Catch 22

Greetings from northwestern Ohio, where the temperature is in witch’s teat territory. I was working pretty much all day and all night yesterday (doing a video shoot at the Wilson factory where they make the footballs that’ll be used in the Super Bowl — more on that later), so today’s Monday Morning Uni Watch rundown will be extremely abbreviated. Basically, Big Ben had some nameplate issues, James Farrior had a minor paint-chip explosion, and the Bears had their usual cold-weather decal problems. And probably a few other things, but that’s all I had time to compile.

I did have time, however, to whip up a little something about an incident you might have missed from Saturday night, when one of the strangest jerseys in NBA history appeared in Washington.

Here’s the backstory: With the Wizards depleted in the back court due to injuries, the team called up guard Mustafa Shakur from the D-League and signed him to a 10-day contract. But they must have done a serious rush job on his jersey, because his uni number — which should have been flush-left, like all the other Wizards’ numbers — was mispositioned and oddly spaced.

Things got even weirder on the back of Shakur’s jersey, which looked like it was lettered up at K-Mart (although the low NOB had the odd effect of making Shakur easy to identify even when he had a towel slung over his shoulder).

Quite a few readers e-mailed me on Saturday night while this game was in progress. But none of them could top Marcus Hall, who was actually at the game and took a bunch of photos of Shakur:

Nice job by Marcus. My thanks also to readers Jonathan Hayward, Jamie Tallman, Logan Light, Marcus Harrington, Jay Anderson, and K.C. Kless for their contributions.

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Collector’s Corner, by Brinke Guthrie

Since Paul’s on the road today, we decided to give Collector’s Corner a rare Monday showcase. Here we go:

• Of course I love anything NFL from the ’70s, including this Dolphins thermo mug. The seller has several other teams for sale as well.

• Here’s a 1970s NY Giants ski cap with that terrific “Official Licensed Product” tag. Remember that? [Good call on that tag, which I’d forgotten about. Terrific indeed! ”” PL]

• I like this New York Rangers satin jacket straight from Madison Square Garden.

• Looks like Roger was about to heave a long one. No doubt winning another game with :10 left on the clock. The listing says “poster” but it’s just 11″ x 17″.

• How about this awesome-looking 1940s Montreal Canadiens coloring book, eh? [Find of the week. ”” PL]

• Packers fans, here’s a terrific set of 1970 Volpe prints. [Note that Carroll Dale, at lower right, is shown wearing white pants. ”” PL]

• Going way back, here’s an early-1900s baseball punch-out game.

• Finally, this one is absolutely for PL. Not even going to describe it. Just click here. [Speechless. ”” PL]

Seen something on eBay that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here.

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Good food for a good cause: All you NYC-area folks, listen up: Reader Dave Rakowski is throwing a classic north Jersey beefsteak on Feb. 19, to benefit the Police Unity Tour (a 300-mile bicycle ride from New Jersey to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness for police officers killed in the line of duty). “I rode the Tour last year and was able to raise the required $1,700 through friends, family, and co-workers,” says Dave. “This year, four of my fellow police officers in Kearny have joined me and together we must raise $8,500. That’s where the beefsteak comes in.”

There will be lots of raffle prizes, including autographed footballs from the Jets and Giants. And the food will be provided by Nightingale’s, which I can personally vouch for as the oldest and best of the New Jersey beefsteak caterers. (They’re featured prominently in this story I wrote a few winters back.)

I’m going to try to attend this one (need to re-shuffle a few things on my calendar first). If you’ve never been to a beefsteak and have been curious to check out the scene, this event is the real deal, and you’ll be helping out a fell Uni Watch reader.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Here’s the latest round of design options that Nike is whipping up for Oklahoma State (with thanks to Justin Mitchell). ”¦ Tons of old Browns photos, many of them very cool, here (thanks, Vince). ”¦ While looking for something else, I came across this shot of Joe Rudi in solid green. ”¦ No photo, but Brian Rowland says Michal Rozsival of the Coyotes, whose uni number is 32, was wearing 23 on the right sleeve of his white road jersey last Thursday. Phoenix’s next road game is this Wednesday — something to watch for. ”¦ Lots of cool retro/throwback soccer shirts available here (as noted by Evan Sadler). ”¦ As many of you have probably heard by now, Stan Lee of Marvel Comics (who’s, like, 1000 years old but apparently has no interest in retiring) is working with the NHL on something called the Guardian Project, which involves creating lame-ass superheroes for each NHL team or some such. Whatever, wake me when it’s over. ”¦ When President Obama signed the bill providing health benefits for 9/11 responders, he was doing it while wearing the swoosh — ugh (as noted by Ben Marciniak). ”¦ I tried to make contact with Kevin Kierst, the Mets’ new equipment manager. Left two voicemails for him and then got a call from Mets PR guru Jay Horwitz, informing me that Kevin would prefer to “keep a low profile,” since he’s brand-new on the job and all. Disappointing. ”¦ Here’s something from six weeks ago that I don’t think we’ve covered until now: Seventh graf of this piece indicates that the Mariners will be wearing a memorial patch this season for broadcaster Dave Niehaus (good catch by Aaron Maisel). ”¦ Twenty-five top-selling NFL jerseys from the past year are shown in this slideshow (with thanks to Michael Koch). ”¦ Coupla awesome finds from the Ricko Files: Art Howe with a facemask rig in 1980, and Gary Redus wearing one of the Reds’ white spring training helmets. ”¦ Latest college hoops team to go BFBS: Stanford. “Looks fairly hideous,” says Ken Clampett. ”¦ Check out this absolutely bizarre chinstrap hook-up. That’s David Overstreet, playing for the Montreal Alouettes in 1981 (major find by Bill Kellick). ”¦ Here’s the Sparky Anderson memorial patch that the Tigers will be wearing this season (plus they’re retiring his number). As you may recall, the Reds will also have a patch for Anderson, which will look like this (with thanks to Jeff Cohen). ”¦ Lots of cool old minor league hockey uniforms showcased in this video clip (with thanks to Ken Manyin). ”¦ Tris Wykes notes that Union College goalie Kate Gallagher has a saying on her backplate, along with the area codes for her school (315) and her hometown of Minneapolis (612). ”¦ New lacrosse gear for Hofstra and new gloves for Johns Hopkins (with thanks to Jeff Brunelle. ”¦ David Caruso got a pair of Keds with a tennis racquet pattern on the sole. ”¦ Typo alert! That’s Shane Southwell of Kansas State on Saturday (good catch by Cody Canafax). ”¦ John Vittas attended the Rangers’ annual FanFest on Saturday and saw a guy wearing this jersey. Clever concept, although the numbers and letters seem to be on individual panels (sort of like each one has its own nameplate), plus I’m sure some of you will be howling because he tucked in the jersey. ”¦ I think we might have covered this before, but just in case: Maryland goalie Matt Mitchell’s pads are patterned after the Maryland state flag (big thanks to Jim Dankiewicz). ”¦ Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake wore a Steelers jersey as part of a bet based on the Steelers/Ravens playoff game. ”¦ The Cavs wore their CavFanatic uniforms on Saturday night. ”¦ Louisiana Tech’s Lady Techsters wore sleeved throwbacks on Saturday (with thanks to Tom Morris). ”¦ Here’s an absolutely sensational story about how Ottis Anderson was wearing practice pants, not game pants, in Super Bowl XXV (great find by Mark Vermylen). ”¦ Dave Robb has come up with something truly sensational: high school yearbook photos of Keith Hernandez playing football and basketball! Turns out Dave’s wife went to high school with Keith back in the day. I have a hunch those images may find their way onto a SNY broadcast this season. ”¦ Iowa hoops added a Sharm Schuerman memorial patch yesterday (as noted by Tom O’Connor). ”¦ New soccer kits for Kawasaki Frontale (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). ”¦ Much better weather this year for the U.S. Pond Hockey championships. Jeff Barack attended and took some great photos, which you can see here and here. ”¦ This isn’t quite the same as cross-dressing, but it’s close: A’s outfielder Joe Rudi inspecting what I assume was a Seals skate (very nice find by Roger Faso). ”¦ The Vancouver Giants had a road game against the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday night but forgot to pack their jerseys. They played the game wearing Kamloops practice jerseys, as seen in these video highlights (with thanks to Brian Thompson) … A Chinese sports brand is trying to break into the U.S. market (thanks, Brinke) … Also from Brinke: Bears fans burn Cutler jerseys after disappointing loss … “Wanted to share this cake my fiancée made for a customer of her small business yesterday,” says Kevin Wright. “It pained us both, as we’re both Packers fans, but after the victory Sunday, it was all OK in the end.” … Special thanks to Phil for several of the entries in today’s Ticker. As for me, I’ll be moseying my way back to Columbus this afternoon (have to stop in Waldo so I can check out the renowned bologna sandwich at the G+R Tavern) and then flying home. See you tomorrow.