Two things I really liked about yesterday’s slate of NFL games: First, for the first time since 2008, we had two head coaches named Romeo and Lovie (too bad they’re not slated to face each other before the season ends). And second, that was one right purdy game played by the Chiefs and Packers, no? If the NFL could make every game half as good-looking as that one, it’d be a goddang public service.
In other notes from yesterday:
• The Rams wore their gorgeous throwbacks — and so did their cheerleaders (who all wore No. 28 because the team inducted Marshall Faulk into its ring of honor during halftime).
• Insert obligatory “The Chargers should wear that shit every fucking game, yo” here.
• Remember when Devin Hester would sometimes double up on his sock stripes? Don’t think I’d ever seen a Patriots player do that until Kevin Faulk did it yesterday.
• Hadn’t realized until yesterday that Kurt Coleman wears his eye black in the form of crosses, but some quick photo research indicates that he’s been doing it for a while.
• For the third consecutive week, the Cardinals went full-blood-clot — a look that’s even worse when executed with biker shorts.
• No photo, but I noticed that Giants RB Ahmad Bradshaw’s helmet logo was broken just before halftime. (As an aside, we haven’t seen a single broken decal yet this season for the Bears. Usually we see a ton of those once the weather gets cold.)
• Clever fella at yesterday’s Bears game. As oriented in that shot, it’s a McMahon/9 jersey; flip it and you’ve got Cutler/6.
• Aqib Talib and Mike Williams of the Bucs wore red socks, instead of the usual black, for Saturday’s game against the Cowboys. I believe that’s a Tampa first.
• Turning to Saturday’s college action, several readers noticed an ESPN production error during the Spud Bowl: While promoting the next game that was about to be televised, they used the logo for Lafayette College instead of Louisiana-Lafayette.
• Going back to Friday night’s D3 championship game, can anyone explain why UW-Whitewater’s chest insignia had an italicized “White”?
(My thanks to all contributors, including Jimbo Huening, Chris Jowdy, Gil Neumann, Kerry Petit, Jr., Geoff Poole, and of course Phil.)
Raffle reminder: In case you missed it on Friday, the annual Uni Watch Reader Appreciation Raffle is now underway.
Sticker Photo Contest: Two weeks ago I ran this photo showing how reader R. Scott Rogers had placed a Uni Watch logo sticker on his car. Now our friends at Sticker You, who manufacture the stickers for us, have proposed a fun contest: Send me photos of how/where you’ve applied the Uni Watch logo stickers, I’ll pick the best one, and the winner will get two free sheets of stickers, any design, whatever you want. Okay, so it’s not quite the same as hitting the lotto, but it’s still a nice little perk. Send your sticker pics to me by the end of the year and I’ll choose the winner on New Year’s Day.
Wait, you say you can’t enter this contest because you don’t have any Uni Watch logo stickers? My recent offer still stands: You can get three stickers (one of each color) by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope to Paul Lukas, 671 DeGraw St., Brooklyn, NY 11217. If you want to enclose a coupla bucks or a barter offering, that’d be nice, although it isn’t required.
Membership update: Thanks to a big upswing in holiday orders (and some seriously fast work by Scott), a new batch of cardbacks has been added to the membership design gallery (including Justin Gildner’s Man U design, shown at right). If my printer is able to get the hard copies back to me quickly, I should be able to get the laminated cards out the door in time for Xmas delivery.
Realistically, this is the last batch of cards that we’ll be able to process in time for the holidays. But you can still purchase a membership gift coupon, which makes an excellent stocking stuffer, right up through Xmas Eve. Info on how to do that is available here.
And as always, you can hop aboard the membership train yourself by signing up here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Turns out I’m not the only one who likes to combine team logos and meat. My friend and Forewords bandmate Liz Clayton recently found that T-shirt in Chicago and gave it to me over the weekend as an early Xmas present. … Remember all that chatter about a Big Ten school switching to Under Armour? The identity of that school has now been revealed. ”¦ Interesting NOB here. That’s Gunnar Hughes of St. Lawrence, whose brother George also plays on the team (from Mike Dean). ”¦ Cristiano Ronaldo has a new shoe design that’s supposed to confuse his opponents (from Joe Makowiec). … Last week I mentioned that Utah and BYU had played a color-on-color basketball game. Now Steve Rosenberg informs me that these two schools have been doing the color-on-color thing whenever they meet up in any sport. … Reasons not to move to Miami, Part 1: Bet the refs and spotters just loooove this uni number font. That’s Miami Northland High (good find by M. Burnett). … Reasons not to move to Miami, Part 2: Diamondplate + an illegible number font = bleaahh. That’s Miramar High, outside of Miami (screen shot by Jerry Kulig). ”¦ Fun foto from the SI vault: Webster Slaughter spray-painting his cleats orange back in 1990 (from Marc Merves). … Some guy in Indiana was arrested for robbing a drug store and was wearing a Seahawks jersey in his mug shot (from Terry Mark). … If you think a lot of sports logos are too busy these days, check out the new mark for the nuclear submarine USS Minnesota, which was designed — what a surprise — by a 17-year-old (from David Teigland). … Check out this kid wearing what appears to be a Rip Hamilton-style mask and a headband at the same time. “Must have a Jumpman contract,” says David Petroff. … “I’m a sports anchor in Texas,” says Adam Ostrow. “One of the teams we cover — Munday High School — has what I assume is a manufacturer’s patch on their jersey that I’ve never seen before.” I don’t recognize that mark myself. Anyone.. ?… Here’s how Cincinnati’s jerseys will look with the Auto Parts Store Bowl patch (from Chris Feldmann). ”¦ I know Bud Selig once wanted to contract the Twins out of existence, but was there ever talk of moving them to the National League? (Odd find by James Ryan.) ”¦ Tom Mulgrew reports that scientists are working on self-cleaning cotton fabric, which could have huge uni implications for the apparel biz (although probably not for uniforms, since nobody wears cotton anymore). ”¦ After a Pittsburgh-area cop was killed in the line of duty, his old high school retired his basketball number (from Jamie Howell). … Jack Nicolaus was poking around in this Brooklyn antique shop and spotted something interesting: ” Waaay in the back (next to the coffins) there are two giant posterboard panels that look like they’re from the old Winnipeg Jets arena. The photos don’t show it, but they’re about six feet by six feet and on solid particleboard approximately two inches thick. $150 each if anyone’s anxious for them.” … Tremendous job by Alex Rocklein, who was making Christmas sugar cookies and noticed that his tree-shaped cookie cutter was also shaped exactly like an arrowhead, so he made Kansas City Chiefs cookies. … New alt uni in the works for the Braves (from Brian Deutsch). … Memphis hoops wore another very nice throwback the other day (from Don Gale). … Here’s a fascinating 1915 item explaining why Colgate’s football team was going to go without uni numbers for a game against Syracuse. Wonder when that stopped being optional (great find by Ryan Dowgin). … I’m pretty sure I once ran a black-and-white wire photo of the old Charlotte Hornets minor league baseball team, whose uni logo was a hornets’ nest. But here’s the first time I’ve seen that uni in color. “The photo is from 1960, I’m told,” says Dan Tarrant. … Keenan Bailey managed to sneak into the Florida Panthers’ locker room and snapped these pics. “I got kicked out by a backup goalie (for stepping on the panther head on the locker room carpet and for ‘trespassing,’ despite the door being open),” he says. … I saw The Book of Mormon on Saturday (my first Broadway musical since high school, I’m pretty sure). As you may know, almost all of the story is set in Uganda, and a few of the actors were wearing old American sports jerseys — a nice touch. … The soccer ball during a recent Bayern/Cologne match sort of exploded (from Terry Duroncelet). … Steve Dodell sent along two good photos of the Babe that I hadn’t seen before: One showing him wearing a killer promotional uni and another showing him and Lou Gehrig wearing police and fireman’s jackets over their baseball togs. … Texas hoops wore gray on Saturday. “They were also all wearing the new Kevin Durant Nike sneakers in the ‘Nerf’ colorway,” says Alphonse DePalma. “It even says ‘Nerf’ on one of the tongues. Doesn’t really match Texas colors.” … New uni regulations for South Dakota high school football (from Aaron DeCurtins). ”¦ Illinois and UCLA went color-vs.-color in the national championship volleyball match. You can see the Final Four patch there, too (big thanks to Erkki Corpuz). ”¦ No photo, but Brett Stone says Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel was wearing his training jersey under his game jersey during Saturday’s match against Wigan. “It looked really tacky because Chelsea’s practice shirt has blue squares and a yellow line, which could be seen over the color of the game jersey,” says Brett. “My guess is that he wore it because it was quite cold.” ”¦ Totally stoked to have won this super-cool dinette set sample display. I love that one of the colors is called “Brewster Green.” ”¦ Remember when Vince Coleman got run over by the Cardinals’ auto-tarp? Bet I wasn’t the only person who thought of that after that crazy electric cart mishap in Dallas Saturday night. ”¦ When’s the last time you saw an NOB that mixed caps, small caps, and lowercase lettering? That’s Calvin de Haan of the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Even weirder, I’m pretty sure the lowercase d is actually an upside-down capital P (major thanks to Charles Pannunzio). ”¦ Late-breaking stocking stuffer idea: Hadn’t seen these NFL fleece helmet hats before (thanks, Ricko). ”¦ Speaking of stocking stuffers, looks like I’m about to get the best Xmas present ever. … In light of last night’s big news, the following video seems appropriate (audio NSFW, but you probably hate your job anyway, so let it rip):
Rams honored Marshal Faulk yesterday.
THe Rams honored MArshall Faulk in a halftime ceremony, he received his HOF ring. thats the reason for the 28’s on the cheerleaders.
Ah, got it. I’ll add that to the text now.
One thing to notice: these throwbacks had just the NFL shield at the yoke and not the big white “NFL Equipment” logo.
Not sure what year the game you were watching was from, but the one that we all saw on Sunday had the Rams wearing the normal big white NFL equipment patch.
Wearing differently colored socks in the NFL? That’ll be a fine.
I always thought the 1997 Buccaneers just basically copied the 49ers; borrowed the template, kept a hint of orange & went with a darker gold metallic color. Too similar IMO. The Bucs generic logos do nothing for me.
Paddlin’ the school canoe? Ooh, you better believe that’s a paddlin’.
The logo in question from the high schooler in today’s ticker is a company called SportBells. I know they do a lot of high school uniform work in Ohio and probably other parts of the midwest.
They used to produce Tennessee’s uniforms back in Peyton Manning’s day.
They also did Oklahoma State’s football jerseys before Nike took over.
Yeah, I remember that…here’s a pic from the last year before Nike started making the unis for Oklahoma State.
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Actually this company was Sports Belle Inc. My high school football jerseys were actually made by them, they were extremely well made and durable. I believe the numbers were printed by them also…They are now closed.
We had baseball unis made by them in high school here in GA. They were very good quality uniforms.
While I didn’t know it was Sports Belle, I did recognize the logo from USF’s early football days and according to this video (seen at the 10 second mark) as late as 2004. I’m pretty sure 2005 they switched to Nike.
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I’m a prof at a DII school in the SSC. I figured Sports Belle must still be around because I see quite a bit of that logo in Women’s basketball. I believe my university switched from the SB logo to Rawlings this year so maybe if they have gone out of business the schools I see wearing them just haven’t cycled out the old unis yet.
My roommate and I were questioning this same logo a couple of weeks back, because in a photo mural on the wall of the basketball arena at Central Michgan, there was a photo of a Central Michigan player wearing a jersey with that logo.
It’s official name is Sports Belle. They used to be a big player in the college uni game before Nike took over and UA moved in.
Unfortunately, the company filed for Chapter 11 a couple of years back, and I haven’t seen much lately. One of my suppliers told me they are still around, and focused more on the high school uniforms and small college markets.
Their products have always been pretty high quality, however, they fell behind in the marketing game.
As to the unknown manufacturer’s patch. It is from a company called Sports Belle. We wore their gear in high school. Twenty years ago.
Signs I was up too early this morning studying for my finals: I was up before Paul posted this morning’s UW. Sigh.
If I remember correctly, there was a small amount of discussion regarding the Twins possibly moving to the NL; I think that in 1998 they first offered the chance to switch from AL to NL to the Royals, who turned it down, and then the Brewers, who accepted of course. I remember reading that if the Brewers had declined as well they would have asked the Twins. Not sure why that would result in licensed merch indicating as such though.
The timing works, then, because the “National League” lettering is a 1989s-1990s Macintosh system font, and MLB didn’t start going apeshit about sticking the Killeb- er, swinging batter logo on all licensed merch until circa ’94.
On the other hand, no way is that an authentic piece of licensed merch. Knockoff all the way (see: Mac system font). I don’t know if they’re still around, but you used to see a lot of obviously not-quite-authentic stuff with this level of quality at Dome Plus back in the day. (Also used to see awesome, actually authentic stuff unavailable elsewhere there, so not meant as a knock against Dome Plus, in case they are still in business.)
That makes sense, a local business wanting to get in on the action if the Twins moved leagues.
And you’re right – the Twins were third in line. I don’t recall if we ever knew who was fourth, possibly they didn’t think it would get that far before they found a volunteer.
Still surprised that the Royals turned it down, but apparently the attraction of a divisional rivalry with St. Louis wasn’t enough for them to give up their fierce rivalry with the Yankees.
Still surprised that the Royals turned it down, but apparently the attraction of a divisional rivalry with St. Louis wasn’t enough for them to give up their fierce rivalry with
the Yankeesthe game of baseball.I get that the Royals are a very conservative team, and that’s generally a virtue (not counting the whole do-they-actually-win-ballgames element of running a baseball team), but that does seem a no-brainer. Hey, you want to play the Cardinals 18 times a season? Why, gee, thanks Mr. Selig, but no, we can do without all the gate revenue we’d collect by turning 9 home games per year into automatic sellouts. It’s just money, after all, and we take pride in the important role the Royals play in the American League.
That role, of course, being acting as the one team the Twins, Tigers, or Indians can consistently beat even in a bad year.
A no-brainer? I don’t see it as that.
I wonder if it had more to do with their history & being suited for American League style play. Travel is also a consideration. Plus they would had been starting over completely fresh with a new league with new hitters & pitching, which can’t be an easy adjustment. I know league pride is an antiquated notion these days (basically so is everything for traditionalists & Purists; bah.) For every example say the Cardinals, the Royals would had been losing the Yankees, Red Sox, Rays, Rangers, Angels or whatever big draw the A.L. had at the given time, plus whoever is on top of the A.L. Central. So it’s not always a losing financial probability; plus familiarity does have its comforts.
If my team were to switch leagues, I would not be happy about it at all (especially since they would be put in a division with a certain chronic annoying team to play 18 times a year which is WAY too much), and I think what they’re doing to the Astros sucks (and I say switch the Brewers back).
concealed78 is right. The one thing the Cards can’t offer that the Royals can is the Yankees, Red Sox, etc.
“Still surprised that the Royals turned it down, but apparently the attraction of a divisional rivalry with St. Louis wasn’t enough for them to give up their fierce rivalry with the Yankees.”
I lived in MO at the time and recall that the Royals DID want to jump to the NL, but their ownership situation was too much in flux for it to happen.
Also, wasn’t this the pre-Pujols / pre-McGwire ’98 Home Run Chase Cardinals, too? And I don’t see how or why Cardinals fans would had been packing the house 9 times a year across the state.
Sports Belle also did some college jerseys not that long ago. I’ve got an Oklahoma State and South Florida jersey that they manufactured.
Perhaps the lack of cold weather is the reason the Bears’ logo has stayed stable?
I like how the deHaan hockey jersey has two Reebok wordmarks on it.
Exactly. Right now it’s 50-50 we don’t get any snow in Wisconsin this year for Christmas.
Sports Belle was a Knoxville, TN based athletic apparel company that had the contract to manufacture The University of Tennessee’s football jerseys. Rumor around Rocky Top has always been that Sports Belle owns the patent on the official Tennessee Orange which is why the Adidas apparel is a darker shade of orange than the Nike apparel, because Nike paid the royalties to get use of the color while Adidas did not.
That’s some REALLY good info there — thank you.
That’s not true regarding the patent.
In fact, Sports Belle continued manufacturing Tennessee football, basketball and baseball uniforms for Adidas from 1997-2001. During that period, they also did the majority of Adidas’ college uniforms, including Nebraska and Northwestern. Adidas ended the arrangement for football across the board in 2000, but Sports Belle made the Tennessee football jerseys for Adidas in 2001 and baseball jerseys thru 2004.
I didn’t say anything about the jerseys. I mentioned apparel. If you go into any of the merchandise shops along the strip in Knoxville you can tell that there is a difference between the orange that Nike uses and the orange that Adidas uses. The Nike orange being more “yellow” and the Adidas orange being more “red”.
And yes – you are correct SportsBelle was manufacturing the Adidas branded jerseys for the football team for a while. I believe that there was an article about this in the Knoxville News Sent. at one point.
Wait…a COLOR can be patented? Somehow, that seems odd…
A color may be patentable if it is intrinsic to the utility of a product. In the case of a uniform I think not. However the color may be intrinsic to the design and the brand. So Tennessee orange may qualify for trademark protection. Patent unlikely.
The Cubs/Sausage/Pig shirt if from link
I imagine your friend got it from the Renegade Art Fair here in Chicago a few weeks ago.
The designer that came up with that shirt is super talented, so check out his site and be amazed.
I figure Paul will love the unis that the Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees wore at the Allen Americans last night
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Ooooh — nice!
They hurt my eyes and I love ’em.
my goodness, that is a thing of beauty!
Just an FYI…those two old Winnipeg Jets boards, at 6’x6′ on 2″ thick particle board would weigh around 900 pounds apiece.
The Winnipeg Jets posterboard photos are indeed from the old Winnipeg Arena. The Jets used to have all of their current and former stars on posterboard around the arena concourse. Personally, they aren’t worth $150 when you can probably get them made up for way cheaper today.
Didn’t see the comment above, but they are definitely the same ones in that case.
I didn’t realize that it was 6’x6′, though. They look rectangular.
Not so sure about that whole UT orange patent thing. I’ve got a mid to late 80’s vintage FB jersey manufactured by Russell and its definitely the official UT orange shade. I think the adidas color problem had more to do with the dazzle style cloth that came in vogue than a “patent”.
I swear I’ve seen Peyton Manning photos where he is wearing a SportsBelle logo jersey. I’ll have to look back through my UT stuff.
Sports Belle filed chapter 11 in 2009 after their plant burned in 2008. Bike Athletic was also based in Knoxville. I worked for a couple of different sporting goods dealers after college from 1985-1988 and sold both of there stuff.
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Does anyone know if the Bengals have ever worn throwbacks from their original uniforms? I don’t recall ever seeing it.
Only one time, in the 1994 NFL 75th Anniversary throwback season:
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They weren’t very accurate, though. Here’s Greg Cook in the original…
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er….well…let’s try this link…
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Um…how ’bout we just take my word for it. ;)
Small tip, I-TC:
If using ebay, just paste the auction link. The *.jpg link almost never works & ends up as a spinning icon (probably to prevent remote linking).
The Chargers looked great last night. I really like their navy blue jerseys, but they should wear those two times a year and the powder blues the rest.
Phil — to answer your question from last night about Tebow, I’d want him on my team because he’s a winner. He has an intangible, like a Derek Jeter, that you cannot easily quantify.
I would love to have him on my team. He’s a great football player, with a lot of intelligence and leadership qualities. He’s just a terrible quarterback.
Aqib Talib and Mike Williams of the Bucs wore red socks, instead of the usual black, for Saturday’s game against the Cowboys. I believe that’s a Tampa first.
Yeah, and hopefully a last: Williams didn’t have a catch, and Talib pulled a hammy and spent the second half on the sideline.
Annnnnnnnnnnd it looked like shit. The black socks look better. Maybe if they wore red socks with white pants, it would be fine.
I know the socks have always been tipped black since the pewter rebranding, but what if they were orange? There is some orange in the numbers and the stripes, so orange socks would have brought it out more. Clearly orange is only in the scheme for heritage, so why not really accent the pewter? Can I get a photoshop idea of that?
I think the whole ‘WHITEWATER’ text on the jersey is italic, but the ‘W’ in the middle is not slanted like the one at the beginning, giving the illusion that the entire second half of the word is non-italic.
Sorry, but I don’t believe it is. I watched the whole game and was distracted by that every time. At first I thought it was just a stupid trick of the jersey folding/wrinkling, but every time they showed a player head-on it looked the same.
It’s pretty apparent that all the ‘WHITEWATER’ text is italic and that there is something weird going on with the Ws is all.
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Maybe they’re going for the whole “white water rapids” feel with that font? It makes it look a bit like rushing water or something… just a thought.
I dunno, I’m still not convinced it’s all italics. I have no idea why, but I’m still pretty sure only the “White” is in italics.
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Ok, maybe I’ll concede that both parts are supposed to be italicized, but they’re at least not both italicized to the same degree. (See #58 below)
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Sorry if I’m missing something, but how exactly is James Gildner’s card a “Man U design”? It has none of their colors nor does it have the Premier League font. ????
Sorry, meant to say Justin Gildner’s card.
Confession: Justin said, “Please match this design,” and he attached a photo. And then he signed off his email with, “Glory Glory Man United!!!” So I assumed that’s what team was shown in the photo he asked us to match. As usual, I don’t know jackshit about soccer.
It appears to be a Manchester United change strip from the early years of the Premier League. That would explain the lack of the Premier League font (in the first few seasons of the league, each team had their own number and letter font).
It was United’s third shirt from the 94/95 season.
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Side note: What the hell is up with the back of Nicky Butt’s shirt?
Paul,
For the second week in a row you forgot to mention that the Broncos went mono navy, like the cards they have now done this 3 weeks in a row. I personally hate the mono look and being a Broncos fan my whole life I don’t think that I’ve ever seen them wear it more that once or twice in a season and never this many times in a row. I hate the way my team has looked in the past 3 weeks and it’s disappointing not to see them being scolded on Uni Watch.
I’m not mentioning it because it doesn’t seem remarkable — they’ve been doing it on and off for years. I may soon stop mentioning the Cardinals blood-clot look as well, since it’s becoming more the rule than the exception.
Fair enough. I don’t think it’s anything special either but i still think it deserves a wag of your finger. But the cardinals blood clots are 1000 times more ugly, I just wonder why they keep doing it, will we ever see the white pants paired with the blue jersey again? I fear that next season this is how they will wear the alt blue.
“I just wonder why they keep doing it”
They are/were winning in that uniform option. It’s superstition, really. It’s just a really ugly superstition.
Denver looked great, and Arizona looks bad because of the white hats. Red hats Zona…red hats!!!!!!!
You good sir are wrong, in my opinion of course.
“You good sir are wrong, in
myeveryone’s opinion of course.”(fixed)
Wow… no & no.
That’s an incorrect statement Phil…My opinion is that the Cardinals need red hats with the red on red. So that is not EVERYONE’S opinion.
“… Two weeks ago I ran this photo showing how reader R. Scott Rogers had placed a Uni Watch logo sticker on his car…”
Missed that earlier reference. So now I gotta know what’s the make and model of that electric-blue baby with the sweet lines.
You’re right, Paul: Packers & Chiefs were beautiful. And nothing tops those old Rams.
That’s a grabber blue 2010 Mustang GT. My 20-year-old Japanese ragtop died in a windstorm this spring – you know your car may have been too small when its epitaph reads “crushed by a falling flowerpot,” though in the car’s defense it was a huge flowerpot and it fell from a very great height. Anyway, when I went to the dealer, I got an insanely sweet deal on the GT, which had been sitting new in dealer inventory for 2 years and the 2012s were already coming in. Apparently, since they had two identical 2010 GTs still in stock with 5-figure discounts off invoice, nobody else recognizes grabber blue as the link.
from the pic, i honestly thought it was a Challenger.
my “one true Mustang color”… or the first thing that pops into my head when someone mentions the car, is white (that’s just my weird opinion though):
shelby 1965 gt 350r
link.,cf.osb&biw=1168&bih=540&wrapid=tljp132431012053600&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=Wl7vTsHlJO2OsALqsbCoCQ#um=1&hl=en&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=shelby+1965+gt350r&oq=shelby+1965+gt350r&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=3235l3235l0l4672l1l1l0l0l0l0l203l203l2-1l1l0&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.,cf.osb&fp=3e0da2346c41cbbb&biw=1168&bih=540
Very nice looking vehicle, Scott.
Interested in a time-share? You get 4 kids and a 2006 Dodge Caravan from C&C Rental (Hackensack, NJ) and I get the grabber blue pony car. We could start at, say, ten weeks a year.
I love the grabber blue Mustangs. If I am ever able to get a Stang that’s the color I want.
Adam Ostrow is one of the worst sports anchors I have ever seen.
Yes, the Rams urgently needed to return to the throwbacks. But not the version used yesterday. These imitations got both the helmet horns and the shoulder horns wrong.
Educate us. What’s right and what’s wrong?
Compare with these photos:
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This one of Eric Dickerson better illustrates how the shoulder and helmet pattern should appear.
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Paul, you have to be thrilled at the prospect of Under Armor unveiling twelve different purple monstrosities for Northwestern next year.
My thoughts exactly. Northwestern hasn’t exactly been known for looking good in recent years. Now I have reason to fear it will be even worse.
Northwestern hasn’t looked good?
They’ve looked near perfect for the past few seasons (just needed white pants at home)
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Before those, though, they still didn’t look bad (except maybe for weird pants stripe)
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And back in the BFBS era, they still looked pretty good in UCLA stripes or the preferred
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The only time they looked less than desirable is when they messed up the font on these
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No, Northwestern hasn’t looked good. Purple and black sucks dick.
Well, they’re near perfect in that if they ditched the black they’d be perfect.
Sorry, I don’t consider most of those to be very good looks. Their current one isn’t so bad, but I guess I just have some of the past ones stuck in my mind. Haven’t had much occasion to pay attention to the Wildcats in the last few years.
While everyone was staring at the Rams throwbacks, they may have missed the fact that A.J. Green and Benards Scott had their socks reversed. They were white at the top and black at the bottom.
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Those Cristiano Ronaldo cleats are interesting. Even more impressive is that the design may actually serve the function Nike says it does. It should work on the same principle as splitter camouflage, that the movement of the pattern confuses the brain’s ability to interpolate its future position.
That’s what I thought too: Ronaldo is now incorporating WW1 era camouflage technology in order to gain a competitive advantage. link
“Even more impressive is that the design may actually serve the function Nike says it does”
‘cept for the fact that soccer is so slow and predictable…
“… he’s settin’ up for a free kick! what’s he gonna do?!?! what’s he gonna do?!?!”
I thought soccer was slow and predictable until I played it. Easily among the toughest team sports to excel at.
Soccer (meaning the USA version) is slow and predictable. Football (meaning what they play everyone else, particularly in Europe) is fast, exciting and anything but predictable.
But. Either applying Dazzle camo to one’s feet works as Nike advertises, in which case doesn’t that amount to gaining an unfair advantage, and it should either be outlawed or mandated for all players, or it doesn’t work as advertised, and we’re back to toothfairy engineering?
Loved the Chiefs/Packers.
And would I want Tim Tebow on my team?
No. I’m having too much fun rooting against him.
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With the exception of the “God never helps the Bears” thing…and the crying….I’m right there with him.
Of course, I grew up rooting against the Broncos, so it’s easy.
Well, that’s sort of the point. That’s what’s REALLY bothering the guy…that it isn’t HIS team enjoying the upside. A pisspot full of hypocrisy and/or double standards for a lot of the Tebow haters, I think. Just as there’s a lot of unjustified sanctimony among the Tebow lovers.
“Over reaction” (either way) seems to the best descriptor for this whole thing.
And over-coverage.
But it’s the sanctimony that bothers me, when I get right down to it.
“it’s the sanctimony that bothers me, when I get right down to it”
+1000
Monday Morning Camel Toe Watch is more like it.. between the Rams cheerleaders and the volleyball shot, I think we all got our daily dose of Vitamin V!
And what did you think of Webster Slaughter?
“Reasons not to move to Miami, Part 1: Bet the refs and spotters just loooove this uni number font.”
Those numbers look like the giant stone heads on Easter Island…
Congratulation, Bellotti Bold…you no longer have the worst font ever. Now don’t go trying to outdo this school, Oregon. Just go back to link
Dog bites Dog which then bites original Dog:
link
Good Tebow skit on SNL this weekend, lots of uni relevance. Paul, I think you will like Jesus’ socks.
link
“tim…ah…just take it down a notch”
that. was. awesome.
“That’s not a command….just a request.”
Re: The South Dakota uniform regulations. These regs came into effect in Kansas sometime during the last six seasons. Here, the Tiger paws had to come off the shoulders of both the home and road uniforms, so the coach that had just taken over came out with all-new uniforms. By coincidence, that was about the same time that the football team went from contending to state titles every seasons to hoping just to win a game. Two years ago, the coach from the glory years era returned and wanted to bring back his old uniforms. This time, he moved the paws to the sleeves of the home unis. He couldn’t put them back on the road unis because he wanted to keep the three red stripes (the home uni never had stripes).
Example of current home uni: link
Example of current road uni:
link
(I can’t go on the road because of deadline issues, so this is about the only way the road uniforms can ever get in the paper.)
This is not an individual state mandate. The National Federation of State High School Associations passed these regulations some time ago and gave states until 2012 to comply. Washington also put up a flyer on the rule, but mentioned that this is a national rule:
link
Montana also copied what the national federation sent out:
link
Forgot to mention, that while the Tigers go monochrome red at home, they go monochrome WHITE on the road. I don’t know very many other high school teams in Kansas with two pairs of pants.
“Mercurial Vapor Superfly III”… seriously??? Why don’t they just stich a fucking cape to it?
Technological Trickery – sad, used to be about ATHLETES’ ABILITIES!
Eh, Nike’s scrapping the Superflys from the Vapor line in the spring, I guess people are complaining that the stud configuration feels weird.
Which is also good because charging someone $400 for a pair of soccer boots is RIDICULOUS. I’ll stick with my $50 Adidas, thanks.
Did anyone see the North Dakota State unis…It would be better if they had on white shirts or Green hats. The hats and britches should always be the same color.
On Jan 7th, NDSU will be the visiting team vs. Sam Houston State(my alma mater) in the 1-AA national championship. Hmmmmm 1-AA has a playoff, but 1-A can’t. I don’t get it, since college football is college football.
And fishing is fishing.
Except going to Florida to fish for marlin is considerably more expensive and logistically complex than walking down to the lake to fish for crappies.
(Actually, that’s a pretty good analogy if you really think about it).
The argument that a 1-A playoff will disrupt studying is pretty much thrown out the water because the lower divisions seem to do it(along with high school football) every year. If anyone can tell me that studying for an exam at Texas A&M is different than at Sam Houston, then they need to give me the 22,018.00 I spent the 3.5 years at SHSU getting my degree. College is college…there is no difference except how many people you play in front of.
I never mentioned anything about academics.
Just saying everyone has an inch-deep solution while totally ignoring the other foot-and-a-half, which includes, but is not limited to…
Who pays for it, who’s interested in selling tickets on short notice to neutral site games, how many alums and students can or would travel to more than one game booking last minute expensive air fares and such, will corporate sponsors and/or chambers of commerce pony up for the “Hefty Bag Jacksonville 7th Place Game”…etc., etc. etc.
And most importantly…if the NCAA and some network had figured out a way to make a true playoff more profitable, or at least as financially beneficial to as many schools as it is now, wouldn’t they’d have done it a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time ago?
Anyone can whip out a legal pad and draw brackets and assign them to bowl games. I keep asking the viable question, the true baseline to be established, “Okay, now show us how the money works” and no one ever has an answer.
No one believes it’s about studying.
It’s all about money. They can’t/won’t kill off the bowl games because there’s too much money involved, and using the bowls for the playoffs causes complicated travel issues.
If you drop the bowls and just play the playoffs with teams having homefield advantages (like in every other normal playoff system), then travel isn’t really an issue and it’d work just fine. But we can’t do that because the (Insert Corporate Sponsor) Bowl(TM) is too “important”.
I agree Jeff. But I say it will be more money in it, if were a playoff system. Look at the basketball tourney. I don’t care about the glorified marketing tools that the bowl games have become. If it works in the lower divisions, then it would work in 1-A, period.
The Jeff makes valid points.
And to extend them, another essential reason the bowls are important to the NCAA, the schools and the alumni is because they PAY for the promotion.
If Alabama, say, gets another home playoff game and there are no bowls as we know them, who pays the cost of staging that game? Or the ticket-selling effort? Or trying to generate revenue through ad sales in the game program? Etc., etc. etc. Such things aren’t free. Right now that money comes from sources like Famous Idaho Potatoes and the Boise Chamber of Commerce….or some such.
Take them–and others like them–out of the equation and the school, the NCAA, or the networks have to come up with all that dough. And it isn’t a small pile. ESPN wants to televise games, not pay for staging them.
As I said, nobody really gets how the money works. Or stops to think about it.
You mean games don’t just happen for free and the networks show up? No, they don’t.
“But I say it will be more money in it, if were a playoff system.”
Really? Then why haven’t minds far more experienced and far more acute about such things come forward with the money and the plan that will put all these big bucks into so many school’s coffers?
I’ll ask again…Show us how the money works.
Evidently THEY don’t even how that. Especially concerning where it would come from.
Again, they already know how it works…1-AA does it every year. There is no difference between 1-A and 1-AA except size of school.
That’s the “brackets on a legal pad” answer.
One more time. Who pays for it?
Staging one major bowl game (the game itself, all the luncheons and related pre-game events, ticket printing and selling, and on and on and on) is HUGE compared to Sam Houston State vs. Montana. Now, without bowl sponsors, who pays to stage, say, seven of them? (that’s the number of games in an eight-team playoff).
Show us how it guarantees MAC schools the same amount of money they’re getting now. Or MORE money, because there’s no reason to go through it for the SAME money.
Inch-deep answers are easy. And convenient. And sound insightful. But they’re simple-minded and dismiss such considerations as, oh, I dunno…reality.
The NCAA is going to pay for it via the rights fees they get from having the playoff. Unfortunately the university presidents have denied this playoff system for years because they are in the pockets of the bowls. But again say to you Ricko….the NCAA knows how to stage a playoff because they do it in every other sport every year. So the logistics have already been figured out. I don’t care about the bowls. I wish they glorified marketing tools will go away.
ah, young jedi…so much to learn, so much to learn
Some numbers about who’s making money link. I’m not sure I agree with all of the author’s opinions, but the general idea seems right.
(I’ll try to remember to repost this Tuesday – someone else is welcome to if they like.)
@ Phil….I’m a lot older than you think hoss.
“ESPN wants to televise games, not pay for staging them.”
The propbelm is, Ricko, that ESPN already does pay for staging seven of them: link.
Every other level of football has playoffs. All NCAA divisions. The NAIA just had theirs too.
There is not a single good reason for not having playoffs in 1A. All the reasons against are stupid and worthless.
you just got dropped from rick’s and robert marshall’s xmas card lists
haha I know, Robert is really against them and I knew Ricko said he used to be for but is now against.
I love college football but have always wanted an actual playoff.
The thing with the anti playoff guys is that I am sure they would love a real playoff. Just like very other level of football.
Hopefully one day I see some sort even with a couple teams in it.
A playoff would just take way too many weeks and most likely wouldn’t achieve what everyone wants (which would include a potential 1, 2+ loss National Champion). Never mind the money.
Thanks Larry B. That’s what I have been saying for over 15 years. The reasons against a 1-A playoff are blown out the water as long as 1-AA, D2, D3 and NAIA ball have playoffs. College is college no matter what school you go to and/or graduate from. The only difference is size of the school, and that is all.
The difference between 1A and 1AA has nothing to do with the size of the schools; it has to do with football attendance. To stay in 1A, the school has to average at least 5,000 per home game every year and at least 12,000 once every three years.
And yes, the logistics of it would be very easy if the NCAA controlled 1A football, but it doesn’t; the conferences control 1A. That’s why the bowl system is in place. The NCAA tried to take control in the ’50s, but the conferences were too powerful then and the NCAA was relegated to a sanctioning body, rather than a commissioning controller.
The attendance issue is a given. What I was talking about was the practice schedules, scheduling, academics and things of that nature.
Hey Guys,
I noticed a few weeks ago (but was away from a solid computer that worked) and noticed that the Oakland Raiders had different word coloring on the back of thier helmets. Some were black and some were silver/white. I found it very odd. Not sure if there are photos anywhere though!
SportsBelle used to do all kinds of uniform stuff. I read where one of the readers also mentioned Bike. Bike used to have a warehouse sale each year here in Knoxville to get rid of overruns, mistakes and old apparel. It was awesome. As a 10-14 year old kid who loved sports, I could get jerseys from all colleges and teams for dirt cheap. It was a uniform amusement park!
As for painting cleats, I did the same thing as a junior and senior in high school. We got new cleats each year, but these were my “lucky” cleats so I used the new ones for practice and the old ones for games. Every Thursday night was my pregame ritual of cleaning my helmet and painting my cleats. Glossy black was the color of choice.
PANTHERS LOCKEROOM SNEAKPEAK
I thought only the so-called IndoEdge authentic Rbk hockey jerseys have the lime green neck tape? It appears the practice jerseys in that photo also have the green neck tape.
Can someone explain this?
Not sure if it was mentioned already, but aside from slightly Louisiana Lafayette with the wrong logo, they added insult to injury by spelling it “UL – Layfayette”.
How come no one is talking about how the kid with the SportsBelle jersey looks really, really small in his pads?
BFBS or the only color combo that looked right?
New Unniversity of Minnesota helemts:
link
Uniforms to come in January.
Looks like Wyoming colors.
More brown than maroon.
Watched the clip, players seem to love it.
As if they’d show the player who sees it and doesn’t like the matte finish or the black facemask.
true
Sorry about the spelling. Blame the phone!
Funny COTD today!
Hilarious.
Reasons not to move to Miami? :( Really?
I live close to both of these high schools and truly, back when I was in high school (Miramar high didnt exist) Norland High had a decent uniform. Today, especially down here, it’s all about what is trending and there is sucha race to be cool even if it means making your uniform as shitty as possible as long as it looks different. No regards for uniform etiquette. Although, its not a reason not to move down here, it is a reason to keep your kids out of Norland and Miramar High :).. especially if they play ball.
Kansas City seems to be one of the only teams to wear their socks properly. Kudos.
I wish the Packers had done the same. I really dislike that sanitary look.
I wish the Packers would go back to white cleats, much cleaner look than the black cleats. I would like the striped socks as well. The worst look in football however is teams that wear the same color socks as their pants.
WI State Journal talking about Oregon’s unis vs UW’s unis w/ some quotes from Paul.
link
First time in a long time we’ve had a meaningful game @ The Stick (RIP, get out the shovels in Santa Clara)- Ben looks totally immobile in pregame.
Go Niners.
I’m fired up to watch this one. When the Steelers and Niners play, it reminds me of this old ESPN show that made a hypothetical matchup of the greatest Steeler and Niner teams by doing all this clever editing. It was cool.
Oops, I meant a meaningful game in December.
Question for the class, regarding Nike’s Hyper Elite college basketball uniforms:
I feel like I read here at one point link that have link the Final Four have a circular silver team logo patch at the collar, and link that haven’t do not, while teams that have won the link have a more substantial, shield-shaped logo. Am I crazy? Is this Nike’s methodology, or am I seeing something that isn’t there? I haven’t checked to make sure my examples are correct, but I think they hold up. If no answer tonight, I’ll repost tomorrow. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
That is, indeed, a Nike thing. Villanova got their Nike Elite medallion when they made it to the Final Four a couple of years ago. However, it goes for any Nike Elite team, so they don’t have to have a HyperElite uniform to be a Nike Elite team. Nova had the medallion on their non-H.E. unis last year
Excellent. Thanks man.
Paul, interesting article about potentially different uniforms for Wisconsin and the Rose Bowl.
link
Hmm interesting. And I just finished the story about Oregon and Wisconsin and how Wisconsin has stayed the same for a while.
Wisconsin wore and actual throwback a few years ago. I know they wont wear one for this game.
One game they should wear the Bucky badger logo from late 60’s.
big ben, with his hurt ankle, is wearing the same kind of nike shoe but one is accented with yellow and the other with black.
Seems odd to bring attention to that hurt ankle by wearing a shoe that will make it so noticeable from his other foot.
We’re all settled in here. Now as long as the lights don’t down go out, in the city…
link
If someone can get a screen sot of the Niners defensive back who’s wearing black socks, that’d be useful.
Hope this works: link
Not working. If you have an image, can you please email it to me?
the unidentified logo was the logo of South Bell, I can’t find any mention of them online when i googled them, but I used to have a pair of basketball shorts that I had gotten from a neighbor that were that brand
It’s Sports Belle Inc. – link
Donte Whitner(#31) on the Niners has black socks, or wrap, all the way up to his knees. Absurdity.
I’d get a screen shot IF THE POWER WOULD STOP GOING OUT.
link
My take: There should absolutely be a place in the NHL for a little beer league-ism, let it be that much more accessible to recreationalists. (Face it, hockey needs more viewers than diehard fans.) Kudos to Brian’s for stepping aside: no color-by-number templates (but their template graphics are the best in the NHL too, IMO), just put the team logo out front, first and foremost, and then Brian’s can “sign its name” with the little B* ligature. Most creative pads I’ve seen in the NHL since Trevor Kidd played with the Hurricanes’ tropical storm flags, and then carried it over to Toronto, where it looked like a blue and white checkerboard!
And you know who did, Kidd’s pads?
link
link
That’s right, Brian’s
Finally, a sports equipment provider who has earned the right to sign their works of art equipment.
When Monday Night Football goes to commercial tonight, I notice that the outro music (or whatever it’s called when they toss to a commercial break) has frequently been a snippet from Some Girls — “Before They Make Me Run” earlier, and “Shattered” just now. An odd choice, since Some Girls is littered with references to NYC and has, to my knowledge, zero references to San Francisco.
I know MNF has been tinkering with its broadcast-opening music since they fired Hank. But I didn’t catch the opening of tonight’s show — was it somehow Some Girls-related?
And now they just played a few seconds of “Respectable.”
Very, very good record. Just can’t figure out why they’re playing it on MNF.
Sure enough, although it doesn’t explain why:
link
Never did find out why they did that with the Stones.