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Uni Watch

Key to the City — Or at Least to the Stadium

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What you see above is season pass that the New York Giants issued to select VIPs in 1921, which is up for bids in the current SCP Auctions catalog. I’ve seen season passes before, but this is the coolest one I’ve ever come across. Love that the key motif!

The current SCP catalog includes several of these season passes, all from the Giants. I like these next two almost as much as the key-shaped one:

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That last one, incidentally, has some particularly nice engraving on the back.

Those are my favorite items in the new SCP catalog, but there are plenty of other interesting listings. Here are some highlights:

• Gotta love this 1947 Philly Warriors jacket. Additional photos are info are available in the full auction listing.

• Totally digging this old Swen Nater warm-up top (full listing).

• Here’s an absolute beauty of a ticket stub from the 1950 World Series (full listing).

• I’m always a sucker of a good usher’s cap, especially one with chain-stitched lettering (full listing).

• Whoa, look at all these great NFL press passes (full listing).

• And we close things out with an absolutely killer Hollywood Stars uniform (full listing).

Want to see more? You can browse the entire auction here.

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Collector’s Corner

By Brinke Guthrie

Some cities have NFL teams, and then some cities are NFL cities. What I mean is, there are certain cities where the team is embedded in the community’s psyche and soul. Cases in point: the Packers in Green Bay, the Saints in New Orleans, the Steelers in Pittsburgh, and the Cowboys in Dallas. Baltimore used to be on that list too, back when the Colts were there. (Sorry, Ravens — you haven’t achieved that status yet.) So we start off this week by featuring this terrific Colts championship decal.

As for the rest of this week’s finds:

• Reader Mike Powers spotted this pair of 1970s Phil Esposito Converse sneakers.

• What’s better than gumball helmets? baseball marbles from 1968, gumball helmet pencil sharpeners! Douglas Ford sent that one over.

• Here’s a cool 1982 NHL sticker album.

• More Technigraph plaque goodness, this time from 1965 with a Washington Redskins spear design.

• Nice set of NFL helmet stampers.

• Two words for this: Holy grail.

Seen something on eBay that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here, or tweet them here.

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Moisture wicking, of a sort: Big news on the consumer culture front, as there’s now a new category of Uni Watch merchandise: nifty little beverage coasters, available in green, gold, and burgundy. These are cork-backed sandstone coasters (not cardboard like the ones at your local bar) — very nice, and perfect for all your Sunday beer swilling highly mature and responsible beverage-accessorization needs.

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Membership update: A bunch of new designs have been added to the membership card gallery (including Andrew Pekoe’s simple but snazzy Florida State marching band design, shown at right). If you’ve been waiting for your printed/laminated card, the latest batch of those should ship out later this week.

As always, you can get your own card by signing up here.

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Because why come up with a new idea when you can just steal someone else’s? I’ve been spending a lot of time lately on a site called Hyperbole and a Half (which is apparently very famous in certain circles, so maybe you already know about it, but I only learned about it last Friday). It’s the creation of a 20something gal named Allie Brosh, who’s a really good writer and illustrator. I realize some of you will look at her stuff and say, “What are you talking about? She can’t draw for shit!” But if you spend a little time on her site, you’ll see that she’s actually super-talented and knows exactly what she’s doing. I recommend starting here, here, here, and here.

Anyway: One of the coolest things about Hyperbole and a Half is something in the right sidebar called the Awesome Button, which is basically just a blind link to things that Brosh really likes. You don’t know what you’ll be getting when you click on it but, as Brosh says, “it will always be awesome.”

I like that idea a lot, so I’ve created my own version of the Awesome Button, called the Catch of the Day, which is now in the right sidebar. It will always link to something I really like. Sometimes the link will be sports- or uni-related; often it won’t. Despite the name, I won’t necessarily be updating it on a daily basis — probably more like once or twice a week. I don’t plan to announce when I change the link, so you’ll just have to click on it every day to see if it’s been updated. And once an old link is gone, it’s gone for good, so don’t bother sending me notes asking what last week’s Catch of the Day was. You snooze, you lose.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Oh, great: The NHL All-Star Game is now the Corporate Donuts Game. Douchebags. … Yesterday I wrote that the Broncos would be changing to orange jerseys next year but that I wasn’t sure if they’d have a new orange design or if they’d just redesignate their current alts as their primaries. As it turns out, that point was already addressed in this article, which says they’ll be redesignating the current alts (big thanks to John Gagnon for setting me straight). … A Mexican soccer team is going with THOB — that’s Twitter handle on back (from Anthony Emerson). … Jon Solomonson asks, not unreasonably, what the hell the Bomb Squad was doing at the Steelers/Pats game on Sunday. ”¦ There’s a strip mall in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, that uses the Royals’ “KC” logo. “The weird thing is, Cape is only about 110 miles south of St. Louis, so this is firmly Cardinals country,” says Mike Rengel. … Michael Stoudt says this past Sunday was the first time this season that no NFL teams wore white at home. … Everyone knew the Mets would be moving their fences in for 2012. What nobody knew was that the reconfigured fence — or at least most of it — will be blue instead of black. Good move. … Speaking of the Mets, you probably know that the Wilpons and the city have been trying to condemn and clear out the Iron Triangle — that’s the array of dilapidated auto repair shops adjacent to Shea — so they can build some sort of hotel/mall development from hell. What you might not know is that the Iron Triangle has its own Mad Max-ish soccer pitch, complete with players wearing mechanics’ uniforms. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Coupla odd purple circles on Christian Ponder’s helmet. … Lots of DC sports-themed Halloween pics here (from Jason Mott). … Good socks being worn by St. Ignatius College Preparatory in San Francisco. “They didn’t have that sweet stripe pattern when I went there,” says David Arnott. … Halloween costumes: Nate Ahlberg’s kids dressed up as the Sausage Race characters, James Feeney’s fiancé’s cousin trick-or-treated as Rex Ryan, and Baylor QB Robert Griffin dressed up as Jason from Friday the 13th. … More trademark/branding developments for the Occupy movement. … Over the weekend, there was some discussion about the “3” button being worn by Pitt coach Todd Graham. According to several sources, it was to memorialize three players who played for Graham at Tulsa in 2007, all of whom died within an eight-month span. … New hoops uniforms for New Mexico (from Rob Montoya). … Sam Lam covers the 49ers for the San Francisco Examiner. “I was in the locker room on Monday when I noticed a pair of breast cancer awareness cleats in Ahmad Brooks’ locker,” he says. “They just regular cleats with the white parts of it colored in pink with a marker. I had always assumed that these cleats were actually pink, but it looks like Brooks never ordered a custom pair. He just colored it in himself.” … Someone at last night’s Rangers/Sharks game was wearing one of those bogus Winter Classic jerseys that were being sold online. “I’ve heard there are a lot of people at the Garden wearing them,” says Adrian Acosta. ”¦ Speaking of the Rangers, check this out: a wallet lined with fabric from a Rangers jersey. There’s a Notre Dame football version if you scroll down on this page (interesting find by Nolan Reagan). ”¦ Whatever else you can say about Herman Cain, he’s the first presidential candidate in memory to campaign in a hat. ”¦ Antonio Garay’s latest hairstyle: a jack-o-lantern, natch. ”¦ Dwayne Bowe was one of several Chiefs who risked fines last night by going solid red from the kneecap down.

Tomorrow: An interview I think you’ll all enjoy. A lot.

 
  
 
Comments (170)

    At least the NHL All-Star Game is sponsored by a donut shop named for an NHL All-Star. Of course, I’m not sure anyone should actually want to be identified with that game.

    I’m not entirely sold on selling the name of a marquee event to anyone, but for the amount of good that Tim Hortons (the company) does for hockey in Canada, I can live with this one.

    At one time that may have been true, but not anymore. The hockey player’s name was ‘Tim Horton’; the company is called ‘Tim Hortons’, without an apostrophe. That was done deliberately.
    At any rate, why should a company’s corporate standing in the community give them a free pass? A bad idea is a bad idea.

    First off, this is a company with a legacy of supporting minor-hockey in Canada. Timbits Hockey is how the vast majority of today’s NHL stars got their starts in hockey. Sidney Crosby even appeared for free in one of Tim Hortons’ commercials to talk about how he got started in hockey as a Timbits hockey player.

    Secondly, Tim Hortons cups regularly fill garbage bins around arenas throughout Canada. I have seen – no joke on this – teams congragate at Tim Hortons before games for coffee and snacks, take coffees and snacks with them to the games, and then return after the game to discuss the game over coffee and snacks.

    It’s not like Bridgestone who bought the Winter Classic rights. Tires and hockey? Maybe they should sponsor the zambonis.

    It’s not like Compuware, owned by Hurricanes owner Peter Karmanos, who bought the rights to the opening gamesm in Europe, and has little to nothing to do with the operations of a vast number of clubs.

    Tim Hortons does more for hockey in Canada than the vast majority of NHL sponsors. With the NHL All-Star Game in Ottawa, why not have a Canadian institution sponsor a game that they wholly believe in and are a part of?

    Piggy-backing off Teebz, I’ll call Timmy’s sponsoring of the ASG a “least-bad scenario.” Are title sponsorships necessary? No. Do they do more harm than good? I’d say yes, but then again I’m not a corporate suit. Is Timmy’s an appropriate sponsor for a hockey game? If the ASG must have a sponsor (the Montreal one didn’t have one, IIRC), then yes, Timmy’s is very appropriate. (Especially since it’s a mostly-Canadian company sponsoring a game in Canada. And extra kudos to Timmy’s for giving free small coffees to everybody at the Calgary Heritage Classic.)

    Good timing on this comment.

    I saw a kid wearing a Timbits jersey at my daughter’s hockey practice the other day. I was going to ask his parents where it came from. I guess this kinda answers that question.

    Call the NHL out on their DBery for going with another title sponsor, but like my hockey-loving Uni Watchers above, I have to say this is the least distasteful outcome. Go Tims!

    I’d imagine the bomb squad was at Sunday’s Steeler game because (a) it’s a large gathering with national attention and (b) it’s a chance to be paid to watch the game.

    Yeah, I doubt anyone in an actual bomb squad would wear a jacket that says “BOMB SQUAD” on the back.

    Undercover bomb squad. That’s actually kind of brilliant. Anyone who still needs an idea to get started on NaNoWrimo today, there it is. Might have to use it myself!

    Only “Dear Photograph” came first. But yeah, seeing the concept in motion is why that was my favorite ad of the World Series.

    Wow… the apparent origin of the “____ ALL the ____s” meme, on Uni Watch. 0_o

    Neat Giants key too.

    the colts are were certainly imbedded into the psyche of the communtiy in baltimore…just not the owner.

    Are they moving in the fences at Shea for new eating/seating or for more home runs?

    Sure hope the Twins don’t suddenly decide to move the fences in at Large International Discount Retailer Headquartered in Minneapolis Field so that Joe Mauer can hit more than two homers in a year.

    First, he’d actually have to stay healthy, and; Second, I think MLB would frown upon moving the fences in to the edge of the infield dirt.

    Let’s put it this way: It’s not like the Mets were selling out every game and needed to add more seating capacity to accommodate the overflow demand.

    But they figured as long as they were moving the fences in to save David Wright’s stats, they could install a few extra seats while they were at it.

    Why doesn’t the MLB have a standard outfield fence distance? It really doesn’t seem fair to make a big deal out of career HR numbers when players on certain teams are going to have rather obvious advantages in that category. Surely they could put in standard distance rules with a grandfather clause, and new stadiums from whatever date forward would then conform to the new rules. I guess it’d be one more asterisk in the record books, but like that matters.

    Imagine if the NBA had different 3 point lines at each arena (and if people cared about the NBA)… Or if the NFL had varying goal post widths.

    /yeah… tradition, the way it is, etc *sigh*

    Differing outfield fences make MLB facilities unique compared to other sports – and that’s what I like about them. This park has more foul space, this field has higher/further fences, this field has a hill in the outfield (ok … I like that one, but it probably shouldn’t be there) …

    MLB tried the whole “one size fits all” concept in the 1960s with cookie-cutter stadiums. Those couldn’t have gone away quickly enough.

    I think standardized fences are as likely to happen as gameclocks in MLB.

    Even though he’s implied for two straight days that link The has a point. But, I’m going to turn his point around and say, “I would find it kinda cool if one NBA had a larger floor with a bigger 3-point line than another arena.”
    Within reason, of course. I could see the NBA or the NFL having a range of suggested measurements as opposed to an exact standard. Part of being the greatest athletes is the ability to adjust, right?

    That’s what soccer does. The pitches must be between 100-130 yards x 50-100 yards. The variety adds to the home field advantage. Teams can be built for smaller or larger fields.

    Some of the American teams in the CFL in the 90s had smaller than the regulatory 20 yard endzones. The current Montreal stadium also had a smaller than regulation endzone.

    I’m all for variety (within certain bounds) in home fields.

    Variety may not work for the length of American football fields, but certainly could work for the width. Hockey and Basketball might also benefit from a little variety in rink/court dimensions.

    At one time, the regulation CFL end zone was 25 yards. A bit rusty on when the rule changed to 20, but I think it was in the late ’70s. But yeah, they made some allowances for the smaller fields.

    Hockey did have rinks of varying sizes — notably, Chicago, Buffalo and Boston were smaller than 200-by-85. I was at a junior game in Chicoutimi last weekend and was suddenly struck by how much space there was between the hashmarks and the side boards — they play on an Olympic surface. In Toronto, St. Mike’s Arena always struck me as smaller than usual.

    It seems to me that if there’s a variation in the radius of the boards in the corners, you might see the puck carom in different ways. The end boards at the old Olympia were known to create some unusual bounces.

    In basketball, wasn’t the floor at Boston Garden known for having some dead spots that you might be better prepared for if you played for the Celtics?

    Yeah, a football gridiron is the same size and shape, but I wonder if wind currents affect play. When the Bills had their run of AFC championships, it sure seemed that having a playoff game in Buffalo in January represented an advantage.

    This caused a problem for Stoke City when they have been playing in the Europa League. Stoke have their pitch at minimum width for Premier League games to assist in their use of Rory Delap’s long throw-ins into the goal area. But UEFA have a different requirement and so Stoke have to widen their playing area for European ties.

    link

    There is a standard minimum. The distance down the lines has to be at least 325 feet from home and center has to be at least 400 feet for any park built after 1958. It’s Rule 1.04.

    When I worked for the Dynamo I found out there’s no standardization for soccer pitches the way there is for fields in other games. They have minimum dimensions for different sanctioning bodies, but no specific lengths.

    If that really is the rule, then they obviously don’t enforce it at all. AT&T, PNC, and Petco all have center fields shorter than 400, and Yankee Stadium, Minute Maid Park, Oriole Park, Tropicana Field, AT&T Park, Petco Park, and PNC Park all have at least one foul line shorter than 325.

    link

    Baseball DOES have standard infield dimensions. Geez, would you also want all NFL teams to play on the same playing surface, too, and in the same conditions? No more snow games? How utterly boring.

    If they want more fan-pleasing action, they’ll move the fences out as far as they can go. Who doesn’t like seeing outfielders sprint after balls that go all the way to the wall, along with runners flying around the bases and close plays at home as the catcher tries to block the plate?

    That’s a lot more fun to watch than a 350-foot fly redefined into a home run because the fences were moved in.

    You hit it right on the head. REDEFINED HOMERUN. The simple fact is this team has no power. I agree David Wright looses HR’s because he has opposite field power but 415 to right center has hurt him. But to change the field of play because your current team can’t get it done is cheap. Go spend money on the first year draft and scouting and fix your team the right way.

    Too bad they can’t find a way to move the fences in in only the bottom half of innings. Now instead of losing games 5-2, they’ll lose them 9-4.

    Bill Veeck did that with the Indians back in the day, only on a series-to-series basis. If they played a power team, they’d move them back, if they played a poor hitting team they’d move them in. MLB outlawed it though. Too bad. I can only imagine how much that could confuse Tim McCarver

    This may not go well for the Mets, if last season is an indication. Their team OPS was about the same at home (.726) as on the road (.725). Meanwhile, opponents put up an OPS of .702 against the Mets at Citi Field, versus .784 when the Mets were the visitors. In other words, Citi Field made the Mets’ pitchers look better last year.

    Home run wise, the Mets hit one every 62.42 plate appearances at Citi Field, versus once every 55.41 PA on the road. So they hit homers 12.6 percent more frequently on the road. On the other hand, Mets’ opponents hit a homer every 55.65 PA at Citi, versus once every 34.70 times up when the Mets were the visitors. That’s 60.4 percent more frequent.

    The short answer is, it’s not as if the Mets were a great slugging team on the road and that the outfield dimensions were penalizing them. In fact, moving the fences in may be a much greater benefit to the visitors.

    And here are the splits for the other two seasons since the Mets moved into Citi Field.

    In 2010, Mets’ OPS was .718 at home, .677 on the road. In terms on plate appearances per home run, it was 47.62 at home, 48.36 on the road. In other words, the Mets offensive stats were superior at home.

    Mets’ opponents put up a .669 OPS at Citi, a .779 OPS in Mets road games. Again, we’re seeing the Mets pitching staff somehow benefiting from the conditions in Flushing. Mets pitchers gave up a homer every 66.89 PA at Citi, versus 35.22 on the road. In other words, the Mets pitching staff gave up homers almost 90 percent more frequently in Mets road games in 2010.

    In 2009, the Mets had an OPS of .748 at home, and .711 on the road. PA/HR: 61.47 at home, 68.39 on the road. Notice that, in 2009 and 2010, the Mets actually hit homers more frequently at home than in road games.

    Opposing teams put up a .719 OPS against Mets pitchers at Citi Field in 2009, versus .801 at home. Mets pitchers gave up a homer every 39.35 PA at home, every 40.18 plate appearances on the road. So opposing batters were getting to them by other means.

    The perception that the fences must be moved in to increase offence is also faulty. True, Citi Field gave up the third-fewest homers of any National League stadium — only Petco (SD) and AT&T (SF) were stingier. But Citi Field ranked fourth in the NL in doubles and triples, second in steals, fourth in batting average, second in on-base percentage and, despite the lack of homers, ninth in slugging percentage and seventh in OPS. Teams playing at Citi Field combined for a .716 OPS, compared with a league average of .710, so in the worst-case scenario, you’d have to call Citi a neutral park.

    The Mets should’ve forgotten about playing with the fences and taken a critical look at how to retool the lineup to suit the park. The model team for this park would be one that features line-drive hitters (to take advantage of the gaps) and speed demons. And overhaul the pitching staff, because it’s pretty clear the home-field advantage is making the current crew appear more competent than they are.

    Couldn’t agree more with Mark in Shiga. I always thought the Yankees did themselves a huge disservice by continually moving their centerfield fence closer to the infield. Think of the action they missed by not having a 463-foot CF fence (not to mention comedy: recall Bobby Murcer deciding that squeezing himself between the monuments was his quickest way to recover a long gapper).

    The more ways a ballpark can make a baseball elude the grasp of an outfielder, the more exciting the game will be. Moving the fences in? The thrill is over in a second on a cheap home run. Especially the other teams’.

    Some awesome stuff in the Collector’s Corner today! That Hollywood Stars uniform is awesome; check out the NISOB (number in star on back)! It actually looks a lot like a Chicago Cubs uni tweak that I’ve been putting together and then not getting back to for months now. Hi Bithorn, the wearer of that uniform, pitched for the Cubs and was one of their first Puerto Rican players. I’d bid on it!

    And with the Phillies ticket I learned something new. I always thought that the “Est. Price” on sports tickets stood for “Estimated Price”, since, with tax included in the total, that price isn’t exact and should contain some fraction of a cent. But the Phillies ticket says “Estab. Price”, so does it mean “established”?

    “WORLD CHAMPS” Hmm. Never agreed with that term when a league doesn’t involve the rest of the world. Maybe the only exception would be the World Series, but then again what’s so “World” about it? Come to think of it, I kinda feel the same way about Super Bowl Champion or ___ Bowl Champions. Isn’t that just the name of the game? Always thought it should be Super Bowl Winner/NFL Champions.

    iLO, the term “world champs” does signify the best in the world, and leagues like the NFL, NBA, and MLB are the leagues with the highest level of competition. Since the best players from around the world usually want to play here it also makes sense to use the world champions term. The NFL, NBA, and MLB World Champs would demolish any other countries champion in a real game or series.

    Yeah, we ASSUME our greatness that. I never questioned it until we started getting our asses handed to us in Bastketball earlier last decade. Yes, of course the NFL is the top American football league in the planet but world seems out of place. The title “NFL Champions” is absolute and factual where as “World Champion” leaves not doubt but a bit of inaccuracy. I’d give football a pass since they have a very small international federation but baseball and basketball should have continental (team/club) tournaments (ala soccer) to establish champions for continents and ultimately the World. Then and only then, will the term “World Champions” (not World Series) be an absolute term for both sports.

    Now I know that will will probably not happen any time soon but I just wanted to share the way I feel about the term. Soccer has been the only major sport where I’ve seen an absolute “World Champion” with their regional/continental and World club championships.

    It’s not really fair to compare international all-star teams to NBA/NHL/MLB teams, is it? Look at hockey. You might end up with Russia vs Canada, but then after it’s over, those guys go back to playing in Boston, Pittsburgh & Detroit. Stand out players in other countries tend to end up in North American leagues, except for soccer.

    I respect your opinion, but I wasn’t assuming anything, the best foreign players in baseball and basketball all want to play in the highest level of competition. Even then, a number of international stars fail in both MLB and the NBA. Even the great Latin players need seasoning in baseball’s minor leagues just to succeed at the MLB level.

    The international/Olympic competition just aren’t a real gauge to determine who is the best. The world baseball classic is just treated as an exhibition in this country, and it falls early in the year. Numerous MLB players either don’t care or played not to get injured in that competition. In reality, I would take the Houston Astros to sweep the Japanese champion right now in a series.

    In basketball, yes, the rest of the world has been improving, thanks to our influence. Of course, in international competition, other countries have the advantage of having their national team play together for a much longer period of time. This was also true in the pre 1992 Olympics, when our 18-22 college players went up against 25-30 professionals frequently. Even since 1992, the USA team just turns it on and off in these exhibitions. I’ve noticed many of the NBA players just not playing with the playoff-type intensity we normally see. No doubt in my mind, the Miami Heat would annihilate a world all star team in a series. The talent disparity is still significant, even in basketball.

    We do have the incredible advantage of playing these sports for many years, and the rest of the world just lags behind. Just like soccer, and the way we are far from the best. So absolutely, we should be calling our winners, “world champions”, when it comes to football, baseball, and basketball.

    Jeff, not talking about all-star teams, just clubs/teams/franchises.

    Gusto, I totally get what your saying and agree. We (the US) have set an extremely high standard and have contributed greatly to the world in both baseball and basketball. When I said “assume” I meant us as a nation. We wanna use the title “world champion” without involving the rest of the world. Wanna be known as world champs? Fine…. Let the Mavs represent the US in a continental Champions League, and play the club champs of the rest of the continents…boom. World Champions!!

    YES, this is NOT gonna happen for many rea$on$ but only then will I feel comfortable calling the Heat, Dolphins, Marlins or Panthers…World Champs.

    The thing that took me aback about those “World’s Championship” press passes were the words “Detroit Lions versus Cleveland Browns” on them.

    The walls at Shea: Are we sure the new walls will be blue? Could the graphics have been colored that way to more easily identify the old from the new? I think Shea is one of the few ballparks that would look appropriate with blue in 2012, so I do hope you’re right.

    Taking a second look at the new wall graphics, I realize that revenue from new seats won’t be the only additional income.

    This way, the team can still honor retired numbers and championships on the old wall, and now sell more advertising on the new outfield wall. Also of note – typically in graphics like this, you would see generic ads for non-existent companies. No doubt there’s no coincidence that the mock-ups on the MLB website have real, honest to goodness sponsors.

    I give it until 2013 before the “blank space” on the old wall is covered by ads as well.

    OK … one last thing …

    Left-center field dimensions: The old, far wall is listed as 384′. The new, closer wall is listed as 385′.

    Given the angle of the wall going out to center the spot the indicate to be 385 might be further away than the spot indicated to be 384. But looking at top view you might be right.

    Regarding Christian Ponder’s helmet – the purple circles are stickers that cover the inflation points on his Revolution Speed helmet. Some teams that don’t have stripes down the center of the helmets (either traditional or non-traditional) cover the inflators with these circles. Other teams have in the past used a clear “stripe” – look at some Rams helmets prior to them changing to the current navy/vegas gold set.

    Sometimes these round stickers are clear; the Vikings just use ones that are supposed to match the helmet. I believe that Favre used these to cover the ear holes on his helmet a couple of times during his 2 years with Minnesota.

    ALSO…found this site. This dude came up with concept unis for IFAF or as he calls it. World Federation of American Football

    link

    Some designes are very, meh but some are actually pretty good. (Canada, India..) Mr. Lukas doesn’t approve lol.

    Keys to the city, stadium, and beyond: At the Cardinals city celebration on Sunday, David Freese was given the key to the city – no surprise there. However, he was also given the key to the COUNTY. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that before. Especially interesting, because the Cardinals don’t play in St. Louis County. I don’t know if this is common with larger cities, but the city of St. Louis has no county designation.

    It depends on the state. Some have independent cities and some don’t. Is St. Louis still the county seat even though it’s not technically in the county, like they have here in Virginia?

    No, Clayton is the seat of St. Louis County. St. Louis is an independent city.

    But considering that the population of St. Louis is about 320,000, whereas the county is home to a million, it seems fitting that the suburbanites should join in the fun.

    Funniest thing about that the city split off from the county in the 1800s because they didn’t want to support those (then) rural folks in St. Louis County…now they’d give their eye teeth to be back in.

    I remember the St. Louis County Executive (Buzz Westphal?) verbally slapping St. Louis’ mayor Francis Slay every time he brought up merging. Now, THAT was comedy.

    During my 3 years in south St. Louis County, I found the politics most entertaining.

    Hyperbole and a Half is great! I can’t wait for Allie’s book, even though it’s helped grind the blog updates to a near halt.

    I love the site too! I thought it was the book that caused the updates to stop, but Allie just posted that she went through a crippling depression, which is why she hasn’t been posting. Hopefully the book deal is still on–I know that depression can seriously screw things up in your life.

    Yeah, she doesn’t strike me as the most balanced individual, but her comics are hilarious and so well-done that I’m okay with it.

    Besides, who of us is normal and well-adjusted? :)

    I read about the blue walls at CitiField in the NY POST. Blue amid a sea of 42,000 green seats… Great.

    Any time the Mets moved or built anything at Shea it looked like shit. Remember the LF breachers?

    I have no faith in my team doing this right without F’ing this up.

    Many ballparks have blue walls with green seats or vice versa: Nationals park, Fenway, PNC Park, New Marlins Ballpark, Miller Park, Tropicana, Kauffman Stadium and Citizens Bank Park.

    The Pittsburgh Penguins Evgeni Malkin wears a Lokomotive sticker on the back left side f his helmet and as far as I can tell is the only plaer to do so. While, Steve Sullivan seems to be the only one wearing a Wade Belak memorial sticker in the same spot. Could this be a first time 2 players have worn personal sticker?

    The Pens and Caps both wore Lokomotiv patches and stickers for a game earlier in the season, but guessing Malkin decided to leave his on.

    Some designs are very, meh but some are actually pretty good. (Canada, India..) Mr. Lukas doesn’t approve lol.

    Not so much the Indian one. India’s athletic color is blue, denoting secularism (the flag’s colors of saffron orange and green are usually limited to trim). Less well known to the designer, I suppose, than Italy’s use of Savoy blue.

    Those game-used uniform wallets are available for a number of MLB teams. Go to shop.mlb.com and search for “tokens and icons wallet”

    Clicked on “Catch of the Day” link. That is a pretty great site and it made me cry. Damn having kids for making me weepy.

    Love the Giants season passes. Love the kid dressed up as Rex Ryan. Love Dear Photograph. Love the Phila Warriors jacket. A lot. Love Nater’s Nets warm-up. Love Baltimore usher’s cap. Hate life, will now crawl on ledge of office building.

    According to that Denver Post article, the Broncos are NOT changing the orange jersey next season:

    “The team will not change the current design – the orange jerseys you saw the Broncos wear in the opener against the Raiders will be the same design in 2012.”

    Currently the article states they will be redesigned.

    There is no copyright symbol there. There’s a *trademark* symbol. Learn your symbols!

    And no, it’s not trademarked. I just like putting the symbol there, for fun.

    A â„¢ holds no true legal value. You can use it freely as a warning to tell others, “This is mine. Do not use it.” Or you can opt to not use it, and you don’t have any less protection than if you did use it. To officially protect it, one must register the mark or phrase with the USPTO, and only after that registration is complete can you use the ®, which does protect the work, officially and legally.

    Technically you do have it trademarked, just not registered. As Andy alluded to, registering for protection only gives you a leg up in court. It is neither the only protection nor the ultimate protection.

    Paul,

    There is a deli by my old work in Newtown PA, the women who owns the deli’s father played for the Warriors she has that exact jacket in a display case on the wall.

    Like the previous chartball graphics, this one too is awesome — too bad, however, that in the part that charts the Cardinals +/- Games Back/Games Ahead in the NL Central there wasn’t a way to also chart the Wild Card race in there, since that’s the race that proved so pivotal this year.

    Hmm, if we can’t agree on which Orioles hat is better – with the cartoon bird or with the realistic bird – how about this third option for next year?
    link
    I’d wear that.

    “Baltimore used to be on that list too, back when the Colts were there. (Sorry, Ravens – you haven’t achieved that status yet.)”

    What makes you say that? The entire city is flooded with purple everyday.

    I’ve had this discussion with my son-in-law. It’s a generational thing – anybody old enough to have attended Colts games (no matter how crappy they were) can remember the “vibe” (for lack of a better term) that was Memorial Stadium, 33rd St, Bal-mer, 2pm Sunday etc. Baltimore Colts fans, in my experience, will cheer for the Ravens, attend Ravens games, drape themselves in purple or whatever, but it always feels a little forced.

    Just ask any ex-Colts fan watching a team with horseshoes on there helmets and an erratic quaterback wearing number 7 struggle thru a (so far) winless 2011 season if he or she doesn’t feel a little bit of nostalgia deep down…

    You make a good point. I’m just a college kid, so I grew up with the Ravens and their big Super Bowl victory and winning ways. With their perennial success and the Orioles recent woes, it’s easy to say that Baltimore is very much so a football town. The deep tradition that was Baltimore Colt football was something that is hard to match.

    Chargers should be wearing light blue socks with their navy pants and KC’s Dwayne Bowe looked a lot better with solid socks. NFL should go to the solid color sock look.

    Unless you mean the tops of the socks.
    If you meant shoe-to-knee colors as Bowe did last night, then the performance art comment stands.

    Ew. They don’t have enough light blue on the rest of the uniform for that. Going the Patriots route and using white socks with stripes would work better. Or they could use navy socks with white at the top, assuming the NFL would back down from the required low whites rule.

    I won’t say worse, because that would imply that the Redskins’ yellow pants are bad.

    Chargers blue pants look like shit.

    Redskins yellow pants are fantastic!

    I agree when they’re paired with the home burgundy jerseys, but for me they don’t look quite right with the road whites.

    Looking at the photos from last week’s game, they look better in the photos than they did on TV when I was watching the game.

    I like the burgundy jersey/gold pants combo. I don’t care much for the white/gold, though.

    Chargers’ blue pants? Look terrible with the white jerseys and, although I’ve never seen them worn with any other jerseys, I can say with 99.999% certainty that they’d look even worse with either of the blue ones.

    And no, the Chiefs have some of the best socks in the NFL. Dwayne Bowe should be suspended, not just fined.

    I really love the photo of the Iron Triangle soccer match. You used to see that all over the place: working guys getting together at the end of the day, to play basketball, or football, or baseball. There’s a pretty good depiction of it in Invincible, the guys mashing one another on an improvised football field. Nothing’s gritty anymore.

    Stadia are supposed to smell like stale beer, cigarettes, sweat, and thwarted dreams. Uniforms are supposed to be like arguments in formal logic: simple and elegant, with no extraneous parts. Sometimes, that means mechanics’ shirts and Dickies shorts.

    “Stadia are supposed to smell like stale beer, cigarettes, sweat, and thwarted dreams.”

    And in the case of hockey arenas, add Zamboni exhaust. And something smelling vaguely like refrigerant.

    I used to live next to a town park and would go wathc the hispanic kids play pick-up soccer, simply because of how good they were – I always said that if I were the local high school coach I would have figured-out how to get these kids in school and simply dominate in soccer.

    The smell of ammonia and chlorine – two vital components of artificial ice – are what I normally smell upon entering a rink.

    Going to Busch on Sunday – very confusing to my brain to be at a ballpark on a non gameday, but still have the smells of hotdogs and beer (which were being served).

    My wife bought me an Orioles money clip version of the wallet that Tokens and Icons makes for Father’s Day. It has a piece of a baseball used during the 2002 season opener against the Yankees. I didn’t know that they make NHL versions as well. Very cool.

    yeah i would remember going to the store, and once in awhile i’d say heck with it and peel em off the bananas and stick em on the inside of my jacket. !!!!!

    of course, this was better than telling my mom, ‘no, you bought a bunch with the LIONS. I told you I needed the FALCONS.’

    Hey, does anyone remember a ticker item from a some time ago (a year ? two years? I really don’t remember) about an outfit that will print custom stickers in small quantities for you?

    If memory serves, the guy who submitted it as a ticker item had some old-timey Bears logos made into stickers.

    I tried searching the site to no avail.

    That Indian on the 1947 Philly Warriors jacket looks like he could be related to Chief WaHoo!

    Paul, have you ever considered implementing clickable “thumbs up” and “thumbs down” icons on individual comments? Yahoo does this and it’s a fun way for readers to quickly put their 2 cents in on whether they agree or disagree with a comment. It would give you and Uni Watch readers a general idea of the consensus of the topics discussed. Not everyone is willing or has the time to submit a comment but being able to quickly and anonymously click an up or down thumb would enable more readers to put in their input. And it would let each comment’s submitter know if their opinions are shared by the majority or minority of readers. I’m sure it can be set up in a “one-click-per-computer” way like when there’s a Uni Watch poll and it’s “one-vote-per-computer”.

    Paul’s site is not Yahoo. Why does everyone need some sort of personal assurance on every site? It’s not FACEBOOK. It’s not YAHOO. Stop with the madness!

    “Thumbs-up means we’re friends! Or I simply have no way of expressing my approval of yuor comment with a selection of words on my own.”

    “Thumbs-down means I don’t agree the concept you’ve presented. Or I hate your guts because you were internet-mean to me and my e-feelings have been crushed by your black heartedness.”

    BTW, thumbs-down to this idea. You choose the meaning.

    Your reasoning is flawed. When you “like” a comment on Facebook, it lists your name with the “like”. My idea was to have a clicked “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” be anonymous. When it’s anonymous how does this show the comment submitter that “we’re friends”? Or how would it show that “I hate your guts”?

    I wasn’t presenting the idea for “personal assurance”. I just thought it would add a fun element to reading the comments. Sometimes I really agree wholeheartedly with a comment and it would be cool to let that person know in someway without having to type it out.

    What does “yuor” mean? Is your red squiggly underline not working? Or are you just a shitty speller?

    BTW, thumbs-down to “Hockey Blog in Canada”. You guess why.

    I think it would inhibit the exchange of observations, experiences and information if people were concerned about being “liked.” No need for anyone to go all Sally Field with themselves.

    This isn’t a popularity contest. It’s a place for those who are fascinated by uniforms, their history and future and other aesthetics to get together.

    We shouldn’t have a lunchroom table where the cool kids sit.

    Really, though, I believe that Paul would rather encourage people to make some sort of post to participate, rather than just click a like/dislike button. Healthy discourse is what makes this such an entertaining community, in my opinion.

    But then, you’re less anonymous if you have to make a post, aren’t you? (Then again, if you never use your real name in any form, you’d still technically be anonymous.)

    Really, though, I believe that Paul would rather encourage people to make some sort of post to participate, rather than just click a like/dislike button.

    Now there’s someone who Gets Itâ„¢.

    But I agree. We’re generally articulate adults; there’s no need for a quicker way to respond to someone’s comment.

    Dreyfuss – and you, too, Teebz — this particular opposable digit is coming right down on top of the loathsome “generally articulate” disaster of your lower-order cortex-limited self. I spray fecal matter on you, you verminous, addle-brained, doubtlessly unattractive, slime-tailed misuse of digital processes. Fie!

    Not to mention the idea of the “Uni-Watch Favorite Commenter of the Year” being decided by some kind of poll instead of a playoff is simply ridiculous.

    :)

    Aw, Rob. Now you’re just feeding the corporate machine taking over the NHL all star game.

    I’d rather fight Reebok (and its parent, Adidas) than Tim Hortons.

    And by “fight” I mean “angrily curse them while refusing to spend a dime on any of their shitty products”.

    Tim Hortons, by comparison, isn’t making shitty products. In fact, I prefer Tims over Dunkin’ any dang day – I even used to cross over to Windsor for the explicit purpose of getting my fix before they expanded into the Detroit market!

    Cool wallet. A quick search on the NHL.com online store shows a Habs version, which invariably means I want one. Even if the game-worn fabric bit came from a Ryan O’Byrne jersey!

    There is a new team in the Northwoods League (Collegiate Summer Baseball League). They are out of Mequon, WI and Bob Uecker and Robin Williams are part owners. Their name? The Lakeshore Chinooks. (Named after the Chinook Salmon in the Great Lakes)

    link

    Brinke…I would add the Washington Redskins to NFL cities list. Believe me, the Skins are the ONLY thing that unites that whole city and there is nothing like it when the Skins are doing well. Needless to say, it’s been a while in the District since people were buzzing. But this is definitely an NFL city…not just a city with an NFL team!

    Ditto – although my above comment about “a generational thing” holds true with DC and the ‘skins too – Fed Ex is fine great & wonderful – but it ain’t RFK.

    Great sportsmanship story in a local paper sports section here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
    link

    Also check out the opposing team unis, especially the socks.
    link

    Pfft. The Seahawks aren’t that bad. I’ll give him one of those fake gold coin chocolate candies, and that’s about it.

    The word Yellow gets used multiple times.

    The Jeff has to be quite happy with that (and that’s all I’m going to say on that debate).

    Indeed.

    I disagree completely with his 5 teams, but that part was fine.

    If I’m forced to pick 5 teams who should switch to a throwback I think I go with:

    Lions (late 70’s, not 40’s)
    Eagles (late 80’s, not 60’s)
    Saints (with matching golds)
    Vikings (with a matching helmet color)
    Bengals (80’s, not 70’s)

    …and really, the Vikings and Bengals are the only teams I think actually *need* a change, and I’d rather see them tweak what they have or go with something new instead of just throwing back.

    I’ve said it before, I’d love to see the Lions bring back that look. Definitely agree on the Eagles, Vikings and Bengals.

    Saints, I’m indifferent on for the most part – the one thing they need to stop doing is wearing black socks with black pants.

    Or stop wearing black pants altogether, and just stick with the gold.

    “the Vikings and Bengals are the only teams I think actually *need* a change”

    ~~~

    and yet you supported the guy (pat, i think) who yesterday ranked the bengals ahead of the giants in terms of uniform design

    and yes, vikes, bengals need a change, but so too do the cards, falcons, seahawks (badly), patriots, titans, jags & broncos

    I move that Steven Jackson should have to wear Eric Dickerson’s gold-rimmed sunglasses instead of his eyeshield.

    Here are the five teams.

    Lions (Billy Sims)
    Vikings (Anthony Carter)
    Falcons (originals — maybe create a red jersey based on that black one as an alt)
    Bengals (Ickey Shuffle)
    Chargers (Air Coryell royal blues with the AFL powder blues as the alt)

    Probably too late now…. but in reply to some stuff above about different sized fields

    The big difference between outfield fences vs the width of a football field is that the outfield fences *directly* affect scoring. Having a larger or smaller playing surface in other sports may affect strategy a bit, but that’s a bit different from “hit it 350 feet, automatic score” in one stadium and “350 feet is an easy pop out” at another.

    On another board I’m on, someone commented about the Mets’ moving their fence in with quite a bit of disgust, saying that they’re an “inept douchebag franchise”.

    My response: You’re talking about the Wilpons here. Inept douchebaggery is what they do best!

    Those Giants season passes are AWESOME! I could sit and stare at those for hours on end. The other items in the SCP Auctions are top-notch as well, fascinating ephemera.

    Regarding Catch of the Day, it took me a moment to realize it was not an ad. Maybe just link it ahead of the ticker?

    The odd thing about tim hortons sponsoring the all star game is that they are probably only available in maybe 10% of the states in the usa and most us hockey fans prob cant get them within 500 miles of their arena.

    A high school baseball game in Halloween costumes. I’m just going to present this one without comment because it pretty much speaks for itself:

    link

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