Skip to content
 
Uni Watch

Auction Action, Hardcourt Edition

By

As you may have noticed over in the left sidebar, our friends at Grey Flannel Auctions are running their annual NBA Hall of Fame catalog auction. As usual, a bunch of their offerings have caught my eye. Here are the highlights:

• Oh baby, it just doesn’t get any better than this spectacular Minnesota Pipers warm-up top. Magnificent!

• I really like this all-star jersey. Vertical arching on top, negative arching on the bottom, and a nice scattering of stars — what’s not to like? (Here’s the full auction listing.)

• Love this old Ohio State warm-up top, especially the spectacular buckeye sleeve patch!

• Speaking of warm-up tops, dig this Indiana State design, signed by Larry Bird (full listing).

• More warm-ups: Who would did a design with a bagpiper on the front? That’s from the ABL’s old Cleveland Pipers (full listing).

• The Harlem Magicians were a Globetrotters-esque team founded by Marques Haynes. Check out their uniforms! And dig the uni number, too.

• I’ve written before about the All-American Redheads, a women’s barnstorming team. Here’s one of their gorgeous uniforms.

• I love how the ABA’s Utah Stars used a star-shaped motif for the NOBs on their shooting shirts.

• How great would it be if the Knicks went back to this warm-up design? A little surprising there are no stripes on the sleeve cuffs, though.

• We’re used to seeing Pete Maravich wearing a nickNOB. But at one point — okay, it was for a promotional campaign, but still — he went FNOB.

• Never seen such a big shawl collar like the one on this St. Louis Hawks warm-up. Be sure to click the thumbnail for the front view — bizarre, no?

• If you click through the thumbnails on this Cincinnati Royals jersey, you’ll see that the memorial shoulder band (which was for team owner Thomas Wood) came to a point. I’m not sure why I like that so much, but I do indeed like it!

Want to see more? You can browse through the entire auction catalog here.

+ + + + +

OMFG update, sort of: As you may recall, The New Republic pulled the plug on my “One-Man Focus Group” column earlier this summer. But now I’ve written a very OMFG-ish piece, about the little “How to swipe your credit card” illustrations on payment consoles, for Fast Company magazine’s Co.Design blog. I think Uni Watch readers will really like this one — check it out here.

I hope to keep writing for Co.Design on a semi-regular basis. Fun!

+ + + + +

ESPN reminder: In case you missed it yesterday (or just didn’t have time to get through all of it), here’s my massive college football season-preview column. Enjoy!

+ + + + +

It’s been a while, but there’s finally a new Catch of the Day. And there will be plenty more in the days to come.

+ + + + +

You asked, I didn’t give a shit listened: When I asked about possible format changes to the Ticker on Monday, many of you suggested that it be broken up by sport, so you could more easily find the news that interests you and skip the stuff that doesn’t. That’s not the worst idea in the world, so I’m going to try it for a few days.

I’ve decided to break up the Ticker items into the following eight sections: MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, college football, college hoops, soccer, and “Everything Else.” If there’s no news for a given section on a given day, I simply won’t post anything for it that day.

I can see the advantages of this approach, but I can also see some downsides. For example, today I had an item that was both basketball- and hockey-related — which category should I put it in? I ultimately chose hockey, but that means basketball fans who skip past the hockey section might not see the item. (I suppose I could have put it in both sections, but that seemed like overkill.)

Also, let’s say you don’t care about soccer. That’s fine, but sometimes there’ll be a soccer-related item that teaches a larger uni-related point, or is just interesting and worthwhile, even if you’re not a soccer fan. In the past, I’d be able to describe this in the Ticker in a way that, ideally, might tempt you to click on the link even if you’re not into soccer. But now you’ll just skip past the entire soccer section without looking. In general, this new format means you’re less likely to learn anything outside of your pre-established comfort zone, which troubles me a bit.

So, like everything else, this format has its pluses and minuses. Let me know whatcha think.

+ + + + +

MLB News: John Buck, who was traded yesterday from the Mets to the Pirates, is the only MLB catcher who’s allowed to paint his hockey-style mask with a customized design, so I’m curious to see if he comes up with a Bucs-themed design now that he’s with Pittsburgh. ”¦ Dodger Stadium has had the National League logo on its American League scoreboard for weeks now (from Matthew Hiett). ”¦ Interesting note from Sam Dolson, who writes: “I was listening to a recording of the radio broadcast from the inaugural Mets game, which was played at the first Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The game had been postponed a day by rain, and Mets broadcaster Bob Murphy mentioned that the outfield still was very soggy. He later said the Cardinals outfield of Minnie Minoso, Curt Flood, and Stan Musial would wear ‘the low-cut, lightweight football shoes, just like the halfbacks wear’ [in order to deal with the soggy conditions] and then suggested they would change [to baseball shoes] in the dugout when it was time for them to hit. I’d never heard this before, and thought it was kind of cool.”

NFL News: “I toured the Cowboys’ stadium last weekend, and I asked the tour guide about their mismatched blues and about the greenish-silver pants,” says John Sheehan. “He couldn’t give me an answer on the blues, but he did tell me the silver-green pants were specifically chosen because they would appear the right shade of silver on analog television, and they’ve just stuck with them for tradition’s sake.” … Bengals, Browns, what’s the difference? (From Chris Flinn.) … At the 27:36 mark of this podcast, Seahawks DT Tony McDaniel, who recently signed with the team as a free agent, says he chose Seattle in part because they have the best uniforms in the league. “He says he likes the home jerseys the best,” says Kyle Hanks. ”¦ Packers equipment manager Red Batty recently gave a presentation to a local Wisconsin high school football team (from Pat Bouche). ”¦ Peter Dubois bought Madden 25 yesterday and promptly noticed a uniform error: “They altered the Chief’s white pants by switching to a striping pattern similar to the red pants.”

College Football News: Yesterday’s ESPN column mentioned that Texas would be using TV numbers on their helmets for the season opener and maybe for the whole season, but I didn’t have a photo. Now I do. … Yesterday’s ESPN column also mentioned that this is the farewell season for Baylor’s Floyd Casey Stadium. What I didn’t mention is that they have a “farewell season” logo (from Matthiew Mitchell). … Good article about UGA’s uniforms, with an accompanying slideshow of the team’s uni history (from Dave Wilson). … New uniforms for Monmouth. ”¦ Here’s one writer’s assessment of the pros and cons of East Carolina getting new uniforms (from Michael Macunas). ”¦ If you read yesterday’s ESPN column early-ish in the afternoon, you may have missed an item we added on the fly, about Texas A&M adding a memorial decal for Polo Manukainiu, who died in that car crash last month. ”¦ Also, here’s a much better photo of Wisconsin’s “Otis” memorial decal than the one we originally ran in yesterday’s column. ”¦ Note from Billy Sou regarding Purdue’s helmets: “Coach Darrell Hazell will add helmet stickers, something that was there under the era of Joe Tiller. What they’ll look like (Purdue sledgehammer or train) we’re not sure.”

NHL News: The USA’s hockey jerseys for the Olympics were just unveiled, and boy are they awful. I hate the tone-on-tone stars, hate the faux lace-up collar, hate the lack of hemline striping. Pfeh. … Replacements frontman Paul Westerberg wore a Canadiens jersey for the encore of the band’s recent reunion show in Toronto, earning some boos from the crowd (from Steve Mandich). … This is pretty fascinating: In 1972, the New England Whalers and Boston Celtics shared a ticket office. “Odd to see such an iconic NBA logo sharing space with a much more obscure hockey logo,” says HHH. “Even odder is the fact that the Whalers logo is the one on the door! The Celtics won the NBA championship almost every single year in the ’60s and they get brushed aside by the new hockey kid in town? Strange!”

Soccer News: New kits for the Melbourne Victory. “I’m a fan of the blue away strips, although they’re kinda similar to the kits worn by Sydney FC,” says Jack Thornton. … Gorgeous new kit for the U. of San Francisco (from Mark Chiarucci). … Scarf design contest for the Seattle Sounders (from Cedric Padilla).

College Hoops News: New court design for LSU. Lots of additional info here.

Everything Else: New rugby kits for the London Wasps (from Josh Jacobs). … Harrisburg Area Community College in Pennsylvania is inviting the public to vote on the school’s 50th-anniversay logo (from Harry Michelson). … Hofstra is naming its communications school after the guy who invented the Pantone color-matching system (from Gene Frey). … Just what the world’s been waiting for: a corporate-sponsored emergency room (from Hugh McBride). … The National Mascot Hall of Fame is looking for a new home and may find one in Indiana (from Steve Johnston).

 
  
 
Comments (204)

    Notice on the New England Whalers side of he ticket booth is a picture of a player in a Montreal Canadiens jersey

    This ended up below by mistake. It could be Bobby Sheehan; he and Larry Pleau came up through the Montreal system.

    The new, cleaner format would greatly benefit the weekend posts…which, let’s be honest, are a mess…

    I think he means (I may be wrong) that there’s a ton of content over the weekend and this format may alleviate some of the “overwhelming-ness”!

    I agree! Even thought there are sports I couldn’t care less about (soccer), I’ll still read the content…I just may not click the links.

    Hope it’s not too much extra work but it is a HUGE improvement. BTW, I promise to still read the stories that don’t interest me as much…

    Looks like “The ticker is alot of work, how can we simplify it” turned into “Lets add a layer of complexity”

    Better for users, more difficult for Paul. Before I imagine the thought process for Paul was “First Ticker Item”, “Last Ticker Item”, then FIFO for the rest of the submissions. Now it needs categorizing. makes it more visually appealing for the consumer though.

    Great ticker improvement. Hope it’s not too much trouble to maintain.

    (I’d gotten to where I had stopped reading the previous ticker because I found it tiring to search for the sports/teams/equipment that interested me amid the seemingly endless, random items. Being able to quickly scroll to the sports I enjoy most is a big plus in my book.)

    ^ What he/she said! I usually do read/skim the entire thing anyway, but the mere fact that it’s broken into paragraphs helps with the reading if I get sidetracked. And, as you alluded to, if I don’t care about the bajillion changes taking place in college football costumery, I can skip it!

    Breaking the ticker into categories does not matter. But it would be much, much better if you used a bullet list instead of lumping everything together. The way it is now (and previously) is like reading text that hasn’t been divided into paragraphs. It’s not as easy to pick out the start of each blurb as it should be which is a bit annoying.

    Eli – You are 100% entitled to your opinion, and I respect that … with that said, I 100% disagree. I like the … something “old school” about it (though I’ve never seen the format used in this manner before Uni Watch).

    while it wouldn’t be a bad way thing to do things, it would make the ticker section super long

    I think the whole point of calling it a “ticker” is to evoke the concept of the link and link, where the information is presented in a continuous horizontal scroll. Doing it as bullet points would kind of defeat that theme.

    Looks like the “Eli Vote” is 50/50. This Eli likes the new format and gets the point of the ESPN/ stock market ticker look. Thanks Paul!

    The Celtics were always very much the Bruins’ tenants at Boston Garden. So it’s not surprising that when another tenant (the Whalers) came along, they’d have to share a small box office rather than encroach on the Bruins’ space.

    Love the ticker organization…interesting to see the pecking order there…wonder where NBA will place in the hierarchy and how season will affect the order.

    I think you need to do something for The Catch of the Day to let us know when it’s new, besides just calling it out in the text. It’s way too easy to skip over it since it’s always the same picture and the link doesn’t change every day. Maybe you could make the image flash on days when it’s new… or rotate through a few different catch images – today it’s the Dwight Clark picture, the next new CotD could use the Tyree catch from Superbowl 42, then the next one could be Franco Harris from the Immaculate Illegal Play… etc.

    No.

    The idea is that you have to check it and be surprised.

    I haven’t held up my end of the bargain lately — haven’t updated it in ages. That’s why I said something explicit about it today. But I plan to be updating it more frequently. You’ll just have to keep up.

    After visiting my friend’s house, who just acquired Madden 25, the first thing I did was make the Eagles and the Cardinals look, in my opinion, much better.

    Love the new ticker layout! I usually skim the ticker for hockey or CFL stuff, glad to see it organized like this.

    “… Oh baby, it just doesn’t get any better than this spectacular…”

    “… I really like this…”

    “… Love this old …”

    “… Dig this …”

    ” … Who would did a design with… ” [bagpiper euphoria stymies verb agreement]

    “… Check out their uniforms!…”

    Agree entirely, PL. Fabulous, fabulous stuff.

    LOVE LOVE LOVE the new ticker format. As for the times where sports cross over, I will tell you I’m not as likely to check out “everything else” (I don’t care much for rugby or tennis or NHL or other insignificant sports), but likely would check out a “crossover” section (when warranted).

    Love the “crossover” section idea! Another option for today could have been under an NBA heading listing a ticker entry that said “Check NHL section for NBA-related content”. This would both avoid overkill and make sure NBA-interested readers don’t miss anything.

    “… The USA’s hockey jerseys for the Olympics were just unveiled, and boy are they awful. I hate the tone-on-tone stars, hate the faux lace-up collar, hate the lack of hemline striping. Pfeh…”

    Well, they’re better than those Russia horrors that Phil sent in yesterday.

    I agree with you, boss, on the faux lace-ups, for sure. But I like the shield (wished it were a little smaller, but I still like the shield, just as I like it on the white alternates for the US Men’s Soccer team). And — wait for it — I like the shoulder stars. Though I wish they were tinier and whiter.

    “Well, they’re better than those Russia horrors that Phil sent in yesterday.”

    I like you, Connie, but no. Team USA looks brutal. For all of the stuff that Nike to did to “improve” the uniform, they went overboard on unnecessary garbage that isn’t needed on a uniform worn for ten games. Furthermore, they removed traditional hockey elements from a sweater that was link with some link.

    Here’s an idea: stop honouring teams with hybrid uniforms. Especially if those teams didn’t win anything. Just honour them by wearing the same uniform as porudly as they did.

    Everything else is just bullpoop.

    It is possible to take elements from previous looks of a team, add some new takes of your own, and come up with a good design. Nike shows you how not to “just do it”.

    Teebz sums it well but could have ended the sentence at “they went overboard on unnecessary garbage that isn’t needed on a uniform”. Imagine having to look at those things for more than 10 games (like a full NHL season or longer).

    Personally I couldn’t care less where a team finished wearing a certain uniform design. A great design is a great design.

    Although many would probably prefer something more understated, the white version of the 1976 USA sweater is my favourite USA hockey sweater of all time and among the best in international hockey history. If they changed elements of the blue 1976 sweater to better match the white’s pattern they would have a winning set.

    link

    “…they’re better than those Russia horrors that Phil sent in yesterday.”

    ~~~

    Something something shoot the messenger something…

    I was giving you CREDit, big guy. It’s a true journalistic public service to provide us sharks with such a fatty ton of chum. That’s why you make the big bucks.

    i agree, soccer at the top would be much easier to skip over for better, more interesting content. save the better submissions for later in the ticker

    Last comment. Promise.

    “… Gorgeous new kit for the U. of San Francisco (from Mark Chiarucci)…”

    Very gorgeous.

    I dig the new ticker format. it’s more easily scannable for items of interest (to me).

    That’s odd that a rule like that is enforced with a design aspect… normally it’s safety, like single flap batting helmets or catchers just wearing caps under mask or helmetless hockey players or single-bar facemasks.

    I know that #42 is non-safety, but still… mostly safety reasons.

    Apparently, it’s Wilson, not MLB, that’s imposed this customization ban, all because of their current contract. I’m guessing it’s because Wilson doesn’t want to have to deal with individual catchers and their artists when trying to sell reproduction masks? If that’s the case, then I’m really disappointed in them, for stifiling individual creativity and expressionism in favor of the almighty dollar.

    Imagine if the NHL worked that way: “Yeah, we’re going with CCM masks only, and they’ll be the ones designing the artwork.” The goalies would most certainly rebel against such an idea.

    I was going to question the exclusivity part of the contract, but then I remembered about the batting helmets this year. I can see the argument about having a single standard to adhere to, but it seems somewhat limiting to allow only one company to provide that standard. If the Rawlings S100 and the Wilson catcher’s mask are the baseline for safety standards now, and other companies can meet or exceed those standards, would it not be a benefit to the players to be able to utilize such equipment?

    On the Nike Olympic hockey jerseys, their press release regarding the Russian jerseys invoked the F-word regarding the collars – “flywire”. I’m guessing the faux-laces are part of that shit.

    In case you’re wondering, more about the unis can be found at link.

    Unfortunately, Chris over there (no relation to link) actually seems to like the USA unis, a sentiment not shared with many of his readers (myself included).

    For those of you who speak Nikese, here’s what link says about the “Flywire” collar on their Olympic hockey sweaters:

    “[T]he jersey has been redesigned with . . . a modern neckline reinforced with Nike Flywire. The result is a lightweight, breathable jersey that moves naturally with the body . . . .”

    Seriously, who believes this crap?

    You know what, I have a couple of pairs of Nike running shoes with flywire and the technology is awesome. The shoes are more flexible and significantly lighter than comparable shoes – its really a great innovation.

    IN SHOES!!!!!

    In shirts – agree with you completely.

    I finally got a close look at that thing..who designed this..a 6th grader? It’s totally fucking useless. I looks like they had a few drinks and created this element on a cocktail napkin. Maybe if they hired older designers who know the history of the sport instead of kids fresh out of art school they might have something special. This is all smoke and mirrors. Utter crap.

    It’s not really that odd or fascinating to see the Celtics and Whalers share a ticket office since at the time they were both owned by Robert Schmertz.

    Like the new look and LOVE that I don’t have to even glance at all of the soccer bullshit – does anyone really care about soccer?? Oh no…I said it, now cue of all the “its the most popular sport in the world” crap. Just happy that I don’t have to see it anymore!

    I know it is only an opinion but the American Hockey jersey is stunningly simple even with the marketable bells and whistles. The Russian Jesey is very sharp too, it looks like something Russian Athletes would wear and support, I basing that opinion on some of their walk out gear in the past.

    I think it’s more like being held down by four very strong men, while a fifth guy kicks you in the testicles. But I’m with ya, it’s stunning.

    The ticker is brilliant.

    I’d rather watch Fulham and West Brom, two teams I couldn’t care less about, play a 0-0 draw in a rainstorm, than sit through five minutes of the Super Bowl.

    Phil, the weekends are perfect. Don’t go changin’, to try and please us; you’ve never let us down before.

    Unlike the Team USA egregiousness, I find the Russian uniforms quite likable. They’re not iconic, like the old CCCP jerseys of the Sixties, Seventies and early Eighties, but they’re distinctive and bold and that crazy Tsarist eagle just puts a smile on your face (assuming you’re not a serf, in which case I suppose it would fill you with feelings of oppression and a yearning for revolutionary change).

    I’m waiting to see the pants and socks, as well as the lettering and numbering.

    Considering the white jersey has a prominent navy top (shoulders and upper chest), this might be a good occasion for the US to change to blue helmets, but I suspect they’ll stick with white.

    Interesting that on the sleeve patch for the Ohio State warmup it says The Ohio State University. The school did not formally adopt that name until 1986: link

    Anyone know if they were really using it on the patch back in 1960?

    According to that FAQ, the 1986 change was to the logo, not the name. I think you missed these paragraphs:

    However, the “The” was actually part of the state legislation when the university was renamed in 1878. The following excerpt is from the Board of Trustee minutes:

    “…the educational institution heretofore known as the ‘Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College,’ shall be known and designated hereafter as ‘The Ohio State University.'”

    No, I saw those paragraphs. Doesn’t mean they were officially using “The” in front of the school name, though, which is why I threw the question out there.

    I just found it interesting because it only became a thing for the athletic department in the past 20+ years.

    But what the FAQ is saying is that the change in 1986 was the change to “The Ohio State” from “OSU”, not “Ohio State” (sans “The”).

    The official name of the university was always “The Ohio State University”, but the athletic department’s brand was “OSU” until 1986, sort of like how the school’s name is Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, but that never shows up in any of Virginia Tech’s athletic gear.

    I was wondering if you were going to get around to that Grey Flannel Auction, they dig up some amazing stuff (especially basketball). I have mixed feeling about breaking the format into categories. Seems like a lot of things might go unnoticed, but it is a much cleaner look.

    Cheers!
    ~B

    I like the new categories – quick reference, and no concern that you’re passing over anything from any area ….

    I love the UNIWATCH site, and while I am cheap, I’d pay for the site if I had to. Not a contest ….

    I do not mind the advertisements or the links to commerce. It’s not like the site is an NBA jersey, or something similar ….

    Why do people feel the need to tell us which sports they do not like?

    Judt skip over stuff about which you do not care.

    It’s only the anti-soccer crowd that loves to say how much they don’t like soccer and ridicule those who do. Even if people don’t care for baseball or basketball or whatever, there are never such strong reactions.

    It’s because they’re red-blooded Americans who rightly recognize the threat of soccer, which will turn men into nancy boys who wear tight shirts and headbands. And before you know it, men will be marrying men. Announcing how little they care and wondering why people keep submitting soccer ticker items when no one cares about soccer is the only defense against the scourge of ball kicking.

    That, or they’re assholes who are under the impression that we’re dying to know the all the things they supposedly don’t care about yet care enough to make a point of it.

    “…the scourge of ball kicking.”

    Damn straight! Glad to see someone else recognizes the inherent danger the so-called “athletic” endeavor of ball-kicking poses to our freedom and way of life.

    In fact, I say it’s high time we get rid of place kicking and punting from football. There’s nothing those wussified kickballers add to the game that a red-blooded, strong-armed kid from West Texas couldn’t accomplished with a good old-fashioned heave of the ball.

    You clearly haven’t seen the relatively constant drumbeat of people attempting to treat hockey like it’s mixed couples badminton.

    I don’t think that’s fair to Badminton. I mean, it might actually get televised on ESPN 2. I don’t even know what channel to look for if I wanted to watch hockey.

    Two things hockey fans love to do are watching hockey and complaining about ESPN’s vendetta against hockey.

    I was mostly joking, but were any games other than the Stanley Cup finals actually on NBC? I thought the regular season was only on the NBC Sports channel, which is buried somewhere near CSPAN and the shopping networks and easily forgotten about.

    There’s that Winter Classic thing, Jeff. That’s always an NBC nationally-televised game.

    And there’s the NBC Sunday afternoon game that is usually missed thanks to NFL football. I assume that’s why you may not have noticed. ;o)

    it makes it easier to read. the old format was just a jumbled wall of text. this makes things easier to skim.

    Exactly. Whether I care about a given sport or not, this format is soooooo much easier to read than the former wall o’ text format.

    Another (minor) ticker suggestion: list everything as a series of bullet points. I understand this detracts from the “ticker” aesthetic, but it would make it easier to read…

    Though I don’t know for sure, I suspect that the Celtics and Whalers ticket office is from Hartford rather than Boston. Up until the mid-1990’s the C’s played a few regular season games a year in the Hartford Civic Center.

    Incorrect. When the New England Whalers were founded in 1972 in the WHA, they immediately applied to play out of the Boston Garden. Because the Bruins were the main tenant, they basically vetoed this idea altogether, forcing the Whalers to move to Hartford.

    The idea was that the WHA would compete directly with the NHL teams in the same buildings. That’s why the New York Raiders applied to play in MSG before getting the boot, the Chicago Cougars tried to get into Chicago Stadium unsuccessfully, and the Philadelphia Blazers failed horribly with the Broad Street Bullies ruling Philly.

    The info from Matthew Robins about owner Robert Schmertz is correct. Schmertz owned both, so it made sense to sell tickets out of the same office. As for the Whalers logo on the door, I assume he was trying to market the new team in town as best he could in order to gain some market share from the Bruins.

    “Hey, you’re buying Celtics tickets? How about some Whalers tickets while you’re at it?”

    Actually, the Raiders did play in MSG; they tried to get into the then-new Nassau Coliseum, but the Coliseum folks wanted nothing to do with the upstart WHA, so they got the NHL to create the Islanders, and basically freeze the WHA out.

    The terms of the Raiders’ lease at MSG were extremely onerous, though, seeing as how MSG owned the Rangers, so after a failed rebrand attempt (the Golden Blades), they packed up and headed to the miserable Cherry Hill Arena to finish out the 1973-74 season. The arena was infamous for having a sloped ice surface, and no visitors’ dressing room. The Raides/Blades/Knights then changed coasts and became the San Diego Mariners, where they enjoyed significantly more success (but not enough to sustain the franchise beyond 1977).

    You’re right about the Celtics/Hartford connection, however, the Hartford Civic Center didn’t open until 1975. I suspect that the ticket office is related more to Matthews Arena (Boston), which is where the NE Whalers started out.
    link

    The Bruins and Whalers fought over dates from 1972-1974. The Bruins got most of the big nights, but the Whalers grabbed some nights due to their rivalries as well.

    The Whalers played out of the Garden and Boston Arena for the first three season of their existence until the Civic Center opened and attracted the Whalers as the main tenant.

    Thanks, suppose this is a good lesson in the perils of relying on memory and not doing my research….. anyhoo, I forgot to mention, that while possible an “obscure hockey logo” the Hartford Whalers logo is one of my all-time favorites… certainly better than the clubs’ current incarnation

    Indeed. I worked with a guy that custom makes hockey jerseys & sells them on Ebay. Both N.E. & Hartford Whalers jerseys are among the top requests.

    The photo looks a lot like Causeway Street. It could be that that was the Whalers’ executive office, and while the Celtics stayed in whatever space they had, Schmertz decided to use one of his display windows to sell the Celts to people wandering by.

    Interesting that most of the vintage basketball clothing shown this morning was made by Rawlings. And every bit of it, even the Wilson, SandKnit and private-label stuff, was ordered by the team through local dealers. Did anyone look closely at either Pipers patch or the Buckeye logo? These were hand-done using the technology of the day and they all came out perfectly. But that’s because the workers had pride in their craft. It’s sad to see how many mistakes occur today given all of the advancements in uniform manufacturing. Give me the old days anytime.

    We’re used to seeing Pete Maravich wearing a nickNOB. But at one point – okay, it was for a promotional campaign, but still – he went FNOB.

    It looks like everyone who participated in the game link.

    Nice find.

    Also, apropos of very little, I kinda miss the link on Detroit Pistons warmups during the Bad Boys era.

    I kinda miss the first name on front on Detroit Pistons warmups during the Bad Boys era.

    Great memory on that one! I always liked that little touch, too.

    Yesterday’s ESPN column mentioned that Texas would be using TV numbers on their helmets for the season opener and maybe for the whole season, but I didn’t have a photo. Now I do.

    Man, I hope that doesn’t last all season. It’s fine, I guess, as a one-off, but the addition of the numbers crowds the clean presentation of one of the best helmet logos in college football.

    Heard a brief radio interview earlier today on 810-WHB in Kansas City with a beat writer who covers the Longhorns, he said that the players will vote on whether to keep the numbers on the helmets after their first game.

    The ticker became such a wall of text that I often would just skip it rather than try to parse something out of it.

    Breaking it up is good, but rather than by league, try by sport, that way minor league baseball doesnt get lost in the shuffle.

    Bulletized listing of the ticker content would also be helpful.

    Yeah, the league thing is really more of a sport thing. That’s why I put the USA Olympic hockey uniforms in the NHL section, even though it isn’t technically NHL news. And yes, I’ll probably end up putting minor league baseball news in the MLB section.

    Maybe I’ll change the section names, along with the icons. Still a work in progress….

    Not gonna go to bullets. Sticking with the dot-dot-dot format, as a shout-out to the old dot-dot-dot style of sports reporting. I know some of you don’t like it, but this is one of those things that aren’t negotiable.

    And that’s why you have so many followers on this site, Paul. You listen to the people and yet still stick to your principles. Great balance of choosing your battles. Keep up the great work!

    Incorrect. They won it in spring 1973. The ’72-’73 season was the first year of the league.

    Dig the new ticker format–it’s definitely easier to navigate, but still has the fun piled-up-ness that I’ve always enjoyed about it.

    I think this is the comment I most agree with today regarding the ticker. If its going to be separated by sports, at least keep the jumbled sentence layout. Bullet points, booooo.

    I did some digging around about the Whaler name, looks like it was originally a soccer team’s name in New Bedford (my hometown, if you read moby dick and such, you’d know it was the whaling capital of the world along with Nantucket). It subsequently became my high school’s team name. One of the better team names, in my opinion, because it’s not like a midwestern team can adopt that name!

    I’ve heard the original nickname for the Whalers was actually going to be the New England Lobsters! I can only imagine what their logo and uniforms would’ve looked like! Is it possible for a team’s colors to be red and red?

    Also, when they moved to Hartford they probably would have changed their nickname because I don’t recall anyone ever catching a lobster in the Connecticut River LOL!!! But then again, no one has ever caught a whale in the Connecticut River either!

    I propose a new seafood league, but instead of lobsters, have the lobstermen, clam diggers, and any other fishing related profession you can think of to serve as mascots!

    I don’t usually disagree with Paul on uniforms, but we differ on the U.S. hockey uniforms. I think they look kinda frozen lake, club team, which I like. I’ve not seen many sweaters without a hem stripe that I liked but I think it works on these.

    I’m not a soccer fan but I am a uniform fan and those USF kits are really sharp.

    As a Texas fan, I really don’t want the helmet numbers all season. Nice for one game, but the longhorn logo is greatness and doesn’t need additional adornment.

    New ticker is nice; it doesn’t change the way I read it, which is to just look at the green and decide from that to read more or click on it, but it is easier on the eyes. And as stupid as this sounds, in our ADD world, I can more easily look at baseball then come back to basketball later.

    Nice work on the college football edition on ESPN. My favorite column of the year. Thanks!

    Really like the new look, Paul — well done!

    Would it be more helpful if we sent ticker updates to you with either appropriate Subject lines? Or separate email addresses?

    Subject: NFL | …
    Subject: MLB | …

    or

    link
    link

    Just a thought to possibly help you with the volume.

    With regards to the Dodger Stadium scoreboard–with year-round Interleague play, why do teams even still have separate scoreboards for the two leagues? They haven’t been two separate leagues since 2000, and quite frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if down the road the NL and AL designations are abolished altogether and MLB realigns east-west. I’m more open to this than other people.

    Realistically, the NL is getting the DH at some point. Being in an NL city and a fan of an NL team, I support that move. Can’t tell you how painful it is to see a team rally with two outs, only to have a pitcher be the next batter. It would also reduce injuries and lengthen the time the starting pitcher is out there, thereby keeping the bullpen and the bench fresh.

    Of course, if MLB had its way, the World Series every year would be Red Sox-Yankees.

    Realistically, the NL is getting the DH at some point.

    Never!

    Here’s what I’ve never understood about the DH: The first baseball rule *everyone* learns as a kid is that you can’t take a turn at bat until you’ve played the field. That’s not just a good sandlot rule — it’s a life lesson, teaching us that you can’t proceed straight to the fun stuff without putting in a bit of time, paying some dues, honing your craft, etc. The DH subverts this life lesson.

    You don’t want pitchers to hit? Fine by me — let’s go with an eight-man batting order. But a hitter who doesn’t play the field is bullshit.

    Actually I’m waiting for the AL to allow “ghost runners” and do away with first basemen by implementing the “pitcher’s hand” rule.

    Grew up with the O’s of the 70s & 80s and didn’t really think that much about the DH. Since the Nats came to DC, I have been a convert. The NL game is just more interesting. There’s strategy around the pitcher batting. Last night at the Nats/Marlins game, each team walked the #8 hitter to load the bases for the pitcher. Both times it worked. Those of you that enjoy 12-10 games might be agin it but, it’s the way the game was meant to be played. Besides, how fair is it that the White Sox get away with not having to play Adam Dunn in the field?

    Sure, MLB will realign east-west the second the NFL does. I do assume that NFL fans want Jets-Giants two times a year instead of Cowboys-Giants and Jets-Dolphins, no?

    I love just about all things ABA, the most endearing of all the failed upstart professional sports leagues. But I am bothered (well…not *that* much) that the Minnesota Pipers warm up says “ABA Champions” on it. Yes, I know that technically the franchise won the title the year before (the first ABA season), but it was the PITTSBURGH Pipers!

    I guess it was desperate maketing measures in desperate times, but, still……

    The new format is great! Reads more like a newspaper (remember those?) I’m surprised you did not do this years ago.

    I guess the new ticker system makes sense…and I’ll get used to it. But, I did kinda like the randomness of the old ticker. It presented the content in an offhand way; a jumbled, fun mess…which is what sports aesthetics really is.

    I still read all of it, but I really like the new ticker format. Very manageable. Kudos. Great work as always.

    I agree on the DH, Paul. Watching my Astros have to tour through the American League is worse than watching them lose 87 games so far.

    My two cents on the Ticker: It looks like way too much work that way. I love it, but I don’t want to see you guys having to work any more time extra on it for a free site than you feel the need to.

    I am probably in the minority here, but often times the only part of the post I read is the Ticker. If the main entry doesn’t particularly interest me, I’ll skip to the Ticker undoubtedly find several items that I click on. Also I understand the “by sport” categorization but I agree with Paul that it might discourage people from clicking on certain sports. I honestly am not interested in the ticker items by sport but rather by type of story; particularly new uniform/logo designs, “how it’s made” stories, and oddities (like the mascot HOF ticker item today). I appreciate the discovery aspect of the Ticker.

    Paul, aren’t you trying some of these new things to make your job EASIER? It seems like it would be more work to have to break it up.

    As for the ticker itself, I don’t mind having to scan through the items. I usually end up clicking on every link anyways. While I may not give a shit about hockey or tennis I’m still interested in “The obsessive study of athletics aesthetics”.

    Doing it this way isn’t really any harder. I mean, I had to spend a bit of time setting it up yesterday, but from here on it shouldn’t be any more work than doing it the old way — which is, indeed, a lot of work. I may still outsource the Ticker to an intern, but that still leaves us with the question of how it should be formatted. Consider this a short experiment, at least for now.

    But having to sit there and decide “Well, this item belongs in this category. And this one belongs here etc…” seems to be more trouble than it’s worth. My only problem with the other format was using periods as the breaks instead of just lining them up single file. I may miss something of note because it can seem….jumbled?

    Regardless of any changes, I’d still come here daily. Fantastic site.

    In light of the unveiling of the new USA Hockey sweater, here’s an interesting article I stumbled across from the United States of Hockey blog rating the top ten USA hockey jerseys of all time:

    link

    My apologies if it’s been posted before, but I don’t recall seeing it and it didn’t turn up in my quick search of the Uni Watch archives.

    I like the new format of the ticker. Maybe create some graphics instead of using the league logos? You could be as generic as the soccer ball or as detailed as SB Nation’s litany of logos.

    Graphic design! It’s easy! If a site with 7.5 million monthly unique visitors and $30 million in annual revenue can do it, why can’t Paul?

    Paul your article about credit card readers reminded me of a quirk of credit card advertising. If you were to swipe your credit card in the side reader they use in most commercials the logo would be nearest the machine facing inward, but in commercials the logo faces out meaning if the magnetic stripe would not be read by the machine. The reasons its done are obvious from the brand standpoint but it’s always bugged me a little.

    Run, don’t walk over to Hydro Graphics Inc’s link and check out their post about Russell Wilson on the cover of SI. I’m glad they pay more attention to their on-the-field product than they do their social media presence.

    I’ve said for years that LSU should have the link at center court instead of the wordmark.

    Who’s with me?!?

    I like that a lot, even if they do the sublimated design like the tiger head on the new court design, instead of the head, make it the eye.

    I’m a fan of the new ticker, previously if the ticker was too long, it would look overwhelming. This makes it a little more manageable to read through, even though it’ll be a similar amount of content. Sometimes I need help,and this helps.

    Small point regarding the Red Batty presentation: Stephenson is actually in Upper Michigan, not Wisconsin. (It’s not far from the Wisconsin border.) Of course, it would have been helpful if the Marinette, Wis.-based paper had included the state in the dateline, but since Stephenson is in their circulation area, it’s assumed knowledge for their readers.

    I was on Facebook today and noticed a post from CSN Chicago about Paul’s rankings. I suggest reading through the comments from that post, as well as the comments in the article that that post links to. It’s a little humorous. You would’ve thought that Paul insulted their mother or something. There are just way too many people taking it personally. There are a lot of people playing the ESPN east-coast bias card, and countless F***/Who is Paul Lukas comments as well.

    Pipers warm-up, reminds me of the Knicks warm-up worn mainly by trainer Danny Whelan in the 60s and 70s.

    link

    Holy crap! The Soo Greyhounds are getting a nice little makeover. link

    Got to say, I like the Red Wings-inspired look. Of course, I’m biased, being a Wings fan, but hey! The Greyhounds are even using the same vertically-arched NOBs the Wings use!

    A few notable things about the new jerseys:
    1. The red jersey has red shoulders, compared to link Wayne wore. (In fact, the white shoulders were a defining characteristic of most of Soo’s red unis, so the lack of white is a little bit of a surprise.)
    2. The stars introduced in 1982 stay put.
    3. No lace-up collars!
    4. The white jerseys have the standard Wings-style white numbers on red sleeves; no red-outlined-in-white link. (Though link in 1978-79 wore normal white numbers.)
    5. The aforementioned vertically-arched NOBs.
    6. No gray; back to the team’s red and white roots.
    7. The alternate has a contrasting nameplate with serifed NOB. Oh, well… they also have much wider sleeve stripes (following the contoured Edge elbow template).

    One thing about the contoured sleeve stripes… they may look okay when you’re on the ice holding a stick, but they look like shit off the ice, even on hockey players.

    I can live with the new ticker format. It’s fine.

    A few days ago I saw a link to the new Big 12 logo (maybe in the ticker) and someone wondered if the Big 12 might do something with the negative space, much like the Big 10 when they drew in the subliminal “11” to their logo. Ok- this isn’t really using negative space, or is all that subliminal… I call it link

    Hey, UniWatchers…..personal issue here….I’ll be in NYC next week and need a good place (cheap) to park my car. The hotel wants $50/night+ and I’m looking for other options. I may re-post tomorrow. Please don’t hate. I promise to submit something ticker-worthy as well (I’ll look!)

    The new ticker looks great.

    Separate note -> There is zero wrong with Phil’s weekend column – I very much like the fact that it has a different feel than the week day posts.

    I like the new ticker broke into sections, too. I think just breaking it up into sections/paragraphs makes it move navigable and easier on the eyes, and if it’s gets to be too much of a burden having to decide which section to put multi-sport submissions in, and/or people are missing out on things because it’s in a section of a sport they don’t care about, then perhaps just putting them in randomly, yet breaking a paragraph every ten items or so might be a way to go.

    I like the…separation of items too, I think the biggest thing that made it overwhelming before was it just being one huge long paragraph. Just breaking it up seems to alleviate that…separating it by sport/league may be adding unnecessary complication to it. JMO

    I *liked* that it was overwhelming. Information overload! Weeds out the suckers, I say.

    But I see the advantages of this approach as well.

    Information overload – isn’t that what the NCAA is doing to us with the constant flow of uniform changes?

    I think I am in agreement with everybody that the new format is great! Much, much cleaner and I click all the links anyway, this just makes it easier to browse.

    The old “ticker” was pretty good, got too busy the last few years though.
    The new one is ok. It’s cool to see the logos of the league being represented.
    The NHL shield needs a UniWatch contest makeover, their original was mint still don’t understand the change.
    The soccer ball looks like a weekly newsletter from my son’s school (in other words amateur-ish).

    Just off the road from a long day’s drive toward Wisconsin, first chance to check in with the world. Something something 50th anniversary, something something Syria, holy cow the UW ticker has changed. Not a fan of the new ticker. (On the other hand: I never like new stuff. I’m still basically like, Cinnamon Life? Why? What was wrong with regular Life?) Plus, it looks like more work, editorially, not less, which seems to defeat the purpose of format reform.

    Couple of suggestions that I think would make me dislike the ticker format not nearly as much:

    Organized by sport, not league. There’s something delightful about high-school football referee uniforms sharing space with the latest from the NFL, or a black-and-white photo of a 19th century women’s collegiate baseball team jumbled in with rumors of an MLB uni tweak. That’s a key trait of the old ticker that sorting by sport, rather than league, would retain.

    Vintage or obsolete logos. I mean, c’mon, this is Uni-Watch. How are the leagues or sports not represented by throwback icons?

    Wow. Just went through all the comments and clearly I am in the minority here (surprise, surprise). The old ticker almost forced you to read all the content and makes missing something near impossible.

    Ticker idea: For items that relate to multiple sports and for items that are too interesting to bury in its particular category, just put those at the start of the ticker before separating everything else sport-by-sport.

    Much, MUCH BETTER!!! It was so tedious looking for areas of interest before- you need to stay with categories. Huge improvement!

    Koch Sporting Goods in Cincinnati has jerseys for several Bengals’ players. Among them are Dalton, Green, Maualuga, and even Chris Henry still. The most noteworthy are the replica Tyler Eifert jerseys, which are actually old Chad Johnson (Ocho Cinco) jerseys with the nameplate replaced.

    Exhibit A is back of Eifert jersey with price tag attached (they were $20 less than the replica jereys of Dalton, Green, etc. The Chris Henry jerseys didn’t have a price).

    link

    Exhibit B…tough to read, but it says “Johnson, Chad” above the bar code. Notice the old NFL shield.

    link

    One more of replica “Tyler Eifert” jersey with tag. Still hard to read, but was an old Chad Johnson jersey, even says “Johnson, Chad” above barcode. The orange sticker is the discounted price.

    link

Comments are closed.