Back in May, I Ticker-linked to the new uniforms being worn by the Gary South Shore RailCats. “Unusual, but it totally works,” I wrote. Many people in the comments section agreed.
What I didn’t realize (read: I forgot) was that the seeds for this design had been planted last November, when I received the following note from a gent named Greg Tagert:
Could you provide contact information for Terry Proctor? I’m very curious about the use of nylon doubleknit uniforms, instead of polyester, and came across the uniform fabric discussion you had with him a while back. Our team, the Gary South Shore RailCats of the American Association, is entering its 10th season and doing the whole uniform-redesign thing. My question has to do with the advantages/disadvantages of using nylon instead of polyester. Can’t seem to get a good answer from the companies themselves, so I thought I’d go to somebody with Terry’s vast experience and knowledge.
I forwarded Greg’s note to Terry, and that was that. When I saw the RailCats’ new threads back in May, I didn’t put two and two together. I also didn’t realize that Greg is the RailCats’ manager.
But now Greg has gotten back in touch and spelled out the full scoop regarding the RailCats’ new design. Turns out he drew upon several Uni Watch-related resources in addition to Terry Proctor. Here’s his story.
The 2011 RailCats Uniform Design
By Greg Tagert
I was given the unique opportunity to take the lead in the design of our new uniforms for our 10th-anniversary season. The desire was to come up with a classic 1960s/early-’70s look, and the best way to do this was to utilize your site and resources.
We spoke to Terry Proctor about fabrics and companies; he provided valuable information on which direction we should go. A wonderful man. (We eventually chose polyester.)
Next, we ordered Bill Henderson’s MLB jersey guide. Not only was the guide invaluable, Bill was kind enough (and patient enough) to answer and solve many, many questions.
Finally — and most importantly for us — through your site and Bill, we got in touch with Patsy Elmer. Just an absolute beautiful person, who just happens to do the finest embroidery and twill work I’ve seen in all my 30 years in the game. She has become part of our team and we couldn’t be happier.
As for the uniform, you will see it’s not exactly a custom design. Every element of the uniform is borrowed, starting with the basic inspiration: the original Montreal Expos uniform. I loved it as a kid and came across a jersey shown on your site a while back and that’s how the process started. Then we added the following touches:
• Number font from the 1970s-’80s Phillies
• Lettering styles from the 1976-’81 Mariners
• Design features of the 1970s Padres
• Individual belt loops à la the Tigers
• Stirrups styled from the old Orioles and Red Sox
• White shoes from the team I grew up with
I know it sounds like a little much, and it may not be perfect, but we think the look came together very nicely.
The uniforms are made by AIS [the same company that made the late-’90s Mets uniforms, as you may recall from one of my recent ESPN columns ”” PL], who did a wonderful job as they always do for pro teams, especially with features like the waistband for our Friday-night throwback look, the blending of our colors on the piping, and the belt loops, which are a great touch.
All of the lettering, numbers, nameplates (arched perfectly), and embroidery work was done by Patsy. The detail on the sleeve patches is incredible, with many custom touches I don’t believe anyone else could have done for us. She matched the old Phillies number font perfectly. And just for good measure, she did the lettering on our green throwbacks to replicate the “hand-cut” style of that time period. Just amazing work.
———
Paul here. Thanks for sharing your story, Greg. Great to hear that the Uni Watch extended network came together to help you out.
Or maybe it was just hacked by vegans: My new meat/butchery blog, the Butcher’s Case, which launched yesterday, was up for about four hours before Blogger’s robot/algorithm/etc. mistakenly flagged it as a spam site and took it down. (Meat mistaken for spam — high-larious!) An actual live human has to review the site and restore it, but I’m told that’ll take another day. Grrrrrrr.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Still no sign of the Winnipeg Jets’ new uniforms, but the pants have been leaked. Note that the wordmark doesn’t include the red maple leaf that we saw when the logos were unveiled. Is the first time an NHL uni has been released pants-first? ”¦ Good spot by Jim Walaitis, who notes that the dugouts at the Jake appear to have rain gutters. Seems sensible, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen that on a dugout roof before. Anyone know of other examples? ”¦ Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Here’s a good article on F1 helmet design. ”¦ Check it out: a Boise State-themed NASCAR car (from Aaron Bernstein). ”¦ Aaron Bernstein was at the Western Idaho Fair and spotted a car dealership that had ripped off the Hot Wheels logo. ”¦ Phillies call-up Michael Schwimer, making his home debut and only his second career appearance, mis-buttoned his jersey (screen shot by David Ryan). ”¦ Admidst a sea of depressing news about the state of the world, here’s something to feel good about: Lon Mayer-Salman reports that NYC-style beefsteaks are spreading. ”¦ The great thing about 9/11 is that it lets you sell more T-shirts (courtesy of Paul Watson). ”¦ You know how Nebraska football has a sellout streak dating back to, like, 311 BC or something? You can now see the ticket design for every game in the sellout streak (big thanks to Brian Hansen). ”¦ The Reebok logo on the Steelers’ pants is usually black on gold. But Steve Santillo found a 2001 TV Guide cover photo in which the logo is gold on black. Now, if you look at photos from the 2001 season, the Steelers are consistently wearing the black-on-gold logo. So is the TV Guide photo from the previous year? Nope — 2001 was the first year that Reebok outfitted the Steelers (their uniforms were made by Nike before that). So the TV Guide photo apparently shows a prototype design that was adjusted before the season started. That is some serious uni-watching right there! ”¦ Remember Good Sport Captioning, which I wrote about for ESPN a few months back? They’ve just picked up a new client: the Brewers. “They wanted to have captioning in place for the postseason, so we’ll start implementing in September,” says Good Sport honcho Patti White. Congrats! ”¦ Jeff Wilk found an eBay seller who has lots of MLB All-Star and World Series programs. “Too many great ones to single out, but I think this is the sweetest,” he says. ”¦ I meant to bid on this jersey last night but was busy discussing the nuances of Staten Island pizza with Tommy the Bartender at O’Connor’s, so neglected to bid. Dang.
I like the Gary uniforms, but by looking at the patch, it should be their 10th season and not anniversary. Next year will be their 10th anniversary.
Ha, good catch. Looking on Wiki, the team was offically started and named in 2001, but did not play their first season until 2002, so I guess it’s the 10th anniversary of the inception of the team.
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As for the unis themselves, I am not much of a fan. What is odd to me is that a team that is only in the midst of their 10th season would find it appropriate to create a uniform set that resembles somthing out of the 70’s. Did Greg ever explain why he thought a 70’s inspired uniform would work for the railcats?
This brings up an issue that leagues need to address, that is, for teams to either celebrate anniversaries or seasons. The disconnect between the two is best exemplified by the Twins and Angels. Both teams entered existence in 1961 and had their 50th anniversaries this year. However, while the Angels celebrated their anniversary, the Twins celebrated 50 seasons last year. At least the individual teams have consistency when it comes to celebrating anniversaries or seasons.
My first ticker tip was on this uni! I really enjoy the Railcats uniforms. Well, done! It’s great to know UniWatch had a hand in bringing those stirrups to the field, in a way.
Now if I could have only managed to attend a game this season.
Ticker typo- Jeff WIlk to Jeff Wilk (if you care).
I love the thought process behind the uniform! RailCats should be lucky to have a manager who’s very conscious about the uniforms. I love the stirrups and the waistband. Must’ve been fun for him to pluck all the design elements and bring it all together!
For me, this is a perfect example of the power of thoughtful design. For one thing, it creates a strong, coherent, and distinct identity. But for me personally, I appreciate how the Railcats have managed to pluck a whole slew of individual aesthetic choices that I generally dislike and weave them together into a whole that stands up quite nicely. The quality of the design transcends the subjective like/dislike aesthetics of the elements. Really well done.
Original Expos’ uniforms: Totally underrated
Plus one.
Still time to bid on link, though it looks to be missing its Under Armour logos. ;-)
The University of Arkansas is not profiting off of the 9/11 t-shirts. They left where the money raised would be going (Wounded Warriors Project) out of the release because they didn’t believe the money would be significant.
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This is carryover from an old conversation, about whether it was proper to call England’s Premier League the EPL. Like most everyone, I said yes, that “EPL” differentiates the league from the Scottish Premier League.
Apparently, the English don’t feel that way. On the Manchester City Website this morning, there’s a video of centerback Joleon Lescott, answering questions submitted via Twitter. Someone asked, “Do you think City will win the EPL this year?” Lescott’s first response was, “EPL- obviously from an American.” I guess they just call it the Premiership.
This might be hubris, like University of Texas insisting on calling itself “The University”. It may be that the English aren’t as into initials as Americans.
The best part of the RailCats uniform is the color. Green: underused, unappreciated, and always snappy!
I believe the official name of the league was “English Premiership” up until Barclays started sponsoring it. It’s not even the EPL anymore, it’s the “Barclays Premier League”..so..yeah. BPL. Sigh.
(I guess if you wanted, you could argue BPL for British Premier League, now that a Welsh team is in it)
Of course, ESPN/Fox Soccer always call it “EPL”, so that’s what we’re used to over here. I think “Premiership” is a way cooler word, tbh.
Yeah, well, I’ve seen many a BBC sportscaster attempt to report on American baseball, so I have zero sympathy for any Brit who feels the need to ridicule an American for calling the EPL the EPL. Not only are there other Premier Leagues in the world, there are other Premier Leagues in Britain, one of which has a reasonably strong following of its own in America. And Barclays means nothing to basically every American, including soccer fans. For Americans at least, it’s quite properly the EPL, and if any EPL player really minds so much having American fans paying a part of his salary via cable rights and merchandising, well, you know, there’s always the Russian Premier League, where you can play premiership football with no danger of encountering American fans or reporters.
In England, the Premiership is always a reference to the EPL much in the same way that “The Show” is a reference to MLB in America.
Instead of getting our backs up about what they call their most beloved sport, just accept it and move on. Otherwise, I’m sure there could be a long-winded rant about how American football should be called “football” around the globe despite the vast population of the world knowing football to mean soccer.
It’s their game, just go with it. ESPN isn’t always the be-all, end-all for what’s correct in the sports world.
ESPN? I’m aware that there’s a network by that name, but it’s not one I watch unless there’s a baseball game or an international soccer game on. Sportscenter could call the EPL “Britfooty” for all I know. What I’m saying is, if an American player ridiculed a British reporter for not calling it “the Show,” that would be an a-hole move. I know that the common term in Britain is “the Premiership,” and that’s what I call it when I’m talking to my friends in England, but that’s not actually the league’s name. It’s Barclay’s Premier League, yet that formal name isn’t even all that commonly used in Britain. So it remains an a-hole move to ridicule, or really even make any note of, an American calling it by the common American nickname instead of the common English nickname.
I don’t think I’ve heard anyone refer to it as “The Premiership” – most people over here just call it “The Premier League” or “The Premier”.
Then again, even after 20 years I still call the leagues by their old names – First Division, Second Division, and so on. None of this “Championship” or “League 1” crap…
I’ll take Matt’s word about the English not calling it “the Premiership,” since none of my friends in England are actually English. Expats, the lot of ’em, Yanks, Krauts, Afrikaaners, Canucks, and so forth. I assume “the Premiereship” is what we call it because that’s what the BBC and/or Sky call it in global-broadcast news accounts, and those are the media by which we all came to know British sports.
Man, I miss having those channels on TV. I’d pay to have the real BBC here in America just for the snooker alone.
If I’m in England, I’ll call it whatever they want.
But I’m in America, so I’ll call it whatever I want.
I’m calling it the EPL.
as someone who has been supporting celtic for half my life, i’m obliged to point out that scotland adopted the word “premier” first – they started calling the top flight of scottish football the “premier division” in the mid-1970s, back when scottish football was still a force. they only adopted the word “league” in 1998.
so, yeah. sky didn’t invent football.
Lost in all of this is that the person submitted the question via twitter and was trying to keep their characters low. EPL is easier to type in your mobile device than Premiership.
It’s the EPL, the Premiership, the Premier League. The same way baseball in the States is the Show, the Big Leagues, MLB, the Majors. It’s all of it, but the easiest to say is the EPL.
Watched Texas-Boston last night. Texas has some very underrated uniforms. A great set all around. And the Boston road uniform is growing on me, though I would prefer blue sleeves.
Rangers have the potential for some great uniforms, but there are a few problems:
– They need to pick either blue or red, not both. Hint – blue is the correct choice.
– Put “RANGERS” back on the home whites.
– Lose that clunky black dropshadow.
They need to pick one hat (red) and one color (blue) for everything else. Otherwise, I’m with you, pflava.
Blue hats wouldn’t look bad with the red jersey, but there’s nothing wrong with having blue and red. The Red Sox and Braves do it. The American flag does it. ;)
As for “Texas” being on the home jersey, if the Yankees can have an abbreviation of “New York” on their home jersey, what’s wrong with putting the geographic name on there?
Geeman +1. I’d prefer the Rangers make blue their primary color, especially with regard to caps, but I can live with red and blue as coequal colors. That by itself is almost unique in baseball, so it’s a distinctive approach. But I’ve never understood the dissing of the “Texas” home uniforms. Raise your hand, everyone who thinks that having the city name, not the team name, as the insignia on the home unis makes the Yankees’ home uniforms bad unis. Anyone? Anyone? How about Detroit? Washington? I mean, seriously, baseball teams were putting their city names & initials on uniforms long before they ever wore team nicknames.
The Texas Rangers *always* have nice uniforms.
“The Red Sox and Braves do it. The American flag does it. ;)”
Yeah, but the Braves and Red Sox don’t do what the Rangers do (the Braves have ABSOLUTELY no business playing up the red, and Boston shouldn’t do it either). Texas, as we know, is all red sometimes and all blue others. Head to toe. They look like two completely different teams from game to game. And they get really schizophrenic when they throw in the mix and match. The Rangers look great in royal with red trim, and need to stick to that.
You have a point. I think it’s great that they have red, white, and blue jerseys, plus grey. Maybe they should keep the jerseys but stick to one hat color as V. suggests. But, of course, then they couldn’t sell as many red and blue caps and helmets to the fans.
As a Dallas resident, I see equal amounts of both red and blue Rangers hats and shirts. Aesthetically, it’s like we have two different teams.
For the record, I’d like to see the Rangers look like this…
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Great job on the uni’s! I’d love to be able to have full control over a design like that – fantastic!
At first, I thought the second color on those RailCat unis was charcoal grey. It’s burgundy! Up close, those are really something, pure 1970s.
Green and red, almost any red, look good together, and they are almost never paired.
I think Christmas killed this color combination. Everytime I realize I’m wearing something green and red, I switch out of it. But burgundy and green is a great combination though.
“I think Christmas killed this color combination. Everytime I realize I’m wearing something green and red, I switch out of it.”
~~~
why? do you hate christmas?
Everybody hates Christmas.
Agreed walter, agreed.
Nothing like working retail and hearing Christmas music every day from November 1 to December 31 to make one loathe the entire season.
“Everybody hates Christmas.”
~~~
well…not everybody…
well…not everybody…
Now those are some rosy cheeks. Kringle himself would be impressed!
I love Christmas. It’s just that when I see the two colors together, the holiday is the first thing that comes to mind and I don’t necessarily want to think about it in July or August. Come holiday season, sure.
How’d I know that pic would make an appearance?
I’ll agree with The on one thing – Christmas music in November is flat out too early. Heck, I don’t even play it until mid-December…but then I keep going until Groundhog Day.
Folks who can only associate red and green with Christmas are probably the same ones who see brown and yellow and instantly think of potty time. With just a little extra effort, you can soon get over those limitations and appreciate the Railcats or the old Padres, link link
Fred, you don’t do Christmas in July? ;)
Funny, I thought the New Jersey Devils killed that color combination.
Naw, the original Devils’ uniforms were pretty sweet. Not the equal of what they wear now, but certainly not shabby.
Wow , you have to be pretty cynical to hate Christmas. I for one really love Christmas time. My wife is way more in love with it than me. She starts listening to Christmas music before Halloween. My personal thoughts are that Christmas music shouldn’t be debuted until Black Friday.
These are nice green and red uni combo as well
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Those are nice indeed.
These are even better:
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I’m pretty anti-NBA, but even I’m excited the Bucks brought Moncrief back as a coach this season.
The Jeff and I worked in retail. I did time at Sam Goody’s, trust me: I am entitled to hate Christmas.
Really!? I’m seeing eggplant and teal on those Gary jerseys, no charcoal gray or burgundy at all! All those old-school baseball elements mixed with the Paul Kariya Mighty Ducks’ color palette…now THAT would be wacky!
polamalu’s SI cover (2009?) has the same reebok logo treatment on his pants
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sometimes it was covered up though
(don’t ask me how i remember seeing that)
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In Sports Illustrated’s ‘The Football Book,’ I seem to recall a picture of a shirtless Steeler (Joey Porter, maybe?) in a pair of game pants, and I believe they have the gold on black logo. Maybe they only use this pair of pants for photo shoots.
I’ve seen that listed as the Jets “alternate wordmark.”
link
Ah, hadn’t seen that. Thanks!
Great Caesar’s Ghost, how many alternate logos do they NEED?!
Yesterday, Mike N. asked whether MLB belts are standardized, and I’ve often wondered that, my own self. Even though I know leather can be dyed any color, I’m surprised to see belts in shades of blue, red or green. An examination of this overlooked part of a baseball uniform is overdue.
Hey thanks for bringing it back up, Walter! Hopefully someone has an answer for us!
It’s mildly annoying to see a team’s new jersey and automatically know what the pants, stirrups and shoes are going to look like, Mike. That’s why I’m always going on about belt loops. The Braves are a good example of out-of-the-box thinking on the subject.
Paul,
I enjoyed reading today’s story. It must feel rewarding to see that Uni Watch doesn’t just inform and entertain, it crosses over and influences. Not just a quirky blog, but a resource.
Why This Site Has No Peer Dep’t:
1. RailCats story and ensuing commentaries. [Nice uni, too.]
2. Cornhusker streak stubs.
3. 1965 World Series program cover of Twins and Dodgers battling it out in space capsules. Unbelievably wonderful.
4. Paul’s missed-opportunity football jersey.
5. Spirited discussion of red-and-green combos, with necessary allusions to pollutant effects of Christmas marketing. [I’m with Cort: it’s excellent and underused pairing, Christmas or not. Red-and-green is the brand look for County Mayo (flag, seal, unis, etc), and it beats the hell out of County Sligo.]
And speaking of County Whatever, farewell to the fine Michael Flaherty.
Feckin’ eejit. Flanagan, not Flaherty. Mea-feckin’-culpa.
re: the Boise State race car…where are they going to find a blue track to drive it?
Love today’s lead story, and LOVE those RailCats unis. Great job!
Agreed! There’s room for that look on a modern baseball field.
agree with both!
I think you’re probably right that those are the Jets’ game pants, but I don’t see reason to be 100-percent certain. The team could have just asked equipment providers for solid navy pants with a logo until the final design is released.
The picture was tweeted by Blake Wheeler, a member of the Jets. They have been given new equipment in order to break it in.
I noticed the other day that in practice all the players are wearing random uni’s that are blank or have another team affiliation. Also one of he coaches was wearing a Canucks track suit. Kinda odd to see an NHL team looking like that in practice
Okay, I know I’m a few days late on this, but has anyone noticed that the Browns wore their brown jerseys in BOTH of their home preseason games AFTER the team announced that they would be wearing white at home this year? As a Steelers fan, I personally like the Browns wearing white at home. Makes me think of a winner. We still consider the Ravens the “real” Browns nonetheless.
“We still consider the Ravens the “real” Browns nonetheless”
pretty sure i speak for me and my network of steelers fans, at least, when i say: “no we don’t”
i DO love the browns in white though
Well in reference to which rivalry is important in Pittsburgh, the Ravens have replaced the Browns. And you can partially thank Art Modell for that.
oh, no doubt! it would be tough to find a better rivaly in football
I thank Joe Hilseberg, and his devastatingly delicious Bohtinis!
True that! I thought last year’s Ravens-Steelers game in Baltimore on NBC Sunday Night Football was the best football game I saw in a LONG time.
The Steelers 41-9 win over the Browns? Yeah, that was a joke. I remember even watching on TV towards the end of the 2009 matchup at home the crowd started chanting “Cleveland sucks!”. Yeah, Clevelanders beg to differ, but Browns-Steelers is a joke anymore.
Naming Wrongs should come up with T-shirts…I’m still calling them the Browns, The Thrashers, etc…
That jersey on link is amazing. Someone send that to the Tennessee Titan’s ASAP.
I’d bid on it myself, but it’s a little too worse for wear for my tastes.
Would definitely be an improvement, though I would have liked the dark blue jerseys if they don’t have light blue shoulders.
I guess I’m alone in saying that the Titans have a nice look link…
That is one of the best jerseys I’ve ever seen. Period.
I even love the number. 22 used to be my favorite during my grade school days.
link is a fantastic program design as well.
(Racist cartoon aside)
Interesting…I didn’t think that version of Chief Wahoo came out until 1951. Good find.
I like the use of the old Municipal Stadium.
New Oregon Nike Pro Combat Uniforms
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Very sharp.
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I too think it is sharp. Even thought we all know about Oregon’s school colors.
Whenever Oregon wears a black helmet, I’m reminded of what Tinker Hatfield of Nike told me in link: “[A black helmet] was discussed – some players thought it’d be pretty cool. But I didn’t think it would be right, out of respect for Oregon State, because they have black helmets. So I vetoed any black helmet.”
So much for respect….
“So much for respect…”
~~~
maybe the black helmet wasn’t tinker’s decision [in the end–perhaps his veto power has been usurped]
just sayin’ … sounds like the inmates are running the uni-sylum at nikegon…but if on-field results are indication, maybe the unis DO make the team
/expecially after auburn & sCam newton are forced to vacate the title and they retroactively award the ducks the nat’l championship for 2010
Those helmets aren’t black. The facemask is clearly black but the helmet looks more like a dark charcoal gray. I suppose it could be flat black, but I’m pretty sure it’s charcoal.
You know, the whole “combat” thing has been covered extensively. And maybe this has been mentioned too, but I’m also offended by the “pro” part of it. What the heck is that supposed to mean? College players are not paid- they’re used and given token scholarships, a cheap dorm, and some books. “Pro” is about as offensive as you can get when referring to college athletes.
Yeah, insinuating that a college athlete is some kind of professional, rather than an amateur, would be pretty offensive. Unless we’re talking about Miami. Or Ohio State. Or Southern Cal. Or Auburn. Or North Carolina. Or Oregon. Or Tennessee. Or LSU. Or …
This looks to be the same as the replica jersey that was released as the counterpart to the National Championship game outfit. Is Oregon going to be a 2 uniform team this season, in charcoal grey, silver and neon yellow, no less? I doubt it, but aside from all the school color rules it’s breaking, it’s a pretty good look. Very bold, functional and much cleaner than the average uniform of the last decade (see Maryland’s new attire).
I was going to say the same thing. I had already seen that uni a while back. It’s just the non-white version of their BCS title game unis.
Kinda looks like link was their inspiration.
Did I really read that they have Kevlar in the collar stitching? Are they getting shanked against regular season opponents?
I have to say I enjoyed the Ducks outfits…for the most part. That black on black on neon piss yellow is annoying. Also, black numbers with neon piss outline on a black jersey? I made that up in Madden ’08. Seriously?
God DAMNIT Nike.
And here’s Boise State…
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God damn lame ass trendy all-white crap. So damn tired of alternate white helmets. Knock it off!
“God damn lame ass trendy all-white crap.”
~~~
awesome
Would that be White for White’s Sake?
Yes, it is. You have a team who’s well known for wearing blue, and you put them in white helmets? Yeah, it’s WFWS.
See, The Jeff and I don’t always lock horns.
Going all white just to do it is same as going all black just to do it. “Special occasion bullshit” is what it is. I know Minnesota wore white helmets during their Rose Bowl glory days, but to throw a white helmet into the mix just for the hell of it as they did last year is simply excessive…and, frankly, lame.
I’m no fan of all black, or mono dark for that matter (just as The Jeff doesn’t care for all white even on teams like Texas that have worn it forever), but on, say, Texas Tech it works. Because it’s one of their colors. And because their helmets are ALWAYS black.
I also loved Oregon’s all blacks a couple years ago. Just not on Oregon. Woulda been a great design for Army to swipe, though, being the Black Knights and all.
Oregon throwing continuity out the window gave them a unique status. The copycats just look sophomoric (“Let’s be different the same way everyone else is different.” Huh? Aren’t we supposed to stop thinking like that after junior high school, or high school at the latest?)
If we’re ever lucky enough to look back at these as the good old days, it’s eventually going to be FFFS (fuschia for f’s sake). It will be neither more nor less lame than BFBS or WFWS as a concept, but it will look worse.
Yeah, that’s really the trend we’re seeing, isn’t it.
TCFTCS (Trendy Color For…)
We’ve already had Syracuse do NGFNGS (Neon Green For..), sorta, in NCAA lacrosse.
What I think The is saying here, and I agree with him, is that white is the new black.
If they’re playing Georgia for that game, which I’m not sure but I think they are, they’d have to go white. The helmet is pretty sweet looking in my opiion. I think that might be the first time a vent hole has actually enhanced the decal design or at least fit in to it instead of detracticng from it.
I’m disappointed actually.
Down here in GA, we were led to believe BSU would wear blue for a color vs color game.
Oh well…
Also very sharp.
Well, you got this one right…
Have to say those are nice too.
It could just be shading but it really looks like portions of the Boise helmet on the decal side are raised and then filled in with blue. It looks especially prominent in the blue areas in the neck of the horse. If that’s the case it seems like we might be dealing with a whole new animal in custom designs
I think they may have just done a shoddy job of applying the helmet decal and it’s come up in places. But, it does look like they placed the horse head to fit with all the holes and molded shapes of the helmet.
Boise State just sucks all around. The WFWS is just an addition to an already shoddy record.
Paul, I hope Salvatore’s of Soho was brought up during your Staten Island pizza discussion. It’s definitely the best the borough has to offer. Coal-fired deliciousness.
Actually, no. But we talked about Joe+Pat’s (my favorite), Nunzio’s (Tommy’s favorite), and Lee’s Tavern (second choice for both of us).
Lots of folks rave about Denino’s, but I’ve always found it to be rather pedestrian…
I used to be a Lee’s man, myself, until I discovered Sal’s. With a small storefront on Hylan Blvd., it’s extremely easy to miss. Their Neapolitan pie is incredible. The crust is just thick enough to sport a crispy exterior while still offering a bit of chewiness. But the true gems of the pie are the homemade mozzarella and delicious sauce.
They also serve you complementary bread, which, actually, is never as fresh as it should be, with some kind of outrageous sun-dried tomato pesto. When I run out of bread, I never hesitate to polish it of with just a spoon.
The inside is a bit cramped, or quaint, depending how your day is going. They go for a kind of 50’s aesthetic and actually pull it off in fairly good taste.
I definitely recommend paying a vist next time your on the island.
For the record, I always enjoyed Joe & Pat’s and Denino’s. Though, I also believe that Denino’s gets a little too much hype.
Unfortunately, there isn’t still a location in Soho. Here’s their website: link Just ignore the comically over-the-top design.
I enjoyed Mr. Tagert’s story.
But, I have to say (and I realize that it wasn’t part of the re-design of of the uniform), that the logo is just…awful. It’s the first thing I see. The rest of the uniform is not bad looking…but that logo has got to go.
Have the Orioles announced any type of uni tribute for Mike Flanagan?
Jesus Christ, dude, the body isn’t even cold yet….
Ted Williams agrees with your post
Interesting, though, that the winning pitcher (Jeremy Guthrie) on the day of Flanagan’s death wears the same jersey number as Flanagan once did (46).
Guthrie is now wondering if he should keep the number: link
Uni details from Green Bay … but not the Packers. The Green Bay Chill of the Lingerie Football League. link
So when Nike does the NFL uniforms will they start doing these “pro” combat unis for the NFL too.
One good thing was that the NFL unforms were at least throwbacks. I have said over and over I like when the college teams wore throwbacks. I would much rather see college throwbacks than these creations.
At least the NFL had it right. Will Nike try and be creative in the NFL too?
They will try, but there are two sides. Whatever Nike does has to be approved by the team and league, so blame everyone when it all goes wrong, not just Nike.
Good point. Too bad the colleges don’t tell then do throwbacks instead.
The first year of pro combats, some of the designs were fauxbacks. From memory, it doesn’t seem many of the fauxxback teams did another pro combat. (it makes me a little sick to use those terms)
The Jags equipment manager mentioned that the cut of the new NFL Nike unis would be the “speed” uniform which is currently the normal cut for Florida and Oregon amongst others. I highly doubt they’ll be using the extended sleeves as part of their design. We will probably see a lot of the funky miscolored belly sweat look though that the college teams have dealt with.
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From what I heard, Nike will be using it’s new “Speed Machine” line for the NFL next season. I could be wrong, though.
Love the Gary unis, they look great. And they admit everything’s borrowed, but nobody mentioned how close the cat logo is to the Sacramento River Cats. Lots of similarities there too.
The national anthem won’t be played at Goshen College (Indiana) anymore due to its violent nature.
link
Going to use America the Beautiful instead. Rah Rah!
Well, Land O’Goshen, that educated lyric anlayst of a college president DOES realize those lyrics are about a time a U.S. city/fort was under attack, right? Y’know, defending itself? Surviving it?
I mean, the violence WAS being supplied by the outside force.
Or did he cut American History while the War of 1812 was being covered?
“did he cut American History while the War of 1812 was being covered?”
~~~
no, because they substituted creationism for history in the curriculum
Well, good for them. They’re a Mennonite college, and after all it’s a sporting event, not a loyalty exam. But have they actually ever listened to “America the Beautiful?”
O beautiful for heroes proved
In liberating strife
Who more than self, their country loved
And mercy more than life
“Liberating strife” wasn’t an allegory in post-Civil War America, when the song was written. That line means war. Silly pacifists! Anyway, what’s wrong with just, you know, starting the game, no song? Even if the song isn’t specifically glorifying war, singing a pre-game patriotic song is an implicit loyalty oath to a temporal authority, which is also verboten to many followers of the Anabaptist tradition.
For me, it’s a reminder that we’re all in it together, no matter the outcome of the game. We’re all Americans and the reason we were able to play in the first place is because of the freedom granted to us to do this. The meaning behind the song being played before every game is: “Remember, we’re all friends and would lay down our lives for each other. now go kick each other’s butt.”
I appreciate Canada’s national anthem too. The team (not necessarily the individuals) represent their country for that game and it’s our time to respect them.
It’s easy to forget that we’re united sometimes, especially when the Patriots play the Jets. The truth is, Jets fans and Patriots fan will stand by each other when necessary. I like the reminder before every game and it’s a beautiful song as well.
Which begs the question, why do they sing a “patriotic/nationalistic” song of any kind at their sporting events?
Simply for PR purposes, to avoid external criticism? If so, so much for the courage of their convictions. Unless, of course, “covering our asses” is in between the lines somewhere.
Any chance you’d be OK with, say, Villanova dropping the National Anthem and substituting a Hail Mary?
well, aint that special
why don’t they actually take the truly logical step and ban college athletics entirely, since they (could) contain some violence…unless they only sport a chess team
or why play ANY song before the athletic contest? will they love america any less by NOT playing the SSB before the game begins?
really…it’s one thing to have a principled stand (non-violence) and another to make a political statement for political statement’s sake … “we will still respect america, but goddammit, not with THAT song…give us another”
would anyone really have had a problem if they simply elected not to play the SSB?
amber waves of grain, indeed
Most fans don’t realize this, but the playing of the anthem before every game is a relatively recent protocol.
Here’s an excerpt from a piece I wrote about 10 yrs ago for the sorely missed Village Voice sports section:
Good stuff. Didn’t realize it was pretty recent.
Over at the Society for International Hockey Research, we were trying to get to the bottom of when they started to play an anthem before hockey games. Haven’t quite got there yet, but I found an article from Ottawa in 1920, indicating that when the governor-general (the King’s representative) would attend games, a band would strike up “God Save the King,” the players would stand at attention, “while the boys in the ‘millionaires row’ stand and vociferously shout, swinging their bodies in unison with the music.”
Pretty sure the boys in millionaires’ row were in the cheap seats.
In December 1925, the first NHL game was played at what was then the new Madison Square Garden. Montreal Canadiens against New York Americans. The Governor-General’s Royal Foot Guard Band (the same guys who played at those Ottawa games) were appearing for the first time ever outside of Canada, to play the Canadian anthem (again, probably “God Save the King”). The band from West Point played “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
John Kieran of the New York Times used to rail against the practice repeatedly throughout the 1920s and ’30s. As he wrote in 1935:
“Is it absolutely necessary for the brass band at Madison Square Garden to start the hockey proceedings each night by (a) playing the national anthem and (b) in the case of the visiting team being from over the border, playing two national anthems (United States and Canada)? (a) No. (b) No.
“It recalls the old stage story of George M. Cohan at a rehearsal of an old-style Cohan play calling out to the property man: ‘Never mind the American flag, Jim. We can save this show without it.'”
What I found interesting about this research was that, in the 1920 account from Ottawa, it appeared that the band would play at whatever point the GG showed up. Up until the First World War, if an anthem was played at a public gathering in Canada, it was usually at the end, as a recessional. It was around 1917 that the idea first started to circulate of beginning a game with the anthems.
I also found an NYT article from 1903 about a game between the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association and the New York Athletic Club, at the St. Nicholas Arena. A band played “God Save the King” and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” but I don’t know if this was something usually done, or just because it was what soccer fans might call an international friendly.
A colleague suggests that, while “God Save the King” was the usual choice in English Canada, “O Canada” (written by a French-Canadian) was the preferred anthem in Montreal. Which, in its way, would’ve been as controversial in pre-war Canada as choosing to perform “America the Beautiful” instead of the “Star-Spangled Banner.”
As a side note, “Hail Columbia” was generally treated as the national anthem from its composition for President Washington’s first inaugural in 1789 until the early 20th century. It was unofficially so, since Congress never adopted a national anthem until designating “The Star Spangled Banner” in 1931, after which “Hail Columbia” was reduced to being the equivalent of “Hail to the Chief” when the vice president enters the room. And the increasingly widespread use of “The Star Spangled Banner” at baseball games is widely credited with that song supplanting “Hail Columbia” in the popular imagination as the national song.
So in a way, it’s not that we play the national anthem before sporting events. It’s that we sing stadium music as the national anthem. In terms of the history of the thing, we might as well make “link” the national anthem.
Shoot, I screwed up the link to the great Damon Albarn version of “link.” Try this:
link
Thanks, Paul. Thanks, Lloyd.
I always liked Bill Bradley – in “Life on the Run” — for questioning the worth of pre-game SSBs. He got nowhere, of course, and the damn custom is now so entrenched (even more than in Dollar’s era) than I don’t see any chance of a rollback.
Moreover, the anthem motif has now gone global, at least for soccer and rugby and basketball games between national teams. Cricket, too, for all I know. As a political matter, I really don’t like this trend at all.
But here’s the killer: I enjoy it. Somewhat. I love to participate in big-group singing in general, and certainly like to climb those killer highs in the SSB. I also enjoy belting out the Irish anthem (“Soldiers’ Song”), God Save the Queen (hey, why not?), the Marseillaise, and that awesome Russian song, too, though I can only go dum-dum-de-dum in a Sid Caesar slavic accent.
College fight songs, on the other hand, have fallen into sad disuse. The school bands still play a few, but usually the fans and students know the words to only one of them, if that. You can imagine the acute embarrassment I inflict on my sons when I stand up at the Alma Mater football games and deliver on about a half-dozen archaic numbers from the 1900-1920 era. What an asshole!
Actually—and I’m not being facetious—for that situation a couple passes through the chorus of “This Land is Your Land” really would be a pretty good substitute.
Especially cuz they could even have had a little fun with the whole This “Land” (o’Goshen) thing.
Just sayin’, they could have turned it into a fun and largely positive story for the College.
They would have looked thoughtful, true to their belief system and playful…and still respectful of traditional pre-game stuff.
Although I suppose they wouldn’t want to sing a song written by some left-wing radical like Woody Guthrie, would they.
Agree 100%. TLIYL isn’t played enough in this country. Guess it could be perceived as socialist (gasp!).
I’m a native of Goshen (for that matter, a Goshen student), so I’ve spent a considerable amount of time on that particular college campus — and, perhaps more importantly for this discussion, at a number of Goshen sporting events. Until the Maple Leafs link in 2010, there was not a flag near their baseball or softball fields.
Last spring, as I was staring at the flag on a particularly breezy day, I wondered: Is it possible that Goshen had some sort of home-field advantage by not having a flag? It would seem to require an adjustment from a lot of their guests, but I’ve had a lot of non-windy positions in my life (benchwarmer, scorekeeper, lightning-meter monitor, etc.), so I’ve never tried to work out what sort of difference that makes.
What say those of you that play(ed) the outfield? Would Goshen gain an advantage from that change of pace?
Could be the question came from Manchester. Here is an article from yesterday’s Manchester Evening News – link It uses Premier League 7 times, and EPL twice.
While you rarely hear EPL said, it is not uncommon to see it in print.
The Steelers wear the gold on black Reebok logo during training camp and practices. Those pants are almost always used when a player does a photoshoot. I know that for a few years too they did the gold on black logo during the preseason. Haven’t noticed if they’re still continuing that.
Powder Blue Throwback uniform for Hiroshima this week.
link
Whoa. That belt treatment looks like carp.
that belt treatment is the bomb, dude!
Too soon?
The bright red on the light blue with no outline is a bit much. In a country where link, you’d think they’d be more sensitive to the whole bright-red-on-light-blue vibrating-edges phenomenon.
Great link, Scott!
Those belts look like link from the 1872 Peck and Snyder catalogue that was on Ebay recently.
In concert John E’s great piece on military dogs a couple weekends ago, this deserves notice (if you haven’t already heard about it or seen it)…
link
Someone once said…
“If there ain’t a place in Heaven for a Lab, I don’t wanna go.”
Not digging the green and maroon combo, or the pulloverness of the jerseys, but pretty good design overall by the Railcats.
I think green and maroon looks pretty good together. Just my opinion.
That 1965 World Series program is prophetic in a way. When it was printed, the US had yet to have two manned spacecraft in orbit at the same time. Late in October, Gemini 6 was scheduled to become the first spacecraft to dock with a target vehicle. It was to be a crucial milestone on the way to having two manned vehicles link up during lunar flight. The unmanned Agena target vehicle failed to reach orbit, however, and 6 was scrubbed. Later that year, NASA made a pretty bold decision (something they’ve forgotten how to do, I think) — launch Gemini 7 on time in December and shortly thereafter, launch Gemini 6. GT6 almost didn’t get there, but eventually lifted off and during rendezvous, came within a foot of spacecraft 7. We showed it could be done and fulfilled the prophecy foretold by the World Series program artist: two manned Geminis up at the same time!