It must have been in 1988 or ’89, right around sixth or seventh grade, when I had the revelation. I have to believe it was the result of seeing it on TV, or noticing it on a baseball card. Whatever it was, I realized that back yard Wiffleball games would be so much cooler if I wore a batting helmet — complete with the MLB logo on the back — while I hit.
The batting helmet thing followed years of trying to find a fitted Cubs hat without actually going to Chicago. Really, up until the mid-1990s, getting a pro-style, authentic hat was pretty much impossible, especially if you lived in the middle of rural Iowa. Here are just two of the lids I found in my closet. I’m fairly certain I had at least four or five more. I think it was 1996 before I finally got an authentic Cubs 5950.
But back to the helmet … My friends showed up the next day with whatever cheap replica batting helmet was laying around the house (mostly Cubs, Cardinals, and Twins), but I upped the ante. The night before, I dug out some baseball card wrappers I had hanging around and started looking for the perfect MLB logo. Turns out 1988 Donruss had a decent-sized, full-color logo on the wrapper. After some careful snipping and a bit of clear packing tape, I was done … for a minute or so.
Then I got out my dad’s label maker and punched out my name. And then I got a Sharpie and added the old ABC helmet logo. Now I was done.
I ended up doing a few more helmets, and even adding a flap to the original, before the summer was out. “Why did you do that?” my parents asked. Hey, if I’m going to daydream, I want it to be legit.
The helmet above is a recreation I did yesterday at my parents’ house. I headed out to the garage with my dad in hopes of finding the originals, but it was clear early on they were gone. We found a few others, though. And, of course, there’s still a pile of baseball card wrappers — neatly pressed, actually — in my old closet. The packing tape and scissors were in the same drawers as always. Couldn’t find the label maker, though.
No, the logo isn’t quite right, but it’s the spirit of trying to get the details right that led me to Uni Watch back in the Page 2-only days. And, like most of you, I followed readily when Paul promised daily (!) content here.
Thank you for joining me on weekends — and few weekdays here and there — here at Uni Watch. I’ve had a lot of fun, of course, and I’m proud to have been a part of this community. I won’t be totally gone from Uni Watch — I’m working on the giant list of mascot names, which is far more giant than I anticipated — and I’ll have little tidbits here and there.
But the weekends? That’s Phil’s turf now, and I’ll happily cede the floor. — Bryan
I’m sorry to hear that Bryan. We’ll all miss you.
[quote]But the weekends? That’s Phil’s turf now, and I’ll happily cede the floor.
– Bryan[/quote]
first: THANK YOU for everything you’ve done for UW so far, sir…what you have done (and will continue to do) is a labor of love, and all your contributions have been awesome and above and beyond the call of duty!
second: great way to end your run as bench coach(with this post, that is)…uni watching is, at least to me, a healthy obsession, and it’s always nice to know how we all begun ours…next weekend, i’ll tell how mine began (and have to re-learn how to use proper capitalization, punctuation, grammar, diction, spelling, etc.)
…
so, thanks again for opening the store promptly at 7 am every weekend, for everything else you do behind the scenes (and that prolly very few on here realize), for all those weekdays you pinch-hit for paul so he didn’t have to put up the “gone fishin'” sign, and for some really great (link) and all time classic (link) posts!
(see you next sattiday)
Good work, Bryan.
We’ll miss you Bryan….I have really enjoyed your work here!
Now for a business related question. Paul mentioned recently were you could get NFL team socks. (I’m hoping he meant what the teams wear on-field). Anyway, I got distracted and forgot about it until this morning. Does anyone know where online I can purchase NFL team socks?
Thanks!
It won’t quite be the same without you Bryan. Good luck in the future.
Your tale reminds me of the time when I was around the same age, and I tried to make a replica Dr. J Nets jersey out of a plain white vest and some fabric paint. I think it’s still up in the attic somewhere, half-finished…
[quote comment=”298985″]We’ll miss you Bryan….I have really enjoyed your work here!
Now for a business related question. Paul mentioned recently were you could get NFL team socks. (I’m hoping he meant what the teams wear on-field). Anyway, I got distracted and forgot about it until this morning. Does anyone know where online I can purchase NFL team socks?
Thanks![/quote]
Eastbay used to carry some of them.
Good job, Bryan.
And thanks so much for keeping the weekends alive and lively.
—Ricko
Ever seen Lou Gehrig as a B-Western cowboy? Got the horse with fancy saddle and everything. He’s the second lead to very minor singing cowoby named Smith Ballew in a film called RAWHIDE.
Watching it on dvd.
link
Scroll about 3/4 of the way down…
link
[quote comment=”298988″]Ever seen Lou Gehrig as a B-Western cowboy? Got the horse with fancy saddle and everything. He’s the second lead to very minor singing cowoby named Smith Ballew in a film called RAWHIDE.
Watching it on dvd.
link
Scroll about 3/4 of the way down…
link
There’s a clip from it, too, if you scroll down far enough.
Thanks Brian. I could never believe the amount of grief you got. All you were doing was trying to keep things fun.
Oh, and I am going to try again to link properly to the Arsenal poppy picture.
link
Thanks to the person who tried to do so yesterday.
Specific thanks to Jarred and Macca P. for Arsenal linkage.
I was taken on a 125 mile trip to look at some old furniture. Ah, the joys of marriage.
Thanks for the ride down memory lane Bryan.
Good Luck wherever it is you go.
“… but it’s the spirit of trying to get the details right that led me to Uni Watch back in the Page 2-only days. ”
Hell… that’s the same spirit that lead me to UW back in the Village Voice days!
Godspeed, Bryan. This cruel world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.
Not much of a hockey fan at all tho we do have one of the best teams in the NHL (or so I am told) in the area. I came across this for what it’s worth;
(PDF file, requires reader to display)
link
Did anyone else notice the helmet decals (a la buckeyes) on the Miami Xtreme Youth Football players from yesterday? I wonder if they are given out by coaches for good plays or if anyone can get as many as they want. I sincerely hope it is the former. Stop the wussy-fication of America.
I also found it somewhat interesting that unlike the NCAA merit decals, which generally seem to have a discernible order, the players in the youth football league have free rein. I wonder if it wouldn’t be more interesting to do it this way in college.
I have always despised the MLB logo on the back of the cap. The first thing I did when I bought a cap with the glued on sticker (back before it was an embroidered logo) was to yank the sticker off. I just liked the simplicity of the seam coming all the way down, uninterrupted, on the pre-1990s caps. It’s what separated the major league wool caps from the cheapo adjustable caps in my mind.
Enjoy your semi-retirement, Bryan. I picture you riding off into the sunset wearing your U.S. Postal team jersey.
[quote comment=”298994″]Not much of a hockey fan at all tho we do have one of the best teams in the NHL (or so I am told) in the area. I came across this for what it’s worth;
(PDF file, requires reader to display)
link
I think we’ve talked about this before, but you gotta love the audacity of asking fans to pay $250 for a jersey they’ve never seen. On the other hand, you gotta give props to a fan who is so dedicated to wearing what the team wears that she or he would actually plunk down that $250.
Bryan, thank you for all of your contributions!
Texans wearing all white at home today. Seems they call it “Liberty White”
link
Bryan,
I had a similar experience but with football helmets and the experience was extended to viewing games in my living room as well as playing two hand touch in the backyards and streets.
Thanks for all your interesting articles here at uniwatch and best of luck to you in the future.
an actually really nice alternate uniform in the world of disgusting alts (i.e. oregon):
link
for some reason it just works, i wonder if wake will wear ’em again this year
Ah, this post takes me back to my first attempt at a homemade sports replica when I was six years old. I took one of my dad’s white t-shirts and made myself a Bobby Murcer Cubs “jersey” with a blue permanent marker.
Dad was none too pleased with me ruining his shirt, especially since I completely botched the 7 by putting a serif on it. I remember the conversation/lecture being something along the lines of
Dad:”If you’re going to ruin my shirt, at least put the right number on it. What is that, a 1?”
Me: “No, it’s a 7!”
Dad: “What’s that thing at the bottom? That doesn’t look like a 7. It’s a 1.”
Me: “Don’t the 7’s have lines at the bottom?”
Dad: “Not the Cubs.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Great post today, Bryan. Good luck and I look forward to your mascot project.
[quote comment=”298983″][quote]But the weekends? That’s Phil’s turf now, and I’ll happily cede the floor.
– Bryan[/quote]
first: THANK YOU for everything you’ve done for UW so far, sir…what you have done (and will continue to do) is a labor of love, and all your contributions have been awesome and above and beyond the call of duty!
second: great way to end your run as bench coach(with this post, that is)…uni watching is, at least to me, a healthy obsession, and it’s always nice to know how we all begun ours…next weekend, i’ll tell how mine began (and have to re-learn how to use proper capitalization, punctuation, grammar, diction, spelling, etc.)
…
so, thanks again for opening the store promptly at 7 am every weekend, for everything else you do behind the scenes (and that prolly very few on here realize), for all those weekdays you pinch-hit for paul so he didn’t have to put up the “gone fishin'” sign, and for some really great (link) and all time classic (link) posts!
(see you next sattiday)[/quote]
Interesting. The tan boxes are retroactive for Phil’s posts.
Godspeed Bryan, you’ve represented the Hawkeye State well.
We’ll miss you Bryan! But welcome, Phil!
You decking out your helmet reminds me of two great wiffleball memories of my own. I had a St. Louis Cardinals helmet because my idol was Vince Coleman (it was ’85 or ’86, and finding someone named Vince was rare for me) Every time I ran the bases, I would flip the helmet off so all could see how “incredibly fast I was running”–haha I’m the slowest kid in the neighborhood.
My brother, who’s just as detail obsessed as everyone on here but isn’t a regular, always wanted an Easton BlackMagic bat for himself, but we couldn’t afford one. So he used a sharpie to turn the long, thin yellow wiffleball bat into a black magic. He even added electrical tape for the handle and all trademarks and every detail.
we even built the “wiffledome” which was just a vacant lot at the end of block. we cleared it off and spray painted batters boxes and basepath/foul lines. there was ample seating on old oil pipes for the two five-man teams.
maybe we should have a day where we all put our favorite uni-memory on here…
Ding dong, the Witch is dead…Congrats again, Phil… and Bryan, for as much shit as you catch, you never really did much to deserve it. The cryblack post was hilarious, and you moderating the weekends made it so that we could have an active conversation about college and pro football as everything was going down… thank you.
Thanks for your contributions, Bryan. Good luck.
Hey guys,
The MAC has added conference patches to all member school’s hoops jerseys
look at the 7th pic in the gallery
link
[quote comment=”298982″]I’m sorry to hear that Bryan. We’ll all miss you.[/quote]
Well maybe not ALL. Like those ninnies who got all bent out of shape when Bryan poked fun at a high school player. They sure aren’t going to miss Bryan.
[quote comment=”298982″]Godspeed Bryan, you’ve represented the Hawkeye State well. [/quote]
Is it just me, or are all the “good luck” and “Godspeed” message a tad bit melodramatic? Bryan isn’t GOING anywhere. He’ll wake up tomorrow morning and he’ll still be living in the same spot he was living in today. He’ll brew that same pot of coffee. He’ll sit down to work at the same desk he sat down to work at all this time. And by his own admission, he “won’t totally be gone from UniWatch”.
I know I’ll certainly miss his weekend posts, but the last time I wished someone “good luck and Godspeed”, he was being deployed overseas and leaving a scared wife and newborn baby behind. Sort of puts everything in perspective when you think about it.
Hi
I bought my first fitted cap in 1988 at the Baseball Hall of Fame gift shop. It was a replica 1950’s Oriles cap, made by Roman Pro. Roman made really nice caps, using wool superior to that made by New Era. I expanded my collection, buying minor leage fitted caps. Minor league teams were the first to have a web presence for online purchases. Thanks for the story about your caps.
Rams wearing navy blue pants today. Have they worn their gold pants at all this season?
Bryan,
Thanks for making your contributions. You have made the weekends most enjoyable. Good luck in your future endeavors.
LI Phil….time to get busy!!!
Bryan,
Thanks for making your contributions. You have made the weekends most enjoyable. Good luck in your future endeavors.
LI Phil….time to link!!!
Lions in their flashbacks today — plain silver and Honolulu blue without logs or stripes. Always most reminiscent of an underfunded inner city high school or a mock team of non-athletes costumed for TV commercial.
On the upside, lame duck HC Marinelli wearing a flashback logo ballcap with the horizontally elongated lion infront of the silver & blue vertical bar. I believe this logo was found on the Sears sheets once slept on by so many of us.
link.
[quote]maybe we should have a day where we all put our favorite uni-memory on here…[/quote]
that day is nigh
/stay tuned
Sorry about that.
link
Phil, promise me that you will continue Bryan’s rampage against stupid kids in clown makeup!?!?!
Just stopping in quickly…
Bryan, solid work as always. You’ve earned your spot in the Uni Watch Hall-of-Fame tenfold. Thanks for your phenomenal work, and I look forward to any “guest” pieces you may do.
Phil, looking forward to the carnage that you bring. By the way, should I invest in Dell with the number of keyboards and monitors you owe me? ;o)
[quote comment=”299018″]Lions in their flashbacks today — plain silver and Honolulu blue without logs or stripes. Always most reminiscent of an underfunded inner city high school or a mock team of non-athletes costumed for TV commercial.[/quote]
link
[quote comment=”299024″]Phil, promise me that you will continue Bryan’s rampage against stupid kids in clown makeup!?!?![/quote]
i make no promises, but i will only post pictures of link in clown makeup…fair?
[quote]Phil, looking forward to the carnage that you bring. By the way, should I invest in Dell with the number of keyboards and monitors you owe me? ;o)[/quote]
link…and i highly recommend one
Auburn wearing link at home is weird enough, but seeing an link “Auburn Jr.” was also fairly link.
Hey all,
Thanks for the kind words. It’s much appreciated.
Some odd tidbits I picked up from this weekend college action
Trent Guy of Louisville was wearing a ridell revolution helmet but a non-revolution facemask
After suffering a concussion in the previous week against Notre Dame, Bill Stull switched from a schutt helmet to the ridell revolution speed.
Wake breaks out a gold uniform and UNC breaks out a navy blue alternate. It’ll be interesting to see i the UNC hoopsters do the same.
Oregon had a nice combo, Green Helmets, Black Jersey, and Yellow Pants
Bills wearing all white
Lions wearing throwbacks
Texans in solid white
Nothing new to add here, but do want to add my voice to the chorus of appreciation for Bryan’s UniWeekend efforts & dedication. As one of my favorite high school coaches used to say regarding the seemingly disproportionate amounts of criticism some folks received, “Remember: They only try to tackle the one who’s carrying the ball.”
You carried the ball well, Bryan. Looking forward to your continued contributions to the site, & hope you enjoy sleeping late next weekend :-)
Too bad the Ravens aren’t wearing their link. NFL could bill the game as Liberty White vs. Fascism Black. The Texans ought to call that Virginal White. Still haven’t popped that postseason cherry.
Great job Bryan! Thanks for your time. Looking forward to whenever your next post is.
[quote comment=”299029″]Hey all,
Thanks for the kind words. It’s much appreciated.[/quote]
Great finale, Bryan. To dovetail Bryan’s helmet and JTH’s Murcer story, it warmed my heart to see link at the World Series last month! Nice to see kids STILL have imagination and just don’t walk to the team store to get a “jersey”.
Also, I enjoyed the Lou Gehrig film. It’s funny, I so closely associate the majestic Gary Cooper character with Lou, I forget that he was just a boy from NYC with the accent to boot. Nice footage of GCS, too.
[quote comment=”299026″][quote comment=”299018″]Lions in their flashbacks today — plain silver and Honolulu blue without logs or stripes. Always most reminiscent of an underfunded inner city high school or a mock team of non-athletes costumed for TV commercial.[/quote]
link[/quote]
I’m one who would. Lions at least look great today, even if they aren’t playing so well.
[quote comment=”299030″]Bills wearing all white
Lions wearing throwbacks
Texans in solid white[/quote]
Don’t the Bills always wear all white when the opponent is wearing a dark jersey? I don’t think the Bills typically wear blue pants with the white jersey.
Here’s one straight out of yesterday’s post…
Jevon Kearse just put a piece of tape link.
Get it? The Titans are 9-0.
Jevon Kearse with a creative, uni-bound tribute to the Titans’ quick start this season. Seen at the end of the Titans/Bears game.
Jevon Kearse with a creative, uni-bound tribute to the Titans\’ quick start this season. Seen at the end of the Titans/Bears game.
Link
[quote comment=”299033″]Great job Bryan! Thanks for your time. Looking forward to whenever your next post is.[/quote]
Second that.
Thanks for a great job, Bryan. And good luck, Phil. Maybe you’ll now have some more influence in eliminating the black from the Mets’ unis.
Bryan, I haven’t been here long but I always enjoyed your weekend entries. They were short and sweet and sometimes included soccer, which I really appreciate. Those entries always seemed to fit perfectly with a slowed-down weekend routine.
Your entry today reminded me of the time I got an Atlanta Braves replica batting helmet at Six Flags, but I was extremely annoyed that it was all Navy. I promptly dug out my model airplane paint and filled in the brim with candy apple red. I was ten or eleven at the time.
Great job Bryan! Good luck.
Bryan’s last picture should have been himself crying, preferably wearing eyeblack running down his face. :>
Geeze. Talk about saving your best work for last! Well done piece today Bryan. A perfect ‘cherry on top’ for the funny, tongue-in-cheek, and thoughtful work you’ve done on the weekends and filling in for Paul.
Thanks for adding the phrase “Clowns suck at football” to my lexicon.
Bryan,
I knew just how you felt… In the late 80’s/early 90’s i spent 3 years looking for an authentic fitted California Angels hat in mid michigan. I finally found one in a mall in some detroit suburb.
[quote comment=”299028″]Auburn wearing link at home is weird enough, but seeing an link “Auburn Jr.” was also fairly link.[/quote]
it is strange indeed…and a good opportunity to see what auburn would look like in orange jerseys…although, i’m sure auburn would keep the same stripe patterns they have on the other jerseys, and have no awful drop shadows on the numbers.
Bye Bryan, it was fun. A lot of people gave you a hard time, but I think you did a great job of manning the ship on the weekends. Hope everything works out for you!
Thanks for the fine work, Bryan.
I believe Oregon will finally break out their new uniforms next week.
[quote comment=”299026″]
link[/quote]
even more would, but it’s the Lions.
[quote comment=”299050″]I believe Oregon will finally break out their new uniforms next week.[/quote]
its their last home game of the season
[quote comment=”299050″]I believe Oregon will finally break out their new uniforms next week.[/quote]
Good. I have tickets.
Something’s different about the Giants jerseys, and I can’t put my finger on it. Is it a different kind of mesh? Plus, some of the nameplates look smaller/more condensed (look at Aaron Ross’ versus Kareem McKenzie’s- Ross’ looks like it’s a smaller font). This will drive me nuts all night. Hopefully Paul has something tomorrow morning.
Looking more closely, Brandon Jacobs’ nameplate looks significantly smaller than normal. Maybe they have a different cut or different material structure for the skill position jerseys, minus the QB jerseys.
My story goes back to about the time I was in 6th grade, I had acquired an Indians souvenir helmet at the Cleveland sports and outdoors show, some guy had been tired of carrying it around and saw my dad with his young son (this was earier) and gladly gave up the headgear. At the time I didn’t know people actually got paid to hit a little white ball around with a stick, although I have this early memory of absconding with a newspaper when I was 3 or 4 years old and reading “Indians lose 100th,” little did I know that a few short years later not only would I be following baseball, but the headlines would replace the word “lose” with “win”
Anyhow, that helmet kicked around for years, we moved in that span of time, and I had stuck a number on the back of it, #37, which happened to belong to 5th starter Chad Ogea in 1995, and I had fashioned myself an earflap out of the styrofoam lid off an egg carton, and attached it to the helmet using one of those clippy things people use to attach ID badges to their shirts.
After throwing the helmet around, basically having it ending up not unlike that which a certain Mr. Ramirez famously sports, I started putting bits of duct tape on it, and eventually it became my world-famous duct-tape helmet, and over the years it has sported various logos of my own design on it for various reasons.
After realizing I’ve typed three whole paragraphs here, I just noticed that it drifted wholly off-topic, but on the off chance anybody happens to know the crazy guy with the duct tape helmet, give a shout.
[quote comment=”299054″]Something’s different about the Giants jerseys, and I can’t put my finger on it. Is it a different kind of mesh? Plus, some of the nameplates look smaller/more condensed (look at Aaron Ross’ versus Kareem McKenzie’s- Ross’ looks like it’s a smaller font). This will drive me nuts all night. Hopefully Paul has something tomorrow morning.[/quote]
They appear to not have the rounded nameplates.
Kenny Phillips has… well, not really… I was going to say that he has messed up sleeves, but he doesn’t even have sleeves.
Thanks for your contributions to this site, Bryan. You’ve done a great job, and it’s been a pleasure to read what you have to say. I’m sure your next endeavor will be a successful one.
I know I’ve stated this before…. but I LOVE the Giants helmet, with the classic NY and the striking blue…. BUT why is it the only significant part of the road uni that’s blue (the little stripe in the piping doesn’t do much, once the camera is 10-20 ft away)? THIS IS BIG BLUE we’re talking about!
I remember during a Giants game previously, Phil had posted the pic that Paul originally brought up…of a road white & blue uni. People seemed to have received that pretty well. Does anyone know who/why the team has spent so much time with red (Red alternate included)?
I don’t hate the current unis, I just want more blue! If you were shown the current away jersey, seperate from the rest of the uni, without the “NY” on the chest….you’d have no reason to think it was the road uni for the Big Blue Wrecking Crew.
[quote comment=”299054″]Something’s different about the Giants jerseys, and I can’t put my finger on it. Is it a different kind of mesh? Plus, some of the nameplates look smaller/more condensed (look at Aaron Ross’ versus Kareem McKenzie’s- Ross’ looks like it’s a smaller font). This will drive me nuts all night. Hopefully Paul has something tomorrow morning.[/quote]
I know Joe Skiba gets a lot of love on this website but there are a lot of things that bother me about the Giants’ uniforms.
One being the rounded nameplates, but the biggest is the numbers on the front of the helmet. Why have the numbers on the front AND back of the helmet? I know it looks old-school but it seems pretty dumb to have it both places.
[quote comment=”299059″]Thanks for your contributions to this site, Bryan. You’ve done a great job, and it’s been a pleasure to read what you have to say. I’m sure your next endeavor will be a successful one.
I know I’ve stated this before…. but I LOVE the Giants helmet, with the classic NY and the striking blue…. BUT why is it the only significant part of the road uni that’s blue (the little stripe in the piping doesn’t do much, once the camera is 10-20 ft away)? THIS IS BIG BLUE we’re talking about!
I remember during a Giants game previously, Phil had posted the pic that Paul originally brought up…of a road white & blue uni. People seemed to have received that pretty well. Does anyone know who/why the team has spent so much time with red (Red alternate included)?
I don’t hate the current unis, I just want more blue! If you were shown the current away jersey, seperate from the rest of the uni, without the “NY” on the chest….you’d have no reason to think it was the road uni for the Big Blue Wrecking Crew.[/quote]
here johnny…read this
why do the raiders still have the GU patch on the front of their jerseys?
Thanks Phil! Once I clicked the link, I remembered that article…but I guess I needed a refresher on the topic.
Since they love bringing back the red from yesteryear… when we will see this helmet paint job?:
link
[quote comment=”299062″]why do the raiders still have the GU patch on the front of their jerseys?[/quote]
Gene Upshaw was a 15-yr all-pro guard for the Raiders in his playing days.
I rarely comment on the weekends (usually only if the Eagles are playing late, and I am watching the game with my computer in front of me), but I had to add soemthing to today’s comments.
I found myself in a curio shop of sorts yesterday which was selling replica Phillies helmets of my youth. Being a Phillies fan for life (I was barely 3 in 1980, but could recite the Phils’ starting lineup), I have been on a spending spree the last two weeks picking up all kinds of World Series Champs gear. I kept picking up the $7 helmet and thinking about it, putting it back and picking it up again. I finally decided against buying it because it was the new red with the old link P.
Anyway, sorry for anyone who wasted their time reading this, but its really the only place I could relate this story where anyone would care.
See you all on the boards this week while I try to get through another work week.
Bryan I can relate. I had a few replica Oriole hats in the 60s. Total junk and even those were hard to come by. Ordered a Roman Pro hat from an ad in the Sporting News and discovered the joys of shopping at Manny’s Baseball Land near Yankee Stadium in the later part of that decade. Manny’s had nice replicas (among tons of other stuff). Then I hit paydirt. Through my uncle in Baltimore I was able to obtain a game used O’s cap from Andy Etchebarren. The bad news is I have a big head and had to get my mother to alter it. She sliced it up the back and sewed in a piece of elastic. She did a nice job but it makes he weep to see it nowadays.
[quote comment=”299026″][quote comment=”299018″]Lions in their flashbacks today — plain silver and Honolulu blue without logs or stripes. Always most reminiscent of an underfunded inner city high school or a mock team of non-athletes costumed for TV commercial.[/quote]
link[/quote]
For G-d’s sake, why can’t the Paper Lions get f*cking BLUE face-masks for their throwbacks? Or silver? Or anything but black?
(Methinks the Paper Lions should revert to the Barry Sanders uniforms, if only to erase the black mark that is the Matt Millen era.)
When did NFL officials start wearing huge NFL logos on the front of their hats?
[quote comment=”298983″][quote]all time classic (link)[/quote]
I nominate link for the Bryan Redemske All-Clown team. I don’t know if this has ever been posted, but from the first time I saw the “cry black,” I knew I had to get this up here. The running eye black and the fu manchu mustache says it all.
Beware! Stream of consciousness commenting follows:
Along the same lines of making your own swag, when I was 10 or 11, I used my white undershirts and Artex fabric paint (that my aunt sold) to make a couple of Reggie Jackson A’s jerseys. (Needless to say, my mom was quite pissed when she found out what I did and she really didn’t need another reason to hate my aunt.) Quite unusual for a kid Down East in North Carolina since most folks (including my brother) were O’s fans. (The Braves sucked at that time.) I also made a couple of Carolina t-shirts (Phil Ford #12) and a UNC-Charlotte shirt when they went to the Final Four in ’77. The coolest thing was the Bicentennial shirt design—people told me I should get it printed and sold.
As for the hats: I remember hating the Little League’s switch to the mesh hats after first getting wool hats–I was a catcher and you couldn’t wear those mesh things under the facemask–yeah, no helmet underneath. (I did try my uncle’s hard hat one time under the mask, but it didn’t work too well. I was so looking forward to painting it red and putting a “K” on it to match our hats since we were sponsored by the Kiwanis.)
Never, ever thought of getting an MLB hat–never even saw them growing up except on TV. I would have killed for a Reds hat at the time, but I was content with my Black and Gold CAT POWER hat. When I got a little older, it was all college stuff then.
Man, I wish I still had those shirts…
[/quote]Sorry about losing the closed quote.
[quote comment=”299065″]I rarely comment on the weekends (usually only if the Eagles are playing late, and I am watching the game with my computer in front of me), but I had to add soemthing to today’s comments.
I found myself in a curio shop of sorts yesterday which was selling replica Phillies helmets of my youth. Being a Phillies fan for life (I was barely 3 in 1980, but could recite the Phils’ starting lineup), I have been on a spending spree the last two weeks picking up all kinds of World Series Champs gear. I kept picking up the $7 helmet and thinking about it, putting it back and picking it up again. I finally decided against buying it because it was the new red with the old link P.
Anyway, sorry for anyone who wasted their time reading this, but its really the only place I could relate this story where anyone would care.
See you all on the boards this week while I try to get through another work week.[/quote]
They sold red helmets with the swirl-p back in the early ’80s. I was born in ’77, and most of my old caps / helmets were bright red – not maroon (though I had those too.)
Just wanted everyone to know that I’m wearing a Veteran’s Day/Rememberance Day poppy in my suit lapel today, mostly to salute the bravery and sacrifice of those who have served…and partially because I enjoy looking like a hockey coach.