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Monday Morning Uni Watch

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Bizarre scene yesterday in Houston, where Seahawks defensive tackle Clinton McDonald’s facemask got badly contorted during a scrum. The image at top-left shows his regular mask positioning; the other shots show what he was left with after a play in which another player appeared to roll over on his helmet. As you can see, it looks like the horizontal bar running across the top gave in and bent on both sides of the nose bumper. I’ve never seen anything like that.

In other NFL notes from yesterday:

• The Steelers and Vikings played in London but did not wear the NFL’s “International Series” patch. I believe this is the first London game that has not featured the patch (which, in case you need a memory jog, usually looks like this).

• Former Bills quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, now with the Titans, saw his first game action of the year yesterday, and he’s still wearing his wedding band, just as he did with Buffalo.

• Fitzpatrick was in the game because Tennessee’s starting play-caller, Jake Locker, left with an injury. As they took him off the field, it turned out that he had “X” marks on the bottoms of his shoes. Anyone know what that’s about?

• The Chargers wore white at home, forcing the Cowboys to wear their blue “jinx” jerseys — and sure enough, they lost. More importantly, though, it turns out that Dallas had made a uni change that we’d all been unaware of until now: They’ve changed the blue jersey’s chest wordmark.

• Some Texans fans reacted to yesterday’s loss by burning a Matt Schaub jersey.

• You know, this look isn’t bad — until you see the full horror of the helmet. And the pants “stripe” (which is really more of a color-blocked panel). Sigh.

Turning to Saturday’s NCAA action, Phil and his contributors provided lots of good coverage in yesterday’s entry. But here are some additional items:

• South Alabama DE Theo Rich suffered a jersey tear or the ages during Saturday’s game against Tennessee.

• Notre Dame is one of the teams wearing Adidas’s new super-stretchies with the treadmarks this season. But some players appear to be wearing a different jersey model, without the treadmarks.

• Western Michigan wore a Cincy Bearcats logo decal in tribute to Ben Flick, a Cincinnati lineman who was killed in a crash last weekend. You can just barely see it in this shot, which is the best game photo I could find.

(My thanks to all contributors, including John Baillieul, Adam Cain, Larry Morris, Thomas Murphy, Chris Perrenot, Gene Sanny, Adam Spangler, and of course Phil.)

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Hale America, continued: Our exploration into the history of the Hale America program, which began last Thursday and continued on Friday, has been given a nice assist by longtime Uni Watch reader/contributor Cork Gaines, who’s found some more pieces of the puzzle:

• The Feb. 4, 1942 edition of the Lewiston Daily Sun contained an AP article about the upcoming baseball season. It was mostly about team owners and the commissioner’s office agreeing to how many night games would be played, but there was also this:

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The interesting thing there (aside from the revelation that MLB execs had agreed to tithe their salaries toward war bonds) is that the Hale America program was “advocated” by Sporting News publisher Taylor Spink. Or maybe he was just advocating for the patch to be worn — the wording isn’t clear on that point. Either way, though, it suggests that the Sporting News archives from this period probably have more to tell us about Hale America.

• The Sporting News connection is particularly interesting in light of another AP item that had been published in the Southeast Missourian just a few days earlier — on Jan. 30, 1942:

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As you can see, that item makes it clear that Hale America was connected to the draft. But the really intriguing thing there is that Hale America was apparently being discussed and promoted at a Philadelphia Sports Writers Association banquet. Between that and the Sporting News connection, it makes you wonder if sportswriters were a big part of Hale America’s conception and/or promotion.

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Show & Tell update: The good news is that the latest batch of Show & Tell photos and stories is now available; the bad news is that this will be the last installment of Show & Tell for the foreseeable future (but not, I hope, the last one ever). Details on the S&T website.

ESPN reminder: In case you missed it on Friday, here’s my annual NHL season-preview column.

I’ll have a separate column with all the new goalie masks and gear either later today or tomorrow (it’s already written — just depends on when my editor decides to run it). Watch this space for details, or just follow me on Twitter, where I always post links to my ESPN work.

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’Skins Watch: One of the best and most interesting pieces I’ve read about the ’Skins controversy is this SI piece by Michael Rosenberg. Recommended. ”¦ Bill Simmons referred to the ’Skins as “the D.C. Daceys” in his Week 4 NFL picks (from Nik Streng).

Baseball News: The Mets inducted Mike Piazza into their Hall of Fame yesterday but, contrary to widespread expectation, did not wear black jerseys for the occasion (although they did wear Piazza cap patches). That makes 2013 the first completely black-free season the Mets have had since 1997.

NFL News: As Phil reported in Saturday’s Ticker, Cam Newton has been fined $10,000 for wearing those Under Armour-branded visor clips. I confess that I’m very, very surprised by this. When Forbres first made a fuss about the clips last week, I poo-pooed it, because NFL players have been wearing branded visor clips for years. I specifically remember Tickering something about swooshified visor clips four or five years ago, in fact. Those clips were black with the logo, also in black, stamped into the plastic — the same as Newton’s UA clips. If the NFL didn’t care about it then, why do they suddenly care now? In any case, anything that cuts down on logo creep is good news in my book, so I’m glad the league put the kibosh on this, even though the fine seems ridiculous. … You know how some players wear socks on their arms? Aaron McHargue thinks he’s found the inspiration for that look. That’s Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb, who made an outfit out of socks for the static electricity shock: “Behold, the new uniform of pure evil! I call it the socky-shocky-suity.” … Yesterday Phil linked to an article about ESPN.com’s sports biz reporter Darren Rovell. It’s very good — recommended. But what Phil didn’t mention is that it includes an offhand note about how Rovell was in possession of “embargoed new-uniform reveals for the Dolphins and Vikings” at the time of last April’s NFL draft. It’s not surprising that Rovell, who’s generally pretty tight with Nike, would be given early access to those designs while I was not — he’s cultivated a better relationship with Nike (and, I’m sure, with the NFL in general) than I have. The interesting thing, as I’ve tried (mostly unsuccessfully) to impress upon the leagues, teams, and uni manufacturers, is that showing me stuff in advance on an embargoed basis would actually serve to inoculate them against leaks. For example, let’s say the NBA shows me a bunch of upcoming new designs on an embargoed basis, and then someone — a retailer, say — leaks me those designs a few weeks later. If I’ve already promised the NBA not to talk about the new designs until a specified date, then I can’t do anything with the leak. But if they don’t show me anything, then I don’t have to promise them anything, and then I’m free to write about leaks whenever they come my way — which, to bring us full circle, is exactly what happened with those Dolphins and Vikings designs. ”¦ If you’re a Seahawks fan — or a fan of 1970s NFL in general — you’ll want to check out this video feature on the ’76 Seahawks (nice find by Douglas Ford). ”¦ The Browns appear to be giving Brownie the Elf a greater promotion role, as you can see here, here, and here.

College Football News: Students at Texas A&M have voted a strong preference for the beveled aTm logo (from Dave Wilson). ”¦ Tennessee will go solid-charcoal this weekend.

Soccer News: “Gareth Bale’s Wales national team jersey should be a hot seller right now, since he is currently the world’s most expensive soccer player,” says Yusuke Toyoda. “Just one problem: Wales’s retail supplier went into bankruptcy last year and they don’t have any in stock.”

Grab Bag: “Boise State’s blue uniforms on a blue field have nothing on the goalie for the Russian beach soccer team,” says Ryan Burns. “He’s tough to spot in this shot from the recent world cup semifinal against Tahiti. Even up close, he blends in with the sand.”

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What Paul did last night yesterday afternoon: Found myself in a vintage furniture/furnishings shop yesterday afternoon. I don’t really need any additional furniture, nor do I have any space in which to put additional furniture, but looking at beautiful old stuff is always fun, so I poked around a bit.

It was during this poking around that I came across a really cool antique dental chair — or at least I think that’s what it is/was. Here’s a lousy phone photo that doesn’t even come close to capturing how excellent the chair is (click to enlarge):

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It’s surprisingly comfortable and super-gorgeous. Plus it’s metal, which means the cats can’t scratch it up. Unfortunately, it’s listed at $1,200, which seems like a bit much for, you know, a fucking chair. Plus I don’t know where I would put it. I should have just walked away and forgotten about it, but instead I took that photo, and now I’m telling you about it, which means the chair is going to lodge in my brain and whisper sweet chair nothings to me for weeks on end, and at some point I’ll feel so tempted that some a part of me will be convinced that $1,200 isn’t that bad, and that maybe I can dicker the shop owner down to $1,000 (a bargain!), and so on.

In the end, I won’t buy the chair. But I’ll spend way too much time thinking about it. So if I seem distracted at any point during the next few months, that’s probably why.

 
  
 
Comments (99)

    Good thing Clinton McDonald’s helmet/mask malfunction didn’t leave concussed! Not to mention JJ Watt’s blody face from yesterday.

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    Helmets save lives!!

    The John B Kelly referred to in the 1-30-42 article on the Hale America program was the father of Grace Kelly (AKA Princess Grace of Monaco) and was a 3 time Olympic Gold Metalist.

    I don’t know in Europe, but in Mexico you normally buy the National Soccer Jersey without any player’s name. That’s because your’re rooting for the country, not the player. Also happens fairly often with thte soccer teams.

    That, and player numbers change from game to game – a lot of national teams hand out numbers 1-11 to starters. Like, Wayne Rooney is usually #10, but if he comes off the bench, he’d be wearing a higher number.

    But in Wales’ case, they didn’t have *any* jerseys for retail – you couldn’t even buy a blank shirt and get it printed with “BALE 11”.

    That dental chair…

    Paul, you gotta go back into that shop, plop down two $100 bills right there on the seat, and tell the owner you’ll haul it out for free. See where they’re really at.

    “It’s surprisingly comfortable….”

    Yeah, until they strap your head down, climb onto your chest and start ripping at your teeth with 19th century pliers!

    “… Unfortunately, it’s listed at $1,200, which seems like a bit much for, you know, a fucking chair…”

    Just got it up on Kickstarter.

    Thanks for the SI link Paul. What people are missing, I believe, isn’t that this isn’t really so much about racism these days though it is a racist term. Hope you understand what I am meaning. As the SI article says, in this day and age, it doesn’t feel right. Yes, we have freedom of speech but the vast majority of us are brought up not to say bad things about people or insult people, etc. The “if you can’t say something nice don’t say anything” upbringing. Redskins isn’t nice. It feels wrong these days. Redskin fans need to step up and recognize this isn’t about bashing them or the team but about doing the RIGHT THING by others. There has to be a host of names that could be used that would be strong and enduring. I believe instead of bashing Redskin fans over the head that the approach Uni-Watch has used of trying to educate why it is not a good name to use is the best approach. We as a people should just be above this is all. It is called progress.

    I don’t buy the premise that it has to do with political ideological ideas. I am a conservative when it comes to fiscal responsibility. I value traditions and loyalty. However, I also value doing what is right by others. It isn’t “fairness” either. It is more of just doing the right thing. The golden rule in practice. By the way, my grandmother is a Choctaw.

    Redskins diehards raising a “freedom of speech” defense is perhaps the one thing in the whole debate that actually does offend me. (Not directed at you, Jim, but at the argument others raise that you refer to.) Freedom of speech means that the government cannot prevent you from speaking your mind, and it cannot punish you for speaking your mind. Period. It’s between you and the government, not between you and me or you and any other person or group.

    When I say something in public, and some other private citizen objects to it, my freedom of speech is not infringed. When I say something in public, and some other private citizen seeks to hold me account for harm my words might do, whether that’s speaking out against me, or getting up a petition to encourage me to change my mind, or even boycotting my business or firing me from my job, my freedom of speech is not infringed.

    Also, people seem to forget whenever it’s convenient to them that the First Amendment protects more than just freedom of speech. It also protects the freedom to assemble, the freedom to petition for redress of grievances, and the freedom of the press. (Plus some stuff about religion.) If Dan Snyder’s “freedom of speech” is infringed by people attempting to persuade him to change his business’ name, then those peoples’ freedoms of assembly, freedom of petition, and in some cases, freedom of the press, is infringed by objecting to their advocacy.

    I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Redskins does not refer to *all* Native Americans, it refers to those who self-identify as such, meaning the historic Natives who adopted the label in the 1700’s, and those today who still embrace it. If a Native today doesn’t identify as “redskin”, then the team doesn’t represent them. It really is that simple. There are plenty of things out there in society that offend some people – the Redskins name, South Park, Family Guy, Hip Hop & Heavy Metal music, Violent Video Games, Religion, whatever. If you don’t like it, then don’t support it. That doesn’t mean it needs to be eliminated from existence. There are 31 teams in the NFL who aren’t called Redskins – pick one.

    I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Redskins does not refer to *all* Native Americans, it refers to those who self-identify as such, meaning the historic Natives who adopted the label in the 1700′s, and those today who still embrace it.

    Wow.

    I look forward to the day The demonstrates that he actually believes this argument by walking into his nearest church with the word “Ebenezer” in its name on a Sunday morning, shouting “Hello Niggers!” and then calmly explaining that he is referring in a spirit of respect and honor only to those who self-identify as niggers, not to those who do not. If he videotapes the exercise, and if it ends with a friendly discussion around coffee and donuts in the fellowship hall, I stand prepared to admit the soundness of his reasoning.

    And yes, the analogy is perfectly apt: the word’s origin was as an entirely neutral description of skin color, and was much more widely used as a self-description than “redskin” throughout history, including the all-important-to-The 1700s. So if The’s reasoning is sound in this instance, then it would apply equally to “nigger,” and like I said, I look forward to seeing the hypothesis tested experimentally.

    Pretty sure I didn’t see anything in those press releases the team pumped out talking about how the name only expresses “honor” and “pride” for self-described r-skins, and no one else.

    Scott, you know damn well that those 2 words are not equivalent, even if they do have similar neutral origins. Redskins went through a period of romantization (my spellcheck says this isn’t a word, but you know what I mean) with fictionalized stories of the Wild West, while “nigger” did not. Native American imagery was splashed across the entire country in the early 1900’s – there were countless advertisements using their imagery and numerous high school and college teams using Native mascots. The same can’t be said for African American imagery during that era. Kids might have played Cowboys & Indians, but they didn’t play Master & Slave. The 80-year existence of the Redskins football team has also helped to change the perception of the word. Maybe if there’d been a Nashville Niggers team in 1933 that still existed today, we’d have a different view of that word too. But there isn’t, so we don’t. Redskin has lost most of it’s racist stigma due to decades of casual non-racist usage, while Nigger has not.

    Also, I’m pretty sure that Nigger is a bastardization of Negro, so as racial slurs go it’s much closer to “Injun” (bastardization of Indian) than it is to Redskin (translation of Natives identifying as having red skin).

    Why must we insist that a word is a racial slur when 85% of the population disagrees?

    But The Jeff, surely, if some black youths are happy to call each other n—as, why not name a sports team N—as? The term doesn’t apply to people who don’t refer to each other as such!

    I guess a more analogous term is “negro” – it was an acceptable term for newspaper headlines and TV news. Now, it’s just a name of an old baseball league (or so the logic would go)! Like, it’s fine for a team in, say, Alaska to call itself the Anchorage Negros with an old-school Aunt Jemima-like icon as its logo, because it happened to have a few black players way back when, right?

    Like, it’s fine for a team in, say, Alaska to call itself the Anchorage Negros with an old-school Aunt Jemima-like icon as its logo, because it happened to have a few black players way back when, right?

    Why not, that’s the same logic that makes Celtics or Fighting Irish OK, isn’t it? A team with no Irish players today can use Irish imagery because, um, history or something, so why should a similar team be banned from using Native American, or African American, or any other cultural/racial imagery? Either allow any and all cultural names, or ban them all.

    I hope arrScott is under oath one day and is asked if he ever used a racial slur…he’s going to reply “of course” … No elected office for you young man…”but I was only…”

    double standards are not for you right? just for everyone else you judge

    that’s the same logic that makes Celtics or Fighting Irish OK, isn’t it?

    No. I mean, even forgetting for a moment that its head coach is a Kelly, it’s still an institution that’s very much Catholic (and Irish-American), recruits heavily from East Coast Catholic schools, and the identity of the sports program is rooted very heavily in its Irish-American players (whereas Washington happened to have Lone Star Deitz and his handful of Indian players at one point, asked Deitz and players to wear headdress and warpaint, and otherwise has no connection to the indigenous culture). Also, you might not know this, but the Celtics play in a city with a strong Irish immigrant culture. They’re not misappropriating a culture they don’t have a connection to.

    Also, can you stop the straw man about banning Native American (or other cultural) imagery as a whole? I’m sure if you think hard about it, there are ways to do so without being impolite (Seahawks somehow manage).

    As I said, my grandmother is Choctaw. She has no issue with using a tribal name that is coordinated with that particular tribal leadership. Even then, some within in the tribe may not like it but that is the case with anything for that matter. She does not like the use of Redskins however for obvious reasons. This isn’t about eliminating all Native American mascots. It is about making those mascots and names more reverent if you will.

    Maybe I’m late to the party on this, but the Vikings jersey sleeves look more ridiculously stupid when they’re not super short and elastic, like Matt Cassel’s.

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    I’m all about quarterbacks wearing sleeves, but damn, that is stupid.

    I’m with you on that. I like a lot about the Vikes new uniforms, but they still feel like they are missing something. Replace the stripes with the throwback ones and they’d be so much better!

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    Visor Clip-gate: If Newton wore Nike clips, then he would have not been fined. Per the linked article: “No invisible identification of a manufacturer’s name or logo on the exterior of a helmet or on any attachment to a helmet is permitted unless provided for under a commercial arrangement between the League and manufacturer.” So the fine isn’t a blow to logo creep. Only to non-sponsored logo creep.

    But is the visor part of the “equipment” and not “helmet” and thus part of the Nike contract?

    Quite surprised to see a 2-page story about the Washington NFL team in today’s edition of Metro, a free newspaper aimed at commuters (it’s given away at railway stations). I did rip the pages out to scan later, but it turns out it’s on their website:

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    Hey Paul, I noticed a typo in this paragraph:

    “The Feb. 4, 1942 edition … It was mostly about team owners and the commissioner’s office agreeing no how many night games would be played, but … “

    Loved the clip on the Seahawks. That uniform was underrated. Those silver helmets looked great on the field.

    Great video! I notice at the 14:52 mark when they are showing the game in Minnesota, the goal post actually has a “Sea hawks”. Was that normal for a visiting team in ’76?

    Looking at the Blackhawks championship ring

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    Why do I see a dollar sign in the eye, I don’t in any other logs or the previous ring. Am I loosing it?

    I see it too. Seems like the outline of the eye is a little bolder and more rounded on the 2012-13 ring than on previous rings.

    Here they are:
    link

    The eyebrow is connected to the eyelash on the Blackhawks’ logo/sweater crest. So having it in the engraved logo on the ring isn’t quite an error.

    No RIP for link For those who don’t know, ol’ “Hollywood Bags” wore link throughout his playing career. Definitely someone who should be in Canton, although he himself was content one way or another since “Mean Joe” Greene was already in the Hall.

    I heard a story this morning that he started wearing the gold shoes because Joe Greene kept getting credited for tackles that he (Greenwood) made – so he wanted to make sure everyone would know when he made the tackle. Unverified, but a neat story.

    The Darren Rovell article was tl;dr for a Monday morning, but if Paul had an evil twin, it would obviously be Rovell, right?

    I read the article on Saturday and thoroughly enjoyed it. Couldn’t agree more about your point on leagues embargoing new uniforms/logos from you and why it doesn’t make sense.

    You and Rovell would make a great odd couple reporting team. Ha!

    Couldn’t agree more about your point on leagues embargoing new uniforms/logos from you and why it doesn’t make sense.

    One league is about to learn that the hard way — possibly as soon as tomorrow.

    It was a great article.

    I enjoy reading Rovell, but reading “insider” stuff where guys insinuate themselves into organizations and trade glowing coverage for access is a different kind of coverage.

    I prefer the “outsider” coverage – speaking truth to power rather than Rovell approach. But there’s a place for both.

    Kind of like the difference between Peter King and Deadspin. There’s a place for both, but only one is asking hard questions and saying “bullshit” when it needs to be said.

    I definitely lean towards Deadspin than Peter King in my media consumption, but I think the difference between King and Rovell is that, from time to time, I think King is willing to cash in some of the credit he’s built with the establishment. Rovell, on the other hand, thinks the point of the game is to amass as much credit as possible.

    I’d rather go with “Slingers”. At least it’s a pseudo-reference to a QB with some History with the team.

    While that’s probably a *much* better nickname (if given the choice between the two), I’m guessing 99% of Washingtonians would name RGIII as a Washington QB before Sammy Baugh ever crossed their minds. (And if you asked that same group to name the greatest D.C. QB of ever, pretty sure Theismann [and others] would come up long before Slignin’ Sammy)

    “More importantly, though, it turns out that Dallas had made a uni change that we’d all been unaware of until now: They’ve changed the blue jersey’s chest wordmark.”

    Funny enough, it’s the new one that is more consistent with the rest of their branding, not the old one.

    what, you mean the team with the silver helmet, royal blue numerals, navy blue helmet striping and decal, and silver green pants? that team?

    I’m pretty simple on the Redskins debate; I think it should be changed, because of all the creativity money can buy at that level, naming a team after any races skin color seems like a cop out. And because you wouldn’t see a team called the Blackskins or the Whiteskins and still operate at a professional level.

    It doesn’t help that Dan Snyder is adding momentum in the opposite direction of himself. He could have just said, “We are not considering a re-branding or a name change at this time” and leave it go. Now, there are going to be more people for the name change, if not just to see Snyders’ smug mug when he put NO in all caps and it became a yes anyway.

    I think at this point, Snyder is smart enough to know that change is inevitable. The hard line he’s taking is mostly lip service to his season ticket-buying base. He can’t stop the momentum, but he can still let the hard core fans know that He’s Doing His Bestâ„¢ and We Won’t Take The Scourge of the PC Brigade Lying Downâ„¢.

    “There is no ‘Native American culture,’ ” Fadden says. “There are more than 500 Native American tribes with different cultures and traditions. A lot of the tribes weren’t these buffalo-hunting, horseback-riding, spear-waving people. A lot of tribes were horticulturalists, but dances with baskets just don’t conjure it (for teams). These stereotypes say more about the people who are enforcing them than about the people they say there were honoring.”

    What a great point!

    I’m guessing the X on the bottom of Jake Locker’s shoes indicated, “Don’t wear these shoes; they are bad luck and you might get hurt.”

    Paul,

    What do the leagues say to you when you request that you be on their list of writers who get embargoed new uniforms?

    It doesn’t work that way — you don’t ask to be put on a list.

    People like Rovell and myself have relationships with the leagues. Depending on the status of those relationships, we either get the privilege of certain types of access or we don’t.

    Case in point: The NBA used to give me all sorts of access — I’d see things a year, sometimes two years in advance. But after I came out against the uniform ad plan and led the charge against it, they cut me off. So now I find out about NBA stuff pretty much when you do (unless someone leaks something to me).

    Nothing personal, no hard feelings — I understand that actions have consequences, and the NBA certainly doesn’t owe me access. No regrets.

    I don’t recall ever hearing/reading this previously. That’s not to say it hasn’t been brought up, the mind’s not what it used to be….

    From SBNation:

    “The league has decided to enforce rules that have been on the books since 1964 that prevent players from tucking in their jerseys. Guys like Alex Ovechkin think it takes the individuality away from the players, while others see the change as a precursor to advertisements on the tails of jerseys.”

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    As always, if this has been talked about and I’m just posting old news, my sincerest apologies.

    What is wrong with me? I wasn’t even goading you. I missed the NHL preview Thursday. I read the Stevens Wright piece, the helmet-gate stuff with the throwback issues and even the NBA article (and I rarely am interested in the NBA).

    Like I said, my apologies. If you’re ever in Chicago again, I’ll make sure to buy you a beer.

    I still think Ovechkin’s response was pretty dopey. In my job, I have to adhere to uniform standards. I have to have my shirt tucked in, not untucked. Why won’t my company let me have a sense of individuality, even though I have a name on my jacket?

    With black jerseys and pants.

    Well, it’ll be a contrast to Notre Dame’s all-white and golden helmets, and… I got nothing.

    The explosion of coverage on this show is bewildering. It must be the greatest thing ever, since each website I go to has it as the lead. Never watched it. I feel..unworthy.

    “Beloved” alert, c/o Rolling Stone.

    “Like Jesse Pinkman’s perfect box, the final episode of Breaking Bad closed the lid on the story of Walter White and just about every other character left on the show. But could the most beloved TV show in recent memory have ended more satisfyingly if it was less satisfying?”

    Grand scheme of things us athletics aesthetes have to think about, this is extremely small, but something that bothers me nonetheless: The use of “handwriting” fonts. It should be banned. Period.

    Take, for instance, this tweet:

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    It purports to be an actual, handwritten lineup card. But every ‘e’, every capital ‘F’, every ‘g’ … all the same. It’s a handwritten font, not handwriting.

    It’s the font equivalent of AstroTurf. Fake handwriting to give you a feeling of reality, but with a sense of cheapness, hollowness and fakeness that leaves you actually feeling rather empty.

    Not cool.

    There are (or at least there have been) fonts that have tried to avoid this problem by being programmed to digitally tweak each letterform as it gets used, so that the first instance of a given letter will look different than the second, and then the third, etc.

    It’s still bullshit, of course. But it’s an interesting attempt to address the problem.

    Still believe those blue Cowboys uni are beauties. Love the stripe+star combo and the treatment on the numerals.

    Paul,

    As a player, ref and coach of the sport of Rugby please do not use the word “scrum” to infer anything else than a restart in a rugby match. Especially when referring to another sport where people run into each other. The misuse/overuse of the word Scrum is to rugby people what the misuse/overuse of the word “Beloved” is to you. Just because a few padded fellows fell into a heap together it is not a scrum.

    Cheers,
    Adam

    heard at the watercooler today…. only problem with the burning of Matt Schaub’s jersey is that he wasn’t still in it.

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