By Phil Hecken with James Huening
Just two short weeks ago, I and UW Pollster James Huening presented our latest poll: Worst Uniform Combination Ever. The results are in. You voted early and often, as there were over 8,000 votes cast(!). Apparently (and I’m sure Paul will be in agreement), you don’t like purple, lavender or magenta. I’ll be back with my thoughts after the jump, but first, here’s Jimbo with his breakdown:
Once again, thanks to everyone who participated in this poll.
The results are in and Ben Traxel’s not gonna be happy. His Kansas State Wildcats and their purple over lavender basketball uniforms are the top vote-getters, having been selected 1,052 times. They edged out the WFL’s Magenta and Orange-clad Southern California Sun, who collected 1,007 votes.
There was a close race for third place. The Tennessee Volunteers football team and their Halloween costumes of black jerseys and orange pants squeaked past the Pittsburgh Pirates’ white pinstriped jersey/black pants outfit by just three votes. 756-753 was that tally.
Rounding out the top five with 600 votes, we have the Washington Wizards and their gold jerseys over black shorts.
The remaining teams, in descending order were: Los Angeles Kings (solid gold), Seattle Sounders (antifreeze green top and bottom), Chicago Bulls (Stags throwbacks), Cleveland Indians (blue over red), Colorado Rockies (black vests/purple undersleeves over pinstriped gray pants), Philadelphia Eagles (black over green), Oregon Ducks football (green/black jerseys over lightning yellow pants), Houston Texans (“battle red“), Clemson Tigers football (purple over orange), Minnesota Vikings (purple over purple), Cincinnati Bengals (orange over black), Washington Redskins (burgundy head-to-ankle), Baltimore Ravens (purple over black), Memphis Tams (gold over white), Washington Capitals (red over white), Oakland Athletics (solid green), San Francisco Giants (orange over cream), California Golden Bears football (solid gold) and finally the Tennessee Titans (powder blue over navy blue) who collected a mere 79 votes.
Interestingly enough, we collected only 54 “other” responses, so I guess we did something right. Of these 54 responses, the Seattle Seahawks were mentioned 10 times. 8 of those specifically pointed out the green (purportely one-and-done) alternate jerseys. Also, a different Cal Bears combination (gold over blue), a different Titans option (navy over powder) and a different Indians combo (the infamous red over red that Boog Powell was so fond of) were all suggested.
Thank you Jimbo. Well, there you have it. You have spoken, and a “winner” has been declared. So what do you think? Pretty accurate assessment, or did the voters pull a Florida, circa 2000?
We’re already gearing up for our next poll — and for this one, we’re going to poll you first: what should our next survey, um…survey?
We have three choices, and we’ll let you decide the next one: (1) Best Home MLB uniform; (2) Best World Cup uniform, or (3) Best College World Series uniform. Don’t like any of those choices? Feel free to suggest something else. After all, this is kind of a democracy, innit?
The floor is yours.
Alts and softball tops are ruining the game. Even the boys from Bub’s have them. But at least they keep a sense of humor about the Mets fleecing trade for Johan. Here’s Rick:
Life sure sucks sometimes, doesn’t it. You want something SO bad…and you get zip. Though there IS always the possibility of Mr. Applegate showing up, I suppose (if you don’t know who “Joe Hardy” is/was, think along Faustian lines)…
Here’s your full color Sunday Benchies.
Back at the beginning of the 2010 season, I announced the 2010 Uni Tracking that a number of us do. Last year, I devoted about four full weekend columns to it, and that was probably a bit much for most of us to take in one dose, so this year, I’ll occasionally post the updated tracking of certain teams as the trackers send them in. So, if you’ve been doing your due diligence with your team, send me your mid-season tracking reports, and I’ll post them as a “sub article” on the weekends. OK? OK!
Moving forward, we have Royals uni-tracker Zachary Brady, who’s got an in-depth mid-season report for us:
Zach Brady, official Kansas City Royals Uni-Tracker, here to give you the mid-season report. A few things to point out that are new this year (just one… actually): The Royals introduced a powder/baby/Carolina Blue hat to match their home-daytime uniform. Not very well received here in KC, but I can understand the needed boost in revenue.
The Blue Crew follow a pretty strict uniform routine: At home you’ll see them in their Powder Blues during the day, and their whites at night. On the road, Kansas City sports Royal Blue uniforms during the day, and grey’s are reserved for night games. White pants at home, grey pants on the road. Royal Blue caps with everything except for the Powder Blue jerseys (except when they sport that ridiculous Ice-Cream man hat).
Now what you all have waited for… what the uniforms have done for the team. As you can see in the Official Royals Uni-Tracking Page and Breakdown, we were actually above .500 in one uniform (Royal Blue, 6-5, .525), while all of the rest were sub-par (White, 9-11, .450; Powder Blue, 5-7, .417; Grey, 9-16, .360). As for the Stars & Stripes Collection, they helped the Royals win a whopping 0 games in two appearances over Memorial Day weekend.
As well as Uni-Tracking, I found some interesting numbers in regard to the Royals performance depending on the day of the week. As we all know, Kansas City has been struggling and currently have a record 29-41. The Royals seem to enjoy playing games at the end of the work week (Thursday, 6-5, .556, and Friday, 7-4, .636) but really struggle on Tuesdays (3-7, .300) and Fridays (1-10, .091). If the Royals could some how have changed their schedule and only played on days other than Tuesday and Saturday, their record would currently be 25-15 (.625). Now thats the kind of improvement the Royals are looking for.
Once again, here’s the Official Kansas City Royals 2010 Uni-Tracking Report.
Track on, my fellow Watchers
Great job Zach. Keep ’em coming, fellow uni trackers!
Back again with more Uniform Tweaks, Concepts and Revisions today. Lots to get to, and if you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way. Still finding the tweaks have slowed to a trickle, so if you have something you’d like to show, give me a shout.
Heeding the call for more tweaks, ex-pat Mike Engle has come through with a thorough revamp of the Pittsburgh Penguins unisets. The crayolas are back. Here’s Mike:
What are the Pittsburgh Penguins’ colors anyway? Civic mojo says, “black and gold,” but the cash register screams “powder blue!” Thanks to me, the two are no longer mutually exclusive. And I killed the metallic gold too. Now, for my traditional extended bullet-point commentary…
The standards (black and white)…
• are basically the 90-92 Cup repeat jerseys, tweaked to accommodate powder blue.
• include a shoulder patch that I invented, borrowing from the Pittsburgh city shield. That should read “PITTSBURGH PENGUINS” within the gold border.
• have the checkerboard on the breezers to accentuate the shoulder patch, not necessarily to lure Trevor Kidd out of retirement.
• keep the current name and number font, with reduced weight for the NOB’s. There is no reason for NOB’s to have three layers, so they get the Steelers treatment: gold on black.The powder alternate…
• would ideally never happen, but since alternate jerseys exist, and because Gary Bettman would demand another Crosby jersey be ready for sale, I bit the bullet and
sold outmade this.
• borrows a striping pattern from their fallen Class of 1967 classmate, the Minnesota North Stars. (Our resident history major LI Phil would liken this to wearing the conquered enemy’s clothes as a trophy. See the 1991 Cup Finals. Sorry, Ricko.)
• has the shoulder yoke from the robo-pigeon jerseys. I knew better than to give Mario’s team something other than the skating penguin crest, but I wanted an alternate more exciting than a simple color swap.
• has an italicized take on the number font, along with a drop-shadow. Respectful of traditions, yet avant-garde. I like it, and if you don’t, I guarantee you’ve seen worse.
• calls for a slightly different breezer shell stripe motif. If and when the players boycott the “standard” pants, the alternates will match the socks and fit right in.Tying them all together…
• The background for the NHL neck shield is always gold, for The Golden Triangle.
• The officers’ C and A are kept as-is from the current jerseys, with altered backgrounds as required.If the Penguins want a preseason-only tradition, I can offer two things:
• Gold helmets for every preseason game. (You know the games count and you’re on the team when you don’t have a geeky gold helmet, and even Mario
got hazed inwore the gold lids once upon a time.)
• No Penguins sticker on the left side of the helmet. This needs no further explanation.
And for the second, and final, set of tweaks, we have Ronnie Poore, who has some concepts for the Cincinnati Bengals:
Inspired by the uniwatch interview with the creator of the Bengals striped helmet, I had ideas for a Bengals uni tweak. I like the helmet, but there is way too much going on with the jerseys and pants. Decided to go with a minimalist approach: stripping the stripes, so to speak.
Scrapping the black jerseys, I’m opting for orange at home (over plain white pants) and all white on the road. I think the simplification showcases the helmets more.
~~~ The other day I sent you Bengals tweaks. I neglected to send along the alternate black jersey version (I think the orange should be the primary home jersey)”¦I’ve attached the black jersey version of the minimalist Bengals concept.
That’ll do it for the tweak show for today. Make sure to keep sending them my way.
With two excruciatingly painful great weeks of World Cup matches in the books, it’s time for the weekly “Five and One” (that’s five great uniform matchups and one that’s, um…not so good). Last week we had hoped to feature three reviews, but only got two; this week, Jim Vilk and guest ranker Mike Engle will do the honors. Like last week, we won’t reveal which review comes from which ranker, but you’ll probably have no trouble in figuring that out. So, let’s go:
Reviewer #1:
5) Chile vs Spain: Chile is bland, so they add and subtract nothing to the look of the game. But Spain is pure awesome. Their white articles look great, and the navy top corrects the royal mistake. I like Spain’s look so much, I am seeing to it that they carry this game into the 5&1. Also of note: the Spanish keeper. Yes of course, he looks distinctly apart from the team, but check out the shoulder yoke. Take him out of context, and you can still guess his team without resorting to looking at the badge. I like this.
4) Brazil vs Côte d’Ivoire: Brazil looks like Brazil, which is a good thing. And nice shirts, Côte d’Ivoire. VERY nice. Je porterai cette chemise-là !
3) France vs South Africa: The co-Color Palette Special of the Week. Marginally “worse” than #2 just because I’m not totally sold on those Cincinnati Bearcat scratch claws on the French shirts.
2) Cameroon vs Netherlands: The other co-Color Palette Special of the Week. I don’t root for or against Manchester United, so all the Dutch chevron is, to me, is a nice design element that totally works for soccer.
1) Paraguay vs New Zealand: The stripes are back in full force, after an unfortunate Slovakia-induced turn for the blue socks. But wow, look at New Zealand! Yeah, it’s “just” all-black, but so is the world-famous rugby team! New Zealand almost looks foolish and stubborn for wearing all-white for soccer most of the time. A bit of a surprise pick on my end, but when the creators of “Business Time” find themselves up against the best-looking business socks of the World Cup, they earn the top spot.
And the game of shame:
Honduras vs Switzerland: I normally don’t discriminate against foosball games, but Honduras looks like Microsoft Powerpoint clip-art, Switzerland’s badge is terrible, and the whole game suffers from OMBuS Syndrome. (That’s One More Bumper Sticker. Rhymes with rhombus.) Yuck.
And Reviewer #2:
Honorable Mention to my homeboys from Slovakia for knocking out defending champion Italy. Skvelú prácu! (Great job!)
5) USA/Ghana: Great game (well, on offense…) and great contrast.
4) Cameroon/Netherlands: Would have ranked them higher if the Dutch numbers weren’t so blocky.
3) Slovenia/England: Chelsea fans may disagree, but John Terry and England look good in all red.
2) Japan/Denmark: I’ve fallen for Denmark’s funky pattern on their jerseys.
1) Paraguay/New Zealand: Love the stripes, and the All-Blacks look cool (not that I want everyone copying them…).
And the game of shame:
Algeria/USA: Same template as USA/Ghana…but a little too much sherbet going on here.
And, last but not least…there were a couple of turn-back-the-clock games yesterday. Unfortunately, I was away from the television for most of the day and didn’t get to watch either live. But OMG — the A’s in monochrome gold (featuring green rups with gold sanis), a look I’m not certain they wore particularly often versus the Pittsburgh Pirates in monochrome black (featuring yellow rups with white sanis — and the pillbox caps of the We Are Family Days). I’m planning on (finally) running “Monochrome in Baseball, Part II” soon, and seeing these two teams certainly doesn’t make any kind of strong case for any team returning to it. But hey, they appeared to have fun with it.
There should be plenty of galleries (go to MLB.com and just look for the wrap of the A’s & Pirates. There will also be one or two photos in the Yahoo Gallery. Wow…just, um … wow.
Now the other teams throwing back yesterday were the Orioles and the Senators…er, Nationals. You can see the gallery here. Obviously, the Senators (Nats) can’t really claim any lineage to the team who wore that uniform, but it DOES show how they could easily improve their current uniform to resemble that. The O’s didn’t really look all that much different, but they did look good with the stirrups. Both teams in rups looked great.
And speaking of stirrups, the Rays were back at it again yesterday with their new “cardinal-striped” stirrups (well, some of them were). It’s a regular stirrupalloza these days.
Clearly, UW and it’s stirrup-loving leader is having an effect on MLB, right? Can’t really say, but for those of us who can’t get enough of baseball hosiery, it’s been quite a weekend. Now, if they’d just realize that stirrups aren’t just for throwbacks anymore…
OK, ladies and germs, that’s all for this fine Sunday. Hope the final Sunday in June is a great one for everyone.
The day Custer lost at the Little Big Horn, the Chicago White Sox beat the Cincinnati Red Legs, 3-2. Both teams wore Knickers. And they’re still wearin’ ’em today. — Charles O. Finley (September 5, 1982)
That all gold Oakland uni is going to test uni historians – as to how often it was actually worn. I do remember , a picture in Sport Illustrated, of a bloodied catcher – and the A’s were wearing all green – which wasn’t a common look – so if they wore all green – I suspect they wore all yellow. I believe it was towards the end of their world series reign.
Back in those days – of black and white tv’s and limited channels – baseball cards and Sports Illustrated were a primary source
Wow – what an accident -watching the European Grand Prix, they have a in-side camera shot of a car going air borne.
So the Indians could throw back to the ’70s by wearing the white jersey with the red pants (which as near as we can figure they wore one time), and say that such an anomaly is representative of the era?
Because, y’know, fans will sigh, “Ah, yes, I remember the good old day of the white jersey with red pants.”
—Ricko
Amazing. Vida Blue wears one-off gold pants with that uni in a All-Star Game setting and someone with the A’s decides it must have been one the team’s regular uni combinations from that time.
I mean, how hard is it to find photos or video from the ’70s.
“Let’s wear this and say we did” (and revisionist history in general) is just…bullshit.
—Ricko
Was my television going crazy yesteday or did the Phillies wear their road unis at home yesterday? What was that about?
I also noticed inconsistencies with the Jays’ black alts – some players had two-layer lettering, others had single.
“The game was the second in a series that was moved from Toronto to Philadelphia because of the G20 Summit. The Blue Jays wore their home, alternate black uniforms and batted second, while the Phillies wore their road grays.”
–from ESPN’s game story.
There was concern about security at Rogers Centre, it being such a public venue. Most Jays players have said that, under the circumstances, they’d just as soon play the games in Philadelphia.
And, of course, a few here have whined that, “Should have been played at a neutral site; not fair for Phillies to get those extra home games”, ignoring that doing that would have a logistic nightmare and attracted, comparatively speaking, no fans.
—Ricko
FYI -yep and unfortunately it appears justified -as unfair to Toronto Blue Jays and the 15 other National League teams the Phillies compete against. Despite spending $1 Billion on security -the hooligans ran amok in the city yesterday (a frigging disgrace) . A concert at the ACC last night was cancelled. In fact the entire inter-city core was in lock down mode for most of the day – with no public transportation running.
I think Oakville Endive means the “inner-city” core.
To Ricko, the concern was that the Rogers Centre (I still call it SkyDome — could we have that T-shirt, please?) is practically next door to the convention centre where the summit is being held. The ‘Dome wasn’t within the cordoned-off “security zone,” but the convention centre sits between the stadium and Union Station, so it would have been very difficult to get there by public transit. Parking would also have been scarce, and the motorcades would have caused traffic snarls.
Because the government decided to shut down between January and March, it threw a wrench into planning for the summit. The federal government also seemed not to have a clue of the impact. They suggested to the Blue Jays that spectators could walk south from the station, then west along a major traffic artery — that has no sidewalks. The things they don’t tell you about on Google maps, huh?
Even if there had not been protests, infiltrated by the yobbos who always seem to turn up intent on “a bit of the old ultra-violent,” the situation would’ve been a mess.
I give the Jays a failing grade for continuing to sell tickets to the Phillies series, right up till the moment they announced the games were being moved.
The game should have been played in Montreal, but the mighty $$ ruled the day.
Not to get back into this argument, but the Tigers were in Atlanta last night. I wonder if Comerica Park was ever considered as an alternate site for the series.
And on an unrelated note, it appears that three “tiers” of replies to each comment is the limit — meaning that there is not a “reply” link to my previous comment, which is the third reply to wayne’s original question (Ricko’s being the first and Oakville Endive’s being the second).
So it would be logical to to move both teams’ gear, etc., to a neutral site, have BOTH teams ednure the cost of air fare…and on and on…rather than just flip the home-road aspects? Blue Jays still got home share of the gate, so they didn’t get screwed financially, nor did the Phillies, who got the visitor’s share. If they play at a neutral site in front of lesser crowds at, what, $10 a ticket, everybody get hosed. They’d probably lose money staging the games.
We really are making WAY too much out of where a few mid-season interleague games are being played. Eiher way, one of the teams was gonna play in a venue that was strage to them.
Philly is the common sense place to play the games, even not taking into account the money. Any other notion is overwrought, overthought and over-emotional.
—Ricko
I really need to wear my glasses when I type a comment.
(eyeroll)
—Ricko
Yeah I don’t think so.
Home field is an advantage – and I’m pretty sure there’s more to it, than hitting last. The Phillies get to play 84 home games this year, while the Mets, Braves etc , play 81 – so if the Phillies win the Pennant and either the Braves or the Mets fall one short – this little insignificant inter-league series – maybe remembered. Baseball is far too cavalier with these things – and Ricko’s relaxed attitude seems pretty well indicative that money and convenience , trumps fairness of competition.
On a separate note, for those of us – who saw the painful end of the Expos – as they played games in Puerto Rico – there was something errily similar to MLB’s approach.
As a whole – MLB tends to rub the average Canadian the wrong way – and I wouldn’t describe myself as the sensitive type in this area – whether its no anthem at an All-Star game, or having God-Bless America – played temporarily – after the 7th inning in Canada – no disrespect intended – but there is a lack of sensitivity – that isn’t helping the baseball cause up here.
Horse manure.
Ask any MLB manager.
On balance, home field really is meaningful only in post-season, or in the final stages of a title race.
Having home-road flipped for one mid-season series against someone not even in your league really is nothing. But apparently it’s a MUCH bigger deal to fans and media than it is to players.
Yeah, the Phillies get three more home games in June. So what. Had they got them in September it would be a much bigger deal.
Way too many bundle-ized undies on this, and interestingly enough virtually none are the drawers of the teams or players involved.
And, what, they should go to a neutral site, make the games a logistical nightmare and a financial disaster for some lofty crappola abstract standard of fairness and equality? For three games in June? Please.
Take ’em to Detroit, for example, so fans of BOTH teams lose a game? Jeez, even subcontracting with a Detroit station to provide the TV feed to the teams’ markets would be on the list of unnecessary extra pains in the ass.
So, yeah, sometimes logistics and common sense DO trump the subjective stuff. That’s the reality of it, plain and simple.
—Ricko
—Ricko
As discussed early this morning, here’s link.
…early this morning in the comments to yesterday’s post
I was watching Man v. Food the other night and saw the host in Cleveland wearing an “I Still Call It The Jake” shirt.
link
Also, I don’t usually see a lot of NASCAR stuff posted — I was watching NASCAR practice on Friday when Bobby Labonte wrecked his car. When he got out, I swear I thought he was wearing a football helmet! Probably just a close version to this:
link
I look forward to reading UW every day, but especially on the weekends — great stuff!
The Orioles need to start wearing those throwbacks full-time.
I have no idea if they’re historically accurate or not, but definitely top notch.
I couldn’t agree with you more…I loved the return of the cartoon oriole and stirrups. I kept looking for Brooks Robinson and Boog Powell. The current uni would be vastly improved if they wore 60s stirrup design and ditched the current alternate in favor of the cartoon bird.
The A’s must have worn the gold-on-old look on occasion. Look at Ken Holtzman’s 1974 Topps card (#180):
link
Yeah, but in the eight years (1,296 games) they wore that set, if the gold pants or green pants were worn for, say, six games each (they likely actually weren’t worn even close to that many times) that would .9% of the games.
To claim a uni combination acutally worn probably less than one-half-of-one-percent of the time as being represenative of that era, or of being the standard “look” of that era, or being the uni that springs to everyone’s mind…is a joke. It’s either stupid, lazy or an intentional rewrite of what was.
None of those is a positive.
—Ricko
Yeah, but c’mon, Ricko — a few comments ago you categorically referred to “Vida Blue wears one-off gold pants with that uni in a All-Star Game setting.” Now Matt comes up with a legitimate regular-season example and you don’t even acknowledge it.
Was the gold-on-gold common? Nope. But we’ve been wondering for a while about whether the ASG example was a one-off thing, and Matt has just demonstrated that it wasn’t. That’s a find.
Yeah, my bad. Shouldn’t have used “one-off” re: Vida’s ASG outfit. In back of my mind had a vague recollection of seeing it somewhere else, so it’s great that Matt dug up that Holtzman card. I mentioned the ASG’s because it is those enduring, high-profile images that apparently have led to the misconception among people who weren’t around at the time (some of them currently with the A’s, I guess) that such a combo was part of the A’s regular uni rotation when it just plain wasn’t. I mean, if one baseball card is the only other image available…
Being worn likely less than one percent over eight seasons, it was a gimmick, a tryout. Like the Orioles’ mono orange. Or the Saints’ black helmet. Would be like looking at photos of the improvised Vikings’ all purple from ’64 and assuming all purple was their uni that year.
(What REALLY pisses me off is that I caught Holtzman–who is the guy in BOTH the mono green and mono gold photos that have been unearthed–when his Army Reserve unit and mine were on active duty at Fort Riley for the same two weeks in the summer of ’73. They asked who’d played ball, and couple of us ended up catching so he could throw every day. Tough duty, huh. Anyway, I’d have have given him shit about being the guy getting stuck pitching in the fancy pants–and maybe learned something about them–but at the time I didn’t know they existed).
—Ricko
Well, I am thinking that…
the Vida combo was more of the gold that the A’s originally wore.
The ones they are most famous for, and the throwbacks from last night- those are more yellow. yes? no?
link
shit fuck damn, pass the dook
link
And, ref robbery. I hate soccer now…
no way that was over the line. it was an optical illusion, good call;)
It’s revenge from 1966!
link
This could be a classic. Rooting for Engerland, but regardless of the outcome, the winner must beat the Argentina/Mexico winner.
Nice looking patch on the Orioles throw back uniforms versus the Senators (Nationals)to commemorate the 1970 WS champs on Sat., and the Cubs wore a special 20,000 (regular season) games played patch against the White Sox also on Sat.
Not a super view, but you get the idea.
link
Mike Engle said:
I hate soccer now…
also what 300 million americans said yesterday at 5:00 EDT
they’re still gonna keep playing this world cup thing tho, right?
If a sporting event happens and no Americans are there to see it, did it still happen?
usually yeah
so i noticed that the rays wore their striped socks the last game of the padres series and first game of the diamondbacks series. they won both games. the middle game of the diamondback series, all of the players were wearing pajama style pants, and what happened? they got no-hit! coincidence? i think not!
Hey Jeff,
You need to get your keyboard serviced; looks like the shift key is broken.
YEAH THAT MIGHT BE A GOOD IDEA
Mike, great idea adding powder blue to the Penguins’ unis.
Also, Your 5, 4 and 3 selections almost made my list as well. There were just soooo many good matchups this week.
I also thought about Serbia/Australia:
link
Another possible comment for France/South Africa: “Two sets of unis showed up, but only one team did.”
That’s a good line…in practice. (Yep, I’m here all week.)
I indeed like those red Denmark shirts, but Japan’s tops are just too top heavy. Adidas, number, flag, badge, AND the little dickie…not crazy about that shirt. My list only has one space available for a “great vs average” matchup, and Denmark’s red isn’t as awesome as Spain’s change.
Meanwhile, thanks for borrowing my sorbet line and for agreeing with me on the stripes vs solids game. And I KNEW you’d wear my Penguins concept.
Not sure which I like better, the Pirates/A’s game or the Senators/O’s game. Fortunately, I don’t have to choose.
I’d wear them all! Well, I could do without the pillbox hats.
I think Kansas State got the shaft because of how ill-fitting the unis were. If they wore them the way they’re supposed to, link they might have been down the list a bit.
I’m surprised at the Memphis Tams and the Washington Capitals. They, as well as the Ducks, should have been rated much “higher.”
Not only were they ill fitting, there was no attempt at making them look the least bit good. Had the white wordmark been trimmed in deep purple, that would have made a difference. If the Powercat on the shots been in the lighter purple, it would have looked as though someone tried. Overall, it was a sloppy effort that was a shabby tribute to the ‘Cat teams of the ’70s.
As much as I love those old unis, they look bad now. It is the baggy style that bothers me. They just took 2 great sets and ruined them, ugh.
you know, i partially agree, but it isn’t the baggy, i am fine with loose(i would wear it loose). the real problem is the sleeves are way too long, the collars are huge, the stripes are too fat, and tck always messes up the stirrups unless you hound them at every turn.
Yup, always strikes me that for people in the stirrup business, TC Knitting know seriously little about the history of its product, and how it was worn at different periods in MLB/baseball history.
—Ricko
Yeah, the V-necks are unnecessarily big. I’ve felt the same way about the Jays’ powder blues. McGwire and Bonds have retired; uni designers need to account for ballplayers having normal-size necks again! LOL.
link
you bet it’s revenge mothervilker. they showed that on univision too, damn straight it’s revenge. it wasn’t in today anyway;)
dem aO’s-sens looked a thousand times better then a’s-p’s
link
i can’t type fast enough for the deutscland goals.
The Springfield Cardinals wore some hideous uniforms last name in the name of patriotism.
link
And yet no one will bitch about how people aren’t supposed to “wear the flag.”
But people at a World Cup match get all decked out in Star n’ Stripes gear and the shit hits the fan.
—Ricko
If G*rmany must win, at least it won’t be by just one.
Vaminos, Mexico o Argentina!
Don’t know if this has been posted here.
It’s just TOO funny.
Seriously.
link
—Ricko
i think the univision guys just said senor mick jagger is bad mojo, my espanol is ony so-so.
it’s in the books england, bring on mexi-tina
Shouldn’t England wear something like this?
link
Y’know, being Limeys and all.
–Ricko
they can wear the L, that’s all that matters. in movies, when it rains, it means change is a comin’, and it started pouring seconds before the beautiful klosse gol making it one-nil, i knew it was in the bag under the cornmother’s direction at that point.
okay, off to maxwell street market so i can start to put togehter my white bags uni before the next game. it is going to be very intimidating.
Mike Engle said:
“I indeed like those red Denmark shirts, but Japan’s tops are just too top heavy. Adidas, number, flag, badge, AND the little dickie…not crazy about that shirt. My list only has one space available for a “great vs average” matchup, and Denmark’s red isn’t as awesome as Spain’s change.
Meanwhile, thanks for borrowing my sorbet line and for agreeing with me on the stripes vs solids game. And I KNEW you’d wear my Penguins concept.”
Well, you borrowed my “color palette special” line, so we’re even. ;)
Love that Spain navy shirt. The trim looks great with the whole uni. Also love the red over royal home uni. They need to beat Portugal, and Germany needs one more win, then my World Cup experience will be salvaged.
Ronnie Poore, I commend you on your Bengals concepts.
That is bold.
I’ve always said that the Bengals best look nowadays is during training camp, when they wear simple black and white jerseys, such as those you’ve suggested. And yes, the helmet’s unique design is really is seen and appreciated.
Oh, and I think the next polls should be Best and Worst World Cup uniforms. As GREAT as Brazil’s yellow over blue can look, there are some pretty craptactularly yucky change kits in soccer history.
I **love** that Ghana kit. Saw them in their white set, and didn’t understand the deal with the yellow shoes. Put those suckers with the red/yellow unis, and WOW! Haven’t seen a shot of their goalie — was he wearing the chocolate-brown kit again? Ghana exports a lot of cocoa, so I wonder if that’s the connection? This Canadian feels sad that they eliminated the U.S., but at least they looked good doing it.
The Ghana goalie (Kingson) was in purple. Sadly, no cocoa connection: purple and choco-brown are the two Puma goalie colors.
I still maintain, the red-and-yellow striped Ghana shirts are flawed because the white front numbers get washed out. It may have to be my next “worst” pick by default.
Thanks Mike. Didn’t know that about the goalie uniforms. I still love the red/yellow colour scheme, but you’ve got a point about the numbers.
Is it just me, or do some of the stirrups in the Baltimore-Washington and Pittsburgh-Oakland games look loose?
I’m convinced that Twin City Knitting’s current stirrups are not being made to the same specs as the ones back in the day. Some combination of different yarns, different thread count, etc. So they don’t fit the same.
i hesitate to crit them publicly, and try to continue to work with them privately to work on their issues, but yes, they have 3 problems at the factory level that lead to mistakes. i will say this, the higher the loop, the more problems they have, the crazier the stripes, the more problems they have. i need to get to carolina.
Field trip, Marshall — you and me, baby!
dark and silent late last night
i think i might have heard the highway calling
geese in flight and dogs that bite
signs that might be omens say i’m going, going
Got it. Thought for half a minute it might be a player preference. The slack stirrups almost complete the picture, given the often-baggy unis.
More striped stirrups today in Tampa:
link
At least three or four other players in the starting lineup are wearing them.
Correction: The Rays’ starting nine are ALL wearing the striped stirrups. The uniform is actually uniform, people!
Not sure about the DH (or any of the bench players).
DH wearing stirrups as well. So make it the starting TEN!
But not 1B coach George Hendrick, natch….
natch
I cannot stand colored alt jerseys, yet I inexplicably adore the look thrown down by the Pirates and A’s yesterday. Give me the colored monochromes as alternate uniforms any time.
That makes two, with Phil…
And you know what? Shorten those sleeves, and those uniforms would have looked really cool.
as i said…”monochrome part deux” is coming…very soon…and all 30 teams will be examined for possible monochromaticnessness
trust me…there are at least 20 that are immediately out…but there are some interesting possiblities
but there need to be rules, or all bets are off
/stay tuned…i think you’ll find it very interesting
By now, y’all know I dig most of the softball tops, but if they traded them in for monochromes I wouldn’t mind.
Can’t wait to see red pants with the Nats’ red jerseys.
be careful what you wish for
VIVA, CUBA!!!
Aside from throwing blue into the mix, I love Cuba’s crazy uniforms. White-over-red? Sign me up.
Hey there! Don’t know if this has been commented on from the other day but the Germany mismatching shorts happens in soccer more often than you think. If you notice with Mexico v. Argentina it is the same deal with Argentina. In soccer, you must have opposition in colors on all aspects of the kits. If teams wore the same color socks, players would have trouble identifying teammates to pass to because players don’t always have their head up when passing the ball. Thus, peripheral sight differences are needed to make it easier for the players to distinguish teammates. If that means wearing practice shorts or socks, or away kits mixed with home kits, then so be it. As long as it is different.
I understand the reason why Argentina had to go to their change kit shorts and socks (Mexico wore white socks), but they looked significantly worse than the usual black shorts and white socks combo. Too much royal/midnight blue that especially clashed with the black NOB and numerals on the striped jersey.
Fellas! You nailed it! Those top four uniforms are definately all on my top 10 favorites list. Here’s my brekadown:
Kansas State – I much prefer the original Ro Blackman lavender/purple to the Fo Back man style (I don’t like the word mark K-STATE written on a uni) but still a fashion statement. Classic. I love it.
Tennessee – For halloween night? Black and orange? Are you kidding me? This one was perfect. The black makes the orange blaze. Less of a push-up color. Make it an October 31 regular. Maybe the only time BFBS has ever worked.
Pirates – Any combo of the black, yellow, white, stripe is good – when it is mixed and matched. I probably like the striped pants with any top the best but this black on bottom stripe on top is one that is fondly remembered too. Not the XXXXXXL sizes though.
SoCal Suns – Awwww man. This is just too good. Football in pink? Are you kidding me? Whoever thought of that should be in the HOF. I’m telling you I’m going to get one of those Mad Bomber Lamonica jerseys as soon as I can figure out how. Any ideas, let me know.
Hey, I’ve got my rules of engagement for good and bad and the brighter the color the better it is in my book. I hate jersey litter, BFBS (Tenn works though!), the two blues on the Seahawks (one always looks sweaty), and SFSS (stripes for stripes sake). But bright colors almost always get a passing grade.
Ricko, I’m really not feelin’ your disdain for the fact that the A’s were throwing back to a little-used combination. I don’t care if it was worn once or a thousand times. If they wore it at all, I think it’s fair game for a throwback.
What if, next year, the White Sox decided to throw back to link because it’s the 35th anniversary (Yes, 35th would be an appropriate number) of that (in)famous chapter in the franchise’s history? Would that be unacceptable as well because it was hardly representative of what was worn by the team during that time span?
P.S. Has anyone pointed out that the Oakland coaches were wearing the white caps last night? I thought that was a nice touch.
I’ll be damned if I can find any photos of the A’s coaches last night, but they get a decent amount of screen time in link from last night.
Of course it’s fair game.
What’s NOT kosher is promoting the game as being representative of how the A’s looked back then. That’s what I’m taking issue with.
Sure, the Orioles could throw back to the mono-Orange, but you’d hope they’d have enough grasp of reality to call it the “Great Experiment Throwback” or something…not peddle as, “This is how things looked at Oriole games in the early ’70s.”
That would be like finding an 45 rpm of the “Archies” and playing it as example of the great bands of their era.
—Ricko
It’s too bad there’s no screenshots of the broadcast of the A’s/Pirates game last night. They really went all out…
— The graphics were decidedly old-school, with an occasional (but much more often than back in the day) R-H-E flashing between pitches, and the occasional (ditto) Balls 3 Strikes 2 (next line) Outs 1 graphic. All lovingly rendered in a plain font.
— Broadcast booth featured the commentators sporting yellow jackets (think ‘ABC Sports in the 70’s) with a CSN logo.
— In the studio, the host had a leisure suit, and Carney Lansford wore a jacket over a tie-dyed shirt.
Ricko – your argument is utter rubbish
1. As of today home teams are 142 games over 500 – to say it’s meaningless defies that fact. I can take any season and show the same bias.
2. To say it would be more meaningful if it was September as opposed to June, has this silly baseball logic, a game today has the same value as a game in September.
3. The players aren’t speaking up – likely because they’ve been told not to.
This is money and convenience – comprimising the integrity of a division race.
Y’know, staging an MLB game isn’t as simple as deciding to shovel your neighbor’s driveway on an impulse.
When you think it through, really think it through (and I know that’s tough for many because they simply have never been far enough inside to understand–or even be aware of–all the elements invoved), from every detail down to the parking lot attendants, parking passes, press box credentials for media from TWO out of town cities, broadcasting facilities, ticket sales for three games in a neutral environment, etc., etc., etc.,it would be just plain silly to create so much angst in order to employ a neutral site for a three-game series in June.
In September when pennant pressure starts to build up, it would be a whole different animal, to be sure.
And say what you want about home field advantage, with all the stats you can muster, I’ll say again, ask the people who actually PLAY and they will tell you that at this point in the season the home field PSYCHOLOGICALLY means little. THAT’S what I was talking about. Anyone who knows baseball knows that in a short series it’s about who gets the hot pitching or the hot bats more than where you’re playing.
They just didn’t need to make a big deal out of something that nobody inside baseball seems to think is a big deal. Oh, fans are whining. But they whine about everything. It helps get their excuses lined up.
—Ricko
traxel said:
“Hey, I’ve got my rules of engagement for good and bad and the brighter the color the better it is in my book. I hate jersey litter, BFBS (Tenn works though!), the two blues on the Seahawks (one always looks sweaty), and SFSS (stripes for stripes sake). But bright colors almost always get a passing grade.”
So you would have loved Algeria vs. USA then.
Tennessee wasn’t BFBS, it was BFHS (H being Halloween).
I’d like the two blues on the Seahawks if the dark one wasn’t so depressing. That’s why the green jersey was perfect.
I like bright colors, but with contrast. Love the Steelers yellow with black, the 2nd version of the Marlins teal hat with black brim, Packers yellow with green, Sounders home unis (the change kit is too bright even for me), etc.
BFHS! Yeah! So I’m back to not liking any BFBS.
I think this SFSS ought to be examined too. All this supurfluous piping, wavy striping, side panels, et. al. in the NFL ain’t right to me. Sun Pink jerseys – good, Broncos spikey stripes – bad.
i wasn’t kidding, i really do want to go down there. i’ll bring the smoker, you bring the beer.
wifflevilkers have had tar applied. i am aging them now, should be ready within a couple weeks.
You gonna clue us in on this project of yours? ;)
interlockingtc said:
“Ronnie Poore, I commend you on your Bengals concepts.
That is bold.
I’ve always said that the Bengals best look nowadays is during training camp, when they wear simple black and white jerseys, such as those you’ve suggested. And yes, the helmet’s unique design is really is seen and appreciated.”
I agree. You may have gone a tiny bit too far the other way, but I like the idea. Maybe put that B logo on the sleeves or the hips instead of above the number?
Has anyone ever mixed the original Bengals jerseys with the new helmets? That could work, too.
i don’t care how good they look, argentina are a bunch of flopping prima dannas, it’s going to be fun crushing them.
I’ve never agreed with you more! I’m now a Germany fan for a week.
had mexico won, for saturday’s game, i was going to grab my deutche flag and head to one of the local publics to see how long i could live. but argentina won, and as skilled as they are, as beautiful as their uni’s are, their loathsome style grinds me beyond words. i can’t wait to see messi eliminated sans goal, the germans countering while ‘tinas flop to the ground begging a call, and in the end watching coach diego primadona cry. their keeper stinks, i think the germans have a real good shot. i feel bad for the mexican team/fans, there is morning all over pilsen, it’s real depressing around here.
you have not figured out the project yet?
i know! “deutsche”
i know! “deu
tsche”(fixed)
How about UCLA for the best looking baseball uniform going right now, pro or college?
Being a Titans’ fan, I agree that that shade of blue makes any uniform pop – BUT, when those hats get dirty (and they are most of the time), they don’t even look blue anymore, which kind of kills it for me…
Years ago, the Kansas Jayhawks tinkered with their uniforms (perhaps 1987 or 1988?) and actually wore GOLD uniforms. I saw a picture of them one time, and they were TERRIBLE. Fans hated them, so they were only worn one time and then never seen again.
I have never been able to rustle up a photo of these uniforms, but if anyone could find a picture of these unis, it would be an amazing find!
The A’s-Pirates game last night may not have been historically acurate, but they showed a couple things: a) While I like forest green, the A’s belong in kelly green. Period. b) Didn’t see any coaches in fitted white caps. What’s up with that?
Just trying something out here…
It just occurred to me that Wrigley was available this weekend.
Well, that was a spectacular failure.
not spectacular
Mlow be, Long Island Philistine.
the quoting probably won’t work right, but imo try something anyway (if it says “LI Phil said” tis the commenter i bold)
~~~~
Oakville Endive said:
to which
Ricko replied:
~~~~
as a mets fan (and it seems like they’re the ones complaining the loudest), i will bitch about this…i don’t think MLB handled this well — although why they couldn’t have just figured out a way to reschedule the goddam thing (they’ve known about it for a month) either in a true neutral site or back at rogers or SOMETHING — they’ve had to cancel series before and they’ve moved the yankees into shea when george had a few loose screws and a piece of lattice work fell upon some seats, and basically got mr. steinbrenner the leverage he needed for new digs…
however
the mets (and braves, marlins & natinals) need to take care of their own business and not let this travesty become something more than it is
MLB handled this poorly and should have found a better solution, but logistically, ricko’s right … given what they had to work with, if they couldn’t find a better location than philly itself, and they apparently couldn’t, this was the best solution
if the mets (or braves or marlins/natinals) lose the division by 3 or less games, it’s a convenient excuse to point to this — but the REAL culprit is the RIDICULOUS INTERPLAGUE upon the baseball land that’s being propagated by allan selig
if not for this bullshit, this wouldn’t BE an issue, but no…gotta have it; if the series were just a regular division or even intraleague game, no worries…but because they have to shoehorn this shit into 2 week in june, it becomes a logistical nightmare to reschedule this series
that, mi amigos, is the real tragedy, not the fact that the phillies will, in essence, get three more homes and three less roads than every other team in their division
hell, i don’t know about the other NL east teams, but the mets don’t even PLAY the jays, so right there everything is already fucked up — this isn’t football — there are 162 games — more than enough for every team in the same division to play an equal number of games against the SAME TEAMS
is that such a difficult concept?
christ
On a somewhat related note, what about MLB moving this week’s Mets @ Marlins series to Puerto Rico? Capacity there in San Juan (18,000) is half that of Joe Robbie Stadium, but Marlins average 16,000 at home for all games, but 20,000+ for home games versus the Mets.
I know both teams have Hispanic influences/fans, but of all the series to move out of FL, they chose this one. I think they should’ve selected a FL series against a team that doesn’t draw as well in Florida, and let the Marlins get the PR fans on their side. Not let the “road” team get as many, if not more fans.
“they should’ve selected a FL series against a team that doesn’t draw as well in Florida”
the marlins can’t play themselves
OK, did I miss the big press conference where the A’s proclaimed that they were dressing up the way they always did in the 70s for last night’s game?
Per Ricko (even though it’s going to say that I said it):
Where are you seeing these promotional materials?
And even if they did say that, they DID wear that uni at some point, so what’s the crime (aside from those ridiculously oversized neck holes)?
If the A’s weren’t implying that, what WERE they implying?
I mean, with all the on-camera people dressed in ’70s styles and all?
I’m simply saying that the all-golds misrepresent what was typical…and typical apparently was what they were selling (see the TV spot, also).
If someone produced a hour-long show called “TV in the ’70s” but used only clips from a show that was cancelled in 1971 after three episodes you’d have to question how accurate a representation it was…wouldn’t you?
—Ricko
There was actually a relative simple solution – the Toronto/Phila could have been pushed back to Monday – Wed – same with the Cleveland /Cincinnati – Toronto would have played in Cleveland this weekend – as they are scheduled to play this week – and Phila would have played Cincinatti this weekend as opposed to also this mid-week – Yes Cincinnati would have been slightly impacted – but it would have a relatively quick and elegant solution – instead – baseball took this cavalier attitude – motivated by $$ – impacted the integrity of the season (although I agree with Phil – that already a bit of a joke) robbed Toronto fans of seeing Roy Halladay – a much loved sports figure in this town.
Flipping through the channels, I stumbled upon a WPS game.
FC Gold Pride (wearing all black) was hosting Sky Blue FC (wearing all orange). You would think the game would be blue @ gold, but that would make too much sense…
Finally got to that Orioles-Nationals (let’s call ’em the Senators) gallery. Just sweet stuff. Uniforms were tailored better, and those Oriole stirrups: fantastic.
I don’t know who to reply to anymore…
The Jays did the best they could at the last minute – they made the decision a month ago to move the game, Philadelphia was the only logical choice.
If they’d had more time to prepare, a neutral site game would have been great – not another MLB city like Detroit, but somewhere else in Canada. Montreal is an obvious choice. They could have gone to Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Winnipeg or Ottawa, all of which have AAA stadiums.
They’re the only team in Canada and it makes sense to market themselves as Canada’s team (like the Raptors have done). Every year, taking a home series to Winnipeg or Vancouver, announce it during December, do a serious promotion around it, put in some temporary stands, maybe do a throwback to a team that previously played in that city, and make a big event of it. Build the brand across the country.
As it turns out, moving the series was the right move
link
yo mike,
which was scheduled first? the g-20 or the baseball game? (serious question)
because someone fucked up bigtime…if the summit was scheduled first, then MLB OWES the people of canada another series…if the g-20 came afterwards, then the game should have gone on and fuck the summit…let them work around it…it’s just an excuse for jobless people to protest shit they don’t understand anyway
sad thing is…i bet toronto needs the home gate from philly more than it needs 3 home games
The G20 was moved from 2 hours north of Toronto, to Toronto, after the release of the baseball schedule. Toronto definitely could not have played at home this weekend – Saturday was a very ugly day here – and the Rogers Centre – is right next door to where the summit took place.
As to my earlier suggest, here’s how the 4 teaam would be impacted
1. Philadelphia – instead of going first to Toronto then Cincinnati – you would go first to Cincinnati – then Toronto
2. Toronto – instead of Phila visiting you and then going to Cleveland – you go to Cleveland first – then the Phillies visit
3. Cleveland – instead of being in Cincinatti this weekend – and then having Toronto visit – you have Toronto visit – then go to Cincinnati
4. Cincinatti – your home stand flips around Cleveland and Philadelphia
There’s no great added travel burdens – I hidely doubt it’s a major issue to Cincinatti – that Phila comes first then Cleveland. Cleveland swaps a mid-week home series with a weekend home series – a win, and Toronto gets to host Phillies at home – after the summit
So why didn’t they do this – well money I suspect – they were provided a convenient excuse – Phila drew approx 125,000 for the series – Toronto I expect would have drwn 85,000 (big crowd for Halladay return, mediocre for the rest)
so…basically the g-20 said “eff you” to mlb
im sorry, but that’s bullshit
Oh, right. Nice simple solution. Let’s disrupt a whole BUNCH of teams. Is reality NEVER a consideration in this discussion?
And where was all this concern for integrity when, on the same night the world practically came to an end because a pitcher didn’t get a perfect game, Minnesota had a game end prematurely (and took a loss) on an even worse call in the bottom of the 10th that allowed the winning run to score?
The outcome of a game being effected was of less importance, apparently, than someone not getting a perfect game.
Seems to me the Integrity Police should have been all over that misalignment of priorities.
Instead, their silence was deafening.
—Ricko
I cannot WAIT for the NFL season. It’s 100 degrees in the Bay Area.
No picture yet, but watching SportsCenter, and it looks like Julio Lugo was missing his left sleeve patch.
Phil, love your all-red Nats!
link
Although since they like to incorporate blue, how about red sanis and blue stirrups?
RPM, what sorta rhymes with Deutsche flag? ;) And if you don’t like Argentina, you want to root for Spain to beat Portugal. Maradona and Ronal…doh! both need to go home.
Toronto, didn’t you have a summit like this about ten years ago? Why would you want to have another? Why don’t they hold those things on a resort island or something?
Red socks and blue stirrups?
Is that, like, a Hannah Montana look or something?
Cuz it sure isn’t baseball.
At least not for the past 100 years or so, if that matters to anyone. ;)
—Ricko
Not saying it’s MY ideal look, just trying to think like the Nats. :)
Well, now, that’s rarely a good idea.
“it sure isn’t baseball”
kinda like this look?
If it isn’t baseball, I’ll take it for wiffleball!
Hey, hey, now…white hightop Chucks with stirrups is very Little League, circa 1956.
And what major leaguer wouldn’t want to look like that.
—Ricko
so minor league ;)
Right. The Giants wore those tennies so often that they represent and sum up the team in ’50s, like, totally. ;)
—Ricko
Golly, that’s the ’60s cuz vs. the Cowboys…so it shows how the Giants looked in that decade, too!
Gee, it’s swell to have such an accurate handle on their uni history.
—Ricko
it’s also a photo from the ricko files
ha! yes deutsche flag is a rhymer. ironic isn’t it mothervilker:) especially since the vaterland is a “clock cleaner”.
i am not dead against the portugal, but spain is the red headed stepchild of european powers, so my inclination is to root for ’em. uni-wise i am neutral, so i will see how the game goes before i decide, and i reserve the right to change on a dime if someone does something i hate. i have one loyalty in fussball, other then that i am open.