Today in the Ticker: A baseball curse ends in Japan, a tire is a canvas for a farewell, and more.
Uni Watch News Ticker for Nov. 6, 2023
Posted in:
Baseball
MLB
- Rangers prospect Anthony Hoopii-Tuionetoa, currently pitching in the Arizona Fall League, has a doozy of an NOB. (From Steve Sher)
- In a 1982 broadcast, NBC didn’t even try to spell Red Sox DH Carl Yastrzemski’s last name. See, it wasn’t that hard! (From Ferdinand Cesarano)
More
- I don’t think we’ve mentioned that the winner of NPB’s Japan Series (or Nippon Series), which this year was the Hanshin Tigers, gets a big pennant immediately after they win to hang in their stadium. And yes, they already have a championship logo. (From Jeremy Brahm)
- Former Tigers outfielder Shintaro Yokota had to retire in 2018 after developing brain cancer and died earlier this year. Tigers players brought out his jersey for the championship celebrations. (From Jeremy Brahm)
- The last time the Tigers won the Japan Series in 1985, fans threw a statue of KFC’s Colonel Sanders into the Dōtonbori River in Osaka while celebrating their Central League pennant win, starting what ended up being called the Curse of the Colonel. Yesterday, a fan dressed as Colonel Sanders was thrown into the same river to symbolically end the curse. (From Jeremy Brahm and Trevor Williams)
Hockey
NHL
- “If you appreciate the aesthetics of trophies and championship rings, the items included in these Canadian sports-focused auction lots represent some serious eye candy,” says Kary Klismet.
More
- The QMJHL’s Halifax Mooseheads wore a dark purple/green/dark purple combo with green helmets for a Hockey Fights Cancer promotion. “Purple jerseys with forest green equipment would be a workable look for a hockey team if they ever wanted to consider it,” says Wade Heidt.
- The Junior A British Columbia Hockey League’s Victoria Grizzlies wore “military appreciation” jerseys on Saturday that did not have camo, but did have a poppy. (From Wade Heidt)
Basketball
NBA
- The lanes of the Heat’s new non-tournament City Edition court have some text that toots their own horn just a little bit. It was on the mockups posted here last week, but I’m not sure if anybody noticed. (From Jeremy Brahm)
College
- Fordham’s women’s team has new uniforms. (From @Starkman55)
- UNLV’s men’s team has a new court. (From Kary Klismet)
Soccer
USA
- Yesterday, a new Spokane club in USL’s League One, W League, and Super League — the last of which the USL intends to compete with the NWSL — revealed its women’s teams’ name as “Spokane Zephyr.” The future men’s League One team already has the name “Spokane Velocity.”
International
- England: Both men’s and women’s teams began wearing poppy patches for Remembrance Sunday this weekend. In a change from previous years, “2023” was written on the bottom part of the patch. A minority of teams add writing around the patch or occasionally wear a different patch, such as Wolverhampton Wanderers’ men’s team. Some women’s teams wore armbands instead, either plain black or with poppies on them.
- England: Last week, we mentioned that Liverpool striker Luis Díaz didn’t play because his parents had been kidnapped in Colombia, but his teammates incorporated his shirt into a goal celebration. This week, Díaz did play in Liverpool’s men’s game yesterday, scored a late equalizer, and lifted up his shirt to reveal an undershirt saying “Libertad para papa” in Spanish, as his mom has been freed but his dad hasn’t yet.
Auto Racing
- Saturday’s 8 Hours of Bahrain was the final race for the LMGTE Am class in the World Endurance Championship before it’s replaced by a new GT class next season. The eventual LMGTE Am class winner on Saturday, the all-woman Iron Dames team, had a bunch of people sign their car before the race as a farewell and also wrote goodbye messages on the last set of tires they used.
Cricket
- Australia’s Women’s Big Bash League is holding First Nations games, as they call them, this month from Nov. 5-24. Four of the eight teams have already revealed their shirts for the games. A men’s version will probably follow later in the southern summer.
Grab Bag
- Here’s a roundup of all the Australian Football League’s women’s Pride designs from this weekend that haven’t been featured in the Ticker yet.
- Australia’s Hockey One’s NSW Pride also held a Pride promotion — and no, that’s not where their name comes from — by wearing rainbow socks on Saturday.
- An interior decor/stationery company, the Southern Hospitality Co., has a guide for pluralizing last names on cards just in time for the holidays. In short, don’t be my relatives who have written “The Rathjen’s” on cards for years. (From Bryan Martin Firvida)
- The University of Tennessee has a new exhibit on the Smokey mascot in one of its libraries in Knoxville. More in this video. (From Kary Klismet)
- Here’s a guy who collects “Do Not Disturb” signs from hotels, showcasing their wide design variety. (From John Flory)
- Here’s a look at some of the more unusual outfits in yesterday’s New York City Marathon.
- Some think that the Wendy’s logo has a hidden “Mom” near the bottom, but the company swears it’s just a coincidence. (From Kary Klismet)
Comments (14)
those bridgeport islander jerseys have been around since last season
Yep. My bad on that. Discovered were introduced Feb. 2023. Bridgeport’s social media posts made it seem like it was something new and just being introduced.
Now removed from Ticker.
I wonder if “Yastrzemski” was too many characters for their graphics generator at that time. It looks like it would have stretched across the screen.
I doubt that there was any practical reason for the use of the short verson of Yastrzemski’s name. I think that they were just being familiar in order to show some endearment.
Yaz, who had not always been the nicest of guys (particularly in terms of his attitude towards the union and his hostility to Curt Flood), had by that time become a beloved elder statesman. At age 42 he was having a very good season; indeed, in that very game he legged out a double on a ball hit in front of the right fielder. He received effusive praise during the broadcast from the announcers, Bob Costas and Sal Bando.
So I think that it was a matter of the production team showing Yastrzemski a bit of reverence. It is similar to when Tom Seaver returned to the Mets in 1983, and the stadium announcer introduced him simply as “number 41”.
Hanshin Tigers went a whole 39 years between championships. That’s quite the curse.
This Cubs fan wants to know, what kind of a creampuff country is Japan? It took us 37 years to even come up with our curse.
One where there’s only 12 teams, so it’s more unlikely one team goes a long stretch without winning a championship.
Didn’t the old Minnesota Moose have a Forest Green/Purple color scheme before they moved to Winnipeg to become the Manitoba Moose?
Yes. Forest green trimmed with black and purple. Can’t think of a team that regularly wore purple jerseys/socks with forest green helmet/pants. Unless there is one out there?
Interestingly, the wording on the Hanshin pennant runs in the opposite direction from most pennants, where the text begins at the fly end of the pennant.
Wow that Heat court is annoying.
yeah, and as a lot of ppl have pointed out on social media, it’s a quote by Pat Riley that wasn’t even referencing the Heat.
Several years ago I found a Hanshin Tigers necktie at a thrift store. I bought it because hey, when was I ever going to see another one. I have no reason to ever wear a tie but it’s nice to have.
In the baseball celebration video there are some with jersey numbers in the 100’s. Any idea why? Could be all players get 2 digits where coaches/managers get 3 digits?