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Uni Watch

A Day to Remember (but if only we could forget)

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Today, Jan. 27, is a special day. For it was on this date 15 years ago — Jan. 27, 1996 — that one of the most legendarily awful uniforms in professional sports was unleashed upon an unsuspecting world.

Which one? This one.

That’s right, folks — it was 15 years ago today that the storied Burger King jersey made its first appearance on the ice.

A Kings-centric blog called the Royal Half has put together a truly heroic entry to mark the 15th anniversary. They tracked down the original designers, interviewed some of the players, come up with several video clips from the game, etc. This piece is every bit as good as the uni-anniversary pieces I’ve done for ESPN, and I heartily recommend it. But in case you don’t have time to read the whole thing — or if you just want a taste of what’s in there — here are some great nuggets of info contained within the article:

• The Burger King logo originally had a gray beard. But the facial hair was changed to purple because the Kings “were a little sensitive about being a relatively old team.”

• This jersey and several others were created primary because CCM had come up with a sublimation technique that allowed for color gradations. The league basically told its designers, “We can do gradation-based designs now, so come with some of them.”

• The guy who designed the jersey also designed a more ferocious-looking version of the Bruins’ Pooh Bear alternate. So that’s a rare case of a team going with the tamer version of the animal instead of the fierce, angry version.

• Who did the Kings play in that game 15 years ago anyway? Take a look. Yes, friends, today is also the 15th anniversary of the Wild Wing jersey’s debut. So this is actually the date when two of the most legendarily awful uniforms in professional sports were unleashed upon an unsuspecting world. We should make it a national holiday or something.

There’s more — seriously, you should read the whole article. A major tip of the Uni Watch cap to the crew at the Royal Half for putting together such a great piece of historical documentation.

+ + + + +

Giveaway reminder: I’m raffling off an official Super Bowl XLV football. Details here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Here are the Padres’ new road grays. Looks even better in the flesh than it did on the template — I like. Also, the MLB Style Guide showed them wearing the gold “SD” cap on the road, but the photo shows the white logo cap, which is obviously way better. Hope they stick with that. ”¦ The Lightning’s uni unveiling, originally slated for Monday, and then for today, has now been pushed back to next week. Lots of additional info, including a partial description of the new uni set, here (with thanks to Jeff James). ”¦ Here’s an unusual Super Bowl storyline: The official Terrible Towels are made by a Wisconsin company (thanks, Brinke). ”¦ Fascinating story about how Erin Andrews may have a conflict of interest when covering Reebok and Nike. Recommended reading (big thanks to Skyler Archibald). ”¦ We’re used to seeing UCLA and USC going color-vs.-color on the gridiron. But how about on the hardcourt? (With thanks to Bob Nolte.) ”¦ A few days ago I mentioned that Kansas was wearing a black memorial ribbon in memory of a player’s mother. Now Brad Barker reports that they’ve upgraded to an “LR” patch. Further details here (and also note Markieff Morris’s unusual NOB in the photo accompanying that last article). ”¦ As had long been rumored, new sweatbacks for Arizona. Further details here. ”¦ Roger Federer apparently likes stealing towels (thanks, Brinke). ”¦ Yesterday’s Vernon Wells press conference provided a good look at the Angels’ new sleeve patches (with thanks to Adam Stoneman). ”¦ Top-selling women’s NFL jerseys listed here (Brinke again). ”¦ Two college hoops notes from Frank Mercogliano: Nikola Cerina of TCU has a caron on his NOB, and New Mexico wore their silver alts for the first time this season. ”¦ Jerry Wolper found a 1979 article about a helmet/equipment/uni reconditioner. ”¦ Also from Jerry: When Kent Tekulve was forced to play the outfield for one batter in ’79, he was awarded a special Stargell Star on the top of his cap. That photo ran with a really good article, which I highly recommend. … RIP, Charlie. Now you and Ira can harmonize together again in the sweet hereafter.

 
  
 
Comments (200)

    Jerry Wolper found a 1979 article about a helmet/equipement/uni reconditioner in Washington.

    That’d be Washington, PA.

    ed

    Did Tekulve make a play in the outfield? If so, did he throw the ball in submarine style?

    Yup. September 1, 1979 in game 1 of a doubleheader at Candlestick. Darrell Evans flew out to left, and watching Teke waving as he was under it was hysterical. Chuck Tanner’s grandson Zack has posted here before and mentioned that his grandfather loves to tell that story.

    Considering there was a custom-made one mentioned in the Royal Half article, that’s quite amusing that they’re coming out with an official release.

    I have to wonder what the Kings and Ducks jerseys would’ve looked like with more readable fonts. Especially the Ducks, who had that horrible Mistral font – a case of vertically-arched NOBs gone horribly, horribly wrong.

    I hate that Padres uniform. That thing is boring and the SanDiegO wordmark is still one of the worst in sports. Simply awful. I understand it doesn’t have superfluous striping and cartoon junk on it but completely surprised it gets a “not stupid” grade.

    I am less exercised by the new SanDiegO than brother Traxel — it doesn’t hurt my eyeballs — but the general scheme is underwhelming and the lettering — that huge D! — moves it into the Stupid category, imo.

    I got a Bieber thing going on here, however you can’t see it link is in the way. I can totally see Phil with a flat brim Mets cap; i.e. Lil Phil.

    Isn’t particularly bad.
    Just…uninspired and routine.
    Although I’m sure the computer person who did the workmark probably doesn’t think so.

    —Ricko

    I can’t find the link right now, but I’ve run a wire photo showing that the SanDiegO insignia dates back to the old minor league Padres in the early ’60s. So it wasn’t designed on a computer.

    Still doesn’t make it good. Not that you are saying it does. I used to have a banner making program on a floppy disk that printed on a dot matrix printer back in the Packard Bell days. It looks like one of those templates.

    Personally, I like the insignia. But my opinion of it has nothing to do with whether it was designed on a computer. I was simply responding to Ricko’s assertion that it was computer-designed.

    Of course, I’d have no way of knowing for sure, but it does have that “look” about it.
    Good bet the older version was rendered and “cleaned up” (y’know, made perfect) on a computer, though.

    All in all, a 2011 “off the rack” look.
    Again, not that that’s automatically bad.
    Just sorta humdrum for such a fun city with so much to offer.

    —Ricko

    Not bad. But, just sorta…forgettable. I think it would look a hundred times more distinctive if the cap and lettering were brown w/yellow trim.

    When I click on the photo, my eyes go right to the Western Metal Supply Co. sign.

    I agree — it’s not BAD, but it’s not great either. But I’m with “interlockingtc”, that jersey and cap should have brown instead of blue. Just look at that cap – how can you have two teams in the same state and the same league with the same color cap and interlocking letters??!?!?! Come on!!! It would be like the Yankees changing their cap to blue and orange!

    -Jet

    “It would be like the Yankees changing their cap to blue and orange!”

    Or perhaps, to be more fitting to the historical relationships between the Padres and Dodgers, like the Mets changing to a midnight blue cap with a white NY.

    The new Padres uniforms are boring. Personally, I think the SanDiego wordmark has always sucked, and the sand looked kinda wierd, which was bad, but was unique, which was good. The new greys are just blah with a crappy logo.

    The biggest loss of all though, was that the sand pants looked excellent with the Pads navy alt. IMO, it made for one of the top alt unis in baseball. The alt will look MUCH worse with the grey pants than it did with the sand.

    I’m not a fan of the San DiegO wordmark, either. It’s not that it’s truly horrendous, a la D-Backs or Jayzz, but it’s still bad in it’s own right.

    And this…

    link

    is just a pathetic home uniform. I mean, it looks like they went to a sporting goods store, bought blank white uniforms and slapped “Padres” on them the day of the game. Honestly, they need to ditch every aspect of their current identity ASAP.

    Just update this already…
    link

    The Padres are that rare team which stumbled on their perfect look right out of the gate. They’ve spent the past four decades going downhill, sometimes slowly and sometimes at a breakneck pace.

    While I love the taco unis, those original ones were indeed fine. I don’t think they’ve gone consistently downhill, though…they’ve had their peaks and valleys.

    Not only does the SanDiegO thing bug me, they use that pointy font now, which is really getting on my nerves. Give me the interlocking SD over that mess any day.

    Still, any version of the Padres is better than the Burger King unis…or any 90s sublimated uni. Is it me, or were the 90s like a computerized version of the 60s? Whatever designers were on in those decades, it must have been some bad stuff.

    The comment below was intended to go here. By 60s, I meant the clothing styles, not the unis. That ’69 Padres look is quite nice.

    Eh, really? How are those much different or better than the current version? And in 1999 they inexplicably deleted orange & pinstripes from their home set.

    The Padres sold out their unique identity for the all-mighty trendy dollar in 1991 for NFNS. There’s too many MLB teams in navy, black, red or royal right now.

    I don’t know where that pic of the Bruins jersey came from, but that was not the bear head used as the jersey crest. Fail…

    Um, both the post and the cited article clearly indicate that the ferocious bear head was not the one ultimately used by the Bruins.

    Also, I know looking back all those NHL jersey were bad. But when they came out, I thought they were the coolest thing ever. I had never seen anything like that. I have to admit I loved the Kings, Ducks, Pens, and Lightings’ third jersey. There is my dirty little secret.

    I own a Fisherman Islanders jersey, a “Pooh Bear” Bruins alternate jersey, and a Mooterus Dallas Stars alternate jersey in my collection amongst my hockey jerseys.

    And I stand proudly by them. :o)

    *shudder* Sorry, I could see owning the Bruins third, or even the seasickness-generating Isles jersey, but I draw the line at the Stars’ unfathomable attempt to introduce red into the color scheme. That thing just looks… unnatural.

    The Penguins jersey was not too bad. The gray/white stripe pattern was reminiscent of the inaugural jersey, plus it was the only one of the initial 1996 batch that was promoted to a full-time jersey (1997-2002). And it was my first actual Pens jersey.

    Yeah the Penguins third was decent. Although it had the motion Penguin, the stripes matched well. The gray wasn’t too crazy either. I remember really liking it when they went full time but very quickly thinking it was time to get away from it.

    IMO, couple of cool things about that penguins 3rd. that jersey was designated “unbeatable” because of the pens great record while wearing them. that’s one of the major reasons it replaced the slanted “pittsburgh” road jerseys.

    also, that jersey was nick-named their “jammies” jerseys after that huge petr nedved overtime game vs the caps. the nick-name didn’t really stick, but i’ve herad it here and there.

    also, joe h correct me if i’m wrong, that jersey was one of the very first to use an “iceberg twill” material for the numbers (still used on/for the penguins jersey today (and another NHL team, just forget which one at the moment. maybe islanders?))

    ALSO, lol, another element first introduced on that jersy that is still in use by the pens today is that italic font for the “C” and “A” designations. was a pretty interesting/unique font for the pens at the time…

    i own a lemieux authentic (koh0). i’m PRETTY sure in the few years that jersy was in use, it was manufactured by: starter, pro player, ccm, & koho. teebz, any thought on that fact?

    whew! my brain is finished for the day (week)…

    That italic font drives me crazy. Not because it exists, but for the reason it exists – when the Pens third first debuted in 1996, the numbers were done in the same rounded, italic font. I remember this, but the font was quickly replaced by the version they use today, save for the C and A which managed to carry over to the Vegas gold jerseys. I can’t seem to verify if they were actually worn in their first game, as a result.

    I have, in the last few years, been trying to find photographic evidence of the rounded font for the numbers, but so far I haven’t found any. Maybe my fellow Uni Watchers can help?

    As far as the manufacturers of that Pens jersey, you are correct:
    CCM 1995-96 season
    Starter 1996-97 – 1998-99
    Pro Player 1999-2000
    Koho 2000-02

    not saying either of us is wrong or right, but, i really, really, really don’t remember the pens ever using a rounded number font for that jersey.

    I’ll admit to not really following hockey (not even our team in Nashville), but those jerseys don’t offend me. You know, if a team has to have an alternate/third jersey, I would much rather them use some cartoonish, over-the-top design that’s FUN instead of the dreaded BFBS or a generic inverted color design. Now obviously, that wouldn’t go over well in football or baseball, but the NHL and maybe even the NBA could pull that look off. The “Burger King” may be a horrible design in a traditional sense, but I would have no problems with it as an alternate design.

    I’ll agree with that but only to a point. The NBA had some bad designs using the same concepts. The Hawks, Jazz, Raptors, and Vancouver Grizzlies had some awful uniforms. The worst might have been the early 90’s Sixers uniforms that only lasted like 2 seasons. But yeah I’d rather a team try something like that instead of like the Arizona Cardinals going BFBS this year. Speaking of BFBS. What is the abbreviation going to be for Blue for Blue Sakes?

    Hasn’t the “blue job” sort of been taking place in hockey? For example, the Panthers alts from last year (maybe this year, too, I haven’t paid attention the Panthers in the least).

    I like the Jazz unis. As far as the Hawks, Raptors, and Grizzlies are concerned, I think their jerseys look worse than they did in the 1990s. I am a Knicks fan, but I like many of the NBA jerseys in the 1990s.

    I don’t know.
    If I was a black player on the team, I’m not sure how I would feel about having a white dude on my chest.

    Not that that happens…like ever…OK, almost never. ;)

    The Denver Nuggets didn’t seem to have a problem back in the day with a white guy on their pants.
    link

    if we accept the conventional wisdom that jerry west is the guy on the nba patch (logo)…

    isn’t there a white guy on every NBA jersey?

    That means most restrooms are for whites only. There’s a white guy on most doors. Just ask Creed.

    Not really having anything to do with bad hockey looks but it jogged my memory…anyone have a pic of that Milwaukee Bucks mid 90’s uniform with the giant deer head on the side?

    Here is the “I Like Big Bucks” uniform:
    link

    I also found this Glenn Robinson at Purdue pic, and thought it had terrible shorts coloring design:
    link

    That Pens jersey is one of very few I don’t own . I dug it at the time, but I was similarly ready to see it go. I was always a bigger fan of the diagonal “PITTSBURGH” look it replaced, anyway.

    Pretty sure I still have that first game where they wore them on VHS somewhere…beat the Flyers at the Igloo, IIRC. Might dig it out today, or at the very least, that 4 OT game Ry Co mentioned…

    If you’ve got that game from 1/27/96, it would be tremendous to verify whether or not they wore the angled number font as I mentioned above!

    Just dug it up…and as RyCo suspected, the font was the same block they use to this day. Here are a couple (crappy) screencaps:

    link

    link

    And check out this headgear on Chris Tamer! Must’ve been trying to protect a busted jaw…

    link

    Thanks. I swear I saw a version with the different font somewhere, though, in some sort of preview… I mean, why else would they have the C and A in a style that wasn’t in use anywhere else in the Pens’ graphic repertoire?

    Then again, my sister insists to this day that she saw Biggs on Tattooine in the original theatrical release of Star Wars back in ’77… a scene that was included in the photo storybook she had, but according to Lucasfilm was never, ever part of any theatrical release.

    As a person with an almost exhaustive knowledge of STAR WARS (the first three films, anyway), I can tell you with all certainty the shot Biggs on Tattooine was NOT in any version of the film, original or otherwise. It was shot (or at least photographed), which explains its inclusion in the storybook, but never added to the movie, even the 1997 re-release.

    Is that a swoosh on Erin Andrews’ outfit in the photo of her with the Reebok shoe on her bicep? If you click to view the large image, you can see it on her left hip area.

    Whoomp there it is!

    Ever see Erin interview Chip Kelly? Very contentious, to say the least.

    I wasn’t even counting the anniversary patch – that makes four instances.

    I was thinking of the chest logo, the sleeve logo and the cap logo, all of which are relatively close on the uniform. Logo overload.

    Ok, 4 is too many. 3 makes sense though – they are the Los ‘A’ngeles ‘A’ngels of ‘A’naheim, afterall. :P

    Why insist on calling a colored jersey a softball jersey when the vast majority of the league wears them?

    Not an Angels fan, but the patch is okay. They should change the cap however. They should have replace it with navy blue crown, red visor and button. Similar to what they used to wear, from 1972-1992.

    “Why insist on calling a colored jersey a softball jersey when the vast majority of the league wears them?”

    You have to realize that to older baseball fans that wearing color baseball jerseys symbolizes a different era of color experimentation with the jerseys and something that was popular with softball diamonds across the globe. To some it’s still shocking and looks bush/beer league / Spring Training / batting practice-esque when baseball teams wear color tops, and only the very few who still don’t use color tops thanks to tradition. Seeing recaps of the 1995 World Series with the Indians in navy tops in “Tenth Inning” was still shocking and still seemed wrong, even 15 years later in all of retrospect. The home and road uniforms should stand for something.

    Aesthetics aside, what really stinks about color jerseys is it’s just some marketing fashion ploy in disguise by teams to sell more team jerseys, and manipulate the younger fan to justify its presence in the whole process.

    WVU broke out the sweatbacks last night in a terrible game against Louisville, I looked at the pics here… link

    All you really see is the Flying WV on the bottom, everything else just gets dark from sweat…

    second picture on the third page is the best there. Mazzula facing away shows the back better than any other in game pic I’ve seen so far.

    Its a shame that with today’s bloated bullpens, we now longer see situations like Tekulve playing in the outfield.

    Kyle Lohse played the outfield last year in the Mets-Cardinals 20-inning game. I don’t see how “today’s bloated bullpens” have anything to do with whether a pitcher will play the outfield. It’s not like it was happening regularly in Tekulve’s day.

    I seem to recall a pitcher for the Cubs going to left field for an at bat (2009 or 2010) so he wouldn’t have to face one batter but still be available to pitch after that batter. I am wanting to say it was Ryan Dempster, but my brain seems to be running at partial capacity today.

    I could have sworn that a Met pitcher did the same thing during the infamous 4th/5th of July Mets/Braves fireworks – at – 4 am game in 1985. But I checked Retrosheet, and found out I was wrong….

    That still has to one of the oddest nights in MLB history….

    UmpLou, I know the game you’re thinking of — it was a different extra-inning game in 1985, against Cincinnati. Several players had been ejected, and Jesse Orosco and Roger McDowell alternated between the outfield and the pitcher’s mound for a while.

    Here it is, July 22, 1986:

    link

    John Franco had a chance to close it out for the Reds but couldn’t, setting up the pitcher-outfield fun:

    link

    No word on if Paul’s Oregon iPhone app made it to the Third World, but the Jets AFC Champs stuff is on its way:
    link

    Not surprising. Wonder if there’s any 2009 Red Wings Stanley Cup Champions gear overseas? Or 2008 Penguins, for that matter… both being off by only one year!

    “FYI — it’s the second year in a row the Jets have donated their AFC championship gear to a greater cause. They’re very generous.”

    Oh man, that’s cold!

    How limiting is it to do a design that two of four teams will use?

    And did you do the Super Bowl Champion shirt as well?

    While the NFL focuses on making the Super Bowl logo the same each year, it seems the focus in MLB is ensuring everybody wears blue caps and road grays. Brown can be a nice color. I’d like to see the Padres go to a rich chocolate brown as their primary color.

    That does bring up a question though. Road grays seem to me to be pretty uniformly the same hue across the board. Has any team considered going with something darker, like a charcoal? Or perhaps the wool look similar to what the University of Houston uses?

    Blue Jays were going to charcoal road uniforms for the 2004 season, but changed it to the generic gray right before the season started.

    The Blue Jays should go back to wearing their throwbacks, or go back to what they wore from 1997-2002. Don’t care for their current uniform.

    I hadn’t heard about this (my DirectTV has been down since Tuesday) so I apologize if this has been noted.

    We all were watching the NFL on Sunday, something truly memorable was happening over on the Mothership…
    link

    —Ricko

    Well, at least he stayed in the triple digits.

    Me? Forget about it. I’ve been bowling all of once in the last decade, and even though I do own a ball and shoes, they somehow ended up at my sister’s house for an extended period, and are now more than likely buried somewhere in their storage unit.

    Re: Markieff Morris’s odd NOB

    Markieff’s twin brother Marcus also plays for the Jayhawks and he has “MC. MORRIS” as his NOB. Check it out:

    link

    I don’t think anyone has mentioned it, but while Erin Andrews is flexing with the Reebok Zigtech, she is also sporting a Nike top. If you check out the lower right corner of the picture, she has a Nike “Swoosh” on it. So, then she has 2 conflicts of interest involving Nike and Reebok!

    Wearing a Nike top to a Reebok shoot. Cool.
    When Shaq was looking to endorse his first shoe, I know he wore a Reebok jacket to meet Phil Knight. That meeting didn’t go well.

    One thing that people may not have noticed about Arizona’s new uniforms: they have a black stripe on the left shoulder as a replacement for the black ribbons that the team has been wearing since the shooting in Tucson a few weeks ago. Presumably the team will be wearing it for the rest of the season. I can’t wait to see those uniforms in action tonight. Bear Down and beat the Bruins!

    Anyone know of more changes for MLB this year? I know of:

    Padres
    Nationals all new digs
    Twins new road blue alt

    I had heard rumor locally that the Brewers were changing the greys to read “Milwaukee” but I never substantiated it.

    From Oakland A’s beat writer Susan Slusser
    link

    Athletics unveil new gold alternate jerseys at their corporate sponsor luncheon. “Canary yellow,” Billy Beane calls them.

    I cannot wait!

    Only the Athletics would not call Athletic Gold “Athletic Gold.”

    Especially seeing as Michigan and Oregon wear what has been called, for as long as I can remember, Canary Yellow (also the color of a certain Tweety Bird).

    Oh, wait, Tweety IS a canary. Well, imagine that.

    –Ricko

    well, if billy bean called it “canary” tha’d be one thing…but billy beane?

    The home team in Seattle will be wearing a jersey with “Marlins” on their chest for a series this summer … and the road team will sport “Seattle” for the same series.

    Two things…
    First, that whole Erin Andrews thing stinks. Even if she wasn’t under contract at the time something more than likely was in the pipeline. That is a definite conflict of interest. I know some on here are anti-Nike (and no I’m not calling Paul out, I’ve come to an understanding with him that he’s not anti-Nike just anti-bully business tactics) and I do believe that if the roles had been reversed and a Nike ‘athlete’ had called out a Reebok product everyone would be jumping on the Nike is a bully bandwagon and the boards would be lighting up.
    Second M. Princip, I was checking out your bulwark sight and noticed one of the helmets was a Columbia River High School design. Just curious if you have a connection there or it was just an easy logo to deal with. My in-laws both graduated from there.

    I just got an email about the pro bowl from the NFL Newsletter. They had pictures of an NFC helmet and an AFC helmet. What’s noteworthy about this is that both helmets have the old logos on them, not the new ones.

    Here’s a look:

    link

    Nice, but the overwhelming association of the term Pharoah with such a design would almost require you to include the wordmark in every use of the logo — and it still might not be enough to get people to associate it with “King.”

    I remember that PSA, but I don’t remember it being that creepy. Always remembered the song, though.

    It’s still better than those terrible camo uni’s. I’m a Navy Vet, and I understand the whole San-Dog/Padre connection, but they’re not in the eff’ing military. They don’t need anything that comes anywhere near a military uniform. My opinion anyway, sorry if it’s harsh.

    NICE!!!

    As a kid in the 70’s, the A’s look right to me in yellow at home and green on the road.

    I can’t stand the A’s. That said, its still a good look. Well done.

    Even better if this means the elimination of the black tops.

    It does. The black tops are gone. Several months ago, I went to an A’s sale at the Coliseum where all the black tops were half off because they wanted to sell them all before the new look came out.

    I may have a new 2nd favorite team.

    That goes beyond “I’d wear that” or “I’d DIY that.” We’re in “I’d let Phil buy me one” territory here.

    Speaking as a lifelong A’s fan and absolute hater of the black unis, that photo MAY be the most beautiful photograph I’ve ever seen.

    Regarding the “Burger King” logo, it’s interesting to note that in this day and age of logo theft, that a high school in Salem Oregon has appropriated the logo for their use.

    The school in question is North Salem High School and their nickname is the Vikings. Here is the logo in question: link

    Stylistically very similar, and I wouldn’t be surprised to hear if they were done by the same artist … “logo theft”, however? Not quite.

    You can’t say they eyes are the exact same, or the beard is the exact same. It’s like you had two guys talking to each other while sitting back to back, one describing what made the Kings BK logo unique, and the other guy (without anything visual to go off of) trying to recreate it for NSHS’s logo.

    ULTRA PURPLE (ULTRA VIOLET)

    Looking at the Playboy All-American Football team photos posted on the UW site last week I came across the 1973 team and the TCU All-American wearing that team’s VIOLET LIGHT PURPLE football jerseys. the TCU Frogs appeared to have worn these beauties with Silver Pants & Helmets from 1971 – 1973. These are really unique jerseys – very light color of Purple/Violet, and there just has to be a good story behind how these jerseys ever saw the light of the gridiron in big-time football that was the SWC in the 1970s.

    Given the constant references to Purple on the UW site – mostly negative – has there ever been an extended look at the origins of this extremely unique jersey worn by this major college? There is almost nothing on he internet about these jerseys and TCU wearing of them.

    I am curious about it and wonder if anyone can help me on this.
    The fact that I purchased a similar jersey on EBAY – albeit a smaller size with a lineman’s numerals – makes it all the more intrigueing …..
    Thanks, Nick V.

    Unique uni, to be sure.
    Probably the most well-known player who wore it is Mike Renfro, son of former Cleveland Browns flanker Ray Renfro, who went on to a decent career, mostly with the Houston Oilers.

    Had that famous in- or out-of-bounds catch in the end zone vs. the Steelers in an AFC Championship. It was one of the first instances when people really began to seriously discuss the need of video “review”.

    —Ricko

    I was 5 or 6 when the Mike Renfro play happened. I may be from Pittsburgh, but I think that was a TD.

    It’s not surprising, but it’s as bad an idea as selling headgear shaped like a Primanti’s sandwich (with the fries and cole slaw on it) in Pittsburgh. Let cheeseheads be cheeseheads and let Steeler fans wave the Towel.

    I know the Terrible Towels were invented in 1975, but the Packers did have a “Title Towel” when they won the Super Bowl in 1997. So this really isn’t a knock on Pittsburgh or anything, IMO. I guess what I am saying is there is some precedence for the Packers doing this.

    1997 version
    link

    1998 version
    link

    According to Myron Cope’s autobiography, the Terrible Towel was “inspired” by Dolphins fans waving white hankies. And now, many playoff hockey and basketball teams hand out towels. So it’s not necessarily a uniqueness argument.

    I’m reminded of a couple of lame attempts to sell foam swords when the Pirates were playing the Braves in the 1991 and ’92 playoffs, and the Tomahawk Chop was in full vogue. It didn’t catch on because it was so obviously a bad imitation of what Atlantans were doing. The Packers have their own perfectly good identity; they don’t need to cheapen it by imitating the Steelers, even if it’s profitable for McArthur.

    I friggin’ LOVE Packer articles featuring Marge Switzer. Here she is sewing on the Super Bowl patches. However, judging by the close up, they don’t look like patches, but adhesives.

    link

    From Packers.com, here’s a photo gallery of the team seamstresses adding Super Bowl XLV patches to the team’s home green jerseys. Not sure what the miniature numbers in photo 6 are for.

    link

    looks like the logo itself isn’t a “patch” but more of a sticker and would be heat sealed on, am I wrong?

    it’s got a tacky surface, which will no doubt “stick” to the jersey when press-applied, but from there on it’s sewn onto the jersey

    the tackiness is just to allow the seamstress to keep it in place without pins while she sews it

    Oh okay. Thank you.

    I’m just really surprised that, as important as the Super Bowl is, they don’t actually make a patch with thread instead of a sticker.

    ooohhh…i get what you’re saying…

    no, despite that looking like it’s got a plastic backing, that’s a sewn patch — it’s just in a plastic sleeve

    at least im almost 99.9% positive it’s a patch…in this pic, it doesn’t look like it’s actually been sewn down yet tho

    There doesn’t seem to be any depth or texture to the patch though. That is why it seems like a “sticker”. On Greg Jenning’s jersey (the close up of the patch) it seems that it is a “final product” image, and I don’t see any stitching work.

    well, johnny ol buddy (congrats on making the show this time, btw)….

    i could totally be wrong — i just find it almost impossible to believe that they’d give teams “stickers” to put on their jerseys for the super bowl

    im thinking it’s a patch, despite how it looks in those few photos

    I agree, partially. I certainly don’t see any depth or “thickness” to it either. I can almost see some texture in the close-up pic, if you look in the gradient shading of the Roman numerals it’s a bit more noticeable. But that could be part of the idea, a tricky threading look done in PS? I won’t say anyone is right or wrong here, it’ll be nice to see if we can get a 100% answer eventually.

    I still say, sadly, it’s a sticker. Though it might be a very nice one.

    Is it the trophy or is it a depiction of the trophy on a patch?

    ~~~

    why, you think it’s in violation of the lombardi code?

    You mean this Lombardi Code?

    LOMBARDI TROPHY CODE
    TITLE 36
    CHAPTER 10
    §176. Respect for the Lombardi Trophy
    (b) The Lombardi Trophy should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.
    (e) The Lombardi Trophy should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.
    (j) No part of the Lombardi Trophy should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform.

    Wow, you guys are too much! I guess we may just have to wait until Feb. 6th to find out the true answer…

    right after i get you that canary yellow jersey

    …actually, perhaps paul can head to cheeseville and get the scoop from marge

    Where do they put it on the super-stretchies, Like A.J. Hawk’s jersey in photo 3? It doesn’t look like there’s enough room between the TV number and the front number to fit a patch that tall.

    I noticed on the Packers site, there’s an image of two players holding up a banner.

    NFC CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS.

    Seems a bit………….redundant, no?

    RIP the San Diego sand unis; they were fantastic and definitely underrated.

    The “Burger King” logo is actually an interesting logo; the rest of that jersey was, well… ugh.

    Maybe I’m being a little too sensitive but as a OSU Cowboys fan it was pretty off putting to read todays’ ‘A Day to Remember’ sarcastic story about remembering the Burger King jersey when it’s actually a day to remember…the 10th anniversary of the OSU plane crash.

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