Heads up, Midwesterners: I’ll be in Milwaukee on August 24th and will be pretty free from about 5pm on. I know there are at least a few Uni Watch readers in the Cream City (and plenty in Chicago, which isn’t too far away), so I think a gathering is in order. I’ll be setting up shop at the very wonderful Art Altenburg’s Concertina Bar at 7pm; we may adjourn later on to the equally wonderful Holler House, and/or to get some chow. In any case, I hope to make a full night of it, so I hope those of you in the area will stop in at some point.
Milwaukee native and Uni Watch enthusiast Nicole Haase (who runs the fine Cute Sports blog) has generously volunteered to be the local point person for this confab, so e-mail her if you have any questions about the logistics.
In addition, I’ll be in Memphis this week, from Wednesday evening through Saturday morning. Most of my time is already spoken for, but I might be able to squeeze in some quick Uni Watch meet-and-greet action (especially if it involves barbecue and/or fried chicken). If anyone’s interested, get in touch.
And I should be in Binghamton on August 16th or 17th — not sure yet which one it’ll be, but I’ll definitely be eating at Sharkey’s and attending a Binghamton Mets game. Again, feel free to be in touch if you want to hook up.
Meanwhile: The weekend provided a huuuuuuuge backlog of uni-related tidbits. So:
Uni Watch News Ticker: Several people have noted that Vince Young’s annoying new “VY” logo looks a bit like Tiger Woods’ logo and even more like the old Braves sleeve feather. But Marc Wermund notes that the best comparison is actually the logo for Ivy Tech Community College, whose lawyers should really be calling up Reebok right now. … The Astros will wear commemorative caps, as part of a NASA promotion, on August 14th. … Bizarre NFL trend taking shape in Arizona, as several players are tucking their gloves into their facemasks during practice (additional examples here and here). Someone slap some sense into these guys, pronto. (Thanks to Jeff Stephens for the tip.) … Javy Lopez was still wearing his black Orioles’ gear when he made his Red Sox debut on Friday. By Saturday he’d switched to red. … Speaking of the Orioles: They wore this cap on Friday — except for Julio Manon, who wore this cap. “Rookie mistake,” says sharp-eyed Scott Pluto. … Check out the socks Reuben Droughns wore during an intersquad scrimmage on Friday (with thanks to David Ballenger). … The Brewers wear this logo as a left-sleeve patch on their blue jerseys. But lately this logo — which normally appears on the team’s road grays — has been showing up on Derrick Turnbow’s blue jersey (which used to have the proper patch). … More news regarding Mike Pelfrey’s mouthguard: Turns out it’s not because he sticks out his tongue — John Thompson explains the real reason: “This past Tuesday, August 1st, Pelfrey made his last start before being demoted. Mets announcer Gary Cohen brought up the mouthguard again, and he said it’s because Pelfrey suffers from a joint disorder called TMJ, or temporomandibular joint disorder. One of the treatments is to wear a mouthguard to prevent the clicking or grinding of the teeth.” … Further evidence of the Cool Base jersey’s aesthetic deficiencies, especially with pinstriped uniforms: Compare these guys to this guy. … David Arnott reports that the single-A Bakersfield Blaze have orange underbrims (no photos yet). … CBS SportsLine’s Tony Mejia tried to muscle in on Uni Watch’s turf the other day. Someone tell this guy to stick to basic sports commentary and leave uniform critiques to the professionals. … Yet another armed forces tribute on Saturday, this time in Kansas City, where the Royals and Twins wore camouflage caps. … Major torn-pants action from Corey Patterson the other day. … You probably know that Ron Gardenhire is one of those managers who rarely if ever wear a jersey (a fraternity that also includes Buck Showalter, John Gibbons, and Terry Francona). But Gardenhire’s commitment to not wearing a jersey goes further, as Justin Barrientos explains: “Since the Twins are wearing a ’34’ sleeve patch to honor Kirby Puckett this season, Gardenhire has had a ’34’ put on his pullover. No other coach or player have the ’34’ on his pullover sleeve.” … I know there must be a good explanation for this, this, and this — I just don’t know what it is. Anyone..? … I’m not so sure there’s a good explanation for this, however. … They finally found someone who looks good in one of those awful blazers that the Pro Football Hall of Fame trots out for the induction ceremony each year: John Madden, who just looks like he’s wearing another network blazer in the broadcast booth. … Meanwhile, it was good to see that Al Davis, now approaching 173 years of age, still has his own ideas regarding appropriate attire at the ceremony. … Ray Lewis wore No. 1, instead of his usual 52, in Saturday’s scrimmage against the Redskins. … Speaking of the ‘Skins: Most teams have their QBs wear red jerseys during practices and scrimmages, as a reminder for the defenses not to hit them. But since the ‘Skins already have maroon jerseys as part of their wardrobe, their “do not touch” color for the QBs is yellow. … The Rams also use yellow, for reasons that are less clear. And the Bengals use orange. … Soccer note from Edward Winkle: “Boca Juniors, one of the most famous soccer teams in Argentina, just opened their season yesterday wearing their throwback-insprired uniforms that included argyle socks.” … Latest Far East observations from Jeremy Brahm: (1) In Japan, high school ballplayers have some huge underbrim inscriptions; and (2) the brimless catcher’s helmet lives!