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Uni Watch

Not as Exciting as That Guy Being Swallowed by a Sinkhole, but Still…

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Paul here, making a rare weekend appearance in place of Phil, who’s feeling under the weather (get better, buddy!). I can’t replicate his vast weekend smörgÃ¥sbord of content, but hopefully I can at least come off the bench and get a pinch-single.

So: After a bunch of leaks and rumors, U.S. Soccer’s centennial kit was finally unveiled yesterday. As you all know by now, I’m pretty clueless when it comes to soccer, so here are some admittedly non-authoritative thoughts:

The new design is supposedly based on this 1913 kit. I really like that one, with the crest centered on the chest. The new design, with a uni number in the center and the crest off to the side, looks underwhelming to me by comparison.

Obviously, it’s a very understated design, with no extraneous bells and whistles. I like that, of course, but the whole package feels a bit plain, no? Or at least it does to me. But I don’t know jack about soccer, so feel free to tell me why I’m wrong.

Hey, did you notice I managed to get this far without mentioning Nike? D’oh!

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Interesting take on the Native American thing from Jack Hittinger, who writes: “Red Lake High School — which is the school for the kids on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota — has a pretty solid basketball program. Their nickname in English is the Warriors, and they use the standard ‘Indian chief’ logo for their sports teams. For their boys’ basketball team, though, they take it a step further in a pretty cool way: Instead of having ‘Warriors’ on the front of their jerseys, they use the term ‘Ogichidaag,’ which I believe is the Ojibwe word for ‘warrior.'” … The Fruit Stripe uni format has hit the high school ranks. That’s Mountain Brook High from Alabama. “Their normal colors are dark green and old gold,” says Gene Crowley. … New uni set for Notre Dame softball (from Warren unium). … GRU is now backtracking about all that revisionist history (from Preston Feiler). … The Cardinals aren’t wearing a Stan Musial memorial patch during spring training, but they’ll add one for the regular season. … Lots of great old Brooklyn Dodgers spring training photos here (from Gerry Sepulveda). … Even if you’ve never cared about gumball helmets, you’ll probably wanna check this out. Li’l cutie! (Big thanks to Brice Wallace.) … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Here’s a rear-view shot of the Vancouver Millionaires throwbacks that the Canucks will be wearing later this month (from Mike Engle). … Here’s a good shot of the Yankees doubling up on uni numbers during a spring training game (from Andy Preisendanz). … “I was at a Savers thrift store for a job interview earlier today, and I had a little time to kill before the interview, so I went over to the jersey/athletic apparel section and browsed,” says Alex Giobbi. “There was quite an interesting array of options, including a navy Reebok Rickey Williams Dolphins jersey; what appears to be a Shaquille O’Neal Cole High School jersey; a Mets winter jacket, probably from the 1990s; what appears to be a retro University of Cincinnati basketball jersey (there was no name on the back); a nice-looking Atlanta Hawks warm-up jacket; and a Paul Pierce University of Kansas Jayhawks jersey.” … Here’s a video of the rubber being emptied out of Texas A&M’s field turf (from Jay Sullivan). … This might be a first: a pink memorial decal. It’s being worn by South Carolina baseball for Izzie Powell, the recently deceased infant daughter of Mets catcher and Gamecocks alum Landon Powell (from Ronnie Poore). …

 
  
 
Comments (64)

    The crazy thing about that Mountain brook uniform is that picture was taken at the state semifinal game. They wear this as their normal uniform (At least I believe so they wore them when they played my school)

    Wow, anyone notice those Michigan State shirts?! The whole staff is wearing them!

    Mountain Brook is in 6A (The largest classification). The star player of the 5A champions also wore long sleeves

    I went to a private, Catholic high school and a year or so after I left the basketball team had a player with lots of arm tattoos and had to have them covered all the time, so he always wore long sleeves. Maybe a similar situation here.

    Yeah really. Someone calls a sports team the Indians, and Paul gets all offended. Someone dies, Paul gets a quick laugh out of it.

    I have never — literally never — claimed that the team name “Indians” is “offensive.” In fact, my whole argument about the Native American thing has nothing to do with the imagery being offensive; it has to do with self-determination and intellectual property. You may disagree with my position (which is fine), but please don’t misrepresent it.

    As for today’s hed, probably not my best decision. I can accept the critique.

    Phooey. A guy disappears, without a trace (to coin a phrase), into a sinkhole (itself a funny word), Florida vs the water table, sorry, I think it’s funny. Or is it that accidental deaths are never funny? I got some ancestors and cousins who thought and think they’re latent knee-slappers.

    Too soon bro? How did you know Jeffery Bush? Is this going to affect your relationship with him? How long do you need to mourn his passing?

    I’m sorry for your loss.

    Red/white hoop is so much better. Wish they would stick to that rather than white. White is so dull and common

    It is a tribute…

    Did you happen to know it is the CENTENNIAL kit. So, they (US Soccer and Nike) “tried” to honor the 1913 team.

    Makes sense why it is white.

    I can’t say I hate this kit, but I don’t love it either. I always appreciate a minimalist design too, but when they leave something as great as the red and white hoops then the new kit better be amazing. This has its merits for sure, the crest is beautiful, and I really like the bold sleeve stripe treatment. But the part I like the least is that damn makers mark. I know its a dead horse, but who is more important here, Nike or the USA team? It just seems like, size ans placement wise, the makers mark is competing with the crest.

    All in all, a nice kit. Could be better though.

    I generally like the jersey. It may be on the plain side a bit, but I like nod to the past (better than the (I’m still calling them) Chester Union’s attempted nod to BSFC which just looks like a DC United shirt) and I’d prefer this versus Nike going overboard with design. With some of the ugly jerseys the U.S. teams have worn in the past, I’m happy with this one.

    FIFA regulations require a front of shirt number that’s at least 10cm tall, and all national association emblems must be worn “at chest level” so the massive hockey-style crest seen on the 1913 kit is out of the question.

    refer to sec. 6.5 and 11.2: link

    Absolutely. I was going to say this when Paul questioned the new look.

    Unfortunately, can’t make it look “exactly” like the original.

    I love this USMNT kit and I feel like US Soccer should make that crest their fulltime logo. If not that, then my vote goes for this: link

    Nike is also selling a sweatshirt that looks very close to the goalkeeper version of the jersey.

    link

    Ditto on the first sentiment. Though you don’t necessarily need the “Don’t tread on me” sentiment, and I would change the top to read, simply, “USA” instead of “US Soccer.” Or just superimpose the serpent over the Centennial crest.

    I think the crest would be just fine with U.S. Soccer at the top. That is after all the organization it represents. The only thing you need to remove is the swoosh. I would be okay with changing the text at the bottom to something like “Est. 1913” or something like that, though.

    100% agree that US Soccer should adopt the “retro” crest full-time. The one they have is all kinds of awful.

    Thank you for saying this. The centennial crest is so obviously what should be used full-time it more than compensates for any criticism you could have for this kit. Personal taste: the all white, with the navy trim and this crest, is just perfect. I like the red/white hoops but would prefer those as 2nd kit, with a navy as a third. And then please stick with that for a while.

    Kinda like the Savers part of the ticker, long time ago I was in a Value City store and shopping their jersey selection, and I was able to pick up an Atlanta Hawks Rasheed Wallace jersey, you know, from that one game that he played for them. I guess they made jerseys quickly.

    It should be noted that the marketing photos show an all white kit, but Nike is selling alternate options with navy blue shorts and socks. Gives them a few choices. Really like this kit.

    link

    link

    Also, really liking the little subtle details with this kit. The crest has a stitching pattern that reminds me of the Brooklyn Nets court. At the bottom of the shirt, there are little mesh inserts. One side has a blue field with white stars and the other side has red/white stripes.

    link

    Maybe getting nitpicky (again), but the small jersey side inserts have eleven stars, and seventeen stripes; c’mon people, the number is thirteen.

    I’m getting a 404 on those links, but that sounds like a valid nitpick. I can understand a varying amount of stars due to space limitations and whatnot, but 13 stripes is 13 stripes. It shouldn’t be 7, it shouldn’t be 11, it shouldn’t be 17, it should be 13, period.

    The stripes is inexcusable, but at least the 11 stars has some relevance to footy.

    The memorial decal for the kid makes me wonder. It’s a nice gesture and a sad occurrence, but are teams going to start wearing memorial decals/patches for everyone connected to the team in some way who has a loss?

    Thirded. I think any memorial patches or what have you, that are worn or shown on the field, should only be for people who were members of the team and management. And announcers, too.

    Anyone else, I think its better to keep the memorial in the lockers, or somewhere else off the field. And maybe have a moment of silence- once- before a game.

    Only because it waters down all memorials.

    All in all the white shirt and shield is about as good as one can get in today’s soccer. If the red-and-white hoops serve as the alternate, I think USNMT joins the ranks of coolest national kits. I do hope Herr Juergen is the man to get them to Brazil.

    During today’s match on BBC 5 live between Leeds and Millwall, there was a prolonged discussion about whther a goalkeeper could wear sunglasses. Talk included the wearing of ball caps, basketball goggles and even a mention of Eric Dickerson. (The pxp announcer also does the BBC NFL coverage)

    @Paul, should be noted that the USA jersey isn’t actually a throwback to a 1913 kit. Yes, 2013 is the centennial of when the federation was created, but the jersey is a throwback to their very first game (actually played in 1916) against Sweden (3-2 USA winning).

    Of course, both 2 & 3 paragraphs below the sentence you are referring to out of that article it references the original kit as a 1913 kit.

    My take on it is they formed the team and created the kit in 1913 then set off by boat for Sweden, arriving just in time to play their very first match in 1916.

    Maybe…

    This is a valid point. Though I tend to believe that was the error on the part of the PR news release crew. Can’t really get around the fact the team didn’t play a game until 1916. No games from 1913 – 1916 means no jerseys.

    And…it won’t let me reply to your last comment directly, Andrew…

    I do get what you’re saying and agree that the article was poorly written in that regard. However, they had to have a jersey before they could play a game. The question is when did they develop that jersey? First year of the federation? Right before their first game? Somewhere in between? Regrettably, we’ll probably never know.

    Oh, man, those George Silk photographs of the Dodgers spring training are beautiful.

    Seriously. Take a look. The one of Branch Rickey holding his grandson’s hand is…well, perfect.

    Uconn men’s team is wearing their home whites on the road today against Cincinnati…cincy wore black at home for blackout, and uconns road navy blues are too similar, so they requested that Uconn wear white

    There’s a football merchandise store in Albequerque that is taking pre-orders for Leon Sandcastle jerseys.

    The Mets announcers were just talking about the d’ARNAUD namplate. The clubhouse manager used an upside down “P” for the lower case “d”(which is good thinking), but like one of the announcers said, they are a big league club so they should be able to come up the a proper “d”.

    How is a small d that different from what they used? The Pirates had a guy linkand it looks like they did the same thing, except cut a corner on the bottom right. What else could be done?

    Your headline is in unusually poor taste. The man in the sinkhole may well be dead. It is a tragedy, and not something to be described as “exciting” or trivialized the way you do.

    Agreed…this has happened before here and I still am not fully over the other time…I read the site daily and don’t need clever headlines to make me check it out.

    Overdose of somber. Sorry, men: if this guy’s passing is a “tragedy,” when is death not tragic? When you’re 85, surrounded by loved ones, no creditors? Guy’s walking down the street, the earth opens up, he’s never seen again? Funny to me, or maybe just eco-funny. Everybody here a Protestant, or what?

    Nobody says you need to be broken up about it…but some of us feel it shouldn’t excite somebody or be used to try and be clever.

    Sorry, If you watch his brother, who had to be saved while trying to save him, crying on the local news here in Tampa you may feel different. It’s almost literally in my back yard and it breaks my heart.

    RANT: With all the drones and robots and such and all the technology we have now why did the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office give up on rescuing the dude so quickly?? Shifting Earth my ass, send a robot with a rope in there!!! If Jill Kelley had been in that (bleeping) hole you bet that her buddies Petraeus and Allen would have deployed the full might of CentCom and Macdill AFB to save her sorry ass!!! (bleep) RANT OVER.

    Too soon bro? How did you know Jeffery Bush? Is this going to affect your relationship with him? How long do you need to mourn his passing?

    I’m sorry for your loss.

    I’m a proud ASU alum. Fuck Georgia Regents University, GRU, Groo, whatever they want to call it.

    My diploma says Augusta State University.

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