entities in every way except when convenient.
This I did not know. Makes me rethink my theory from earlier.
RE: Florida Tech unis….
Man, that logo barely “FITs” on the helmet!!
(get it??)
Regarding the Nationals gnome hats, I saw them start popping up at games and wondered what was going on. I thought the Nationals were starting to sell gnome hats in the team store. I’m familiar with one unofficial fan group, but now I guess I’m aware of two.
It IS kind of hilarious that the Nationals are encouraging everyone to do something started by fans.
This actually isn’t the first fan-initiated item that the Nationals have latched on to. I don’t know if it was mentioned in the ticker before, but some fans just below the press box started a chant after the team scores “N-A-T-S NATS NATS NATS, WOO!” The team went and had that painted on the wall in their section.
And yes, Jets fans. It’s very similar/the same. But the Jets don’t have a Woo, so it’s different.
Did the fans not start it in response to the team’s offering the Werth gnome statuette?
Jets fans don’t have #jettitude, obviously.
Maybe it their variation of the cheer that’s done at Hershey Bears (AHL) every time they score?
The cheer has been going on for a long time. Not in response to the Werth gnome.
Yes, they do it every time the team scores. One woman decided to add the Woo on the end. Mark Lerner called her personally to ask how to spell Woo (with an H or without it).
link
Not what I meant. Did the gnome hats appear before or after the Werth gnome?
RE: Mike’s question of the week
I remember as a young kid of 7 or 8, I would go to the local D3 college hoops games in town (UW-Stevens Point) I remember obsessing over the shoes. My obsession was, “Why do some players wear one kind, and others wear another? Shouldn’t the shoes be ‘uniform’ like the actual uniforms?” It kind of irked me that not everyone on the team was wearing the same shoes.
My love for uniforms progressed from there. I liked the nuances of patches, the fact that the NFL wore color at home, but MLB wore white at home always got to me. Just the little things really. But I guess that’s what makes the study of athletics aesthetics special.
Brewers bench coach Jerry Narron also does that kind of calligraphy on lineup cards. Check the Twitter timeline of Brewers PR guy Mike Vassallo (@MikeVassallo13) for many examples.
When I first saw the entry, I thought Narron switched over to the Royals or something. I can’t believe there are two coaches in MLB with impeccable handwriting.
I wouldn’t call that “handwriting” – it’s calligraphy, a skill all its own.
QotW: Christmas 1971 I got a football jersey (not a replica of anything recognizable): yellow with blue raglan sleeves and collar and the number 14. I wore that into the ground. I was pretty bummed that the Sears NFL gear for kids was only in sizes for younger/smaller kids.
QOTW: When I was in the 2nd grade (1970), I wouldn’t wear the Giants-themed winter jacket my mom gifted me, because I thought the Jets were cooler. It wasn’t until the 8th grade, though, that I began to take an avid interest in hockey. At the time, my best friend was a Flyers’ fan who was also a pretty good artist, and taught me how to draw the crests of all the local NHL teams. It also helped that I knew how to skate, so I began buying hockey sweaters at Herman’s.
I’d wear that Thor/Vikings shirt.
And I like the poppies. For me, at least, it’s more dignified that making everything in the motif of the American flag.
Wearing a poppy is definitely a dignified way to show remembrance. The same can’t be said for dropping 80,000 from the roof at the end of the game.
That, I will agree with.
The Poppy tribute is really common in rugby. One of the two annual windows for cross-hemisphere international games is in November. All Blacks end up wearing one at least once a year.
link
Can someone tell me why the Drew Brees OYO figure doesn’t have his mole and birth mark on it?
…and why did they go with the all black uni?
Yuck.
I got into uniforms in the mid/late 70s. My favorite team at the time, the Minnesota Vikings were like the only team who still wore black shoes. Then the Seahawks came, and they wore black shoes too. Drove me nuts. Around that time I noticed the Chiefs painted their facemasks white and looked forward to everytime another team painted theirs
Not uni-related…but I think this is the best You Tube mashup ever:
link
Ha! Fantastic. I love this one: link
The Green Bay Packers have a guide of sorts, displaying what players will be wearing for Pinktober tonight.
link
QOTW: Going back through my youth, there are some things that I certainly took note of:
* The tiger-striped Bengals in Super Bowl XVI, the first sporting event I can recall actually sitting down specifically to watch (though I rooted for the 49ers)
* Ribbon stirrups in baseball
* The Padres’ brown uniforms in the 1984 World Series
* The Royals’ powder blues
* Discovering the Hartford Whalers and their green road unis for the first time, coming across the 1986 Division Finals on CBC
* The Red Wings’ then-home white unis with the red sleeves, and the Penguins’ unis with the gold upper sleeves
* The bold shoulders of the Edmonton Oilers’ jerseys
But, I think the event that really got me going on uniforms was the 1991-92 NHL season, and the Original Six throwbacks. Not only did they spur my interest in uniforms, they spurred my interest in hockey to higher levels, and led me to become a student of the game and its history. And the lightweight replica CCM Red Wings throwback was my very first pro-sports jersey, which I still have to this day (it didn’t have a player on it originally, but in 1997 I had it crested in honor of Vladimir Konstantinov).
Those ’91-92 NHL Turn Back the Clock jerseys (as they were called then) are still the best all-time retro jerseys worn in any major North American sport!!! The Blackhawks jersey in particular is gold.
On a related note, when did such uniforms start being called “throwback jerseys”?
I seem to remember the term being used in 1994 with the NFL’s 75th anniversary uniforms; of course, the level of accuracy on those were all over the place.
Typo in the NFL News…It should be Arkansas, right? (Of course, with my luck, I’m wrong on this one)
Thanks — fixed.
Thomas C!
You have outdone yourself with those Underoos! Granted, I’m a little biased, but the Packers one is absolutely stunning, and the although the Vikings one is cliche, you made it look great. Kudos on a job well done again.
Thanks Johnny! It was real tough to make the Packers/Arrow work well together (it may even still be off a bit), but I’m fine with it as is and really glad that even a Packers fan loves it.
link was the first replica my parents bought me.
I think I was more attuned to jerseys because I spent some early years in the England, where teams changed uniforms every two years.
Then my family moved to North Carolina, where I supported two teams with Alexander Julian designs, the Hornets and Tar Heels basketball.
Here’s a look at the Houston Cougars 1989 throwback jersey and helmet that will be worn for homecoming versus Tulane on 11/8/14.
link
Cool post at Gizmodo about playoff teams’ logos. I did not know that Hallmark had an employee contest to create Royals logo.
link
and the direct link to the Royals story:
link
The lettering the Royals use on the KC and the big R has annoyed me since I first noticed it in 1972. The contrast between the serif at the top of the letter and the rounded treatment of the lower stroke just looks imbalanced.
The lettering the Royals use on the KC and the big R has annoyed me since I first noticed it in 1972. The contrast between the serif at the top of the letter and the rounded treatment of the lower stroke just looks imbalanced.
So not quite uni-related and not sure if this has been brought up before, but if you watch the video I linked below at the 1:28 and 2:26 mark there are some good shots of the Pirates logo behind home plate last night. It looks like it is dug out from the grass and painted over, creating a 3D effect. Has this been done before?
link
It’s Thursday at this point anyways, but if it wasn’t, don’t know if this would be willing to wait for Skins Watch.
link
Personally, they need to get rid of the NFL’s tax breaks regardless of any controversy with certain teams nicknames. Sadly, even if the NFL is taxed, it would just be a drop in the bucket to paying off our national debt.
My first uniform obsession memory is when I started Jr High football. We didn’t have logos on our helmets which were metallic gold with grey facemasks…. circa 1984…. and my mask was like Joe Montana’s, so I took it home and made logos and stripes using masking tape and markers. I would carefully peel them off and save them for the next weekend when I could bring it home again, reapply my “decals” and play outside with it again. My next memory is taking those hard batting helmets and using duct tape to cover them, and straws to make facemasks, making my own football helmets for me and my brother… I was restricted to silver helmeted teams because of the duct tape, but we loved them :)
Re: QOTW
When I was 14, the USFL was starting up, and I was fascinated with all the new colors and new logos and uniforms. Been hooked ever since.
Of course, my mom will tell you that when I was a toddler, I used to be mesmerized when a stock car race was on TV. “Look at all the cars go ’round and ’round,” she said. “Look at all the pretty colors.”
I guess it’s safe to say I’m visual in nature. Plus, I’m a proofreader by occupation, so details definitely matter.
Former proofreader and USFL fan here, so I feel ya, brother.
That league didn’t have a bad uniform at all.
Thomas, Green Arrow is an inspired choice for the Packers. Ollie’s actually been a Packer fan going back to the Lombardi era – just check out link.
Haha! Nice find Chance! . . . I wish I could BS and say that I knew that all along, but I honestly never saw that buckle before.
QOTW:
When I became aware of football in the early ’70s (I was 10 or so) I really started to watch the teams and unis. I would try to draw all the helmet logos. Most were horrible–even/especially the “easy” ones. Hey, it’s hard to draw the wishbone “C”. Go ahead. Try it!
Try the Chargers too. Not as easy at it looks, eh!!
I was first introduced to the idea of uniforms and paying attention to them from the 1987 MN Twins redesign. I was so young, I just assumed uniforms never changed (my dad is a Yanks fan so looking at his old books they NEVER changed – I applied this logic to every team).
So when the Twins changed to their “M” logo and “professional pinstriped” home uniforms, I thought they looked very cool. More like the Yankees and less like a softball team (or the George Brett era Royals for some reason).
The impact on me was pretty profound. Not only did the Twins changed their uniforms and looked like a pro baseball team, they went on to win the World Series the same year. I attributed it to the uniforms of course. I was 9. Uniforms are powerful!
I’d paid attention to sports unis as long as I can remember, in a fanboy sense of having favorites and not-favorites. (Top of the not-favorites list for early 1980s childhood me: Rainbow-gut Astros and brown-era Padres, due to having to wear those unis in youth ball.) But likewise, it was the 1986/87 Twins redesign that made uniforms & logos something to actually think about beyond just “oooh, that’s cool.”
Of course, that offseason was the winter I turned 13, and that’s about the age when boys tend to develop critical thinking beyond fanboy “like it / hate it” opinions.
Somewhat related to Florida’s helmet mandate for women’s HS lacrosse, interesting news item from yesterday:
link
Does anyone else remember getting the Sears or JC Penny Christmas catalogues in the 70’s and looking at all that great NFL merch? I sure do, obsessed over those things for months. Huge Rams fan and had quite a bit of that stuff( favorite was a pduedo lettermans jacket). Miss the majic of those catalogues.
That sound you just heard was Brinke Guthrie drooling…
I was so bummed that those things were only for younger/smaller kids. I really wanted that letterman-style jacket – or even the sweater with the circular zipper-pull.
Sorry for the productivity that just got sucked out of your days… link
Okay, I’m going to walk away from my computer before I spend any more time looking at old wish books, but – in the 1970 Sears Wish Book, page 217, there’s a logo for the Browns that I’ve never seen before. Can’t decide if I like it or not. I like the Bills’ logo, though.
I used to love EVERYTHING about the old Sears Wish Books, including all of the NFL merchandise. Unfortunately all I could do was admire the gear from the pages. Little girls in the 70s didn’t get to sleep in NFL pajamas on NFL sheets. That said, I did have a Skins lunchbox and beanie hat.
I loved poring through the pages of the Sears and JC Penny catalogs when I was a kid. The only problem was that they rarely carried merchandise for my favorite team, the Denver Broncos. Since Broncos clothing wasn’t usually an option, my grandmother used to buy me merchandise from the catalogs as birthday or Christmas presents for whatever team happened to be successful at the time. It always confused me. I felt like I was expected to root for the Dallas Cowboys and the Pittsburgh Steelers as a nod to the gifts Grandma gave me, even though all I wanted was a Broncos Orange Crush t-shirt!
From 1969:
link
Before my time, dude! (I will, ahem, refrain from saying just how long before my time it was…) It is interesting, though, that the 1969 Sears Christmas catalog had an item of Broncos merchandise when, in subsequent years, it became harder to find. In my defense, though, I did say “rarely” and not “never.”
Re: QOTW — I was a young Mets fan in the late 70s, probably around 9 years old and my mother had managed to get a Mets wind breaker for me. This was a difficult thing back then because there was no uni industrial complex back then and Yankees were winners so there wasn’t a lot of Mets paraphernalia around. Anyway, I’m with my mom on an elevator and a mailman gets on. He looks at me and my Mets jacket and says, “Kid, you’re a loser, but that’s OK — I’m a loser, too.”
Wow — now THAT is a story.
As a youngster back in the early 90’s, I used my colored pencils to come up with what I considered to be my best Indians uniform concept ever. I thought it was so good that I sent it off to Cleveland, letting them know that if they wanted to, they could use it. I got a very nice letter back from their Vice President of Public Relations, Bob DiBiasio, saying my designs were very good and that Bob was a closet uniform designer himself. I was so inspired by this letter, that I sent the minor league Kinston Indians a cap design I was particularly proud of. This time, I received a letter from the club president who said he liked the drawing so much that he hung it on his bulletin board and to thank me for submitting it, he sent me a K-Tribe hat! It was a pretty great summer for an 11 year old!
Nitpick: I think the poppy on the NFL logo is the Canadian version. I believe the British one is somewhat different.
Didn’t realize there was a difference between Canadian and UK poppies — interesting!
Yup. Definitely a Canadian poppy. UK poppies look like this: link
Only the ones sold by the British Foreign Legion. The version worn on sports uniforms can vary, link or link.
Mike, I started getting into uniforms as soon as I started watching sports, around age 7, 1979. Back then, it was very difficult to get ahold of the replica jerseys, so I started making my own. My mom would by me some white undershirts (or I’d take a couple from my dad’s drawer), I would grab some magic markers, and I would create my own baseball jerseys. My first was the Cincinnati Reds, and for some reason, I used a brown marker, not sure why. I would wear these for a week or so, and then my mom would wash it, and I could use it to make another. I would use a baseball card, or a picture out of Sports Illustrated, for accuracy. I created the Astros tequila sunrise, the Pirates 1979 pinstripe, and the 1980 Padres home, when they added the orange to their color scheme. I once spent hours coloring an entire white t-shirt “powder blue”, using a light blue crayon, to create a Cardinals road jersey. I continued to do this until I was about 11 or 12, and when replica baseball jerseys became more prevalent. I often wish I still had some examples of these, as they got a bit better as I got older, and more sure with the markers. Back in the late ’70’s, it just seemed like baseball replicas were difficult to find, at least where I lived. I had no problem getting football jerseys (the Rawlings youth version, that had the team name incorrectly emblazened above the front number, much to my consternation), and had a bunch of those, so no need to create my own. But many a summer day of my youth was spent creating my own baseball jerseys on a blank white undershirt.
Surprised no one has brought up the College Football Colors link… My main beef is that MAROON IS NOT RED. It should really be redone to classify those differently. I did a count of the link and one third of the reds are maroon (counting garnet as maroon). Plus, I think they took a few liberties – I can’t tell if they really accommodated teams with three official colors. But I do so love the concept and design of this infographic!
For what it’s worth, I posted it in the comments last week.
link
The Canadian poppy is the same every year (black was returned to the poppy in 2002). They are distributed by the Royal Canadian Legion. More info here – link
the British poppy has a slightly different shape & includes a green leaf.
the British poppy … includes a green leaf.
link
I wasn’t meaning poppies on uniforms, but point taken.
My dad bought a few replica NHL jerseys here and there in the 1980s. We even aquired some game worn NY Rangers jerseys. The NHL Super Series with visiting Soviet clubs around 1990 further spurred my interest in collecting jerseys. Uniforms from that era, especially the Tackla national team jerseys, remain my favorite designs and materials. My all-time favorite might well be the red CSKA Moscow uniform made by CCM from that time. I got my jersey customized with Sergei Fedorov’s #18.
Oh, I was always conscious about keeping my own hockey jerseys and baseball caps from youth leagues. I even have my first hole-y, tattered, durene youth hockey jersey from 1984 or so, with almost all the cheapo iron-on letters now since peeled off.
QOTW: Earliest uniform-related memory, from second or third grade back in the 60’s, is of Cub Scout uniforms. Loved the blue with yellow trim. It was the main reason I joined.
Funny you should mention that – I was a Scout myself as a kid, and loved wearing the uniforms.
Now I have three kids in Scouting, but the link because I can’t stomach what the BSA stands for. We love it, but link aren’t nearly as cool, and that still really bothers me.
Really nice stories, people. I love the various ways you all became uni lovers, and how even as kids we noticed the fairly small uniform details. In the past, I’ve seen many readers contribute childhood artwork and uni concepts.
One thing that helped my passion with the uni-verse was because, since I didn’t have the internet until 2003, seeing uniforms, logos and sports aesthetics required some work.
For instance, I was intrigued by The Omni’s court as a kid. I probably saw a Bulls-Hawks game on TV and heard the cool sounding name and saw bits of the arena’s logo and center logo (which was just two concentric circles). I was fascinated in part because I couldn’t readily see it. I wanted to know more about the Omni, about the floor and about the Hawks’ look. It stayed on my mind. Now, I could just look it up online and be done.
QOTW:
My earliest uni-moment was pretty early in my life – my family moved to England, where jerseys changed every 2 years. I got my first replica jersey, a 1989 Liverpool number with “Candy” as sponsor.
Then we moved to North Carolina in the early 90s, where I supported two basketball teams with Alexander Julian designs, the Hornets and the Tar Heels. And like a lot of kids then, I was all about the White Sox’s change to black and the Mariners’ navy/teal getup (mostly because of Junior Griffey).
QoTW: I grew up in southern CT and at age 8 or so decided I needed to choose between the Giants and Jets. Chose the Jets, a decision I’ve been paying for the remainder of my life, but I digress. My first uni-detail focus was on the Giants’ uniforms: back in the 80s I was convinced the Giants’ blue on their jerseys was a different shade than that on their helmet. An almost royal blue vs. navy. It may have been a simple matter of the way the colors looked on TV and fabric vs. plastic, but I didn’t get that as a kid. Thus began my focus on the aesthetics of football unis.
I was convinced the Giants’ blue on their jerseys was a different shade than that on their helmet
link
Sorry, that reply was supposed to be for TIm above.
I knew it! Vindication!
QOTW – I don’t know what got me interested in it, but when I was a kid I had drawings of all of the NFL helmets on my bedroom wall. My dad drew an outline of helmet, which I traced on to loose leaf notebook paper. From there I did my best renditions of all of the logos. Can’t remember if I colored them with crayons or colored pencils. What I do remember is that Pat Patriot was the absolute hardest logo to draw. I’m sure Dad had to help me with a few of them.
This was back before the Buccaneers and Seahawks joined the league, so I couldn’t have been more than about 10. What I wouldn’t do to have all of those drawings now…
Re: the “Screwbat” entry — the high school coach mentioned in the article, John Herbold, later went on to coach for a long time at Cal State Los Angeles. They were in our conference during my time in college and playing against Coach Herbold’s teams through the years was very entertaining. He was priceless . . . he had this really loud, booming voice, so when he got pissed at one of his players, EVERYONE in the ballpark knew it. And of UniWatch relevance, he was fun to watch . . .always reminded me of Lasorda in uniform. He was definitely a fun coach to see in action.
For Sale: One U of Washington bouncy helmet. link
Wicked!
QOTW: I played the junior tennis circuit on the regional level as a kid starting in the late 1960s, which coincided with the creation of the pro tennis tour. My favorite player was Aussie great Ken Rosewall. My first real awareness of uniforms came courtesy of my father’s criticism of Rosewall for his “crass commercialism” – by which he was referring to the fact that he accepted a fee from British Petroleum to wear a patch about the size of a US half-dollar with the BP logo on his shirts:
link
link
So – I am curious, Paul… what percentage used same address on the envelopes?
Besides you? Just one other person.
Seems like sending a non-stamped, self-addressed envelope with the same return address would be cheaper and better. It would either get delivered (maybe COD), or returned due to insufficient postage.
Either way, it gets back to the right person, right?
Thanks for another fun and thought-provoking QOTW, Mike. Goodness, my memories are flooding back to me on this one! I’ll try to edit to the most important:
1) Watching Opening Day 1969 on TV. Expos at Mets. What ARE those caps the Expos are wearing? And there’s something odd about the numbers on their backs–I can’t describe it. I guess that’s what baseball players look like in another country!
2) Sitting in the upper deck at Shea Stadium, the only time I could see the Mets in royal blue since we had no color TV, and thinking how that bright blue was so much cooler than the boring blue of the Yankees, and represented how we were superior to the Yankees in every way.
3) Every time the Mets won and so their players were the guests on Kiner’s Korner, adoring the script Mets logo on their home jerseys, the most beautiful sight in the universe.
4) 1972, Giants and Mets at Shea. My first time sitting in field level, by the Giants’ dugout, getting autographs from Dave Kingman and others. Seeing up close the gray heather of their jerseys, and the three dimension of the letters of “San Francisco” stitched in. Amazing.
5) I was a Vikings fan during the Chuck Foreman era. I hated when they played in warm weather in Dallas or LA and wore a lighter weight jersey, which seemed just a tad more blue than purple, and did not have the Northwestern stripes on the sleeves. Of course, I did not know they were called “Northwestern stripes.”
6) When the Rangers (1976) and Knicks (1979) changed their uniforms. Thinking WHY, in the name of progress, would you change from something traditional and perfect to something new and ugly?
QOTW:
As a child, I had a casual interest in sports, but I didn’t follow sports all that closely. The one thing I did notice was the aesthetics of sporting events. I’d draw pictures of sporting events I’d attended in person or watched on TV, taking particular note of the uniform colors and other visual details.
My interest in sports kicked into hyperdrive when I was 15 and we took a family vacation that included a stop at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. I soaked up everything I could about the museum, especially all of the historical memorabilia and the various uniforms on display. After that, I followed the standings, checked stats, and watched TV highlights on just about a daily basis for all of the Big Four professional sports leagues along with college football, basketball, and baseball.
Becoming a bigger sports fan also deepened my interest in the aesthetics of athletics. I would buy each season’s National League Green Book and American League Red Book, in large part because they had extensive illustrations of every team’s uniforms and logos. I chose sports themes for just about every project in my school art classes. And I created my own imaginary sports and made detailed color drawings of the uniforms for all of the made-up teams.
I guess, without ever realizing it, I had been waiting since that time for something like Uni Watch to come along. It’s always good to know there are others out there who have shared my same interests this whole time.
I think the Alabama decision for their club teams is terrible. Club teams suffer enough hardship just existing, not letting them feel like a part of the sports landscape at the school is a low blow. Disallowing the use of the logo, but also requiring certain colors feels contradictory. Whoever decided to micromanage this has got to have something better to do. I can see not wanting club teams to carry questionable nicknames, the rest is too much.
QOTW: My uni-awakening came in 1978, when the Brewers link their link, and I thought “Wow – teams can change their uniforms?” I don’t think the idea had even occurred to me before that.
QOTW: I’m a little older than most other respondents. I come from the dark ages when jerseys were unavailable. At all. There might be a team related t-shirt here and there or a rare univ. sweatshirt might come around with the seal of the school on it. But a Bears jersey in a retail store? Did. Not. Exist. DIY started to happen when permanent markers became more common. Ah the smell of toluene. A kid in the neighbor, somehow got a jersey that looked like the Detroit Lions. In Bear country today that would get him punched. But in 1965 it made him a god. On the playground he looked so much faster than plaid. In class he looked like he just stopped in at half time to get warm.
It bugs me when this site bashes expensive polyester shirts. I hate poly and they ARE expensive but to have a Tadihito Iguchi jersey just like the one he wore when the White Sox won it all? Priceless if you can recall when that would have been impossible.
I assume we have some big logo aficionados who read this forum
I have a question for you all: Whats the worst logo of all time? Is there a list of bad logos and what makes a logo bad.
Just curious
anytype of logo- sport, business, what ever
The Kappa logo. It’s supposed to be two people sitting back-to-back, but that’s not what it looks like at first glance…
The link was particularly bad – both sloppy and vague. A good logo should be immediately recognizable and unlikely to be confused with something else.
The London 2012 Olympics logo has to be one of the worst.
1927 Tigers logo is up…I mean…down there as well.
Swc susan, thanks, I am going to enjoy looking through those catalogs and wishbooks when l get home.
As a kid I got into uniforms by electric football and the old tudor red and yellow
Also I got a blue helmet with no facemask and white stars on front for a Christmas president. A year or so late I got that Steelers jersey with black stripes and yellow helmet and black stripe. I still remember the fresh smell of that jersey. Now I hate the Steelers but have fond memories of that combo. I grew up a Pirates fan since my dad was both a Steeler and Pirates fan. I loved and still loved the old Pirate sleeveless look.
I later like Dallas Cowboys for a while after seeing Bob Hayes chase down a guy who intercepted a pass and yes it was on b&w tv but the shiny helmet caught my eye.
I used to like looking at yearbooks like Pirates yearbooks or football cards. I grew up in the day of bw TV and 3 channels. Only time I saw color was in sports magazines.
I became more interested in history of uniforms like Ohio State recently or the past decade or less. Now I love the history.
I do not like colleges changing unis and helmets every week now. Very goofy trend.
QOTW: QOTW:
As a child, I had a casual interest in sports, but I didn’t follow sports all that closely. The one thing I did notice was the aesthetics of sporting events. I’d draw pictures of sporting events I’d attended in person or watched on TV, taking particular note of the uniform colors and other visual details.
My interest in sports kicked into hyperdrive when I was 15 and we took a family vacation that included a stop at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. I soaked up everything I could about the museum, especially all of the historical memorabilia and the various uniforms on display. After that, I followed the standings, checked stats, and watched TV highlights on just about a daily basis for all of the Big Four professional sports leagues along with college football, basketball, and baseball.
Becoming a bigger sports fan also deepened my interest in the aesthetics of athletics. I would buy each season’s National League Green Book and American League Red Book, in large part because they had extensive illustrations of every team’s uniforms and logos. I chose sports themes for just about every project in my school art classes. And I created my own imaginary sports leagues and made detailed color drawings of the uniforms for all of the made-up teams.
I guess, without ever realizing it, I had been waiting since that time for something like Uni Watch to come along. It’s always good to know there are others out there who have shared my same interests this whole time.
As a kid, I had a casual interest in sports, but I didn’t follow sports all that closely. The one thing I did notice was the aesthetics of sporting events. I’d draw pictures of sporting events I’d attended in person or watched on TV, taking particular note of the uniform colors and other visual details.
My interest in sports kicked into hyperdrive when I was 15 and we took a family vacation that included a stop at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. I soaked up everything I could about the museum, especially all of the historical memorabilia and the various uniforms on display. After that, I followed the standings, checked stats, and watched TV highlights on just about a daily basis for all of the Big Four professional sports leagues along with college football, basketball, and baseball.
Becoming a bigger sports fan also deepened my interest in the aesthetics of athletics. I would buy each season’s National League Green Book and American League Red Book, in large part because they had extensive illustrations of every team’s uniforms and logos. I chose sports themes for just about every project in my school art classes. And I created my own imaginary sports leagues and made detailed color drawings of the uniforms for all of the made-up teams.
I guess, without ever realizing it, I had been waiting since that time for something like Uni Watch to come along. It’s always good to know there are others out there who have shared my same interests this whole time.
Have I mentioned that sometimes I get a little frustrated with the site’s moderation software? /mild rant
QOTW:
I remember a friend who lived up the street (whom I believe regularly reads the site as well) and I would draw & color uniforms (mostly baseball) when we were around 6 or 7. Not only would we draw the actual unis, but we would also go conceptual with a fair degree of regularity–not only for existing teams, but for those we created, as well. I don’t know if that was what started it–the mutual agreement that baseball is the awesomest sport and a tangible way to enjoy it year-round–but that’s certainly one of my earliest uni-related memories.
My parents have a picture of me on the bases in T-ball (1st or 2nd grade) wearing calf-height tube socks with red stripes around the circumference of the sock near the top. I also remember, when playing baseball in 3rd & 4th grade, I liked to wear these maroon stirrups (complete with stube sock sanis) that I’d found at a yard sale. Thing was, it clashed horribly with the rest of the uniform, which was a painful combination of gold jerseys & hats with red pants. This was the early ’90s, so they were tight polyester pants that ended below the knee and, therefore, didn’t require blousing.
Also in 2nd grade, one of the regular “projects” we had throughout the school year was to “publish” books we’d written and illustrated with the help of one of my classmates’ mothers. Most of the ones I did involved sports in one way or another–often recaps of actual or fictional games–that naturally involved lots of drawings of players in uniform.
I love your old Champion NBA replica jerseys. I still remember my first jersey I got for Christmas as a young 7 yo. back in 1980 which was a black Franco Harris Steelers jersey. I still almost remember the smell and feel of it. In 1984 my Upper Michigan Little League team made a trip to the Metrodome for a Twins vs Tigers game and I had about $150 in cash from extra raffle tickets I sold by peddling my bicycle all over the countryside. First I bought a gold Pirates jersey as this was my favorite team. Anything Black and Gold back then as it was my K-12 school colors. I also bought a beautiful Tequila Sunrise Astros jersey which I still have for some reason. I also bought hats of various teams Blue Jays, Tigers orange D, St. Louis Cardinals, a gold Pirates pill box cap, and a Milwaukee Brewers helmet. The following years trip I bought a Yankees road gray jersey, a powder blue Expos jersey and more hats this time an Astros orange, a Twins and Cardinals painters hats, Brewers away,the 1985 All*Star game hat and pennants for various teams. I also recall getting a home white Randy White Cowboys jersey that year. The year after that I recall getting my first authentic jersey which was made right in front of me at a Merle Harmon’s fanfair in Madison, Wi. I went with a Curt Warner Seattle Seahawks blue jersey. THere were many other jerseys I wanted growing up but if they weren’t offered in the Montgomery Ward or Sears Christmas Catalog’s I had no other way to get them back then as my Tampa Bay Buccaneers, or Dominique Wilkins Hawks or Milwaukee Bucks jerseys just weren’t as available As I recall about the only basketball jerseys they sold in the catalogs were Larry Bird or Magic Johnson. Anyway my first basketball jersey ended up being the 1992 USA basketball Michael Jordan. Next came the Charlotte Hornets teal Larry Johnson, followed by my Dominque Wilkins Atlanta Hawks, a Penny Hardaway Orlando Majic and a Grant Hill teal Detroit Pistons. A few years later I added my first of my now 8 Authentic Milwaukee Brewers jerseys and an authentic Mark Chmura Packers jersey. I now have 9 Packers jerseys and 3 Milwaukee Bucks, 1 Michigan State basketball, 2 Michigan Football, 1 Joe Mauer Twins home, 1 Justin Verlander Detroit Tigers Home, The old Jordan USA jerey and the tequila sunrise Astros. Oops almost forgot still have powder blue authentic Carmelo Anthony Denver Nuggets, Tracy McGrady Orlando Majic blue, and a Chad Johnson Cincinnati Bengals Black primary.
I am one who likes the eccentric unique uniforms. Since I did serve in the Marine Corps I love the camo jersey especially if it’s done the MARPAT. And I believe all the branches should have their day in the sun. Also I still love the throwbacks to the sand-knit era. 84 Padres, tequila sunrise Astros, Beach Towel SOX, powder blue Milwaukee script Brewers, the ball and glove logo, Powder blue and maroon Phillies, the Pinstripe Pirates and their colorful array of blacks and golds. Creamsicle Buccaneers, Multi colored green stripped Bucks, Anyway back to work it was fun.
I had a Curt Warner Seahawks jersey, too! Paid all of 25 bucks for it back in ’84.
QOTW:
It must have been the early 70s…I was at a Met game and got right up to the rail where a Met player was signing autographs. I saw his uniform up close…how the lettering was sewn on and so bright. For many years after, I wanted an authentic jersey, but of course they were not available at that time…had to settle for cheap replica jerseys or patches…I was obsessed with finding the same patch the Mets wore. Finally got a vintage 1970’s patch on ebay a few years ago.
The Uni gods have forsaken this Arizona/Oregon game.
I think the pink/silver/blacK Oregon was wearing was ten times worse than any stars and stripes special combo any other team has worn anywhere.
That’s pretty interesting about the snail mail you’re receiving for the stickers. What I’m more interested in is the variety of stamps you must be seeing on the envelopes. Any chance we can see some of that, too? Better yet…can you send me all the great stamps you’re likely getting?