NORADmiration

the new Winnipeg Jets logo set was unveiled a few weeks ago, Uni Watch webmaster John Ekdahl, noting the prominent use of the military fighter plane, quipped (via an e-mail to me), “Is Winnipeg the headquarters of NORAD or something?” I repeated stole that line during a radio interview I did the following day. As I discovered a few days later, the joke was on us, because Winnipeg actually is a NORAD stronghold. So the Jets’ logo concept makes sense from a conceptual standpoint, although I still think the execution is clunky and blah. (Also, it’s worth noting that the concept has caused some controversy.)

As it turns out, there’s another NORAD-inspired hockey design out there — and it’s being worn by the NORAD hockey team. Marcelo Cordoba, of the uni manufacturer Junkyard Athletic, gives us the full scoop:

We were approached in March by a few guys at NORAD to design their hockey uniforms. Ironically, these guys found us through the Yahoo Sports blog Puck Daddy, which wasn’t so kind to our Valentine’s Day design that we did for the Alaska Aces.

The NORAD guys are Alaska Aces fans and loved the ideas incorporated in that jersey design so much that they contacted us and asked us to design their hockey unis for them. All they asked was that we utilize certain logos that NORAD recognizes.

We took the Windsor Spitfires logo and used a variation of that as the jersey crest. NORAD is a joint command between the governments of Canada and United States, so we put roundels from both countries on the shoulders. And we put the NORAD logo on the upper chest.

All the rest of the uniform artwork was left to us to design. My art designer extraordinaire, Justin Liedloff, had the concept down in 10 minutes. Forty-eight hours later, we presented the team with the full design. The NORAD guys loved it. They’re planning on doing a reverse version of the jersey + socks (navy main color with gray trim). We’re looking forward to doing that with them.

Not sure about those socks, but I dig the radar-based jersey concept. My thanks to Marcelo for sharing this story.

Membership Update: Several more designs have been added to the membership card gallery, including Brett Hixon’s Kansas hoops treatment, shown at right. We print these in batches of eight, and there’s one slot available in the current batch, so the next person to sign up will get his or her card very quickly.

Multi-tasking, as usual: There’s a new post over on the Permanent Record blog. I think you’ll like this one.

Uni Watch News Ticker: No more embarrassing stars/stripes caps, at least on Sept. 11. Instead, teams will wear rather large American flag icons. Can’t tell for sure if the flags will be sewn into the caps or if they’re just peel-and-stick patches. Hopefully the former, so as to avoid this sort of problem. Of course, the best solution would be to scrap the flags and the pandering altogether. ”¦ I love the felt logo on this old Cal State Bakersfield track jersey. ”¦ Doing any work on Mike Gundy’s house? Don’t wear Sooners gear. ”¦ The Toronto Star invited Blue Jays fans to submit designs for the team’s new uniforms. Here are the results. ”¦ Here’s a handy guide to the 2011-12 Premier League kits (with thanks to Nathan Gemignani). ”¦ It’s amazing how much gear out there — even some on-field gear — still has the old NFL logo (good spot by Zack Bennett). ”¦ New basketball court design for Iowa (from Matt Hays). ”¦ Jarren Ginsburg was watching some old NHL footage and spotted a fan wearing a Pavel Bure jersey with the NOB in Hebrew. “While it is the most accurate spelling I can think of (sounded out as Boo-rayee), it utilizes the letter ‘yud’ twice in a row, which is a way of spelling ‘God,'” explains Jarren. “Certainly a lot of respect/worship for the Russian Rocket.” ”¦ Rob Klingenberger spotted Ruben Tejada using Tommie Agee’s Jason Pridie’s bat. ”¦ Back on Friday I mentioned that Justin Boren of the Ravens was wearing white crew socks but no full-length stockings for Thursday’s preseason game. I didn’t have a photo, but now I do, thanks to Zak Kalina. ”¦ The U.S. Navy is holding a logo-design contest for the new USS Minnesota submarine. “The contest is open to high school and college students ‘with a State of Minnesota connection,’ whatever that means,” writes Matthew Algeo. “Among the rules, this is my favorite: ‘We want the natural tension between the traditions of the US Navy and “creative license” to exist.’ Who knew there was a natural tension between Navy traditions and creative license?” For that matter, who knew that submarines needed logos, or that the Navy running contests instead of just hiring professional designers? ”¦ Here’s a look at those new South Carolina shoes — the ones that supposedly guarantee maximum logo exposure eliminate the need for spatting — in action (courtesy of Lance Hall). ”¦ UConn football was NNOB last year, but not anymore (with thanks to Gregory Koch). ”¦ New uniforms — including numbers! — for Gushue curling (big thanks to Matt Gamboa). ”¦ Gee, can you possibly guess who makes Notre Dame’s new practice jerseys? ”¦ New helmet for Western Michigan. ”¦ Another NFL NOB typo, this time from Friday’s Redskins/Steelers game. ”¦ The Braves retired Bobby Cox’s number on Friday. ”¦ Heavyweight plodder Scott LeDoux died last Thursday, which led me to go and watch some old footage of his fights. Really liked the shirts worn by his cornermen for his 1980 bout against Larry Holmes. ”¦ As an aside, I remember reading an article about LeDoux on the day of that fight (I was 16 at the time). It included a quote from one of LeDoux’s drinking buddies, who said, “Hey, Scott, how’s it feel to be ranked No. 10 in the world, but only No. 15 in this bar?” ”¦ Championship teams visiting the White House usually give the President a jersey with his name as the NOB. But the Packers took a different approach. ”¦ Mesa State College (Division II) has changed its name to Colorado Mesa University, which means new logos, uniforms, etc. (with thanks to Tom Hamann). ”¦ Ron Mazzola notes that Luis Natera of the Binghamton Mets had mismatched 2s on his jersey the other night. “I looked at several other Mets with 2s in their number, and they all matched,” he says. ”¦ Man, did the 1981 Iowa Oaks wear the biggest uni numbers ever or what? That’s a young Ryne Sandberg at second bar, incidentally (good find by Ryan Simmelink). ”¦ Someone has created a uni-builder site for Arizona State (from Matthew Wilson). ”¦ Giants skipper Bruce Bochy gave up his No. 15 when the team acquired Carlos Beltran. Before he did that, however, the team had been ready to give Beltran No. 16 (big thanks to O.J. DeCastro). ”¦ We’ve all seen our share of dirty baseball uniforms, but this one wins the prize. That’s Kitakata (not sure of his first name) of Karatsu Economics High School in Japan (from Jeremy Brahm, of course). ”¦ Also from Jeremy: Gamba Osaka are going to wear a 20th-anniversary uniform on October 2nd. ”¦ Chris Cocuzza notes that a lot of the Panthers had an odd placement for their Reebok sleeve logos on Saturday. We’ve seen that before, of course, but usually only on a few linemen. Seems to have been more widespread (although not universal) this time around. ”¦ Alan Tompas found a shot of Harmon Killebrew in an A’s uniform. Anyone know what that’s about? ”¦ While flea-marketing on Saturday, I saw a varsity jacket featuring a very endearingly startled-looking Tiger. Didn’t fit me, alas. ”¦ Tom Seaver retired after the 1986 season. So what was he doing in a 1987 Mets jersey? That’s from June of ’87, when Seaver pitched a few minor league games in an abortive attempt at a comeback (nice find by Todd Radom). ”¦ The Braves announced that they’ll be adding a memorial patch for Ernie Johnson Sr. They originally said they’d start wearing it two days ago, but it hasn’t been designed and produced yet. ”¦ The Brewers wore their Bierbrauer jeseys yesterday. And as you may have seen in yesterday’s post here on the site, Zack Grienke actually wore that jersey a day early. ”¦ Meanwhile, the A’s became wore their Atléticos jerseys yesterday. Is this the only MLB jersey ever to have had an accent on the chest insignia? ”¦ No, these aren’t slacks — they’re actual baseball pants. ” Found these hideous things while watching the 2011 Perfect Game All-American Classic (college baseball),” says Sean Patton. “That’s the actual color — dark gray with red piping.” Yeesh. ”¦ Soccer note from Omar Aujani, who writes: “In Sunday Super Copa between Barcelona and Real Madrid, Cristiano Ronaldo came out onto the field wearing a long-sleeved shirt. But following the halftime break, he came out in short sleeves. I distinctly remember seeing him do this during last season once or twice, and as far as I know it’s something uniquely Ronaldo.” ”¦ Corey Madere notes that Florida State has added “FSU” to their jersey chest. ”¦ Duke has new basketball shorts. … Steve Murphy has created a really nice gallery of 1930s Boston Braves photos.