Skip to content
 

Can’t Wait for Those Rhythmic Gymnastics Finals!

Screen shot 2012-07-12 at 11.46.07 PM.png

I’m in no particular hurry to make fun of the Olympics. I mean, I don’t much care about them myself (I plan to be on vacation for about half of the London games, and there’s nothing coincidental about that timing), but I fully support the right of all athletes to achieve the Olympic ideal, which as near as I can figure involves gobbling handfuls of steroids, being featured in insufferable up-close-and-personal TV reports, making sure your sponsorship logo is facing the camera, pretending to love all the other athletes from funny-sounding foreign countries, and then getting laid afterward. Not really my bag (well, getting laid is fun, but I don’t see the point of going halfway around the world to do it), but hey, knock yourselves out. No skin off my grindstone, or however that goes.

But even if you buy the increasingly hard-to-swallow notion that the Olympics are something other than a glorified version of America’s Got Talent, the London games are shaping up as a fiasco of, okay, Olympian proportions. You knew there was major disaster potential brewing when they chose a logo that everyone single human who’d ever watched television — except for the people on the logo committee — clearly recognized as Lisa Simpson giving a blowjob. But that turns out to have been the tip of the iceberg. In the past few months we’ve had the bathroom branding police; the attempt to exhume Keith Moon’s corpse; the boorish efforts to brand-bully such grave threats as knitters and gyro makers; the ticketing snafus; the looming airport problems; the absurdity of a junk food purveyor deciding who gets to eat what and where; the embarrassment of one of the world’s greatest beer cities being saddled with a foreign beer sponsor; and so on. It’s all shaping up as such an entertaining mess that I may have to cancel that vacation and tune in to watch the whole thing implode.

As you’ve probably heard by now, the “You can’t make this shit up” factor reached new heights yesterday, as word spread that the USA’s Skippy-and-Muffy outfits for the opening ceremonies — which had already been the subject of considerable snickering over the past few days (bonus points to New York Daily News writer Lindsay Goldwert, who opined that the outfits “bring one phrase to mind: welcome aboard”) — were made in China. Hey, it’s not every day that you can (a) encapsulate everything that’s wrong with the Olympics, (b) encapsulate everything that’s wrong with the American economy, and (c) find an issue that Democrats and Republicans can agree upon in one fell swoop. Well done!

Let’s think this through for a minute. As you may know, if for some reason you feel compelled to buy an NFL jersey, the jersey you buy will have been made overseas — usually in China. But the jerseys that the players wear are manufactured in America (Reebok had them made in Ripon, Wisconsin, except for the super-stretchies, which were made in Israel; I’ve heard conflicting things about which factory Nike is using, but it’s definitely domestic). Why? Because the NFL understands the symbolic value of having its players wearing American-made gear. Similarly, if you buy an official NFL Wilson football, it will say, “Made in China,” but the balls used in NFL games are made at that Ohio factory that I visited two winters ago, because the NFL likes to say that every single ball ever used in an NFL game was made in America.

Now, there aren’t that many people on the U.S. Olympic team. A few hundred, right? All of their outfits could easily have been made in America and that would’ve been that. In fact, you can’t make just a few hundred outfits in China, even if you want to — you have to do larger quantities or else their factories aren’t interested in dealing with you.

But of course Ralph Lauren and the USOC didn’t want to make just a few hundred outfits — they also wanted to sell a few thousand outfits at retail. (As an aside, who the fuck would spend hundreds of dollars to buy what is essentially a Jay Gatsby get-up masquerading as athleticwear? Someone, or many someones, apparently. But I digress.) Imagine the wonderful publicity they could have gotten if they’d decided to make all of this product in America. The media would have lapped it up, Obama and Romney would be elbowing each other aside to be photographed with the workers at the garment factory, NBC could do some cloying little segment showing a garment worker watching the opening ceremonies and saying, “I made those,” and the whole thing would’ve been a win-win-win-win-win. Even if they had done it the NFL way — make the athletes’ gear here and make the retail product in China — they still could’ve milked it pretty good.

But no. Nothing matters except how big the Polo logo is and how cheap the per-piece rate is. So let the outsourcing begin!

Hey, it’s just business, right? Justifies everything.

+ + + + +

Screen shot 2012-07-12 at 11.34.04 PM.png

The other big uni news yesterday was that Texas A+M unveiled its new football uniforms. For the most part, I like them. Quickly, because I’m worn out from thinking about the Olympix:

• Back in the ’70s, the Aggies wore stripes across their shoulders and sleeves. That look is now being mimicked on their shoulders and undersleeves. Yeah, so the stripes won’t always line up exactly, but that doesn’t bother me. I like the look. And anytime you can get Adidas to do something with two stripes in stead of three, that counts as a bit of a coup, no?

• The helmet now has a gray facemask (instead of white) and a matte-ish finish. I’m cool with both.

• If you look again at that last photo, you’ll see that the rear helmet numbers have really stupid-ass beveling. That’s because the jersey numbers have stupid-ass beveling. This is the single weakest element of the design. But if that’s your weakest element, you’re doing pretty well.

• In Portlandia, they put a bird on it; in Texas, they put Texas on it. Gratuitous but not bad-looking.

• I know this has been true for some time now, but it bears repeating: Adidas socks look great from behind, like shite from the front.

All in all, I like. Additional pics here.

+ + + + +

Screen shot 2012-07-12 at 10.52.07 PM.png

PermaRec update: A book about a bunch of letters written by a U.S. Army quartermaster stationed in New Guinea during World War II — and how those letters were found over 60 years later in an antiques shop — is the subject of the latest entry on the Permanent Record blog.

ESPN reminder: In case you missed it yesterday, my latest ESPN column, about Amelie Mancini and her brilliant baseball cards, is available here.

Membership reminder: Another thing you may have missed yesterday: The Uni Watch Membership Program will soon have a price increase, but there’s still time to sign up at the old price. Details here.

+ + + + +

Uni Watch News Ticker: A black Jags jersey has leaked. I can confirm that this design is shown in this season’s NFL Style Guide. … Sam Shillet was stopping in at Cosby’s, the famous sporting goods shop at Madison Square Garden, and got to talking with the staff about the Knicks’ uniforms. “They said that the Knicks will be removing black from the jersey altogether,” he says. I’m not in a position to confirm or deny that at this time. … About time: Nike has decided to remove Joe Paterno’s name from the company’s child care center. … Here’s a really nice slideshow about the pickup basketball scene in Brooklyn. ”¦ Jeff Barak has written a good piece about Soviet hockey jerseys. While researching it, he came across this photo, which has several notable elements. First, note the soccer-style captaincy armband on the Soviet player. Also: clear boards! “The only other clear boards I know of in North America were the ones used at the St. Paul Civic Center for the WHA’s Minnesota FIghting Saints from 1972 to roughly 1995,” says Jeff. “Then the rise of ads on the boards and the age and condition of the clear ones led to their replacement.” … Why do we wear pants? The answer may surprise you (thanks, Kirsten). … Here’s a cool video showing how the Budweiser NASCAR car is wrapped — yes, not painted, wrapped (from John Rael). … Life imitates art schlock: New uniforms for female U.S. military personnel is based on gear from Xena: Warrior Princess (thanks, Brinke). … Here’s what Rickie Fowler will be wearing at the British Open (from Ben Hendel). … New kits for Everton (from Andrew Rader). … Longtime Uni Watch contributor Ryan Connelly has started a new blog devoted to photos of hand-painted signs in Pittsburgh. “Old, new, ghost, interesting, some (very little) graffiti, etc.,” he says. “Going to try to capture as much as I can, but take my time. Maybe post one or two new pics a day.” … Here are New Zealand’s Olympic uniforms (from Tom Mulgrew). … The Saints have a pretty funny weightlifting/fitness logo (from Russell Goutierez). … New kits for Tottenham Hotspur. “It’s Under Armour’s first foray into English soccer and I’m quite impressed,” says Mike Guterman. … Yesterday I mentioned the bat-handled shovels at the Cubs’ training facility groundbreaking in Mesa, Arizona. That prompted a note from longtime reader Randy Policar, who, it turns out, works for the city of Mesa. “It was my idea to do the shovelbats for the groundbreaking,” he says. “I worked with Louisville Slugger and told them what we wanted to make. They made the bats and left on a knob at the end for us to attach the shovelhead to. We went to a local Home Depot, bought shovels, cut off the handles, spray-painted them blue ,and attached them to the knob on the end of the bat (after some measuring and cutting). We made them in the woodshop of one of our local museums. Only 20 were made.” … Here’s something new to me (although maybe not to you): poolball, which is a combination of pool and soccer (from Markus Kamp). … Here’s a good slideshow of USA Olympic opening ceremony outfits through the years. No word on how many of the designs were made in China. … If you’ve always wanted to see a visual timeline of LeBron James’s headbands, today is your lucky day (from Rex Henry). … Hoo baby: Back in 1956, baseball was a demonstration sport at the Olympics, and the Aussies wore solid green uniforms. Sign me up! (From M.J. Viquez.) … As you know, nobody is officially dead until the New York Times says so. So here’s their obit for the Electric Football guy.

Get well soon, Jim — you’re in our thoughts today. And don’t let this keep you from that U.S. 6 trip!

 
  
 
Comments (246)

    Fascinating: So Rawlings couldn’t (or wouldn’t) manufacture the bumblebee pinstripes, and the Pirates had to go overseas to get that uni made.

    If only teams today had the ability to take their business elsewhere when Majestic or New Era refuse to deliver to team specifications.

    IIRC, it was both the stripes and the black. I’ll have to look at Henderson once the new edition is “announced” here, but it may be that by 1980, an American company could do the black, and the white became easy once the stripes were dropped.

    Bravo, Paul! Best Uni Watch in a while. Strong opinions on a national uniform related topic, great recap of a new college unveiling and a solid ticker. Enjoy the weekend.

    So close, aTm, so close.

    The gray facemask is STUPID

    The beveling on the numbers should match the logo (when the logo is white, the beveling is red – but it’s gray on the numbers)

    Why isn’t the helmet logo using the beveling too? Bevel or don’t bevel, make up our minds, please.

    Not bad overall though, assuming they can get the majority of the players to wear the undersleeves.

    I will be SO confused when A&M plays Mississippi State this year. adidas has used this template before for MSU, sans beveled numbers. Overall? Meh…

    Um, I’m pretty sure that’s not even close to the template Adidas uses for MSU.

    Bevel is stupid. White helmet is stupid. The maroon jersey and helmet matching each other better than either matches the pants is stupid. This aTm team has a decent argument for the gray facemask as they use gray in all the bevels, so the gray facemask is less stupid than those other features.

    The bevel announcement met with some serious backlash. I just hope the helmet doesn’t show up on the field with the bevelled logo! I can live with some stupid bevelling of the jersey for a year or two – don’t fuck with the helmet!

    “Bevel is stupid.”
    I agree. That is the worst part of the whole uni. Most Aggies have hated the bevel since it was introduced and wish we would go back to a solid colored or flat logo.

    “White helmet is stupid.”
    I disagree. This uniform is supposed to be based on the uniforms that we wore during the 70s. If you look at this page link or at helmet hut, it shows that during much of the 70’s we wore white and maroon helmets, both with gray facemasks.

    Overall, I think they did a pretty good job recreating the unis from the 70s.

    I was going to say the gray facemask was a throwback too, link. I could have sworn we had maroon helmets with gray facemasks for several years…

    Just link“>incorporate more gray, I am sure!

    I was going to say the gray facemask was a throwback too, link. I could have sworn we had maroon helmets with gray facemasks for several years…

    Just link, I am sure!

    I was going to say the gray facemask was a throwback too, link. I could have sworn we had maroon helmets with gray facemasks for several years…

    Just trying tolink, I am sure!

    Lake Superior State used clear boards at least through the mid-90’s. I don’t think they still use them now.

    Good for them. Maybe they’ll finally take that stupid helmet off of the dolphin. The other animal teams don’t have helmets on their logos.

    /or they could use the real helmet and go for the infinite recursion thing

    The other animal teams don’t have helmets on their logos.

    That’s what makes it cool.

    You’re on a roll!

    link was a cool logo too.

    I don’t think I’ve ever heard of pewter being called “stunning” before. It’s dull as dirt.

    21st century version? So what are they going to do to the dolphin? Make it with angry jagged metallic silver & gold teeth, razor-sharp fin with blockshadow, quadruple outlining in black, gray, navy & purple, 3-D bulging biceps & muscles while texting all while completely over-designed in Illustrator? All on a black jersey with matching black pants, of course.

    I think he meant the combination of pewter and red is stunning

    I know, and it’s not.

    Honestly, yeah it is sorta silly for a pirate to wear a football helmet. You could argue that he’s more of an apocalyptic wasteland raider ( think Mad Max or Fallout 3 or something) and an old football helmet is the best head gear available, and it sorta works… but, yeah. I can’t say I’d complain too much if they changed it to a spiked helmet or a pirate hat or just made him a skull or… whatever, as long as the colors stay black & silver and the uniform doesn’t go too wacky.

    Yeah, what’s up with that raider? He looks like some kind of whack job who rides a scooter with his tongue hanging out in a Don Knotts Disney movie.

    Yeah because sports logo mascots are always supposed to be 100% serious, blood thirsty combat warriors & angry. Not.

    A plain orange M on the helmet(like the one on the dolphin’s head) would be an upgrade.

    Maybe this has been covered before, but every player on the Gary Southshore Railcats of the American Association wears stirrups:

    link

    The road set, which they were wearing in Worcester last night, really stands out because of the stirrups. The fans certainly took notice of a visiting team that was dressed so well.

    Anyone else catch the California Collegiate League’s All-Star game last night? I have no idea why it was televised in the Atlanta area, but uni-wise, the San Luis Obispo Blues rock!

    link

    Everyone else went softball tops. Apparently, no one else has the creativity/budget to match the SLO Blues.

    I really don’t like shoulder stripes that run from collar to sleeve on football uniforms. Never have. I’m not sure why; maybe it’s because it doesn’t seem to fit with the flow of the uniform or something.
    I may not be an Aggie fan, but I am a pretty proud Texan (our state’s politics aside), so I like seeing the state outline on the pants.
    A&M refers to the University of Texas as t.u. (yes, including the lowercase), because, as they put it, “t.u. isn’t the only university in Texas!” That’s probably some impetus for putting the state on the pants. That, and they’re the only Texas team in the SEC.

    Man… the navy Patriots throwback hat is just WRONG. The Cowboys isn’t really much of a throwback either.

    Interesting that they don’t show all 32 teams… does this mean we’ve just been told exactly which teams will wear throwback uniforms this season?

    think this just a teaser, the full line should be revealed later today on their site

    I know they’re appeasing their target market, but those flat brims just look… oh wait… that was my comment from yesterday.

    I like the Acme Packers cap. The colors don’t look right…but I’d want to curve up that brim right away.

    I’d blackout the New Era logo on the side otherwise that Bears hat looks good with a proper curved brim, of course.

    Clothes being made overseas? I’ve never heard of such a thing.

    To me, this is just Congress keeping up their image as time-wasting assholes. And if they are so upset about it, they should vote on a law stating that the Olympic Uniforms should be made in America-it won’t be the first time they’ve done something like this.

    Is this the first time the Opening Ceremony uniforms are not American made? What about the athletic uniforms?

    If Congress is upset about the outfits, maybe they should vote on helping to pay some money for the US Olympic Team.

    Almost all of the Team USA’s funding comes from private fundraising, and most of that is from corporate sponsors and marketing deals. If Congress doesn’t think it is important to help fund Team USA, they shouldn’t make a stink when Team USA finds new funding sources.

    Also, someone should check Harry Reid’s closet. Make sure all of his clothes are made in USA. He is a US Senator. What kind of message is he sending with his wardrobe choices?

    In fact, we should make sure every member of Congress wears only American manufactured clothing in the Halls of Congress. I’m sure there are no Italian shoes or Chinese neckties in the Capitol.

    This is a long, winded diatribe that almost holds no water if you’re listing reasons why the Olympics shouldn’t be watched. Let’s go through your points.

    Athletes on steriods (The committee has stepped up to the 1996/2000 drug scandals and is doing a good job with their cracking down in recent years)
    Athletes pretending to love other athletes (??? I thought this was gamemanship)
    Athletes have sex. (Wow, so do we.)
    Crappy, Lisa Simpson blowjob logo. (I agree the logo is crappy but we’ve had plenty great All Star games/Super Bowls with crappy logos)
    Asking a dead guy to sing. (Pretty funny if you ask me)
    Tickets/airports snafu (Don’t all hosting cities go through this? I don’t care since I, like 99% other Americans who like the Olympics, will be watching from home)

    The only thing I agree with you are the branding policies of the Olympic committee. It’s pretty sickening and should be changed. However, that’s one side of the coin. On the other side is a competition that is genuinely fun to watch. If you want to let a ticketing snafu piss you off, go for it. Either way, you turn on the TV and the Olympic Committee counts you as a viewer and the more viewers they get, the more money they get.

    This is a long, winded diatribe that almost holds no water if you’re listing reasons why the Olympics shouldn’t be watched.

    When did I say the Olympics shouldn’t be watched?

    Ohh so you aren’t discouraging people to watch because of all the screw ups? My bad.

    Putting this here as the thread has run out of nesting. :(

    I’m still waiting for the edict from some mid-level Health and Safety functionary that cancels the whole stonking thing. I was amazed they even let the torch into the country.

    Hey, Fred, I’ll be watching some (track and field, mostly), but I’m probably more annoyed — scandalized, even — by the commercial usurpation than you are. It’s awful, and probably irreversible. Once I was a huge huge fan of the Olympics, through the medium of US television for live coverage and some excellent documentaries for later viewing. Steadily, steadily, US TV had more ads, more “up close” lamebrain features, and more schlock in general. Still, enterprising northern Americans could cross the border and watch much better and more thorough coverage on CBC. They still can, actually. But starting most noticeably in Atlanta, the games themselves — and the athletes — became billboards. And now the disgrace of London’s mawkish deals and the idiocy of suing Greek diners. The evolution of the Olympic Games is one of the saddest stories I know.

    Can’t talk now; I’m training for the Olympics by eating handfuls of McDonalds’ frech fries.

    Count me as another who doesn’t care about the Olympics. If the PEDs weren’t ruining it (if you don’t think athletes are using undetectable designer PEDs you are naive), then all the advertising, the IOC acting like they’re royalty & that hosting the Olympics is a privilege whom swindle governments and taxpayers out of BILLIONS to build facilities & boring sports/events themselves do. It is just a big farce that is a huge inconvenience & the games themselves seem antiquated.

    I hope the United States never hosts the Olympics again because it is a GIGANTIC waste of money & resources. Why don’t you ask Greece how hosting the 2004 games is link.

    I hope the United States never hosts the Olympics again…

    The main reason I write entries like this one is to encourage an air of skepticism about the Olympics so that they never ever ever ever ever take place in my city. It’s too much to hope for that they’d never take place in my country again, but we can at least try to keep that to a minimum. The more people who see the Olympics for what they are — just another case of cynical profiteering — the more we can steer them away from these shores.

    Do you think we (and by that I mean “the man in the street”) wanted it here? Besides the football (and I will be going to see that because it’s football) the events are all London-based, but my taxes will be paying for it for years to come, instead of funding hospitals, schools etc. And even if you applied for tickets for London events, you couldn’t get them. I know of many many people who applied for tickets but I know of no-one who got them.

    This is an excellent motivation! I was thrilled when New York was not awarded the Olympics. If we had “won” them, then Flushing Meadow Park would have been destroyed, and we’d be living in an outright police state in which you’d need an ID card in order to go outside.

    May the Olympics never come here.

    You have no idea how glad I was that Chicago didn’t win the games for 2016. While it would be “cool”, it would end up being a complete pain in the ass for the citizens for 3 weeks of “coolness’.

    Some of the IOC’s newer host-city requirements are simply not possible to implement under the U.S. Constitution.

    One US city could use (and would certainly take)all that comes with hosting the Games:

    Detroit (although from the look of it, they’ve hosted one already?).

    Make Greece the permanent site for the Games.

    Seriously, good call. An excuse to built a whole bunch of shit and no one there to complain about it, unless it doesn’t jumpstart everything and ends up like the Beijing facilities.

    Detroit Olympics and/or Bust…literally

    Weird Detroit Olympic fact – they were the US host city of choice in the 1950s and 1960s and barely lost out to Mexico City to host the 1968 Summer Games.

    If not for the 1967 riots, which forever ended their hopes of getting the Olympics, Detroit would have almost certainly gotten the 1976 games.

    None of the maroons on aTm’s uni’s match. They’re three different shades. Don’t care for the beveling on the numbers or the matte of the helmets. And the idea of the compression undershirt being part of the unifrom design continues to be one of the dumbest gimmicks in uni design. It’s an equipment element, not a unifrom element, and not everyone even prefers to wear it.

    Do like the stripe design. It’s distint without being contrived like most of the other crap you see on uniforms.

    Look at the image of the old ’70’s version Paul linked to….

    link

    …. It has sleeves. And I don’t think it’s a, uh, STRETCH, to say that it’s pretty tight fitting. No maker’s mark, no superfluous university name reminder, no pointless conference logo. No beveling.

    …and now this impossibly cluttered, hard to look at abomination…

    link

    I give up.

    You can’t compare today’s uni to a 70’s “barely more than a practice jersey” style. Apples and oranges. By the way, the full uni was link

    I think it is great they tried to honor the old-school uni – even in the link! But I am the “keeper” of SWC football – so, of course I love it!

    Again, the beveling is done incorrectly. Check out the photo of the guy wearing the #10 jersey. The top of the top serif on the #1 is beveled. The top of the bottom serif on the right is not. They should match. I guess it does match the mistake in their logo, though.

    The NFL on field uniforms are made in Berlin Wisconsin by Ripon Athletic. Easy enough mistake…

    -Leatherhead

    Nike’s Elite 51 uniforms (some just the jerseys, others the full uniform) are genuine Nike articles except for the unis worn by the Falcons, Eagles, probably the Raiders, and your Packers.

    You can read Paul’s write-up link.

    I doubt Nike manufactures its own uniforms. I have always heard they use Powers, except for those teams that want to continue to use Ripon jerseys, which you’ve already mentioned.

    A poll, if you please, on something that’s been darkening my cerebral cortex all morning. The 2012 Nittany Lions will wear: A. A commemorative patch for Coach Paterno. B. A black armband. C. No recognition for Paterno. D. There will be no 2012 Penn State football. Thoughts?

    c.

    they’re going to try to distance themselves as much as possible. Which will be next to impossible to do because of 1. it such a huge story 2. the guy was there for 40 some years.

    as for d. i don’t think it would be right to totally implode the football program. it only hurts the players, the student body, and the fan base. none of those people had anything to with the scandal, so why should the be punished for the sins of others.

    i don’t think it would be right to totally implode the football program. it only hurts the players, the student body, and the fan base. none of those people had anything to with the scandal, so why should the be punished for the sins of others.

    The exact same words could be used when a team is getting its program suspended for recruiting violations, or for any other reason.

    I’m not saying the Penn State program should be suspended for 2012; I’m just saying that an argument like “It just hurts the fans” isn’t a particularly strong one, because it applies to all potential situations — and therefore to none of them.

    maybe so,

    in recent years there’s hasn’t been any programs(that i know of) that had to halt their football program due to NCAA violations. usually if a program breaks a NCAA rule or rules, they lose scholarships and/or banned from postseason play but never the loss of the entire program.

    The whole cover-up happened because the powers that be were too worried about the football program. Through all the proceedings, everyone always was asking, “what will happen to the football program?” Little was ever asked about the victims. Life will go on without Penn State football for a season. Emphasis needs to be taken off football and the program. Penn State shouldn’t worry about football right now. It is not important. They have bigger problems. It was such a football culture in Happy Valley that what happened was allowed to happen because they feared how the university and football program would look. People worried more about the football program, their coach, and their record than they did children’s well-being. Total wins were the priority. Not total lives ruined by a monster. The day Penn State takes such emphasis off football is the day they are for sure back on the right track.

    Ask yourself this: If the season does go on (not saying I think it should be shut down, just giving an instance) and you are a victim or the family member of a victim, and you see the team take the field. You see the signs from fans thanking God that football is back and that Joe will never be forgot. The town is once again embracing the team. Do you feel like you really matter at all? Do you feel coming out and telling your story, one that was so hard to tell, was worth the pain? Do you feel like anything changed for the better? No, business as usual. Football over all else. That’s was the culture that allowed what happened to happen.

    The death penalty is almost never invoked. But the “It just hurts the fans” argument basically means the death penalty should NEVER be invoked. If that’s what you mean, come out and say so.

    Again, I’m not necessarily arguing for Penn State’s program to be suspended. There would be pros and cons.

    Pros: Send a strong message that football is not the most important thing at your school, get back to doing what a university is supposed to do (i.e., educate students), reestablish sensible priorities for a system that had clearly run amok, etc., hopefully reset the machinery so that the environment that allowed this to happen is destroyed.

    Cons: Bitter pill for the players and fans. The players should all get to keep their scholarships, and should be given assistance to help them transfer to other schools if they want.

    I’ve heard a lot about “give em the death penalty”. People need to understand that the “death penalty” is a punishment levied BY the NCAA after an NCAA investigation when finding NCAA wrongdoing.
    The Freeh report was an investigation into the way people within the PSU organization handled the reporting of crimes. NOT an NCAA investigation. Im not sure the NCAA even has any jurisdiction (-yet. I’d assume they have justification to open their own investigation now) In addition, the “death penalty” is a nickname for the repeat offenders punishment. They would have to have broken some NCAA rule, first, then do it again.
    I’ve also read/heard people saying that the authorities should be able to levy punishment against the athletic program. I cant begin to think how dangerous a precedent that would be.

    The NCAA does indeed have its own jurisdiction over the program, as noted in link last November.

    Reading the NCAA bylaws, I don’t see any reason why the NCAA couldn’t come down hard on Penn State right now. If the violation is considered sufficiently severe, they can institute “Prohibition against an intercollegiate sports team or teams participating against outside competition for a specified period” regardless of whether the institution was a repeat offender. (19.5.2.2(j))

    Shut ’em down. The University has shown that it cannot responsibly run a football program, so they should live without one for a while. I’d suggest five years, at an absolute minimum.

    Chance gets it exactly right in my book. Five years. Full scholarships, including books, room, and board, for all affected athletes who do not wish to transfer. And NCAA review of the school’s reformed management plans to ensure that child rapists or other criminals are not in future abetted before the program is allowed back.

    Will it hurt some players and fans? Absolutely. Which is fine, because nobody in the Penn State community is an innocent bystander here. The Freeh report details extensive knowledge of the child rape in the athletic department; some players must have been aware of the moral rot and criminality in their locker room, and none took action. As for the fans, their unhealthy, worshipful culture significantly magnified the incentive for PSU’s CYA response. Penn State is not unique in this regard. But other schools with an idolatrous fan culture haven’t yet been shown to have aided and abetted child rape, so the burden falls on PSU. The fans are, tangentially but materially, a part of the problem. A breather to think about their priorities – especially for the alumni donor community – would do everyone a world of good.

    Alternately to shutting the football program down, I’d be OK with letting the football program continue to operate, provided that it was subject for a number of years to all the restrictions the law places on registered sex offenders. Meaning most particularly that no one could conduct PSU football business at or near high schools, nor approach or contact minors under the age of 18. See how scouting and recruiting go under those restrictions.

    how can you hold Joe Tickeholder accountable here? just because they love PSU and College Football, it’s suddenly their fault Paterno and crew decided to cover up these heinous acts to cover their own a$$es. I don’t see how you can put this blame on the fanbase. It was a group of men that made this decision because they didn’t want to tarnish their names or lose their jobs. that where all the blame should lie, not on innocent bystanders that had no idea what was going on behind the scenes.

    sure the fan base is very apologetic towards Joe Pa, but he’s all they’ve known for 40+ years. He had done a lot of community work over the years to make them believe he was a noble guy. Just like any one you think you know for an extended period of time, you’re going to try to defend his/her name. am i saying that it’s right for them to do so? no, but i can understand where it is coming from.

    Chance,
    Thanks for checking the NCAA bylaws.
    I do question the meaning of the “If the violation is considered sufficiently severe…”
    Since it is an NCAA bylaw, wouldnt the violation it speaks of have to be an NCAA violation and not a legal/criminal violation?

    What to do about Paterno’s statue is also a big question.

    The best solution I heard so far: Throw a tarp over it to cover it up…that’s what Joe would have preferred.

    Cheap shot, but funny.

    Either remold it so that he’s holding a copy of the Freeh report, or add two more statues of Paterno in hear-no-evil and see-no-evil poses.

    That, or, and here’s my serious idea, add a few relevant lines from the Freeh report about Paterno’s involvement in the cover-up to the wall on either side of it with the inspirational quotes. That would be the “never forget” option.

    (Incidentally, lesson to us all: Don’t erect bronze statues of people while they’re still alive and still doing the job that inspired the urge to erect a statue. This ain’t North Korea; no person of good character and republican virtue needs to see himself cast in bronze while he’s still alive.)

    I was going to post this separately, but this is a good spot…

    As part of what I propose for Penn State’s punishment for the apathy and cover-up, I am calling for them to add a Prevent Child Abuse awareness ribbon decal to their helmets. Permanently.

    You can see a very quick and crude mock-up here: link

    As to the original question, I’m going to go with C. Joe tarnished his legacy in a big, big way, and as such, does not deserve an on-field honor.

    JoePa didn’t tarnish his legacy. He demonstrated that he has no legacy. All that business about his greatness rested on the idea that he was a special builder of character and molder of men. Turns out, not only from his own behavior but also from the behavior of a number of people who had literally grown from adolescence to manhood under his wing, that the emperor had no clothes. When it really counted, the character JoePa demonstrated and instilled was self-regard and cowardice.

    On the field, he was very good at managing football games. But coaches who are good at leading teams to win football games are dime a dozen; every school has a handful in their history and nobody much remembers them. JoePa has been revealed to be one of them – just a guy who was good at winning football games. Nothing more, nothing less, but there’s no “legacy” involved with just being that guy.

    they should also take a percentage of their ticket/merchandise sales and donate it to Child Abuse foundations

    How about another option: a memorial patch for the innocence brutally taken from the raped children?

    If not that, I’d vote D.

    i know what i’m about to say would be considered heresy in many parts of this country, but would it really be that bad if there were no football at PSU for a single season?

    living in the northeast, i cannot begin to fathom just how much football means to people in other parts of the country, so i won’t pretend to understand just how important it is — but losing a single season at PSU just might be the right tonic in this situation — as much as that would hurt (directly) a few hundred people and (indirectly) thousands, if not millions

    quick aside: a co-worker had a son who went to PSU — she knows NOTHING about professional or college sports — NOTHING — but she went to a game at happy valley…for two weeks she couldn’t shut up about how much fun the experience was, how great it was being in a stadium with 107,000 people, all with one shared goal (presumably) — to see PSU win

    that alone shows me the power college football has over many, many people

    which is precisely why losing one single season might just be the best thing that could happen, not just to PSU, but to the entire college football nation

    remember how bad the 1994 baseball strike was, and how we’ll never forget it — it took that single stupid event to prove to A LOT of people that baseball wasn’t the single most important thing in the world, and you know what? the earth didn’t spin off its axis (and the sun still rose in the east), and we moved on (as far as how selig and the powers-that-be handled things afterwards, we won’t go there) — but baseball is back and while it’s an ugly stain on our collective, it did prove that life goes on

    life (and football) will go on at PSU … but a one year, self-imposed year without football would do much for the collective and send a message that kids lives are FAR MORE IMPORTANT than football

    Not only that, but sports is not even the most important thing in a college sports program.

    why just stop at Football then, the AD was involved in this as well. shouldn’t all sports be shut down because of his involvement??

    the community is not at fault here. the administration was. Punish them not people who were not apart of this.

    Why punish field hockey, for example, for the misbehavior of the football program?

    I can’t speak for Penn State specifically, but in general, if the football team doesn’t exist (and does not bring in tens of millions of dollars) the field hockey team and pretty much any other Olympic, non-revenue sport does not exist either.

    We may not like it, but that is the way it is on most big time college campuses.

    I agree that football is not the be all and end all. But, considering the current economic climate, to suspend the PSU football program would be a massive blow to the livelihoods of State College’s citizens, who, other than being rabid fans, did nothing wrong. State College, like many college towns, revolves around the income brought in by athletics events. Imagine if Green Bay shut down the Packers for a year. Without that income, Green Bay’s economy would slow tremendously. The same applies to State College. In some ways, to the community, Penn State football is the most important thing in their lives, not because they live and die with Penn State’s victories or defeats, but because without Penn State football and all the incoming people and money, their community and economy lack their driving force.

    Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Penn State football: too big to fail.

    Please — you’re gonna have to come up with a better argument than that.

    “Penn State football is the most important thing in their lives, not because they live and die with Penn State’s victories or defeats, but because without Penn State football and all the incoming people and money, their community and economy lack their driving force.”

    ~~~

    that’s just sad, bro

    Paul & Phil – enjoymoreradio is right: shutting down PSU football could be a crushing blow for several local businesses.

    Consider, during the 2004-2005 fiscal year:

    “The Nebraska football program alone had an economic impact on the Lincoln area of:
    – $87.1 million in output (including $35.4 million from fan spending),
    – $31.2 million in worker income,
    – 2,130 jobs (one-third being concession or event worker jobs), and
    – $498,000 in direct sales tax revenue for the City of Lincoln.”

    (source: link)

    Also consider:
    – These numbers are 7 years old, from a season where NU went 5-6.
    – Penn State’s Beaver Stadium seats 25,000 more people than Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium.
    – State College, PA has over 200,000 fewer people than Lincoln, NE.

    Bottom line – you may find enjoymoreradio’s comments maudlin or expressive of everything that is wrong with society, but if you own a hotel, restaurant, bar, gas station, or retail store in State College, PA a death penalty for Penn State football could likely be a death penalty for your business.

    And as my link above spells out, there is a way to punish PSU without causing undue harm on others.

    “Paul & Phil — enjoymoreradio is right: shutting down PSU football could be a crushing blow for several local businesses.”

    ~~~

    i don’t want to sound flip, but there are a lot of things that suck in this world, and this would surely be one for a lot of innocent people

    but that’s still no reason to keep the football program in place

    im sure the best buggy-whip maker made a hell of a buggy whip, but by the time henry ford was done, there was no need for his services anymore

    will the economic impact be severe? of course, and in this economy, that’s a terrible blow — but it’s not like the world will end if PSU is without football for a year and it’s not like everyone will suddenly be unemployed, unable to find any other livelihood…life can and will go on without football

    im sure a lot of good swastika flag factories were harmed when the nazi’s went out of power, but them’s the breaks (not saying this is the same thing, but the point is sometimes life deals you lemons…make some lemonade)

    the ‘greater good’ here is that PSU really needs to lose football for a year

    There’s the matter of setting an example, though… the NCAA needs to send a loud and clear message to all its members about what happens when higher-ups try to cover up a mess. Paterno, Curley, Schultz and Spanier were so concerned about their football program and its image that they allowed–and enabled–Sandusky to continue molesting young boys. The message I hope NCAA sends should be something like “If you put your football program so far above everything else that you’re willing to sacrifice your morals, or turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the cries of innocent people, then you should spend some time without said program so you can re-evaluate your priorities.”

    Not to be comparing this scandal to the one that SMU had–their problem was money, not molestation–but seeing as both SMU and PSU allowed wrongdoing to go on repeatedly over an extended period of time, maybe PSU should be shut down for two years (as SMU was in 1987-88). Or at the very least, no home games for two years–if PSU wants to play football, it would have to do so on the road.

    Phil – Sure, times change, businesses adapt or fail, and so on.

    But why does a punishment need to hurt innocent people?

    Why couldn’t we do what I propose (link) let PSU play, but get ’em where it hurts – in the pocketbook). Plus, we can provide serious funds for those in need. And the nice people of Happy Valley can continue to make their buggy whips.

    And that is as close to a win/win as we’ll ever find.

    Unless the University’s endowment covers it, PSU might need the gate receipts from the football games to pay for all the lawsuits they stand to lose.

    Arc so you’re last scenerio pretty much would end the program anyways. since they wouldn’t be able to go to high schools and interact with anyone under the age of 18, PSU wouldn’t be able to recruit new players, essentially killing the program in a year or two instead of immediately

    No, they could still accept applications from potential recruits. People who really really wanted to play football in the program that normalized child rape could send highlight DVDs and whatnot for review. I mean, seriously, literally anyone can apply to attend Penn State right here:

    link

    Turns out you don’t have to wait for a football recruiter to come to your house and speak with your parents! Who knew.

    That, or PSU would have to rely on tryouts for walk-ons and field a team of actual student-athletes.

    Either way, PSU fans get their sacred football fix, the severity and widespread responsibility for the criminality is acknowledged, and if Penn State consequently fails to win as many football games as otherwise, boo-fuckin-hoo.

    Another vote for D. None of this will ever end as long as the overall concern is “how will this impact the football team?” Who gives a fuck at this point about Penn State athletics?

    The famous sporting goods store apparently isn’t famous enough to get the name correct. It’s cosby’s, not crosby’s.

    Sorry to veer off topic, again, Paul, but I just have to know. Were The Minnesota North Stars the first team to go BFBS? I’ll be quiet now.

    I think the North Stars sorta predate the trend so they don’t really count. From skimming sportslogos.net they apparently added black in ’82, which is definitely before anyone else… but no one really followed them in it.

    I think I’d give the credit for actually starting the trend to either the LA Kings or to Jerry Glanville who was wearing black while on the sidelines coaching the Oilers. I feel that the trend started in the late 80’s. You had Raiders jerseys in rap videos, the Kings switch to black, the Detroit Pistons were selling black & silver “Bad Boys” gear… and it sorta exploded from there – the Falcons went to black in 1990, the White Sox to black in ’91, and *boom*. At least that’s my clouded memory of it.

    Totally agree with this analysis. Raises the question of what BFBS is. Just making black a team color in 1982 doesn’t seem to me to be BFBS. Teams change colors all the time, and black is a perfectly legitimate color. (Even if I didn’t like it, as with the Stars.) I’m not sure I’d even say the Falcons. The White Sox switch in 1991 felt at the time like trend-chasing, maybe even the first team to identify black as a retail trend that could be chased. So I sort of regard the Sox as the first true BFBS. After that, the dam breaks and black is all over the place.

    A trend has to start somewhere and the pointless addition of black most certainly started with the 1981 North Stars.

    Talk about a change outta left field. I was dumbfounded when they did that. Perplexed. There was no discernable reason, no motive, no sense behind the move. They sullied one of the most beautiful uniforms in sports. It added nothing and destroyed everything. It was a blemish that wouldn’t go away, only get worse.

    Yes, the beginning of the end.

    Meanwhile, if what they’re saying about the Kinicks getting rid of their unsightly black is true, that’s reason to celebrate.

    A trend has to start somewhere and the pointless addition of black most certainly started with the 1981 North Stars.

    In order for it to be the start of a trend, other teams have to copy it, and relatively soon after. The Philadelphia Eagles did add a minimal amount of black trim to their uniforms in 1985 – but it was barely noticeable, and they’d had similar levels of black trim in ’70-’73. I really doubt that the North Stars had any influence on that at all.

    I mean, you can’t look at the 1966 Houston Oilers adding silver to their color scheme as the start of the silver/gray trend we’re seeing today. It just doesn’t work that way.

    The North Stars added black completely out of nowhere, yes – but (aside from the team’s fans) no one cared. It really didn’t start any movements.

    The BFBS seed was planted, so to speak, Jeff, in ’81. There wasn’t a massive copycat movement, true, but the notion of adding black–black?– had been born.

    Maybe you had to be a uniform geek (and NOT just a North Stars fan) at the time to appreciate the impact of those black stripes. We noticed. We smelled a rat. Something was up, something unsavory. Over time that rat got bigger and bolder and started reproducing (see Teebz’s post below).

    The Sox uniform was a trendsetter but has stood the test of time. What struck me about it when it came out was: (1) how much it looked like Sox unis of the past, only in black instead of navy or red; and how much the cap looked like the Malcolm X cap that was popular at the time.

    In any case, weren’t the Sox preceded by the L.A. Kings?

    Kings changed for the 1988-89 season, White Sox debuted the black pinstripes on link, the last home stand of 1990.

    Until that point, the White Sox wore:
    black: 15 seasons
    navy: 67 seasons

    Unfortunately the black stuck & I much prefer navy & red. But this upsets me more, come 2013:

    Padres in navy: 22 seasons
    Padres in brown: 21 seasons

    I’d always thought BFBS happened as a result of the rise in popularity of Raiders gear worn by NWA.

    The North Stars first wore black uniforms in 1991. The BFBS trend was in full motion by then. The LA Kings switched from purple to black in 1988, when Gretzky arrived. That was a uniform change I really liked.

    The ultimate example of BFBS has to be the Buffalo Sabres. In 1996 the team moved to a new arena. What better way to celebrate something new than by throwing away your tradition?! There was no reason to trade blue & gold for black & red other than the “But mommy, the other kids are doing it” excuse. Were they trying to copy Ottawa? The much maligned “buff-a-slug” uniform was a great upgrade just by returning to blue & gold.

    Black really began bleeding into hockey in the 1992-93 season. The New Jersey Devils changed their accent color to black that season after the Stars, who were in the midst of an ownership change and move, had gone black and dropped the northern star “N” in 1991-92.

    The 1994-95 season saw the Calgary Flames introduce black into their uniform as a hem stripe that connected to the flaming “C”.

    In 1995-96, Pittsburgh introduced a black alternate uniform to go along with their black road uniform. Washington also changed their uniforms to the screaming eagle logo, adding black as an accent color on their uniforms and logo.

    In 1996-97, the Sabres went black, Chicago introduced a black alternate uniform, and Winnipeg moved to Phoenix and went black.

    In 1997-98, the Flyers donned black alternate uniforms, and Washington did the same with their Capitol building alternate. The Sharks, having worn black as a hem stripe and accent color, add more black to their alternate uniform. Pittsburgh eliminates one of their two black uniforms, though, retiring the diagonal Pittsburgh jersey.

    In 1998-99, the flaming horsehead makes its first appearance in Calgary, and the Kings move to purple and black.

    In 1999-2000, the Capitals officially add their black alternate uniform as their road uniform.

    In 2000-01, the Ottawa Senators retire their original black uniform, replacing it with a new black alternate uniform. The Penguins add another black alternate, accenting it with vegas gold.

    In 2001-02, the Flyers officially remove their orange road uniforms, replacing them with their black alternate. The San Jose Sharks introduce a new black alternate uniform.

    That’s ten years of black being dropped on the NHL. There were also a number of teams – Edmonton, Florida, Hartford – that went to navy blue from their original colours. But the issue of darker uniforms was certainly prevalent for that decade of uniforms.

    The Sabres switch to Black and Red was as much about capitalizing on a trend and trying to reinvigorate a stale brand that wasn’t keeping up with the Bills explosion of the previous few years as it was about giving a shout out to their new arena sponsors HSBC, whose corporate colors are or were black and red.

    I know at it’s opening it was Marine Midland Arena but Marine Midland was a part of the HSBC group and the writing was on the wall for a corporate name change.

    Ironically enough after the Sabres switched back to their traditional blue and gold the naming rights to the arena were bought by First Niagara Bank whose corporate colors are blue and gold.

    I’d say most of the examples listed (Falcons, White Sox, etc.) are teams that actually changed their primary color to black. Has it been established which team was the first to ever wear a mostly black jersey/uniform, perhaps as an alternate or whatever, when they had up to that point never worn black before? That, to me, would be a better definition of BFBS.

    The New York “Mercury” Mets, maybe? A team wearing a non-team-color uniform, black or otherwise is more of recent NCAA thing, long after the “black trend” had already started.

    That was what, 1999? I thought the Mets had already snuck in the black jersey by that point?

    I wouldn’t be surprised if the true answer lies with some small-college team somewhere.

    Where do the 1979-80 Pittsbrgh Penguins fall into the BFBS discussion? I understand that they wanted to look like the other two pittsburgh teams so they made the change but doesn’t that fall into the basic BFBS plan. It seems that other teams decied to use the black as accent.

    Again, I think they predate the trend. If the Steelers & Pirates had been wearing purple & green, then that’s what the Penguins would have switched to. They didn’t switch because “wearing black is cool”.

    There have been several good examples provided in this thread, but really, doesn’t it have to be the L.A. Kings in ’88?

    They started the trend, but it’s true that black for black’s sake is when a team wears black and it’s not the team’s color. The first team I remember doing that is Duke in basketball, around 1996 or 1997.

    The Kings actually copied the color scheme of the Hull Olympiques, a team that Gretzky partially owned that featured a young player by the name of Luc Robitaille.

    so the 1988-89 Kings decided to ditch their Laker like threads for LA Raiders ones. Also at Wayne’s Kings introduction presser, he holds up a white and silver jersey. So I guess the uniform change was in the planning stages well before 99 moved to LA LA Land.

    Christ at this point how about we throw in the Bruins switching from brown to black in 1934?

    The hockey rink used for 1972 Winter Olympics from Sapporo Japan had clear boards, I’m assuming, that’s where the picture is from , but could be wrong. I remember thinking as a kid, the clear boards were the ultimate in cool.

    The worst part of the A&M uniform is the stupid A&M logo on the back of the jersey below the collar. (As if they needed one more A&M logo, anywhere).

    It totally throws off the entire look of the rear of the jersey. The name and number are way too low.

    “Crosby’s, the famous sporting goods shop at Madison Square Garden”

    It is “Cosby’s,” no “R,” and it has not been at MSG for a few years now. They are now located on 31st Street. The Garden management kicked them out as part of the renovation of the building.

    Gerry Cosby was the official uniform supplier for the Rangers and the Knicks for decades, before the big boys got involved. It was the only place to get an authentic Rangers jersey.

    Cosby’s also did countless other NHL, WHA and minor league hockey teams from the 1950s until the early 1980s when even the minors began with the cookie-cutter single-manufacturer crap. They did the Providence Reds, the Baltimore Clippers, the New York Rovers (EHL), the Philadelphia Ramblers (EHL), the Long Island Ducks (EHL),the Pittsburgh Penguins, the New York Raiders/Golden Blades and the New England Whalers to name a few.

    Cosby’s would also sell you the actual lettering, numbers and logo for any of their jerseys. We had a guy that wanted a second-year Whalers jersey with the “Harpoon-W” and the “Pucky” sleeve patches. We had Athletic Knit in Hialeah, Fla. duplicate the jersey and we got the lettering and logos from Cosby. It turned out fantastically.

    I wish that all teams in the four major sports could still deal with local sporting goods people. Some of us could get pretty original, and for the better I might add.

    But sadly big $$$ have ruined the uniform business for everyone. Fans get charged exhorbitant fees for “authentics made in China from recycled pop bottles” and the local dealers who used to take very good care of their teams get screwed blue.

    And this practice has forced some manufacturers out of business such as DeLong (Spanjian), the real Sand-Knit (now DBA under the Ripon label) and Champion Products (the Perry, NY plant is now home to American Classic Outfitters and is owned by Liebes Lettering. They almost closed up shop when contract-buyer Adidas announced that the NBA/WNBA uniforms would be made off-shore. And I remember when Harold Koch (Dave’s father) of New Era Cap told us in the 1970s that NE would “always” make their caps here in Western New York. I’m glad he’s not around to see the Chinese-made MLB stuff his company put out. Goddamn corporate and league greed. Makes me wonder sometines while I still love sports.

    I think a lot of teams go with the bat shovel for ground breakings…

    Yankees/New Yankee Stadium
    link

    Mets/Citi Field
    link
    (funny that reyes was there)

    (Miami) Marlins/Marlins Park
    link

    *Note sure if was mentioned yesterday, I had a personal day at work, so didn’t get through the comments.

    If you’ve ever seen “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” there is a seen when the men’s Olympic team is getting on the ship. The men’s uniforms for London are almost identical.

    That movie was just on last night on TCM. But I’ve got to tell you I wasn’t watching the Olympians. Marilyn and Jane were very hot in this flick. Wow!

    That’s what prompted me Terry. Like the title suggested I was on Team Lorelei. Marylin would be hot in ANY era.

    “… Longtime Uni Watch contributor Ryan Connelly has started a new blog devoted to photos of hand-painted signs in Pittsburgh…”

    Congratulations RyCo. That’s a helluva project. Wonderful.

    thanks, fun project! i went out wednesday night in the “South Side” section of town and took 50-some pictures. didn’t even get 1/4th of the way thru the South Side though. however, i saw things that were right in front of my face my whole life and didn’t even realize were there.

    still getting the hang of tumblr…

    also note: not trying to re-create the wheel, or accomplish any ground breaking shit… just doing it for fun!

    “i saw things that were right in front of my face my whole life and didn’t even realize were there.”

    ~~~

    thanks ronnelly…look for that tomorrow at the bottom of the post…unless someone tops it of course

    Nice! There are so many great signs in your area.

    I’m no Tumblr expert, but lemme know if you get stuck with anything – I’m happy to help if I can.

    thanks! will probably reach out to you next week (out of town till wednesday). i want to set up the home page theme with my own designs

    This Texas Aggie really likes our new duds. With the (hopefully) big improvement in the Astros’ unis on the way, this is turning out to be a banner year.

    Note: the shoulder stripes were first used under head coach Emory Bellard. He also used them when he coached at Miss. State and even at Westfield High School.

    Paul, the link to your ESPN article asks for a user name and password when you click it.

    A few things:

    -When you linked to the part that says “…and then getting laid afterward.”, it led to link. I LOL’d.

    -The aTm unis are actually pretty cool. The beveling is inconsistent and dumb, but looks better on the white top’s maroon numbers, plus the overall product (numbers included) will keep them from looking like a another slight varient of ‘Bama, Arkansas, and Mississippi State.

    -Those all-green Aussie baseball uniforms are sick.

    I generally like the look of the new Texas A&M uni, but it looks like they went overboard on the size of the helmet logo if they intend to use that particular helmet model. The decal overhangs one of the vent holes on more than one pic:
    link
    link

    I anticipate some decal issues this season…

    This bugs me with numerous teams. Is there really not a better solution?

    Looks like the Knicks gave out last season’s home uni to Kidd and Camby at the press conference, but I guess that doesn’t necessarily mean that it won’t be changed before the season. But it would be interesting side note if they were given unis that they will never wear on the floor.

    link

    Interesting point. The ditching of the black makes a lot of sense–especially since they removed the black from the center court logo mid-season last year. But while I do like the new grey/silver/whatever element more than the black, I do hope they would leave a third color out of the jersey in the future and stick with simply blue and orange.

    Strange. The jersey Kidd and Camry wore has the blue-orange-white collar, while the ones sold at the NBA online store has just blue-orange. (Blue-orange-white, if you’re nitpicking.)

    Also, from a Photoshop gallery for possible Dwight Howard destinations (link) it shows the same Knicks home uni as last year’s but there’s an additional white outline to the orange number that’s itself outlined by a blue outline. I suspect that Paul knows but there must be a gag order in place, so I’ll just wait until October or whenever NY or the league decides to reveal next years jersey, whether it’s the same or updated.

    my favorite caption from the brooklyn basketball photos:

    “There are not many pure shooters, but lots of players have wicked ball-handling skills”

    sounds like they’re NBA ready!

    I guess in these dog days of summer we have nothing better to do than to break down olympic unis. Here is something that to get you looking forward to football… no changes would take place until the 2013 season, but something to think about. link

    In the title “Can’t Wait for Those Rhythmic Gymnstics Finals!

    No ‘a’ in gymn_stics…

    I get that sponsorships and maker’s logos are going to an inevitable part of the future, mostly because no one wants to take the time/energy to really stop it, but just the sheer amount of logoism and douchebaggery in the 2012 Olympics–and they haven’t even started yet–is making my eyes bulge out of my head. Holy shit, does our Flag Ceremony/Flight Attendant uniform have to have a supermassive Ralph Lauren logo on it? Do the athletic wear have to have link? Does McDonalds have to be the only company that can sell link?

    I get having sponsors, like P&G, Coca Cola, etc., but does there have to be an official ______ sponsor for everything? Does the NFL need an link? No. Does the 2012 Olympics need an official beer sponsor? No. Does the UK need to smash the banhammer upon poor individuals who didn’t care enough to notice that their shirt doesn’t have the logo of an Official Sponsor of the 2012 Olympicsâ„¢? Fuck no.

    And I grew up thinking that the Olympics were about the sport…

    I get that sponsorships and maker’s logos are going to an inevitable part of the future, mostly because no one wants to take the time/energy to really stop it…

    [Raises hand] Ahem.

    Excluding you, of course. And everyone else on this site who feels the same way. And all of the casual sports fans who don’t like seeing a swoosh or a Reebox.

    But for every one person like that, there are ten who are like “who cares?” and support this way with their apathy.

    Then it gets to the Olympics and people wonder what did we do to let it get this bad? It’s what they didn’t do, years ago, but I feel like that’s a recurring theme in the novel of life.

    “But for every one person like that, there are ten who are like “who cares?” and support this way with their apathy.”

    And sadly, the majority rules.

    You know what’s funny about that “Sh*t” graphic? It looks exactly like the actual London 2012 Olympic logo, oral sex and all!

    Paul gave us a mention yesterday (which was huge, thank you UW!), but just wanted to let you know, that at link we have released the first episode of what I believe is the first ever sports design/uniform/logo podcast, the Unicast.

    We taped last night, so we were able to get the latest unveilings (A&M and San Diego State) both covered in it.

    BTW, Paul, a few episodes down the line, we’d love to have you on, if you’d like to come on and talk Uni-Watch and everything anti-purple with us.

    One soviet jersey missing from that Jeff Barak piece is the 1956 Soviet gold winning Olympic jersey. He has pics and a video here: link

    The Russians also wore a replica of that jersey for the IIHF’s 100th anniversary at the 2008 World Championships. Here’s a pic: link

    I mostly like aTm’s new unis. The link is stupid/ugly, but hopefully it will look better on a field than in a studio with dramatic lighting. Matte helmet with gray facemask = good. My brain has a hard time immediately accepting this kind of link. Perhaps I consider them to run counter to the idea of forward motion… I don’t know. But I’m able to overcome that initial glitch and say that I like them in this instance.

    Can’t understand Joe Paterno’s name being on a child care center, even before the scandal broke.

    I don’t care. I’ve always liked the Olympics. I get your points, I really do Paul. But I also remember being a youngster and being allowed to stay up late for the closing ceremonies of the ’84 Games, then watching a lot of those events on repeats on ESPN the following summer.

    You get to see sports you really don’t see all the time like Track & Field, Swimming, Gymnastics, Weightlifting, etc. I don’t know, I just think it’s cool.

    It’s sports. That’s what I’m into.

    Fair enough!

    I remember loving the Olympics when I was a kid in the ’70s myself. Since then, though, the increasing drumbeat of corporate commercialization, the introduction of sports that are not sports (mostly to attract a female audience — rhythmic gymnastics, sync swimming, etc.), and so on has left me less and less enthusiastic.

    But that’s just me.

    I hear ya, but I do think the NBC family of networks does a good job of keeping the high priority sports on network tv and hiding that other stuff on their plethora of cable nets.

    The corporate DBs? It is what it is, but I guess I’m not getting wrapped up in it. There’s enough of that to fight in the four majors!

    I’m happy that NBC/Comcast now puts every event online to watch.

    I probably won’t watch minute one of the TV coverage, but I will watch archery, judo, rowing and such on the website.

    Yes, I was one of those people who bought the triplecast in 1992.

    I agree with you Paul.

    I loved the Olympics until 1996. I lived in Atlanta at the time (live just outside it now) and it was a train wreck for me. It was a giant commercial flea market that had sports on the periphery.

    I would argue that they aen’t just gong after a female demographic. Look at the X-Game-like events they have now. I don’t watch that stuff when ESPN floods the airwaves with it, so you can bet I’ll just move on to another channel during the Olympics.

    I agree wholeheartedly. While what Paul points out does, in fact, suck, you can’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. In this case, we just need to figure out how to get less bathwater. Or babies. I don’t know, I lost my train of thought :)

    I’m with you Kek. I understand Paul’s points and agree with most of them. However, in this case, I just want to watch and enjoy the spectacle. I’m just not vested enough in it to really give a hoot about that other stuff.

    I posted this last night but I imagine most of you were sleeping:

    Watching Impact Wrestling and Kurt Angle had his last name spelled out on the hips of his tights. It was written out as the Olympic logo with each letter stylized as one of the rings.

    link

    The jackets in The Prisoner were actual school sports uniforms bought from the Mill Hill School in North London after actor Patrick McGoohan took a liking to them.

    Sharp. And look at that NZ olympic crest, nice and prominent, what and idea! Where is their corporate logo?

    Repost from late yesterday:

    New FC Porto kits: link

    My take (I’m a fan), do not like, way too much white, the blue stripes are usually closer together. Doesn’t look like classic Porto

    Anyone else having issues with the search function on the site? I don’t want to report it as a web-issue without seeing if anyone else is having the same issue……

    It used to work fine, but it’s been a long time since the last time I did a search where it worked like it used to. I tried a search a few days ago and ran into the same problems I think you’ve encountered. Don’t know how long it’s been this way or if it’s a recent issue.

    The Chicago Sting indoor soccer team used clear boards when they first moved to the Rosemont Horizon (now the Allstate Arena) back in the mid-80s. Unfortunately, this is the only pic I could find with the clear boards:

    link

    If anyone is a fan of 1970’s hoops and happen to be in New York City, this restaurant is for you (maybe you will like this, quiet seattle): link

    I sure like that wall-sized image of–who: Dorie Murrey? Bob Rule?–in that splendid 1970 Sonics uniform.

    Clyde’s image is frozen in time for me….

    link

    ….I have no idea what he’s like as a personality or broadcaster or restaurant owner but when I was an adolescent he sure epitomized…cool.

    By 11:00 central I already felt like I was too late to the game for either the Olympic talk and the PSU talk, so I’ll just post my thoughts.

    Olympics:

    Well, I’m done reading Paul’s take on the Olympics, haha. He’s probably right about a lot of the issues – the branding/marketing situation is more than a bit disgusting – but I like the Olympics and I don’t want to read about every flaw when there are more than a few redeeming qualities.

    I’m glad Paul’s exposing flaws, an informed electorate and whatnot, but there’s another side to this story that isn’t all doom and gloom.

    I like the competition, I sometimes like the sappy profiles, I like the story lines, I like rooting for my country. I’m sure Paul loves America as much as me, I’m not questioning that, I’m just not as cynical when it comes to this stuff, which perhaps makes me naive but then I like being naive in this case. Ignorance is bliss and whatnot.

    I just wish the USMNT didn’t suck a donkey dick because team sports are the best Olympic events to watch (hockey, futbol, basketball…) and since the USMBBT is going to win games by an average of 30pts and only have like 1.5 teams to worry about, there isn’t much drama there.

    I guess all I’m saying is I know the Olympics aren’t perfect, and yeah, there are parts that are downright awful, but there are also some pretty wonderful things that can come out of them:

    link
    link
    link

    PSU:

    Minimum 2 year ban of the football program would be a nice NCAA response. The fanbase, the athletic dept and the football program allowed a cult of personality to form around Joe and that directly lead to a corrupted power structure that led to a cover up and obfuscation around a claim of possible child abuse (and what turned out to be much worse, the rape of minors) for 14 years.

    Now, players on the current PSU team should be allowed to transfer anywhere and immediately participate – they shouldn’t be the ones to suffer the brunt of the punishment – but PSU clearly had lost “institutional control” in the worst imaginable way and therefore needs to be punished and punished severely.

    link

    Re: PSU
    I’m not sure two years would be enough, but I predict the school will be “let off” easily with a one-year hiatus from football. And yes, the players had better benefit from the Dave Bliss precedent. If John Lucas III can get a free and immediate transfer from Baylor to Oklahoma State because his coach covered up a murder, then every single football player should be able to switch schools yesterday, right down to the third-string punter. Heck, extend that courtesy to the marching band and cheerleaders too, for all I care.

    better yet…

    how about give every kid on the football team a free and full ride (including books/spending money/board/room/etc) for the duration

    i guarantee that for about 99% of them, that PSU degree (which is, presumably, why they attended the school, right?) will be worth more than no degree from whatever school they transfer to

    i mean, it is about getting a degree, right?

    Don’t be hatin’ on all student athletes.

    Just because you want to play football as long as you can doesn’t mean you can’t take your degree seriously.

    Not many PSU alums in the NFL these days, more than my Alma Mater, but not Miami/Bama type numbers, most have to use their degrees.

    Hell, people like MJ, Shaq and others all ended up finishing their degrees after joining the NBA.

    Shaq is in the process of getting his Masters!

    Shaq!

    Masters!

    Now, players on the current PSU team should be allowed to transfer anywhere and immediately participate

    That’s the standard rule for any player whose school stops playing a sport for any reason: discontinuing the program for financial reasons, death penalty, whatever. Recall the ESPN documentary Pony Excess, about the SMU football program. All those players were immediately eligible to play for whatever school they transferred to.

    Did not remember that, I thought it was case by case. Good that’s the right thing to do.

    I think I still have that 30 for 30 on the ol’ DVR, maybe I should queue that up…

    As long as A&M doesn’t go monochrome, the stripes actually do match. If they wear the maroon jersey with the white pants, it’s a maroon stripe sandwiched between two white stripes on the jersey and a maroon stripe on a white background on the pants. Vice versa for white-maroon.

    Believe it or not, I’m actually fine with monochrome in college football (probably because the crew socks give the whole look the illusion of a basketball uniform), but only if the helmet flows with the rest of the uniform. If they pair the white lids with the all-maroon uni, that’ll look like poop.

    Great article on the Cubbie shovels – wow!

    And those Aussie green unis – DOUBLE WOW!!

    -Jet

    Y’know, we New Yorkers sometimes get lectured about the way we “just don’t get college football.”

    I think one reason on-field uniforms are generally manufactured domestically is because they often need to be re-ordered at a moment’s notice during the season. Getting product from overseas takes a lot of time, whereas you could order something domestically and have it the next day if needed.

    Regarding Wilson footballs, all their official NFL balls are made in Ohio, regardless of whether or not they are used in games. The official NFL balls you can buy at the store are simply the ones that weren’t ‘perfect’ enough to be game-used official NFL balls. WIlson also states on its website that, to this day, all its footballs are manufactured at its Ohio factory.

    Speaking of Cosby’s…for years they had hanging in the MSG store, a #13 authentic NY Knicks CHAMBERLAIN jersey. Since Cosby’s stitched the Knicks jerseys in the 60s and 70s, it must have been authentic. There were stories in the mid 70s of Chamberlain coming out of retirement and playing for the Knicks. It must have been so close, Cosby made a jersey. Is it still hanging at the new location? Anybody know the story of it? I have never seen pics of it on the web and I have looked.

    I’m sick of the Olympics already, and it hasn’t even started yet. I hate every single design element, the logo, the main stadium, all of it. I’m supposed to be proud as an Englishman that ‘we’ are hosting the Olympics, but since London is supposedly the only part of the UK that matters and I’m in the north I feel no connection with London whatsoever, it may as well be in another country, we look on as they spend millions of ephemeral stuff while the rest of the country is told to embrace austerity. Fuck it all.

    Technically, countries don’t host the Olympics, cities (or regions, as is sometimes the case with the Winter Olympics) do. Football preliminaries are usually the only sport that gets played away from the host city (sometimes sailing does, to, such as in Atlanta, Beijing, and London). Maybe the only thing that gets the entirety of a country a taste of the Olympics is the torch relay (and they’ve commercialized the bejeezus out of that, too).

    Should we start a PFPS (Purple for Purple Sakes) with all the soccer unis turning purple this year?

    Arsenal, Liverpool and now Porto.

    link

    My favorite Olympic logo. That summer I know I had- yes- an Olympic Speedo swimsuit–shoot me, I LIVED @ the pool, swam a lot. And when I wasn’t there- I painted those logos in my high school. Near the pool, weight room, etc. Quite cool.

    Was watching the Dodgers/Padres game tonight, and they ran a flashback highlight to “July 31, 1974”, and showed Ron Cey hitting a home run against the Padres, one of two he hit that night, to win 15-4. The 10-second clip they ran showed one of the homers, and in the process, also showed (apparently) the Padres wearing brown pants…like CHOCOLATE brown pants…with the gold/brown jerseys. Thought this was odd, never remembered the Padres wearing brown pants, and there’s no mention/graphic of it in the Dressed To The Nines database.

    Thought maybe they pulled a highlight from an old Dodgers/Pirates game as a “substitute”, and the “brown” was actually black, but the Pirates, of course, didn’t wear the bumblebee look until 1977 I think, so I don’t think that was it.

    I was able to get a very crappy screen-cap the second time they ran the highlight:

    link

    Taking a look at July 31 and August 1 papers from 1974, the unsharable photos I saw had the Padres in light pants that matched the jerseys. I don’t know what that screen-cap is, but it doesn’t look like the Pirates to me.

Comments are closed.