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Uni Watch

There’s No Service Like Wire Service, Vol. 37

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Nice batch today — some from Mako Mameli, some from Bruce Menard, some from Mike Hersh, and some from me.

• Did you know that Chicago had its own semi-pro football league in the 1970s? But they didn’t exactly have the most original logo.

• Check out this SMU quarterback with a cross painted on his helmet.

• Interesting “Then and Now” helmet shot. According to the caption, the Super Bowl XVI host committee held a fund-raiser featuring Lions players “wearing football uniforms dating to 1890.” We need to find photos of that!

• Ya can never have too many white satin photos.

• This gets my vote for the best facemask photo ever. Read the caption to see why.

• Here we have two ballplayers making spectacles of themselves.

• Man, speed skating uniforms have come a long way since the 1930s. I’d give anything for that sweater on the right.

• Although this photo is whimsical, the underlying point is significant: A defensive player was using a helmet radio receiver to receive signals from the sideline way back in 1956.

• Quick, when were the Marlins’ inaugural uniforms unveiled? Answer: about eight months before their first game.

• Quick, when did the Angels unveil their 1993 logo? Answer: at the end of the 1992 season.

• I love this 1947 down marker. Also love the dude’s outfit.

•  So much to like about this photo of Yogi. Just wish we could see what was printed on his T-shirt.

+ + + + +

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Let’s have a round of huzzahs for today’s birthday boy, our own Scott M.X. Turner. Have a great one, buddy — here’s hoping you get everything you wish for when you blow out the candles.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Phil’s weekly “Colorize This!” segments have inspired an entry on an Auburn football blog (from Dave Bivin). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: UNC will be wearing some really ugly blue camouflage for the Carrier Classic game on Nov. 11. “The sweatback makes it even worse,” says Matt Harris. This seems to confirm that Michigan State will wear that camo design that we briefly glimpsed in a recent video clip. … “Brewers PR guy John H. Steinmiller just tweeted this Bucks 10th-anniversary logo,” says Jeff Ash. “He said he’d never seen it until now. His dad, also named John, has worked for the Bucks since almost the beginning.” That’s an interesting Milwaukee sports PR dynasty right there. … Surprise-surprise, turns out those recently leaked Winter Classic designs may not be legit after all (from Mark Kaplowitz). … Here’s the latest article on Tooth Fairy necklaces. … New mask — and a really interesting one — for Jonas Hiller (thanks, RyCo). … As many of you are probably aware, a lot of content on the web — especially on blogs — is actually stealth advertising. I get offers like the one described in that story all the time, and I routinely turn them down. Like I’ve always said, I have nothing against advertising per se — I just think there are places where it doesn’t belong, and the editorial content of this site (or any site) is one of them. … Yet another team using the Hitmen logo: Pflugerville Hendrickson in Texas (from Ken Singer). … Providence basketball has added a Dave Gavitt memorial patch (big thanks to Erik Sundermann). … Why does Syracuse wear orange? The answer is here (from Brennan Barber). ”¦ Another day of sensational vintage Packers pics from Jeff Ash, this time from 1966. ”¦ Pat Sajak played in a charity softball game the other day, wearing a Nats jersey with WoF-SNOB — that’s Wheel of Fortune-style name on back. … Doug Keklak notes that a photo of Jerry West in the current issue of SI shows the Lakers chest insignia running more uphill than usual. … Remember that video of the Ohio players acting like game show contestants when they saw their BFBS uniforms? They probably would’ve shit their pants if they’d known that BFBS helmets would also be part of the package (from Mark Maxwell).

 
  
 
Comments (155)

    Weird. I just double-checked by going back to the original link that the contributor sent me. The photo keyed to that link has changed!

    I’ll remove that item from the Ticker.

    Is this is the Jim Foster who helped found the Arena Football League? I wish this photo was in color. It would be interesting to see how awful his plaid coat/dark shirt/plaid tie combo looked.

    At least the Marlins in 1992 had the good sense not to have a softball top as their alt. I can’t imagine we’ll see that when the new uniforms are unveiled next month.

    The caption’s cut-off but it looks like they call the solid teal jersey a “warm-up jacket”… or maybe that’s for the jacket over the shoulder.

    Yep. Pretty sure it’s the jacket over the shoulder that they’re referring to.

    But anyway, yeah, teal jerseys were part of the original set. They were supposed to be the only jerseys they wore with the black caps.

    That first road uni: all grey, FLORIDA, teal cap w/ black brim….most distinctive they’ve ever worn. Didn’t need to change it.

    Tennessee WR Da’Rick Rogers tweeted last night that the Vols will be wearing their black jerseys this week against South Carolina. (Sigh)

    But more important than that, is the obvious question… will Dooley wear a black shirt with his orange pants?

    Not true. He tweeted that he wants to wear black uniforms (and made it clear that he wants all black everything unit), but there is on evidence that they will actually be worn. I am hoping and praying that Dooley won’t let this happen.

    The students are trying to black out the stadium, which is stupid since South Carolina’s color is black. I say if they’re going to do that, put the team in all orange if you are trying to create a Halloween effect.

    I know Tennessee uses orange away pants occasionally… have they ever worn those at home and went mono-orange? I can’t remember of any such instances.

    As much as I loathe the Vols, I hope they don’t go and do something stupid like all-black unis.

    Yeah, Tennessee had done the mono-orange unis at home (although, my only memories are in the 80’s). Not sure when the last time was.

    “Remember that video of the Ohio players acting like game show contestants when they saw their BFBS uniforms? They probably would’ve shit their pants if they’d known that BFBS helmets would also be part of the package”

    I think the first player to find out would’ve jumped for joy and do link to the equipment room.

    Do you ever find yourself hoping that a lot of these players who can’t seem to deal with having to wear the same uni a dozen times a season end up being UPS drivers?

    i’m 34, pretty upbeat and appreciative of things… i think the last time i was legitimately THAT excited about anything was when the Pens won the cup. fortunate to love the steelers too. but other than that, anybody else remember being that excited about anything? just curious for some good thursday stories…

    I was 13 years old when the Twins played the Cardinals in the ’87 Series, and my dad got us outfield seats for Game Six. Twins down 3 games to 2. Twins were up 6-5 in the 6th, and then Kent Hrbek, who’d been having a terrible series, hit a grand slam to not far from our seats to make it 10-5 and put the game away. You could see the Cardinals players just slump, and I was absolutely sure that the Twins were going to win not just the game but the Series. That exact moment, I felt like those guys look. There’ve been other times, of course, but none involve a baseball uniform link.

    January of 2010, I was watching the NFC Championship game between the Saints and Vikings. When Garrett Hartley kicked that game-winning field goal in OT, I remember jumping up from the edge of my bed screaming “THEY DID IT! THEY DID IT! THEY DID IT!” and mobbing my Mom about 3 seconds afterward.

    I was actually more excited from that win than when they won the Super Bowl weeks later. Maybe I was so happy from the SB XLIV victory, that I didn’t know how to react. I just sat there and stewed in my own happy juices.

    January of 2010, I was watching the NFC Championship game between the Saints and Vikings. When Garrett Hartley kicked that game-winning field goal in OT, I remember jumping up from the edge of my bed screaming “THEY DID IT! THEY DID IT! THEY DID IT!” and mobbing my Mom about 3 seconds afterward.

    I was actually more excited from that win than when they won the Super Bowl weeks later. Maybe I was so happy from the SB XLIV victory, that I didn’t know how to react. I just sat there and stewed in my own happy juices.

    As a Bucs fan, I know exactly how you feel — same thing for me seven years earlier, it’s not the Super Bowl win over Oakland that was the biggest moment, it was Ronde Barber’s interception return against the Eagles that was the most memorable moment for me.

    I don’t remember stewing in any juices, though. Oh well, to each his own.

    I was at the game. As a Saints fan, it was emotionally exhausting to live through the game. The Saints were thoroughly in the game every minute of the game, yet were outplayed to no end. As it was, no team ever led by more than seven points the entire game, but the Vikings usually led and threatened to score immediately prior to almost all of their five turnovers.

    I was the most exhausted I have ever seen a collective crowd at a winning game, ever ….Then again, as a Saints fan, such important games to chose and compare are from a very limited list ….

    That sentence in the ticker is pretty much the funniest thing I’ve read in a week. Maybe I need to get out more.

    Isn’t Jim Foster (in the picture for the Chicago semi-pro football) the first commissioner of the Arena Football League back in ’87?

    Good question. I gotta say that that photo of Fosterholding the Chicagoland Football League mock-up is so 1970s great on so many levels that… well…that…I…

    Same Jim Foster, that is. He’s a Chicago guy. First experimental Arena game was played in Rockford. Have an article, with photos, in my files somewhere

    One more thing:

    “I’d give anything or that sweater on the right.”

    Isn’t that supposed to be “I’d give anything for that sweater on the right.”?

    A great sweater. “Philadelphia Nationals” does sound cool. When did the Nats become become the Phils, and who advocated the change?

    They were never known formally as the Nationals. They’ve been known as the Phillies since at least 1890.

    The “Nationals” reference here is probably to the league, Philadelphia being a two-team city at the time. You might see the A’s referred to as the Americans from time to time. Similarly, newspapers called the Yankees the New York Americans for many years. Makes it interesting when you’re searching for the original New York NHL team.

    Unless there was some team other than the Phillies and Athletics in Philadelphia in the 1920s, I’m guessing that the term “Nationals” here is being misapplied as a nickname, attempting to highlight the Phils’ place in the NL.

    The Phillies have been the Phillies since the 1880s, except for that period in the 1940s when they tried to be the Blue Jays, but everybody still called them the Phillies (does that make it ironic that they would lose to a team actually named “Blue Jays” in the 1993 World Series?).

    Those are quite small pictures that UNC has posted of their “camo” unis. The sweatback does look pretty bad at that size, but I think we really need to see it up close to determine the damage.

    I actually like the camo uni, but the combo of the camo and sweatback looks off to me. I think the camo would be fine if it were all camo, and not part of the sweatback.

    Interesting that the picture of this particular iteration of the Hitmen logo is paired up against link, though not inside an link.

    Now there’s a mascot you don’t see every day! (Unless, of course, you happen to be in a community with a team with said mascot, then you’d be likely to see it frequently, I suppose…)

    Regarding Syracuse:

    So were they the Orangemen before they adopted orange as the school color? If not, why did they change from the “Orangemen” to the “Orange”? It would seem that “Orangemen” was not a reference to Native Americans but rather to the school color (unlike, say, St. John’s with “Redmen”).

    And where does the dark blue fit into all this? Is that a school color or not? If not, why does the football team were dark blue but the basketball team does not (only twice that I’ve ever seen).

    Questions, questions. . . .

    “…why did they change from the “Orangemen” to the “Orange”?”

    So they won’t sound sexist? I heard the Women’s clubs at Syracuse were going to adopt Snooki as their female mascot. That’s just a rumor, though.

    Her tan is fake?

    Damn, another illusion shattered. ;)

    Next, I suppose I’ll learn The Situation really is a no-talent doofus and not a true celebrity.

    I remember when Syracuse prominently featured a tough Mohawk brave with tomahawk. Whether “Orangemen” denoted skin color or any other reference to the Mohawks I don’t know, but the school sure did go strong with the Indian motif. That Mohawk brave (like his confreres at UMass, St John’s, Dartmouth, and Colgate) was jettisoned in the first burst of revising Native American nicknames. UMass and St John’s did well by becoming Minutemen and the Red Storm, I think, but Dartmouth and Colgate not so much.

    The “Saltine Warrior” was SU’s mascot.

    “Orangemen” always referred to the color Orange.

    Syracuse University was founded as the Genesee Wesleyan Seminary by the Methodist Church in Lima, NY (near Rochester) in 1832 but moved to the Salt City in 1870 because of its more central location within the state. Therefore the Orange of SU is because of the fact that the color is that of the protestant church of which the Methodists are one of the largest denominations.

    LOL someone once told me, and i always kept it in the back of my brain, that the syracuse orangemen had something or other to do with the irish, or irish imigrants…

    obviously never looked it up or put more thought into it

    Terry & Ry Co – that’s my recollection of Orangemen as well – from the Orange Order of Protestants.

    I remember this being mentioned a few years back when the basketball team wore a St. Patricks Day uniform – kind of a religious mismatch.

    When they broke ground back in the 1930’s for a new gym, the student newspaper wrote a story that Native American remains were found in the hole, and that SU would be protected by the Spirit of the Saltine Warrior (just to stir up school spirit).

    The idea, and mascot stuck.

    Terry Proctor … I’m a 3rd generation Syracuse Alumni, and the color Orange has nothing to do with SU’s Methodist background.

    Just the color of the uniforms.

    Syracuse teams have been wearing orange and blue since at least 1911:
    link

    And here’s a 1908 report that Syracuse awarded blue letters for track, to be affixed to the orange sweater:
    link

    Historically – orange (the color) has always been associated with New York due to the original colony being settled by the Dutch – which was later taken by the English – but that was okay, because the English shortly thereafter chose a Dutch prince, William of Orange, to be king. Hence any New Yorker, especially any of Dutch decent (like the Roosevelts, or Martin Van Buren or the fictional Rip Van Winkle) could call himself an “Orangeman”. In effect, SU could choose to have a mascot of a Cavalier/Musketeer-looking dude and it would probably make more sense than a Native American or whatever.

    (At least by dropping pink and blue way back when, they avoided any confusion during Breast Awareness Month…)

    BTW – the Orangemen in (Northern) Ireland are decendents of Protesant settlers who are commemerating a victory by King William III (aka William of Orange – see above) over the deposed King James II at the battle of the Boyne – thereby ensuring English/British rule of Ireland until the 20th Century.

    My question is where can I get one of those cool Syracuse varsity jackets like Dennis Quaid was wearing in “the Express”???

    Curious to note in the Packers scrapbook that we’re seeing some significant differences in numerals. Some players are wearing serifed numerals, others aren’t (examples of non-serifed include Bart Starr and Max McGee, wearing non-serifed 5s with that distinct angled bit at the bottom of the left-side vertical stroke). Similarly, Herb Adderly’s 26 includes serifs on the upper ends (as well as a diagonal stroke on the 2), while Zeke Bratkowski’s 2 is squared off, and only has a serif on the bottom right (on the large numerals anyway; the TV numbers tend to be different in their own right).

    I noticed that as well and thought that maybe those were practice uniforms. If you look at the photos from the 1966 game against the Rams on that same site, you can see that there were no serifed numerals.

    During the Lombardi era (and beyond) the Packers’ jerseys were made by SandKnit of Berlin, Wisc. Adderly’s jersey has an older stock font from SandKnit. Starr, Taylor and Kramer, et al are wearing the updated version of SandKnit’s full-block font. This newer font was also used by the Raiders for years. Back in the day when teams bought their own uniforms from local dealers there wasn’t the emphasis on exactly-matching details that there is today. Money, money, money…

    Exactly. Teams at all levels would often use the same uniforms from year to year. In the offseason they might replace only some of their worn jerseys and pants (demote them to practice gear), but not necessarily acquire the replacement gear from the same manufacturer or with the exact same details.

    Two things that should’ve stayed: Those inaugural Marlins unis, and that ’93-’96 Angels logo.

    Definitely agreed on the Angels, for certain. The Disneyfied look was completely atrocious.

    The Angels had completely perfected their look with that ’93 update. Dumping it for those awful cartoon Disney-forms is one of the all time uni debacles. If only they’d dump the generic red on red and go back to “CA”.

    Curious if anyone knows what the last MLB stadium was to be built with columns in the seating areas to support upper decks AS AN ARCHITECTURAL STANDARD for the park? I know Texas was built with the columns in right field as an ode to Yankee and Tiger Stadiums, but that doesn’t account for the standard throughout the park.

    I remember those columns. Must have sucked to sit right behind one, not to mention that unless you were in the Dawg Pound, you were about a mile from the field, it seemed.

    When was the MLB timeline done, because it needs to be updated. The Rangers should have 2 penants, and hopefully before the week is over a World Championship Trophy.

    I had read that Candlestick was the first built without support posts…

    Miller Park in Milwaukee has two large posts in the top deck behind home plate at the point where the leaves of the fan-shaped roof meet. There are seats behind them, which the Brewers sell on game day as “Uecker Seats” for $1.

    Met Stadium (opened in ’56) had no such columns.
    Milwaukee County Stadium did.
    Saw football and baseball in both.
    To a great extent, was the only real difference between the two, since the Met essentially was modeled after County, but engineering techniques had advanced enough in those few years that the support columns (among the seats) could be eliminated for the Millers’ new home.

    Memorial Stadium in Baltimore had support columns for the upper deck – which was added prior to the 1954 season.

    I had “OBS VIEW” tickets for the first appearence of Roger Clemens (BoSox at O’s) in 1986.

    Of course, I’d be happy with an Anti-EDGE movement overall. Bring back the 6100s! (Or, at the very least, bring back straight waistline hems! Sweaters do not have dress shirt/baseball jersey hemlines!)

    If you don’t like the product, don’t purchase it. Marketing 101. No need to make a FB page for your “cause” de jour. Very childish, actually. This “movement” sounds like something Comicbook Guy from the Simpsons would do.

    News flash: the Internet is chock full of “causes du jour“.

    Besides, the whole point is educating the ignorant masses about inferior consumer goods being passed off as “authentic”. Obviously, none of the participants are going to buy these crappy jerseys, especially when a common refrain is that they’re willing to pay more for genuine, high-quality Canadian-made authentics.

    Not that Ree-didas is actually going to give a flying fuck about traditional uniform design, considering they’ve taken one of the link link in football, and link link

    Sounds like you have too much time on your hands. It’s called free market capitalism. If Rbk can produce a product cheaper and sell it for a profit, then so be it. You should be more concerned with the so-called China knockoff phenomenon. If you buy a 2011-12 retail authentic, at least you are buying a product that, although made in Indonesia, was produced in a legitimate manufacturing facility. Buy a knockoff and you are supporting sweatshops. Made in China with fake Indonesia tags. At least Rbk is being honest and not putting a Made in Canada tag in the retail authentics. You know going into the purchase that they are asian-made. SO BE IT.

    First of all, nobody’s saying they can’t make money. It’s about putting an inferior product out on the market. Just because it’s “official” shit and not counterfeit shit doesn’t make it any less shitty.

    “Too much time on my hands”? Maybe… my job does have significant stretches of downtime, and today’s been one of those slow days, but still, finding a few pics through Google and linking them here doesn’t take a whole hell of a lot of time. “Too much time” would’ve been me going through the Uni Watch archives to find all the cases where the “super-stretchy” football uniforms have been panned and putting the links to those.

    Reebok, and its parent Adidas, have been investing a tremendous amount of effort into making uniforms lighter and tighter, and I certainly commend them for that effort. However, as stated quite often on this site, their execution has been, in many cases, quite lacking – and that’s in the actual product on the field of play. Another Uni Watcher with plenty of free time on their hands could provide links to past discussions on the subject, I suppose.

    As for the Edge in particular, it comes down to the market for people who are willing to spend more than $200 for a polyester shirt. Generally speaking, hockey fans willing to spend that kind of money are going to be a lot more discerning than the average sports consumer. If that very customer base wishes to call shenanigans on a manufacturer for putting out an inferior product and not giving them what they actually want – what they’d actually be willing to spend more for, then that is their right.

    And if you want to be a corporate shill, that is your right… but I find it hard to take seriously someone who decides to go with the name “ReebokEwok”, especially since, coincidentally, today is the first time I’ve seen that handle show up here.

    That’s it, I’m done with this thread.

    “That’s it, I’m done with this thread.”

    ~~~

    oh, if i had a nickel for every time i heard that…

    That sweater on the right!!!!…..

    link

    …..gives the Smokestacks (Smokers?) hockey a run for the money as the greatest all-time sports related article of clothing.

    It was the 70’s! A simpler time, before big money and focus groups, when everybody was free to do their own thing and not have to deal with corporatizing everything. You had the freedom then to spell “league” any way you wanted without the “man” or Reebok or Nike getting up in your business.

    “Capone puts a G-man in the hospital, you bury the G in ‘league’ between the U and the E. That’s the Chicago way.”

    Not the Hitman H, but another interesting variation of an “H” from the #1 high school player in the country according to Rivals.

    link

    Just flipped through the Ohio Equipment Crew pictures I always love inside peeks like that, I know there are a few more from other schools can anyone help a brother out and put up a link or two?

    I’m pretty sure every team’s doing the purple (or, if they’re being properly done, lavender) warmups for the Hockey Fights Cancer program. It’s just warmups, anyway; nothing to get worked up about.

    Ah, the late 70s Eagles… that’s a look I’d like to see make a comeback, at least as an alternate…

    Wouldn’t mind seeing the return of the white-bordered silver numbers on deeper blue jerseys. Those went away before I started caring about the Lions (which was around the time they had drafted an outstanding young RB from Wichita by way of Stillwater).

    I would bet what is written on Yogi’s undershirt is actually a McAuliffe tag. That is usually where they were sewn on the undershirts.

    Nice… except for that collar. I’ve never liked that particular Nike style of collar… the way it’s shaped, it looks like it should be a lace-up.

    link

    Somethings should be left to those who are qualified…and the sad part is, they left of some better uniforms.

    Shame that it’s only for O.C.-area schools. My high school Alma Mater’s new unis (as of last year) would’ve made even Paul smile from ear-to-ear.

    (link)

    Here’s the road version:

    (link)

    My favorite part of the Packers pictures: the little houses behind them. I’d like to meet the little people who lived in those little houses. Cool place to live.

    Those little people will gladly charge you $20 to park on their lawns during games ;) Some of the little house bought by little people in the past 10 years have completely renovated the houses into Packer game day experience houses available to rent!

    I used to live in that neighborhood when I was covering the Packers for the G.B. News-Chronicle. May have been the only NFL beat writer who walked to work on Sundays.

    link

    Check out that video if like seeing good looking women wearing sports jerseys. That’s Jill Nicolini of Fox 5 in New York wearing a NY Rangers jersey.

    Why does a bowl game need a mascot? Other than King Orange, does any other bowl even have a mascot?

    I can not for the life of me think of the name of the baseball merchandise project started by the art student that Paul profiled this year. I think the items would make a great gift, can anyone help me out with that?

    Should i feel slighted that the last four tips i sent paul have either not been used or credited to someone else? Should i have sent them to somewhere besides the uniwatching at g mail dot com address?

    Penguins wearing their fauxback thirds tonight… and the “vintage” not-white still looks like crap to me. Of course, I just don’t like that particular design overall.

    Obviously these new different uniforms are going to help kids decide where they want to go school whether people like it or not so get used to it. see ohio bfbs video

    What’s going on with the stains on Colby Lewis’s cap? looks like he’s got some sort of white chalk on the top, as well as a reddish stain on the bottom of the “T”.

    Okay, but what was with ripping the jersey off? Don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.

    RE: SYRACUSE LETTERMAN JACKETS ..

    The actual Letterman jackets and game jerseys worn by the cast of “The Express” were being sold on EBAY for quite some time. No screen grabs, but I am sure there may be a few still online or on EBAY …. There were a multidude of the beng sold and many of the jerseys are still up ….

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