As you may have seen in the right sidebar, our friends at Grey Flannel Auctions are currently running their annual Basketball Hall of Fame induction auction, and I’ve taken the liberty of singling out some of the more interesting items. Dig:
• Always great to see an old Spirits of St. Louis jersey (here’s the full auction listing, along with a home version).
• Not often that you see a trophy that’s a giant sneaker.
• Kinda dig the off-center uni number on this San Diego Conquistadors practice jersey (full listing).
• What’s better than a game-used Miami Floridians jersey? Answer: a full game-used Floridians uniform, including stirrups (full listing).
• Always odd to see an NOB with lowercase lettering (full listing).
• Weird to see pockets like these on a basketball jacket (full listing).
• Oh baby, I would actually bid on this amazing Globetrotters shooting shirt if it had any chance of fitting me (full listing).
• Check out the little shoulder band on this 1980-81 Nuggets jersey. That was for the Atlanta child murders that were taking place at that time (full listing).
• Hard to believe the Spurs actually wore this in 1996 (full listing).
• Gotta love this awesome Pistons jacket. Never knew the Pistons had used a Tigers-style D, either (full listing).
• You’d be hard-pressed to find a bigger fan of vertical arching than me, but this seems like a bit much, even by my standards (full listing).
• And here’s a nice one to go out on: I love everything — everything — about this Knicks jacket (full listing).
Want to see more? You can browse through the entire auction catalog here.
Collector’s Corner
By Brinke Guthrie
What’s the point of acquiring Beltran if he’s just gonna hit .244 for us? Grrrrr. Fortunately, there’s a bunch of cool stuff on eBay to take my mind off of that:
• Here’s a 1979 NFL football bank with helmet stickers. No word on whether the original “delicious football gumballs” are included.
• I like this vintage NBA Cincinnati Royals pennant.
• Wow, lookit these old Yankees stickers!
• Speaking of stickers, how about this old NFL set? Note the black Saints helmet.
• Here’s a rarity: a 1960 Dallas Texans 1960 schedule decal.
• Always loved the old Indianapolis Racers logo, as seen on “>this jersey — er, sweater.
• Another logo favorite: the wraparound treatment on the USFL Boston Breakers helmet.
Seen something on eBay that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here.
No topic left unblogged: Permanent Record, my investigation into the lives of Depression-era vocational school students whose report cards I found years ago in a discarded file cabinet, now has its own web site. I’ll be using that site to supplement (and drum up interest in) the forthcoming series of articles I’m writing for Slate.com. Or, if you prefer, it’s just the latest example of how I can’t shut up about about this particular project. Either way, I’ll be posting material there periodically, so sign up to “follow” it, tell your friends, etc., etc.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Here’s another odd shot of Deion Sanders from his FSU days. Note that the football has the NFL logo but also has college-style white stripes — weird (good spot by Lou DeGeorge). ”¦ “I was watching this weird show on IFC called Whisker Wars,” says Martin Hick. “I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but I kind of dig Beard Team USA’s logo.” ”¦ Lots of photos from the Batman filming at Heinz Field here (with thanks to Brady Phelps). ”¦ Here’s a good look at Arizona State’s new white helmet (courtesy of Wilson Pollacia). ”¦ Angel McCoughtry of the Atlanta Dream had the A and M on her jersey go AWOL on Sunday (from Kevin Brown). ”¦ Michigan State historian Eric Greenwald has discovered that MSU football first wore white away jerseys in 1939, which means they wore the school color white before they wore green. Details here. ”¦ Meanwhile, has Michigan’s shade of yellow/maize/etc. changed over the years? This guy thinks so (from Steve King). ”¦ Looks like Nebraska will be wearing two jersey patches this season, which seems like overkill (from Drew Sova). ”¦ Here’s a good look back at Notre Dame’s old shamrock helmets. ”¦ New basketball court design for Michigan (with thanks to Paul Wajgel). ”¦ Pat Monahan of Train threw out the first pitch at Saturday’s Padres/Pirates game, but they must’ve given him some sort of cheapo knock-off jersey, because the lettering had the wrong gold-to-black ratio. ”¦ Inspiring anti-douchebaggery note from Bill Reese, who writes: “I’m a member of the Empire Supporters Club, one of the singing/chanting supporters of the unfortunately named New York Red Bulls MLS soccer team. Lots of us hate the name Red Bulls and still sing ‘Forza Metro’ at home games instead of ‘Let’s go Red Bull.’ I came up with this shirt design, which was bought by a few dozen of the supporters to wear to this Saturday’s game.” ”¦ The Senators have released their third jersey schedule but haven’t yet confirmed whether a rumored leak of that jersey is legit. ”¦ If you scroll down a bit in that last link, you’ll also find the news that the Kings will wear their purple/gold throwbacks three times in the upcoming season. ”¦ Next-to-last bullet point on this page indicates that USC is now awarding jersey patches to players “who have a top ten GPA on the team or a cumulative 3.0 or better.” The patch is shown on the page — click it for a larger version (big thanks to Kyle Mackie). ”¦ Worst minor league jerseys ever? Dan Cichalski thinks so. ”¦ Does the Baseball Hall of Fame have another fake jersey on its hands? Peter Nash thinks so. … Are Texas Tech’s new football uniforms really ugly? I think so (big thanks to Matt Cochran).
Nebraska always wears the patch on their left shoulder. The big ten one is the only new one
pretty sure that’s not the point…
No, it’s not the point, but what’s the problem?
The “TRADITION” patch has been a permanent element since ’89. This is a rare time Nebraska does ANYTHING to the uniform (outside the updating based on supplier template). It’ll look like boobs for one season, but it’s a pretty understated design.
This is a school second only to Penn State when it comes to static uniform design. Cluttered yes, but not awful.
I’m assuming diehard Nebraska fans hated the one year experiment around 2001 with the huge paneling on both the side of the jersey and continuing down the pants.
It’s disconcerting when you have two circle logos on opposite sides, and they have the same letter inside, but in two completely different styles. They could at least have made the new patch something other than a circle logo. (What, did they consult with the NHL on that one?)
I have to say those white ASU helmets look really sharp and clean. (Though they’d look sharper and cleaner if the trident wasn’t drawn with an unsteady hand.) I’m definitely a fan of them in the abstract sense, though I much prefer seeing Sparky on the side, just because that’s the only thing I ever associate with Sun Devils sports.
Also, you’ve got a superfluous “s” in your “Texas Techs’s” part of the ticker.
Great stuff Paul, I agree that the NY Knicks jersey is top notch and this is coming from a Celtics fan. Not a huge fan of the Pistons toy car though.
Take care of yourself Paul, don’t overload yourself with too much work!
Pistons Pinewood Derby time!
Great job, Paul. It’s nice to have the detailed ticker back. Love the Peter Nash link.
Have you ever thought about doing an entry on memorabilia forgeries/fakes? Mantle, Jordan, Gretzky rookie cards are often faked-signatures….i know this has been done many times (Operation Bullpen) but your unique take, including talking to your insiders, would be an interesting read.
Peter Nash really doesn’t like Barry Halper.
I’ve noticed that about Nash but that doesn’t detract from the fact that Halper had a number of items in his collection that, if not outright fakes, were misrepresented by Halper as being something other than what they were.
I love Lucy! I hate “I Love Lucy” jerseys!
Not only are they dumb, they look like they were made with some cheap ironed-on from Office Depot paper with a crappy pixilated photo grabbed from some gramma’s Lucy tribute page.
Happy 100th Lucy!
Well, if any team should do a tribute to Lucille Ball, it’s the Jamestown Jammers. Plus it was just a one-time promotion.
What I find more interesting is that the team wore those jerseys after only a week or so earlier donning elegant turn-back-the-clock Jamestown Falcons uniforms.
I’m waiting for the Jammers to honor Natalie Merchant. They can wear their jerseys untucked and twirl around in the on-deck circle.
Holy God, those are ugly.
The Jamestown Jammers got some ‘splainin’ to do…
I love Lucy and she loves me
We’re as happy as two can be
Sometimes we quarrel but then
How we love making up again
Lucy kisses like no one can
She’s my Mrs. and I’m her man
And life is heaven you see
’cause I love Lucy
Yes I love Lucy
and Lucy loves me!
PS: babaloo!
“Lucy! I’m home from the ballpark!”
Wow, the Kings are simply trying to play off of the Lakers’ color scheme on their new alts. Not sure if I like the idea of that or not.
new alts??? ummm… nevermind…
but scroll down even further on that post to “icemen unveil modified logo, new jerseys” to the picture… holy penguins throwbacks!!!
i’m guessing jerseys direct, or AK now offer blank penguins throwbacks for DIY? lol
… If you scroll down a bit in that last link, you’ll also find the news that the Kings will wear their purple/gold throwbacks three times in the upcoming season. …
GOAL!
Pssst, Nick. When the Kings were admitted to the NHL in 1967, their colors were, get this, purple and gold. Why you may ask? Because Jack Kent Cooke, their original owner, also owned the Lakers.
I use my youth as an excuse.
The LA Kings used purple and gold for roughly two decades before the Gretzky trade, then they switched to black and silver.
Yeah, the silver and black phase basically just meant they went from copying the team they shared a building with (and were formerly co-owned), to copying the colors of a transient AFC West football team that went back up north seven years later.
Then, in 1998, they decided to combine elements of their two eras, and mimic a similarly-named NBA team even further north.
In regards to the ticker item the show Whisker Wars is pretty solid. Its dudes who grow beards and sort of treat it as “sport”. They’ve got a bad guy set up on the show already and a group of young upstarts trying to unseat the bad guy king of the US beard circuit. OK back to stirrup talk, gentlemen.
I know the Steelers are partly owned by one of the movie’ financiers, but why isn’t the rest of the new Batman movie being filmed in Chicago, like the other two?
i think they get some sort of film tax credit while filming in pittsburgh… whatever that means:
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As for the tax credit, it basically is just saying that they’ll get charged “less” to film in Pittsburgh than normal, which therefore makes it more competitive and attractive to use as a city for filming. this si what my internship this summer has been all about: tax credit and grant research. Sigh, applicable to real life.
Yeah it’s the same with Boston. Recently, we’ve had a lot of movies being filmed there. Something to do with tax-credits. Biggest one was Mall Cop with Kevin James, right outside of Boston near Dorchester. Not sure. I think we might have a new movie studio in Plymouth although last I heard, the project was put on hold because of some land issues.
Yeah I think Portland, OR has the same thing. It’s funny that one of the show I watch, Leverage, is filmed in Portland but on the show they’re based in Boston.
They also needed the town to look like crap, so they picked a cruddy looking town like Pittsburgh.
Sorry, my roommate from Baltimore has gotten to me.
LMAO! understood ;-)
pot…kettle
So, in this instance, you’re using your roommate’s ignorance as an excuse?
Pittsburgh is actually pretty nice. The biggest problem with Pittsburgh is just that it is, in fact, Pittsburgh.
That’s a nice problem to have, and I’ve lived in three other states.
Regarding the NFL football that Deion is holding, I seem to recall seeing several of the major schools using an NFL ball. This was before schools started using specific brands such as Nike. I kinda thought it was used to get some players ready for the NFL, by getting them accustomed to handling the slightly larger ball.
The college ball is actually slightly larger in circumference than the NFL ball. The NFL ball is longer and weighs a couple ounces more.
the ball deion is holding is likely just a regular NFL ball with the stripes literally painted on. My dad played 79-83 and we’ve got a ball or two that he kept, and they are just that, NFL balls, logo and all, with the stripes painted on. Unfortunately I’m not at home but away at school, so I can’t provide any photos currently.
Yeah, you can see the stripe going right over the logo on the right.
Inspiring anti-douchebaggery note from Bill Reese, who writes: “I’m a member of the Empire Supporters Club, one of the singing/chanting supporters of the unfortunately named New York Red Bulls MLS soccer team. Lots of us hate the name Red Bulls and still sing ‘Forza Metro’ at home games instead of ‘Let’s go Red Bull.’ I came up with this shirt design, which was bought by a few dozen of the supporters to wear to this Saturday’s game.”
More power to Bill and friends for doing what they enjoy, but can we file ‘Singing/Chanting Suppoters’ under reasons why soccer will never make in big in the US?
I thought they do it in England?
They do. And everywhere else in the world. A stadium is almost never silent anywhere in the world except the US.
See? Soccer is so boring that the fans have to occupy themselves with singing and chanting.
“except the US.”
Except when the Bleacher bums do the Yankee “Roll Call”, or Mets fans sing “Jose, Jose-Jose”, or the “Hip-Hip, Jorge” cheer in the Bronx.
I know, not quite the same as West Ham supporters belting out “Forever Blowing Bubbles” but it’s not totally unheard of.
I was referring simply to soccer, but I see your point. i was also saying how the stadium is always in a cheer of some kind during a soccer game, something you don’t find a lot here. It’s catching on, though.
US stadia are far from silent. They pump so much canned music and other sound effects in there that it’s almost unbearable. I’d rather hear fans singing. And if our ballparks didn’t provide so much noise, I’ll bet the fans here would, too.
Now a stadium organ…that’s OK. You can sing along with that.
“See? Soccer is so boring that the fans have to occupy themselves with singing and chanting.”
The only thing boring about soccer is the flopping and time-wasting, which could easily be resolved in two steps:
1) Post-game video review of all alleged flops (in-game if you can do it in a minute or less). Those found guilty get the red card.
2) Put up a clock that’s visible to the fans, and stop it for injuries…or “injuries.” No incentive to waste time, then.
Ah, but that’s not how things have been done, the purists would say. Well, players used to be a little more sportsmanlike, but they’ve changed. It’s time for the refs to change with them.
Even as is, soccer is less boring than:
Timeout following the extra point. Kickoff, followed by another timeout. One play and…oh, it’s the end of the quarter? Another timeout. Back to the action and…hmm, a questionable call? Let’s go to review booth. We’ll give you the result after this break.
It’s also less boring than seeing another Yankees/Sox game.
(fixed)
I was watching the Portland-LA game last week. Never seen a louder stadium in the US than whatever the hell it’s called up in Portland. Timbers supporters are LOUD. Constantly loud.
Jim, there is a method in place to prevent people from stalling and wasting time by faking injuries. It’s called “injury time.” Novel concept, huh?
I’m one of those Timbers supporters. We’re called the Timbers Army. It’s honestly the coolest sports atmosphere I’ve ever been a part of. It’s so electric that I get goose bumps at least six or seven times a game. We are very loud. You may not be able to hear it clearly on tv but several of the chants “unofficially” have rather vulgar language in them. Kinda funny that it gets played on tv. Actually they’re having a Timbers Army appreciation day at the stadium today where the season ticket holders in the Timbers Army section get to go hang out, eat BBQ, meet the players and play in pickup games on the field. Pretty cool. It’s called Jeld-Wen Field. They’re a local window company so we’ve unofficialy been dubbed the House of Pane.
First and foremost, link for the nickname of the field.
Second, I completely agree, passionate soccer groups are fun to be around. I’m heavily involved in my college’s (Maryland), and I try to frequent DC United games when possible. I still don’t think it compares to Europe, where the entire stadium is singing, but it’s nice to have a few sections of it.
“Injury time” is subjective, though, Nick. And if it really worked there wouldn’t be any stalling. Put that clock up there for everyone to see. Give an injured or “injured” player one minute. If he doesn’t get up, have the stretcher ready.
Same with substitutions. Stop the clock, and start a 30-second clock to make the switch. If they wanna be old-school about it they can use an analog clock. It would work much better.
And Pat, I’ve heard the chants in the English Premier League are just as vulgar, but I can never make out what they’re singing when I get to see them on TV.
so…in movi’s world this don’t fly?
Movi don’t play that.
What?? How is this anything but awesome? We need MORE of this kind of thing in the US.
link
Any true soccer fan, regardless of team, appreciates this video.
Any true SPORTS fan should appreciate that video!
ummm…
link
This is way better…
link
By the way we lift our scarves and say “swish” at every break in the song. This one was from the home opener but we sing along with whoever they trot out there to belt it out every game. At the end we all sing “…and the home of the TIMBERS!” It’s pretty awesome.
I like the two supporter groups for the Houston Dynamo. El Batallon, the (mostly) Mexican support group, has a drumline and chants in Spanish. The Texian Army, the (mostly) Anglo support group, bring instruments and sing in English and Spanish. I think they try to drown each other out as much as they try to be noisy for the sake of noise.
“1) Post-game video review of all alleged flops (in-game if you can do it in a minute or less). Those found guilty get the red card.
2) Put up a clock that’s visible to the fans, and stop it for injuries…or “injuries.” No incentive to waste time, then.”
Right on, Vilk! I’ve long been a proponent of the post-game flop review/red card idea.
Two toned basketball courts are just plain ugly. Choose one color wood and stick with it. It look cheap and very 1998ish.
Love seeing the old ABA items up for bid, in particular the Q’s and Floridians stuff.
“Conquistadors” would never fly as a team name today, but it was fitting for San Diego and the link and link incorporated the colors of the link I can envision player intros with lights, fog and link
As for the Floridians, their team colors remind me of Dunkin’ Donuts. Has UniWatch ever run a column on stirrups in pro basketball? Guess I need to search.
Pardon my Arthur Carlson, but as God is my witness, I didn’t know basketball had stirrups.
That Floridians designed should be returned to. Immediately.
btw, What’s wrong with “Conquistadors” in the present?
Sorry for late reply. I imagine Conquistadors as European conquerors of indigenous peoples/spreaders of contagious diseases would not sit well with the PC crowd.
Despite the colors the Floridians design is very clean.
Appreciate the Arthur Carlson reference.
My high school alma mater, Loomis (NE) High School once wore stirrups in the mid-70s. They were in school colors and were white with green tube-sock like stripes at home and with the green away jerseys it was white-gold-white on green. I think we called them “target socks” or something. We had some older stirrups that had green vertical stripes like the ugly original Denver Bronco socks. I just looked through my old high school yearbook (1980) and they stopped wearing them.
Hey, Paul, that’s great news about your deal with Slate on the report card project, a wonderful enterprise to which I hope to contribute many niggling and supercillious reader comments.
I am currently incarcerated in Ocean Beach, Fire Island (LI, NY), where I dwell among an enjoyably noisy and funny population (kind of an anti-Nantucket, if yoy know what I mean), most of whom are Mets fans. One day, without thinking (honest), I wore my “I’m Still Calling It Shea” shirt. What a hit! A veritable flood of “Like that shirt, man” and even a few quiet terrorist fist-bumps. Ars longa, vita brevis. Or something.
NY Knicks unis of late 1950s/early 1960s are
sublime. More obscure, but maybe equally brilliant, was the logo featuring a chubby Father Knickerbocker dribbling the ball upcourt.
Good to have you back, Paul. But eat your vegetables.
“Additionally, [Texas Tech’s] pants feature the phrase “Guns Up” on the back of the belt line.”
Great. Now everyone wants a tramp stamp like Auburn.
The Washington Wizards need this.
As a Tech alum, I’m more and more embarassed with every change in the ongoing de-volution of the Raiders’ football uniforms. Still, it wasn’t that long ago that Tech looked pretty decent…
link
link
I’m a Tech alum as well, and I have to agree. The “Guns Up” is just tacky. Under Armour has a bad habit of putting slogans on both football and basketball jerseys (Auburn, Maryland, etc.). The changes overall are not visually pleasing and I dislike the number font they are using now.
Oh well, at least they still look somewhat intimidating in the all black.
“Oh well, at least they still look somewhat
intimidating
This is my favorite Texas Tech uniform. Somebody, not me had colorized this and may have posted it here before.
link
The Patriots are wearing a jersey patch this season.
link
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welcome back Paul…
… word out of Jets camp today, Derick Mason will be wearing pink cleats for every game this season to honor his mother who’s in remission.
Atleast that’s what he says, not sure they’ll let them get away with it.
Uniform violations are a $5,000 fine per violation per game. It’s usually a matter of whether the player is willing to pay the fines or the team backs him up on it enough to pay it for him.
Awesome ESPN story about the origins of the high five:
link
A live/spoken/etc. version of that piece was presented as part of the Pop-Up Magazine event back in May. It was really, really good.
Someone at Page 2 (not me) is currently working on something similar — but with a different twist — regarding the fist pump.
You mean the terrorist fist jab?
The origin of the exploding fist bump has already been well documented:
link
First high five I ever saw was by a Florida football player who scored a touchdown in the November 1979 game against Florida State. I liked it and picked up on it, so I took it to my eighth-grade basketball team, which used the high five that year.
I prefer low fives and tens.
I was inspired early on by Preach, Cochise, and the rest of the boys at Cooley High.
a big establishment like this, and all you got is mustard?
Awww… Phil. A man after my very own heart.
I think that was right before Pooter got hit with the flung dung.
more like pooter’s mama
The 12 year old in me wants to respond to the TTech uniforms with “Guns Up?… more like Buns up!”
At least Guns Up is theoretically intimidating. What if the Aggies put Gig ‘Em on their asses?
God I loved the ABA….
link
Welcome back, Paul. looking forward to the Permanent Record series.
I come here for the uniforms, but I also enjoy reading about Paul’s other interests.
The continuing story of the Candela structures, the tour with the Magnetic Fields, the meat – its all interesting stuff. Its interesting to read about people who are following their passions and turning those passions into an interesting life.
Don’t change a thing.
Thanks for the kind words, Mike — much appreciated.
Hey Mr. Bill Reese, how can I get my hands on one of those shirts?
“Hard to believe the Spurs actually wore this in 1996”
link
Really? Now if they wore it in any decade besides the 90s, I’d share your disbelief.
Love that Nuggets uni in the auction. I know I always go on about how great the rainbow uni was, but this one was good, too.
That could be late 80s too. It is kind of hard to believe they wore it as late as 1996, instead of say, 1992.
Those jackets fit right in with the nightmarish aesthetics of the mid-90s, particularly the 1996 All-Star Game unis.
I agree that the vertical arching is a bit on the extreme side on that Billy Cunningham jersey… probably should’ve just gone with narrower letters. I don’t think I’ve seen that Sixers wordmark before, though. Guess I’m just not up on their uni history like I am with, say, NHL teams.
i had never seen the upside down shamrock (nuclear) helmets before. that sure looks like Daryle Lamonica in the photo. i guess the “mad bomber” was chuckin’ atomic bombs back in the day.
Good stuff about the Michigan State white and also the Michigan color maize. Both of those sites are good ones.
Oklahoma looks like their red jerseys have become lighter over the years, not matching the Sooner helmet anymore.
Thinking about all these multi helmet teams these days. Like ASU. I imagine there is an NCAA rule against teams all having the same color helmet. I was watching some old Big Ten Film Vaults and saw one of Notre Dame in 1950 vs Indiana. The Irish had a few players with plastic helmets and others in leather. And one Irish had what looked like white tape around his helmet.
In the 1960’s the Washington Huskies would have some guys with a solid purple helmet and others in solid gold.
Maybe one day some college team will wear more than one color helmet???? Nah.
I’d like to think a coach would have enough sense to realize that the reason teams all wear the same helmet is because it’s easier to tell them apart downfield than jerseys.
Well, at least the Gophers have kinda good looking practice shorts…
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Like most teams, their practice jersey is better than the actual game jersey.
Pat Monahan is the creator and voice behind the main character in one of my 2 year old’s favorite tv shows, Driver Dan’s Story Train. Interesting side project fro the lead singer of rock band. Granted they’re not exactly hard rock.
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Wow so I realize that his voice on the website is totally not Pat’s which is on the show. Must have started in England. I guess I was wrong on him creating it but he definitely is the voice on the US version.
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Wish I could remember the name of a book that I read. The main character wanted to be a rock star. He described things as either “Rock” or “Train” – the farthest thing from Rock that he could think of.
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Is there a new Revo Speed helmet? The back bump in that shot doesn’t look as pronounced. Perhaps it’s the angle.
Please reduce the bumps.
not sure if it’s been officially released but it is a new style. It’s hard to see with all the white going on, but there’s another clip at the top corner of the helmet. Same style LaMichael James wore for like a quarter or something in the Natty vs. Auburn.
it’s a “riddell revo 360” and i guess it has been released
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I guess making the Dean’s List isn’t enough reward at USC. Can I go those patches out to my students as well?
Hi Paul,
Jimix from Spain
First to congratulate you for the great website you have. It is undoubtedly the best of the internet.
The point is I want to write a brief general history of standardization in the NBA, and I’m a little lost. Could you point out where I can find data on changes in general sportswear and regulations of use?
A hug and thank you very much