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Uni Watch

A Patchwork of Patches

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In the lead-up to the Stupor Bowl, I’ve gotten a lot of e-mails from people asking about the little patches on the Ravens’ practice jerseys. That’s one of the many Ravens and Niners topics addressed in my annual Super Bowl preview column, which is up now on ESPN. Enjoy. ”” Paul

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Membership update: Eight new designs have been added to the membership card gallery. That includes the card for Warren Junium (shown at right), who had an interesting request: He asked for a design based on the Notre Dame end zone. Nice!

Also worth noting: The Brewers’ new fan-designed uniform, which was unveiled just a few days ago, has already been rendered as a membership card. That one is for Jerzy Gwiazdowski, who signed up last month and told me, “Whatever the winning Brewers design turns out to be, that’s what I want.” So that’s what he’s got.

The printed/laminated versions of these cards should mail out on Thursday or Friday. As always, you can sign up for your own custom-designed membership card (and finally make good on that New Year’s resolution) here.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: The most prominent rating system for football helmets has been revised. ”¦ Adidas has unveiled a bunch of new sneakers for the NBA All-Star Game. … Latest Adidas-outfitted basketball team to go tone-on-tone: UCLA. … Tone-on-tone lettering hasn’t always been limited to Adidas basketball unis, incidentally, as you can see in this team portrait of the 1961-62 Providence Reds. “I was at the [Rochester] War Memorial the first night the Reds visited that year,” says Terry Proctor. “When they came on the ice for warm-up, we all thought it was a recreation league team because the unis looked so bush-league. Even sitting rinkside, you couldn’t read the numbers at all. The Reds wore these unis for two seasons. The goalie at far right in the front row is some kid named Ed Giacomin.” … Very interesting map of NFL fans (from Chris Flinn). ”¦ President Obama wasn’t the only one who got a Heat jersey during the team’s recent visit to the White House — every member of the family got one (from Kenny Loo). … Pretty awesome 1974 Cleveland Crusaders highlight film. “Somebody was shooting for an award on this one,” says Tim Nash. … Remember my recent interview with Cardinals team president Bill DeWitt III? Here he is in a Blues uniform at Wayne Gretzky’s fantasy camp (from Jonathan Karberg). ”¦ Three Japanese items from Jeremy Brahm: New soccer uniforms and 20th-anniversary logo for Shonan Bellmare; new soccer uniforms for Shimizu S-Pulse; and new basketball uniforms for the BJ-League (basketball) All-Star Game. ”¦ Jon Alvey notes that several Lakers have been wearing blue accessories lately, including Dwight Howard’s blue headband and Antawn Jamison’s armband. Anyone know what that’s about? … Update: As several readers immediately pointed out in the comments, the blue accessories are part of the league’s annual “NBA Fit” promotion. Other teams are wearing the blue gear as well.

 
  
 
Comments (61)

    The Lakers’ blue accessories are part of the annual NBA Fit program. Other teams in the league have been wearing them as well, in addition to blue NBA Fit warm-up shirts on the sidelines.

    The blue accessories have to do with NBA’s “Fit” initiative that promotes healthy living (via players wearing blue accessories and warmup shirts, similar to green/beige stuff worn during Green Week)

    Yes, it would. I looked briefly for a color picture of the jersey with no luck. Here is a link to a logo the Reds used. Very nice for a fairly simple logo.

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    Matthew-The Reds’ sweaters were in the Detroit style of Red with White stripes. The lettering was Red-on-White tackle twill. The numbers in the right sleeve stripe were White-on-Red twill. The logo was not the large one you showed but the “Raging Rooster” that Creamer shows as “1975-76 to 1976-77.” The logo on the left sleeve stripe can be seen clearly on trainer George Army’s jacket. That logo is shown on Creamer’s page as well.

    The pants were Black with a Red & White stripe. The socks were Red with Black & White stripes.

    Looks like I’m glad I never saw them play the Hornets, who also used the Red Wings as their base in the ’60s.

    Sure would.
    That’s Rangers’ NHL hall of fame goalie Eddie Giacomin in the first row to our right.

    “The most prominent rating system for football helmets ….”

    Dang, I thought this was rating their design asthetic or something. I don’t care much about how safe they are.

    Rats.

    Maybe it would be more clear had our host wrote, “The most prominent rating system for the quality of football helmets…”? Even so, the actual article doesn’t make it very clear what constitutes “quality” as it uses that word as a synonym for “safety.”

    Am I the only observer that believe that the Ravens’ 2012 Nike home jerseys are substantially “lighter” or brighter shade of Purple? The color this season seems much brighter and more colorful than previous seasons. Could it actually be brighter, or, could the newer Nike material not retain water creating a darker effect, or, simply photograph lighter.

    My apologies if this subject has been previously addressed, and a second apology to those not acepting of Purple as an athletic team color ….

    “… … Very interesting map of NFL fans (from Chris Flinn). … ”

    Interesting and very well executed. And lots of fun for us geo-cultural-interface students. The degree to which the 49ers beat the Ravens in enlisting temporary Super Bowl rooters is remarkable. They win both the popular vote and the Electoral College, and by big margins. Is it because SF is a famously beautiful place, much visited, and Baltimore is neither? Is it because Frisco has an exciting offense and makes big plays? Is it red-and-gold vs black-and-purple?

    I note that, despite the mapmaker’s claim that the Mid-Atlantic states go for Balmer, it looks more like a dead heat or even a slim win for Frisco in the region. Check out DE, PA, NJ, and NY. New England is way pro-49ers.

    Hypotheses?

    1. N.E. is just obvious bitterness. Some regions support the team that beat them, others root for that team’s next opponent.

    2. The rest of the nation probably does not want to see Ray Lewis walk away with the trophy.

    3. As to the mid-Atlantic states, fear of a Baltimore riot?
    The Wire has done more harm than good in terms of perception.

    I note that, despite the mapmaker’s claim that the Mid-Atlantic states go for Balmer, it looks more like a dead heat or even a slim win for Frisco in the region. Check out DE, PA, NJ, and NY. New England is way pro-49ers.

    Hypotheses?

    Because it’s based on Facebook stats.

    You have to figure that most Facebook users are relatively young-ish… 35 or younger (total guess on my part) – and most of those people would have grown up during an era where the Patriots absolutely sucked and the 49ers had Joe Montana & Jerry Rice. So a typical New Englander grows up rooting for the Patriots and being disappointed, and following the 49ers or Cowboys or whoever as a secondary team.

    Not to mention that the Ravens beat the Patriots to get to the game – and despite what that article claims, I’m sure there’s quite a few fans who DON’T then switch teams to root for a rival. Had New England got knocked out by Houston, the number of temporary Ravens fans might be a bit higher.

    A big reason that Facebook has succeeded is that it was able to attract users across all generations, so I don’t know about your demographic estimate. Even so, I’d think that most of the under-35 crowd has more memory of the Patriots’ Super Bowl wins than than the 49ers. A 30-year-old was 8 years old the last time Joe Montana was the 49ers’ starter.

    I say it’s because the 49ers have been around for MUCH longer and have built up a larger cross-country fan base over that time, especially during the dynasty of the ’80s. The Ravens haven’t existed for two decades and don’t have quite the same history of success. Same reason the Cowboys, Packers and Steelers have strong cross-country fan bases: Been around a long time with a history of winning.

    Fandom can be earned in interesting ways. Live close to Kansas City? Probably a Chiefs fan. Live in NY, but daddy was from Illinois? Most likely a Bears fan. Came of age in the ’80s without a hometown team? 49ers for you, most likely.

    Then again, my wife’s cousin was born in Kenosha, WI (far SE Wisconsin, on the Illinois state line) with a Bears-fan daddy and a Packers-fan mama. He’s a Dolphins fan. Go figure.

    Was digging through this yesterday, I was curious about the NE/NY split in Connecticut. Apparently it’s an all or nothing setup, so if a county was 51% Patriot and 49% Giants it was shaded Giants. With CT in particular, the Giants/Jets split the NY based support so New England claimed them all.

    It’s an interesting map (I’m a cartography nerd) but leans more to the absolute side then actual representation.

    Also of note, a coworker pointed out that Nassau County on Long Island is the only county in the country for Jets fans.

    There’s always debate around Yankees/Mets I’d be curious to see if that holds up, but being how popular the Yankees are I wouldn’t be surprised if there are no Met dominated counties at all.

    “Nassau County on Long Island is the only county in the country for Jets fans.”

    ~~~

    I’m not so sure about that (although I’m basing that solely on non-scientific observation), but if true, it’s probably due to the fact that for years, the Jets’ trained at Hofstra and of course, used to play in Shea.

    I still think there as many G-men fans in Nassau, but again, only basing that on what I see.

    I will say this, however, whatever Jets fans may exist around here sure have kept their chirping to an absolute minimum the past several years.

    I’m confused by the support for the Ravens in the final map.

    1. The counties surrounding Cleveland are pro-Raven???
    2. The counties surrounding Pittsburgh are pro-Raven???

    The idea of Browns fans and Steelers fans cheering for the Ravens surprises me a lot.

    It just means they have more people who have Facebook-liked the Ravens than the 49ers, with the “likers” of all other teams ignored. It’s not asking the alternate preferences of hometown Browns/Steelers fans. Probably they have more transplants from Maryland than Northern California in those counties.

    I am surprised that the whole south and most of the “flyover” states outside of
    the major cities were not covered in Cowboys’ silver.

    Pretty impressive Blues throwbacks for that Gretzky fantasy camp. They’re the original 1967 designs, complete with crew collars, and the Rangers-style yoke and predominant yellow sleeve and waist stripes on the white jerseys.

    Pretty nice!

    A friend of mine went to Gretzky fantasy camp a few years back. They did up everything about it perfectly – the campers that year played as the Rangers and the uniforms were perfect reproductions (right down to the vertically arched names).

    There’s some photos on Gretzky’s site of various years. Check out the 2009 version (featuring the 1992 All Star Game jerseys).

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    Here’s another neat little tidbit of Super Bowl uni trivia:

    When teams whose left and right helmet decals are the same play in the Super Bowl against teams whose decals are mirror-images of each other, the team whose decals are the same almost always wins; 15 out of 19 times. (The mirror-image category includes the Ravens, Chiefs, and Dolphins, whose decals are not precise mirror images only because of the letters, and the Bengals, whose decals go over the top of the helmet but create mirror images on each side. Games involving the Steelers don’t count either way; the Steelers are 4-0 against mirror-image decals, 2-2 against identical decals.)

    The Ravens were one of the four mirror-image-logo teams that won, over the Giants in SB XXXV. The 49ers won 4 of their 5 Super Bowls against teams with mirror-image decals (Bengals in XVI and XXIII, Dolphins in XIX, Chargers in XXIX; the other was over the Broncos in XXIV).

    On a related note, the Broncos lost all four Super Bowls they played with identical decals on each side, but won the two they played with mirror-image decals. The Patriots are the only other team to play in different Super Bowl games with both identical (0-1) and mirror-image (3-3) helmet decal sets.

    Wow, I know one of the fans in that Cleveland Crusaders video! At 1:58 you see a rather large guy with sideburns and patches all over his jacket going through the turnstile. I don’t remember his name but when I joined the NHL Cleveland Barons booster club in 1977 (all the way from NY), I went to a booster club convention and met all the Baron boosters and he was there. Quite a character, to say the least. I heard a few years later from one of the boosters that he passed away.

    -Jet

    Regarding the note on ESPN that it is odd to see the Ravens switch up their Art Modell memorialization mid-season – the Eagles also did this when Jerome Brown died before the 1992 season. They had a little jersey patch for the first game or two, then after players and fans complained that it wasn’t enough, they designed a much larger / more elaborate patch to wear in its place.

    I pray that the Eagles never again have to memorialize a player/coach/exec who passes on, but if they must they should simply do this:

    link

    Speaking of altering the Art Modell memorial, there’s a variation of it on the Ravens’ website. Purple instead of black, with his dated and the team logo under the name.

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    (right hand side, below Super Bowl alternate logo and above “Prime Sport”)

    Is this new to everybody else, or am I late again to the party?

    As someone who lived in that area where pa, de and md meet, no love lost historically between the peoeple in the other states.

    That Crusaders film is an awesome artifact.. for the team (Gerry Cheevers in goal) the league (footage of the Blazers and Fighting Saints) and for the old Cleveland Arena which had only chickenwire above the boards, not herculite.

    Amazing stuff. Really.

    So obviously we know the Lakers’ blue accessories were part of the NBA Fit campaign. But it does indirectly hearken back to the Showtime days, specifically Magic Johnson’s knee pads:

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    No screen shot, but Rickie Lambert of Southampton has had the neck of his jersey ripped to pieces in their game at Manchester United.

    I was expecting such a line from twitter…I thought the posters here were better than that…guess only most are.

    Frankly, it looks like a basketball uniform. Not a huge fan. The pro-pullover camp will argue that button-front jerseys are not superior in any way, performance-wise; if anything, they are counterproductive when a grounder takes a funny hop and goes through a button hole and into the uniform. I hear and grant that argument, but I really like the look of buttons on the front. Just give it some worthless “buttons” or a zipper and call it a day. (But no Henleys, because those look like Little League.)

    Color-on-color at Pauley Pavilion this evening. The home UCLA Bruins are in all blue (including socks and shoes), the visiting USC Trojans in their new black Nike uniforms with bright yellow shoes.

    Are the Ravens the only team whose practice jerseys are identical to their game jerseys (except the patches of course)? They’ve been this way for a while.

    No. A few other teams (including the Niners) use game jerseys for practice, usually on the theory that they want practice to be as much like gameday as possible.

    just watched the video of the making of the kings championship banner and was wondering if this years hockey season will be considered the “2012-2013” or just the “2013” season. how will it be written on the banner for this years stanley cup winner and in the history books?

    This is considered the 2012-13 season. In 1995, that lockout moved the start of the season to January. As you can see on this image, it was called the 1994-95 season.

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    Phoenix Suns wearing black ‘retro’ uniforms against LA. Am I the only one who finds it strange that a team called the Suns is wearing a uni the color of night?

    I don’t know if anyone has shared this, but this is HGI’s Baylor Gold Chrome Helmet from their “Helmet Wars”

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