Looking Back at the Draft

The NFL draft provided a fair amount of uni-notable moments aside from the Dolphins’ and Vikings’ unveilings. Now that the dust has settled, let’s take a look back:

• On Friday I noted that the jersey held up by Chargers first-rounder D.J. Fluker had yellow NOB lettering and no neck roll (which seemed to confirm what we saw with these retail authentics a week earlier). But when they introduced Fluker and their second- and third-round picks at a press conference over the weekend, they gave them old jerseys with white NOB lettering and neck rolls.

• Speaking of neck rolls, it appears that the latest team to scrap them may be the Broncos. (Obviously, that’s just a Photoshop job by Nike, but it looks like Denver might end up with a ridiculously thick collar, like the Texans — ugh.)

• Continuing on that same theme: If you keep looking through Nike’s current promo images for the various NFL teams, you’ll find that many formerly neck-rolled teams are no long neck-rolled. (The only teams still shown wearing the neck roll are the Rams, Bengals, and Saints.) Let’s hope these changes make it onto the field. Further info here and here.

• At the draft, 49ers first-rounder held up a jersey with the team’s usual fucked-up sleeve stripes. But at the press conference where they introduced him to the media, he had a jersey with genuine sleeve stripes. “Maybe a possible change?” asks reader Christian Cisneros. “Hope so.”

• The Browns were supposedly going to eliminate their Al Lerner sleeve memorial this season. But it was still there at the draft.

• “At the Dolphins’ unveiling, they brought out past legends to wear the uniforms of their eras, and Jason Taylor was wearing the 1997-2012 uniform,” says reader Alvaro Muñiz. “But he was wearing a uni combination that I cannot recall the team ever wearing during that era: aqua jersey with white pants and white socks.” That’s a surprising oversight, especially since they went to the trouble of getting the right socks and belt for Bob Griese.

• Tide detergent and the Eagles put up a photo of first-rounder Lane Johnson wearing an Eagles helmet with a white facemask. “Probably just a bad Photoshop job of a college photo,” says reader Christopher Wade. “But still”¦”

• “Curious discrepancy in the NFL apps and their use of the new Dolphins and Jaguars logo,” says reader Patrick Runge. “On a Verizon device (which has the exclusive NFL Mobile app), they show the old, out-of-date logos, while the non-Verizon NFL 13 app has the new logos. Kind of amazing that the NFL gets it right for all the littles, but not the customers of its ‘preferred corporate partner.'”

• Reader JJ Sledge notes that ESPN had a commercial for the draft that showed the old logos for the Vikings, Dolphins, and Jaguars.

• Here’s an article and slideshow about what the players wore at the draft.

Uni Watch News Ticker: The Toledo Mud Hens will wear Star Wars jerseys this weekend. “I don’t remember Chewbacca being that blonde, but whatever,” says Terry Corby. … Here’s Oregon’s spring game uni, which — of course — pays tribute to the military. Hey, there are still careers in combat, right? ”¦ In a related item, UAB wore an unusual helmet design for their spring game. “The ‘4-27-11’ is a reference to the anniversary of the tornado outbreak in Alabama,” explains Doug Simpson. …While looking through a 1965 issue of Sports Illustated, I came across an ad for Old Crow whiskey that features a crow figurine wearing a gumball-style football helmet. I like that! … Findlay, a D2 school in Ohio, is adding NOBs to its football helmets. I hope for their sake that they don’t have any players named Worthington (from Bryan Council). ”¦ NSFW if you scroll down a bit: Here’s an interesting article, with accompanying charts and infographics, on NBA fines. ”¦ Pro cyclist Adam Hansen made his own DIY shoes (from Sean Clancy). ”¦ Really like this Boston youth league baseball patch. … Really interesting article about a Punjabi broadcast of “Hockey Night in Canada.” Recommended. … Fun story about a Seattle police officer who uses a 1970 police cruiser and uniform (from Scott Demianiw). … University of San Francisco recently underwent a rebranding. You can see their new style guide here (from Joaquin Jang). … I like this new Traverse City rugby jersey, which shows Traverse City’s regional shoreline (from Christopher Hall). … Yesterday’s New York Times Magazine had a big article on why breast cancer awareness campaigns, like the ones that put so many pink uniforms in front of our eyeballs, haven’t really changed anything. … Some parents in Michigan are upset about a Little League team being sponsored by a local gun shop (from Max Reinhart). ”¦ Neil Scott noticed that UVA’s lacrosse coaches have school-branded shorts. “Never seen that on a sideline before,” he says. ”¦ The North Shore Navigators (Futures League) will wear 1940s Lynn Red Sox throwbacks for selected games this season. ”¦ The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers have a cool bullpen buggy (from Nicole Haase). ”¦ Matthew McDonough was shopping for shoes in Japan and spotted some sneakers with NFL team logos. ”¦ Latest MLB team to start using bat knob decals: the Rangers. Several Marlins players have also gotten on board. ”¦ The Tigers and Braves wore Negro League throwbacks on Saturday. Looks like Atlanta’s unis were real wool flannels, and I think Detroit’s were too. Impressive! ”¦ You can see this year’s Tour de France team uniforms here (from Jeremy Brahm). ”¦ Seriously magnificent striped stirrups for Colorado State baseball (from Steve Foster). ”¦ “The Philadelphia 76ers have acquired the rights to the Utah Flash of the NBA D-League and will move the team to Delaware, where they’ll be called the Delaware 87ers (for the year Delaware ratified the U.S. Constitution),” says James Ashby. “The interesting thing about the logo is that they opted to keep the ring of stars over the first numeral, even though it doesn’t work as well over the 8 and it does over the 7.” ”¦ The A’s brought back some players from their 1973 championship team over the weekend and gave them throwback pullovers to wear. Look closely at that photo and you’ll see that Bill North — second from right — didn’t have the little “tail” on his chest letter. Neither did Sal Bando, third from right in that last shot (good catch by Richard Paloma). … Someone in the Tigers’ dugout last night was wearing an MLB jacket and last year’s National League All-Star BP cap. Odd (screen shot by Gordie Taylor). ”¦ Eephus League founder Bethany Heck has designed a new scorecard, but she needs help producing it, so she’s starting a Kickstarter campaign. You know what to do. ”¦ With the NHL regular season now over, longtime Uni Watch pal and Hockey Blog in Canada blogger Teebz is running his annual playoff pool. “As always, there’s no entry fee,” he says. “You don’t need to know a lot about hockey — just have an idea of who will defeat whom, and which players may score key goals. Entry deadline is when the puck drops in the first playoff game on Tuesday night. Please enter if interested!”