Another day, another leak. Or in this case, two leaks. That was the situation yesterday, as photos appearing to show the Dolphins’ new logo and the Jags’ new jersey began circulating. They were first posted by someone I’ve never heard of on Instagram, then picked up by someone I’ve never heard of on Twitter, and then it was off to the races.
Are they legit? They could be Photoshop jobs, after all, or prototypes. Haven’t heard any confirmation or denial yet from the Jags, but Dolphins CEO Mike Dee, being quoted by a Miami Herald beat reporter, says the Miami logo isn’t kosher. A writer for Chris Creamer’s site, however, claims to have a source who says it’s legit. Gun to my head (or, better yet, thumbs-up to my head), I’d say they’re the real deal.
My feeling about the Dolphins logo is that it’s perfectly nice and feels like a reasonable evolution of the team’s identity. Neither an upgrade nor a downgrade, although I’ll miss the helmet on the dolphin’s head. Of course, we’ll need to see the full uni set before we can render a full judgment, but I’m okay with this logo.
As for the Jags, the partial view of the jersey doesn’t provide enough visual data for a fully informed assessment, but it’s nice to see that they’re reclaiming gold as a team color. That number font looks like it’s gonna be bad, though, and the patch is a waste of space. I think I’m okay with the pointy-stripy things around the collar, although I’ll need to see more before I can be sure about that. The lack of the accursed Nikelace is a plus, although I think that’s just because this is a cheapo retail replica (note the “S” size tag). The game version could still be Nikelaced, and probably will be.
Meanwhile: New ESPN column/video today, about the Fruit Stripe uniforms — look here.
Seattle party update: As mentioned in yesterday’s installment of Question Time, I’ll be convening a Uni Watch party in Seattle on the night of Monday, April 8 (venue still to be determined, but I expect to have that settled in a few more days). I’m looking forward to seeing old friends and making new ones.
This party will also feature something we’ve never tried before: Uni Watch membership card designer Scott M.X. Turner lives in Seattle and will be attending the party, so I’m going to bring along a bunch of blank membership cards (no name on the front, no design on the back), and party attendees who want to sign up for the membership program can enroll right there for the usual $25 fee and Scott will use colored markers to create your card design while you watch. I will sign the finished cards and bring along my laminator, so you’ll be able to walk home with your finished card.
Obviously, a hand-drawn cardback will not have the same degree of precision as one that’s been digitally designed. And fancy or complicated designs will be out of the question — Scott will pretty much be limited to doing number/NOB treatments. Unusual colors may prove to be challenging as well. Still, there’s something nicely organic about a hand-drawn object, and I think it’ll be cool for new enrollees to be able to watch as Scott creates their card designs.
Maybe a lot of people will want to get a hand-designed card; maybe nobody will. Either way, I think it’s a fun experiment, and I’m looking forward to how it turns out.
Meanwhile, speaking of the membership program, 16 new card designs have been added to the membership card gallery (including Tim Medeiros’s Bruins “Pooh Bear” design, shown at right, a prime example of how the worst jersey designs can often make for the best membership cards). I hope to have the printed/laminated versions of these cards in the mail by the end of this week.
As always, you can sign up for your own custom-designed membership card by signing up here.
March Madness reminder: We’re running a Uni Watch bracket contest for the NCAA tourney. Winner gets a freebie from my swag bag. Details here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Pro Helmet Decals is now making logo wraps for the Mets’ bat weights. “We’re doing some for the D-Backs too,” says PHD honcho Dave Sulecki. “Looks like the Braves and Brewers may be getting on board with the bat knob decals, too.” … Shawn Dobbins took part in a St. Paddy’s Day fun run and was given a T-shirt featuring a leprechaun with footwear logo creep. Sigh. … Danny Garrison’s latest round of NFL teams recast as soccer teams is for the AFC East. … “The trucking company I work for has the Arkansas Razorbacks football equipment truck here for a couple days,” says Mark Dancer. “It comes in Razorback red, complete with the mark of the beast on the side.” … Two items from Brady Phelps: Pau Gasol has been working on a personal logo, and the great MLB brain trust has come up with some seriously hilarious caps. Those are made by American Needle, so we can’t blame New Era for this one. … This is interesting: There’s a move afoot to eliminate pension benefits for all non-uniformed MLB personnel (from Chad Walters). … New G.I Joe alternate for Bemidji State baseball (from Ryan Hickok). … Arizona State is now asking for fan/community input regarding Sparky’s costume (from Kenn Tomasch). … Also from Kenn: “I found this fabulous slideshow with many great (bad) old uniforms of the Wichita Wings, who have been put up for sale.” … New flash: College basketball courts are a canvas for branding. … Hamilton Nolan scores again, and this time he’s actually writing about sports. … Another team that went green over the weekend: Nebraska baseball (from Mike Vamosi). … Is that what I think it is sitting on the passenger seat of Tom Jacobsen’s car? Yessir, that’s a jen-yoo-wine game-worn vertically striped Broncos stirrup from 1960. “It was in a buddy’s collection for a long time and recently migrated to mine,” says Tom. “Originally it came from a reporter from Buffalo who covered the Bills and the AFL back in the day, and who was friends with 1962 Broncs coach Jack Faulkner. Jack gave it to him directly. One of the few to survive the bonfire!” … Longtime Uni Watch pal (and Cooperstown Mayor!) Jeff Katz is writing a book about the strike-interrupted 1981 baseball season. Among the tidbits he’s uncovered in his research: “When Dave Stieb hit in the ’81 All-Star Game, he used Rick Burleson’s bat, Buddy Bell’s batting gloves and Tom Paciorek’s helmet.” … There’s something really sad about dressing high school kids in G.I. Joe costumes. That’s Cardinal Gibbons High in Florida (from Keenan Bailey). … A vote on whether to ban NFL ball carriers from lowering their helmets and initiating contact when outside the tackle box has been delayed, although it could come back up for a vote as early as today. … Good story/video about the making of the Final Four court, from forest to floor (from Tom Fitzgerald). … Interesting situation in the first-round NIT game between top seed Kentucky and No. 8 seed Robert Morris: As the higher seed, Kentucky wore home jerseys, even though the game was actually played at Robert Morris due to Kentucky’s court being used in the NCAA tournament (good observation by JJ Sledge). ”¦ Sports Illustrated put out four regional March Madness cover designs for this week’s issue. If you look at the top one on the page, you’ll see it features Kelly Olynyk of Gonzaga, along with several fans wearing jerseys with Olynyk’s number, 13. “This is curious, because there is no Gonzaga No. 13 jersey available anywhere,” says Ethan Dillon. “They were not ordered prior to the season because it was not suspected he would be the star that he is. Interestingly, the jerseys have no Nike logo creep.” ”¦ New kit for the San Antonio Scorpions (Kenn Tomasch again). ”¦ Here’s something you don’t often see (well, not in the bigs, at least): Due to an injured colleague and an equipment switcheroo, MLB ump Tim McClelland called balls and strikes from behind the mound, instead of behind the catcher, for a four-batter stretch during yesterday’s Cactus League game between the Brewers and Angels.
“Leaked” Dolphins logo would not look out of place on the tail of an airliner, though not so much so as the 1970s-mid-90s Atlanta Hawks logo.
I was thinking 70’s Aquafresh
Oooh, good one. We might have to start calling it the Aquafresh logo!
Yeah, I can buy into that. The body of the dolphin certainly looks like a striped gel toothpaste.
Very nice!
I like the comparisons to the toothpaste too. I really don’t like that logo. Much like the Marlins logo (for me anyway), it looks like it should be on the signage for a convention center, or as was posted earlier, on the tail of an airliner. It’s very corporate-looking.
That’s an interesting take. I agree that it lacks the charm of the earlier version, but I don’t see it as overly corporate (and let’s face it, I usually see a lot of things as overly corporate). It’s much less football-y, but I don’t mind that so much. Less charm but more timelessness. Feels more adult. Or something like that.
That’s a really good way to put that. It’s a little too grown up and not sports-y enough for my tastes. I think their previous logos were better, though their most recent one had lost its way a little.
I was worried about the whole new Dolphins logo situation. I thought the old logo was classic and shouldn’t have been changed. Assuming that this dolphin is the new one, I think it is something that I can live with (even though I’m not a Dolphins fan). I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as the Marlins logo.
Even though I made the toothpaste joke, I guess I should say that I actually like the logo.
I especially like the longer rays on the sunburst, and the tasteful placement of the navy. I was worried they would change the primary colors from aqua/orange to orange/black/”dolphin grey” a la the Marlins. My fears have been alleviated for now…
Sparky needs to be a blend of the two mascots. The original face but constructed similarly to the new one (space age polymer?). His “uniform”, I will assume, will change with each sport, so it’s hard to judge that part.
That voting process is sure to be sidetracked by Chicago Police retirees crapping about Sparky looking like a gang mascot from their old district.
They’re actually only going to solicit input on the features of the “live” character. The traditional Sparky logo won’t change, but the live mascot has been universally panned for its facial look.
For as much as the Jaguars have always tried to get fans and the media to call them the Jaguars instead of the Jags, I would find it hard to believe they would institute the term Jags on their jerseys at this point – although maybe the new owner doesn’t care.
I don’t particularly like that either. It’s fine for fan gear, but not for your on-field identity. I’ve never liked MLB’s D-Backs since they already used “Diamondbacks” on their unis. Bolts for the TB Lightning was another one that I thought should be strictly for fan apparel. I suppose it depends on the team, though. Knicks and Sonics seem to work well.
Maybe its intentional irony, like the university of south Carolina “Cocks” hats. It also looks like they have followed the buccaneers into Pewter-dom.
Also, it’s not for you. It’s for us.
We call them Bolts. Fans of the University of Alabama can – and do – refer to their teams as “Bama,” and there are uniforms that reflect that.
Sorry if that offends your tender sensibilities, or your sense of propriety, however anal it may be.
But this is sports. Sports are supposed to be fun. If we enjoy BOLTS on a third jersey, well, that’s for us to decide, not you.
Players themselves don’t need any wordmarks – official or otherwise – to distinguish themselves from the opposing team, or to recognize teammates. Therefore, uniform details exist for OUR benefit, not theirs.
I love the third jerseys anyway, but the fact that BOLTS offends some people’s sense of propriety, well, I love that, too.
You certainly don’t owe me an apology, KT. I’m not offended by such jerseys. Different strokes… I can see the “fun” aspect. I just think the using the colloquial or unofficial nicknames (a nick-nickname?) dilutes the brand a little. Most brands want to reach markets beyond their own, and their on-field (or ice) look is the most effective way to achieve that. I’ve always felt that look should be consistent. I wasn’t offended, although it sounds like you may have a bit of a chip on your shoulder (“I’m glad it offends people.” :-)).
I don’t see a swoosh on that Arkansas truck. Am I missing something?
It’s at the very far right, next to the eye.
It’s on the far right-hand side of the truck.
RE: Kelly Olynyk cover. It would be no surprise if SI photoshopped the #13 onto the jerseys to ‘enhance’ their cover. SI was found to have altered the color of the Baylor Bears uniform from green to black in a Nov. 2012 issue.
Should have wrote from black to green.
Twitter for Twats …where spelling is immaterial in the process of downplaying a rumor:
“Folks, Dolphins CEO Mike Dee assures me the Dolphins logo has not been leaked anywyere.”
Come on, Armando, have a little journalistic integrity.
Are you suggesting typos are a matter of integrity or am I reading your comment incorrectly?
“Journalistic integrity,” i.e., style, usage, objectivity, spelling, grammar, that kind of thing.
One would hope that somebody with credibility (apparently this Armando guy who spoke directly to the Dolphins owner), serving as a source for key information, would avoid misspellings when disseminating information to a wide audience.
With Twitter “reporting” it seems journalistic integrity is meaningless.
As important as grammar and spelling are to writing, syntax are more a matter of competence than integrity.
Anyway, as much as one tries to get everything write, someone who writes for a living is going to make typos. And on Twitter, a medium where quickness is valued more than fidelity to rules and (and now, this is a big difference between a self-publishing medium and old media) doesn’t employ proofreaders, typos happen and they end up staying.
Today’s ESPN column is up:
link
Good column, and count me squarely in the traditionalist corner, but one thing in particular about Notre Dame that should trouble everyone is the color. It unsettled the stomach and burned the retina. How about a good old fashioned kelly green for the Irish for last week, so close as it was to St. Patrick’s Day.
And I noticed that UCLA got rid of those unis in the Pac-12 Conference championship game. Good for them.
I enjoyed the article. Though I don’t care for the Fruit Stripe unis, they don’t bother me nearly as much as the “Bleed Out (TM)” unis.
My problem with the Fruitstripe uniforms is the fact that they’re being used as a template. I’m not opposed to change or experimentation – I don’t mind the one-off uniforms and stuff like that (for the most part – depends on the design) – but the whole “let’s be unique and cool by looking like everyone else” just makes no sense to me at all. I’m not really sure how it’s even supposed to attract the 17yr olds. One school doing it grabs your attention, sure – you want to go there and look cool. Now that you’ve got 27 schools that are doing it… it loses whatever appeal it had and you’re back to deciding based on other factors, like, you know, academic merits. So, at the end of the day, it’s completely pointless, and only serves to draw more attention to Adidas, not the schools.
/I’m 5 days away from 32, not sure if that means I’m old yet.
That’s it, isn’t it? I don’t think Paul or anyone here minds “innovation” per se.
I’m actually cool with the Nike/Oregon and UA/Maryland experimentation because those schools have unique relationships with the brands and they’re creating awareness for nondescript football programs. And it was actually pretty cool when UNC incorporated argyle into the basketball unis, back when a high profile uniform redesign was unheard of.
But it’s not that cool when everyone else is doing it, especially when storied programs are getting shoved into templates.
You’re younger than me (38 here, though given the fact that I’m a nerd who still has toys and watches cartoon, sometimes I feel like I’m mentally going on 9).
Thanks for the mention, Paul. This is about the only way a fat guy can have his name mentioned on anything ESPN-related, short of becoming an offensive lineman, so I am very happy.
My son is, as befits his age and shirt size (Medium), bemused.
I see that athletes like the uniforms, I just think the reasons for liking them have little to do with aesthetics.
Imagine you’re 19 years old and someone from Adidas comes up to your team and says, “Hey. We’ve got these brand new uniforms for you. What do you think?” By default, you’re going to love them, because dammit, you were important enough to design this brand new uniform. You could walk into the club and tell a girl, “You know, we are only one of six schools that get this kind of treatment,” and feel like a big deal.
Ultimately, I don’t know that the players “like” the uniforms, so much as they like the idea of them, if that makes sense.
This makes sense. It’s a variation on the Hawthorne Effect: people respond positively to attention, even if the attention itself is negative.
On the other hand, 33 year old head coach Kliff Kingsbury is supposed to be extremely enthusiastic about the Oregon-style horrors in store for Texas Tech. Maybe people really do just like this junk.
That does make sense. To an extent. Athletes at all levels have been known to wear something or do something simply because of the exclusivity. It can also create a sense of unity to do something different together. One example that comes to mind is high school teams that shave/dye their hair at the start of a state tournament.
I must be getting old, I chuckled far more reading this column than I have for many others.
Wasn’t there talk of the Dolphins getting new colors along with the new logo, or did I misremember?
The aqua is supposed to be more blue than green now and navy will be incorporated more, other than that the color scheme is supposed to stay the same
Here is a topic I don’t recall reading much about on this blog. I cannot stand when teams start going with a shortened name on the uniform. I came to this thought when I was watching the Wizards play the Bobcats yesterday and noticed that the Bobcats just have “Cats” on their uniform.
And that now I see “jags” on the Jaguars uniform it made me think about it again.
There are several teams that I see doing this now, and most the time it just looks minor league.
D-Backs, terrible.
Rays, terrible (and yes I know they changed their name anyway)
I agree. It doesn’t bother me when fans use shorthands, but it comes off like dad trying too hard to be cool when teams incorporate them into their official branding and communications.
Yeah, except that when dads do it, it automatically sets off kids’ bullshit detectors. When teams do it, the kids seem to like it, and it’s the dads whose bullshit detectors go off.
Judge Roy Hofheinz, the mad genius behind the soon-to-be-demolished Astrodome, rejected suggestions that the Houston Colt .45s be renamed the Astronauts. “Headline writers will shorten it, and I hate that,” the Judge reasoned. “We’ll call ’em the Astros.”
It still got clipped. Everyone in Houston calls them the ‘Stros.
I like calling them the Lastros.
If the state of Indiana or state of Texas somehow landed Colt Firearms (who are thinking of moving out of Connecticut in light of gun control measures being considered in their state legislature),that would be some interesting cross-marketing potential with the Indianapolis Colts or an ultra-retro marketing opportunity for the now-AL Houston baseball franchise.
There’s one that has always bothered me:
The Philadelphia 76ers.
They’ve always used a shortened team name on their jerseys, even when they were the Syracuse Nationals.
They’re not as bad as the Suns’ “PHX” and the Hawks’ “ATL” – they’re airport codes, not team names!
On the other hand, I like the old “PHILA” and “MPLS” jerseys.
Poor choice of “always”…they did go full name in 1971.
Even worse, “BOLTS” on the Lightning jerseys. Really???
The “D-Backs” is horrendous and I think “Cavs” is just a silly word, but in fairness the Mets, Knicks, and even Chiefs are all abbreviations too.
What is Chiefs an abbreviation of? Chieftain?
Ben, that is a good point, but I don’t recall the Mets ever being called the Metropolitians on their uniforms or even in any oficial way.
The official name of the company is “The New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc.” (Unfortunately they operate as a subsidiary of Sterling Mets L.P.)
The name’s also a callback to the 19th Century New York Metropolitans.
I know, I know, semantics.
If you want to push that concept, don’t the White Sox do that? I don’t recall ever seeing the word “white” on their current jerseys.
Maybe the DC football team can go with ‘Skins for a while, then drop the apostrophe altogether. Nice, smoth transition.
(oh, and get of that crazed, scalp-happy, Injun on the helmet too!)
:^)
What about the Knick?
Do they throw in a wrench?
Knicks. Oopsies.
As in Knickerbockers.
The shoulder panels on the Jags’ jersey have me confused. Looks like a charcoal panel with a black diagonal stripe but charcoal isn’t one of the team’s colors.
With the diminishment of teal in the color scheme it will be interesting to see if they stick with the changing color helmets or go with their previous black. Do we know yet if they’re just going to slap the new jaguar head on the helmet to replace the old jaguar head?
Helmet isn’t black — it color-shifts, remember?
Or at least that’s what they claim…
“… Pau Gasol has been working on a personal logo …”
I can’t adequately express why clicking on this link and going to the Pau Gasol Twitter HQ and reading Pau’s comments and those of his followers makes me so sad. Maybe more forlorn than sad, if that’s a distinction with a difference. Something about global culture and media fame and democratic narcissism, I dunno.
Who does Pau Gasol think he is? The Pope?
link, you say?
link.
Now we know someone in Nike marketing is reading this site and screwing with us.
I wonder if Lebron demanded he have a full head of hair in that superhero getup.
Vikings uni tweak, too? ESPN.com NFC North blog post from a couple of days ago.
link
Links to this possible teaser of new uni.
link
Apologies if mentioned here before.
I’d be curious to learn if others, particularly as kids, thought the Dolphin was jumping through some type of hoop. Perhaps a ring of fire?
Admittedly I thought this, and was always always perplexed as to why the logo did not accurately depict the Dolphin jumping – namely by positioning the “ring” in front of the Dolphin(near the fluke).
The possibility that MLB is considering removing pension benefits from non-uniform personnel upsets me. The salary of some extra outfielder who is paid a high salary and hits .197 could cover the pension cost of the trainers, scouts, etc.
The scouts are the ones who originally brought players to a team’s attention. The trainers kept them healthy or got them healthy after an injury.
But these folks don’t count in the grander scheme of MLB. They’re just the worker bees who do as they’re told so that the owners can get richer and should therefore be grateful that they even have a job in the sport. Ungrateful underlings! We’ll show you!
Clearly they haven’t read Terry Francona’s new book (in which he drills the point “always be nice to the clubbies”).
I’m not sure how I feel about the Dolphins logo in that I want to wait to see what they do to the helmets. For some reason, that on the helmet makes me think Boston/Portland Breakers. I know it’ll be different in that the Dolphins will likely also have stripes, but I don’t know. Very wavy.
That Times article about the courts made me mad. A few things:
1. “We wanted the consistency, so that when fans were moving from site to site, watching on television, they knew it was the N.C.A.A. basketball tournament,” said L. J. Wright, the director of the men’s tournament.
Well, now I know who to blame for the courts all going the same. Part of what made the tournament awesome from a visual perspective was getting to see all the different courts and their funky colors. Plus, the memorable moments were made all that more vivid by the distinctive colors the courts were played on. Tyus Edney? The Boise State orange and blue. Christian Laettner? The Spectrum’s red lanes. “Holy Mackerel?” The green hue of the Bradley Center. Now? Nothin’. You thought you were making it better. You actually made it worse. Good jorb.
2. “Marketing is largely about imitation.” I disagree. Do we talk more about the second or third folks with a new idea or the first? The first, which means it’s more about INNOVATION. If you’re the second or third to do it, you’re not being unique. And if you’re the first to do it, and it’s dumb, it’s still dumb, even if it grabs attention. Don’t take the easy way out. You’re educational institutions — you’re supposed to be teaching kids how to do it better, not just to do it to get attention.
3. The tone of the article made it seem like all these ugly courts and uniforms are a good thing (they even seemed to have a glowing view of the “Fruit Stripe” uniforms) because they’re accomplishing their purpose. THEY’RE NOT. Ugly is still ugly. It’s the equivalent of running naked into the street and doing jumping jacks to get attention. Yay, you accomplished your goal, but you’re still damn dumb. Apparently this applies to much of the brass in the NCAA and large universities. I expect to see them jumping naked in the street anytime soon.
L.J. Wright has a great point. When I turn on Sunday Night Baseball, if the park doesn’t look like my team’s home park, I assume it’s not a MLB game, and I change the channel.
Then there was that one time, when I went from a sweet sixteen match-up to a final four game. The floor was different, so I walked out. I had no idea what was going on, thought maybe it was an ice hockey game or pro football or something. Thank goodness for big-picture thinkers like Mr. Wright. He’s willing to figure out these things so I don’t have to.
^
Now that is funny
“When Dave Stieb hit in the ’81 All-Star Game, he used Rick Burleson’s bat, Buddy Bell’s batting gloves and Tom Paciorek’s helmet.”
Well, I can FINALLY get some sleep at night.
And his wife’s underwear.
“Danny Garrison’s latest round of NFL teams recast as soccer teams is for the AFC East.”
That Dolphins one looks REALLY good.
Agreed, though I think they would look even better with the aqua or orange shirts over white shorts.
I like the cut of your jib.
I’m such a nerd, I’m really excited to go to the Seattle event and get a custom uni-watch card. I don’t have one because, well, I want a UW one and that’s not allowed outside of May 17th. Maybe a Sonics card.
There should be an exception for hand drawn cards specifically for UW for an event in Seattle. imho.
You may need to sneak Scott M.X. a purple marker when Paul isn’t looking.
This is a better link for the McClelland thing: link – listen carefully, After the first pitch, McClelland’s partner, Jim Joyce, starts giving him crap about the call!!
gotta love spring training
Speaking of Jim Joyce, it’s been almost three years since that call and his Wikipedia page still gets vandalized.
In that patch on the Jags jersey, isn’t the cat facing the wrong way?
There’s no “wrong” way — it’s just the other way.
They’ll no doubt use that same orientation for the logo on the left side of the helmet.
I think you can tell what the jags numbers will look like by going to their website. They have a top plays countdown in one of the media links. Not too bad.
“Jeff Katz is writing a book about the strike-interrupted 1981 baseball season.”
Maybe he can uncover some details on this jersey/cap combo:
link)Hk7!~~60_35.JPG
Best of luck with the book Jeff!
Cowboys ‘Boys
Redskins ‘Skins
Eagles ????
Giants G-Men
Bears Da Bearss***
Packer Pack
Vikings Vikes
Lions ????
Buccaneers Bucs
Falcons ????
Panthers ????
Rams ????
Dolphins Fish (or ‘Phins)
Jets ????
Bills ????
Patriots Pats
Jaguars Jags
Colts Indy
Steelers ????
Ravens ????
Bengals Cincy
Browns Brownies***
Titans ????
Texans ????
Broncos Broncs
Raiders ????
Chiefs Chefs!
Chargers Bolts
***longer than original name
Eagles = Iggles!
About Miami: ‘Phins, yes. Fish, hell no. Dolphins aren’t fish, they’re mammals!
I meant to ask this yesterday – or maybe I should wait until the next round of questions, but…in the spirit of Purple Amnesty Day, do you have (or would you consider having) a Native American Mascot Amnesty Day? I have a feeling I know the answer to this, but I’m hoping that you would consider it, because I’d like to get a card.
The only way you’d get a card is if it were of a team that uses a native American mascot?
Not necessarily, but my preferred card would be in the colors of the team that I’ve been rooting for for over 40 years. I’m not saying one way or another if I approve of their logo / name or if I’d rather have it changed. All I’m saying is, I’d like to get the colors and number of the player who has been my favorite athlete since I was a kid.
Okay, I can follow Paul’s reasoning when he links professional camouflage uniforms to military propaganda, but at the high school level, there is nothing to be “sad” about.
In the majority of high school programs, the kids participate in the selection of the uniform for the season (at least a captain or the seniors, if not more). Camouflage is a trend, like black in uniforms. It’s a design element that (like it or not) is hot right now.
The kids like the way it looks. They could care less if it’s views by adults as military propaganda (or however else). High school baseball players, when not playing baseball, are thinking about girls, cars and having fun. They don’t care what anyone thinks their uniform “represents”. They want to wear what they view as “cool”.
To call it “sad” seems a bit funny to me. Almost like there is some conspiracy theory going on. Oh no, our high schoolers are being brainwashed…
I’m more disappointed that the Card. Gibbons jersey looks to be nothing but a silkscreened T-shirt. At least they didnt use sponsor funds or tuition money on an upgraded jersey that would be better spent in the classroom or on scholarships.
I don’t know if you realise it but I think you’ve answered your own query, namely that the very fact that they “don’t care” and think it’s “cool” is what’s sad about it. They’ve grown up so entrenched in culture that glorifies war that playing army dress-up is desirable without any consideration for how horrific war actually is. You take for granted that being “the hot thing right now” doesn’t just happen. Rather, it’s “hot” because the U.S. culture machine has emphasized the war aesthetic (ripped lead guys who kill all the bad guys and get the chick at the end, all while clad in badass fatigues) for decades and has been very successful at penetrating mainstream society with it. The fact that even an innocent kids baseball game can’t even avoid it – that’s sad.
Whether it’s “hot” or not or whether it glorifies war (or doesn’t) is, unfortunately, not even paramount to those of us over a certain age.
The fact that it looks like SHIT is reason #1 to hate it. And probably reason #1 why kids love it. Seems like (to completely rip a line from Paul above) “it automatically sets off kids’ bullshit detectors.” It’s like they know most adults probably hate camo if, for nothing else, aesthetic reasons — which means (to them) it must therefore be good.
Now, if you want to throw in that it probably does, if not glorify play-soldier, certainly does nothing NOT to — that’s bad too. But camo as a uniform design element…SUCKS.
Am I the only one who finds it amusing that someone who works for ESPN is using Yahoo for his official bracket contest?
Yes.
We’ve been using the Yahoo system since whatever was the first year Vinny set it up, and it works fine.
No need to fix what ain’t broke.
Steelers = Stillers?
“I don’t recall the Mets ever being called the Metropolitians on their uniforms or even in any official way.”
Maybe only called that by Steve Sommers.
Replied above:
The official name of the company is “The New York Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc.” (Unfortunately they operate as a subsidiary of Sterling Mets L.P.)
The name’s also a callback to the 19th Century New York Metropolitans.
If you move your cursor over the SI covers, certain students have Twitter, Facebook or other “follow me” info available. If seeing happy, smiling college students brightens your day, reading their reactions to having their pic on the cover of SI is even more heartwarming.
Almost makes me wish I had kids. Ok – no it doesn’t.
i do like the nike sign is orange on the dolphins jersey
It won’t go anywhere, but…
“Lawmakers introduce bill to void ‘Redskins’ trademark”
“A group of House Democrats on Wednesday introduced a bill that would prevent the term “Redskins” from being trademarked, a move intended to put pressure on the Washington football club to change its name.
The Non-Disparagement of American Indians in Trademark Registrations Act of 2013 is co-sponsored by Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), and comes days after a federal trademark panel heard arguments over whether the team name was a slur. The panel could potentially overturn the team’s trademark, which would erode profits by allowing other businesses to sell apparel and goods featuring the Redskins name.
Earlier this month, Norton said the team “should consider” a new name.”
Read more: link
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I agree with the first few comments about Dolphins’ leak logo being “too corporate”, I say plain-boring Houston Astros like. But it’s weird, a complete overhaul (ie Blue Jays going to Black Jays-Mets adding black etc)` would have been insane. I’m ok with the potential new Dolphins logo as long as it doesn’t have Falcon or Cardinal uni influence, Seahawks I dig..but what is with the extra logo they have added?
..as for the Jags, it don’t matter cause they are heading to, my guess? Los Angeles..(if that stadium ever gets finished)
So…yeah:
Happy 49th Buddy.