By Phil Hecken
Back in August, I ran an entry with today’s “guest submitter,” Rob Caplette, who posts in our comments as “Inkracer.” That article focused on the much-overlooked “Black for Black’s Sake” in Auto Racing. I promised when racing season came around in 2011, I’d let him do a full review of the cars liveries, and he had actually planned on doing one for the Daytona 500, but webmaster John Ekdahl had already “reserved” that post. So Rob rallied and has delivered what you’re about to see today. I don’t know much about auto racing, but he sure does. So, without further ado…here’s Rob.
A Look at the F1 and Indy Cars for 2011
By Rob Caplette
The racing season is upon us, I want to take a spin around the different series, and take a look at, and grade the overall liveries. With the great piece that Ek did for the Daytona 500, and Nascar, I won’t hit those again. I will instead take a spin thru the F1, IndyCar and a few other series.
F1:
Ferrari — Pretty much the same look has last year. The two biggest differences the new, non-barcode logo, and no rear rear wing Sponsor, since the Italian flag has replaced Ethiad.
1Malaysia Racing — More of an evolution of last year’s livery. Since the Lotus sponsorship went to Renault, and Renault beat Lotus to the punch with JPS-esque Black and Gold.
Sauber — Just another evolution of last year’s livery as more sponsors come aboard the squad once backed by BMW.
Renault — Out is the Yellow and Black, in is the Black and Gold, a shout-out to the last time Lotus and Renault were paired up.
Mercedes — Same colors, though PETRONAS’ seafoam green finds itself more prevalent than last year.
Red Bull Racing — Only a minor change as the Red Bull Cola endplates on the rear wing now carries Total Sponsorship. Here is last year’s design.
Toro Rosso — Only notable change is the car number not on the sideboard. Other than that, same livery as last season.
McLaren — Despite rumors they were going away from the silver livery that has been McLaren’s signature for a while, there are only minor changes to the livery. Last year’s car.
Virgin Racing — Another car with some minor changes, there is a bit more black, some white, and gone are the tribal accents that adorned the car last season.
Hispania Racing — The team with the biggest change in livery, going from a blank car with the driver’s name on it to some actual sponsors, overall, it’s a nice upgrade.
Force India — The colors stay the same, but still a significant livery change for the Indian-owned team.
Williams — Another car that I like on the grid, the colors didn’t change, but adding a nod to an older livery really works for the team, and brings back memories of a different time in F1.
IndyCar:
Team Penske — More changes this year for Penske, as noted last year, the longtime marriage with Marlboro is over, and Penske has seemingly struck it sponsor-rich. Shell joins the squad for the Indy 500, as the sponsor for 3-time winner Helio Castroneves’ car. Helio will also carry the colors of AAA (and AAA Insurance), Guidepoint Systems and, Itiapava (an alcoholic beverage of some sort, confirmed as Helio’s sponsor in Brazil). Ryan Briscoe will carry the colors of Izod, PPG, and will share the Guidepoint colors. Right now, it looks like Will Power will carry the colors of Verizon, like last season, and possibly Mejier. Per this article on the Indycar site, it looks like there could be a Coke livery too.
Chip Ganassi Racing — This year Ganassi racing breaks into 2 teams. The “A” squad of Dixon and Franchitti, who continue to have Target backing, and newcomers to the Ganassi stable, Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball, Sponsored by Service Central and Nova Nordisk, respectively.
HVM — the Swiss Miss, Simona De Silvestro comes back to the team this year, with the backing of Entergy. Expect big things from this small team, now with proper backing. Small changes have already been made to this livery.
Andretti AutoSport — Go Daddy returns to Danica’s car, and I’m still not fond of their liveries. Venom returns to Marco’s car, and there really isn’t much change there. DHL steps up for Ryan Hunter-Reay, also with backing from Dr. Pepper/Snapple through Sun Drop, not a bad looking car, but could use some improvements. Still awaiting Conway’s colors, but I’m hearing that Dr. Pepper/Snapple and Go Daddy will be on the car. Window World and Petty return for another go at Indy with John.
Sarah Fisher Racing — Sarah, the team owner steps out of the car, and the team will run a limited schedule with “Special” Ed Carpenter, in the #67 Dollar General machine.
AJ Foyt Racing — ABC Supplies continues backing the AJ squad, with a new, old school throwback livery this season.
Panther Racing — National Guard still sponsoring the Panther squad, looks like they are going with the black and ACU camo design of last year, I still expect to see a Red, White, and Blue one at some point too.
KV Racing Tech/Lotus — Lotus steps up their sponsoring of the Kalkhoven/Vasser squad, as both cars will now sport Green and Yellow Lotus-esque liveries. E.J. Viso again brings along PDVSA. For those of you paying attention to the naming battle in F1 right now, this is the Lotus that is backing the Renault squad. Takuma Sato sported Pray for Japan decals at the Open test. Adds Tony Kanaan for the entire season, with GEICO backing. Sato continues with Japan on his car.
Conquest Racing — Per Speed TV, the driver lineup will be Sebastien Saavedra and Pippa Mann. Still blank cars on the track, so far this pre-season. Confirmed Saavedra, who will be piloting a rather colorful entry in St. Pete.
Dale Coyne Racing — Confirmed Bourdais and James Jakes, Bourdais will carry the colors of the Boy Scouts this year. Jakes brings Acorn Stairlifts with him to Coyne, testing has them using a decal-less BSA car.
Dreyer and Reinbold — The driver lineup is set, with Brazilian Ana Beatriz and Englishman Justin Wilson behind the wheel. Charter will be Wilson’s sponsor at the Grand Prix of Alabama, and Z-line returns as the main Primary Sponsor for Wilson. It appears that Ipirango is tagging along with Beatriz again this year. For this weekend in St. Pete, Tran Systems is on Wilson’s car. It appears that Ipirango is tagging along with Beatriz again this year.
Newman/Haas — The once great team has fallen on a bit of hard times, and we still are waiting on word on the driver lineup for the upcoming season. Word is the lineup of Oriol Servia and James Hinchcliffe all but official.
Sam Schmidt Motorsports — The newly acquired/renamed FAZZT team from last season will have Alex “Tags” Tagliani behind the wheel, and Bower & Wilkins as the primary sponsor. It appears that the car will look similar to the FAZZT car from last season.
AFS Racing — Split from Andretti, the AFS guys reunite with Matos for their inaugural IndyCar season.
Also, I am working on a piece about uniform inconsistencies between the one the field uniforms and their video game counterparts. (Like the Eagles 60’s Throwback with current wing decal) If you know of any, send them my way.
Thanks Rob.
Colorize This!
Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.
Very small set this week.
With the passing of Hollywood icon Elizabeth Taylor this past Wednesday, Paul ran that as his splash photo on Thursday, suggesting it might make for a good “Colorize This!” piece. Reader Chris Bisbee came up with that idea, and a few of the colorizers had their way with it. Not everyone took it seriously.
Up first is “DF” who took the MSPaint approach, simply writing:
Next up was the guy who posts as “Dootie Bubble” who colorized the photo, and added an interesting new background. By the way, there’s only one “L” in Philip:
Phillip,
Dootie
Not everyone treated this as a joke. Jeremy Kelly did a bang up job on Liz:
Dear Phil,
Here’s the Elizabeth Taylor colorization that Paul suggested. I think that it came out really nice.
Thanks!
Jeremy Kelly
Next up is a future colorization suggestion, which comes from Andrew Mocella. It might be a bit small, however:
Just putting a ‘challenge’/request out there for anyone up to it, I work a lot so don’t have spare time to do it myself, but I would really like to see this photo of Howie Morenz colorized, thanks.
Andrew Mocella
Of course, our two bombers didn’t disappoint this week. Gary Chanko found a great old shot from one of Paul’s “wire service” entries:
Followed your suggestion and captured this great image of George Susce from Uni Watch » There’s No Service Like Wire Service, Vol. 16 to colorize. Also found an interesting Shoeless Joe Jackson image that I’ll finish later this week.
Cheers,
Gary Chanko
Thanks, Gary! I had actually colorized that myself a long time ago, but your effort is far superior. I totally screwed up the sleeve color, making them orange when they should have been tan-ish. Great job.
And finally we have George Chilvers, who also took on the lovely Ms. Taylor:
Hi Phil
I know some in the comments section the other day said don’t colourise this, but I personally think it adds to the picture. I think there’s room for the black and white fans who can appreciate the artistry of the photographer, and the colourisers who want to bring historical pictures to life.
George
But George wasn’t done. Despite being busy, he had also sent along this beauty earlier this past week:
Hi Phil
Yes – you were right – I am very busy at work at present so entries from me may be sporadic for a little while. However the “competition” (friendly competition of course) is getting so good that I feel honour-bound to keep flying the Union Jack and rise to the challenges.
Saw this picture on Shorpy — and just had to colourise it. I never thought that colourising glass could be so satisfying!
It is an 1890s US Naval Academy team – judging by the mitts it’s the Baking Competition team posed outside the Church Hall where the cakes will be sold. The guy standing in uniform to the left has obviously had a serious oven-related injury to his right index finger.
I do have a full size version, but I thought you’d want a scaled down version because the file size is very big otherwise.
Best wishes,
George
That’s all for this week. Either everyone is very busy or not a lot of people saw last weekend’s colorize this!. So, lets see if we can’t find a few b&w’s to colorize for next weekend. There’s lots of great stuff from any of the wire service entries Paul has run in the past. As always, send me your colorizations and I’ll run them in the next “Colorize This!”
Benchies
by Rick Pearson
What’s more fun than finding a pair of classics online?
And if that’s too small, here is the full size version.
And don’t forget… to enter Ricko’s “Design an outfit for Mick” contest — Here’s A Template. Just give the Mick a nice golf outfit (you can enter as many as you’d like) and the “winner” will receive either a signed original “Benchies” or be written into a future strip — possibly both. For full details, you can refer back to the contest. Remember, the deadline is April 3, 2011.
Uni Tweaks
Back with a full set of tweaks today.
If you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way.
Remember, if possible, try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per tweak. You guys have been great a keeping to that, and it’s much appreciated!
And so, lets begin:
Starting off today is Ike Buck, who has a Bengals tweak:
A couple weeks back I sent you guys a tweak on the Bengals uni using the Nike Pro-Combat template, but the logo was just plain bad. Well, I feel like I fixed that. Here is a Bengals uni that’s clean and tasteful. Hope you enjoy. I have more I’ll be sending starting with some A.F.C teams. Tweak on!
Ike Buck
Next is Christopher Antipuesto, who has a great tweak for the San Francisco Seals:
Fellow Tweakers,
I have a dream that the Class-A San Jose Giants move to San Francisco and allow the Oakland A’s to move to the South Bay. The home/away and alternate sets I designed honor the history of the two most successful franchises in the City. I aimed for a jersey that had the texture and feel of a uniform from the 1930’s.
Chris Antipuesto
Next up is Peter Brannen, who is a first time tweaker. Enjoy this Patriots concept:
Hi Phil,
Never done anything like this before but the Patriots uniforms have been bugging me since the end of the Hugh Millen era. With New England’s revolutionary history I thought something blunt, intimidating and traditional was more appropriate. The helmet incorporates the 13 stars from the original 13 colony American flag and the player’s number is inside. I don’t normally like drab colors, like Navy Blue or burnt red but I think with the Patriots it actually works and evokes something like a tattered flag from Lexington or Concord.
Best,
Pete Brannen
Closing out the tweak show today is Mike Snider, who has a Va Tech tweak:
Phil,
I have been thinking about a way to tweak Virginia Tech’s fauxback uniforms in any meaningful way until it hit me last night: do an orange alt. I haven’t decided whether I like it as of yet.
—
Michael Snider
Thanks to all today’s tweakers. Back next weekend with more.
Parting Shots: OK, lads and lasses, that’s it for this weekend. Looks like we made it through the lull between the end of football and the start of baseball — which starts, by the way, on THURSDAY this week — WTF? Really, Bud? It’s bad enough the Reds no longer get to officially “open” the season on a Monday, as god intended, but now games start Thursday for some MLB for some teams, and Friday for the rest? Is nothing sacred anymore???
Isn’t the First Monday In April supposed to be a national holiday? Even when ESPN moved the season back by one evening, at least we could always count on a full slate of games on Monday, when everyone was undefeated, and all was once again right in the world. Who’s gonna play hooky on Friday to watch Opening Day? Just won’t be the same.
Have a great week everyone.
Every uni could be improved when you get into the fine details and the margins. Even the Yankees. …Except maybe the burgundy-era Phillies. — R. Scott Rogers
After seeing all of the great efforts on the colorizations week after week, I find the first two Liz Taylor “works” hilarious! What’s the deal with the guys with the rifles?
Hilarious? I question the editorial decision to run photos mocking a person who has just died. The first one by “DF” which no doubt stands for Dumb Fuck, shows a profound lack of decency. Likely the kind who believes he has a Constitutional right to protest at funerals.
We all have holes in our game. This has nothing to do with genuine humor, it is sheer poor judgment.
I’m with you there, JB.
Always wonder about someone who seems proud to show off his/her insensitivity.
Y’know, “Look at me, look how foreign the concept of ‘class’ is to me, yet how profound and/or funny I am.”
Of course they’re neither. Just tacky, in all the negative connotations of the word.
Two other recent examples of are Gilbert Gottfried (almost all the time) and The Situation at the Donald Trump Comedy Channel Roast. Yeah, he was just SO clever and funny, wasn’t he.
—Ricko
For those who didn’t see it…
link
What a waste of 4:59.
Rule #1: Never become famous.
The editorial decision did puzzle me. Uniwatch does not have some sort of sacred obligation to post every thing it revives. The only thing I can think of is that Phil posed those to shame the creators. But lacking the real names, it’s a futile exercise. The lower apes that sent those in are just trying to get exposure for their bigotry. Phil provided that.
The trash that sent those in were after exposure. They got it. It would have been far better that those photos never saw the light of day.
Agreed.
More of the “LOOK AT ME!!!” mentality that perpetuates sport these days.
Those that would post that type of desecration also probably likes:
Baseball “slacks”.
Football helmets that resemble motorcycle helmets.
Banded sleeves on football jerseys.
Monochrome
Flat brims on baseball caps.
Eye-black patches with messages written on them.
The Baltimore Ravens uniforms.
BFBS
“Renault – Out is the Yellow and Black, in is the Black and Gold, a shout-out to the last time Lotus and Renault were paired up.”
Somewhere, The Jeff is smiling.
So if we gather enough people who swear the Yankees wear black hats that’ll mean they do?
—Ricko
You can do better than that Ricko.
The Yankees hat as black is a misconception that can be corrected. You can prove that the Yankees hats are not black simply by putting one next to a White Sox or Pirates hat.
The same does not hold true for the Yellow or Gold argument. The fact remains that “Athletic Gold” is a specific color that is very closely related to pure yellow and the only reason it isn’t referred to as such is due to years of tradition. Tradition alone does not make something right. The same color called “gold” when used on a Packers helmet is called yellow when used on a car or a shirt or pretty much anything else.
“The Yankees hat as black is a misconception that can be corrected.”
So is saying that the Packers and Steelers (and others) wear “yellow” just because it looks that way to the less-than-knowledgeable on TV. That was my point.
Especially since Michigan and Oregon DO wear “yellow”
I appreciate your one-man crusade to undo the common terminology of uni-speak, but I just think that here, of all places, uni-nomenclature ought to be employed, that’s all.
We’re the aficionados, right? Shouldn’t we at least speak the same language when talking to each other? And shouldn’t it be the language of unis and team colors, not something we invent because it suits us? Or because we just walked into the room, yet think we’re more right than 90+ years of industry argot and discussion?
Gold is the most precious metal to almost every civilizaton in history. As such, its various applications in art were going to be varied. We needed a way to respesent it when “metallic” wasn’t an option. Given that, it shouldn’t be a surprise that there are a few different “colors” that get labelled gold. Ancient artists couldn’t very well create an image of a king in his “yellow” crown, now could they.
Just saying, you can get technical, but you’re fighing thousands of years of cultural representation that has, understandably, worked it’s way into “uni world.”
—Ricko
We’re the aficionados, right? Shouldn’t we at least speak the same language when talking to each other? And shouldn’t it be the language of unis and team colors, not something we invent because it suits us?
If we are to understand each other clearly, shouldn’t we call the color by what it is? Team colors have used quite a bit of poetic license over the years. They’re almost meaningless when you factor in things like “Forum Blue” which we all know was purple, or that “Millennium Blue”, “Nautical Blue” and “Navy Blue” are all the same exact color.
Sure, we obviously all know that the Packers (yellow) helmets are “gold”, but what about a lesser known team? If I say that a high school’s colors are blue and gold, it could conjure up quite a few different possibilities. That’s not what I’d call clear communication.
/on that note, I’m done with this today. We might as well be Spock vs McCoy here, and this place isn’t very Vulcan friendly.
Oh, sure, we have to be clear, absolutely.
But I think saying, for example, “LSU basketball wore their golds” is enough, and the way it should be stated. For this crowd, anyway. Most of us know which “gold” that is. If they break out some “Vegas Gold” or “Old Gold” we ought to note that.
Falling back on “yellow” is for uni-watching rookies. If we’ve been paying attention we know which teams wear which gold.
Know what I mean?
—Ricko
“We’re the aficionados, right? Shouldn’t we at least speak the same language when talking to each other?”
No. And not necessarily.
Another example.
The original Padres and the original Broncos wore neither “mustard” nor “yellow” (nor did the bumblebee Pirates, for that matter). They wore “gold,” and anyone who has been a uni-file for more than half an hour ought to know which gold it was: the standard catalog non-metallic gold of that and most any era.
To say otherwise is practically admitting we’ve never so much as looked at an industry catalog or spec sheet. As uni-watchers, shouldn’t that be something we’ve done?
—Ricko
So navy cannot be blue because Carolina Blue is also blue?
“Gold” is yellow. So are maize yellow (or whatever the fark michgan calls it), bright yellow, ochre, goldenrod, poppy, whatever other stupid names you find on a box of crayons or a sports catalog. You might use names with gold in them to refer to specific shades on occasion, but that does not make those shades something other than yellow.
Calling the Packers helmet “yellow” is just lazy. In simplistic terms, “Athletic Gold” is halfway between ‘yellow’ & ‘orange’; at least on a multi-colored gradient scale. Yellow, Athletic Gold, Vegas Gold & Metallic Gold all have distinct differences, and they should be addressed as so, and should be easy enough to tell them all apart.
Thank you, Concealed.
And even those distinctions shouldn’t always be necessary when it comes to well-known teams, which is one of the points I’ve been trying to make.
“The Bears in mono blue” is good enough for a general observation here at UW.
So should be, “The Lakers wore their golds on the road.”
Or, “The Saints opted for their gold pants.”
And, yeah, using “yellow” to describe the unis of a team such as the Lakers is either lazy, uniformed, stubborn vernacular revisionism…or all three.
—Ricko
Well, since someone mentioned “blue and gold”, what say you all about this?
link
Now that’s blue and gold!
“Gold” is yellow. So are maize yellow (or whatever the fark michgan calls it), bright yellow, ochre, goldenrod, poppy, whatever other stupid names you find on a box of crayons or a sports catalog. You might use names with gold in them to refer to specific shades on occasion, but that does not make those shades something other than yellow.
~~~
you are 100% correct
no one, at least to my knowledge, has ever said that gold ISN’T yellow…but the point we have been trying to make, is that it’s NOT INCORRECT to refer to, for example, the color the steelers or packers wear as gold…in fact, the official team colors for those two teams are, respectively, black and gold and green and gold
what we are trying to correct are those who say that the steelers or packers DO NOT wear gold — they do…to be technically correct it’s athletic gold, and you wouldn’t be incorrect to refer to it as yellow…but it’s also gold
just as there are dozens of “shades” of blue, ranging from midnight, to navy, to royal to columbia to carolina — they’re all “blues”
just like athletic gold and whatever the hell michigan wears are both yellows
im sure we could break everything down into ROY-G-BIV (although then we wouldn’t have white or black or gray) if we wanted to…we should embrace having the ability to describe more precisely what color something is, rather than just saying — well, the redskins are red and yellow — their two main colors are certainly comprised of red and yellow, but they are different shades
but technically, if you wanted to say the redskins are red and yellow, you wouldn’t be incorrect
(sad face) I’m still holding on to hope that my uni-tweak will make it on here soon. Do those have a long waiting list or does Phil just hate me? ;)
fear not…i do them in the order they’re received — pretty sure you’re going to be in next weekend
haha, no worries. I’m just excited/worried to see what my fellow Uni-Watchers think of my first official effort. Thanks for all you do!
I think it’s total horseshit what’s going on with the Opening Day schedule. This has been going on since what, 1996 since ESPN took over? And you’re telling me they couldn’t have moved OD to Monday in 3 stinking days earlier instead? It’s these kinds of stupid things that need to be fixed in MLB. Along with a bigger strike zone, raised seems on the ball, not so many off days or such late starting times in the playoffs, getting rid of Interleague Play…
The Thursday thing doesn’t really bother me, although it will take a little getting used to. The Reds should always get the first pitch though.
I just looked at the OD schedule(s), the Reds are home on Thursday, but they’re not even the first game! That goes to D.C. or Faux Yankee Stadium.
7 games in cold climate open-air stadiums including Denver, including 4 dome teams opening on the road in open-air.
Count me as another who always viewed Opening Day as a holiday & for keeping tradition.
While we may be having Opening Day here in Denver on Friday, the weather for Colorado Rockies’ home openers has always been surprisingly great, much better on the whole than the rest of the country, actually. Considering that Friday’s forecast is for sunny with a game-time temperature of 73, I think most of the rest of the country would probably be perfectly happy with that.
Quit thinking that: 1) Denver is in the middle of the mountains and therefore arctic tundra for 9 months out of the year, 2), we always have crappy weather for our home openers. I can only think of one, in 1994 against the Phillies, where it actually started to snow during the game.
Growing up in Cincinnati, OD and the Findlay Market Parade are honored traditions. The city just shuts down.
“It’s a holiday–a baseball holiday! Ain’t no other place in America got that!”
– Sparky Anderson
link
and PS BTW:
There were MANY a TIME when I froze my A** off at that game and parade.
I don’t miss midwest baseball weather in April.
Of course, I have frozen myself into a popsicle in JULY for a night game @ AT&T, too. Must be thin blood.
Generally speaking (and it’s been this way forever, including my generation), it’s lost on people under 30 that traditions have a lot to do with holding a society/culture together.
Not to put Under 30s down, just that they don’t yet have enough mileage on them. It takes time to see some things in their proper perpsective, and there is nothing anyone can do to speed up time, or the experience and evidence we gather as it passes.
I’m not saying Opening Day is critical, or even endemic, to the American experience, but the current cavalier attitude toward it is a little alarming.
With all the disappointments that come in life, all the people and circumstances that let us down, sometimes something as simple as Opening Day being predicatable reminds us that there are, indeed, at least SOME things we can count on.
The older we get, it seems, the more we value those few things.
—Ricko
I know I tend miss the little things, and it seems to be piling up more so every year. Whether it’d be a stadium, a store or food product or even a car. If you told me as a kid I would had been nostalgic for corn fields or a balanced schedule, I would have called you crazy. Change or “progress” isn’t all what it’s cracked up to be.
You know a big part of the reason why I liked MLB so much is because it was different than the other leagues, and Selig has been trying to turn MLB into a common denominator for the almighty dollar.
Here’s how I’m handling the new schedule:
Thursday = Opening Day Observed (there’s regular-season baseball)
Friday = Opening Day Still Observed (because the Cubs home opener is that day)
Monday = Opening Day (that’s where it belongs)
…er seams.
Want!
link
Not making a joke, just an observation…it seems a little odd to have these two cars in the same race:
link
link
Another reason sponsor logos and sports aren’t the best idea in the world.
“sponsor logos in sports” that is…
When he mentioned the “small changes” I was actually surprised to see the nuclear advocacy logo still there. Even as someone who supports the more widespread use of nuclear power, I would have taken that logo off the car at least until they got the situation under control.
Oh, and racing is one of those things that should always get an exception when complaints about sponsorship logos come into play. Sponsorship is quite literally the only way these teams make enough money to compete. It’s not a prestige thing like in soccer or an alternate revenue source like in other sports; it is the only source of revenue for these teams. Besides, they’ve been doing it long enough to know how to make a design that incorporates the logo well, instead of the other sports which tend to merely design around the sponsor.
Also, I’m still angry that the tobacco sponsorship rules killed BAR’s beautiful bullseye design, and ultimately the team itself.
Purse money isn’t a source of revenue?
Advertising money being such a huge part of auto racing doesn’t make the concept of rolling billboards any more appealing. (YMMV.)
Speaking of such, did everyone hear that Daisuke Matusaka donated a million bucks to Japanese relief?
Granted, it’s his home country but, still, it moves wearing special jersey patches well into to the “big deal/talk is cheap” category, doesn’t it.
—Ricko
I thought it was ten million yen? That’s still like $125,000 which is very impressive on its own. Unless he upped his donation, of course. Either way, good to see a public figure making a large donation to something that near to his heart instead of just giving moral support.
I got it from the Red Sox broadcst team (and an on-screen graphic) on the Twins-Red Sox game last night on MLB Network.
For whatever that’s worth.
Maybe it should have said “Yen”.
—Ricko
link
I’d heard about him planning to donate ten million yen last week, so he probably just decided to give more. Eight times more. Which is really impressive, given how much he was already planning to give.
“Looks like we made it through the lull between the end of football and the start of baseball”
Lull?
link
Wake up and smell the Madness, Phil.
Pfft, who watches that? Everyone just fills out a bracket and checks SportsCenter for results. No one actually cares.
/hides
Think you’re right, The Jeff.
Plus, hoops unis dont’ draw as much comment, generally, and there wasn’t anything really radical uni-wise in the Dance this year.
—Ricko
No, just some really good games. There’s only been like four or five blowouts and a couple of those weren’t expected either.
No doubt, but that wouldn’t necessarily generate comments at a uni site, which was the subject (I think it was, anyway).
—Ricko
Uniforms and Liz Taylor.
My bracket is still alive, I picked Kentucky to go all the way.
My alma mater (St. Norbert College in De Pere, WI) won its second national championship yesterday by capturing the DIII Men’s Hockey title. Nice, simple uniforms. They have been that way for a long time. Even when the school changed its logo and “identity” in 2007, the Green Knights hockey team have not changed anything. I have asked the athletic department why they haven’t changed with no response yet. Oh well. National Champs!
link|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE
link
How do all hockey players have full beards by age 14? (Pat Kane is the exception that proves the rule) This isn’t fair, I’m 23 and can only grow a disgusting goatee.
I didn’t realize that Formula 1 cars and Indy cars looked so different.
Those F1’s are silly looking. It looks like Star Wars on wheels.
link
repost from yesterdays comments:
Wondering if anyone else saw this on espn about the Sac Kings — link
That — of course — led me to post this.
link
Put an ‘s’ after Orange and you’ve got a great concept!
(Though I do not want to see the Kings leave Sacramento…their current uniform can go, though.)
Uniform-centric, 7-photo set from Dartmouth vs. Oregon women’s lacrosse: link
While i like Mike Snider’s Va Tech Tweak, I think he needs to fix the stripes on the design so there is some unity (as much as there can be when the helmet, pants and jersey are three different colors). Currently there are 3 different stripe patterns.
I would either go the route of a white helmet with the same stripe pattern as the pants which would pretty much solve the problem OR go with the brown helmet but change the shoulder stripes to white outside of brown. That way, if there’s orange in a stripe, it’s on the inside and if there’s white it’s on the outside.
Thanks for the comment! I’m not a huge fan for a white helmet with the VT unis (although it’s not as bad as the orange ones). I’ll look into the other suggestion and see if it fits better.
The lull being I don’t know MARCH MADNESS! Like maybe one of the most exciting times of the year. I guess if you don’t like basketball it could be a lull. For people like me who don’t really care about baseball that lull falls in the middle of summer. Except every even numbered year where I get to watch the World Cup or Summer Olympics. Also because I like soccer, the MLS season is in the summer. I have a hard time watching Sportscenter during the summer because there are too many baseball highlights. I’m just not a baseball fan. Just personal preference.
None of which are points that would necessarily come up at uni-oriented website.
As hockey and basketball finish out their seasons, there usually isn’t much new on the uni front (an exception being a bit of BFBS in last year’s Big Dance). The opening of a season such as baseball’s upcoming debut generally offers new uni fodder.
Although by all accounts there won’t be a lot that’s new in MLB for 2011.
—Ricko
Uniform intricacies from the bottom rung of the youth ice hockey world: link
One of the on-going debates on this site (and it’s a non uni debate at that, is whether there should be a real play-off system for Division 1 Football.
While I’m all for a play-off system (i.e. in a Football mad country , why is March Madness bigger than the BCS?) – I have to admit one argument made by the Pro-“Keep it as it is” faction makes, is the travel of a play-off system would be too taxing on the school supporters.
Well judging from the 12,000+ only in New Orleans yesterday, and the 14,000+ only in San Antonio, there’s some validity to the argument. Although please compare the television ratings average for the last 7 games of March Madness vs. the ratings for the 7 top Bowl games, and I think you’ll see why a lot of money is being left on the table leaving the BSC as it is.
Although it isn’t likely the NCAA would truly want to televise football playoff games with half-full (or less) stadia, which could well be the case when it comes to selling tickets at netural sites when the opposing teams aren’t determined until a week—or two, I suppose—before the game (I’m speaking now of a playoff field of eight or more, and those games replacing bowls, as so many advocate).
Who wants to take a chance that some of your “big attractions” might look like they have only slightly more in-person appeal than the Detroit Wheels?
There are SO many complex aspects of this discussion, and most proponents of an extensive playoff either over-simplify such logistic and marketing issues or dismiss them as dilemmas that will somehow just magically fix themselves.
—Ricko
Many supporters of an extensive playoff point to the lower division football playoff and say, “See, it works for them.”
Ever looked at the size of the crowds for those games? Not exactly big box office. Not horrible, considering the size of the schools, but it doesn’t take a ton of people for a small stadium to look fairly well occupied. Not so in Jerry World or the Rose Bowl.
—Ricko
It’s a bit stunning, that an event that is front and centre on the sports consciousness of the US, and yet for 2 of the 4 games over the weekend , there were more people in attendance at the moribund New York Islanders game last night.
Damm my argument takes a hit. I wonder playing in an 2/3rds empty Alamodome – had an impact on Kansas – unlikely I know, but while TV does a good job of not showing all the empty seats, it must have been kind of surreal inside
Know what, it SOUNDS different to the players (and fans), too.
Compared to a typical game for Kansas, the lower decibel level must have sounded as quiet as practice.
For VCU not so much, maybe.
—Ricko
Think any of these games would have drawn better if they weren’t part of the championship tournament? TV ratings would have been much worse, too.
I doubt that anyone has a problem with the Butler-VCU winner, which will be determined in front of a much larger crowd than this matchup would draw otherwise, playing for the national championship.
And I suspect the only reason the Islanders drew so atypically well last night is that Flyer fans drove north.
I suspect the only reason the Islanders drew so atypically well last night is that Flyer fans drove north
~~~
plus, i think there was a rumor the cast of jersey shore would be there
Love Mr. Antipuesto’s San Jose Giants uniforms.
Those redesigned San Francisco Seals uniforms are sweet, in a perfect world, they would have been a reality when the New York Giants moved west decades ago. The old Seals had a rich winning tradition, with 14 PCL titles to their credit.
Doesn’t really matter, because those designs are interesting, but the Seals—both during and after Lefty O’Doul–wore navy, not black. I understand Chrisopher’s not suggesting it’s a continuance of the PCL Seals; just mentioning it by way of background for those who might not know.
Also, the Giants weren’t about to change nicknames. Way too much history and marketing equity. “The GIANTS are our team now!” Back then, after such a profound relocation, a team simply could not ignore the value of that mindset. It was not just a team coming to town, it was Major League Baseball coming to an entire coast/time zone, now including the entire continent.
I’m not sure those who don’t remember it realize what a monstrous cultural event it really was.
—Ricko
link
discovered this little tidbit today.. dont know if its known throughout our community but i enjoyed seeing the patches and the would be seattle kings NFL franchise
Ugh! Is that helmet color orange or butterscotch?
I think it’s either yellow or gold.