Paul here, serving on weekend duty while Phil takes a well-earned break.
Rare sight at last night’s SMU/Texas Tech game, as Mustangs running back Prescott Line was sporting FIOB with the initial appearing after his surname.
Even weirder, there’s no other Line on the SMU roster, so why did he have an initial at all, whatever its placement? I contacted the school and was told that Line was wearing his jersey from last season, when his brother Zach was on the team. (Zach has since graduated.)
But some quick photo research reveals that Zach had a conventional FIOB format, as you can see in this shot from last season:
So the mystery of why Prescott Line has his initial after his surname remains.
This FIOB style is rare but not unheard of. The Chargers used it in the mid-1970s (click to enlarge):
As you can see, the Chargers sometimes, but not always, included a comma after the surname, and they never added a period the initial. But the mid-1970s Browns consistently used a comma and a period (click to enlarge):
I’m not aware of any other teams that have used this FIOB format. Anyone know of any additional examples?
(Big thanks to Ken Tobler for the Prescott Line screen shot.)
’Skins Watch: In the latest sign that we may be reaching a tipping point, Peter King’s new Website won’t use the ’Skins name. Slowly but surely, people. … An Illinois high school whose teams are called the Indians and may be getting a new name (thanks, Phil). … Steven Samuels was at an estate sale and spotted these old NFL dolls. “Pretty obvious why the Washington one isn’t made anymore,” he says.
Baseball News: Good story about all the Mets players with lowercase “d”s in their names. ”¦ Check this out: When Yaz came up to bat in the 6th inning of the 1975 All-Star Game, he wasn’t wearing a batting helmet (good spot by Sean O’Shea). … Adam Herbst recently saw this painting at the Guggenheim, which reminded him of the old “confetti” panels at Shea Stadium. … “A friend got David Freese to sign my 2012 Cardinals Freese jersey while I was on field for BP at a Cards/Astros game in Houston,” says Patrick Walsh. “The friend asked me what Freese should sign, and I just said to say thank you for the 2011 World Series and sign whatever he wants. This is what I got. Love it!” ”¦ Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez dirtied up his jersey while legging out a triple in the 3rd inning last night. But he must have changed jerseys soon thereafter, because by the 5th inning his chest lettering was dirt-free (screen shots by Douglas Ford).
NFL News: Hmmm, why was Dave Hanner of the Packers wearing a Rams visor? (Nice find by Mako Mameli.) … Jerry Wolper found a 1967 article announcing the NFL’s adoption of the Y-shaped goalpost, along with the white border outlining the field. … Here’s a pretty cool animated gif showing the chronological evolution of the 49ers’ uniforms. “It would be even better if it used the Gridiron Uniform Database template,” says HHH. “Can imagine if the GUD had uni-evolution animations for every NFL team? That would be amazing!” Indeed. Someone get on that! … If you look at this old This Week in the NFL clip from 1972, you’ll see that the yard-line markers at Candlestick were very tight toward the hashmarks, instead of being spaced out wider toward the sidelines. “And this was before the 1974 rule change that would moved the hash marks in,” notes Chris Rocco. “If you look at the hashmark placements in the video, it seems to me that they are at, or close to, the placement that they would have had after the change. For some reason, it just looks like they didn’t want to mark up the wide sides of the field. Now this was in September, so the Giants still had baseball games to play there. Maybe that had something to do with it..? A higher/wider camera shot would help, but unfortunately that’s not included in the video.”
College Football News: Lots of chatter about Virginia Tech possibly wearing gray tonight, although there’s a fair amount of debate as to whether that photo is legit or Photoshopped. Either way, I still don’t get how gray has become a “hot” color. Seriously, can anyone explain the appeal? ”¦ Army’s helmets this season will be modified versions of the ones worn for last year’s Army/Navy game. And instead of wearing different unit patches for each game, the Black Knights will simply wear a U.S. Army patch. They’ll pay tribute to a different unit each week by using unit logo decals on the back of the helmets (all this from Christopher Fincham). … Army also has camouflage helmets in the works (from Leo Strawn Jr.). … Fresno State QB Derek Carr wears a tape ring, a style pioneered years ago by older brother and fellow Bulldogs QB David Carr (from Alex Putelo). … Michael Orr found this amazing old photo of the 1893 Portland University football team. Look at those goalposts! ”¦ Did you know I’m “beloved and lovingly berated”? That’s how I’m described in this interview I did regarding WVU’s uniforms, and college football uniforms in general. … Cal is now going with captaincy patches (thanks, Phil). … Also from Phil: New uniforms for UW-Platteville. ”¦ Kansas State coach Bill Snyder was wearing a jacket with the Cotton Bowl logo last night (from JJ Sledge). … Miami and FAU went color-vs.-color last night.
Grab Bag: Interesting story about how high school football players can be very particular about their uniform gear. “Gives some insight into the thought processes of high school players and coaches,” says Jason Hillyer. … An Ohio man who was being investigated for importing counterfeit jerseys turned out to be a neo-Nazi with a huge stockpile of illegal guns and ammunition (thanks, Phil). … The New York Post apparently didn’t get the memo about North and South Carolina being two separate states. … Tennis player Dan Evans had to call a medical timeout at the U.S. Open yesterday because his shirt had given him a nasty case of nipple chafing (thanks, Brinke). … The longstanding story that Kent State’s original colors were purple and orange has been debunked (from Mary Lynn Delfino). … The latest safety-related development in football helmets involves a “safety latch,” which is designed to keep the helmet from coming off during an impact (from Tris Wykes). … Not sure if this is the world’s largest Edmonton Oilers jersey, but it’s certainly in the running (from Doug Verb).
Re: the new goalposts adopted by the NFL in 1967…there was one exception to the slingshot goalposts, the St. Louis Cardinals kept the older H-style goalposts (they would join the rest of the NFL in 1968). I don’t know why, but they did.
Also, the slingshot posts made their debut at the previous season’s Playoff Bowl in Miami between the Colts and Eagles.
“Slingshot” — never heard it described that way. I like!
The “safety latch” is new to football helmets, but I have seen this same type of thing on hockey goalie masks for years.
Spanish soccer will throw out a few initials after NOBs. I seem to remember Real Madrid’s Gutierrez wearing both ‘Guti H.’ and ‘Guti HAZ.’ at various points during his career.
Though, the chopped up NOB might be a whole different pot of fish.
After a small bit of research, turns out the “HAZ.” is a mashup of his maternal last name (Hernandez), and his two kids’ first initials.
I can’t “explain” why grey is the new black in uniforms, except for the fact that BFBS has become a bit passe’ and grey is another neutral color. Not a school color, not really a “color” at all.
They want that Gandalf magic.
Yaz is wearing an under the cap insert that was considered protection in the late 50’s before the helmet rule.
The Tigers’ Norm Cash also wore one. link
There were some players in the 60’s and 70’s who wore and “under the cap” insert instead of helmet. I believe they were all players who came from before the helmet rule, and thus were grandfathered in.
I’m not aware of Yaz having worn the insert during the 1970s (or at any other point in his career). I don’t have time right now to do the photo research, but I’d invite you, or anyone else, to try to find another example of him batting without a helmet.
On July 25, 1959 the Rochester Red Wings were playing at Havana. Because they had to wait for Uncle Fidel to arrive the game started late. During the game Rochester manager Cot Deal was ejected and player-coach Frank Verdi took over. As the clock struck midnight of “Julio 26,” Fidel’s version of July 4,the game was stopped and the Cuban anthem was played.
Armed Cuban soldiers who were there that night began firing their weapons into the air. Two stray bullets struck people on the field. One was Sugar Kings’ shortstop Leo “Chico” Cardenas who received a flesh wound in his shoulder. The other was Verdi who was hit in the head as he stood in the third-base coaching box. The bullet tore Verdi’s cap and bounced off his hard-plastic cap liner but did not damage the skin. Frank received a mild concussion but was otherwise unharmed.
Players from both teams ran to the centerfield clubhouses and the game was cancelled. The Red Wings refused to play the next day’s doubleheader and flew to Miami immediately.
By wearing a cap liner Verdi inadvertently saved two lives. His own and Deal’s. Deal, a Red Wing Hall Of Famer, lived a long life. He just died earlier this year at the age of 90.
Zach Line was an undrafted FA, not drafted by the Vikings. Only reason I know that is TheMMQB is running a nice little series about him and what life looks like for an undrafted free agent. link
Thanks. Will revise the text.
During your break, Phil would always mention if an article was a New York Times article. Since the Times only allows 10 free articles a month this was helpful.
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Thanks, Paul. This is a helpful practice.
The Buffalo Sabres’ endless tease continues. They tweeted this picture of the pants (or rather the shell for the players’ pants) for the new alternate uni. Not liking where this is going. And this tease nonsense has officially gone on too long.
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Those Sabres pants look brutal. And could the Reebok name be any bigger?
I give them credit for the new wordmark. The rest, not so sure.
One thing has always bothered me about the Niners uniforms. Why did the team that was named after the California Gold Rush ever use Silver as a color?
Does this count?
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The back of the shirt. Obviously.
Ok, now that Paul hass gotten the comments glitch handled, the Mountaineers are in Mono-Blue today. Not a terrible look. Sure better than Gray.
I’d take gray uniforms that weren’t losing 17-7 at halftime to and FCS school. :)
My, what big TV numbers you have!
No more oval nameplates for the Wisconsin Badgers.
New WVU helmets: Gap between “W” and “V” is much closer on new version compared to last year. Hard to pick up when looking at uni-leak pics; it really stands out seeing it on a team full of players dressed out. link
As much as it pains me as a Rangers fan to admit this, that Freese autograph is awesome.
That may be the largest Edmonton Oilers jersey ever made, but does it fit Kevin Smith?
As reported in SI, 1972 was the year the NFL moved the hashmarks to width of the goalposts, not 1974.
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Washington Redskins.
Just a test to see if the Orwellian urge to wish certain words out of existence applies to readers’ comments as well.
Calling a principled stance “Orewellian” is a clever maneuver.
But it’s still just a maneuver.
Not wading into the issue per se, but those who — rightly or wrongly – wish to remove a word from the public vocabulary *always* do so based on their own principles. You are, in this case, drawing a false distinction.
I’m agnostic about the Redskins name as an issue, though I don’t like the name myself, but to call brendan’s criticism “just a maneuver” is a bit much. You — rightly or wrongly — want the name gone; brendan is just drawing an unflattering literary parallel.
Temple in all white against ND. And unless the student managers are feverishly fitting jerseys on a whole new set of 100+ pass, Notre Dame will wear blue.
Not sure if it’s been noted anywhere, but Temple’s white helmets seem to have the same chrome feather pattern as Miami University. Looks much better on Temple.
Has been confirmed Alabama is wearing crimson even though they are the designated visiting team. I feel pretty sure we won’t be seeing a maroon vs. crimson match up, so rumors of a grey Virginia Tech uniform are most likely true. Orange VT jerseys could be possible, though.
I think they found that Oilers jersey in “Clerks” writer/director Kevin Smith’s closet.
Bill Snyder wore that Cotton Bowl jacket all last season too. He had that type of jacket on in the Fiesta Bowl as well but I can’t tell if it still had the Cotton Bowl logo on it.
Mississippi State helmet: WTF?
At lunch the two games both featured all white v.blue & orange. Both UVa and BYU looked better than State Penn and ‘cuse.
(No picture, sorry no DVR) Coming into the second half, Penn State Safety Stephen Obeng-Agyapong came into the game in the second half without a NOB, he had one in the first half (his is a memorable NOB because of its length). Cornerback Jordan Lucas is missing his NOB as well.
The Brewers invited some Packers players to join in the throw-out-the-first-ball ceremonies recently.
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One of the guys couldn’t get the ball to the plate, which was bad enough, but not as bad as the performance of whoever made the jerseys. The NOB/number positioning reached a new low (literally, a new low); look at the massive gap between the top of the jersey and the NOB, and the NOB and the number. #88 Finley and particularly #45 Stoneburne are just awful. Had their shirts not been untucked, the number would have been half-buried in their pants.
Those NOBs/numbers looked bad, but not as bad as that pitch.
Tech has another set of uniforms, I think these will be much popular here than their previous iterations (though you’ll hate the pants and I can’t blame you).
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My biggest gripe with them is the lack of TV numbers, also the gold is barely noticeable on the numbers. Heck since you are already going without TV numbers why not opt for Gold numbers outline in Navy? You get some more Gold and you are better off than you are currently (because while it would still be hard for spotters to know the numbers because of the gold sheen, they would actually have the option, and it would be no problem when sorting through photos).
Early niners resemble Ohio State, methinks
I used to have one of those little Redskins dolls when I was younger. Shoulda kept hold of it!
If anyone had the chance to watch the Nebraska v. Wyoming game tonight, around the 3min mark of the 3rd quarter, there was a shot to the bench of one team (can’t remember, sorry) where there was a mist fan shown. On top of the fan was a HUGE praying mantis. It was pretty funny/cool to see the thing just chilling there.
LSU is losing to Burt Reynolds and the Mean Machine… except the Mean Machine is wearing their even shittier looking practice blacks instead of their game unis.
correction – in danger of losing.
Those 2 NFL dolls were called “Huddles”. The NFL created one for every team to use them if they wanted. uni-watch posted about thes in 2011.
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BTW Paul, nice logo patch on that Lane Tech sweater you showed off in the link I posted above. ; )
Maybe you’ve written about this before, but I got sucked into the ’75 ASG and noticed the Oakland players appear to have dressed themselves out of a grab bag of uniform components.
Dark: White jersey. White pants.
Jackson: Green jersey. White pants.
Rudi: Green jersey. White pants.
Tenace: Yellow jersey. White pants.
Campaneras Yellow jersey. White pants.
Blue: Yellow jersey. Yellow pants.
Fingers: Green Jersey. White Pants.
Washington: White Jersey. White Pants.
One team. Eight players. Four different uni combos (five if you count that Dark is wearing a white cap and everyone else wore the green/gold cap). Also Blue has his first name on back. Everyone else I could catch was last NOB. What a weird team that was…
RE: Nipple soreness/bleeding… Somewhat common with runners of longer distances.
Google; running bleeding nipples (images).
not pretty.
I assume the Rams visor was supplied by the LA Coliseum for fans on the sunny side of the stadium. I recall seeing this in a NFL Films piece on Vince Lombardi when the Packers lost a late season regular season game to George Allen’s Rams. I think this was the game in question.
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I am one who thinks the Redskins name should be changed but also think there IS a place for Native American mascots. For example, here on Uni-Watch, there was the story of how the Maori participate in New Zealand rugby. There is a team called the Chiefs that use Maori dressed as native warriors even. The point being here is instead of finding grievance, as seems to be the case in the USA, why do we not find a method of making the use of Native American mascots a cultural opportunity? Take out all the cartoonish representations of course and get Native American tribes to participate directly to encourage education of their culture as the Maori have done in New Zealand. Instead, in the US, we tend to look to be offended first and don’t look to achieve a win-win if you will.
Again, for the record, some things MUST go. Redskins being one of them. Chief Wahoo of the Cleveland Indians another. I would strongly suggest the leagues, both amateur and pro, work more directly with Tribes in their areas to promote Native American culture in a much more inclusive and positive way. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing as we tend to do in the US. Be more thoughtful.