Skip to content
 
Uni Watch

Monday Morning Uni Watch

By
Screen shot 2010-09-27 at 7.10.18 AM.png

Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t think I’d want my team wearing an alternate jersey for their home opener, as the Dolphins did last night (additional photos here). I mean, it’s your first home game since last year — wouldn’t you want to show off your traditional look to reinforce the fan/team bond? Meanwhile, Brandon Marshall went the extra mile by wearing solid-orange cleats, which will probably earn him a fine.

In other notes from yesterday and Saturday:

• The Broncos added an “11” memorial decal for Kenny McKinley.

• While watching the Giants/Titans game at the very wonderful Assemby Bar in Queens (same bar where Trees Lounge was filmed, don’tcha know), I noticed that Chris Johnson had laces hanging out of his sleeves. Not sure if those were from his pads or if it was a tie-down thing or what. Is this a regular thing with him?

• Last week we noted that some of the Giants were wearing seamless super-stretchy pants, which made the piping appear wider. Turns out the same thing is happening with the home pants, at least for a handful of players. (Meanwhile, Keith Bulluck was doing the “I’m so cool cuz I leave my belt unbuckled” thing.)

• The Reebok logo on James Laurinaitis’s sleeve is oddly positioned. Apparently it’s been that way for a while now (and he’s not the only one).

• Surprising to see Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick wearing his wedding band on the field.

• Michigan State added a “D” helmet decal as a gesture of support for Coach Mark Dantonio.

• NC State declined to allow Georgia Tech to wear white at home, so the Yellow Jackets had to break out last year’s gold jerseys.

• Hard not to love those Iowa throwbacks.

• Colorado State’s orange jerseys didn’t look as bad as I’d feared. Not great, mind you, but not quite the train wreck I’d expected.

• Here’s a weird one: BYU nose tackle Romney Fuga had to leave Saturday’s game in the first half due to an injury. So teammate Vic So’oto honored his fallen teammate by wearing Fuga’s jersey in the second half. Is that even legal?

• Boston College usually wears gold pants at home, but on Saturday they went with white.

• Tom Phillips describes a situation from Saturday’s Michigan/Bowling Green game: “Two Michigan players wore No 9 during a punt return. The officials seemed unfamiliar with the situation — they initially penalized Michigan by deducting a timeout but then added it back on and instead it became a five-yard penalty against the defense and BG re-kicked. Tay Odoms kept wearing No. 9, while Courney Avery, switched to a NNOB No. 38 jersey.”

• Many college football coaches were wearing sleeve patches to raise awareness of muscular dystrophy. Further details here.

• Dartmoth prexy Jim Yong Kim was in uniform on the sidelines for Saturday’s game. “He was honoring the Class of 2014, which was attending its first Big Green gridiron clash,” explains Tris Wykes. (Meanwhile, the student section had a new T-shirt design. “Kinda looks like suspenders,” says Tris.)

My thanks to everyone contributed observations and images, including Alex Rocklein, Brett Crane, Kevin Zdancewicz, and of course Phil.

Screen shot 2010-09-26 at 8.31.49 AM.png

Mystery solved (or at least clarified): Remember Friday’s entry about Danny Murtaugh’s cover-up Clemente patch? Jerry Wolper helped bring things into focus by pointing out something I’d completely overlooked: Murtaugh didn’t manage the Bucs for most of 1973 — Bill Virdon did. Murtaugh took over late in the season, on Sept. 7, when the team was in the midst of a road trip. Three days later, on Sept. 10, they opened a series at Wrigley. Makes sense that they might not have had time to get a real patch put on his jersey in the middle of a road trip, so that probably explains the odd state of affairs on his left sleeve.

Interestingly, SI‘s Sept. 24 issue had Murtaugh on the cover. A magazine with that cover date would have been published on Sept. 17, which means the photo had to be taken no later than Sept. 14 or 15, while the Pirates were still in the midst of that same road trip. We can see the corner of the spring training Clemente patch, but the rest of Danny’s sleeve is maddeningly out of view. I bet the cover-up patch was there, though. In fact that may be why they cropped the photo that way, because the cover-up patch looked odd.

Meanwhile, Chris Weber alerted me to the fact that Murtaugh’s granddaughter wrote a biography of him a few years ago. It has the best title ever.

Uni Watch News Ticker: There were a couple of items that I know I had written up for last Friday’s Ticker, but somehow they got left out, so: The Wizards will be changing their team colors after this season, and a rare kinescope of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series has been found in Bing Crosby’s old wine cellar. ”¦ Lengthy assessment of football footwear colors here. ”¦ Greg Capece notes that the blow-up helmet at the end of the 49ers’ tunnel is out of date. ”¦ Remember that “Design your own boxing poster” tutorial? Nicholas Sands used it to create a football poster. ”¦ Although this screen shot is way blurry, it show something odd: The runner in the foreground is Nats catching prospect Jesus Flores, who’s just hit a home run in an Instructional League game. Behind him is Braves a pitching prospect, who as you can see is wearing red. But off to the side you can see the Braves’ shortstop, who’s wearing navy. All the other Braves personnel were wearing navy too. Granted, it’s just an Instructional League game, but why would one player be wearing a different color? (Good spot by Matthew Windsor.) ”¦ New hoops uniforms for Xavier. ”¦ One thing about those Xavier uniforms, and all the other new college hoops jerseys this year: The jerseys now have maker’s marks. That’s a new thing for NCAA basketball jerseys. ”¦ Kevin Werther found an old photo of the O’s mascot with a stirrup malfunction. ”¦ Great shot of Cy Lince breathing Ethier (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). ”¦ I think we’ve run this before, but once more can’t hurt: Johnny U playing basketball! (Big thanks to Kevin Zdancewicz.) ”¦ Here’s the latest logo for the Pro Bowl. ”¦ Good article on the guy who designed the Pens’ skating penguin (with thanks to Brian Pettit). ”¦ Interesting untucked jerseys for Belarus in the Women’s FIBA championships (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). ”¦ Somebody at Wrigley was having a bit of fun with the State Farm ad on the visitors’ dugout railing (screen shot courtesy of Jeff Scott). ”¦ Like clockwork, people are writing in to let me know that the Red Wings have a new NOB font. As I patiently explain each time, the Wings do this every preseason. Their standard vertically arched NOBs will return once the regular season commences. ”¦ The Rays are apparently making a late-season switcheroo of their BP caps (with thanks to Mike Edgerley). ”¦ Alex Kinkopf notes that the Jumbotron display of the game officials at L.A. Kings games still uses the old NHL logo. ”¦ Some amazing examples of compelling ways to display a collection here (thanks, Kirsten). ”¦ Frank Mercogliano notes that Idaho State is using captaincy designations. ”¦ More decal/vent issues for the Revo Speed helmet, this time in the CFL. Also, look how nice the folks at Reebok were, adding an extra logo above the nameplate to go along with the ones on the sleeves. So generous of them! (Big thanks to Aaron McHargue.) ”¦ 20th-anniversary patch for San Jose State hockey. ”¦ The Angels unveiled their 2011 gear on Friday night. Here’s how the anniversary patch and gold halo look on the jersey, the new gold-halo cap (which also has an annoying anniversary patch on the side — sigh), and the new left-sleeve patch (which replaces the “Angels Baseball” patch they’d been using). I generally prefer silver over gold, but in this case I don’t think there’s any question that the gold halo complements the team’s red tones much better than the silver did. They should stick with the gold even after the anniversary season is over. ”¦ Here’s Michael Orr‘s latest round of EPL uni news. ”¦ Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: A UFL player has a comma on his NOB, which (a) looks really weird and (b) is grammatically incorrect. Just pull the plug on that league already, please. ”¦ Also from yesterday’s comments: Jose Guillen went high-cuffed yesterday and went with the striped hose. ”¦ Larry Bodnovich sent along screen shots from some college football color-on-color games, mostly from the 1960s, and some smaller schools. Among the highlights: Maine had some killer socks (but what’s up with the official’s armband?); a 1965 shot of Tennessee with the black cross in the “T” (according to the Helmet Project, the cross was added “for the last few games of the 1965 season as a tribute to three assistant coaches [Charlie Rash, Bill Majors, and Bob Jones] who lost their lives as a result of a train/automobile collision that occurred in West Knoxville on October 18); and although it’s not football-specific, ya gotta love this Houston Cougars athletic dept. shot. ”¦ Good catch by Jude S., who noticed Adam Dunn using one of Ryan Zimmerman’s bats.

 
  
 
Comments (198)

    In regards to the oddly-placed Reebok logo, it’s always been that way for random Panthers players’ jerseys for at least the past couple of years.

    link

    It looks like some of their jerseys don’t have enough room between the top of the TV logo on the sleeve and the shoulder stripe, so they have to fanagle the Reebok logo wherever they can. Appears to be the same thing for the Rams.

    Watching Broncos/Colts yesterday, my wife asked why Austin Collie had his name in quotation marks. (Couldn’t find a photo, but here’s a link on Antoine Bethea.)

    There’s nothing like those traditional Colts uniforms

    …snd that’s nothing like those traditional Colts uniforms.
    (my online Groucho imitation; impressive, huh)

    —Ricko

    Looking for a screencap, but after Collie’s touchdown, he and Manning were on the bench and there was a huge difference in letter thickness and kerning on the NOBs between the two.

    A few thoughts on Paul’s thoughts:

    The misplaced vector is because of how short the sleeves are. The ram’s head runs almost into the sleeve stripe, so the vector has to be moved to the side.

    Isn’t wearing a wedding ring on the field a good way to lose a finger?

    With the Redskins wearing gold pants at home now, the BC white pants look even more out of place.

    I think those Dartmouth tees are supposed to look like prison bars or something. It does say “D-Block” after all.

    I’ll bet the official’s armband in the Maine game was to designate the head ref. He was in the offensive backfield after all.

    That’s all I got for now.

    I think that’s the umpire and we’re looking at the defense. Also strange is the linesman with black arm bands- and he’s not on the line of scrimmage.

    Yea its definitely the defensive side of the ball. Generally on third down, one linesman stays on the ball and the other moves to the marker if its close. Same for goal to go situations. It makes it easier to get an accurate look. That being said it does kill the thought of the orange stripe being the Referee.

    I seem to recall that back in the day when the NCAA restricted substitutions, or in the pre-two platoon days, when you DID sub in for someone, you had to report to the U, who actually kept lineups. It took a few years after the NCAA removed substitution barriers for the various conferences to remove the armband from the U’s sleeve.

    That’s the System of Dress look, unfortunately. As an X fan, I was kind of hoping for the custom hologram on the back of the jersey – but they’re pretty nice. Incorporated some of Xavier athletic fonts with the front and numbers, which is nice.

    The contract with Coach Mack and the school is a big thing – I know Nike’s evil and all, but they help with status and recruiting.

    Pretty sure leaving a belt unbuckled & dangling either means your pants are too tight. Or an arrogant thug who think he’s making a statement about his “abilities”. Or both.

    I’ve never heard Keith Bulluck described as anything other than a consummate professional, so it’s probably the former, rather than the latter.

    Unfortunately whatever Bullock’s motivation in going unbuckled, some younger players will think that the look is “cool” and that Keith “jus’ be stylin,’ man.” And before you know it you’ve got another uniform disaster. Patrick Ewing’s wearing of a T-Shirt at Georgetown because he was “cold” when the Hoyas played on a court that was placed over hockey ice started the trend in basketball and here 25 years later there’s still an epidemic of badly-dressed basketball players. Isn’t it ironic that Patrick NEVER wore a T-Shirt in the NBA and more NBA floors are placed over hockey ice than in the NCAA.

    The Eagles specialized in the unbuckled look five seasons ago:
    link

    I wrote about it for ESPN at the time (some of the photo links no longer work, but many of them are still functional):
    link

    I didn’t think you were allowed to wear a t-shirt under your jersey in the NBA. I always assumed that’s why he stopped doing it.

    Also, with the fabric technology we have today (and with function and player performance/comfort at the base of many of these technologies) why do football pants even still have belt loops? Seems like a stretchy waistband is all you need.

    The NBA banned them; I remember in 93 or so, during Jimmy Jackson’s rookie year, he wore a t with the arms cut out, which was then banned the next year…I always assumed some guys wore them like I did) because they where skinny (like I was). Not trying to look cool, but I had pipe cleaner arms back in the day.

    Yes Andy, you’re right. The NBA banned T-Shirts. My problem with the look on any player is that it demeans the uniform. For high school players to wear a uniform with your town or school name on it should be a source of pride. Don’t muck up the look with a cheap T-Shirt because it’s the “in” thing to do. Maybe I’m too old fashioned with my uni tastes but I feel all athletes should dress properly and respect the uniform. If you’re in the military you wear it a specified way, no exceptions. Sports should make players dress properly. No excuses.

    …just like when baseball had “a stretchy waistband”?…

    …no…it’s just a prelude to a disaster

    I have more than a passing familiarity with the culture that gave birth to BYU, so I’m not surprised to see a Cougar player with a fairly idiosyncratic name. But Romney Fuga? Somewhere in Tonga, there’s probably a future BYU down lineman named Glennbeck Maumaga running around…

    Said this yesterday.
    When I get to be King, Iowa’s going to those throwbacks full time.
    It could be just the overcast day, but having seen the real thing…I’d say say the real things were a bit more yellow. Still great, though.

    —Ricko

    But if they do, it will be for only one game, right? ESPN the Magazine has an article this week indicating that the Pro Combat jerseys have become an important money-maker for universities.

    I would expect riots if Iowa were to do pro combat jerseys and they didn’t look traditional. Iowa doesn’t take change well.

    Browns wore their white socks with white pants and white jerseys yesterday, too.

    Classic. Looking good, Great Mangini; somebody point out the Browns had a winning tradition (and iconic uni) you might want to focus on?

    —Ricko

    Now if only Mangini would grow some balls and not punt when his job is on the line. I’ve been defending him for a year and a half, but he killed his credibility with me yesterday by failing to challenge the spot on that 3rd-and-13 first down and then punting when the only way to tie the game was to go for it.

    Call me sadistic, but once – just once – I would have liked to see a brown jersey/brown pants combo for the Browns. Because the world would have taken notice and the day of and the day after such a monstrosity would have been set before us, it would likely have meant the UW Blog would have had 1,000 plus posts.

    the way brandon marshall played last night, i bet the entire team will chip in to pay his fine

    meanwhile…i was kind of hoping braylon edwards would have had a “point” (period) in front of his 17 (.17)

    I was thinking the Jets shouldn’t have held Edwards out for a quarter last night, just maybe said he couldn’t play until 4:45 a.m.

    —Ricko

    I like the UFL. The Omaha/Hartford game (which happened to feature the two best-dressed UFL teams) on Friday was truly awesome. And one of Jeff Garcia’s sleeve logos was reversed, so there’s that too.

    The UFL might not have the best jerseys (to understate things), but that’s no reason to pull the plug on the league. Is there no room for AAA football in anybody’s heart?

    Ok, I’m a football fan and I have always defended the UFL, but am I the only one who is frustrated that they don’t have statistics posted on their website? I’m curious to see how certain players di, and apparently that isn’t possible. You just lost a few points with me, UFL.

    At least the UFL uniforms are generally consistent with themselves. The Bills having royal blue numbers on their white jerseys is far, far dumber than anything the UFL is doing.

    Two things:

    1. Sorry if this was already pointed out, but the Steelers have worn their black jerseys in both of their road games so far this year.

    2. Larry B, you made my day with the old photos of IUP. I had no idea they had a Redskins-esque feather helmet stripe at one point. Also – I assume the “100” helmet has to do with some centennial celebration, but the university was established in 1875… any insight regarding what that’s about?

    Huh. Another case of something everybody else probably knows, and I’ve managed to miss. Do not tell Jenny Sweet; she likes to catalogue these things and use them against me when I claim to know everything. :)

    Note the royal Ole Miss helmet with the navy jersey and pant striping.
    An oddity I always appreciated.
    Never understood it, just liked its uniqueness.

    —Ricko

    Bernard, glad you enjoyed the Indiana Pa pics. I also did not know they had a feather on the back like the Redskins.

    I wonder what percent of teams in 1969 had the 100 decal. Most did but not all.

    I’m also intrigued by the varying helmets and jerseys on the team in white in this picture:

    link

    At any rate, great stuff. Thank you!

    I remember seeing Keith Bulluck (I think) having those strings as well when he played for the Titans.

    Also, the Ravens have worn their purple home jerseys for every game so far this season. They played at NYJ week 1 and the Jets wore white, they played at Cincy last week and the Bengals wore white and they played their home opener yesterday, wearing purple again.

    Happens all the time. Some people also struggle with names like Laurenaitis. Paul better be careful, though … may get a professional wrestler ticked off at him if it happens again.

    I think Keith Bulluck’s face mask is more interesting than his pants, but I am assuming it has been discussed here before because it hasn’t been brought up. I have never seen that before and it is obviously a custom made job and really has no function other than added weight and less visibility. Also, what is with Fitzpatrick’s helmet? It appears to have too much air in the crown and sit very high on his head.

    It’s been mentioned in passing but never really addressed. It’s a basic U-RONJO “bulldog” facemask with an extra bar between the nasal and oral horizontals. Chris Canty wears something similar, with a neck extension and there was a linebacker for the Saints that used to wear what was basically a hockey cage.

    RE NFL ‘home pants’ above the knee. Of course NFL players had to come up with a ‘new’, ‘hip’, ugly counterpart to the MLB bell bottoms and the NBA ‘giant shorts’. After all, stupidity is the ‘thing’ with the ‘why?’ generation.

    Yes doesn’t it seem ironic that football “pants” end above the knee while basketball “shorts” go well below?

    Re: 1960s color on color: It may be my faulty memory, but I’m relatively sure that Tennessee used to wear orange at home and on the road. I am certain that it was a big deal when the Vols wore white in a Cotton Bowl back then.

    I think you may be right. Back then I used to wonder what they’d wear on road, figuring the light orange numbers might not show up all that well on white.

    And I never did see a white jersey.

    Not until the Condredge Holloway era, anyway, when the numbers had a really dark gray outline. Also, there was a white jersey with an orange shoulder yoke. Posted a photo here a long time ago, but it’s not still on my flickr page. Maybe when I get home tonight I’ll dig it out.

    (Speaking of Holloway…remember when Tennessee baseball was stylin’ after the Oakland A’s…sorta?…)
    link

    —Ricko

    They did where orange numbers on white for several years. Here is Heath Shuler in 1991 – link

    A couple of years later, the black outline border was added, much to the relief of announcers. I remember Keith Jackson commenting that he had complained for years to the UT equipment guys about how the numbers look on TV.

    I now have on ESPN2 I missed the first 25 minutes and it does not seem to be on again soon. “Boys of Fall”

    Talking to Conredge Holloway and that jersey is hanging up in the background.

    In the late 80’s my college baseball team, Milligan, played at Tennessee and we showed up in our orange jerseys which, being a small NAIA school were all we had then. They were taking BP in their orange jerseys and were mad when they had to go change into white for their home game. Apparently they had asked our coach to wear white and didn’t believe him when he said we didn’t have a white jersey.

    It may have been the 1950 or 1951 [?] Cotton Bowl v. Texas. Both teams wore orange and white, though Longhorn orange was darker (but not, for some reason, the traditional burnt orange).

    Look for Boys of Fall on ESPN if it shows again. Holloways jersey is on the wall. I posted above also.

    good to know that even in basketball Johnny Unitas sported black high-tops.

    i was hoping for Redskins to wear the yellow-gold pants with the white jerseys yesterday.

    God….the Giants played like crap yesterday. It’s one thing to have a sucky team that can’t win, it’s another to have a team filled with talent that loses games, rather than being beat.

    Sorry, nothing to do with UNIs. Oh, my wife mentioned that the blue color on the Giants’ jersey/helmet was very “pretty”. There ya go.

    :)

    ditto….. losing like that to the Titans is a million times worse than getting blown out by Peyton & Company……

    Yikesamighty!!!

    Don’t remember this AT ALL.
    ARGOS IN (apparently) MONO POWDER BLUE ???
    If not Argos, then who?
    (Gotta be mid- to late; ’70s, cuz helmet logos were added to virtually every CFL teams’ sleeve stripes around 1981)
    link

    —Ricko

    Thanks. Had never seen that before (wasn’t much CFL on TV during those years; wasn’t until ESPN came along that the league was on the tube again regularly in the states). Would be interesting to see a color shot.

    —Ricko

    I think that one picture needs some more Copyright image communications watermarks on it. Sheesh.

    The 63 Eskimos Roughriders shot.

    I absolutely want my team to wear an alternate jersey for their home opener. Have you seen the Vikings home jerseys — I’d take the throwback alternate any day over those….

    a trees lounge reference! i love it. anything with steve buscemi, but that movie is one of my favorites.

    Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim continued his tradition of watching games from the Big Green sidelines yesterday. He wore a No. 14 jersey to honor the freshman class of 2014: link

    Whoops. Make that link

    Also, the school passed out student section t-shirts visually referencing the football team’s iconic helmet design: link

    Actually, the Dolpins orange unis gave people a great opportunity to adjust the color settings on their new TV. I didn’t know that they weren’t wearing red until I saw your photos!

    The Dolphins should have worn teal pants with those orange jerseys. Likewise, the next time Denver wears their orange jerseys, they should go with blue pants. I would also like to see the Raiders in black pants with silver jerseys.

    this is effed up..

    the always correct wiki shows the team color as “coral” but in the text says, “The Dolphins logo and uniforms have remained essentially the same since the team’s founding. The team’s colors are aqua and orange; navy was added as a trim color in 1997.”

    the coral they show looks nothing like the jersey above it

    if you go to the official source, our friends at SSUR have it listed as coral

    but that sure as hell looked orange (even red-orange/orange-red) last night…not the much lighter (and pinker) coral

    I realize I am once again in the minority here…but I liked the orange jerseys….. It really stood out againstt the Jets whites…

    Jack Kent Cooke called purple “Forum Blue.”
    Methinks the Dolphins hung a new name on the same orange as lots of other teams,the orange they’d worn for decades. Maybe changed the PMS spec a bit to justify the name change.
    Was a slow day in the marketing department, apparently.

    —Ricko

    Check out the completely different jerseys (and helmet stickering) on the defenders in this pic from Larry’s album: link

    That is Clarion Pa on the right. Not sure who is on the left. I did like the different stripes around shoulders and patterns. Even some guys with 100 and some not.

    Gannon (Clarion’s opponents in the previous pic) took a step backward in their uniforms from last year to this- link
    don’t see many DBs with long, curly blond hair either

    I don’t know why I’m doing this, but my research shows Clarion played Mansfield, Delaware State, Geneva College, Lock Haven, Edinboro, IUP, Cal of PA, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester in 1969. They went 8-2.

    My initial guess would be Shippensburg. Their team colors are red, white and blue, and a majority of the players appear to be wearing those colors. They also currently wear silver helmets. The one player with maroon numbers stands out, however, as possibly an older variation of the jersey.

    Good work trying to figure out who the other team was. Many times the pictures or shots are not labeled so I just know one of the teams unless they are major colleges and I can guess better

    With all of the talk about UFL uniforms, I don’t know if anyone has mentioned that the Omaha Nighthawks are playing their home games at Rosenblatt Stadium (a frequent UW topic).

    Cool story and video here about getting the stadium ready to host football.

    link

    Paul says Colorado State’s jerseys weren’t a trainwreck? Maybe the jerseys by themselves aren’t bad, but they look hideous with their helmets.

    I dunno, as a one-shot, looked pretty good. There’s plenty of green elsewhere on the unis for it to work.

    In theory is no different than when the original Los Angeles Rams wore gold jerseys and white pants with gold-horned blue helmets (wore it again in ’94 for the NFL 75th Anniversary). That’s a uni often regarded as of the most original and distinctive NFL sets of all time.

    —Ricko

    Sorry, but those two aren’t alike. Orange and green don’t work together, while blue and yellow do.

    Not what I meant. Just meant the general concept…using one primary color for the home jersey and the other darker primary color for the helmet. Much like the Giants when they wear the red jerseys. Or the first Montreal Concordes (blue helmet, red jersey), Oklahoma State for many years (black helmet, orange jersey), Mississippi when they wear red jerseys or the Orange Crush Broncos, etc.

    —Ricko

    Yeah, I know, James. I meant to say “The U” but then I thought I’d test you…yeah, that’s it…I was testing you to see if you caught that…

    I know that players say playing on a blue field makes absolutely no diffence, and yes when the game was shown from field level that becomes evident…..

    But holy crap is it hard to watch on TV!!!!!

    Boise State didn’t always wear solid blue at home, I think they had white pants, and even wore a orange jersey at home years ago. I would think there was a period of adjustment watching BSU at home with the solid blue uniforms and that blue turf. On TV, it appears to blend in, but as we know, video is different from how it looks in person.

    Awesome the Wizards are going to blue and red. The NBA is VERY short on teams using blue and red……….

    I say call them the Supremes. As in Supreme Court, not Diana Ross. Takes five to make a majority in the Court, and it takes five to field a team on the court.

    Gives them an excuse to wear black, they can call their home the Supremes Court at the Verizon Center, and they could have a hand holding a brown gavel as the logo (because, as Phil now knows, it’s OK to wear brown and black sometimes).

    I suppose they could call them The Washington Justice, and they could play at the Supreme Court.

    Then, whenever they shoot like crap, people could say “Justice is blind!”

    In December, the MLB Network will be showing a documentary with footage from that classic game. Bob Costas will host, and there will be interviews from players of both teams. I hope the original, full length version of that game will be available on dvd later.

    I am also excited to see this game, but it makes me wonder: Will the game be as exciting as all the hype? We place these high expectations on some of these ‘white whales’ and I’m curious if it will meet them. I hope it does, I’m just thinking online.

    Yes, I can assure anyone who has only seen the Maz home run from that Game 7, the drama of that game will live up to the hype. There has been a book written about that game, and I own a copy of the radio call. It’s one of the most exciting, important games in MLB history. Hall of Famers on both teams, along with excellent talent, make it must viewing if you’re a baseball fan at all.

    One of the unique aspects of that Game 7, is that although the series was tied 3-3, the favored Yankees had a huge run differential. New York won their games in blowouts, while the Pirates won their games in scores like 3-2.

    If you’re still not sure this game will live up to the anticipation, just look up this game online, and checkout the box score.

    Mickel, I can assure you this game will live up to the hype, baseball historians have called this game one of the best in MLB history. Many people only know of this game from the clip of the historic home run by Bill Mazeroski, but it featured several lead changes, and impressive talent on both sides.

    This game has had the disadvantage of not being seen, the way other, later, Fall Classics like the 1975 World Series. The unique aspect of this game were the previous six, which had the favored Yankees winning their games 28-3, while the Pirates won their games 14-8.

    Chris Johnson’s laces/tie downs were mentioned in the August 17th, 2010 Uni Watch Ticker. Keith Bullock had the same thing when he was a Titan… link link

    It appears to be corset lacing under the sleeves, going down the side of the jersey. That would seem to be consistent with the theory that the lacing is to tighten the jersey in general, rather than tie it to the shoulder pads or that it is the lacing from the pads themselves.

    Maybe this has been answered before, but I noticed Drew Brees has 4 yellow stars in his captaincy patch. I assume this is the 4th year of the program? Does anyone know what happens to 5th year captains? Another star? Keep 4 stars?

    I don’t care for the patches…but if they’re going to be used and the 4 stars are all gold, then the 5th year the “C” should become gold and it should be left as is after that.

    That’s not bad. What is bad is that they exist at all. Why do they have to all be the same? Who cares how long one is a captain. This is about the dummest of all the dumm things the NFL unifies on team uniforms. That’s UFL stuff.

    I think they said when they started the program that the patch wouldn’t change after the fourth year; that it would just stay with four stars filled in.

    I love the anniversary gold halo for the Halos. I understand why the team went with a silver halo when they redid their unis, and I still think it’s the better choice from a design perspective, but the gold halo seems to fit the team’s historical identity better. Plus, red/gold is a terrific color combo that somebody should wear, and now that the Nats seem to be stepping back from their accidental near-brush with becoming a red/gold team, the Angels are the next-best choice.

    I’ve never seen proof, but I’ve heard that the 1951 Philadelphia A’s put a gold outline around their cap logo to celebrate the franchise’s 50th anniversary. If so, sort of a close precedent for Los Angeles of Anaheim’s 2011 goldification.

    Right, the gold more closely resembles the yellow halo the Angels used throughout the 1980s. I like the anniversary logo, but the patch on the side of the cap, as always, looks ridiculous.

    I kind of agree about the patch. “Kind of” in that I love giant cap patches when I’m a diehard fan of the team in question. My 2010 Twins road cap just wouldn’t be the same without the garish Target Field inaugural season patch on the side. The special event being commemorated has great meaning for this fan, so the cap patch is OK. Whereas if I’m not a particular fan of the team but just like the cap as a design artifact, as is the case with the gold-halo Angels logo, the patch is an absolute deal-breaker. You couldn’t pay me to wear an Angels cap with that giant logo on the side. If I was an Angels fan who didn’t care much either way about the Twins but liked the idea of a TC cap with a red bill, then my opinion between the two side-patched caps would be reversed.

    As it stands, if the gold-halo Angels cap is only available with the anniversary patch, then I’ll save my thirty bucks. But if it is available without the anniversary patch, then I’ll buy one for sure.

    It seems like just having a gold halo is subtle enough to work on its own. But of course, this is Major League Baseball, so an anniversary or commemoration isn’t official without a patch.

    While Jets de Nueva York was correct, Dolphins de Miami should have been Delfines de Miami…..

    6pm eastern today on the NHL Network will be a show about the Expansion Six teams of 1967. It’s called “The Day the Game Changed”, there might be some interesting uniform fodder in this program.

    Sounds like something I’d watch. If I had seen this earlier. And if I had a decent cable provider. Or if I’d quit whining and finally get a direct/dish. I do get never ending episodes of Lockup though. (that’s the show they always put on instead of hockey on my crappy cable company)

    Pretty cool shot of Johnny Unitas playing basketball.

    And once again I will say I really liked the Iowa throwbacks.

    Remember my recent ESPN feature about the Gator Flop? And remember how I wasn’t able to track down the Miami QB who scored the TD on that infamous play?

    Finally found him the other day:
    link

    It looks like there is a stripe malfunction on that Revo Speed helmet. It looks as though it isn’t tucked underneath the bump. You can even see a bit of a shadow.
    I wish they would stop making them.
    link
    I didn’t realize that “Tree’s Lounge” was set in Queens. I always thought it was Long Island.

    it’s set in valley stream, which is actually a stones throw from queens

    steve buscemi grew up in valley stream

    that bar happens to be located in queens, even though the story is set in south west nassau…only a couple miles from the NYC (queens) border

    and btw…

    QUEENS IS ON LONG ISLAND (but you knew that)

    You know what I mean.
    However, the Queens/Long Island has always confused me. Not all of Queens is on Long Island. Right?
    How far was the Bunker family from Maude’s house?

    Technically the entire boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens are part of Long Island. Along with Nassau and Suffolk Counties.

    But in general terms, when we say “out on Long Island” we mean towns in Nassau and Suffolk.

    Valley Stream is in Nassau county and right on the border with Queens…..

    all of queens and kings counties (kings=brooklyn) are on long island

    manhattan (new york), staten island (richmond) and da bronx (bronx) are separate — manhattan and staten island are, obviously, islands while the bronx is “attached” to the “mainland”

    lookie here (bronx is “under” the giant “NEW YORK” font), just above queens, and manhattan is actually an island, although that map would have you believe differently…but trust me, the hudson river is on the west side

    That’s all like New York or something, right? Somewhere up there by Boston and Vermont and Canada?

    So long, George Blanda.

    You left a whole mess of memories.
    Staying out of football for a year cuz Halas thought you were just a punter…then helping breathe life into the new AFL with the Houston Oilers…that amazing string of heroics kicking or playing QB for the Raiders…and, basically, just lasting so damn long.

    You made football fun. Not a lot of people we can say that about anymore.
    link

    —Ricko

    I could argue (probably without success) that Blanda might have been the best player ever to play in pro football history.

    That’s kind of like saying Gordie Howe or Satchel Paige were the greatest ever in their sports. It’s an argument that can be made, because they were among the best ever and so durable, but durability isn’t the first measure of greatness.

    Just taking a stab at it here…but thinking that the pitcher in the Instructional League game might be wearing a jacket. If his forearms are showing (as opposed to a different color long sleeve undershirt) then maybe it’s a pullover with the sleeves pushed up. Or a short sleeve pullover. Anything’s possible uni-wise in a league that far down where the only jacket or pullover available may not necessarily match the uniform color of the day.

    Or…he’s subconsciously living out his quarterback fantasy and donning the red “Don’t Touch Me!” practice jersey.

    Does anyone who ever actually played football think of those special quarterback practice jerseys as “Don’t Touch Me”?

    You think either of these teams tonight what Rodgers or Cutler getting drilled in practice and missing playing time? In college, it’s about winning. In the pros, it’s about the “investment”, literally and figuratively.

    —Ricko

    Allow me to officially say “meh” at the Bears throwbacks.

    Without getting into the historic aspect of them…

    They just aren’t that different from what the Bears normally wear – which is already one of the best uniforms in the league. These are a step backwards, both in time and in quality. Basically, they end up looking like a cheap knockoff of themselves.

    I’d noticed that college bball jerseys didn’t have maker’s marks, but does anyone know why that was the case?

    allow me to officially say “YES!” to the bears throwbacks

    especially the historic aspect of them

    the helmets are gorgeous, the socks perfect…my only complaint, and it’s not much of one, is that in order to be historically correct, they chose the ’47 set without the white outline…which means they’re a bit tv unfriendly…but still very pleasing on the eyes

    how cold is it in chi-town? refs in snowpants? wtf?

    The socks are fine, I won’t argue there. The number font is clunky, and the plain helmet is… well, plain, and the gray mask bothers the hell out of me, of course. A navy mask worked perfectly fine the last time they threw back to a pre-facemask era, no reason to go gray this time.

    From a historic standpoint, it’s great. One can see and understand how they could have evolved from that uniform into the one they wear now.

    But from a purely visual point of view – it’s not as good as their regular uniform.

    they sure as shit look black to me … in pics and in HD

    and they’re definitely NOT the same shade as the numbers and stripes

    that annoys the hell out of me

    Looks like the same color as the helmet stripe & logo to me.

    Their helmet green being darker than their jersey green bugs me a bit, but that seems to be a league wide problem. Matching plastic colors with fabric colors is apparently rather difficult.

    A little like watching a Thin Man film and saying William Powell’s neckties are too narrow, isn’t it?

    They aren’t very TV friendly, but it’s fun to get a look a updated recreation of a uni that, relatively speaking, almost no one ever saw moving in color (meaning comparing Wrigley Field crowds to, say, NFL fans nationwide).

    Just a teensy bit of historical quirk here. 1948 was the season before George Blanda joined the team. Although, by ’49 they’d lost the white outline Phil mentioned…so it pretty much IS the uni Blanda wore as a rookie.

    Go figure how and why things happen, huh.

    —Ricko

    it’s more than a little annoying…

    if the pack’s masks were gray, we wouldn’t have that problem

    and it’s not just on the road and at night…it actually looks worse in the daylight, where the green bay logo is definitely green, but the facemask still looks black…i know it’s NOT black…but it looks black

    The proper solution is “use a lighter shade of green”.

    If the Packers wore kelly green instead of the dark forest green, it wouldn’t be an issue either. Gray doesn’t need to be involved.

    Well, they do have that long history of kelly green, of course.

    And why aren’t their cleats forest green? I mean, come on, we have the technology.

    And the Lions should wear Honolulu blue cleats, too, by god.

    And what’s with these generic orange kickoff tees? Should be in team colors.

    ;) Just yankin’ yer chain.

    —Ricko

    there are two teams in the nfl that should be in kelly

    neither of them plays in green bay

    and what’s “dark forest” green? is there a “light forest”?

    nothing wrong with the packers colors — they’re perfect…they just need to fix the facemask (well, and the sleeve stripes, but we’re not going there)

    Well, that’s true. A decade or so ago, there was one team in the NFL in forest green and two in kelly.

    Now there are three in forest (the Somber Era).

    Every time I see those Eagles throwbacks I think about how much I’d like to see them full time. Not that I dislike the Eagles current unis, mind you, just that it would good if one team claimed Kelly Green. It wouldn’t be that much of a difference for the Jets, so the Eagles could do the best job of it (as witnessed by their throwbacks).

    —Ricko

    Ok… not sure what I was thinking of when I said kelly – but they are darker now than they used to be:

    link

    Regardless, if they change the mask, it should be with a better shade of green, not gray.

    re: Different shade of forest green

    “Light” forest green is forest green.
    “Dark” forest green is either BRG or hunter green. I guess they don’t want to be stuck with a British color?

    I’ve asked this before and never got an answer.
    Do the individual NFL officiating crews make the call on which pants they’ll wear for a game?

    Because I gotta believe that, given the choice, the long pants would be deemed more comfortable without the farting around with the socks and the blousing, etc., etc.

    Also, in theory they’re supposed to be “invisible,” anyway, so why not go with the darker look.

    —Ricko

    The Bears do have a great traditional uniform, but I do like the ferocious bear head logo. Wouldn’t mind seeing that logo on both shoulders.

    The Packers should restore the “G” to the sleeve area, like they had during the mid 1980s.

    Bears sporting old NFL shields on sideline caps, Cutler and also Greg Olsen. Bit of a contrast when the league logo on the jerseys though is new shield.

    link

Comments are closed.