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Curling For Dummies

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curling header

By Phil Hecken, with Mike Styczen

With the 2010 Olympics in full swing, it’s time to take a look at one of the least understood, and perhaps, most maligned sports, taking place in Vancouver — the sport of curling. Although, my partner for this piece, Canada’s own Mike Styczen, asks, “is curling really more maligned than ice dance?”

You’ve probably heard a curling joke or two (assuming you’ve heard of curling), ranging from “the second most boring sport on TV, after golf,” to “How do you stop bacon from curling in the pan? Easy, take away their brooms.” OK, that last one wasn’t really that funny, but you get the idea. On it’s face curling seems really stupid — a bunch of drunk Canadians pushing a polished stone down an ice lane while two more dudes use brooms to try to make the ice in front of the rock melt, therefore using magic to make the stone go farther and land in a target for points. And, while not too far from the truth, there’s far more to curling than that.

Today, I’ll give you the basics of the game, while Mike will take you through some curling from previous Olympics. Hey, if they play it in the Olympics, you better watch and understand — this way you’ll be able to astound your friends with your knowledge of this fascinating sport (or, you could just watch a movie). Don’t be surprised if, the next time you’re sitting around watching curling with your buddies, they don’t look at you differently when you can explain, in detail, the intricacies and nuances of the Canadian sport of kings.

~~~

The easiest way to explain the sport is to picture a combination of shuffleboard and darts. Basically, it’s two four-person rinks (teams) competing against one another. Each rink, or team, throws (slides) 8 rocks per “end” of play (think of an “end” like you would an “inning” in baseball). Teams alternate turns, and each player throws (slides) two stones.

Each end starts with the “leads” (first players) alternating throws, followed by the “seconds,” then the “thirds” (more commonly known as “vice-skips”) and finally the “skips,” who throw last. The skips study how the rocks move on the ice, and shout for the other players to sweep the rock, usually with some combination of “hurry”, “hard” and “hurry hard”.

The ice isn’t like hockey ice. Instead of being smooth, its sprinkled with water between games to make a sort of “pebble” on the surface. Each player turns their rock as their throwing it, and because of the pebble the rock curls (hence the name) in the direction of the turn.

OK — simple enough so far, right? 4 guys (or gals) each throw a two rocks and try to get them to land in the “house” (that bullseye-type thing). Now, a good thrower can usually get the rock to stay in the house. But there is a reason the sport is called “curling” and that has to do with the way the rock is released and travels down the “sheet” (ice). You have probably noticed, if you have ever watched curling, that some members of the rink are carrying what look like giant squeegies or mops. These are called brooms, and are used to assist the rock on it’s journey toward the house. Sweeping in front of the moving stones can affect both the distance traveled, and the amount of curling a stone does on it’s way down the sheet of ice. Until recently the brooms resembled ordinary household cornbrooms.

To throw the stone, one pushes off a block-like device called a hack, in a motion that generally resembles that of throwing a bowling ball. Note the “perfect” form. (Note also, such Deep Freeze luminaries as Robert Marshall, Larry Kurtze, Ricko & Teebz admiring mocking the release behind the soundproof glass.) To throw a good rock you have to have the weight and the line perfect — if either the weight or line is wrong, bad things happen. Its sort of like putting — you need to figure out the line to the cup and how hard to hit it, and get both right, to sink the putt.

Scoring is relatively simple. A team receives one point for each of their rocks that are within the house and are closer to the center than any of the opposition’s stones. Only one team can score points in an end. To score, a team must have stones within the house and closer to the “button” (the eye of the bullseye) than any of its opponent’s stones. Each stone that meets these criteria is worth one point. In theory, it is possible to score up to eight points in an end. That however, is rarer than a hole-in-one or a 300 game in bowling. Usually, there are anywhere from no points (called a “blank end“) to one point to two or more points per end.

If you have last rock in an end, you want to get two points in that end. Getting only one point when you have the hammer (or “last rock”) is a failure, and frequently a team with the hammer will blank the end to avoid taking only a single point. If the end is blanked, then the same team retains last rock in the succeeding end. A full game consists of ten ends and the team with the most points at the end of the game is the winner!

One of the hallmarks of curling is sportsmanship. Players shake hands before and after the game, players call fouls on themselves, congratulate each other on good shots, and are expected to concede a game that has gotten out of hand without playing the full ten ends.

Curling has been played in North America for at least 200 years, but has only been in the Olympics since 1998.

Curling uniforms used to be far more interesting, recalling the sport’s Scottish roots. Players looked like ladies and gentlemen. Lately, though, uniforms have had more of a bland generic look — plain black pants, black shoes, and shirts or jackets in the country colors.

The Olympic tournament (or bonspiel) is set up like most bonspiels. Ten teams play a full round robin, the top 4 teams then advance to single-knockout playoffs. There’s a separate men’s and women’s bonspiel.

Simple enough, right? Sounds boring right? Well, I used to think so until I began to seriously watch and enjoy the sport during the 2006 Torino Olympics, when NBC broadcast the curling nightly on one of their “upper” channels (probably “Bravo”). Having finally gotten to try curling (albeit all of three or four throws) at the Deep Freeze, it’s given me a new appreciation for the sport, and I look forward to following it during the Games this year. Plus, every once in a while, you get to see a shot like this or something like this, and that is far from boring.

As far as the 2010 Olympics: The women’s gold medal game is February 26th at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT (live on CNBC) and the men’s gold medal game is February 27th at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT (live on CNBC). Curling will also be broadcast at various times from the Opening Round on Tuesday, February 16th, thru the finals, on USA and MSNBC.

The bonspiel is being played at the new Vancouver Olympic Centre in Hillcrest Park in Vancouver. It’s a new 6000 seat venue which will be converted to a 8 sheet rink, community centre and aquatic centre after the Olympics. Incidentally, the the venue is next to Nat Bailey Stadium, once the home of the AAA Vancouver Canadians.

Canada, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the U.S. are competing in the men’s bonspiel. In the women’s bonspiel, France and Norway are out, with Japan and Russia in their places.

Kevin Martin of Canada (the silver medalist in Salt Lake City) is favored on the men’s side and Cheryl Bernard of Canada is favoured on the women’s. Canada won the mens‘ and Sweden won the womens‘ gold medals in Torino in 2006.

So, are you ready for some curling? You know you are. Go here for all your 2010 Vancouver Olympic curling information, times and schedules.

JUST ADDED: One of the best “How To” videos I’ve seen. Definitely worth a watch.

~~~~~~~~~~

asg sneaker header

Everybody’s favorite Uni Watch Sneakerhead Matt Powers is here to give us a quick rundown of the All Star Game kicks — because, as everyone knows, the most important part of the actual game isn’t the game itself, but what the fellas are wearing on their feet. Sneaker Porn if you will. And who knows more about that than the man who owns more shoes than Imelda Marcos, MPowers1634. Here’s Matt:

The 2010 NBA All Star Extravaganza has descended upon Dallas. One of Commissioner David Stern’s biggest fears, besides witnessing Mark Cuban in an NBA uniform, is that his brainchild will become as unimportant as the NFL Pro Bowl. A man like Stern always has powerful allies, such as the folks at Nike, Adidas, Reebok, and even Under Armour.

All of these companies will be outfitting their Rookies, Sophomores, Three-Point shooters, Slam Dunkers, Skills Competitors and All Stars in Double Super Duper sneakers that will make those wearing them able to jump higher, run faster, and disable TV remotes around the world, which might even help their Nielsen ratings.

Most visible in Dallas will be Nike and their cousin Jordan Brand, who has gone so far as to create a makeshift museum in the name of the Jordan Experience which will coincide with the release of the 25th Anniversary Edition of the Air Jordan, the Air Jordan 2010.

What is most interesting about today’s game is that the kicks worn on-court will now be available for purchase by the general public at retail outlets, such as Eastbay, Foot Locker and Niketown.

Adidas will be nicely represented as well, but only Allen Iverson will be representing the Vector.

Under Armour’s lone endorsee, Brandon Jennings, AKA “Gumby 1992,” will have shown his wares in the Rookie/Sophomore challenge.

What is really interesting, is that almost every one of the Nike athletes in the Rookie/Sophomore Challenge wore a team specific version of the Nike Air Max Rise, a shoe that Al Horford and Zach Randolph will more than likely be wearing in the big boys game.

As per Mr. Stern’s hopes, there will be a virtual plethora of NBA-tastic stuff to engage our already uber-stimulated attention.

** Air Force 1 High All Star Game-White

** Air Jordan 25th Anniversary…Check out Tinker’s Top.

** Jordan Brand doin’ it up in Dallas.

Check out the following from yesterday (these are what the All Stars will be wearing in the game):

Chris Paul’s CP3, BROY Red ASG AF1, and Craig Sager is Insane, example 1

Sager Insane 2: AWESOME AIR MAX RISE

Same as Above Minus Sager add Melo M6:

Chris Bosh (Avatar character) Hyperize with McLovin

Amare’s Hyperize

DWade Jordan 2010

Horford Air Max Rise

Wallace 2010

Gasol Hyperize

Nash Hyperdunk lows

JKidd: Peak Chinese Crap/ Randolph Air Max Rise

Dirk Hyperize

Deron with AM Rise, Hyperize Durant with AJ6 Retros

David Lee AM Rise

Duncan Adidas TS SN Commander

Howard, same shoe as above

Rose Adidas TS SN Creator

Is Amare channeling Gervin or what?

I am f***ng good! Every shoe was right!

For those of you who plan on tuning in, enjoy. The rest of us will hopefully becoming the targets of Cupid’s arrows!

Thank you Mister Powers. Many of the pics here and several not posted here are in this flickr album, if you haven’t yet had your fill of sneaker porn.

~~~~~~~~~~

sartell hats

Another Sartell Sabres Cap Update: In yesterday’s post, I had mentioned that Sartell Sabres Caps were available for sale — and that isn’t quite correct — but they will be. Coach Nemanich shot me a quick E-mail and said “I saw some people wanted to purchase a hat. I will have some possibly for sale after the kids get theirs. We couldn’t put them in the store yet. Hope this makes sense.”

So — it sounds like there will be a limited amount of caps available for purchase once the team has been outfitted. I don’t know if Coach plans on having additional orders placed with the supplier, but if there is interest from the Uni Watch community, perhaps he will consider it. I’m not normally a fan of caps with different color brims and crowns, but I’m really digging the white cap. In the comments below (or shoot me an E-mail if you’d prefer), if you are interested in purchasing a cap from the team store, let me/us know. OK? OK!

~~~~~~~~~~

scoreboard

Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Back today with a guest scoreboard sent in by reader Chris Rocco. If you saw Chris’ submission last weekend, you’ll begin to detect a pattern here. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. Date, location and final score, please, and be sure to link to your answer. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!

~~~~~~~~~~

uni tweaks header

Back again with more Uniform Tweaks, Concepts and Revisions today. Taking a look at all sports from here on out, so, if you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way.

~~~

We start off today with Coachie Ballgames, who had thought I was looking for helmet concepts for the unform tweaks contest; that’s OK, we’ll post the helmet concepts here:

Hello, hopefully I’m just beating the deadline here at 11:30. I’ve got two concepts, one for the Giants, one for the Jets.

1. For the Giants, a tongue-in-cheek play on the fact that they play in New Jersey yet are too embarrassed to carry the state’s name.

2. Going against what I just said, here’s a Jets concept using their “NY” script. I created a mish-mash incorporating a lot of the different looks they’ve rocked over the decades. The shade of green is the bright shade they used in the Joe Namath days as opposed to the current dull shade. The all-green helmet and Jets with a plane flying out of the “J” hearkens back to the late 80’s/early 90s. The oval around the wordmark recognizes the Namath/current look. I replaced the little football with their “NY” wordmark because the football always seemed redundant inside a larger football oval.

Props to sportslogos.net for the templates.

Thanks,
Coachie Ballgames

~~~

Next up is James Comfort, who’s down with some changes for the Bengals, Browns, Cowboys, and Patriots:

Two old school and two new school today.

First up, the worst current uniform in the NFL – the Bengals. I wanted to hold on to a lighter aspect of their stripe thing, but dial it way down and simplify the rest of the uni. These are the end results. Home. Road. Alternate.

Next come the Browns, whom I kept mainly intact, except for one key feature – the helmet. Home. Road. Alternate.

For the Cowboys, the easiest tweak would be to match all their silvers and make all their blues navy. That wouldn’t take much time. So instead I went ahead and did a new school re-imagining of one of the most classic NFL uniforms. Home. Road. Alternate.

For the Patriots I also went new school, but adopted a simple, clean color scheme using an off white instead of silver. Home. Road. Alternate. Alternate Road.

That’s all for today, plenty more where that came from.

–James Comfort

~~~

Our final tweak (actually more of a redesign) today comes from Jeffrey Lewis, who’s a bit Stars-crossed:

Phil:

I was thinking about the Dallas Stars infamous Mooterus jersey.

Conceptually, the idea is clever. If your sports team is named “Stars,” that severely constrains the possibilities for logo design. So, making use of the image inherent in a collection of stars — an asterism or a constellation — is reasonably clever way to increase those options.

If you’re a team based in Texas, then a bull is the obvious choice. (Let’s forget, for a moment, the incongruity between using a constellation and a place that bills itself as the “Lone Star State.”)

What irked me, though, is that Dallas used a made-up constellation. Why? Creating images from patterns of stars in the sky is a very old form of human creativity and has produced some great art. (e.g. this). It’s not like a designer would want for inspiration. And, to be frank, science education needs all the help it can get in Texas.

So, why not make use of a real constellation, and its inherent artistic possibilities? If kids interested in hockey learn also something, or develop an interest in astronomy as well, all the better.

So, I set myself the task of designing a Dallas Stars home alternate that makes reasonably accurate use of the Taurus constellation.

I generally tried to limit myself to working with the design parameters of the existing Dallas home jersey. I share your distaste for the pointless use of black, though black in this case is an appropriate color for a “stars in the sky” jersey. I am not an astronomy buff, but it seems that one has some latitude for creative choice in which stars to show and how those stars might depict a charging bull.

The resulting uniform is this. I was rather pleased with how it turned out, though perhaps that is the long shadow of the Mooterus.

In my fictional scenario, a father takes his daughter to a Dallas Stars game and, as Mike Modano skates by, she asks “Daddy, what’s on Modano’s left shoulder?”

“Why that’s Pleiades, sweetie. We can look for it after the game.”

Yeah, ok, maybe its too much to ask.

JL

~~~

Heh. Great stuff there. Keep the tweaks coming. You know what to do.

~~~~~~~~~~

rocks

And now…a curling quiz…

Since you all read and enjoyed today’s main article on curling, now we have a quiz to see how well you understand the scoring…everyone should get a perfect score, right? Right!

~~~

So, for each of the following five overhead shots of the house, score the end. OK?

# 1

# 2

# 3

# 4

# 5

Good Luck. Post your guesses below.

~~~~~~~~~~

That’s going to do it for today. Sorry to anyone who was hoping for slam dunk contest photos — or pretty much anything else that happened in the sporting world, as I was enjoying the Olympic Coverage.

Another HUGE sporting day today, because aside from the Olympics, you’ve got some auto race deal and that basketball thingy. And I guess there’s other stuff too.

Everyone have a swell Sunday. And a Happy Valentine’s Day too.

 
  
 
Comments (104)

    Not only is that link a better idea than the link it’s also a major improvement over their bland and characterless link.

    Good work, Mr. Lewis.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    Curling scores
    # 1: hard to tell for sure, but it looks like 2 for red
    # 2: 1 for red
    # 3: 1 for red
    # 4: again, tough to tell, but it looks like 2 for yellow
    # 5: 2 for red

    [quote comment=”377715″][quote comment=”377714″] dummies?

    I believe that’s link.

    (Good stuff, fellas.)[/quote]

    fixed[/quote]
    Yep.

    Especially link.

    The picture of deron williams and Kevin Durant you don’t have the shoes correct.Its the hyperdunk low not the hyperize and there isn’t any aj retro 6 in the picture either.

    [quote comment=\”377721\”]The picture of deron williams and Kevin Durant you don\’t have the shoes correct.Its the hyperdunk low not the hyperize and there isn\’t any aj retro 6 in the picture either.[/quote]

    Hyperdunk low is correct, nice work. BTW, If you look at the jersey in the locker to the left of Williams, it is probably Randolph\’s, thus his AM Rise.

    Williams wore HD lows last week as well as during the skills challenge:

    link

    link

    As for no VI\’s, look at Durant\’s left foot, jefe:

    link

    link

    Bonus, check out Spike Lee in the 2010\’s as well as a great Knicks New Era similar to the Yankees version he has:

    link

    link
    And as cool as Nasty Nate\’s Air Max Hyperize were:

    link

    The crowd was still unimpressed:

    link

    link

    The Ocean State Curling Club started its first season this past October. We use the ice rink at St. George’s School (a very $$$$$ private school in RI). I’ve only been playing since last year. Completely addicting sport. We have really cool buttons that we all wear during matches. No sweaters or sweatshirts yet. I will try to post a picture of one of them here or email to somebody to post. Highly recommend that everybody watch curling this coming week and then go out and join the closest club.

    One question on Curling, I’ve always had the impression that 2 types of brooms were used. Lead one rougher, followed by a finer one. Just an assumption.
    Curling Score 6-1 Red
    #1 Red 2 (by a hair)
    #2 Red 1
    #3 Red 1
    #4 Yellow 1
    #5 Red 2

    The Sartell hats are great. I’m a sucker for light hats with dark brims. I will be watching to snag one of the white caps ASAP!

    Sure not all Uni Tweaks are equal – occasionally some go off a bit from typical high marks from my POV. But I do enjoy commenting when somebody such as Jeffrey Lewis hits one way out of the park. That one goes to 11…

    Phil,
    I’ve always thought had Curling had similarities to Bocce, but with teams. Sort of a bastard step child of Shuffleboard and Bocce.
    While I assume teams have their own brooms, do they pack their own stones, or, are they provided by whoever is running the bonspiel?

    At what point does curling go from an obscure sport to well known? It seems that every Winter Olympics since ’98, news channels always roll out a story about the “little known” sport of curling and run us through every detail. It is to the point where I know more about curling than any other sport in the WO not named hockey.

    We get it…curling…unique…

    Just skimmed everything as I have to go out for a bit, but I gotta say I can’t wait to read this. Looks like great stuff.

    I remember when Wayne Gretzky got married. Not long afterward, they interviewed his wife about this, that and the other. The only thing I remember was her saying when they’d go on a trip and the hotel room had curling on TV, Wayne would just watch mesmerized for hours. I laughed…until I saw curling for myself. It IS mesmerizing, and I encourage all of you to watch it at least once. A lot of you will be hooked as I am.

    I never thought anything would compete with ski jumping for my favorite Olympic event, but curling does. I think they’re co-favorites now.

    Man… I haven’t curled in over 20 years. Loved it though – I played ‘mixed’ curling with a couple of lovely ladies. Anyway, here’s my end by end scores:
    1. 2 red
    2. 1 red
    3. 1 red
    4. 1 yellow
    5. 2 red

    Z I agree with you on the Durant picture. Also, I find it hard to believe Kevin won’t be wearing his own shoe in the game since they have an all-star version of it and all…

    Curling was apparently one of the most-watched Olympic sports in Italy in 2006 (where most of the country doesn’t follow winter sports). That was partly due to a major upset in the round robin where the Italian team beat the Canadians, but also because of the sport’s similarity to bocce.

    It’s also a great sport for TV because the players are miked up allowing the viewer to hear the strategies being discussed. Okay, not as great in the Olympics when the other teams are speaking a language you don’t understand….

    [quote comment=”377735″]Phil,
    I’ve always thought had Curling had similarities to Bocce, but with teams. Sort of a bastard step child of Shuffleboard and Bocce.
    While I assume teams have their own brooms, do they pack their own stones, or, are they provided by whoever is running the bonspiel?[/quote]

    The stones are provide by the bonspiel.

    [quote comment=”377742″][quote comment=”377735″]Phil,
    I’ve always thought had Curling had similarities to Bocce, but with teams. Sort of a bastard step child of Shuffleboard and Bocce.
    While I assume teams have their own brooms, do they pack their own stones, or, are they provided by whoever is running the bonspiel?[/quote]

    The stones are provide by the bonspiel.[/quote]

    Being that each stone weight about 40 lbs, I’m not sure 320 lbs of rocks is what any team wants to bring with them. ;o)

    Ah the sport of curling, I’m glad that uniwatchers are not stuck up enough to make the typical jokes which, being a curler and a Canadian myself, rather annoyed.

    I curled competitively here in Canada in the junior ranks until recently (became too old) and let me tell you, the two teams in Canada and most likely the rest of the countries train as hard as any other sport out there. The CCA (Canadian curling association) has several high performance training guides that implore cardio, weight training as well as rigorous throwing schedules. In a nutshell, it isnt a cakewalk to get there and is definitely not the most easiest sport your average joe could try making the Olympics in.

    Sorry to sound a little negative, but those at the olympics competing in curling spend a great deal of time getting in peak physical condition and developing strategy and consistency to play at the highest level. This aint no sweeping for your kitchen floor ;)

    [quote comment=”377744″][quote comment=”377742″][quote comment=”377735″]Phil,
    I’ve always thought had Curling had similarities to Bocce, but with teams. Sort of a bastard step child of Shuffleboard and Bocce.
    While I assume teams have their own brooms, do they pack their own stones, or, are they provided by whoever is running the bonspiel?[/quote]

    The stones are provide by the bonspiel.[/quote]

    Being that each stone weight about 40 lbs, I’m not sure 320 lbs of rocks is what any team wants to bring with them. ;o)[/quote]
    It has been documented that in the early part of the 20th century, when curling was still played outdoors on ponds, the curlers were responsible for bringing their own stones with them. They carried them in a wooded box that was shaped like a small coffin. The sport has come a long way, but teams used to lug the 320lbs around.

    [quote comment=”377747″]Couldn’t find a legit picture of a three point end?[/quote]

    nice catch…um…no

    but in my defense, i came up with the idea for a quiz (and where i ‘made’ the 3 point end) at about 1:00 am and asked teebz to find me some pics — i didn’t ask him specifically for a 3 point end, and didn’t want to used the photoshopped one for the quiz — so i used it for “demonstration” purposes

    if you can find one, post it — i’ll add it to the quiz

    Does anyone know of a place where I can buy old school authentic MLB caps from the past two decades? I’m a collector of the lesser known caps of the MLB and I have been looking for places where I can buy these. Here are several specifics I have been looking for.

    link
    link
    link
    link

    Thanks!

    [quote comment=”377748″][quote comment=”377747″]Couldn’t find a legit picture of a three point end?[/quote]

    nice catch…um…no

    but in my defense, i came up with the idea for a quiz (and where i ‘made’ the 3 point end) at about 1:00 am and asked teebz to find me some pics — i didn’t ask him specifically for a 3 point end, and didn’t want to used the photoshopped one for the quiz — so i used it for “demonstration” purposes

    if you can find one, post it — i’ll add it to the quiz[/quote]
    Hey, you do what you gotta do. I imagine some UniWatching Olympian needing an extra point standing at the hack thinking, “I wish I could just Photoshop this one in like Phil did.”

    [quote comment=”377734″]Sure not all Uni Tweaks are equal – occasionally some go off a bit from typical high marks from my POV. But I do enjoy commenting when somebody such as Jeffrey Lewis hits one way out of the park. That one goes to 11…[/quote]

    I agree. Brilliant work, Jeffrey Lewis.

    [quote comment=”377747″]Couldn’t find a legit picture of a three point end?[/quote]
    3?? How about 8?
    link

    ohio state wearing flight 3407 patches in a one year anniversary of the flight that went down in Buffalo that killed the girlfriend of the men’s basketball video coordinator

    article from ohiostatebuckeyes.com here:
    link

    [quote comment=”377757″]where and how do I find templates to make my own uni tweaks? Any Help would be appreciated![/quote]

    if you check out the Uni Watch F.A.Q., and scroll down about 3/4ths of the way, you’ll see this:

    I want to submit an NFL uni tweak to Phil. Where can I find a uniform template to use?

    You can start by googling. If you don’t like what you find, here’s Phil’s advice:

    What I do (and I’m guessing others do) is to find a site like Chris Creamer’s Sport Logos (from that main page, just click on any logo, which will take you to a specific team’s logos and uniforms – for example, Arizona). Just click on the uniform, copy it (right click), and save it in something like MS Paint or Photoshop. Once you have that saved, you can “erase” the colors to create a blank, or adapt the particular team as you’d like.

    that, of course, is if you’re interested in NFL unis — but the same applies to any sport

    i don’t know of any “blank templates” that are floating around on the interwebs, per se, but it’s easy enough to create and save a blank one, and then, go to town

    [quote comment=”377755″]ohio state wearing flight 3407 patches in a one year anniversary of the flight that went down in Buffalo that killed the girlfriend of the men’s basketball video coordinator

    article from ohiostatebuckeyes.com here:
    link

    I don’t know how to say this without coming across as heartless, but…

    Where do you draw the line for memorial patches?

    Apolo Ohno wore a Footjoy golf glove on his right hand in his first races in the Olympics last night. I didn’t think anyone else noticed, but I was wrong:

    link

    [quote comment=”377750″]Does anyone know of a place where I can buy old school authentic MLB caps from the past two decades? I’m a collector of the lesser known caps of the MLB and I have been looking for places where I can buy these. Here are several specifics I have been looking for.

    link
    link
    link
    link[/quote]

    Usually Mickeysplace.com is the best:

    link

    [quote comment=”377764″][quote comment=”377750″]Does anyone know of a place where I can buy old school authentic MLB caps from the past two decades? I’m a collector of the lesser known caps of the MLB and I have been looking for places where I can buy these. Here are several specifics I have been looking for.

    link
    link
    link
    link[/quote]

    Usually Mickeysplace.com is the best:

    link

    Lids.com

    No Black Royals, but gray:
    link

    No Toronto, byt red brim:
    link

    Motre Bame Brewers:
    link

    Padres:
    link

    [quote comment=”377739″]Z I agree with you on the Durant picture. Also, I find it hard to believe Kevin won’t be wearing his own shoe in the game since they have an all-star version of it and all…[/quote]

    You are both correct, however the way it was worded was wrong…He is wearing VI’s in the pics, but is wearing the KD2 for the game:

    link

    if anyone is interested, i just added a really good “how to” video (also see it here) to the end of the curling piece (end of main article)

    [quote comment=”377766″][quote comment=”377739″]Z I agree with you on the Durant picture. Also, I find it hard to believe Kevin won’t be wearing his own shoe in the game since they have an all-star version of it and all…[/quote]

    You are both correct, however the way it was worded was wrong…He is wearing VI’s in the pics, but is wearing the KD2 for the game:

    link

    link

    Just for the record, the baseball team (Vancouver Canadians) that plays in Nat Bailey Stadium is Single A. We lost our AAA team to Sacremento a few years ago.

    [quote comment=”377765″][quote comment=”377764″][quote comment=”377750″]Does anyone know of a place where I can buy old school authentic MLB caps from the past two decades? I’m a collector of the lesser known caps of the MLB and I have been looking for places where I can buy these. Here are several specifics I have been looking for.

    link
    link
    link
    link[/quote]

    Usually Mickeysplace.com is the best:

    link

    Lids.com

    No Black Royals, but gray:
    link

    No Toronto, byt red brim:
    link

    Motre Bame Brewers:
    link

    Padres:
    link
    Thanks
    I’ve been to both and they don’t have what I am looking for.
    I know that New Era remakes the caps, but the logo on the side is what bothers me. I’m actually looking for the original ones that were made during the specific time period. It’s a very nit picky thing of mine.

    [quote comment=”377765″][quote comment=”377764″][quote comment=”377750″]Does anyone know of a place where I can buy old school authentic MLB caps from the past two decades? I’m a collector of the lesser known caps of the MLB and I have been looking for places where I can buy these. Here are several specifics I have been looking for.

    link
    link
    link
    link[/quote]

    Usually Mickeysplace.com is the best:

    link

    Lids.com

    No Black Royals, but gray:
    link

    No Toronto, byt red brim:
    link

    Motre Bame Brewers:
    link

    Padres:
    link

    Wow… some of those New Era Cooperstown Caps are pretty bad. NE & MLB logos, the navy is too dark on the Motre Bame cap, the ’81-’86 Braves home cap is too dark and insult to injury, they stuck a Mariners logo on a ’93-’96 Marlins road cap. And of course, 3-D embroidering to caps that never had it. Samuel Lam would be better off hitting ebay & finding real authentics.

    Well, after reading today’s piece I’m ready to bring out my old game link and do some mini curling! Great stuff, guys.

    LI Phil said:
    “Curling uniforms used to be far more interesting, recalling the sport’s Scottish roots. Players looked like ladies and gentlemen.”

    Don’t know if they still do it, but in the recent past some of the ladies have worn skirts and tights in competition:
    link
    link

    Couple of things while watching the Olympics today.

    What logos are being taped over here?
    link

    And why is this girl waving the DDR flag at the bottom of the luge run?
    link

    James Comfort, I like your alternate Bengals uni…WITH the current striped helmet. Put them together and you have a winner. I wouldn’t mess with the Browns helmet, either.

    [quote comment=”377778″]What logos are being taped over here?
    link

    Probably sponsor logos.

    Polish ski jumper Adam Malysz, when jumping in World Cup events, is/was sponsored by Red Bull: link

    In the ’02 Olympics he had the same colored helmet without the logos: link

    This year he just went with a blue helmet: link

    That Cowboy’s tweak is dead on. I hate uniforms like that, but I also hate the Cowboys. If any team should wear something futuristic and sketchy, it’s the Cowboys.

    Too hard (at least for me) to DIY, so I’d like to see a shirt company take those skiing bibs link and turn them into t-shirts or sweatshirts. Obviously I’d wear that, would anyone else?

    [quote comment=”377778″]Couple of things while watching the Olympics today.

    What logos are being taped over here?
    link

    And why is this girl waving the DDR flag at the bottom of the luge run?
    link
    Miss, East Germany is dead and buried and very much NOT missed.

    Well, link agrees with that sentiment.

    Hey Phil – back from a weekend in Branson (wahoo.) I must say, I was watching from the bar upstairs and yes, it was perfect form. Just no 70’s wig that would have made it complete!

    Here we go:

    West:
    link

    Hyperize=Stat, Dirk, Gasol
    AM Rise=Zeebo, Kaman
    Melo M6=Melo
    CP3=Paul
    HD Low=D-Will, Nash
    KD2 Supreme=KD
    TS SN Creator=Billups
    TS SN Commander=TD
    Peak Whatever=Kidd

    East:
    link

    Hyperize=Bosh,
    AJ 2010=Wade, JJ, GW
    AM Lebron 7=LJ
    AM Legend=Pierce
    AM Rise=Lee, Horford, Rondo
    TS SN Commander=KG, Superman
    TS SN Creator=Rose

    [quote comment=”377786″]Here we go:

    West:
    link

    Hyperize=Stat, Dirk, Gasol
    AM Rise=Zeebo, Kaman
    Melo M6=Melo
    CP3=Paul
    HD Low=D-Will, Nash
    KD2 Supreme=KD
    TS SN Creator=Billups
    TS SN Commander=TD
    Peak Whatever=Kidd

    East:
    link

    Hyperize=Bosh,
    AJ 2010=Wade, JJ, GW
    AM Lebron 7=LJ
    AM Legend=Pierce
    AM Rise=Lee, Horford, Rondo
    TS SN Commander=KG, Superman
    TS SN Creator=Rose[/quote]

    Pierce wears the AM Legacy, not Legend:
    Rondo wearing Hypermax, not AM Rise:

    link

    Good Look at JJ AJ 2010:
    link

    Peak….blech:
    link

    [quote comment=”377785″]Hey Phil – back from a weekend in Branson (wahoo.) I must say, I was watching from the bar upstairs and yes, it was perfect form. Just no 70’s wig that would have made it complete![/quote]
    Silver Dollar City gave me shingles.

    I love curling. My wife goes out every Tuesday night between October and March for her curling season.

    The agreement is from April until the end of baseball season (normally September for the Mets) is my season. I then get to go to every Mets Saturday home game and various road games.

    [quote comment=”377765″][quote comment=”377764″][quote comment=”377750″]Does anyone know of a place where I can buy old school authentic MLB caps from the past two decades? I’m a collector of the lesser known caps of the MLB and I have been looking for places where I can buy these. Here are several specifics I have been looking for.

    link
    link
    link
    link[/quote]

    Usually Mickeysplace.com is the best:

    link

    Lids.com

    No Black Royals, but gray:
    link

    No Toronto, byt red brim:
    link

    Motre Bame Brewers:
    link

    Padres:
    link
    Yeah, I’ve seen mickey’s and lids. I am looking for the actual caps made from that time period, not the remakes on the Lids site.

    Still looking for the original authentics.

    appropos of nothing…well, other than, oh…the date…

    just got back from 7-11 for my evening coffee…parked outside was a FULL LENGTH stretch limo…lincoln…like this

    inside was the chauffeur…buying lemons & limes, salt, and whipped cream

    oh…to be young, rich and stupid

    ~~~~~~~~~~~

    jim vilk would wear this apparently

    ~~~~~~~~~~~

    and finally, i liked j kidd’s kicks the best

    [quote comment=”377792″][quote comment=”377791″]

    jim vilk would link apparently

    [/quote]

    The one on the left, the one on the right or both?[/quote]

    depends on how much tequila is involved, im guessing

    [quote comment=”377775″]Well, after reading today’s piece I’m ready to bring out my old game link and do some mini curling! Great stuff, guys.

    LI Phil said:
    “Curling uniforms used to be far more interesting, recalling the sport’s Scottish roots. Players looked like ladies and gentlemen.”

    Don’t know if they still do it, but in the recent past some of the ladies have worn skirts and tights in competition:
    link
    link

    I watched a ton of the Scott Tournament of Hearts (Canadian Championships) this year and didn’t see any kilts or skirts. Its been a few years since I’ve seen any.

    The first photo above is of Sandra Schmirler. She won the first ever gold medal in curling in 1998 at Nagano, and died 2 years later (age 36) of cancer. Very sad story.

    [quote comment=”377791″]appropos of nothing…well, other than, oh…the date…

    just got back from 7-11 for my evening coffee…parked outside was a FULL LENGTH stretch limo…lincoln…link

    inside was the chauffeur…buying lemons & limes, salt, and whipped cream

    oh…to be young, rich and stupid

    ~~~~~~~~~~~

    jim vilk would link apparently

    ~~~~~~~~~~~

    and finally, i liked j kidd’s kicks the best[/quote]

    1. Of course you do
    2. HoboLimo???

    “inside was the chauffeur…buying lemons & limes, salt, and whipped cream”

    Did Herb Alpert do a version of “Tequila” on the album; “Whipped Cream and other Delights”?

    [quote comment=”377793″][quote comment=”377792″][quote comment=”377791″]

    jim vilk would link apparently

    [/quote]

    The one on the left, the one on the right or both?[/quote]

    depends on how much tequila is involved, im guessing[/quote]

    I prefer Polish vodka to tequila, and it would take more than that to get into the left one.

    [quote comment=”377798″]Ukranian figure skaters.

    link

    I saw those. When the guy fell my first thought was the lady’s pantsuit must have thrown him off.

    [quote comment=”377801″][quote comment=”377796″][quote comment=”377791″]link[/quote]

    HoboLimo???[/quote]

    yes[/quote]

    FUCK…the 4th definition (preposition)

    [quote comment=”377791″]appropos of nothing…well, other than, oh…the date…

    just got back from 7-11 for my evening coffee…parked outside was a FULL LENGTH stretch limo…lincoln…link

    inside was the chauffeur…buying lemons & limes, salt, and whipped cream

    oh…to be young, rich and stupid
    [/quote]
    Yeah. I’d never do anything like that.

    Again.

    (the young and stupid thing – still working on the other)

    Wasn’t your boss in the limo was it?

    [quote comment=”377802″][quote comment=”377798″]Ukranian figure skaters.

    link

    I saw those. When the guy fell my first thought was the lady’s pantsuit must have thrown him off.[/quote]

    Didn’t like these either:
    link

    Is that supposed to be a fake tattoo on her belly?

    [quote comment=”377794″][quote comment=”377775″]Well, after reading today’s piece I’m ready to bring out my old game link and do some mini curling! Great stuff, guys.

    LI Phil said:
    “Curling uniforms used to be far more interesting, recalling the sport’s Scottish roots. Players looked like ladies and gentlemen.”

    Don’t know if they still do it, but in the recent past some of the ladies have worn skirts and tights in competition:
    link
    link

    I watched a ton of the Scott Tournament of Hearts (Canadian Championships) this year and didn’t see any kilts or skirts. Its been a few years since I’ve seen any.

    The first photo above is of Sandra Schmirler. She won the first ever gold medal in curling in 1998 at Nagano, and died 2 years later (age 36) of cancer. Very sad story.[/quote]
    link.

    Almost forgot – today between the Olympic coverage I switched over to a little bit of Mexican soccer.

    Saw something I never saw before. You know how the ref makes the defending team stand back 10 yards on a free kick? Today the ref spray painted a little line on the ground before re-starting play. Later you couldn’t see the line. Is this some new thing to keep the players in the right spot? I only saw a small part of the game so I don’t know if he did it all the time or just that once.

    The Simpsons + Uniwatch = double dose of curling day! woohoo. Sweet Homer Springfield Curling sweater, too.

    I loved all the curling talk on uni-watch. As an avid curler, all the information that you were given here is accurate and well done. I would put the scores for the ends, but so many are up there it is not really worth it. I have just asked my mom to scan a few pics of my dad when he was a young curler and had those awesome sweaters. They were fantastic that is for sure.

    Actually, I wanted to mention one more thing. Phil linked to this photo when he said “Scoring is relatively simple”.

    link

    That scoreboard is anything but simple. If you’re used to baseball you’d think the score is 8-7 blue, but in fact its 6-5 blue. The points are in red in the centre, and the numbers above and below are the end numbers. On a real scoreboard, the point numbers are painted on and the end numbers are put up by the third after each end. Blank ends are put up at the bottom because they don’t change the score.

    Big events use baseball style scoreboards.

    link

    These scoreboards show the hammer (which shouldn’t be necessary because hammer goes to whoever didn’t score last, but its TV-friendly). This particular scoreboard also shows that the Koe team conceded after 7 ends of an 8 end game (down 4).

    [quote comment=\”377784\”][quote comment=\”377778\”]Couple of things while watching the Olympics today.

    What logos are being taped over here?
    link

    And why is this girl waving the DDR flag at the bottom of the luge run?
    link
    Miss, East Germany is dead and buried and very much NOT missed.

    Well, link agrees with that sentiment.[/quote]

    hm, how bout for the same reasons there is pride in anything. using the ddr flag is the same thing as putting either of link on a black yellow red flag for someone from the former east berlin. it says where someone is from, and a pride in a heritage(don’t mean they liked what happened). it says i was from here or there, or anywhere, and made it spite them them. that’s why those ampelmännchen symbols still exist on sidewalks in the former ddr. it would be like jesse owens holding the stars and bars for hitler…bitch, keep this down sort of thing.

    maybe why i used Ampelmännchen link, part of going through check point charlie to get to school back in the day yada yada.

    [quote comment=”377813″][quote comment=\”377784\”][quote comment=\”377778\”]Couple of things while watching the Olympics today.

    What logos are being taped over here?
    link

    And why is this girl waving the DDR flag at the bottom of the luge run?
    link
    Miss, East Germany is dead and buried and very much NOT missed.

    Well, link agrees with that sentiment.[/quote]

    hm, how bout for the same reasons there is pride in anything. using the ddr flag is the same thing as putting either of link on a black yellow red flag for someone from the former east berlin. it says where someone is from, and a pride in a heritage(don’t mean they liked what happened). it says i was from here or there, or anywhere, and made it spite them them. that’s why those ampelmännchen symbols still exist on sidewalks in the former ddr. it would be like jesse owens holding the stars and bars for hitler…bitch, keep this down sort of thing.

    maybe why i used Ampelmännchen link, part of going through check point charlie to get to school back in the day yada yada.[/quote]

    RPM, I disagree with the “pride in heritage” notion of that flag. If that was true, then proud German nationalists would have the Nazi flag out in the wind too.

    (Note: Totally don’t condone this– after all, my great-grandfather was killed in World War II, most likely in Matthausen concentration camp.)

    [quote comment=”377788″][quote comment=”377785″]Hey Phil – back from a weekend in Branson (wahoo.) I must say, I was watching from the bar upstairs and yes, it was perfect form. Just no 70’s wig that would have made it complete![/quote]
    Silver Dollar City gave me shingles.[/quote]

    let’s hit 100 on that. sorry for the issue.

    hemo~
    that is so different, are you daft? maybe you didn’t read what i said, it is a peoples who were oppressed holding a banner of the oppressor in a fuck you style(to commies, not nazis(why that symbol?)/my hood is the hood you can’t keep us down style. or…i. made. it. despite. of. it. was their cheer for their boy in the luge.i am from the ghetto germany that got fucked up by global politics is their cry.
    i personally lived in that hell 15 years before you were born, i know of what i speak. don’t mean to give you a history lesson friend, but the ddr didn’t kill your ancestors, it was nazis, totally different, both sucked, both deserve condemnation, but a nazi isn’t a commie isn’t a german, and germans were not the only people to engage in anti semitism during wwll(not that this has anything to do with the flag).how many people, including those in this country turned the blind eyes, or better yet supported the devil? i don’t even know where to begin with this, my brain is almost exploding, you totally missed my point.

    Chinese crap? Seriously? Most of those shoes and the “crap” they wear were made in Asia.

    MPowers

    Did you notice that Gerald Wallace changed shoes at half time of the All Star Game. He wore white Jordan 2010 in the first half and wore blue jordan 2010 in the second half.

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