When the ‘Leotard Look’ is very, very good

By Phil Hecken

Paul has an ESPN column today — look here.

Meanwhile: We’re about ready to wrap up the look at Olympics uniforms (kits, singlets, suits, etc.) today with a wonderful (and very thorough) post by my final Olympic Correspondent, Catherine Ryan, who has done a tremendous job on the article that follows. It’s a little long, even by my standards, but it’s really worth reading (and clicking through) the entire post. Cathrine is obviously very passionate about the subject matter, and it shows in her writing. The first two sections have no links, but they are great descriptors of the uniforms (written by Catherine’s friend Katie Moore, a former gymnast) and the Games of 2012 — certainly a good set up for anyone (like me), who enjoyed watching the young ladies, but who didn’t give much thought to the outfits they wear.

One note of caution — Catherine uses what she calls the “Maroney-meter” to rate the teams/gymnasts. What is that? The “Maroney-meter was just a fun play on the fact that McKayla Maroney has become infamous for her bored and judgmental facial expressions. She’s become the diva of the team (and an internet meme) so I just thought people would get a kick out of some of her facial expressions.” HA! That’s great. You’ll enjoy as well.

So. without further ado, here’s Uni Watch’s look at…

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Olympic Gymnastics
By Catherine Ryan

When I emailed Phil a few weeks ago in response to his Olympic Correspondent post, my eyes may have been bigger than my Uni Watch stomach when I excitedly ”˜claimed’ gymnastics. Despite being an avid follower of the sport, my lack of flexibility has ensured that the only apparatus on which I could ever medal is the couch. So, while I felt confident I could cover the more traditional Uni Watch elements of the uniforms, I reached out to a close friend, and former gymnast, in hopes that she could shed some light on the more practical, tactical, and strategic uniform choices that often go unnoticed by the casual fan. It seems important to start with this basic introduction to the gymnast’s leotard.

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A Gymnast’s Uniform
(By Katie Moore)

Usually, when we watch the men’s and women’s gymnastics teams compete in the Olympic Games, the only thing we are focused on is the mind-blowing twists, turns and flips that the gymnasts perform before our eyes. It is difficult to not be mesmerized by the combination of flexibility, strength and grace in their routines. That being said, the ability to move from one skill to the next with ease and comfort is not only due to their athletic prowess; other factors, like the gymnast’s uniform, can make all the difference in performance.

At first glance, it may seem that all competition leotards are essentially the same, except for the colors and designs that designate the gymnast’s team. However, there are several other factors that are taken into consideration when the uniforms are designed.

Olympic gymnasts are carefully measured before the Games to ensure that their leotards are tailored to avoid the slightest discomfort or distraction during competition. Gymnasts can face deductions for uniform malfunctions, such as if the material around the hip is too high or too low or if any of their undergarments become visible in the middle of a routine. The judges already have a keen eye for mistakes like wobbles, missed connections, and leg separations, so it is crucial that the uniform does not become another cause for lowering a score.

Female gymnasts usually wear long-sleeved or three-quarter length leotards when they compete, as opposed to the sleeveless style that they wear for practice sessions or podium training. The three-quarter length sleeves have become more popular, especially throughout the past few Olympic Games, although the full-length sleeves are still used by many gymnasts as well. It is mostly based on personal preference: for example, some gymnasts prefer the three-quarter length so that they do not have to roll up the extra fabric when they wear grips for the uneven bars or wrist guards for the floor exercise.

Women’s gymnastics uniforms are usually made of either lycra or spandex in order to provide a snug fit that stays in place when the gymnast moves. The material should not be too loose; otherwise, the gymnast might constantly be tugging the leotard to readjust it””an automatic deduction in all levels of gymnastics. While the materials have not changed much throughout the modern history of gymnastics uniforms, the colors and designs of competition leotards have become more complex in recent years. Leotards with more intricate patterns and bedazzling jewels have replaced the simple uniforms of the ”˜70s and ”˜80s. Last Sunday, the American women’s gymnastics team made their debut in London for the qualification round donning purple, full-length sleeved uniforms with silver jewels in the shape of stars on the front. This design is a prime example of how the American women’s team competition uniforms have evolved from the days of Mary Lou Retton’s simple red, white and blue American flag-themed leotard from the 1984 Games.

Although women’s gymnastics teams are required to wear matching uniforms during the team competition, they are permitted to wear whichever leotard they choose for the all-around and event finals. This allows them with more opportunity to showcase their personality and style in the individual competitions. One of the most memorable uniforms from the women’s all-around final of the 2008 Beijing Olympics was Nastia Liukin’s hot pink leotard with sparkly silver jewels on the front. Her consistency and grace earned her the coveted gold medal, but it is likely that her brightly colored uniform also helped her stand out among her competitors.

On the men’s side of the sport, the competition apparel is pretty different. Male gymnasts wear a sleeveless uniform paired with long pants (except for vault and floor exercise, in which the pants are replaced with shorts). As might be expected, the men’s outfits have much more simple designs than those of the women’s team (the “bedazzling” effect is non-existent), but the importance of a tight fit on the gymnast’s body is equally as important. In the men’s team finals on Monday, the American gymnasts sported simple red, white and blue leotards with matching red pants for the competition. It seems that men’s gymnastics uniforms have not undergone the same design evolution as the women’s have, preferring to maintain the simplicity of the country’s colors with minimal flair. With regard to the length of leotard sleeves and pant length, this too has stayed pretty consistent.

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The 2012 Olympic Games

Since 1992, the US National Team has been outfitted with leotards and apparel from a small American company called GK Elite. The company is based in Reading, Pennsylvania and is the exclusive supplier for the US Olympic team as well as nine other national teams. The popularity, and reach, of the GK Elite brand grew after the company signed a licensing agreement with apparel behemoth adidas. GK Elite is the exclusive gymnastics apparel provider for adidas and maintains exclusive sponsorship agreements with popular gymnasts such as Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson.

Prior to the games beginning, I reached out to GK Elite to inquire about the uniforms they designed for this year’s Olympians. A representative from the company explained to me that the designs are not released in advance and that the recent cover of Sports Illustrated was an unprecedented event for the company. Typically, the leotards are revealed during competition. While this no doubt creates suspense and excitement for fans of the sport, it did throw a wrench into preparing this post!

So, without further ado, here is a summary of all the team uniforms as well as the uniforms revealed by each American gymnast during individual competition.

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US Women’s National Team

During the team final, the US women wore the same leotard they revealed earlier this summer on the cover of Sports Illustrated. The leotards were a bright red with a sequined pattern featuring a star cutout. The sleeves, all full-length, featured an adidas-esque bejeweled stripe and the standard USA design on the right upper-arm.

Maroney-Meter: Pleased

Podium Wear

The US Women’s Gymnastics team won the gold in the team competition and gave us the perfect backdrop upon which to analyze their podium wear. The reception of Team USA’s podium wear has been mixed.

While some say the design is boring, monotonous, unpatriotic, and would cause “Betsy Ross to roll in her grave,” others say the design is clean and draws attention to the right place: the medal. I have to agree with the latter camp. While perhaps a navy or white design may have been more patriotic/festive, I think the dark gray really allows the medals to pop, unless of course you bag a silver.

The podium jacket features the USA Olympic Team patch on the left chest and “The United States of America” across the back. Additionally, just in case we missed the swoosh, Nike churned out some sort of radioactive slipper-sneaker. Now, a moment of silence for Russia’s podium wear.

Maroney-Meter: Bored

Team Russia

While Bosco took a wild, albeit calculated, swing and a miss with the podium wear, I think the company did a fantastic job with the team leotards. The red and white is simple and clean and the pattern in the center is reminiscent of the Russian coat of arms. The left sleeve also features the full Russian coat of arms. While the bedazzling has its place, it’s nice to see a uniform that uses color and creative designs. In all seriousness, it was difficult to find photos of the Russian athletes where they weren’t crying. Not sure if the tears were due to their upcoming silver medals or those upcoming podium jackets.

Maroney-Meter: Indifferent

Team Romania

Despite its rich tradition in gymnastics, Romania has struggled to design a leotard that doesn’t make me cringe. While I applaud the efforts to stick with a design based on the Romanian flag, the color scheme of the flag doesn’t do the designers any favors. I’ve never been a fan of blue, red, and yellow being used together as it can’t help but look like “My First Leotard.” However, this year I was pleasantly surprised. The design, as expected, featured the colors of the flag but balanced it out nicely with white. In the past, they have attempted white but, at the same time, adjusted the amount of yellow on the uniform resulting in either an extremely boring leotard or one that looks discolored.

Maroney-Meter: Empathetic

Team China

China’s women were unable to medal at the team final but they did make a decent showing in the leotard department. The leotard is red with a golden flame-like pattern streaking across the front. The pattern features a couple different gradients across the chest and down the arms. Additionally, the competition-worn uniforms featured a patch on the center of the chest. Nothing crazy and nothing too surprising. It was a step-up from the creepy and over-the-top leotards China graced the world with in 2008.

Maroney-Meter: Annoyed

Team Canada

Team Canada came storming into their first Olympic team final competition in bright red leotards nearly entirely covered in bling. The center of the leotard featured a bejeweled maple leaf. I really disliked the arm patch. It’s too small, it’s a strange shape, it’s positioned way too high, and it even looks like it’s been attached off-kilter. Canada needed to make up for these qualifying leotards where they managed to make the entire team look like a bunch of out of shape fans that just won a fantasy camp contest. Sorry, Canada.

Maroney-Meter: Unimpressed

Great Britain

Great Britain has taken a lot of flack for the lack of red in their official Olympic wear. It should come as no surprise then that the British women’s gymnastics team showcased midnight blue leotards for the women’s team final. The design was distract from the athlete, I wouldn’t have minded if the host country, hardly considered a gymnastics powerhouse, had taken some aesthetic risks to stand out from the competition. The individual competitions featured a couple more exciting leotards, but overall, the team’s look was just plain boring.

Maroney-Meter: Irritated

Italy

Oh, Italy…why all the blue? The design is a little strange and the white armpitspoon (?) looks strange when it rounds back around the opposite shoulder. Additionally, Italy seemed to be wearing the worst-fitting uniforms of the entire competition. Overall, the design isn’t terrible but it was difficult to remember what country was competing as the blue really made them look identical to Great Britain in some shots.

Maroney-Meter: Feigning Interest

Japan

Wow. I’ll admit that when I first saw it I was a little confused by the striping. It reminded me of the military flag that the Japanese navy used to use during WWII. At the last Olympics in Beijing, Japanese fans were warned not to fly this flag because it is offensive to countries that have fallen victim to Japanese aggression in the past, especially China. So, I was a little surprised that it seemed to have been incorporated. However, the design is extremely popular within Japan and the more I watched, the more I realized the striping oddly complimented the movements of the gymnasts. It was hypnotizing! I love that the design focused on the true Japanese flag and, although the design was busy, I really think it was a great leotard.

Maroney-Meter: Leaving

Best Dressed of the US

So, for individual competitions, the Olympians can showcase their own leotards. I didn’t think a single Uni Watch reader would be willing to sit through my analysis of every leotard so I focused on the Americans who performed individual events.

1. McKayla Maroney (Vault)

While “Air Maroney” will be remembered for her near perfect vault routine in the team final, it was her leotard during the vault final that was truly perfect. White leotards make gymnasts look like princesses. Plain and simple. Maroney absolutely rocked this stunning leotard. There really isn’t much to say; the color, the rhinestone design, and the fit were all perfect. It doesn’t even matter that she didn’t nail the vault, the girl’s a rock star.

2. Aly Raisman (Beam/Floor)

Love it. How could you not? It perfectly combines some American spirit with a beautiful design that seems to incorporate both shooting stars and a feathered wing pattern. The back is simple while the arms are covered in rhinestones. It is Retton-esque. Jordyn Weiber rocked the same leotard while directly competing with Raisman in the women’s floor final.

3. Gabby Douglas (All-Around)

Ok. Now, the Uni Watch community can appreciate a divisive trend when it comes to uniform aesthetics. That divisive trend, in the world of leotards, is hot pink. This team, uh, well, LOVES it. They love it so much that it’s become a running joke. McKayla Maroney even sports hot pink Beats. Also, London seems to love it. Regardless of your feelings, Gabby Douglas won the Gold medal in the women’s all-around while rocking this. Gabby said that when she first walked into the complex in London she was shocked to find that the entire gym was hot pink. So, considering she didn’t have that knowledge in advance, I can forgive her for basically wearing camo. Girls will be girls. Plus, everyone knows it’s the accessories that make the outfit.

(Douglas also wore a silver version of the same leotard during the uneven bars final)

4. Jordyn Weiber (Qualifications)

The Weibs had a rough Olympics despite the epidemic of Weiber Fever we were all experiencing prior to the beginning of the games. Regardless, Weiber can rock a ”˜tard (that’s leotard, without the leo.) During qualifications, the team wore purple leotards with silver stars across the front.

Worst Leotard of the Games: Vanessa Ferrari (Italy, Floor Finals)

I don’t even have words. If you told me this picture was taken after someone told her she had to wear that leotard I would believe you. It has one sleeve. I’m going to get upset if I keep typing.

Uni Watch Appreciation note: Male gymnasts and their ”˜rups.

Assorted Male Teams

United States
China
Great Britain
Japan
Ukraine

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Catherine Ryan is a second year law student living in New York City. She lives and breathes Yankees baseball, Giants football, and Villanova basketball. When she’s not studying, she loves reading, watching The Office, and mercilessly picking apart uniforms from a darkened corner of her apartment. She thanks Phil and the Uni Watch crew for this great opportunity!

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Great job on that Catherine! Big round of applause from me — and I hope the fine Uni Watch readership — on a job well done!

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More Olympics:

This section will feature updates, lesser news, and reader submissions from the XXXth Olympiad — keep the Olympic news coming in! (Usually in the order in which I receive them — think of it as an “Olympics Ticker”.)

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More observations from Uni Watch faithful, and more…

* “Maybe you’ve already covered this on the blog, but reading the ESPN and Deadspin coverage of Olympic track, the pictures indicate that sometime between the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, track athletes switched from wearing numbers to wearing their names. (2012 vs 2008). I don’t follow track and field at all, so is this switch something universal in international track, or does each meet hand out identification plates according to their own specifications? It seems kind of weird that many nations that don’t use the Roman alphabet would have their athletes’ names written out in Roman letters, but is this just because the Olympics are in London? (Sidenote – I think it would have been kind of cool for the 2008 identification markers to have been written in Chinese characters and the 2004 ones in Greek, but that’s just me; NBC probably would have hated it.)” (Kevin Malarkey)

* London 2012 are investigating how a bucket of unofficial condoms found its way into the athletes’ village without official consent. This was also reported by NPR (and sent to me by Paul).

* “I noticed that Bernard Lagat wore the wrong uniform at the Olympics. he is wear the USA singlet from ’08-’11 not the one everyone is wearing during the Olympics. You notice the USA is in white instead of blue and the white on the shoulder. The High jumper from Russia lost his jersey mid-way during the meet so he high jumped first in a t-shirt then borrowed a teammates jersey for the rest. An athlete is given two bibs to wear during the competion, one with the name on the front and the race bib number to be worn on the back. High jumpers only need to wear one because they land on their back and the pins could cause an injury. You can tell later in the meet he borrowed someone else jersey because he was the only one jumping with a number on the front, not the name. Finally in the 1500 meter final, the Norway runner’s short get ripped. Luckily he had something underneath it.” (Anthony J. Gonsalves) Also spotting the Lagat miscue were Cody Dannen, Brennan Feldhausen and Ryan Bohannon, who sent along this screengrab. Also spotting the Russian losing his shirt was Ben Sandrowitz.

* “Took a quick glance at Uni Watch and didn’t see a link to this satirical piece in The New York Times, of all places, imagining the Olympics in New York City. 2012 was the year that Bloomberg & Co bid for.” (Tom Mulgrew)

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Click to enlarge — Photo Credit Stefan Chilvers

Thursday Morning Football:

Our resident Brit, uni watcher, and colourizer extraordinaire George Chilvers has prepared for our edification a another review of the uniforms kits in the semi-finals of the men’s soccer football at the Olympics. His son, Stefan Chilvers, who brought us the absolutely breath-taking tilt-shift photography seen on Monday, was beside his pop (seated a mere six rows from the pitch — making it impossible for the poor lad to engage in tilt-shift for this time around). How crushing. Anyway, for the next to last time…

here is George’s review:

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A much smaller contribution today as the Olympics Mens Football Tournament saw out the two semi-final games on Tuesday evening. At Wembley, Mexico took on Japan. Japan continued with their now familiar dark blue outfit with the narrow red stripe, while Mexico wore their third different kit of the tournament when they turned out in all white, but still with the shadow Aztec motif. Japan scored after only 12 minutes but the Mexicans hit back twice. As the game entered its last seconds Japan pressed forward for an equaliser, only for Mexico to secure their place in the final with a 93rd minute goal.

At Old Trafford, with us now low down near the pitch, where tilt-shift photographs aren’t effective, my son Stefan turned to panoramas and close-ups. Korea wore their red shirts and socks with blue shorts, while Brazil avoided the shorts clash by wearing white shorts with a broad blue stripe, along with their usual yellow and green shirts and white socks. Although Korea tried hard the result was hardly in doubt and a Brazilian masterclass saw them cruise into the final with a 3-0 win.

The bronze medal match will take place on Friday at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (remember how to spell Millennium ”“ we don’t want any embarrassment!), while the Final will be on Saturday at 3pm local time at Wembley.

As this is a short article (for me) I will give praise to both the USA and Canadian Women who took part in an absolutely brilliant semi-final. Team USA were only ahead for 30 seconds in the whole 120 minutes of the match ”“ but it was the important final 30 seconds. They now meet Japan at Wembley on Thursday.

And as this is a site for obsession about kits/unis whatever I thought you might like my little analysis of the Mens football tournament:

• Green worn 4 times ”“ 3 wins (75%), 1 draw and no losss
• Yellow worn 7 times ”“ 5 wins (71%), 1 draw, 1 loss
• Blue worn 13 times ”“ 6 wins (46%), 4 draws, 3 losses
• Red worn 17 times ”“ 4 wins (24%), 7 draws and 6 losses.

But the colour you really don’t want to wear:
White was worn on 19 occasions. Only twice was it the winning colour ”“ just over 10%. 8 draws and 9 losses.

I have no idea what that means, and obviously yellow and green are skewed by the successes of Mexico and Brazil, but this is the place to post such analysis ☺

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Thanks (again) George! Bloody good reporting. And a helluva talented son. That panoramic is as beautiful as the tilt-shift.

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#NoUniAds Campaign…Day 21

This will be a regular feature on Uni Watch until the NBA rescinds its incredibly offensive and stupid proposal to place corporate advertising on uniforms.

And now, a personal note from Paul:

It’s important that we keep making our voices heard: Call the NBA’s publicly listed phone number (212-407-8000), ask for Adam Silver’s and/or David Stern’s office), e-mail deputy commissioner Adam Silver at his his publicly listed address (asilver@nba.com), and tweet to @NBA with the hashtag #NoUniAds. Do it now.

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A bit of bad news came out yesterday in our fight against corporate takeover of unis, as noted in this article (h/t to R Jeffrey Downe). The important parts are as follows:

• “Jordan Bressler … says he expects NBA team owners to approve a ‘trial period’ of about three years when small logos would be emblazoned on the front of team uniforms.”

• “The other unknown, of course, is how fans will react, since none of the four major U.S. sports leagues have ever sold advertising on game jerseys. One ESPN SportsNation poll found that 71 percent of respondents opposed the ads, while a separate poll showed that 78 percent said they would be less likely to buy a jersey with advertising on it.”

• “The bigger issue would be if the ads grow after a few years and become the focal points of uniforms, with only a small team logo on the shoulder, as is the norm with most soccer teams worldwide. Says Mr. Bressler of buying NBA jerseys in the future, ‘You could be asking yourself, “Is this a Walgreens jersey or a Bulls one?”‘”

Clearly readers, more opposition is needed! Keep your letters, like those below, coming!!!

More of your letters to the NBA (some edited for brevity):

Patrick Duffy:

I’m a 25 year old die hard basketball fan from Rochester, NY, writing to voice my concern over the proposed selling of advertising on NBA uniforms.

Living outside of an NBA city, instead of spending my money on seeing games live, I spend it on NBA licensed jerseys. When I do make a trip to Cleveland or Toronto, I sacrifice money on good seats to buy a jersey from the pro shop while at the game. I take my jersey collection seriously, and would estimate I buy 4 – 6 replica jerseys, and 2-3 authentic jerseys a year. My NBA collection is well over 100 jerseys, accrued from years of collecting.

I feel it’s only right to let you know that if advertising does end up on NBA uniforms, I will be done with your brand of professional basketball. I’m sure you won’t lose the casual NBA fan, but what of your core fan base? The casual fan went away when Jordan retired. They chastised your “Thug” league when Artest, Iverson and Spree were living off the court the way they played on, and they turned on the NFL, and forgot you weren’t there during you last work stoppage. That wasn’t me and my friends. It takes a betrayal of what we hold closest to us for our abandonment. Prepare for the inevitable Adam “30 pieces of” Silver nick name that will eventually adorn your Wikipedia page.

Thank you for you time

Patrick Duffy

Ethan Crooks: (his response to “Chelsea”)

Just so I’m clear, the NBA is validating its decision to sell-out its tradition by comparing itself to leagues that have next to zero tradition or cultural impact (MLS, WNBA, NBA-D) or to a sport that has – and has always had – a business model that is reliant upon corporate sponsorship for it to function (NASCAR). Oh, and the PGA? An individual sport with no jerseys compared to a team game with jerseys steeped in lore and history? Chelsea, seriously? How about the leagues you have decided to leave out? I pray that the MLB, NFL and NHL do not take your lead and bastardize their product until it is unrecognizable (we both know that is where you all are headed). Although I would be willing to bet that having the New York Yankees’ pinstripes brought to you by Crayola would put a smile on Mr. Stern’s face.

If you don’t mind, could you please elaborate on how, exactly, adding a brand name and shallow catch phrase to a Celtics jersey would assist the NBA to “remain competitive in the global marketplace?” I fail to see how that strategy beats cultivating the game through youth programs around world, using your players as embassadors for the game and utilizing various media streams to get your game into as many households as possible. In other words, what the NBA has been doing better than anyone else since the mid-1980s.

I find it disturbing that I have to stand up for a league to protect it from itself. Again, thank you for your reply.

Tom Mulgrew:

The proposal to include ads on NBA uniforms is an outrageous insult to basketball fans. The over-commercialization of sports has reached new lows when a major American sports league contemplates 2 x 2 ads on its smallest in sports uniforms.

The current leader in uniform stupidity, Major League Baseball, with its highly visible Nike swoosh on players’ undershirts, would be easily eclipsed by the NBA ad patches.

Please reconsider.

Regards,
Tom Mulgrew

Thanks for keeping the faith readers! We can stop the NBA if we can keep up the pressure.

#NoUniAds!

Thanks to Tim E. O’Brien and Chris Giorgio for the image in the upper right of this section!

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“Benchies” first appeared at U-W in 2008, and has been a Saturday & Sunday feature here for the past two years.

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Wow, even in the primordial ooze…

Click to enlarge

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Great find from Rob Spalding who came across this photo of Freddie Mercury and Brian May of Queen with personalized Toronto hockey gear. Bonus: though they were performing in Montreal that January night in 1977. … Willie Gabel found a “Cool story about when the AFL put out their own shoe line back in the 60’s!” … Mark Fightmaster and John Smith both sent in the news that the Cincinnati Bengals just announced that they are going with retro-themed cartoon covers for their Gameday programs. The article has a preview of this Friday’s game program against the Jets. “Considering the mockery that is the team’s uniforms, at least they are getting this aesthetic right,” says Mark. … An NHL 13 preview video shows the Predators reverting back to their navy 3rd jersey with the checker board trim, which I loved. The jersey wasn’t used last year at all (thanks to Alex Melendez). … More news from the “whatever happened to the old Rbk NFL unis?” department: The Cleveland Browns donated their old Reebok Uniforms to the players playing in the Cuyahoga County High School All Star game in June (good spot by Jeff Moulden). … “Came across this on eHow on how to wear stirrup socks,” says Yancy Yeater. “Idea for your site: A how-to style guide.” Funny you should say that, Yancy, because I, Ricko & Robert Marshall did just that a couple years ago. And I think we may revisit the stirrup again soon. … Politics and sports don’t usually mix well, especially when one isn’t aware of the other. Fortunately, the nation’s best Governor is ready to fix things. … Zach from Big League Baseballs is sharing another new baseball release that “I figure will interest your MLB fans. We’ve posted the first pictures of the new 2012 World Series baseball here.” … Erik Nystul lets us know that BYU Football is now adding the flywire collar. … “Ewwwww” was the subject line in an E-mail Paul forwarded to me from Kawika Asuncion, which read, “Interesting: Yellow Collar on the new Vikes’ Away Nike Jersey? On nike.com, The “game” jersey, it is purple. Nike.com Elite jersey. Very Interesting.” … George Chilvers sends an old but interesting article on Brasil’s football kit. … Dan Wunderlich reports UF has a new field design for 2012. They also just put new grass in this summer, says Dan. … Trent Knaphus notes Utah basketball is doing a summer trip to Brazil and changed their uniforms for the trip. … Gerry Appel says the Ball State “Fighting Football Cardinals” are getting new jerseys. These jerseys no longer have the extraneous black stripes or the black trim. The jerseys now only have Ball State’s true colors, cardinal and white. … The Eagles will have a moment of silence before Thursday night’s game. The Eagles players will have “GR” stickers on their helmets (thanks, Brinke). Also from =bg=, “Did I miss something? Eagles sure look like kelly green here.” Do we FINALLY have “confirmation” on the new Nets unis? Gabe Billig “found these pics (home and road) online available to buy so maybe these are the jerseys? ( and they r ugly!).” If only someone has seen these jerseys could confirm. … Alan Poff writes, “The Triple-A Lehigh Valley IronPigs are celebrating “What Could Have Been Night” Saturday, Aug. 11, by donning Lehigh Valley Woodchucks unis. And, for a cool $32, you can buy this exclusive 59Fifty Woodchucks cap. … And finally, there was lot of speculation buzzing around that TO was wearing a Packer “G” at his Seahawks press conference today. It is actually a new company called “G Rip Apparel” (big thanks to Johnny Okray).

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And there you have it. Make sure you give a big warm Uni Watch round of applause for Catherine on that tremendous lede, and thanks to all who contributed to the ticker, the Olympics updates, and of course the fine folks who are doing their damnedest to keep uni ads OFF the NBA jerseys. Back with Morris Levin tomorrow, who always has a great Friday View from the Elysian Fields.

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“A Yankees jersey worn 3 sizes too big with ground scraping pajama pants looks just as shitty as any colored jersey worn 3 sizes too big with pajama pants.”
–THE Jeff Provo