As you can see at right, Golden State made a bit of NBA history yesterday, as the team unveiled a new alternate jersey with sleeves. Due to make its on-court debut on Feb. 22, it’s believed to be the first sleeved jersey ever worn in the NBA. (There’s additional info here, lots more photos here, and photos from the unveiling here.)
As we’ve discussed here many times, sleeves used to be somewhat common — or at least not unheard of — in college basketball, especially at Evansville. To my knowledge, however, sleeves have never been worn in the NBA. The Sheboygan Red Skins wore sleeved jerseys in 1940-41, but that was before the NBA existed. (The Skins would later become charter members of the NBA in 1949, but they were no longer wearing sleeves by that point.) The Celtics also wore sleeves in 1946-47, but again, that was pre-NBA. The closest the NBA has come to a sleeved look since then was when league briefly considered letting players wear long-sleeved undershirts for an outdoor preseason game a few years ago. In the end, nothing came of it.
I’ve always been intrigued by sleeved basketball jerseys and I really like this one (which isn’t so surprising, since I’ve liked most of Golden State’s design moves in recent years). Can’t say I’m so nuts about the jersey being paired with pinstriped shorts, and the two shades of yellow seem badly mismatched, but whaddaya gonna do. I’m more interested in the jersey and its implications for basketball jersey design.
Last night I participated in an Adidas/NBA conference call regarding this new uni. Here’s a rough summary (not a direct transcript) of some of the questions I asked and the answers I received:
Q: Will other NBA teams be getting sleeved jerseys?
A: Other teams have been in discussions to wear the sleeves, and it’s likely that some of them will eventually end up going that route, but not this season. Golden State is the only team that will wear the sleeves in 2012-13 season.
Q: Marc Spears from Yahoo Sports tweeted yesterday that several Adidas-outfitted schools will be wearing sleeves this season. Is that true?
A: Spears’s list isn’t 100% accurate, but it’s true that some Adidas schools will be wearing sleeves this season, yes.
Q: Why pair pinstriped shorts with a non-pinstriped jersey?
A: There were some aesthetic reasons for this (the pinstripes supposedly evoke the cables on the Bay Bridge, blah-blah-blah), but I’m pretty sure the bottom line is that Adidas is using a new woven fabric for the shorts, and they wanted to show off how stripes look when rendered in that fabric.
Q: Why doesn’t the yellow on the jersey match the yellow on the shorts?
A: Actually, I didn’t ask this, because I didn’t see a photo showing the mismatch until after the conference call. Dang.
Q: A sleeve would be a good place to put an advertising patch, no?
A: Funny you should ask, because there was word yesterday that the league’s plan to add corporate advertising patches is back on the front burner, with the ad patches slated to debut in the 2014-15 season. That isn’t particularly big news, because we’ve known all along that they would probably push to revive the ad plan once Adam Silver had replaced David Stern as commish.
Anyway: NBA exec Sal LaRocca, who’s quoted in that story, was on the conference call, and he said that interview actually took place last month (i.e., it’s not breaking news) and that the sleeved jerseys have been in the works since 2011 (i.e., they’re not introducing sleeves just as a way to create a space for ad patches). While it’s tempting to think that the sleeves are really just ad billboards waiting to happen, I suspect the ad patches will all end up on the chest, not the sleeves, because they’ll want the ads to be facing the camera during close-up shots at the free throw line. A free throw will now be the money shot.
Of course, the best way to keep ads off the sleeves is to keep them off the uniforms altogether. Time to regather our energy on that front, people. #NoUniAds
The other big news from yesterday is that the Braves have decided not to wear the Indian head BP cap after all. How about that.
That article mentions that the Indian logo “was one of five proposed designs” and that “a [final] decision on the design had not been made before the potential hats were leaked [in this ESPN column].” In other words, the Braves are claiming that they were never fully committed to the Indian design.
That’s bullshit. The Indian cap design has been in the MLB Style Guide for months (and is still there right now). It’s also shown in the new New Era catalog. I suppose all those other teams’ cap designs in the catalog weren’t finalized either, eh? Let’s see how many of them end up being different than the ones shown in the catalog. I’m fairly certain the Braves will be the only ones who pull a switcheroo.
I’m not surprised that Braves management is telling tall tales in an attempt to save face, since they’ve taken a beating in the media on this one (not so much from me, but from all the other media outlets that weighed in once I revealed the Indian cap design). Still, it would be nice if they’d had the integrity to say, “We messed up, we’ve listened, and now we’re making things right.” Maybe one day.
Meanwhile, the most interesting coverage of yesterday’s news came from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. All I’ll say is that if you start reading it, make sure you read it all the way to the end. (Thanks to reader Tom Abernathy for pointing me toward the AJC piece.)
Collector’s Corner
By Brinke Guthrie
Leading off this week with yet another of the popular 1970s NHL poster, this time with the Los Angeles Kings. That’s the only new NHL one I found, but here’s a nice-looking Chargers poster from the same period, and one for the Celtics.
But there’s more to life than posters. For example:
• Tremendous cover artwork in this 1969 NFL Appointment Book.
• This eBay seller has quite a few “NFL Fan Kits” for sale. Worth checking out!
• This auction has it all. TB Bucco Bruce helmet WITH the old-school single-bar facemask. And this Cowboys Staubach-era helmet also has the Dymo label- though this one is not game worn. More helmets from the same seller here.
• If you’re a fan of the 1970s Steel Curtain Stillers, you’ll like this bobblehead set.
• Cincy Powell wore this jersey for the Dallas Chaparrals before he moved on to the Colonels.
• GO with the Giants with this 1960s New York Football Giants megaphone. We’ve also got some great 1960 Shell Oil Giants prints.
• This auction is for a 1960s player-worn Chicago Bears varsity-style sideline jacket.
• Gotta love this 1950s Brooklyn Dodgers kids tee!
• And from reader Mike Clary, look how big these Marx NFL football game players are. They’d crush those little Tudor guys!
Seen something on eBay or Etsy that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here.
T-shirt reminder: In case you missed it two weeks ago, a bunch of new (but sort of old) Uni Watch T-shirts, including the one shown at right, are now available. For details, look here.
OMFG: My latest “One-Man Focus Group” column is about a TD Ameritrade commercial with a surprising soundtrack.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I have confirmed via New Era that the Blue Jays’ BP cap is the only one with a team logo on the back. All the others will simply have the MLB logo. … Meanwhile, here’s New Era’s official press release on the BP caps. … Speaking of MLB headwear, there had been talk about a new line of padded caps for pitchers, but that’s now looking unlikely, at least for 2013. … The Smithsonian is hosting a seminar on sports memorabilia (from William Yurasko). … Whatever else you may think about Pope Benedict and his impending retirement, I’m pretty sure he’ll go down as the first Pope to wear a baseball cap. … New uni number assignments for the Cubs (from Benjamin Gordon). … The Chris Canty-style facemask is apparently coming to lacrosse (from Connor Wilson). … A dozen MLS teams will unveil their new kits during the last few days of this month. “How convenient that we can pre-order before we even know what the kits look like!” notes Markus Kamp. … A little birdie tells me that the new Arizona football uniforms will be revealed around the time of the Spring Game on April 13. … A new Oregon State logo has leaked, although I don’t know how legit it is. … Mets catching prospect Travis d’Arnaud, acquired in the R.A. Dickey trade, has an interesting NOB. Looks like they used an upside-down “P” for the first letter, eh? (From Nick Schiavo.) … Awesome striped stirrups for Florida softball (from Hunter Gold). … This is sort of bizarre: Vancouver Canucks jersey chairs (from Jay Sullivan). … ESPN’s 30 for 30 series is currently shooting a film about Marquette basketball. Working title: Untucked (from Jeff Ash). … Here’s a good shot of the Hockey City Classic patch on the Wisconsin jersey (Jay Sullivan again). … The D-League’s Iowa Energy wore Nuggets uniforms the other night (from Mitch Barbee). … Coleman Mullins is the latest reader to don a black leg band in memory of Mike Hersh. … “This is the NBA laundry hamper I had as a kid,” says Keith Winney. “The net extends downward and ties at the bottom, so you ‘shoot’ your dirty laundry in the hoop. It’s probably from 1989-1990. It started as a plain backboard and came with all the NBA team logo stickers that you could plaster on it. Nearly all of the teams’ logos have been redesigned since then. Side note: In the movie Boyz n the Hood, this exact same hamper appears in Tre’s room at the very end of the movie.” … Here’s confirmation of something I reported last week, namely that the Pirates will have a new logo in 2014. … Neglected to mention yesterday that the high school in Cooperstown, New York — where Uni Watch reader Jeff Katz is the mayor, incidentally — will no longer call its teams the Redskins. … In a related item, good riff on the ’Skins name from Deadspin. … Shame on the city government of Kansas City, which is considering selling off corporate naming rights to public property. … New baseball uniforms for Michigan (Jay Sullivan again). ”¦ Here’s that Chargers-themed supercross helmet in action (from Sean Clancy). ”¦ This is really interesting: Los Angeles police officers have added a black strip across their badges, presumably in memory of the fallen officer recently killed by Charles Dorner. Don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before (big thanks to Ian T.L. Henderson). … The company whose name is on my local basketball arena paid $400 million for that privilege, which I’m sure will be a great comfort to the nearly 4,000 people that that company just laid off. Unfuckingbelievable.
Interested to see how the Pirates update their… uh… pirate.
And those Golden State uniforms are a travesty. I don’t care about the sleeves, but those shorts look like they’re from completely different uniforms.
Looks like Harrison Barnes is getting ready for bed. This looks more like sleepwear than a basketball uniform.
My favorite part of that article is that “A sketch artist will apply them on paper, on the spot.” I’m guessing it will end up looking like link or link.
(Actually, I think it’s a really cool idea.)
I never liked that Pirate that the Pirates introduced in the late 90s. What was worse was the red head band and then they introduced red as a tertiary color. The Pirates’ look sucked with the black, yellow and red. I’m so glad that they went back to black and yellow.
I posted the link in yesterday’s comments, even though Paul did report it last week, it was just public confirmation from the team that the Pirates are changing it up. Couldn’t agree with you more on the current logo Jason. I’d say bring link logo back, although the last two years they have been using their link that they quietly introduced in 2010 with some frequency–its even used as their profile pic on their official Facebook page, and has been for some time. Wouldn’t surprise me if their current alternate logo becomes the primary.
I think it would be A Bold Move if they did modernize their pirate. I’m thinking something Somali…
I agree. I really lik ethe jersey. It’s sharp and it looks good. I don’t know who dreamed up the shorts.
The striped shorts and mismatched yellows make those Warriors uniforms look absolutely horrible, sleeves or otherwise.
On an amusing note, if these catch on, NBA uniforms are going to cover more skin than NFL ones.
Yeah, let’s hope this trend doesn’t catch on. That “uniform” is an abomination. The Wizards old Gold/Black combo disaster matched better than this monstrosity. They get an A for effort, for trying something different, but that’s the only thing they get. Take those things to the incinerator, stat.
Damn you Patrick Ewing! This is the final devolution of the basketball uniform that you started because you said you were “cold” when you played over hockey ice. But your cold suddenly disappeared when you signed with the Knicks. Unfortunately the damage was done to thousands of high school and college players who suddenly copied your idea.
And you’re right Jeff. After this quarter-sleeve fad catches on basketball unis will cover more skin than football. And just wait ’til Nike and UA roll out their sleeves. Arrrrrgh!
But your cold suddenly disappeared when you signed with the Knicks
Wasn’t it David Stern who ruled out Ewing wearing a t-shirt right around Draft Night that year? I think had Stern allowed Ewing to wear a t-shirt, he would gave done so.
*have done so. Damn my stubby fingers and this iPhone keyboard.
You beat me to it, DJ. I well remember Patrick at Georgetown and the speculation he’d try to wear the undershirt when he was drafted by the Knickerbockers. And it was definitely the NBA who put the kibosh on that move. I always wondered, then, and now, what the big deal with wearing the undershirt was, but I guess “rules are rules.”
I thought everyone knew that the NBA didn’t allow T-shirts, then i realized that a lot of you folks are well under 30. I’m sorry I didn’t mention that fact. My point is that once Patrick got the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ he was fine playing sans-Tee. But he still ruined the classic look of basketball! I don’t know which is worse the Ewing look or MJ’s long pants. I’ll take Patrick.
Um…not quite sure where you’re going with that Terry. I know the NBA doesn’t allow T-Shirts — and I learned that in 1985 when the Knicks (and DeBusschere) won the lottery. And I always remembered Patrick’s look as a Hoya. I then learned, since he couldn’t wear the t-shirt under the tank, that the NBA didn’t allow such a look. So, I’m not only over 30, I’ve known this for almost 30 years.
MY point wasn’t that Patrick was fine without the t-shirt once he got the $$$$$$$, there was a rule which precluded his wearing it before he ever had a chance to try it out. Sure, the $$$$$$$ didn’t hurt, but rules is rules.
But…that was a COLLEGE look. How did Ewing ruin the look of basketball? No one in the pros was allowed to wear the t-shirt from the get go. Or are you saying he ruined college basketball for you?
He ruined college and more importantly to me high school basketball. Kids did it because they thought it looked “cool,” not for any real value. Call me an old fuddy duddy if you will, but the way today’s basketball, baseball and football uniforms are made and/or worn is absolutely ridiculous. And these whacked-out uniform looks in college or pro sports, it doesn’t matter, have ruined something that has been my life for the past 46 years. Maybe I should just accept the fact that today’s athletes don’t mind looking like clowns.
Gotcha Terry.
I actually don’t mind the look (but I am far from what you’d consider “new school”) and I actually don’t mind what the Warriors are trying, in principle. I don’t particularly like the striped trou with the solid shirt (a look that is particularly heinous anytime, but especially in baseball when teams wear solid shirts with pinstriped pants). I know it’s not what you grew up with Terry, but seeing a dude’s pits (or if playing, having your face inadvertently coming into contact with them) isn’t my idea of a “good” look either. Tank tops or *beaters* as some call them just look, I donno…like an old bathing suit.
YMMV
We actually sold a few schools quarter-sleeve basketball uniforms right through the end of the 1960s. But the “T-shirt” look ended when Sand-Knit came out with the “SandMark” uniform co-ordinates. And you’re right, the look itself isn’t that bad when done properly. An actual T-shirt jersey is at least “uniform” in its design and doesm’t look like something cobbled together out of a rag bin. As I said when Nike and UA get into the mix watch out. We may be in on a fundamental change in basketball uniform design.
I really like the jersey. It’s a fresh idea and it looks good. However, the stiped shorts are STUPID…SUPER STUPID. You kill a new look. For some reason, sports designers always go to damn far. If they would have stopped with the shirt, I think it would be a hit.
It’s like women who wear two loud patterns at the same time …same principle.
Cmon, Cooperstown Deerslayers!
Go Bumpos!
Pathfinders! Deerslayers is a great name, but it’s a minor-league hockey team name. Pathfinders is the nickname for a public school.
Don’t remind me about that. Our local college switched from “Mohawks” to “Trailblazers”, which is almost as bad as Pathfinders.
Not saying they should have stuck with Mohawks, but man, Trailblazers sounds…well..exactly like what it is. A public, liberal arts school.
You’ve covered link before.
That upside-down P just drives me crazy.
NOBs are in capital letters, and when you need a small letter, you use a small capital. Every other player with a prefix in his name, like “de”, “la”, “Mc”, “van”, “von”, etc., etc., needing a small letter, does it this way. If the Pirates (and now Mets) don’t have a small capital D like they do with the other letters, then cut one. It can’t be that hard.
Incidentally, while we’re on that subject, I don’t think I’ve seen a name in the majors that uses a small capital as the very first letter, even though we write “de” and “van” and the rest with small letters at the beginning sometimes. I wonder if it was judged to be more aesthetically pleasing if the left edge of the NOB was the same height as the right edge, even if the stuff in the middle was smaller.
And is it my imagination, or is the gap between the collar and the top of the NOB/number getting even bigger still?
And it’s nice to see that they’re not putting TOO much pressure on the “catcher of the future” by issuing him Jerry Grote’s old number
Fair and square, Paul?
I’m reeeeaaaaallllly hoping the piece is an awful attempt at satire…
Q: Why doesn’t the yellow on the jersey match the yellow on the shorts?
Maybe because the new fangled shirt is some sort of high-tech sweat-wicking fancy-schmancy state-of-the-art top-of-line cutting edge piece of the latest in the evolution of a new age uniform “system”, while the shorts are just, you know, shorts.
The black strip across the badge is pretty common for fallen officers. If memory serves it was even in the dark night.
Sadly you are correct.
link
I have two or three specially designed elastic black badge things for Line of Duty Deaths (LODD) to put on my FD badge. It’s sad companies make and sell them, but they are needed.
More on this topic:
link
Interesting: That site recommends using black electrical tape or a magnetic stripe to put a black band on the badge insignia on a vehicle as well. Can’t recall ever seeing that in practice.
There was a fire fighter killed in the line of duty here last year. The city FD striped the vehicles for a month. You can see it in the photo here:
link
Look on the city seal located in the white stripe on the passenger doors.
I hadn’t seen black stripes on the vehicles before. But I have definitely seen the bands on police badges.
I love the old school one-bar facemask. I hate that nobody can/will wear one anymore. Fuck the NFL for outlawing it!
Has anyone else noticed how Adidas has replaced Michigan’s Maize with an electric yellow?? IMO Michigan always seemed to have classic uniforms, but slowly Adidas seems to be changing them, making them trendy instead of iconic.
Adidas uses a color of theirs called “Sun” in Michigan’s uniforms. The color they used when Nike outfitted them was trademarked by Nike, and is now unavailable to Michigan to use.
In hindsight, schools ought to standardize their athletic colors and grant their use under a license when they sign a shoes/apparel contract. That way, if bigger $ compel you to switch companies, as Michigan did when they went from Nike to Adidas, they won’t lose the use of a preferred color.
I don’t want to say that many schools standardize their athletic colors, but I would think they do.
At the TINY Division III school I coach at, we have our “color” that everyone has to use. I would assume this is rather commonplace since our PR/marketing “gurus” have learned from other places.
It just blows my mind that Nike can be allowed to trademark “school colors”…
How can you trademark a color? If Nike “owns” the shade of yellow at 700 nanometers on the spectrum (or whatever), Adidas uses the tint at 701 nanometers and nobody can tell the difference. Or has Nike somehow claimed ownership of a whole range of color?
I think Susan was having a little fun there, Mark.
Does Nike trademark the NAME of the color or the ACTUAL color itself?? You wouldn’t think you could trademark a color??
“..the only Pope to wear a baseball cap”
Is it a baseball cap if you’re not playing baseball?
seriously. Just wondering.
If it isn’t a baseball cap, then what would you call it?
I’ve often wondered that myself. You see that style of hat everywhere these days, including in locales where baseball is a scarce commodity.
hat or just plain ole cap
It’s pretty much the same thing as wearing a polo shirt if you’re not playing polo, so I’d say yes.
It’s the AJC, but “The Hater”‘s blog isn’t *really* the AJC.
I mean, that’s not in the version that is being delivered to the front steps of “Tara”
Black strips on police and fire badges is pretty common.
Google search confirms: link
as to Yahoo answers: link
Good stuff. Thanks!
More on this topic:
link
My father-in-law was a police officer and when he lost his battle with cancer, a lot of the cops that showed up at the funeral had a black band on their badges, this was my first time seeing that.
Then it was very prominent in the Burgh after the April 2009 shootings… see the second result in this search and how it was incorporated on a sticker
link
The “NFL Fan Kits” in the Collector’s Corner links back to uni-watch.
Thanks — now fixed.
Here’s the proper link:
link
“The Sheboygan Red Skins wore sleeved jerseys in 1940-41, but that was before the NBA existed.”
[Daffy Duck] not again?! [/Daffy Duck]
——-
Stoke City manager wears a baseball cap and thats what the British call it. He is usually derided for it, as in that NYT article about premier league coaches’ fashion sense.
But who will play shortstop for the Vatican baseball team now?!
Phil Rizzuto, of course.
Does anyone have a clue whether those new BP caps will be available in the low-crown style? I’m assuming not.
Earlier today, I called Minorleagues.com, (easily the best place to find and buy low crown new era caps). She said that they contacted New Era about making low crown BP caps and NE simply said no. They also said no to low crown WBC and low crown NFL hats.
So there you go. New Era, makers of the best caps around (low crowns!) and the dumbest and most annoying hatters in the world.
Argh.
“… We’ve also got some great 1960 Shell Oil Giants prints…”
Highly recommended. Robert Rieger (I think) produced a series of classic drawings of Giants in action. The compositions, the command of the (difficult and disappearing) medium, the ACTION… Amazing.
I’m not a fan of the Braves for a lot of reasons but I thought the screaming Indian hat would have been cool. It’s a logo on a hat, get over it. No one with a rigth mind thinks that the screaming Indians or Chief Wahoo is a true depiction of a Native American, just like no one with a right minds thinks all Irish fight.
However I do believe the Washington Nationals should change their name as to not hurt the feelings of players from foreign nations. Come on guys, that’s bigoted thinking.
Thank John Cleese for this nugget: “There are some people whom one should wish to offend.”
That’s half the reason for such widespread public resistance to such name changes. The “people” in this case not being Indians, but the public voices that perorate on their ostensible behalf.
You’re right. We should let the Native Americans fight for themselves. That worked out so well for them last time around …
Paul, the Celtics wore sleeved jerseys in ’46-47, the first year of the NBA (ok, technically it was still the BAA then). Not sure if they wore these jerseys after that season, I suspect not.
link
There’s at least one more team that wore sleeved jerseys during the late 40s, I’m sure of it – I’ll go through my files and see what I can find.
Cool — I’ll add that to the text.
“The Celtics also wore sleeves in 1946-47, but again, that was pre-NBA.”
It really wasn’t. The ’46-47 BAA season is considered the NBA’s first season.
Might it have been the Indianapolis Olympians?
It was the St. Louis Bombers! They wore the sleeved jerseys up to their last season in 1949-50, which was the first season that the league was called the NBA:
link
link
So the Warriors aren’t the first NBA team to wear a sleeved jersey!
I seem to recall that the Baltimore Bullets wore sleeves in the early 1950s.
Benedict may be the first Pope in a baseball cap, but he’s not the first Pope to play baseball:
link
Wow – pretty solid fundamentals for what I assume is an old man’s first time at the plate. Wouldn’t have pegged JPII to bat lefty, or in Latin sinister, though.
The only thing that gives me pause as to the video’s authenticity is, appropriately enough, the shoes. I don’t recall John Paul II wearing white shoes; usually he wore red leather slippers or ordinary black leather shoes.
He was very athletic in his youth, and in the early years of his papacy: soccer, hiking, mountain climbing, canoeing, skiing, snowshoeing.
If it’s the video I’m thinking of — at work now and can’t see it — there’s a point where you can hear him talk, and his accent is clearly not that of His Holiness.
He was very athletic in his youth, and in the early years of his papacy: soccer, hiking, mountain climbing, canoeing, skiing, snowshoeing.
I recently invented a new word to describe snowshoeing: “trudgery.”
“I recently invented a new word to describe snowshoeing: “trudgery.””
~~~
Clearly, you’re not doing it correctly ;-)
I don’t imagine any nun would’ve dared rap his knuckles for going lefty.
When I think of the Pope in a baseball cap, he comes to mind:
link
Not for nothin’, but I’m at 3 on the “6 degrees of Kevin Bacon scale” – JPII division.
er….”6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon” scale…..I hate poor punctuation…..Especially when folks use too many “……”
Benedict is not the first Pope to be ON a baseball cap:
link
The mismatched shorts for Golden State … I don’t have the software or time to look into it, but could the yellows be the same (or at least comparable), but our eyes are thrown off by the pinstripes?
That was my first thought.
Nope, it’s definately a different yellow.
This could have been so easily fixed by using white pinstripes instead of blue ones. It would fool the eye into thinking the yellows match.
Those jersey chairs are made in Winnipeg. The guy sho started them requires you to send him a jersey, and he covers the chair with it.
Personally, a $900 chair better massage my ass AND come with the jersey included before I turn over any jersey from my collection.
I think the jersey chairs are kind of cool.
I agree that I would not ruin one of my jerseys to create one. However,if I lived in Canada I would buy one of the in stock clearance chairs. I am sure shipping and duties to the US would be a killer.
I couldn’t really tell if the “Hater” on the AJC site was writing that article with tongue firmly planted in cheek, or what. It just read very strange to me. But maybe I’m just stupid, I don’t know.
While on the vague subject of Atlanta sports, that “new” Oregon State logo sort of reminds me of the old link logo. They are both pretty horrible. I hope OSU keeps Bucky (isn’t that his name?) just the way he is.
Oh, it was completely TFPIC…and awesomely done at that.
Ok, thanks Phil. Between then and now I’ve had some coffee, so hopefully I can see things a bit more clearly. Glad to know I’m not TOO stupid.
The Oregon State mascot name is Benny. Good try tho with Bucky. As a long time fan of the Beavs and a real fan af Uni-Watch, I am disgusted with this choice of Logo. Nike has screwed the program …again…remember the “sports bra football uniform?…. To me this new logo seem amateurish and forced. Oregon State’s identity with the fan base is more classic and reserved than the guys down the road in Eugene….We don’t want to be their twin…I believe this was another Tinker Hatfield design….a Duck of course…. Another epic fail Mr. Hatfield! Paul, what is your analysis?
Well said @daddyfisk22 The Beavs need no gimmicks. They should freshen up the old 70’s beavers logo or just go with the OS on the helmet. You really don’t have to toughen up the look because of a nickname like the ducks.
Golden State is joking, right?
I don’t care about the sleeves–it’s a gimmick. What bothers me is the hideous design.
Just put a number inside the circle (NOT Copperplate, please) and call it a day.
link
I had that same laundry basket. I hand drew a Chicago Bulls logo on it, as I was one of the 30 million of Michael Jordan’s #1 fans.
I had that same hamper too. I don’t think I’ve thought about it in over twenty years. Consider my day made. Thanks, Keith!
It’s still hanging strong in my old room at my parent’s house! I still remember putting the stickers on it – I started with only one row of stickers across the middle starting with the Suns (my favorite team), the Bulls (I was a huge Suns fan, but still liked the Bulls, of course), Pistons, Hawks, and then I liked the “new” Timberwolves logo and the old Bucks logo. But I just liked logos so I eventually put them all over.
Should be Christopher Dorner, not Charles.
paul,
I can understand how the braves throwback logo or the name redskins is offensive and should be changed, but do you have a problem with the current Braves identity package?
I wonder if, with this sleeved design, they’re hoping to sell more shirts to the public. You can’t really wear an authentic basketball jersey in public because of the lack of sleves (thankfully), but a T-shirt-like design like this one is something they’ll be able to easily sell to the public, particularly if it’s a little looser. And while you could never get $100 for a T-shirt, you could probably get it for this thing, which will now be official game-wear.
Wow. Good point…
Seems like the sleeve is the perfect place for an NBA TEAM NAME/LOGO.
Since they’ll eventually be missing from the chest…
Looking at mlb shop, the cardinals bp caps look a whole lot closer to black than they do navy blue link
It is very dark. Reminds me of the shade of blue the Chicago Bears wore in the 80s. A very dark navy.
The last note of this article indicates the Yankees are having to double up on some numbers since there are so many invites to camp. The duplicates are assigned to a pitcher and a position player to reduce confusion.
link…
Fran, could you repost that URL? I want to read the article, but your link leads to nothing.
Which numbers are they doubling up on? Hopefully they’re starting at the bottom and double-assigning the low numbers (what few remain) first.
Here’s the proper link:
link
Thanks, Paul. I see they went from the ugly end of the number spectrum when doubling up. They could at least have assigned 0 and 00 before that!
They could also use 01, 02, 03, through 09, right? And what about letters? Which would look worse on a Yankees’ jersey — 102 or A ?
I expected longer sleeves, so they could cover up tats without having to airbrush them in print.
As a Michigan alumnus, the “WE ON” t-shirts that the basketball team wears really drive me up the wall. I can’t stand how ghetto slang has become the accepted norm for anything athletic, especially at an academically prestigious school.
AD Dave Brandon posted this story on his blog yesterday:
link
WE ON is apparently an acronym (somewhat shaky, but still an acronym)for When Everyone Operates N-sync. Lame acronym, but the accompanying story is pretty good.
Chandler: Well, it throws my WENUS out of whack.
(Weekly Estimated Net Usage System)
If these Golden State jerseys catch on, I smell a major Ka-ching for the NBA. Lets face it, these uni’s are targeted for
1. Boys/Young men with acne, or extremely pale skin on the shoulders
2. Old farts like myself, with less than powerful shoulders.
3. Everyone else
The mis-matching of shorts is a bit bizarre, I would think there’s a lot of “doh rae me” riding on a successful launch, you would think they would do it right.
Yeah, I was just thinking that more people would want to wear a sleeved jersey because it’s basically a shirt. Could be a brilliant marketing move.
I can confirm, even though it was kind of a moot point because I was never a huge basketball fan, I never had basketball jerseys as a kid because my mom hated the fact that they are tank tops. “Not practical!” Even if an undershirt would have made tank tops OK for my public school’s dress code, I never would have been able to leave the house wearing one. So maybe there is a market for an NBA jersey that has sleeves. In the meantime, I’ll stick to my Habs sweaters.
Nobody is going to buy those sleeved Warriors jerseys, unless they come in XXXXXL. Not many people have the physique AND the desire to spend the money on jerseys… Talk about small market!
I can’t wait until players start getting their sleeves tailored shorter – like NFL lineman. Pretty soon they’ll be wearing tank tops! (terrible joke, I know).
If they want to sell more jerseys they should design the undershirt to be the wow factor, whether it is a t-shirt or long sleeve to accompany the jersey tank top. If you pay $300 for the jersey, chances are you’ll buy the undershirt.
We’ll see.
As usual, I don’t give a fuck if anyone buys them. I only care how they look on the court. All the merch/retail chatter is just noise.
But that chatter/noise is what is driving these on-court uni antics. They aren’t doing this stuff for the players, it’s to sell in retail, plain and simple. Tail wagging the dog? Yes, but it makes a discussion of said dog’s tail pretty important, IMO.
What Coleman said…
Aside from the retail end, I just don’t believe the player’s union won’t make a stink if the players say they are restrictive…
The guy wearing the jersey isn’t huge; some of the players with bigger arms will probably hate them.
I’m sure there’s a reason we really don’t see sleeveless baseball jerseys anymore.
Paul — I know I’m a few days late but I just wanted to commend you on (and thank you for) your tribute to Mike Hersh. Great read. May Mike RIP…
Time to have a UW tribute to Olympic wrestling. What a travesty.
#SaveOlympicWrestling
Worse than that…
“It’s a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham.” – Fielding Melish
Will this make room for Olympic Tug of War?
So, is anyone lucky enough to have bought a pair from Commrade Robert wearing their PÄ…czki Day stirrups today?
pineapple and i jumped the #8 twenty blocks south to a bakery literally across the street from the old entrence to the chicago stockyards to buy a dozen right proper paczki today, and yes i had her take out the camera phone. woo-hoo! finally a good shot to include saturday on a saturday.
…i don’t even know how that brain cramp ending is even possible. saturday on a saturday? what does that mean?
Looks like we know whose winning this weeks contest.
“finally a good shot to include saturday on a saturday.”
~~~
Better lay off those PÄ…czkis, Comrade. But yes, we know to what you’re referring…Stirrup Fridays run on Saturday.
I am surprised that the new BP ball caps won’t be shipped out until 2/22. It seems like they are missing sales right now. I am going to the Reds Spring Training this year so I want to wait and see them in person first.
Also, speaking of Barclays last year they reupped their deal to sponsor the English Premier League for 3 yrs £120 million after being fined $450 million.
If I’m not mistaken, the Braves’ laughing Indian head logo cap has been sold at Turner Field and around Atlanta the past few years. It may not be the official 2013 MLB BP model, but it was one of over a dozen different styles for sale.
I still think the Braves are much less to blame than MLB. The Braves could’ve put the same logo on last year’s creme-colored weekend alts to make them more historically accurate, but instead developed a new, less controversial logo. Meanwhile, MLB is continually flubbing decisions. I think it’s entirely possible that the MLB gave the Braves several choices, and posted the Indian head cap in the style guide without the team’s final approval. Call me naive, or a silly stupid Southerner. I don’t care.
Not sure what “The Hater” was going for with the bottom half of that AJC article, but I agreed with the top half. I was really looking forward to purchasing the cap, but now I get to spend my Groupon on something else thanks to the PC crowd.
David Murphy brings up a good point about the Braves creating a new sleeve logo for last year’s alternate jersey.
Now I’ll start off by stating that I completely oppose the use of Native American imagery in any context with the exception of the University of Utah and Florida State. However you may be quick to pull the trigger on the Braves management attempting to save face on the batting practice hat issue. I find it a little odd that you claim you have little knowledge of the retail/merchandising side of apparel, yet you can assume what happened in this instance. Because they were introducing a new style of BP hat they really couldn’t have put a black hat with a question mark on it in their style guide. In addition they may have started with that hat on either the New Era or Braves organization side and while it obviously should have never been made, it had been already released and they erred in judgement in not replacing the hat in the style guide sooner or changing it to reflect that a rework of the logo on it may have been done. This happen all the time in the world of retail merchandising and just because many (including me) have strong judgements against the use of native american caricatures in sports logos, you shouldn’t assume that this explanation was Atlanta’s or New Era’s (really the bigger player in all this) way of running scared from the controversy it very well could have been that the original design in question was published and after time they decided to rework the logo by there own thoughts on it.
I miss when uni-watch was about uniforms, not a soap box for political ideology.
I live in the Pacific Northwest, a place where we truly honor and cherish Native American culture. I have a few friends who have some native American blood and belong to Native American tribes in the area. None of them mind any of these logos. In fact, they won’t waste they’re time on something as trivial when many of there tribe members are suffering from poverty and disease and unable to get basic assistance.
I love uni-watch, but I get tired of middle age, white liberals turning this into their political soap box for why I’m wrong and they’re right. You know that’s not why you create this site.
The Old school,Redskins and Celtics jersey’s with sleeves look good, so I am not against sleeves. The Golden State jersey is just plain awful!!! tight cut with that horrible collar and phony looking material and color mismatches makes for a truely digusting jersey!Just let them wear a t-shirt if they want to.
MLS may be planning a promotional “jersey week,” but Toronto F.C. decided to be… well Toronto F.C. and leak their own kit in a totally unrelated e-mail.
link
For the non-MLS fans: They’re owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment. And if you thought the Leafs and Raptors were poorly run, TFC’s ineptitude pales in comparison.
In fairness, just like the Leafs, TFC is very well supported. There’s definitely a market there, and I feel for their fans.
Here’s a photo of Ricky Honeycutt literally forcing the new batting practice cap onto Kanley Jansen link