Here we have Huffington Post editorial director Howard Fineman, resplendent repellant in his purple necktie from last night. Happily, he was more the exception than the rule. Although a handful of talking heads wore purple on the set (you can see some of them here), my impression from flipping channels is that the accursed hue had a much smaller presence than in past years. This was borne out by the number of screen shots readers sent in, which was smaller than on previous Election Nights. Could the purple trend be on the wane? Let’s hope so.
One other bit of election arcana: My ESPN editor Dave Wilson noticed that Mitt Romney campaign logo looks like — well, see for yourself.
(My thanks to all contributors, including Addarrius Bryant, Ross Hazlett, Adam Hochmuth, Dusty Kalis, Jason Kerzer, Alan Kreit, and Parker Martin.)
Membership update: Trimming a sheet of membership cards with an X-acto and a straightedge takes a fair amount of force and leverage from both hands, and it turns out my injured arm isn’t currently up to the task. Fortunately, I was able to call in reinforcements (thanks, Kirsten), and later today I should get that latest batch of cards laminated and out the door. That includes Bernie Langer’s “king of the mountains” cycling jersey treatment, shown at right.
As always, you can see all the cards we’ve produced so far here, and you can sign up to get your own card here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Baylor is building a new stadium, which already has its own logo (from Curtis Schroeder). … The latest development in anti-concussion technology is a helmet for flag football (from Joe Nocella). … On Monday I mentioned that it was a good thing that ’Skins coach Mike Shanahan didn’t wear the NFL’s G.I. ribbon on his ’Skins sweatshirt, since militarism and Native American exploitation is a particularly unsavory combination with a bad history. Unfortunately, whoever runs the team’s web site wasn’t bright enough to think of that. “Now that’s tasteless,” says William Barker. … Notre Dame got away with having two players wearing No. 2 on the field at the same time last weekend, which is a no-no (from Phillip Garza). … I can still type with two hands today. But tomorrow morning I’ll have surgery on my fractured wrist, which will knock me out of commission for a bit. Still hope to have content on the site every day, but it may not always be extensive, and some of it may be from guest contributors instead of from me, at least over the next week or so. Thanks for understanding.
Been enjoying these article for a few weeks now. They’re awesome!!!
Man, Bernie Langer’s KOM Uni Watch card is sweet! Exceptionally well done!
Yeah, I was floored by the beauty of that treatment, myself. Anyway, Bernie should enter the Tour De France, if he doesn’t dope up. That’s a sport entering a transitional phase, to say the least.
Doesn’t Fineman write for the Huffington Post now? Pretty sure.
You’re right. Will fix.
Typo on Fineman’s position…
Also typo on “Here was have”
That “helmet” for flag football is simply a rugby scrum cap. They have been present in rugby for a very long time!
(and also worn by Natalie Portman in the movie “Garden State”)
I was going to say the same thing. Hardly a new innovation and definitely overpriced. Anything to take advantage of concerned parents.
i’d like to know how that pad will stop concussions. head injuries, it will most definitely stop… concussions though? i’m listening…
I play a lot of flag football, there really SHOULDN’T be concussions happening. Usually it’s light or limited contact. But some leagues have full contact blocking at the line of scrimmage – either way, SHOULDN’T cause concussions.
This is likely to help for the stray hand, arm, elbow when defending passes.
Petr Cech, the Chelsea goalkeeper, wears it too. He suffered a skull fracture in an EPL game a few years back.
If anything, this could cause more injuries, by emboldening kids to play more aggressive and take more risks.
The NCAA sport with the highest rate of concussions? Not football, not men’s ice hockey, but women’s ice hockey, where body checking is not allowed and therefore not expected.
There are youth flag football leagues?
Good luck tomorrow Paul. Don’t worry. They can rebuild you, they have the technology.
Quote from Metatron in Dogma – love it!
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Six Million Dollar Man, rather.
You do know that the line was a cultural reference, that it was taken from the opening of The Six Million Dollar Man, right?
Kids these days…
I had forgotten all about the Six Million Dollar Man reference. I literally just watched Dogma last night, so if was fresh in my mind. Apologies…
Yeah, what Mike said…
The Romney/Ryan logo was stolen from a local business here in Janesville, WI (Where Paul Ryan calls home)
Obviously it isn’t exact, but I find it hard to be a coincidence.
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kind of a stretch if you ask me…
I’ve seen a few other businesses utilizing a “dual-R” look like the Romney/Ryan campaign did, businesses that I’m sure were around way before the campaign adopted it as it’s logo, so it’s not necessarily a totally original concept.
You hit the key point: “dual R”. Romney has been using that logo for his own solo campaign since 2007, long before Paul Ryan joined his ticket. So it’s not two R’s nested together – it’s a single R that emerges from a human profile.
Yeah seems like a bit of a stretch.
Additionally I don’t think Ryan or Romney have anything to do with the logos/graphics used during the campaign.
That is completely idiotic.
Johnny, Mitt was using that logo link. (Or at least long before he had any business thinking about a running mate.)
Fair enough. Just pointing out the similarities. Guess I shouldn’t have said he “stole” the logo. Guess it is just a coincidence.
Thank you for admitting that.
1. “…Baylor is building a new stadium, which already has its own logo…” Banal. Hackneyed. Insipid. You know, not aggressively awful but devoid of creative particularity. Sad emblem of the state of design.
2. Otoh, the AquaFresh/Romney logo connection is sublime.
3. Good luck, Paul.
I’m not sure if I should be appalled that the unbuilt stadium has a logo, or relieved that it’s not the “Texas Roadhouse Steak-N-Slather Sandwich Field at Clear Channel Communications Stadium at Baylor University”.
Just wait, Walter.
conn!!!!
where the fuck you been man?
A possible explaination for the large purple presence during the election season could be attributed to the military. In our world, purple is joint and combined. The Army is green, the Navy and Air Force are blue, and the Marine Corps is red. When we work together, we’re purple. So, no, I don’t think the trend will wane anytime soon.
No, that’s a bit too obscure for our media. It’s merely the mix of Democratic blue and Republican red.
In Britain, which has more political parties, and more signifying colors, tv journalists often resort to gray. That might be a better option.
I think Dana Bash of CNN wore a purple dress.
pics or it didn’t happen
/wait, what?
yeah, she did
Last night’s results have huge uni implications. For the first time in 19 presidential elections, the Redskins Rule didn’t work. (In the Redskins Rule, if the Redskins lose their final home game before the election, the presidential challenger will win the national popular vote.) However, the Redskins lost at home on Sunday wearing throwback uniforms. The Skins won their last home game before the election in which they wore their regular uniforms, which would correlate with the president winning the popular vote.
Raises the question of whether in any previous election year, did the Redskins play their last home game before the election in throwbacks? It’s possible that there’s a previously undiscovered uniform element to the Redskins Rule, which would have vast implications for our democracy.
The Redskins have only used throwback uniforms in 1994, 2002, 2003, 2007 (none of which were election years) and now this year. So, we won’t be able to confirm any amendments to the rule regarding throwback uniforms until at least 2016.
Thanks – but that info does confirm the heretofore hidden element of the Redskins Rule, which should now read,
If the Washington Redskins win their final home game in regular uniforms before the elections, the party defending the White House will win the popular vote.
The original rule – that the incumbent party wins when the Redskins win had held for 16 straight times 1940 to 2000, and then Redskins lost in 2004, but Bush won, so it was “modified” to say that it applied not the the incumbent party, but to the incumbent popular vote winner (since Gore had won the popular vote in 2000, hence since the Redskins lost, the “incumbent popular vote winning party” would be the Democrats, and they and Kerry lost in 2004.)
So now the Redskins lost and unless Romney winds up winning the final actual popular vote, the rule will need to be modified again.
…so now we just have to modify it to say whenever the Redskins win their last home game wearing non-throwback uniforms, the incumbent popular vote winning party wins the election.
If the conditions of the “rule” are getting this compicated, maybe it’s time to concede that the “rule” doesn’t really work.
Thanks Rob S, I was thinking the exact same thing.
…or a more convoluted modification that would apply to only 2004 and 2012, but would get rid of the popular vote & non-throwback uniform stipulation, would be: “Whenever the Redskins win the final home game before the election, the incumbent party wins the White House, except when going against someone from Massachusetts.” (Both Kerry & Romney being from Mass.)
But that fails the 1960 election, when the challenger from Massachusetts won. Better to keep it simple and stick with the “regular uniform” modification.
I believe the 2004 game also a Monday-Nighter, so the rule was retconned to include only Sunday games?
why did I end that statement with a question mark?
And the punctuation was not the only problem with that post.
You’re right about 2004. Unfortunately, there’s no way to retcon that one to work, since the Skins also lost their previous Sunday home game.
But that fails the 1960 election, when the challenger from Massachusetts won. Better to keep it simple and stick with the “regular uniform” modification.
You’re right, I missed 1960… okay, how about:
“Whenever the Redskins win the final home game before the election, the incumbent party wins the White House, except when a sitting president is going for re-election against someone from Massachusetts.”
Rob S. is right, at this point I guess it isn’t much of a rule anymore.
I spent most of my time last night watching PBS’ coverage of the election, as it seemed to be the most insightful and informative. They weren’t going back to check maps every 30 seconds at 7 pm. But, anyway, of the 5 or 6 men they were showing on there regularly, I distinctly remember one wearing a blue and purple diagonally striped tie. No solid purple that I can recall.
What very little I watched of the major broadcast networks (no cable here), I don’t recall Scott Pelley wearing purple on CBS, and I don’t think whoever was on ABC did, either. In fact, the only one that really stands out in my mind were the anchors for the local NBC affiliate. The gentleman, Mike Bush, wore a purple tie, while the woman, Kay Quinn, wore a purple sweater or dress or something. No screenshots, as I was watching on my TV connection not piped through my computer.
On PBS, Mark Shields was the guy in the purple tie. On my TV, it looked like two shades of purple in the stripes, like lavender and plum. But the difficulty in distinguishing between purple and other nearby shades of blue on TV is the one aspect of Paul’s purple prejudice with a sound basis.
big bird approves of this
messageelectionPretty much the entire NBC crew was wearing purple. Can’t name them all, but there were at least 3 men with purple ties, and 2 women with purple sweaters.
I think Brian Williams had a nice Auburn-looking orange and navy diagonal-striped tie?
Not having cable, this would make sense to me. My grandparents are always telling me about how nice Brian Williams’ ties are.
On the MSNBC side, both Rachel Maddow and Chris Jansing were wearing black.
Somebody ought to tell the Washington football team’s cheerleaders about the No Doubt video debacle:
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Re: the Notre Dame jersey number mishap:
I have never understood why teams aren’t allowed to use 00, 0, and 01-09 on their jerseys. That would give them an extra 11 numbers to use. I know there is an NCAA rule that 0 can’t precede a number but does anyone have any idea why they came up with that rule?
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UVA chose last week’s uniform combo based on past winning uni combos.
Paul, I think your meds were working overtime when you wrote that first sentence. “Here was have…..” “Was?” Didn’t you mean “we?” LOL
Why do I never see 5000 agitated American Indians protesting at Washington Redskins or Cleveland Indians games? The people who don’t like American Indian imagery are generally non Indian white males.
Mike Shanahan not wearing a ribbon on his Redskins sweatshirt is a non story.
Why do I never see 5000 agitated American Indians protesting at Washington Redskins or Cleveland Indians games?
Because they’re busy running web sites and foundations that address Native American issues — including the appropriation of Native American imagery by sports teams.
See, this is what happens when you’re on the wrong side of history — you can’t win the argument on the merits, so you try to make it about the messenger, not the message.
Mike Shanahan not wearing a ribbon on his Redskins sweatshirt is a non story
I never said Shanahan intentionally omitted the ribbon; what I said on Monday was that it was a good thing he didn’t wear it, for whatever reason, because putting a symbol of the American military on a sweatshirt that exploits Native American imagery would be a really inappropriate juxtaposition. And what I’m saying today is that rendering a Redskins helmet and the word “Redskins” in camouflage is also a very inappropriate juxtaposition. Because it is.
Wow. I knew there was something that I really disliked about that Romney R but I just couldn’t put my finger on it.
Paul – Good luck with the surgery! May your surgical crew steer away from wearing purple scrubs. Seriously though, I hope all goes well and that you get on the mend soon.
I don’t mind a few lighter weeks here. It’s getting busy at work, so less time for procrastinating with Uni-Watch!
It appears that the “new technology” gamebreaker flag football helmets in the news ticker are nothing more than a scrum cap which have been worn by rugby players for years.
I could do a screen grab if so desired (video clip instead), but while there was a lookout for purple neck wear last night, I noticed that Chris Matthews on the MSNBC coverage desk wore a red and blue striped tie. Not sure if that was in the same spirit as a purple tie, but I found it interesting nonetheless.
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Pistons and Nuggets went color-on-color last night. Of course, it was the Pistons and the Nuggets, so no one saw it.
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Awesome.
At least one sport is apparently listening to my ranting about color vs color… too bad it’s not one I actually watch. :(
“too bad it’s not one
IANYONE actually watches. :(“fixed
I noticed the only time the NBA goes color-on-color, one of the teams is wearing their alternate jersey, it’s never primary road jersey-vs-primary road jersey, although teams do wear their primary road at home. (Excepting the Lakers, whose yellow is their “white” jersey, and white is their alt.)
Detroit vs. Denver 11/6
Golden State vs. Sacramento 11/5
Sacramento vs. Indiana 11/3
Cleveland vs. Chicago 11/2
Utah vs. New Orleans 11/2
Oklahoma City vs. San Antonio 11/1
Golden State vs. Phoenix 10/31
Washington vs. Cleveland 10/30
All this and more at link.
Also it was the debut of the Nuggets yellow alt.
Toledo-Ball State was color vs. color last night.
The ND dual number thing isn’t a no-no: QB Golson and Manti Te’o both have worn 5 all year. I’m told the NCAA rule is that this is OK as long as the players aren’t on the field at the same time.
Re-read what you just wrote, and compare it to what Paul wrote.
It’s actually a benefit to read sentences to the period associated with the sentence in question.
Dammit Teebz! I just had to use html codes…
You’re on the ball, though, Jeff. That counts for something. :o)
“Notre Dame got away with having two players wearing No. 2 on the field at the same time last weekend, which is a no-no”
Read the text again.
And the hits just keep on coming.
New Mexico’s “Hero Day” helmets:
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Gross.
Just skipping over the step of calling it military appreciation…jump straight to HERO DAY. Would you like some freedom fries with that?
For what it’s worth, at least the details on the Rutgers helmet are relatively well executed…the NM helmets look pathetic and second rate.
Was thinking the same thing. At least try and make the thing somewhat palatable from an aesthetic perspective.
I had to pick my sides up off the ground after reading that “Hero Day” line.
Showed a tweet about this a couple of weeks ago and thought it was just a joke and that they were just putting golf spikes on a cleat, but I guess it’s a real company.
link
Check out the truck I just passed on the highway…
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please tell us you’re a passenger in that vehicle.
Of course!
Re: New Astros duds.
Just found this on ebay…
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A couple hockey notes:
link will apparently be worn by Western Michigan this weekend. I don’t believe further commentary is necessary on this one.
link came from a Dallas Stars website writer.
Want more fun, Casey? The ECHL Toledo Walleye will link on Saturday. WOOO!
Actually, that basic design looks a lot better on a hockey sweater than it does on link.
In my book, that’s a solid, “If that were gifted to me, I’d wear it” on the Vilk scale.
I just barfed in my mouth looking at the Western Michigan Unis. Tim Thomas must be in heaven.
If no one else wants to say it… RIP, DKR! We lost a legend today!
That’s for sure.
Wasn’t it he who said, “You gotta dance with the fella that brung ya”?
DKR?
darrell royal
Lukas/Lucas have something in common:
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Man, the aftermath of Sandy has been rough on the wrists of New York. Take care and heal up to the both of ya!
Best of luck w/ your surgery, Paul. Hope the procedure is smooth & your recovery is quick!
Anyone else seeing the amazing images in the stands for the Celtic/Barcelona match?
Brilliant result for the Hoops.
I went to Celtic Park a couple of weeks ago, and we were “doing the Poznan” then.
Here’s an interesting link of the election results.
Interesting. Just shows how close the election typically is in each state, even though we think of so many states as “solidly red” or “solidly blue”. I wonder how many people in particular states didn’t bother voting because it was a foregon conclusion (based on the media reports) which way their state was going to.
It’s the “popular” opinion that US should consider national popular vote, but I don’t think that’s much better — then everyone’s vote is merely 1 of 100,000,000 and there would not be the drama of individual states coming in.
What if they went to a system where each house district’s popular vote decided that one electoral college vote (and two at-large vote for each state) — and wonder if that would make a difference in seeming to make everyone’s vote count more and get more people to vote, and be a fairer way than just each state’s winner take all.
then everyone’s vote is merely 1 of 100,000,000 and there would not be the drama of individual states coming in.
Um, the function of democracy is not to provide “drama” for your entertainment. It’s to provide equal representation.
I don’t mean that’s a reason for change, just that would be a by-product of it.
too bad we live in a republic
The Romney/Aquafresh logo is good, but this one has been circulating on few design blogs for a while. I give you Romika, a shoe company from Germany: link
link
First thing I thought of, Romika.
I never noticed Romney’s logo/Aquafresh. My dad always says Obama’s is a variation of Pepsi’s logo. lol
i think i wanna move to colorado
did your guy win?
“did your guy win?”
~~~
yeah
I hear there’s an opening at The Overlook Hotel for the winter…
Gives a whoooole new meaning to the Denver Nuggets ;)
Only if they adopt “Basketball Jones” by Cheech and Chong as their theme song.
or Mile High Stadium
A friend of mine suggested this site to me since I have always been a sports uniform geek. Unfortunately the obvious distaste exhibited here for the military and people who wave the red, white and blue more than some may like is a huge turn off. Referring with obvious distaste to uniform additions or tweaks to honor those serving as Jingoistic or Militaristic is off-putting. I have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, been wounded in combat and lost good friends on foreign soil and still completely respect your right to express your opinions here as you wish. However, with the divisiveness that seems to be rampant in this country I just find it unfortunate that I can’t come to a web site that deals with sports, one of the great unifiers our nation has, and be confronted with such an obvious ill will toward those that serve this country. Good luck with your site and best wishes for your arms speedy recovery, but this will be my first comment and my last visit here to UniWatch. Take care all.