That’s one weird-ass mask Carey Price was wearing in yesterday’s NHL Heritage Classic. You can learn more about it here, and you can see lots of Heritage Classic pics — featuring plenty of shots of the Flames’ excellent sleeve and sock stripes — here.
I’ve been on the road for the past two days (and I’ll be driving home through a snowstorm today — probably), so that’s it for today’s lead content. My apologies for not having a fuller treatment of the Heritage Classic, for not having any coverage at all of Black Thanksgiving, and for not having been able to get to every single Ticker submission, but feel free to discuss all of that in today’s comments, OK? OK. — Paul
Collector’s Corner, by Brinke Guthrie
Hope you’re enjoying the holiday today. Me, I’m on vacation until March 1st, so I’ll be scanning the eBay archives daily looking for cool stuff. Here’s what I”ve found lately:
• In honor of President’s Day today, we lead off with this Air Force vs. George Washington football program.
• Paul’s a Niners fan, so he’ll love this Hugh McElhenny painting. Affording it is another matter, however.
• Hmmm, does this look like a hockey helmet to you?
• Just a fantastic set of 1940s MLB stickers.
• Besides being an NFL legend with the Bears, George Halas co-owned a sporting goods company, and here’s one of his company’s jerseys. Nice find by Matt Campbell.
*Fire up the record player and put on this Saints LP from 1967.
• Love the Bart Starr look on this 1963 NFL picture book.
• Now we know how the Say Hey Kid likes his waffles.
Seen something on eBay that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Big news from the NCAA regarding football handwear, as gloves will no longer be required to be gray (with thanks to Mark Kluczynski). ”¦ Super rugby update from Brent Archer: New kits for all the New Zealand teams, the South African Stormers, the Sharks, and the Waratahs. ”¦ Hmmm, is Cal thinking about switching to a white helmet? (As submitted by Ken Clampett.) ”¦ Here’s an interesting find by Peter Nash: When Babe Ruth died, at least one kid showed up to pay his respects in uniform. Keep in mind that this was 1948, and Little League had only expanded beyond the confines of Pennsylvania in 1947. ”¦ Also from Peter: Reggie Jackson with the 1967 Birmingham A’s. ”¦ Twins infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka apparently has an endorsement deal with a company we don’t often see represented on the baseball diamond. Can you guess which company it is? Don’t think I’ve ever seen them make a glove before (with thanks to Aaron Klett). ”¦ I can’t decide if I vaguely remember seeing this as a kid or if it’s just the power of suggestion, but either way it’s a rarity: NFL zebras wearing rain slickers. Wusses! Note the inconsistent Jets NOB fonts, too. Those screen shots all came from this video clip, which was sent my way by Mark Kluczynski. ”¦ Early contender for MLB promotion of the year: Remember the (in)famous play in which Kent Hrbek pushed Ron Gant off the bag in the 1991 World Series? The Twins are celebrating the 20th anniversary of that play with a bobble giveaway. Genius! ”¦ White Sox reliever Edwin Jackson wants to change his uni number (with thanks to Steve Johnston). ”¦ Better than bobbles: Check out these ceramic figurines (plus the kangaroos on the facing page are pretty damn cute). That’s from this 1961 Packers/Giants program (big thanks to Tom Farley). ”¦ I love the muted colors on the basketball court in this shot. It’s from an article about Sudanese basketball. ”¦ The Hurricanes retired Rob Brind’Amour’s number on Friday. No surprise that the ’Canes marked the occasion with jersey patches and Brindy jerseys during warm-ups — that’s standard stuff. But in a really nice gesture, the visiting Flyers also wore Brindy jerseys during warm-ups. Further info here. ”¦ Like I said all along, Tiki Barber didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about. ”¦ Lids for yids, Beantown-style (with thanks to James Flynn). ”¦ Jake Moorhead found a site of all of the hockey masks David Arrigo has painted. ”¦ Chris Mycoskie reports that FIU’s baseball team is using a white script on its white home jerseys. ”¦ Matt Hoffman spotted an MLB windbreaker with just a slight quality-control problem. ”¦ Ride, ride, ride, hitchin’ a ride (thanks, Brinke). ”¦ Texas A&M baseball is still wearing stirrups this season (with thanks to Chris Smith). ”¦ Lots going on in this 1967 Pitt/Wisconsin photo, including Wisconsin’s “W” logo socks, the Bucky Badger helmet logo, and Pitt’s rarely seen “panther in a circle” logo (nice find by Jeff Flynn Jr. ”¦ Several readers noted that NBC was using the Caps’ throwback logo the other day. ”¦ I think we’ve seen this before, but once more can’t hurt: Christy Matthewson endorsing sock garters (big thanks to Mike Hersh). ”¦ Also from Mike: a game-used Sammy Sosa glove with two embroidered flag patches and an awesome Minnesota Muskies poster. … Alex Carlson was watching the MLB Network’s show on the 40 greatest uniforms and saw Vida Blue talking about the A’s white shoes. “He mentioned that they would wear black shoes for BP and then switch into the white for the game,” says Alex. That may explain a lot of the black-shod A’s shots that we’ve seen. ”¦ Here’s some priceless color footage of 1940s Redskins games. “No road whites here — all color-on-color,” says Frank Blitzer. Additional footage here and here.
White-on-white for the FIU jerseys actually looks kind of cool.
But what’s a “Parthers?” :)
Seriously, though: they really need to fix that “N.”
Beat me to it…I don’t think there is any way that can be contrued as a N
That’s a really bad “n”. It’s almost, but not quite as bad as the u/n combo letter in the Sunkist logo: link
Code for “Sinkist”.
It’s an Anita Bryant-related thing.
Long story.
(noooo, I just made that up)
—Ricko
That Panthers font looks like the same one used by the San Diego Padres.
link
link
I’m old enough to get the Anita Bryant reference. She was a 1970s celeb who promoted both orange juice and homophobia, in case anyone’s wondering.
Actually, Adidas has made a bit of a comeback on the baseball shoes front in the last couple of years. Nike still has the dominant market share, of course.
Yeah lots of guys wear adidas in MLB… Ryan Howard, Chase Utley, Jayson Werth, BJ/Justin Upton, and Coco Crisp to name a few.
Ryan Howard has also worn an adidas 1st base mitt in the past:
link
Somebody please put a note in Texas A&M’s #15’s locker..
“High stirrup in back, dude.”
—Ricko
Because the vast majority of players have grown up not wearing conventional stirrups unfortunately there are none of us old fogies around to instruct today’s wayward youth on proper stirrup etiquette. Sad, isn’t it.
When the Twins first wore road throwbacks for that game in Texas a few years back, they asked coach Wayne Terwillger for a clinic on now to wear stirrups and properly blouse their pants.
As a result they all looked really good that day in their gray flannels. I recall Dave Winfield looking especially great in that old style. Although he would have looked great in anything, I suppose…but it helped that he wore it absolutely perfect. Didn’t hike his stirrups way up with short pants. That’s a seriously geek/Little League look. At least in the context of that era.
Simple “rule”: the higher you pull up your stirrups, the lower your pants should come down to meet them…unless the stirrups are striped. Then it looks okay, cuz you’re letting the stripes show.
Oh, like there are “rules”. Just recapping the fashion of the day.
—Ricko
Everyone else got it right. Obviously the problem lies with the shortstop, not my generation in general.
Re: 1940s Redskins footage
It should be noted that the narrator / announcer of the piece is Harry Wismer, the original owner of the AFL New York Titans, whose original coach was.. Sammy Baugh.
“[reliever Jackson] and a potential logjam in the White Sox rotation.”
Well this is the first I’ve ever heard of Edwin Jackson being referred to as a reliever or a logjam starting rotation. I thought he was going to be our vastly overpaid 4th & eventual 5th starter if Peavy ever comes back.
In the case of Rob Brind’Amour, I wonder how often a players jersey is retired by a team and one of his former teams is that night’s opponent?
…or Rod Brind’Amour, as he’s sometimes known…
And since I’m sure nobody saw this, here’s a photo of Paul Brandt link before yesterday.
What I mean by “nobody saw this” was that I posted it in yesterday’s comments earlier this morning.
The St. Louis Blues played the Detroit Red Wings the night they retired Brett Hull’s 16 (12/5/06), and the Boston Bruins played the New York Rangers the night Ray Bourque took the number 7 off his back and gave it to Phil Esposito (12/3/87). And Wayne Gretzky’s 99 went up in the now-Rexall Place rafters against the New York Rangers (10/1/99).
Plus the Rangers retired Mark Messier’s 11 against Edmonton January 12, 2006
More cases of NHLers whose numbers were retired at games featuring one of their other teams:
Denis Savard’s 18 was retired by the Blackhawks against the Canadiens (3/19/98).
Boom Boom Geoffrion’s 5 was retired by the Canadiens against the Rangers (3/11/06).
Dickie Moore’s 12 was retired by the Habs against the Maple Leafs (11/12/05). 12 was also retired for Yvan Cournoyer that night, but he spent his entire NHL career with Montreal, while Moore played for the Leafs in 64-65.
Rod Langway’s 7 for the Capitals, against the Canadiens (11/26/97).
Mike Gartner’s 11 for the Capitals, against the Maple Leafs (12/28/08).
Bobby Hull’s 9 for the Winnipeg Jets, against the Hartford Whalers (2/19/89).
That’s all I’ve been able to correlate, thanks to hockey-reference.com’s record of game logs compared against dates given for jersey retirements.
When the Hurricanes retired Glen Wesley’s number, it was against the Bruins, who he played for early in his career.
I don’t think it’s all that uncommon. Teams have certainly made it a point in many cases.
Also, a nice shot of the players who built the Hurricanes franchise, and now are the ones with their numbers in the rafters.
Give me a break, I had a tough enough time trying to spell his last name! :-D
From that “G for Greatness” link:
“Oh, no, I didn’t know that. I didn’t research that. I’m from New York, man,” Barber responds.
Funny, I always thought he was from Virginia. And what the hell is that supposed to mean, anyway?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Is is just me or does that link look like the link?
did anyone else notice the players on the Calgary Flames last night seemed to be wearing different colored pants. Some were more white while others were more tan, could it have been a manufacturing issue? heres a shot of Matt Stajan (18) and Matt Giordano (5) see how Giordanos pants are darker.
link
Stajan was link. Any idea if Giordano was wearing Warrior (or possibly Reebok)? He had Warrior gloves in that pic, so Warrior is likely.
Because it looks like the Bauer and Easton pants were link.
Its funny you mention Giordano because (I was watching for this) he was the only one I could see whose regular game pants were visible under a tan-coloured shell
link
I wonder if the other players had pants and he was the only one with a shell?
You could tell a difference in color after the lights took over for the sunlight. I’m pretty sure the angle of light/reflection off of the material has to do with the differeces in color.
“Lids for yids” is pretty damn funny, but I’m glad an Irishman didn’t say it…
yeah…im wondering if i was doing the ticker if i might have been able to use that phraseology…i wouldn’t have regardless…
While I wish I could claim credit for the term in question, I cannot. I was simply referencing these guys:
link
link
I can’t speak for all Members of the Tribe, but I wouldn’t be offended by it. It’s obviously not an insult in context.
I mean to say if a goy had said it and not a Nice Jewish Boy like Paul. ;)
Just to pick a nit, MLB didn’t do 40 Greatest Uniforms, but 40 Most Memorable. That’s how they managed to put the White Sox collars-and-shorts uni at #2 in between the Yanks and Cardinals. The whole thing was a mixture of the great and the horrible, and really fairly well done by MLB for what it was (i.e. time-filler).
Has anyone seen a first base coach wearing a glove while coaching before? I hadn’t until I saw this 1915 photo: link
For Presidents Day, some photos & galleries of American chief executives in (and near) sports unis:
link meeting Babe Ruth as a young man.
link, this time as an old man, finally making good on the “player to be named later” portion of the trade that brought the Babe to New York.
link enjoying some uni-watching.
link, more or less in uniform as owner of the Rangers.
link with highlights including Nixon in Dude-worthy bowling attire, the Gipper in football uniform, a better picture of Bush the Elder playing for Yale, Bush the Lesser in coach-y Nats windbreaker, and Obama in a White Sox jersey and mom jeans.
link on the gridiron.
link in boxing attire.
link fox hunting (paintings at the top and bottom of the page).
link wrestling.
Today would Lincoln have wrestled as “The Rail Splitter”, maybe?
—Ricko
Nah, “Honest” Abe Lincoln would have worked just fine, especially if he was a heel and his gimmick was that he was always dishonest.
The Rail Splitter would have been a great name for his finishing move, though.
Indeed.
“Look out, Honest Abe’s got Douglas in the ‘Rail Splitter’ now. This debate is OVER!”
Yeah. Like it.
Think he’d have entered the ring wearing a shawl?
Nah, probably not.
—Ricko
He didn’t become known as “Honest Abe” until well after the end of his wrestling career, so I’m thinking the Sagamonster or the Kentucky Giant. The Rail Splitter would totally have been his signature move.
And had Abe survived to retire from the presidency, he could have re-entered the ring as the He-Mancipator.
Funny about the “Honest Abe” nickname as a counterpoint to playing a dishonest heel: That about perfectly describes Harry Flashman’s impressions of young Lincoln in Flash for Freedom. Which quality, of course, makes Lincoln one of the very few people Flashman respects.
“He didn’t become known as ‘Honest Abe’ until well after the end of his wrestling career…”
Thanks for setting me straight, Scott. I certainly don’t want an anachronism to mar this discussion of a modern pro wrestling persona for our nation’s 16th President.
It is clear that my earnest tone is meant to be self-effacing, right? If not, my bad.
Don’t sweat it. I was just giving you shit.
Another potential heel persona: a blue blood character who belittles the audience. He’d call himself “The Continental.”
bush the ‘lesser’
of all people, i thought you’d respect the office of POTUS
I think he meant that either…
Bush I was taller.
or…
Bush I was older, preceding Bush II historically.
Or, it was a political comment, lol.
Either way, Mission Accomplished, Scott.
—Ricko
Phil, I believe that a willingness to laugh at the foibles of the man in the chair is respect for the office of POTUS. Mirthless deference to an individual person is not respect for a public office in the government of a free people; rather, it is the characteristic of the willing subject of despotism. I might think that a president is the worst thing to hit the republic since the Spanish Flu, but I’m still going to cheer, not boo, when he throws out the first pitch at the ballpark. Likewise, I might think that a president is the best thing to happen to the government since Napoleon sold us the Midwest, but I’m still going to laugh at the man every chance I get.
If you thought my joke about Obama’s mom jeans was insufficient balance to my japes about Bush ogling hot volleyball players, let me plead that Barry O has only been in office two years to Dubya’s eight, so a cursory Google search does not yet yield as much funny material. Heck, Obama won’t even have the chance to look silly alongside barely clothed Olympic athletes until next summer.
oh no…quite the contrary…no one, not even POTUS, is above a little college humor
i just thought on presidents’ day, of all times, you would have kept the jabs higher…had you referred to GHWB as “the greater” then the “lesser” would have been quite hilarious
since you love SAT-type “is to’s” i just figured you’d have made “the elder” is to “the younger” rather than “the lesser”
btw…i thought it was great to see all the flags at the monument flying the same direction today, to signal our unity and spirit of cooperation in the face of trying times
That’s one of my favorite symbols.
Because it works if there’s a change in the wind, too.
—Ricko
Everyone knows Lincoln and Washington played hockey. At least that’s what the AHL’s Lake Erie Monsters say.
link
link
My son got those earlier this month when my brother took him to a game.
And I agree, no one is above a little humor, but when it comes to presidents I prefer the Bob Hope style of subtly roasting them.
I prefer Hinkley’s style.
Just kidding.
By the way, this was the first time I *really* got a good look at the Mom jeans Obama was wearing. Dang, my jeans fit worse than that, so I don’t see what the big fuss was about. His aren’t that bad at all.
For once, I’ll have to agree with you about something fashion-related. What kind of jeans do people think he should have been wearing? Skinny jeans? Jeans so baggy they were halfway down his ass?
Agreed. The fit is actually decent, especially compared to your average American male. The real crime is those trainers. How about some leather sneakers? Just as comfy, much more classy. Or canvas sneakers. Something other than the white mesh monstrosity that is your typical running shoe.
Also, the stonewash- just about everyone looks better in dark jeans, unless they’re light because you broke ’em in yourself. Then the lightness looks much more natural.
Was that Castro giving Jimmy Carter pointers? How did that conversation go?
Didn’t watch the all star game last night but did any players wear the spandex jersey?
I was just looking through the photos at NBA.com, and I didn’t see any, but it was interesting that it appeared that where the name usually goes (they were below the numbers last night), I can only assume each player had stars representing something like the number of all-star games they’ve been in.
No, spandex didn’t show up.
@JimWa, yes, it was the number of ASG played.
Man, Nike doesn’t have a thing on adidas when it comes to logo creep. Hate the 3 stripes all over everything.
Love those ceramic football figurines from Sports Figures. Has anyone seen the actual thing? I just may need to track down the Packers one.
As a Braves fan, I raise my middle finger to the Twins for their Hrbek bobblehead, clever as it is.
For the record (and I am not a Twins fan, per se, but I have played a ton of first base), Hrbek did nothing illegal on that play. Was a “continuing action” thing, and it’s up to the runner to stay with the base.
The onus ought to properly fall on Gant’s blunder.
Same for Chuck Knoblauch’s deek on Lonnie Smith.
—Ricko
“deke”
Lonnie Smith’s blunder was one of the all time brain farts. Absolutely cost them the game and the series.
Hrbek’s play was dirty, but I agree that Gant deserves blame for putting himself in a position for that to happen in the first place.
Hell, I gave lots of runners a little “lift” in that situation (pickoff attempts, etc.). Most of time it’s farting around. You expect to end up smiling at each other. You never expect the guy to actually allow himself to be lifted off the base.
So let’s at least split the blame.
It’s like saying a push at the end of a swipe tag on a stolen base that moves the runner’s foot off the bag is dirty. Any runner with his head in the game just plain shouldn’t allow it to happen.
Last year in a softball game against a bunch of young guys my top foot flat-out kicked the ball out of shortstop’s glove on a slide at second base when I was gonna be out by a mile. Shortstop didn’t say anything. Umpire didn’t say anything except “Safe”. And the pitcher just laughed and said, “That was awesome.”
Things happen on clean slides. It’s the shortstop’s job to secure the ball. It was Gant’s job to stay with the base. He, too, had a brain fart.
—Ricko
I think Price’s Heritage Classic mask would’ve worked just as well- nay, better- without the eyes and mouth.
It would have looked even better if it was just plain white.
I don’t care for the painted masks that goalies wear today. They look like they’ve all had their Ed Hardy t-shirts blow up in their face.
Ooh, that’s a nasty Affliction, isn’t it? (*GROAN*)
All kidding aside, quote of the day.
Indeed. That was awesome.
The designs are getting a bit overblown. Some of the best, most iconic masks are the simpler designs – the ones that can instantly identify a goalie from across the arena without having to look at the uniform number.
Steve Shields says “Been there, done that.”
link
Fantastic Redskins footage. The ’45 (Cleveland) Rams must be the yellowest – er, athletic goldest – NFL team ever. That championship game rivals this year’s Super Bowl for yellowness, though it looks like the Skins had toned theirs down to more of a tan by that point.
Always love seeing ball-carriers get knocked to the ground, pop up, and keep running for extra yardage in the old films. “He’s bouncing up and down like a bad check!” says Harry Wismer.
What an exquisite image…
link
Thanks for sharing.
I know the big thing in this photo is the beard-on-beard action, but I actually couldn’t help notice Baron Davis’s crazy socks! (just avert your eyes from the ridiculously ugly shoes): link
Yeah, while no one (that I saw) in the actual all-star game wore those socks, quite a few participants in the weekend’s other events wore them (in their respective team’s colors).
link
“He mentioned that they would wear black shoes for BP and then switch into the white for the game,” says Alex. “That may explain a lot of the black-shod A’s shots that we’ve seen.”
And, as I’ve mentioned before, they orginally had a set of green cleats they wore when the track was muddy. There are a few regular-season game-action photos out there. I have one b&w of Campy Campaneris diving back into base, I know. I assume the shoes are green because they’re Riddells. A’s didn’t wear Riddells until the white cleats of 1967.
They wore black cleats in spring training, too, especially early, not issuing white cleats until the roster was down to near-“goin’ north” size.
—Ricko
Isn’t the jersey on the cover of the Saints LP dark blue, not black? Wondering if other elements of the pictured uniform deviated from the actual year one Saints uni.
Single-stripe helmet not right, either.
Had a single stripe for training camp, but it was white.
Also, as has been discussed here, didn’t John Mecom, Jr. originally want the Saints’ colors to be old gold and blue, but the NFL shot it down? So maybe that’s a piece of concept art?
—Ricko
“I love the muted colors on the basketball court in this shot. It’s from an article about Sudanese basketball.”
link
Looks as if they were drawn with sidewalk chalk. And I’m not saying that’s a bad thing…it does look kinda cool.
Over at my own personal site, I decided to take a whack at rebranding the OKC Thunder. Just wonderin’ what people think…
link
That’s pretty good!
I’d like to see the road unis with OKLAHOMA above the numbers and CITY below the numbers as well.
Wonder how long it will be before they come out with an OKC jersey, too.
I don’t suppose the Buffalo Braves are ever coming back, so I guess using the buffalo as a mascot is OK…
Well, I figured a Buffalo mascot would be OK (haha- get it, O.K.) since Rumble the Bison (link) is already performing Dunks at the Ford Center
Looks as if they just put horns on the old Sonics mascot, Squatch:
link
Those are some great logos. The head-on, pissed-off animal logo is one of the best logo styles, but hard to pull off and you did it nicely. Good framing and no weirdness about the facial features. It looks like a real buffalo while still having a recognizable expression. It doesn’t look unnecessarily cartoonish, like the Atlanta Bullshit logo from the Cracked article.
Love the faux backs. Is it odd to anyone else that the Thunder haven’t rolled out an orange alternate?
I’m ok if they don’t ever do that haha. Plus their yellow ans orange are so insignificant on the uni, I would imagine a dark blue alt with the light blue side paneling will show up before an orange or yellow one does. IMO.
Orange is insignificant? Depends on which uni you look at.
On the road uni, I’d agree that orange is just a trim color. But on the home uni, I’d say orange is the secondary color whereas dark blue is just a trim color.
Wow, I really like the dark grey uniform set. It’s a unique color that would represent the team name and stand out in a sea of blue that has become the latest uni trend. The grey works really well with the black, yellow and red and from a marketing standpoint it looks like those colors would really sell. Bravo
Thanks.
and that color scheme has worked before.
link
My inspiration?
Now you need to take a crack at rebranding the Sacramento Kings since they’re considering a relocation to Anaheim next season
I sorta like those Sharks rugby shirts.
link
Reminds me of an old Chicago Sting soccer jersey.
link
was this mentioned on uniwatch yet? mispelled jersey for justin duchschrer….
link
“Naming Wrongs” gets a bit of a moment in this video about the new stadiums in NYC: link (it jumps to the relevant part).
Pretty good video.
I love link.
The opening sentence of the article about NCAA gloves is “Oregon’s basic football uniforms will stay the same next fall.”
Um, what? I don’t think the words “basic” or “stay the same” is in the University of Oregon’s vocabulary.
Gotta love articles that involve that include “Brewers” and “Equipment Manager” in the title.
link
Saw this story a little while back about the kid in the uniform at the Bambino’s funeral:
link
Interesting uni number combination spotted at the Heritage Classic, as seen in this video clip:
link
Paul Brandt (Canadian country singer who sang O Canada) wore a Flames throwback jersey, with a number on the sleeve that appears to be… a musical note (a one-eighth note, to be specific.) I have no idea if there was also a giant musical note on the back of the jersey, but I can only assume. Is this a first in unusual uni numbers?
Looking at the clipping of the uniformed kid at Babe Ruth’s funeral…
Anyone else think that the kid’s mom, Rosie O’Donnell, hasn’t aged a bit since that picture of her was taken?