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Nothing Could be Finer Than to Be in Carolin(a)

South Carolina kicker Elliott Fry probably takes a lot of abuse from his teammates. He’s a freshman walk-on, he looks really young, and he’s 6’0″, 150 pounds, which means he’s basically a twig. Given his name, you just know they call him Small Fry.

So you have to wonder if the jersey typo he was sporting last night was an innocent mistake or some sort of prank. Either way, let’s thank the college football gods for starting the season with such a notable uni snafu — a fine way to kick things off! (Granted, leaving a letter off the end of a word is the most benign form of jersey misspelling, but we’ll still take it.)

Want to see more jersey typos? Sure you do.

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Baseball News: Check out the ump behind the mound — wearing a bowler hat! — in this amazing shot of a 1911 Georgetown baseball game (from Robert Ruszczyk). … “While leaving a Marlins game a week ago, I found this ‘garden’ tucked away behind the stadium,” says Kevin Kleinhans. “It appears this is where they grow turf to replace divots in the field, as there were different-sized squares/rectangles cut out of it. They’re also growing potted plants to replace the ones in the batter’s eye.” ”¦ Also from Kevin: “I’ve noticed a lot of the Rays’ ushers have started wearing striped stirrups whenever Chris Archer pitches.” ”¦ “A group of Canadian aboriginal artists, called A Tribe Called Red, has created an excellent Native Peoples reimagining of the Blue Jays logo,” says Laurence Holland. “It’s interesting that they’ve done an Eastern team in the Hyda aesthetic of the Pacific Northwest, but still super-cool.” … Fantagraphics has just published a retrospective focusing on the great baseball cartoonist Willard Mullin. They were nice enough to send me a review copy, and it’s superb. I’ll be devoting a full entry to it soon.

NFL News: “WBZ-FM/Boston, 98.5, had a raucous discussion Thursday morning about football uniforms and losing cultures,” says Tom Mulgrew. “Most of the discussion was devoted to Pat Patriot and Bucco Bruce. It also featured a discussion of the five NFL teams who have had human faces on helmets. ‘Somebody from ESPN’ was mentioned as having recently posted a ranking of the uniforms in the four major sports. When the audio for hours one and two for Aug. 29 posts on this page, you’ll enjoy listening to the last four minutes or so of hour one and to the first segment of hour two.” … The upcoming season of The Amazing Race features former Texans teammates Chester Pitts and Ephraim Salaam, and CBS has released a photo of them wearing Reebok-branded Texans-esque jerseys, but without any NFL or Texans logos (from Josh Claywell). … Niners coach Jim Harbaugh was wearing a sleeve patch from last season’s Super Bowl during last night’s preseason game. Odd that he’d wear a logo from a game that he lost (from Ron Amadeo). ”¦ NBC had some trouble ID-ing several ’Skins players last night (from Tommy Turner). ”¦ The Chargers plan to open the season wearing white over white (thanks, Phil).

College Football News: New white helmet for Cincinnati. … LSU coaches will wear this patch for Saturday’s game against TCU. ”¦ Gizmodo, of all places, has put together a ranking of the worst college football uniforms (from Kevin Dorsey). ”¦ Judging by a tweet from Notre Dame running backs coach Tony Alford, the Irish may be wearing green jerseys tomorrow. ”¦ Virginia Tech has added a “22” decal for injured RB Tony Gregory, which frankly seems like a bit much. That photo also shows the school’s War Memorial decal, which I had mentioned but not shown — because no photos were yet available — in this week’s ESPN column (from Andrew Cosentino). … Also from Andrew: Lots of discussion of VaTech uniforms in this live chat transcript. ”¦ Cal has added a Chuck Muncie memorial decal and a raised nose bumper logo. ”¦ Aram Sarkisian was reading the new book Fourth and Long and passed along this passage about Michigan’s surprise alternate uniforms for the 2011 Michigan State game: “[Michigan players] were all wise enough to leave out one reason they did not come out ready [for the game]: when they returned to the locker room after [pregame] warm-ups, they were surprised to find the athletic department had put gaudy uniforms in their stalls, which required them to change in the ten minutes they usually spent going over their assignments and getting mentally ready. Changing uniforms is a more cumbersome process than you might think, since simply getting a jersey on or off requires the help of the guy next to you to get your shoulder pads off, too. The linemen usually have their knee braces taped, and those have to come off, too — which resulted in equipment managers frantically slicing the original pants just to get them off fast enough.” Aram adds, “There’s also a lot of great material in the book from Penn State’s longtime equipment manager, Spider Caldwell, as well as a fascinating section on how the conference came up with the new B1G logo after it added Nebraska.” ”¦ Montana will have new helmets and uniforms for Saturday’s maroon-out opener against Appalachian State (from Brett Clark). ”¦ Nebraska is going with captaincy patches (from Matt Hilgenkamp). … This is weird: Rutgers is wearing the American Athletic Conference logo patch on the sleeve instead of on the chest. Is there any other FBS team that does this? (From Steve Wojtowicz.) ”¦ A Utah State player suffered a serious jersey tear last night (from Jared Buccola). ”¦ Also from Jared: Fresno State QBs Miles Carr and Derek Carr have the same last name but don’t have FIOB. ”¦ Tulane wore black uniforms last night. More pics here. … USC has gone back to wearing white socks and black shoes with white laces, which is as it should be. … Here’s how the green dots looked on Vanderbilt’s helmets last night.

Soccer News: Pretty awesome throwback kit for Parma FC (from Yusuke Toyoda). … Also from Yusuke: “Celtic of Scotland just beat Shakhtar Karangady of Kazakhstan in a home-and-away playoff. At home, Celtic wore Magners Irish Cider, their usual jersey sponsor, but in the first leg in Kazakhstan, where alcohol advertising is banned, they were sponsored by Tipperary Natural Mineral Water, owned by the same company as Magners. Normally, spirits-sponsored teams go logo-free in countries where alcohol ads are banned.”

Everything Else: Has anyone else noticed that the MPAA film ratings have a new design? I first spotted this a month or two ago but kept forgetting to mention it on the site until now. … An L.A. clothing boutique dressed some models in football jerseys with the following NOBs: “Xanax,” “Adderall,” and “Vicodin.” That has prompted a lawsuit threat from the pharmaceutical companies (thanks, Phil). … New logo for Loyola New Orleans. They also posted a logo timeline with six apostrophe catastrophes. Idiots (from Paolo Profumo). … Good article about the package deisgn of KIND bars (from Matthew Busch). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: New logo for the state of Colorado. … Oregon’s branding has now extended into the realm of prostheses (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Check out this photo of NASCAR driver Bobby Labonte. “At first I thought that the white patch was a Photoshop job, but further research turned up this shot,” says David Firestone. “It looks like the sponsor patch was removed from his suit.” … Here’s a great shot of longtime Uni Watch contributor Ryan Connelly wearing one of his DIY jerseys on the ice. Lookin’ good, RyCo!

 
  
 
Comments (114)

    I think it would be nice to have a discussion about the proliferation of various college football uniforms in light of today’s not so good economy. Not only are all these let’s have a new football uniform every week just plain silly, they are disrespectful to public sector workers across America. Many states, like North Carolina, have slashed their education budgets. But the Tar Heels are going to wear God knows how many different uniforms this year. It would be lovely if the uniform outfitters and schools would agree on this: Instead of spending a ridiculous amount of money on chrome helmets and lime green shoes, why don’t we spend some of that money on our students and their teachers? Nike, Under Armour, UNC, Oregon, and whoever else is responsible for these shenanigans would earn a good deal of good will in my mind if they said, “Okay, we can live with a home and road uniform. We’ll take that extra money and spend it on school supplies, teacher pay, and other budgetary needs.”

    End of rant.

    You could say that for cancer, homelessness, just about any of the world’s “real” problems. The company goes to the school and says, you know how much money you can make if we give you a “brand” and change your unis? I’m sure it would be nice to take that total of that projected revenue and give back to education or cancer research or child poverty, but I don’t think only having a home and away jersey in a multi-billion dollar industry is really going to happen…but I’m sure the school and the apparel company would let everyone know where that projected money is going to…also as Paul has brought up numerous times before, all that cancer ribbon uni pink stuff, that is supposed to promote and help cure breast cancer…not every penny goes towards the Susan B. Coleman foundation (I know, shocking). Every business is in the business of making money, and every school’s athletic department is in the business of getting their brand out to the masses, and making money. Also, throwing money at a problem doesn’t always solve it. People do.

    The company goes to the school and says, you know how much money you can make if we give you a “brand” and change your unis?

    Is there a more overused term or concept right now than branding? I certainly can’t think of one.

    One of my pet peeves as well. Perhaps it has something to do with the burring of lines between corporations and people.

    I am trying to make a school vs. school connection. A public school in North Carolina is getting a variety of uniforms for a game when the public school system in North Carolina has been subjected to deep budget cuts. Take them money away from the uniforms and put it in the classrooms.

    But yes, you are right about the real problems.

    “Okay, we can live with a home and road uniform…”

    ~~~~

    You owe me a new keyboard.

    The UNC uniforms are riddiculous. The school colors are Carolina blue and white. Somehow that morphed into navy blue too, which is fine, because there’s a history of that and it’s still blue. But no, that wasn’t good enough. Now they have to wear black. UNC is not recognizable as UNC anymore.

    As for the proliferation of college uniforms because the recruits love them? The logic does not hold up to scrutiny. Oregon’s the only team that seems to work for, and maybe Nike’s money and Chip Kelly had more to do with it than uniforms. It certainly hasn’t worked for Maryland or any of these other schools with gaudy uniforms. THe last four national championships have been won by Alabama and Auburn, and their uniforms look the same now as they did years ago — a classic home one and a road one. That should tell you something.

    THe last four national championships have been won by Alabama and Auburn, and their uniforms look the same now as they did years ago – a classic home one and a road one. That should tell you something.

    SEC is good at football?

    I just saw this last night, so I hope I’m not being too redundant: What’s with the Chargers yellow NOBs? Holy cow, not good.

    The Patriots signed Gilbert Peña earlier this week. He saw game action last night, and the Pats gave him a tilde over the N in his last name. Don’t recall the Patriots ever using diacritical marks…might have never had a candidate for one on their roster, frankly, but it was mighty sharp.

    In the brief view we were given, it looked like the Pats gave him their standard-sized lettering with the tilde added above the nameplate, rather than the Packers’ shrunken approach. Could certainly be wrong, though. Somebody has this on DVR–the local Boston broadcast had a good shot of it in the middle of the 4th quarter, IIRC.

    Don’t recall the Patriots ever using diacritical marks

    They did have a fellow by the name of Hernández at one point. Not sure what he’s up to nowadays.

    Heheh, now that you mention it…but has there ever been a Hernández NOB on a Big Four roster with diacritical treatment? Trying and failing to come up with one. Perhaps the equipment managers’ brotherhood considers the typical American effort at pronunciation “close enough?”

    Félix Hernández does not get the accent mark on his Mariners jersey, and neither did Keith Hernandez in his time with the Mets and the Cardinals.

    Your “close enough” explanation makes sense. There’s a big difference between “Pe-nah” and “Pe-nya”, but “HERnandez” isn’t too far off from “HerNANdez”.

    A college team (Indiana?) was penalized last night for having two guys wearing #40 on the field at the same time.

    OK, for simplicity, several things to point out to save space.

    1. The MPAA ratings redesign happened around May. I remember seeing both the old and the new designs mixed in then.

    2. Personally I’d like to see the Chargers in the powder blue jerseys and navy blue pants. On top of that, eliminate both pairs of white pants and bring back the gold pants.

    3. Although I liked the revised Ticker at first and even voted “I don’t care who does it as long as the information is there.”, I’m starting to think it’s taking up too much of each article. Not trying to be too critical, but the revised Ticker takes up so much space now that there’s no room for Paul to mention his other projects, such as Permanent Record or his meat-related posts. Heck, there’s not even a whole lot of room for him to do his semi-daily Potomac Drainage Basin Indigenous Persons Watch. (Gregg Easterbrook is link after he had been calling them by their actual name for the last couple of years.) Just saying, I think the Ticker has taken over UniWatch the last couple of days.

    I haven’t mentioned any other projects in the past coupla days because I haven’t had any projects to mention.

    I don’t understand how the Ticker can “take over” the site — space on a web page is unlimited.

    Kind of agree with #3 although I voted for keep it as it was. But as I said yesterday I’m probably in the minority liking the old style much better. The new style would look much better without the huge bold and underlined fonts and lesser or no picture usage…
    Which I guess conveniently would make it look a lot like the old style ticker… ;)

    Gizmodo has those Iowa throwbacks as the 3rd worst in college ball. I really dig’em actually.

    Actually, those are Iowa STATE’S throwbacks. To be worn against Iowa, yes, but certainly not to be worn BY Iowa.

    I think they just took a look at Paul’s CFB update and picked a random number of teams.

    There are significantly worse designs out there, and yet they chose pretty much only uniforms unveiled for this season, and inexplicably Air Force’s unis from like 8 years ago.

    Gizmodo’s list seems so arbitrary. Perhaps Gizmodo should be on the list for worst lists.

    ” … ‘A group of Canadian aboriginal artists, called A Tribe Called Red, has created an excellent Native Peoples reimagining of the Blue Jays logo,’ says Laurence Holland. ‘It’s interesting that they’ve done an Eastern team in the Hyda aesthetic of the Pacific Northwest, but still super-cool.’ … ”

    Incredibly cool. Not to mention the greatness of “A Tribe Called Red.”

    That’s why I think it doesn’t work: the style is of the wrong region. It’s analogous to a Florida team wearing “desert” colors instead of, say, “tropical” colors.

    The northern shore of Lake Ontario, where Toronto is, was Huron land. The southern shore, where Terry Proctor lives, was Iroquois Confederacy land. Just to the north of metro Toronto, and extending far, far to the north, was Algonquian territory. The Niagara Peninsula was neutral land, occupied by the Attiwandaronk (Iroquois for “The People Who Talk Funny”), and known by the French as “neutre nation” (the neutral people”) because they were pacifist and had no battle affiliation with their larger nations (they were, of course,wiped out by the Senecas in the 18th century).

    There is a rich, completely non-Pacific Northwest aboriginal tradition in Blue Jays country. The problem is, I don’t know if they left behind much art. I can remember seeing some Iroquois masks, or “false faces” when I was a kid, and the Confederacy created a European-style flag for itself that looks quite snappy, but do a Google search for, say, “Algonquin Art,” and you get a lot of kitsch, and a lot of condescending “noble savages” stuff, and for some reason, a soft core pornographic comic strip. And beaded moccasins.

    I love the idea of using First Nations imagery to reimagine the Jays’ logo. It would be better if they’d found a way to incorporate the art of tribes closer to TO.

    Hold on. In my dealings with First Nation colleagues, they generally evince pride in their own particular heritage, but there’s also a pretty strong (and imo, good) identification with aboriginal cultures throughout Canada. I’ve known a number of Atlantic Canada tribespeople who really love the art of the BC coast. And don’t forget, the Jays are Canada’s only major league franchise, and management hasn’t been bashful about the employment of the maple leaf and Canada Day etc… Completely natural (to me, at least) to think of the Blue Jays as more Canada than Ontario, and hence a perfect candidate for that insanely awesome Pacific Coast graphic style.

    Saw that on Ghosts of DC yesterday as well. Highly recommend the blog for any history nerds out there.

    That picture also reminds me of link I’d found in an early 1900’s sports book of Hoya pitcher Doc White. Check out the newsboy cap he’s wearing!

    The accompanying caption read:
    Georgetown University lays first claim to one of the game’s greatest lefthanded pitchers. White’s ability is not confined to the diamond. When shy of baseball and theatrical engagements, he keeps in condition by pulling teeth.

    !!!

    I agree. Great site to follow. Sports only occasionally, but lots of other good old photos.

    OK, what’s the fifth NFL team that had a human face on its helmet? Tampa and NE were given, and I remember DC and Raiders, but who else? Let’s get this over with so I can slap myself on the forehead and get on with the day.

    I didn’t bother clicking on that link, but there is no 5th team. However, there are 5 helmet logos. Bucco Bruce, Redskins, Raiders, Pat the Patriot & Flying Elvis. The closest thing to a 5th team would be the Vikings who have a human logo, but it’s never been used on the helmet.

    Maybe they counted Minnesota because of the viking horns style on the helmets, even though the link has never been on the helmet. That’s the only thing I can think of.

    Other teams that have used humans in logos include the link (link), link (OK, link but close enough), link, link, link, link, link, and link. None of those teams ever had a human logo on their helmets.

    For that matter, the NY Titans also had a human (football player) in their logo but nothing on the helmets. Thanks to all. Forehead slap averted for now.

    when I tweeted the lead photo out last night, the best response I got was from @psamp: “is this a middle schooler?”

    ha

    (I’d intended to post this last Friday, but what started out as a short response to Paul’s Uni Watch Power Rankings turned into a rather involved exploration of the Broncos’ recent uniform history. It’s a bit of a lengthy read for the comments section. Yet few are likely to get the whole point of this better than the Uni Watch faithful. So, for those of you whose eyes don’t glaze over halfway through, comments and rebuttals are welcome.)

    IN DEFENSE OF THE 106TH-BEST UNIFORM IN PRO SPORTS

    After seeing the combined ESPN Uni Watch Power Rankings last week, I feel compelled to defend my favorite team, the Denver Broncos, in light of their disappointing 106th-place finish. I fully admit that my loyalty to the Broncos may affect my opinion. But I also care enough about uniform design that I’m not averse to criticizing my favorite team’s uniform missteps. I agree with pretty much all of Paul’s analysis about the Rockies’ and Avalanche’s uniforms. The Broncos’ relatively stable and consistent visual identity, on the other hand, deserves more appreciation than Paul has given it.

    Paul describes the Broncos as having one of the NFL’s “most definitive contemporary uniforms.” That’s fair. link, the uniforms were pretty cutting edge for a link, aesthetically speaking. One could argue that Nike’s redesign of the Broncos uniform opened the floodgates for the link of NFL uniform design, with link link link link link link.

    In praising the Oakland Raiders’ uniforms (his sixth-ranked uniform overall), Paul states, “Imagine a faceoff between this uni set and one of the newfangled designs with all the extraneous bells and whistles. It isn’t even a fair fight.” From this, I draw that Paul equates modern NFL uniform design conventions with unnecessary gewgaws, pointless details, and blatant over-design. Based on the examples above, it’s easy to see why he would see thing this way. And it’s probably easy to single out the Broncos’ uniforms as the archetype that ushered in the excesses of the current era.

    In actuality, the Broncos’ uniforms show much more restraint, and some nods to the simplicity of classic uniform design, than they’re usually given credit for. Looking at the original design from 1997, there are only two uniform details that stand out as particularly “modern” — (1) the link that link on the jersey and link on the pants, and (2) the link link on the helmet. While these elements may have been a break from custom compared to the link of traditional NFL uniforms, they stood out because the uniforms had no other decorative flashes to distract from the featured details.

    The shoulders and sleeves link (and link) free of any clutter other than TV numbers (and the link, but that’s a link, not just a Broncos problem). The uniforms have no link, link of link, or link. In terms of simplicity of adornment, the Broncos’ uniforms have more in common with the some of the understated link than link. And now that the Broncos have link for its primary jerseys, the uniforms evoke memories of the team’s traditional link.

    I think some advocates of old-school design may have a disproportionately negative view of Denver’s uniforms because the side panels inspired innumerable link, link link link link link. But the Broncos should not be blamed for other teams’ poor execution of what was once a creative and novel idea.

    I will admit that there is room for improvement with the Broncos’ uniform set. Nike’s current iteration of the uniform is a downgrade from the late ‘90s version. The way the current pants striping link doesn’t look nearly as good as the link of the original design. The link is unnecessary and annoying, and it makes for a collar design that’s link. (It’s not as bad as Houston’s link, but the link looked more proportional to the rest of the jersey. Still, at least it’s better than last year’s link) And, regardless of manufacturer, the home uniform has always looked better with white pants (whether with link or link jerseys) than in link link.

    If these details were properly tweaked, I think the Broncos would improve upon what is already a good-looking uniform. As Paul has noted in the past, link helps make any uniform design look good. And when you link in a particular style of threads, well, it tends to link link link link link.

    Do the Broncos have the best uniforms in pro sports? Loyal Broncos fan that I am, even I will concede that they don’t. A handful of the uniforms above the Broncos on Paul’s list have a certain iconic quality and element of longevity that Denver’s uniforms can’t match. But I would say that, as an example of how modern uniform design can be fairly simple and uncluttered, they’re certainly better than 106th out of 122.

    I think perhaps the Broncos get too much credit for being the first “modern” uniform. The Panthers had tapered pant stripes and non-standard helmet striping in 1995. Denver’s uniform didn’t open the floodgates, it was just the first one through them.

    That said, Paul definitely has an irrational dislike for modern uniforms, and teams like Denver, Carolina & Tennessee are all ranked far too low.

    I always liked the updated logo better but never did like this Broncos look. Partially because of my known hatred for wearing all white on the road and partly because as a Falcons fan that all white set destroyed us in our only Super Bowl appearance. I can’t really place my finger on why I don’t care for the look but it just never did anything for me for some reason.

    Even as a Falcons fan I think the Panthers are the best of that bunch. Tennessee’s would be much higher with a few minor tweaks and being able to erase the memory of the Oilers. And let’s not forget those prototypes for the Jaguars with the original logo. If those things ever made it onto the field they would’ve made Carolina’s look traditional. Instead they had to make their changes and ended up with what is still the best look they’ve ever had (even if they insisted on making me cry by wearing all white on the road back then).

    I have to disagree with this “write-up”, the Broncos uniforms looks horrible. It a very weird mix of too much going on and too plain, very odd. Also the fact that they had a top 10 uniform prior and changed it, makes it way, way worse. If you stop accounting for the memory of the prior uniform and look at it in a vacuum, it might just move up a few spots. But would not move up enough to warrant that long comment.

    f you stop accounting for the memory of the prior uniform and look at it in a vacuum, it might just move up a few spots.

    I’m actually much more of an old school guy when it comes to uniform design. I have a soft spot in my heart for the old “Orange Crush” Broncos uniforms and always will. I’m torn as to whether I like those or the current ones better.

    I don’t know if the proverbial vacuum would move the Broncos’ current uniforms up or down the list. Context always matters. For you, the comparison of the current Broncos uniforms to the old ones knocks the current ones down a few notches. For me, the success the Broncos had right out of the gate in the new uniforms moves them up quite a bit. From a strictly aesthetic standpoint, we’ll just have to disagree about whether Denver’s current uniform set constitutes an example of good modern uniform design or not.

    (Html fail. Trying again.)

    “If you stop accounting for the memory of the prior uniform and look at it in a vacuum, it might just move up a few spots.”

    I’m actually much more of an old school guy when it comes to uniform design. I have a soft spot in my heart for the old “Orange Crush” Broncos uniforms and always will. I’m torn as to whether I like those or the current ones better.

    I don’t know if the proverbial vacuum would move the Broncos’ current uniforms up or down the list. Context always matters. For you, the comparison of the current Broncos uniforms to the old ones knocks the current ones down a few notches. For me, the success the Broncos had right out of the gate in the new uniforms moves them up quite a bit. From a strictly aesthetic standpoint, we’ll just have to disagree about whether Denver’s current uniform set constitutes an example of good modern uniform design or not.

    ”I have to disagree with this “write-up”, the Broncos uniforms looks horrible. It a very weird mix of too much going on and too plain, very odd. Also the fact that they had a top 10 uniform prior and changed it, makes it way, way worse. If you stop accounting for the memory of the prior uniform and look at it in a vacuum, it might just move up a few spots. But would not move up enough to warrant that long comment.”

    this

    Paul, or whoever sent the link to Paul, thank you for the AWESOME picture of the 1911 Georgetown baseball game. My daily ritual usually has me visiting the Shorpy blog after this one, so I enjoy it when my two loves come together like this. I know we take it for granted, but I never get over how incredible it is to see a fraction of time from over 100 years ago.

    Ditto on the MPAA change. Kept forgetting to send it in, although after seeing “This Film is not Yet Rated” I really don’t care much for that organization.

    “… … Fantagraphics has just published a retrospective focusing on the great baseball cartoonist Willard Mullin. They were nice enough to send me a review copy, and it’s superb. I’ll be devoting a full entry to it soon….”

    I can hardly wait to grab a copy. Nobody — not Willie Mays, not Mickey Mantle, not anybody — meant more to youthful me than Willard Mullin. The high point of every evening was grabbing my father’s commuter train copy of the NY World-Telegram and Sun and going right to the Mullin cartoon. Q: Was there ever a better sports cartoonist? A: Never. Q2: Was there ever a better cartoonist, in any genre? A2: Well, that’s tougher, but for sure Mullin sits at the round table in Cartoon Camelot. And you’re right, Paul, to describe him as a baseball cartoonist — baseball was his deepest love; hell, it was America’s deepest love back then — but his work on football and boxing and basketball are pretty damn great in their own right. I’d better end this right now, else the workday be lost utterly.

    Looking for a concise explanation of the “apostrophe catastrophe”…

    Is it a matter of how the apostrophe is oriented? Should it not be used in front of numbers to denote years?

    I’ve had this question for a while now, but of course decided on the day that Paul characterizes those who make this mistake as “idiots” to ask it.

    If somebody could edumucate this idiot, I would be greatly appreciative.

    … Niners coach Jim Harbaugh was wearing a sleeve patch from last season’s Super Bowl during last night’s preseason game. Odd that he’d wear a logo from a game that he lost (from Ron Amadeo). …

    Is that his one precious black Stanford sweatshirt that they sewed the Niners logo patch on the front? No wonder he’s still wearing it with the Super Bowl logo added to it – it’s the only one he’s got.

    Still, you’d think that he could have it removed. Maybe it reminds him/them of unfinished business. I bet Anquan Bolden teases him about it from time to time.

    Inspired by Willard Mullin, whose cartoons I saw in The Sporting News when I was growing up in the late ’60s and early ’70s, I adapted his distinctive signature for my own drawings. Mullin signed his name to his cartoon by using a series of vertical slashes. So did I, although my name has an “s” that meant I had to use some horizontal slashes, too.

    More on Mullin: link

    Tulane’s unis look more grey than black. Then again, with all the charcoal & anthracite out there, I can’t distinguish between them anymore.

    I’m not impressed by Gizmodo’s list of the worst college football uniforms. The link they use for Air Force is link. If you’re going to judge them, judge them on their link. (Which are similar, undoubtedly, but different enough in cut, finish, and lettering that the old ones can’t be used as a substitute.) And if you’re going to criticize an Air Force uniform, there are link to point out.

    Yea, I posted the link in the comments yesterday (too late). They picked a couple of great unis to throw into that mix and rated that horrible yellow Oregon multi-colored facemask and a black Nebraska uni as LEAST offensive. At least they got #1 right…

    Rankings — including the Uni Watch Power Rankings — are fundamentally silly exercises. To be “not impressed” by them seems like the second-best response.

    (The best response, of course, is to not read them in the first place.)

    “To be ‘not impressed’ by them seems like the second-best response.”

    I made the top two! Awesome!

    Perhaps it would have been more accurate for me to say that I’m not impressed with the quality of Gizmodo’s research for the list.

    “(The best response, of course, is to not read them in the first place.)”

    But that would make my obsessive study of athletics aesthetics that much harder! I think I’ll stick with the second-best response.

    Peter King’s The MMQB is going to link.

    I’m honestly surprised. It’s one thing for Mother Jones or Slate to do it, but a whole another for a relatively stodgy, establishment press that’s built on partnership with and access to the NFL.

    “I’m honestly surprised. It’s one thing for Mother Jones or Slate to do it, but a whole another for a relatively stodgy, establishment press that’s built on partnership with and access to the NFL.”

    ~~~

    It’s always good to be on the right side of history.

    Do we really think Peter King gives a rats ass?

    These people will do anything to keep their name in circulation, come on now seriously.

    I don’t know if Peter King gives a rats ass or not.

    Pee Wee Reese may well have hated Jackie Robinson and simply put his arm around him as a publicity stunt (or just grabbing a teammate’s back).

    His mere actions spoke more loudly than his motivations, whatever they may have been, ever could.

    Whatever PK’s reasons for doing this (though I suspect his motives may indeed be noble and genuine), there will always be doubters.

    History will prove him right.

    Looks like the Carolin(a) spelling thing may be an institutional pattern. Elliot Fry’s biography on the official South Carolina athletic site mentions that he was successful on 49 of 50 extra point “atemts”. Something to be said for just using the phonemes you hear, perhaps.

    Maybe it’s a commentary on cuts to public spending in the Carolin(a)s. Or a joke about how no one on the football team has earned an A.

    I like the move by Rutgers to have the conference patch on the sleeve. Makes the front look much better. Still lets us know what league they’re in and takes away some clutter from the front.

    “I like the move by Rutgers to have the conference patch on the sleeve.”

    ~~~

    I’m pretty sure everyone but the conference is pleased by this.

    What does Rutgers care about the AAC’s opinion? they’re moving to the B1G next year. It’ll be interesting to see if they can manage to put that in the same spot next year.

    I wish they would all just do a small logo on the collar like the NFL does. It would look much better. But then again that new AAC logo is so bad maybe they were trying to hide it by putting it on the sleeve.

    Maybe I’ve just gotten used to truncated shoulder stripes on college uniforms (or it’s all I’ve ever really known), but I actually prefer them much more than the wraparound or close-to-wraparound stripes that Ole Miss was wearing last night. Comparison from Paul’s ESPN column here: link

    With that said, UCLA’s are definitely too short: link but I don’t think the new Ole Miss look is an improvement.

    I didnt see it mentioned in the blog or comments, but Indiana’s “flag” helmet has the state flag design on the left and the interlocking “IU” on the right. Unique and interesting, I thought

    Interesting COTD of the day today. Very nice to see new content there again, and its fun to read about someone completely obsessed with an arcane topic.

    It might just be me wanting to see it but I still say even with the multiple colors for all the schools the Mountain West’s “MW” logo still looks a lot like the Doctor Who’s “DW” logo.

    link

    link

    Wow. Just dropping in to say that the new Ticker arrangement is SO much better. Great change. Love it. Thank You.

    Pretty sure those Tulane uniforms were a dark grey. Similar to the ones that we saw a few months back and that I believe were referenced in your CFB update.

    Its supposed to be a similar color to the grey used in their logos.

    I for one hope they unveil a green, white and sky blue (why would the go with grey before a sky blue jersey!?) version of that uniform design.

    Empty Superdome, or regular Tulane Home game?

    Also I pretty sure there were more people by the time the game started (the only question is how many more were there).

    99% of you seem to really like the new Ticker format. That’s a resounding response.

    Naturally, I’m in the minority. The new format is visually less appealing to me. Too many categories, too many grahics, bold lettering, underlines. It’s sorta overstimulating. And whereas I may have clicked on a college football or soccer note, now I merely scroll by, for better or worse.

    The site feels less…I don’t know…idiosyncratic?…with the more formalized Ticker.
    Something intagible is lost, something about Paul’s specific voice gets buried in this format. I liked how the Ticker meandered here and there, like a conversation.

    But, in reality, all the content is still here and it’s still in Paul’s voice. I’ll get used to it, of course.

    I have mixed feelings about the new format. Pros and cons, pluses and minuses. Still an experiment in progress.

    It’s hard not to be impressed by the overwhelmingly favorable response, though. That won’t be the only factor I consider when deciding whether to stick with this format, but it will certainly be one of them.

    What you seem dislike about the new ticker is EXACTLY what I like about it. It now has order to it. Before it was one giant paragraph that I found difficult to digest or even read. I would often skip it because it was just one big, tightly packed blob of text.

    Now it is manageable and way more coherent. It is helpful for me when I’m just getting my morning coffee going and turning my brain on. I love it.

    One thing I’ve always enjoyed about the ticker is the surprise. As I would read each sentence the info switched randomly between sports, and it was a treat. I think I actually enjoy it more the old way, but if the new format is kept I’m sure not going to stop reading.

    I still agree with you in liking the old format better. I will adapt and adjust as well but it just doesn’t have the same feel to it this way.
    Usually unless it’s a big week of unveilings or weeks like this with the start of NCAA football I don’t get to read anything until Sunday when I go through the previous 7 days of posts. I liked the 1 large paragraph of jumbled goodness. Reading it that way I read just about everything from those 7 days including stuff on sports and topics I didn’t give a crap about instead of just skipping them like I do when a daily or semi-regular topic is of no interest to me. Now that they’re all bunched together I’m skipping whole ticker sections because I know there’s nothing good or of interest buried in that section that I’ll miss. It’s like waking up on Christmas morning and finding the receipts taped to the bows of your presents spoiling some of the surprise. But I’m just extra cranky this week and I’ll adjust if the new way is liked and kept. As long as it’s still there daily I’m still going to appreciate the daily effort to compile all of it and enjoy reading the stuff I care about while continuing to disagree with the traditional tastes of most. LOL

    I think what most of you are saying is this:

    The new way is more functional in a strictly informational sense. But it’s less playful, less creative, less eccentric. I agree with both of these assessments.

    Something gained, something lost. I’m still deciding which part weighs more heavily.

    Exactly!!! I’m not saying the new way sucks. It just feels more “ESPN.com” expensive suit formal than the old quirky “uni-watch” jeans & a t-shirt to me if that makes any sense.

    I have a question about this leaked story from yesterday — and apologies in advance, Paul, if I get some of the factual details incorrect — but from how I understand it, someone with some inside information leaked to Paul something that wasn’t supposed to be known yet, and Paul went through the proper channels to get confirmation and they responded with threats of lawsuits, etc.

    What I don’t understand, though, is why the original leaker only went to Paul and when after Paul’s attempts to confirm it thwarted Uni Watch from running it, why wouldn’t the original leaker have gone to any of a million other less reputable websites/blogs/twitter/facebooks/whatever that would have ran it without seeking journalistic confirmation? Assuming he still wanted to leak it out to the public, seems like he should’ve tried harder than just one outlet to leak it to.

    My thought… Not that I’ve ever found anything noteworthy like this myself but if I ever did my first choices to go to if I were to share it at all would be Paul, Phil, or Chris Creamer figuring those three would have the most reliable sources that would be able to positively confirm it was legit. In this case legal threats makes it seem pretty legit. But since it wasn’t me that sent it to Paul I can’t say why it hasn’t been seen anywhere on FB, twitter, or anywhere else since it was sent.
    But it does leave me curious as to what it actually was and if it’s truly in the “what were they thinking” range just how awful it’ll look. Maybe that lawsuit saved us some torture of having to try to erase the images from our brain similar to when I saw the Islanders alts. I’m still trying to erase that memory.

    The patchwork on Bobby Labonte’s fire suit:

    Looks to me like it’s a cover-up of (perhaps) the Chevy bowtie rather than a removal; that’as spot is typically reserved for thew car make symbol.

    Phoenix Racing didn’t switch makes, often goes un-sponsored (as they did for Labonte’s 1-race deal @ MIS) and it’s clrealy not a ‘loaner’ suit, so I’m at a loss as to why that was necessary.

    PS_ I like the new ticker format.

    Texas Tech’s new look is mostly an upgrade but the all white is giving me an eye twitch. I wasn’t a fan of the all white when they had the black helmet so to see the trooper look rolled out in week one vs SMU is not good at all…

    And down in Florida Miami and FAU are going color on color. Miami still looks like junk but it won’t be the worst looking game ever either.

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