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Boys With Toys, Part 379

ASU1.jpg ASU2.jpg

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We’ve known for a while now what Notre Dame will be wearing for this Saturday’s Shamrock Series game against Arizona State. And now, as you can see above, we know what ASU will be wearing: a “flame” helmet, or whatever. It’s basically just a Halloween costume, of course (if you have any doubts, check out the socks oops, I’m now told they’re arm sleeves), although I took heart when I saw the top group of photos because the kid modeling the costume is actually smiling — smiling, imagine that! — instead of doing that default bad-ass superhero pose that makes me embarrassed for humanity. A smile! Nice. Here’s hoping it catches on.

There’s also a video about the helmet floating around out there, but you can find that yourself. Reader Scott Friend watched it and says it includes a glimpse of a white helmet with an oversized red pitchfork that hasn’t yet appeared on the field. “Given the oversized pitchforks that were worn against USC this past weekend, maybe the white will happen as well,” he says. Heavens, I certainly hope so, because if there’s one thing ASU needs it’s, you know, another helmet.

Meanwhile: My NHL goalie column is up now on ESPN. Enjoy.

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Collector’s Corner

By Brinke Guthrie

T-shirts with sports brands on them have been around now for a long time, but they were pretty rare back in the mid-1970s. Adidas made them, Nike wasn’t in the game yet, and the only other brand you saw was Puma. I had this very 1970s Puma T-shirt back in the day. Blue with yellow, our high school colors. Got it by sending in a proof-of-purchase from a can of Desenex (which I bought for high school soccer season) and five dollars. I remember clearly my dad asking me if Puma was paying me to wear the shirt, and he was serious. I think I stared at him as if he were from Mars. I didn’t wear Puma shoes on-field, though — strictly Adidas with the “Gerd Muller Goal” cleats, black with yellow.

Now on to other stuff:

• We’ve seen Dairy Queen NFL helmets before, but how about for the CFL?

• Just a great piece of artwork here — check out this 1970s Broncos poster.

• Ed Podolak is featured on this 1970s Chiefs tie.

• This 1970s El Paso Diablos minor league baseball jersey looks straight outta Taco Bell.

• Classic look to this gold-trimmed 1970s Bengals stein.

• Colts fans- no matter which city- will love this 1970s Sand-Knit coach’s shirt — in nylon, no less. “Designed & Tailored Exclusively for the Baltimore Colts.”

• This 1970s A’s bobble looks like it’s in perfect condition. [But no gold sannies — boo! ”” PL]

• I think we’ve all stuck a pinch of Big League Chew between our cheek and’ gum a time or two back in the day. I would’ve liked to have this Big League Chew beach towel back then.

Seen something on eBay or Etsy that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here.

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Acme Corrections: Disappointing error during halftime of last night’s Saints/Dolphins game, as ESPN analyst Jon Gruden was doing his weekly “Gruden’s Grinders” bit, in which he singles out a few lunch-pail players for special praise. At one point he was saluting a Seahawks defensive player (I don’t remember who it was, sorry) and said, “I’m gonna call him the Roadrunner — because if he catches you, you’re through!” Halftime host Chris Berman approved: “I like it, I like the nickname.”

I don’t know how many Monday Night Football viewers are even old enough to get that reference, but the ones who did no doubt realized that Gruden totally botched it. If you’re familiar with the Roadrunner theme song, then you know the full passage Gruden was referring to is “Roadrunner, the Coyote’s after you / Roadrunner, if he catches you, you’re through.” Here:

In other words, if the Coyote catches you, you’re through. So Gruden should have nicknamed that player the Coyote. But that wouldn’t have made any sense either, because the Coyote always loses.

Moral of the story: Jon Gruden should stick to football and leave Saturday-morning cartoon references to the experts (i.e., the rest of us).

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Academics vs. Athletics: It seems like Thursday-night college football games are increasingly being used as showcases for new uniforms. I hadn’t really given any deep thought to that until yesterday, when I received a note from a Uni Watch reader who prefers to remain anonymous. I’m reproducing it here without comment:

I’m a student at Georgia Tech and a big football fan. But I think there needs to be a greater disparity between academics and athletics. Last Thursday night’s game against Virginia Tech started at 7:30pm. I wasn’t able to make the “White Out” because I had an exam starting at 6pm that night and the following day I had another exam at 8am, so I had some studying to do.

While it’s exciting that Georgia Tech was featured on ESPN, academics still happen. The Thursday-night game was a major distraction for someone who, like myself, wanted to focus on studying for midterms. I couldn’t find quiet space on campus due to the number of tours through the library for the returning alumni who came down for the game, so I headed to my off-campus apartment to focus. But even then, traffic was rerouted and caused my usual 15-minute commute to turn into 45 minutes of sitting in a car.

Trying to instill a gameday “Rah! Rah!” spirit on a Thursday night was a giant distraction and an irresponsible move by the institution. For a school that praises academics, it was surprising to see academics take a back seat to athletics that day, a school day.
I understand I’m not the usual case in this scenario, but as a student paying a lot for tuition, I want the focus to be my education, not some football team that can only run six plays. Just imagine if a football player had an exam on that following Friday morning, like I did. Would he still have to take it?

I’m not saying they should do away with the athletics program, but what’s wrong with only Saturday football games? Oh, wait — money. That’s why.

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’Skins Watch: A new poll — although, from what I can gather, not a particularly scientific one — shows that DC residents are in favor of the media boycott of the ’Skins name. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Here’s an article claiming that the ’Skins debate is also a proxy for other, larger cultural debates. … Also from yesterday: More coverage of the ’Skins debate from across the pond, this time in the form of a very good overview article in Metro, a UK commuter paper (from Matt Beahan).

Baseball News: Here’s the Wrigley Field centennial patch that the Cubs will wear next season. … Umpire Gerry Davis, who usually wears No. 12, lost the “2” on his sleeve number last night. Naturally, nobody noticed, because only about seven people on the face of the planet can identify umps by their uni numbers (and of those people is Jeff Moddelmog). … How do you know when a “5” is really an upside-down “2”? When its block-shadowing is facing the wrong way! That’s from this 1957 Senators jersey that Jeff Flynn Jr. spotted on eBay. … The Twins had a press conerence yesterday to announce a contract extension for skipper Ron Gardenhire. “Owner Jim Pohlad was asked about changes to be made, and he chuckled and said, ‘Well, I’d like to see Ron wear something other than the baseball equivalent of a muumuu,'” reports Mike Menner. … A promo video for Pearl Jam’s new album finds Eddie Vedder wearing an old-school Padres catcher’s helmet (from Roger Morrow). ”¦ Rays skipper Joe Maddon was drinking something from a label-less bottle last night. Must not have been from an approved sponsor (good spot by Matt Brown). ”¦ SI recently ran a very short but enjoyable piece about the White Sox’s shorts (from Dave Perez).

NFL News: In the latest example of how we’ve become the Corporate States of America, the Broncos yelled, “Papa John’s, Papa John’s!” as an audible call on Sunday. “I was watching the game and heard it when it happened,” says Jim Bowles. “My head wanted to explode.” … Andrew Powell-Morse has created a bunch of charts and graphs documenting the balance between NFL rushing and passing over the past eight decades. Good stuff. … I’m quoted in this article about the Dolphins’ new logo. ”¦ Someone at last night’s Saints/Dolphins game was wearing a clown outfit with a captaincy patch (from Chris Perrenot ). ”¦ Yesterday I mentioned that the NFL’s “International Series” patch, which had been worn for previous games in London, wasn’t worn for Sunday’s Steelers/Vikings game. That prompted Drew McClintock to remind me that the league had used a different patch design for London games in 2007 and ’08.

College Football News: I’m pretty sure we’ve covered this before, but I can’t remember what this Arizona State patch is for. Little help..? … Here’s what Notre Dame’s sideline personnel will be wearing for that same game. Very nice (from Warren Junium). … Maryland wore this jersey against Penn State in 1987. “It was a one-game thing, meant to try to break a 22-game losing streak against Penn State (didn’t work),” says Jeff Flynn Jr. “I couldn’t find a game photo, but the new uniforms are mentioned in this article.” … Utah will be wearing solid black on Thursday. ”¦ Baylor will be wearing their metallic gold helmet on Saturday, and they’re promoting it with a hashtag that tells you everything you need to know about the current state of the college football uni-verse.

NBA News: There had already been a video game leak of the Clippers’ new blue sleeved uni, but now we have official high-res photos, including the shorts with the nautical flags spelling out “L-A-C.” They’ll likely be wearing these for Sunday home games. … Meanwhile, here are some more photos of the Warriors’ new white sleeved jerseys, which they’ll be wearing for Saturday home games. … Hmmm, Clippers wearing sleeves on Sundays, Warriors on Saturedays — Phil smells a rat. “Seems like they want teams to wear the sleeves when a larger TV audience is likely, which of course will likely equal more jersey sales.” ”¦ The Raptors won’t be changing their name after all but will likely get yet another colo(u)r scheme (thanks, Brinke).

Soccer News: Alice in Chains recently wore Brazil soccer jerseys for a show in Brazil (from Anthony Nuccio). ”¦ Just what the world’s been wating for: camouflage soccer shoes (from Kenny Loo).

Grab Bag: Gawker’s Hamilton Nolan has written a really wonderful defense of selling out — sort of. He’s not defending the act of selling out; he’s arguing for the continued relevance and viability of selling out as a cultural phenomenon. A lot of this actually applies to things like ads on uniforms, naming rights, and other pernicious forms of sponsorship. If you read only one other thing today besides Uni Watch, this should be it — don’t miss. … “I was wandering around at my son’s soccer game over the weekend and came across a bunch of these swooshified trash cans under the bleachers,” writes Paul Ricciardi. “Turns out they belong to a program called Trashcan Lacrosse, which uses trash cans for skill/accuracy training.” … Here’s a good article about the great sports illustrator Lon Keller (from Bill Ziegler). ”¦ In CFL news, the BC Lions will wear solid black this weekend (from Leo Strawn Jr.). ”¦ Also from Leo: The Werribee Tigers — that’s an Aussie rules football team — will likely be going back to a 20-year-old jumper design next season.

 
  
 
Comments (125)

    It was the Eagles defense yelling “Papa John’s”, not Peyton Manning. They were yelling it when Manning was trying to audible at the lime.

    link

    I am 95% positive I heard Eli calling out “Reebok! Reebok!” at the line during the Giants game this week. No joke.

    Since Peyton has done advertisements for Papa John’s, maybe it was a dig at him? I mean, it had to be. Unless the Eagles are all big fans of the place, and I certainly don’t see THAT being the case.

    That’s right. Well, I’m glad that Peyton is doing something on the side to earn some extra cash. These being difficult economic times, and all.

    Dairy Queen offered the CFL helmet series into the early 1980s. I had a set of the 1979 and 1980 versions. My favorite was the Argos football-ship-A logo of the era.

    ASU patch is for a famous alum named “Whizzer” White, but not the original Byron “Whizzer” White. Although it almost looks like it’s a patch for Walter White.

    With all the constant changes in college football uniforms (it seems like every second a school unveils new unis), a question popped into my mind. Does the NCAA have anything in place to test the safety of the helmets? The NFL recently ruled that teams (specifically the Buccaneers) couldn’t use throwbacks because of the helmet design. Does the NCAA have anything in place to protect player safety this way?

    The manufacturers are required to test them. I don’t believe they do all of them but select randomly some from the lot being produced. That should be sufficient. Helmets do what they are designed to do which is prevent external head injuries. They were never designed to prevent internal head injuries, concussions.

    You must wear helmets in practice before wearing them in a game. I think this only applies to new helmets, so its not like a team what wore X helmet for week 1 has to once again break them in if they wear them in week 10. However I imagine players would want to practice in them at least once the week leading up to make sure they are fitting right.

    In the early years of BIg Monday on ESPN, Bob Knight was a vocal critic of the big ten being the second half of the double-header, since it meant students going to Assembly Hall got home after midnight and then had to get up for class the next day.

    It was a few years later when they started big tuesday and the big ten was the early game.

    Those helmets don’t look like fire. They looke like the bowling balls you borrow when you go to the local alley.

    Agreed. The stylized flame thing on the arm-sock, that looks like fire. Goes to show that often, a caricature of a thing communicates the concept more clearly than a more literal or photographic representation.

    Paul, let’s be PC here. You now bowl in a “lane” located in the “bowling center.” And be careful that you don’t roll a “channelball.” LOL

    They also remind me a lot of the jelly-beans that nobody eats. I believe it was sizzling cinnamon.

    Those ASU socks don’t belong on the field, but if I had any rooting interest in ASU, I would buy pair.

    Classy that Alice in Chains had Brazil jerseys for Layne Staley and Mike Starr, too. Would love to know more about that.

    Plus it explains why the song “How You Gonna Keep Em Down on the Farm” seems to call both the farmer and his wife “Reuben.” (link) Always wondered about that. Good stuff!

    I’m always up for a jorum of skee, provided Mrs. Grundy don’t mind a little panther piss in her quilt!

    I also love how “bimbo” and “cake eater” flipped to the exact opposite of their original meanings after time.

    Several years ago I believe there was big backlash after a Thursday night game. If I remember right, they canceled all classes after 4:00 so fans could park and then canceled all of Friday’s classes. After the backlash the President said FSU would never host a home Thursday night game again.

    My alma mater, Washington State, is hosting a Thursday night Halloween game vs. Arizona State. Due to the city’s “unique” demographic (population of about 35,000, with the 22,000 or so students) and the location of the stadium directly in the center of campus – The president cancelled all afternoon classes and made morning classes optional – and mandated that all faculty/staff need to have the parking lots clear for tailgaters/fans by 1:00pm that day – It is causing quite the ruckus (mainly positive from students, mainly negative from faculty/staff)

    Like Anonymous, I’m excited for my school to be featured, but it certainly seems to not be ideal for it to be at such an expense to academics

    A few years ago, there was a huge outcry from staff at UNC-Chapel Hill when they had a 7:00 p.m. Thursday night ESPN football game and forced all staff to leave by 3:00 to allow for parking. We had to use vacation time, or come in early/stay late the rest of the week to make up the time. Didn’t matter if you walked to work or took the bus, you still had to leave by 3:00. Made me hate football even more, if that was possible. They are having a Thursday night game in a couple of weeks, but they learned their lesson. No one has to leave early this time. And it’s during fall break, so there will be lots of parking spaces freed up by students and faculty not being on campus.

    Regarding Hamilton Nolan’s column on sellouts, there is a flipside not mentioned. An ever-growing roster of largely unknown bands have gotten much broader exposure via the use of their songs in commercials and TV shows. How many songs from relatively unknown bands have gotten major airplay from Apple commercials alone? There are a few on my iPod.

    I discovered a band that is now one of my favorites from an episode of Breaking Bad (thank you, Shazam). A friend of mine was in a band whose song was chosen for a pivotal scene in Entourage, and they were absolutely thrilled for the exposure.

    I completely understand his point; I still get a bit melancholy when I hear a song by the Rolling Stones or The Who in a commercial or TV show theme. But in the age of digital media, “selling out” is a boon for young band and consumers of new music.

    The FIFA video game series has showcased a ton of bands who were either not well-known, or known primarily to a European audience.

    Half the bands my teenaged son listens to, he first heard while playing FIFA.

    Roadrunner/Coyote thing…..

    I immediately said, “Nope. Wrong!” when I heard Gruden say that. I guess he’s not a “Suuuuper Geeenius!”

    Our public figures of all kinds are getting worse at cultural references. If they can’t compare something to Hitler, Neville Chamberlain, Vince Lombardi, or the Godfather movies, they’ve got nothing. People who talk into microphones for a living should consider just not even trying to make clever cultural references.

    Except this guy, who can keep on doing whatever it is he’s doing: link

    The misused cultural reference / misquote that drives me crazy is the people who don’t get the joke in Yogi Berra’s famous comment, “it’s like deja vu all over again.”

    I was in a church meeting about ten years ago. the topic was something like loving your neighbor, and the teacher said something about how it’s hard to love people you don’t like very much. A guy raised his hand and said, “Well, it’s like Jesus said in the Book of Matthew: “Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.” Everybody nodded sagely: The Bible had done it again!

    Only Jesus didn’t say it; Michael Corelone did, in Godfather II.

    The cultural reference rule should apply to a lot more than professional speechifiers. And church people should be a little bit more Bible-literate.

    When it comes to the Good Book, never take anyone else’s word for it. God helps those who read the Bible themselves, as the Gospels say.

    This is how stupid I am: I read ArrScott’s comment, and my first thought was, “Which Gospel is that in again?” and I read terriblehuman’s comment, and thought, “Huh. I wonder which translation he’s using?” I tend to be credulous.

    It’s like Moses told the Israelites: “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

    Regarding the Ron Gardenhire muu muu comment, an awkwardly poor attempt at humor, of the three Pohlad brothers, Jim is almost universally regarded as the “Fredo” of the trio. Given the family’s other enterprises and accomplishments, the Twins are Jim’s version of a “Mickey Mouse night club” or “picking someone up at the airport”.

    I always laugh when I see these new, “cutting edge” unis colleges put out. And not just because they usually look laughable. #1: They never look as good on the actual players on game day as they do on the model/hand-picked player in the photo shoot. #2: The graphics on the helmets look like nothing when watching the game live, be it either at the stadium or on TV. It’s pointless to have that level of detail on the helmet.

    In the end I realize they don’t do this for the two reasons above. I realize it’s all about the look-at-me marketing and merch sales.

    I’m guessing when schools have these look-at-us uni pressers, they don’t do it because it won’t make them money somehow. It’s a stunt, be it for recruiting, merch sales, ticket selling, what have you. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this flame design showing up on t-shirts. I’m also guessing the new jersey will be sold.

    Don’t forget the importance of alumni donations to schools and football programs. These manufactured events give schools an excuse to reach out to alums and say, “Hey, look at us! We’re doing something!” And any point of contact is an opportunity to solicit contributions.

    Why not name the Redskins the Roadrunners? A good name.

    Anyhow, isn’t October pink everywhere on the uniforms month? This weekend ought to be a sea of pink on Saturday and Sunday especially if past history is any indication.

    Those ASU “socks” you mention in the lede aren’t socks, they’re arm sleeves. They’re knit because Nike is moving that new “FlyKnit” material from shoes to apparel. You can see it on the model’s arm in one of the photo collages.

    “FlyKnit” isn’t new, nor is it a material. It’s pieces of yarn knitted together, just the same way every t-shirt and sock has been for decades.

    That’s not entirely true. Flyknit for shoes, making the upper of a shoe out of a single seamless piece of fabric, is new. I’ve got a pair (Free 3.0) and they’re awesome shoes.

    I know the tendency here is to mock any new technology, but sometimes its actually an improvement over what came before or what their competitors have.

    Making sleeves out of flyknit, that’s dumb.

    Am I the only one who is frustrated/disturbed that ASU came out with these fire helmets months after 19 firefighters died IN ARIZONA? Maybe I’m off base but that doesn’t sit well with me.

    The same thought crossed my mind. I’m wondering how this helmet will be perceived by people, especially in Arizona. Will people see it as simply flames for a hellscape for “devils”, or will some see it as some tribute to the 19 fallen firefighters, or will they see it as tasteless in light of the tragedy earlier this year? It’ll be interesting to see what the overall reaction will be.

    I think that’s a bit of a stretch.

    If ASU had never used fiery/hell imagery in the past, I think you may be on to something. However, the “Sun Devil” and pitchforks are pretty well known and liked in most of AZ.

    How much time do college football players spend each season modelling the many uniforms they wear in press events and photo shoots? I ask because clearly the number of hours they spend doing this is more than zero, whereas prior to the year 2000, the number was zero. So does the time spent performing as fashion models reduce the amount of time they spend on football, or the amount of time they spend on classwork?

    I’m fine with the flame treatment on ASU’s helmet, but THREE pitchforks? Go with zero, and you have an acceptable lid.

    The socks are really, really bad.

    “And now, as you can see above, we know what ASU will be wearing”

    And I just threw up in my mouth…

    ASU used to have a solid uniform set. Sparky on the helmet looked great. Their only problem was their yellow pants never matched their gold helmets, although we’ve seen that with plenty of teams.

    The sleeved jerseys are more great marketing by the NBA. I’m sure plenty of guys will shell out for the t-shirt style who wouldn’t buy a traditional b’ball jersey.

    Two things: that Warriors jersey looks like a soccer jersey…and we all know what’s on the front of soccer jerseys these days! Corporate advertising, here we come…

    Also, will they wear cream-colored shorts to continue the tradition of horribly mismatched uni colors they started with the gold set last season?

    It doesn’t sound like Mr. “huge football fan” who wrote the blog about GA Tech’s Thursday game is such a “huge fan” after all. If he were, he would’ve planned ahead, studied earlier in the week, and still gone to the game. Also, there’s nothing that says you can’t take notecards into the stands with you and review during media timeouts. It can be done, because, oh wait, I did it. AND I’m a Chemistry PhD-track graduate student at GT, not just an undergrad. I also had an exam Friday morning, and actually made a 95 on it while still going to the game Thursday night. Boom. True, die-hard football fans don’t sacrifice going to games. They make it work so they can see their team play. So pick your side Mr. “huge fan.” Are you that fair weather that you’re only a fan on Saturdays?

    I was going to make some points about how the schedule was released before registration for classes, or how, like you said he could have studied during and after the game. But instead I decided to go with this angle:

    I don’t want to hear crap from the students about when the games are played. Last week’s game was the closest the student section has been to full since we hosted Miami last year. They don’t seem to show up unless we’re playing primetime, or someone of note, and its amazing how much that has changed in the past 5 years (it used to be they’d show up for every game, that is no longer the case and I have no idea why that is).

    Also that guy should never question Tech’s dedication to Academics, they could have abandoned their standards decades ago, and they’d be competing for national titles year in and out. Instead they keep their standards and it has hurt us in recruiting as the rest of the college world has dropped theirs (hell, we lined up against one of our former top recruits from the 2012 class last week against UNC because we couldn’t get him academically eligible to enroll, meanwhile UNC welcomed him with open arms in addition to the classes they made up to keep Julius Peppers eligible during his time there).

    When you schedule a Friday class you should know what you are giving up. My dad is driving up to Clemson in October, he asked me if I wanted a ticket and I told him no, because I have a class the next day (and would have to miss 2 classes in order to make the drive up). I made sure my professor was okay with me missing last Thursday on the first day of classes (she wound up canceling the class anyways).

    “… Here’s what Notre Dame’s sideline personnel will be wearing for that same game. Very nice …”

    Yuck.

    What offends you? The green? It goes with the game uniforms, which are white, with metallic gold numbers and kelly green trim. The shamrock? It’s the motif for the game (Notre Dame’s version of the Dallas Cowboys’ star).

    Paul,

    I was a little bummed last night when the ASU helmet news broke knowing that it would bump the “uni-expose” you hinted at yesterday. Did it get pushed back until tomorrow? Or will we have to wait until the news breaks and for you to comment on it like the usual cycle?

    As it is now the 1st of October, I will begin my yearly crusade against the No Fun League.

    Paul, i know there are rules regarding how often an NFL team can change uniforms … do face apply? ‘Phins need to change away from the white.

    I wish a few more teams (Cleveland, for one) would go with or go back to white facemasks.
    Besides, white-on-white headgear is not exactly new to the NFL:

    link

    I’ve seen another version of the flame helmet (can’t remember where, but I feel like it was on an ASU website), that didn’t have the 3 pitchforks. It only had one normal-sized one on the side like their basic helmet – and it looked better.

    One interesting thing that I didn’t notice being explained or commented on, each flame helmet is supposed to be unique for each player. Not sure if you’ll really be able to tell the difference as they run around during the game, but you might be able to tell when they are standing next to each other in the huddle or on the sidelines.

    I was trying to enjoy your NHL goalies piece but more often than not when I clicked on a link to see the set, I’d get a message from Photobucket about upgrading for additional bandwidth. I got frustrated and gave up.

    As a student at Rutgers, where the Big East and now AAC love Thursday night games because its all they can get, it’s interesting to note that basically any Thursday classes past 4 PM are cancelled for home games, but I’ve noticed in my schedule that my late-afternoon/night classes for the Oct 13 Louisville game have been canceled. Mind you, the game is at Louisville. I don’t directly blame the professor or institution though because they are likely doing it because they know less than half of their class will come down with some sort of sickness that day.

    RE 1957 Senators Uniform Numbers
    I covered this issue in depth a few months ago, and here is my theory. These numbers are much thicker, heavier, and more time consuming to make than a standard number from the same era. Since this uniform was worn by two different players, both of whom were likely call ups, this was likely a last minute design, and the equipment manager went with what he had available.

    link

    Very informative, and I look forward to your NASCAR-themed/UW inspired Power Rankings.
    I have but one question:
    How soon does the MLB team currently playing in DC add this unique piece of Washington baseball history to their collection of ‘left-overs’?
    Go Tribe!

    I’m working to get it done before the end of the season. And as much as I would like to see the 3D design on the current DC team, but Paul could answer this better than I can, would that design be property of the Twins?

    I find it hard to believe that a student at an engineering school can’t find a quiet place to study in the school library – a library which has to be at least twice as large as the one at my D-II school. Unless the tour groups were going through every single stack, there’s always at least one quiet place. Maybe he should look harder for it next time.

    I’m that engineering student. It’s not that there aren’t quiet places in the library, they also blow the whistle excessively (link); sometimes upwards of 10 times for a single score recently. That unexpected interruption just doesn’t foster the best study conditions. And the library is close enough to Bobby Dodd for the band to be heard.
    So it was the unexpected whistle and the constant buzz of the band that annoyed me enough to leave.
    I considered finding another building on the other side of campus, but I wasn’t sure if they locked the buildings up early, so I just decided to head home.

    I’m not trying to make excuses, I was just annoyed that the university catered to athletics and not academics during a time I had three exams in four days. As I said in my rant above, I’m not the usual case, but it just irked me that I’m paying for education, but that was compromised that day.

    If you’re watching the Champions League right now, you’ll see Napoli and Barça wearing BFBS, while Milan is wearing their usual red and black shirts (but with black change shorts) against Ajax’s white and red.

    Chelsea’s change kit is better in theory than on the pitch.

    Sleeved basketball jerseys at any level other than the Over 40 League at the Y = Bad

    Nautical flags that spell out “LAC” = Awesome

    About time the Clip Show embraced their nautical nickname!

    Also, the number on the front gives it a baseball feel a la 80s powder blue Cardinals jerseys.

    Paul,

    You mentioned awhile back that you has obtained from a source uni info about a manufacturers new designs that would be totally outside the norm and while you teased us with the info you declined to post. I was just curious into what goes into these decisions to post or not to post breaking stories. I respect your integrity but I hate to see guys like Rovell or tweeters with swag in their name “breaking stories”. You can get uni news all over now and I come to your site because I love your analysis, interests and writing style but man do I hate to see you get “scooped” by your own colleagues on ESPN when I know you had the same info probably before them.

    I was thinking I really liked the plain Cleveland design until I noticed the back was red. Ruined it. Also, Astros pit stains are tequila sunrise. The only pit stains I kinda sorta like. And the red Cardinals is hard to read across the chest being on a red shirt. Carry on.

    I like the two tone use on the Royals and Rays jerseys but I have always been a big fan of the dark blue, light blue combination. I was really struck by the block “C” on the Cleveland jersey, not because of the lack of Chief Wahoo but how classic it looked.

    Not to be a jerk, but I think the Georgia Tech student can handle one or two Thursday night games a year.

    I can believe he/she couldn’t find a quiet spot on campus, but surely they realized there was a Thursday game prior to going on campus to find a quiet spot.

    Anyone that has been to college knows that distractions are part of the environment. And while I’m not a huge fan of Thursday night games, I can’t imagine it’s a major issue for most students.

    I see his point, but you are right about distractions. Try living in a fraternity house. Or simply being in one for 10 minutes. I doubt it’s changed in the past 20+ years since my time in one.

    Here’s a link to that black Maryland jersey.
    link

    I have to correct Jeff. That jersey was worn at least 2 other times. With white pants against Wake Forrest.(not sure what year) And again against PSU in Baltimore in 1991 with black pants. The black pants were a one time thing.
    Sorry, I can’t find a photo of either, although the black over white was on a picture on their schedule card once.

    I love that old Terps helmet.

    I’m going to regret even joking about this, but the Terps are ranked for the first time in a pretty long time. Maybe those Pride uniforms aren’t such a bad idea after all.

    Correct, Dutch. I graduated from Maryland, and the Terps wore black six to eight times, including a game against Duke during Neil O’Donnell’s senior year.

    And hell yes, Judy. Time to squash the “clown outfit” talk. The Terps are ranked in the top 25, stockpiling four and five-star recruits, and the uniforms are a major reason why.

    Looks like several Pirates have small stargell like stars on side of cap, directly opposite of the playoff logo

    Several may be an over statement. Liriano for sure, there was another playwright the dugout with one, not on McCutcheon or morneau

    To me it looked like a small “P”. From memory, I think Russell Martin had it inside the hole of his jersey P, and Liriano had it on the side of his cap.

    I noticed a few of them during the game but had no net access around me at the time. Being superstitious I of course couldn’t move to get my phone or laptop because my perfect positioning allowed the Pirates to win and I had to stay in that position until the final out. At least to me anyway.

    And it’s only just an hour past midnight on October 2nd and the amount of pink I’m already seeing makes me cringe. I already can’t wait for November.

    Re: the Georgia Tech student, the ACC, GT’s conference, has been playing Thursday night games for a long time, so I think he should’ve known what (s)he was getting into given that the Jackets aren’t new to the Thursday night thing. I can understand why (s)he’s disappointed, but if (s)he’s gonna go to a school with an FBS program, possible weeknight football games are part of the gig whether (s)he likes it or not. That Saturday-only ship sailed a long time ago and it won’t return to the dock.

    I have to agree with Marcus. I was not an engineering student, but I did go to GT. Graduated in the spring. Thursday night games were par for the course. Every year there was at least one. If you are a freshman, I get it. But otherwise, don’t complain about them. You knew about it in advance, you could have scheduled your study time in advance. And I know for a fact the 6th floor of the library or a study room in the CULC is relatively quiet. Even during games (my senior year I didn’t go to any games).

    WAY late to the party here, but I should point out that the Chiefs tie on eBay might have #14 on it, but I’d bet it ain’t Podolak. Doesn’t depict the Dungard facemask with the bar down the center. Yeah, picky, but that’s what this place is for…

    In regards to the “Sellout” article, I think I can sum it up simply.

    We live in the “Era of Self-Entitlement,” where a lot of people want everything five seconds ago and want it handed to them. I think it’s hard for a lot of people to recognize that the art of selling out isn’t a positive thing (or as it used to be considered, a bad thing), because they themselves want nice things and feel they can afford it by buying it on credit – when they can’t really afford it and build up unnecessary debt.

    In a sense, they themselves are selling out, so why would they care if a musician or band would do the same?

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