September already? In today’s Ticker we have a Premier League team’s jersey featured in an unexpected match, new unis for one of college hockey’s premier programs, and more!
Uni Watch News Ticker for Sept. 1, 2023
Posted in:
Baseball
MLB
- Some old Washington Senators baseball bats were found during a home purchase. Considering they’re branded as “compliments of the Washington Senators,” these were probably given to fans or sponsors. (From Bryan Martin Firvida)
- Interesting article on how walk-off victory celebrations used to focus on the player who scored the winning run but now focus on the player who had the game-winning hit.
Minors
- The Portland Sea Dogs, Double-A affiliates of the Red Sox, threw it back to the 1990s and their era as the Marlins’ affiliates last night.
Football
NFL
- The Commanders’ new ownership group is not going back to the team’s pre-2020 name. (From multiple readers)
- Reader Javier Bañuelos noticed that the NFL’s new ASL T-shirt campaign seems to incorrectly use the “I love you” sign. For example, the T-shirts can be read as “I ‘I love you’ Bills”. “Maybe someone who is fluent in ASL can help clarify,” asks Javier.
- The Eagles have announced new jersey number assignments. (From Sam McKinley)
- The Giants have announced their uniform schedule. (Thanks, Phil)
College
- Certain Virginia players will wear memorial patches for Lavel Davis Jr., Devin Chandler and D’Sean Perry, the three Cavaliers killed during a shooting last November. The patches are not assigned to every player. Instead, players who wear Nos. 1, 15, or 41 get the corresponding patch for the victim who wore that number. (Thanks, Phil)
- During last night’s Florida/Utah game, on a Utah 4th-and-3 punt, Florida accidentally sent out two players wearing No. 3. This is a five-yard penalty, and gave the Utes a fresh set of downs. (From Matt Rashford)
- Texas A&M will honor longtime DL coach Terry Price with “TP” at the 25-yard line this season. Price, who died in June, was 55 and spent 25 years with the Aggies. (Thanks, Phil)
- A group of Oklahoma state legislators were given custom Sooners jerseys corresponding with their district numbers. (From Alex M. Shirley)
- Minnesota is adding a memorial decal for Bud Grant. (Thanks, Phil)
- Here are this week’s uni combos for Ole Miss, Eastern Kentucky, West Virginia, and Arizona State. (Thanks to all who shared)
- Keiser, a small NAIA school, has added school name to their helmet. They previous had just the logo, not the name. (From a reader who didn’t give their name)
Hockey
NHL
- The Wild will be retaining their green and gold Reverse Retro uniform as an alternate for this season. (Thanks, Phil)
- Here’s a very cool time-lapse video showing the installation of the new scoreboard at the Penguins’ arena. (From Doug Keklak)
Minors/Juniors
- The Baton Rouge Zydeco, the newest team in the Federal Prospects Hockey League, have unveiled their inaugural sweaters. (From Joel Manuel)
Basketball
College
- Penn State men will add NOBs to their unis this year. (Thanks, Phil)
Soccer
USA
- BYU men have some new kits.
International
- During a 1998 friendly match between Vietnam and Iraq, the Iraqi keeper wore a Wolverhampton Wanderers jersey. And not a Wolves keeper’s jersey, either — a standard outfielder’s jersey. (From Stuart Davis)
Grab Bag
- The Welsh team in the UK’s Netball Super League, formerly known as Celtic Dragons, changed its name to “Cardiff Dragons.” It has pretty much the same logo, which is only a year or so old. (From our own Jamie Rathjen)
- The USMC’s camouflage shortage likely won’t be resolved until 2024. (From Tom Turner)
Comments (42)
The link for the Wild’s Reverse Retro jersey goes to the Virginia football story.
Fixed. Here’s the proper link so you don’t have to scroll back up:
link
The Commanders’ new ownership group is not going back to the team’s pre-2020 name.
So is Washington Football Team still on the table?
Actually, I’ve grown to like Commanders, and it didn’t take me very long. I know some people want to change it because Dan Snyder signed off on the name, but are you also going to release every player signed during his time there? Of course not.
Washington is home to the Commander in Chief, so the name makes sense. And be very cautious about going down another focus group rabbit hole. You may end up with a far worse name in an effort to please everyone and change for the sake of change.
I haven’t detected any enthusiasm for the Commanders name, but I am seeing more oragami W gear out and about in the last six months. Small sample size, but I feel like I saw a lot more new branding on the kids in the neighborhood than the old.
The W has grown on me, though the uniforms are terrible. Keep the W, bring back the ketchup n’ mustard and classic white over burgundy looks.
The old name and Dan Snyder were really holding back the fanbase. I think the under 40 crowd just wasn’t having it. It seems the older crowd, who remember the Super Bowls, are having more trouble moving on.
I’m 40+16 and I moved on pretty quickly. The others will in time.
Here’s what I wonder: The DC area has a lot of Cowboys fans whose families adopted the Washington team’s rivals as their rooting interest a generation or two ago because of the team’s old, staunchly white supremacist ownership and the overtly racist tinge of fan culture at the time. Nothing to do with the old name, but traditional American anti-Black racism. So with the new name and post-Snyder ownership, will the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of these Cowboys-in-protest fans adopt the Commanders as their team? That seems to me to be the big untapped local fan base. White guys who loved themselves some redface fan culture under the old name were never going to drop the team on account of the new name; all that drama has been obviously performative. But converting locals with family roots with the Cowboys (and maybe Steelers, but that seems a tougher sell) is where there’s real opportunity for growth.
It’s useful to note the “staunchly white supremacist ownership and the overtly racist tinge” was three owners before Snyder. He was George Preston Marshall, whose ownership of the team ended in the early ‘60s.
Would I be surprised (and pleased!) if the Commies went back to the WFT branding/look? Yes.
Would I be surprised if they wait to re-brand until they move into a new NoVa stadium? Also, Yes.
Do I like people who answer their own questions? No.
Given that George Washington actually lived in Northern Virginia, finally moving the team there (where all the money is) would be a logical time to strengthen its connections to the 1st president. “Commanders” isn’t useless here, since he was Commander of the Continental Army before he was Commander-in-Chief. But it would have to be visually reinforced, getting away from whatever faux-modern-military vibe they’ve been grasping at. There’s no obvious connection between Washington’s colors and President Washington, but we all love the burgundy, so there’s no place to go but the graphic presentation.
Or you could change the name again to something that suggests him more strongly.
Other than Buccaneers I don’t think there is another 3 syllable team name in the NFL. It just doesn’t have any ring to it all.
Patriots?
Cardinals?
Forty Niners?
Commanders?
He’s referring to the Commanders. Saying they’re the only team besides the Buccaneers with a three syllable name.
Some say Card-nals, others Card-in-alls, and there’s those refer to Tampa Bay NFL the Bucca-Neers.
I sometimes shop at the Ack-a-Mee ; )
I live in South Central PA, home of the AHL’s Hershey Bears. One of the most annoying things going to Bears games is for YEARS, they’ve somehow managed to take the chant that should be:
“Let’s Go Hershey” and made it Let’s Go BEA-RS” The crowd has made BEARS a two syllable word when Hershey already is and would fit perfect.
Rant over but something that drives me bonkers. Not sure why I let it bother me so much.
Lol, maybe that’s why NO fans don’t do that,(“let’s go Sai-aints”, we just go wit’da “WHO DAT!”
Not a fan of the team but I grew up in the DMV sand I’ve long thought the new team name should be two syllables to fit in with the teams right song. I know lots of people think NFL songs are goofy, but the fan base there loves to belt it out. Update the lyrics with a two syllable team name and let the fans have that connection to their team history.
Also agree with the post about bringing the uniforms back to the look with the old name. Those uniform styles weren’t racist, so go back to the future and maintain the connection with the past.
So excited that college football is back. Let me get my one gripe out of the way though. I HATE uniform combo videos. I don’t want to waste 2 minutes watching some stupid hype video that never even shows you a clear look at the uniform. Please schools, just give us a still shot of a player wearing the uniform head to toe so we know what to expect.
Yes! I don’t even bother to clink the links to preview the weekend wear anymore. The videos are so unnecessarily dramatic.
Same here!
So true!!! I hate those videos with a passion.
“The Giants have announced their uniform schedule.”
Week 2 @ Cardinals is going to be a whole lotta red!
I can confirm the Senators bat giveaway. I have one in my garage from when I was a kid.
And the found bats are labeled “Approved Little League”, so definitely not gamers.
NY Giants should ditch the legacy helmets, go full time with the Color Rush Helmet
then ditch the current home and road uniforms for the Legacy jerseys at home and Color Rush on the road
Then add a white helmet as an alternate
What a much better look that would be full time
I’m 100% in agreement that the road kits should use the CR jersey and pants, but NO WAY to “GIANTS” on the hats. Lower-case ny is their best look. As far as homes go, what they currently wear now is awesome and should stay that way.
No alternates, no throwbacks (well, maybe one throwback a season).
Done and done.
GIANTS or nj.
Better yet, no logo at all!
For the 10,000th time…you can make an argument for ER (or er) on the hat, but NEVER NJ. Ever.
To me, the “ny” and the old uniform is a romantic nod to the time when the NFL grew up. That was the end of the 1950s – though the logo appeared first in 1961. The Giants of those days weren’t as dominant as the “GIANTS” helmet teams – winning just one championship game in a 10-team league and then losing a whole lotta them must have been painful. But in the historical sense, the Giants were the face of the league to the TV networks. And it was TV that made the NFL grow up. So long before throwbacks became an NFL thing, I was hoping the “ny” would come back. And it did, and they got a couple more championship wins in a much tougher league.
And a good monogram will always appeal to me more than a name spelled out in block italics.
To me, the “ny” and the old uniform is a romantic nod to the time when the NFL grew up. That was the end of the 1950s – though the logo appeared first in 1961. The Giants of those days weren’t as dominant as the “GIANTS” helmet teams – winning just one championship game in a 10-team league and then losing a whole lotta them must have been painful. But in the historical sense, the Giants were the face of the league to the TV networks. And it was TV that made the NFL grow up. So long before throwbacks became an NFL thing, I was hoping the “ny” would come back. And it did, and they got a couple more championship wins in a much tougher league.
And a good monogram will always appeal to me more than a name spelled out in block italics.
Boy that football player for Keiser looks really familiar?
Can’t say he does … but the jersey is darn close (but better!) to what the Tennessee Titans wear on occasion.
Plus the gradient helmet looks surprisingly good.
I was joking Chris, that is my nephew who is a QB for Keiser, I took that photo of him last night at the game and sent Phil the pics of their new helmet. For some reason in the ticker it didn’t say it came from me?
That uni works with the gradient hat (though I don’t like gradients in general). Much better than the dark mono blues they sometimes pair with it.
link
417 helmets did a great concept helmet that was light blue that would have looked great with these uniforms. They really need an alternate helmet to go with some of the other uniform combinations. I don’t think there are too many small schools like them that have three sets of jerseys, but they need that alternate helmet!
Ownership didn’t say anything about the WFT name. The team president (who’s probably gone after this season) did. #HTTR
Redskins fans don’t need the name officially changed back to refer to their team as the Redskins. They can still do so, and folks around here in the DMV will always know who they’re talking about. -C.
I understand the sensitivity of not wanting to mention the Commanders old name in the article, but it would be nice to clarify what “old name” they aren’t going back to. I’m assuming they mean the Native American associated one, but it could also be the “Washington Football Team”. I like the “Pigskins”, and be the “Skins” again.
Love the NYTimes piece by David Waldstein on walk-off celebrations. I’ve long thought that runs scored as a personal stat weren’t given the value they deserve, and this seems like another symptom of that.
So, the 49ers posted their uniform schedule – link – and there’s a slight problem. They have the October 15th game at the Browns as a “standard white” game… but the Browns revealed back in July – about *6 weeks ago* – that this Week 6 game against the Niners is one of their white throwback games.
Whoopsadoodle! Somebody in SF screwed up with the uni schedule.
Go to any Indian Reservation in the U.S. and Washington gear was everywhere. Hard for me to believe anyone thought the nickname was a slur. There are also several Indian Reservation high schools who use the nickname today. If it’s a slur, Native Americans disagree.
Anyway, why would you name your team a slur?