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[Editor’s note: Welcome back to the return of “Collector’s Corner” to Uni Watch. Although no longer run by Brinke Guthrie, it has been ably resurrected by Chris Weir. Chris approached me about restarting CC, vowing to uphold the old look and style, but with one new twist: he will make each edition timely with what is going on currently in the sports world (i.e. rivalry games, big events, anniversary of events). Enjoy and please give Chris some feedback about the new (old) feature. — PH]
by Chris Weir
The Final Four is set and we should be in for three great games with these four historically great teams.
• While Florida athletics has had a storied history of winning, their biggest impact on the world is Gatorade. Even with all the different types and flavors, my “go to” is still lemon lime or “yellow.” I remember drinking it out of a glass bottle back in the day. I would advise against drinking 30 Year Old Gatorade though.
• Florida’s orange and blue color scheme and gator logo is close to perfection. Not sure why they brought in the “F Logo” a few years back. The orange and blue look great on this Vintage Hat.
• With so many successful college coaches retiring it would be nice to see Billy Donovan back in the sport.
• Lon Kruger was a great coach and seems like a great guy, too. He took Florida to their first ever Final Four in 1994 and all of his practices were open to the public. Love this Lon Kruger autographed Toy Car.
• If I had a time machine I’d go back to 2011 and convince Maryland to hire Kelvin Sampson after Gary Williams retired. It would have saved us a lot of headaches and first weekend exits. Houston couldn’t have made a better hire and I hope he cuts down the nets Monday night. $350 for his Bobblehead seems a bit excessive though.
• In 1968 UCLA and Houston played the “Game of the Century” at the Astrodome in front of 52,000 people in what was the first nationally televised regular season game ever. Houston won that day ending UCLA’s 47 game winning streak but the Bruins would beat the Cougars later that season in the Final Four.
• I’m sure all Houston fans of a certain age own something from the PHI SLAMA JAMA era and, if they don’t, they can buy this Hat.
• This PHI SLAMA JAMA Shirt features the Tasmanian Devil. I’m not sure if they still make Looney Tunes cartoons but there was a point in time in which you could buy gear from any team or school with any Looney Tunes characters on it.
• Really interesting Auburn player Cut Out from what appears to be from 1949-1950. I can’t tell if someone cut it out of a book or magazine or if they were produced by the school.
• Love the dual Auburn football and basketball Matchbook and War Eagle Lighter. Just keep them away from Toomer’s Oaks.
• I’ve never seen a Hat like that one before.
• You can’t look at this Jacket and not instantly think of Charles Barkley or Bo Jackson.
• Who is the greatest Duke player of all time? Clearly it’s Lefty Driesell.
• I know there is a new college football video game, but will there be a new college basketball video game coming out? Until then you can play Coach K College Basketball for Sega Genesis. You weren’t a successful coach in the ’80s or ’90s unless you had your own video game.
• I got to see Coach K’s last game in 2022, but since I was sitting in the club level I didn’t get one of these awesome Tickets.
The misaligned “U” & “B” on the Auburn jacket reminds me that the skills to successfully pull off vertically-arched lettering are elusive!
Nice to see my UH Coogs represented. I attended the Game of the Century and have quite a few pieces from that game…tickets, signed programs, newspapers. And good luck to the person selling that Kelvin Sampson bobblehead for that much. I have quite a few in my closet.
Wow, what a great collection you made then and still have. I wasn’t yet a year old when that game was played, but my oldest brother talked about watching it.
And for your sake, and for all the other UofH lifers, I hope that you finally get to see the Cougs and Kelvin Sampson cut down the nets Monday night. It’s definitely long overdue.
There is a Looney Tunes movie out in theatres actually – The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. Heard good things about it, but personally haven’t seen it.
And the movie Wil E Coyote v Acme movie next year (him suing Acme for defective gear).
Remove the word Auburn from the jacket and add an old English “D” and you have the Detroit Tigers Starter Jacket from the same period. I have one and it still fits, but barely.
Still have my St Louis Cards baseball Starter jacket from 1980’s. Haven’t worn it in years.
Passed my Yankees and Bills to my daughter. She got a kick wearing them in high school well over a decade ago.
“This PHI SLAMA JAMA Shirt features the Tasmanian Devil”
He was on everything in the 90s. Surprised to see him on an early-80s article of clothing.
The loss of physical paper tickets saddens me in ways I can’t fully express. Passport stamps too.