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Uni Watch

The Best Argument Ever Against (or Maybe For) Pajama Pants

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The top photo shows the cleats that Red Sox outfielder Shane Victorino wore for last night’s World Series game. The screen shot below that shows how those cleats looked during the game. On the one hand, this is a great example of how the pajama look ruins everything it touches — you can’t even see the design! On the other hand, the design is a flag-desecration nightmare, so maybe the pajama cover-up was for the best.

I’ll see this much for those shoes: If not for the little swooshes on the individual spikes, I’d have no idea who made them (here’s another view). Or is that actually a non-Nike shoe that was modified with Nike spikes after the fact? I’m no sneakerhead, so someone bring me up to speed on this.

A few other notes from the last MLB game of the season:

• Jacoby Ellsbury led off the game wearing two different-colored batting gloves made by two different manufacturers:

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I did some quick checking and found he’d also worn mismatched gloves in Game Three. Even more interestingly, look at this shot from Game One of the ALCS — that blue glove on his left hand is clearly a Franklin, but it looks like the Franklin logo has been covered by a swoosh. Anyone know how long he’s been doing this?

• It’s not unusual for a player to wear two undershirts — and therefore have two visible collar swooshes — for a cold-weather game. But Red Sox skipper John Farrell took things a step further last night by wearing three undershirts:

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Although I’m not sure I’ve ever written this, I’ve long been of the opinion that the Nike undershirt collar logo is a stroke of genius. Exceedingly annoying genius, but genius nonetheless. They’ve taken a seemingly low-profile license — the undershirt license, big whoop — and turned it into a high-visibility branding showcase. Meanwhile, Majestic, which makes the actual uniforms, has its logo relegated to the jersey sleeve and back pants pocket. I bet the average fan who doesn’t think too much about this stuff intuitively believes that Nike makes MLB uniforms and hasn’t the slightest clue that Majestic actually has the big-money contract.

And so ends another MLB season. How many days until pitchers and catchers..?

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Concussion Discussion: A new study shows that high school football players are particularly vulnerable to brain injury. Key uni-related quote: “[T]he report authors concluded that there’s no evidence that even the latest helmet technology prevents brain injury — challenging a notion held by many parents and coaches.” (Best comment in response to that article came from a guy who wrote: “We cannot keep watering down the game in the pursuit of safety and still expect the same level of entertainment.” Well, at least he’s honest about his priorities.)

Deeper into that article, it’s disappointing to see that Roger Goodell’s wife, who was moderating a panel at an NFL-sponsored “Mom’s Clinic” in Chicago, fell back on one of the weakest talking points in this debate: “Kids are more likely to get injured riding their bike on the way to (football) practice than at practice.” Even if that’s true, it’s a classic apples/oranges comparison, because riding a bike doesn’t routinely entail head impacts (indeed, you can easily go through your entire bike-riding life without sustaining a head impact), while playing football does.

The line from Goodell’s wife is one of several talking points that come up over and over when people discuss this topic. In an attempt to streamline the discussion, I’ve created a FAQ-style page that addresses some of those points. You can check it out here.

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Party reminder: Uni Watch party this Saturday, 2:30pm, at Sheep Station. See you there!

Raffle reminder: I’m currently raffling off a classic old NHL poster. Details here.

Video chat reminder: I’m doing an ESPN video chat about college football uniforms today at 2pm Eastern. They’re supposed to give me the URL for chat page any minute now — I’ll add it here once they give it to me, plus I’ll post it in the comments and on my Twitter feed. Here’s the link for the chat page.

Theoretical T-shirt reminder: With the NBA season underway and New York experiencing a knish crisis, wouldn’t this be — hypothetically speaking — an ideal time for a T-shirt like this (if, you know, such a shirt actually existed)? If you want to discuss that, or these other fine T-shirt concepts, you know what to do.

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’Skins Watch: Members of the Oneida Nation met yesterday with NFL execs and asked them to levy sanctions against ’Skins owner Daniel Snyder, but the Oneidas didn’t find a very receptive audience. This came a day after Snyder met with NFL commish Roger Goodell (who did not attend the Oneida meeting yesterday) to discuss the team’s name. ”¦ Meanwhile, the San Francisco Chronicle has become the latest major media outlet to boycott the ’Skins name. … Turning our attention from the gridiron to the diamond, is Chief Wahoo on the way out? Sure looks that way, at least by effect if not by official edict. Further info, including a response from the Indians, here. At least one lifelong Indians fan in the Ohio media thinks it’s time for Wahoo to go. ”¦ “Cory Cove of 100.3 KFAN (Minneapolis), who has previously has been noted to call the Redskins the ‘R-words,’ referred to the Blackhawks as the ‘B-words’ when mentioning the score of Monday night’s Backhawks/Wild game,” says Robert Sanden. “I am unsure if it was satire, sarcasm, or if he’s truly putting the Blackhawks’ name in the same category as Redskins.”

Baseball News: More writers are weighing in against the pajama look (thanks, Phil). … Here’s something I didn’t know/remember: Dave Parker wore a solid-red jersey in the 1985 All-Star Game. So did Pete Rose. The Reds didn’t have a red alternate jersey at that time, so Parker and Rose were actually wearing BP jerseys. Rose, of course, famously wore his Phillies BP jersey in the 1979 All-Star Game — a move that helped jump-start the trend toward solid-colored alternate jerseys — but I hadn’t been aware of him and Parker wearing BP jerseys in the ’85 ASG (good find by David Taub). … Lovelovelove this old Orioles doll that Steven Robinson rediscovered at his parents’ house. “Brings back good memories for me of my very first MLB game — June 23, 1975, Yanks over O’s, 6-1, at Memorial Stadium,” he says. ”¦ Michael Clary’s son, Séamus, dressed up as a (Pittsburgh) Pirate for Halloween. Love the stirrups, but oy, that logo creep on the pants. ”¦ Did the 1976 White Sox really wear green bowler hats during a game? “A Google news archive search comes up empty,” says Jerry Wolper. Anyone know more?

NFL News: The Titans are adding a memorial patch for Bud Adams. Kinda wish they’d included an Oilers logo to go along with the Titans mark, just to show the scope of Adams’s tenure and influence. Also, while it’s nice that they’re memorializing Adams, I’m surprised they aren’t also doing something for Bum Phillips ”¦ Check out this shot of Eric Dickerson in 1992 — his only year with the Raiders — with the NFL logo patch on the side of his collar. And here’s a similar modification to his white jersey (good find by Rudy Gutierrez). ”¦ The NFL Network had a gray-facemasked Lions helmet on the set yesterday (screen shot by Eric Szczesny). ”¦ Hmmm, ya think Texans RB Ben Tate needs a new practice jersey? (From Chris Perrenot.)

College Football News: I don’t have confirmation on how legit this is, but it looks like Miami of Ohio has some sort of new autumnal helmet in the works (from David Pryor). ”¦ Good story about Iowa State legend Jack Trice’s gold jersey. ”¦ Sports Illustrated apparently Photoshopped a bunch of Washington fans to make them look like Oregon fans (thanks, Phil). ”¦ A photo of a new Texas A&M helmet has been making the rounds, but I’m not sure how legit it is. Anyone know more? ”¦ Speaking of helmets, check out the tiger-striped chrome lid that Memphis wore last night (from Clint Richardson).

Soccer News: Another day, another UK media outlet running a listicle of awful soccer kits (from George Chilvers). ”¦ New camouflage third kit for AGF Aarhus (from Trevor Williams).

NBA News: For reasons that aren’t clear to me, the Cavs wore their road uniforms for their home opener last night. Anyone know why? (From Josh Levy.) ”¦ Meet the new Pelicans mascot. Doesn’t look very pelican-ish to me (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Speaking of the Pelicans, an Australian newspaper apparently doesn’t like their uniforms (from Robert Silverman). ”¦ During the preseason, the Kings had this center-court design. But now that the regular season has started, they’ve come out with a new design (thanks, Mike).

College Hoops News: New uniforms for Cal. There’s also a blue version (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Here’s a teaser of the new Arkansas sweatbacks, which will be unveiled tonight (from Justin Bates). ”¦ New warm-ups for Kentucky. The sleeve patch shows all their national championships (from Chad Back).

Grab Bag: Of all the Lou Reed eulogies I’ve seen in recent days, my favorite by far is this short take by Byron Coley. Highly recommended. … New jerseys for the New Zealand Super Rugby teams (from Wesley Eustis). … The Puppy Bowl has long featured the Kitten Halftime Show. But now kittens are getting their own Kitten Bowl (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Also from Phil: Two high school football coaches in San Diego are in hot water for dressing up as Jamaican bobsledders for Halloween — complete with blackface. ”¦ College headwear mishaps: Somehow there’s an Arizona State/Minnesota mash-up cap, along with a ski cap that mixes up KU and UK (from Gregory Koch). ”¦ Reprinted from last night’s comments: Pretty good rundown of auto racing paint schemes. ”¦ Here’s what the Canadian athletes will be wearing for the opening ceremonies at the Olympics. Further info here. ”¦ Very nice 50th-anniversary throwbacks for Vermont hockey (from Chris Grey).

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What Paul did tried to do last night: I’m a huge fan of the comics blog Hyperbole and a Half, which is produced by the depressive genius Allie Brosh. She’s now published her first book, and last night at 7pm she was doing a book signing at a small bookstore in Greenpoint.

I don’t generally care about getting books (or anything else) signed, but I was curious to see Allie Brosh in real life, so I wanted to go. But Allie Brosh has a lot of fans. Like, a lot of fans — too many, I feared, to fit inside a small bookstore. Also, I didn’t want to miss the World Series. But I reallyreallyreally wanted to see Allie Brosh.

At about 6:15pm I got in my car and started driving toward Greenpoint. By 6:25 I was stuck in barely moving traffic on the motherfucking BQE, wondering why I’d embarked on this fool’s errand. I could see how this was gonna play out: I’d spend the better part of an hour crawling my way to Greenpoint, spend an additional 10 minutes looking for parking, finally get to the bookstore at around 7:30pm, stand on my tippy-toes for 10 minutes in a vain attempt to catch a glimpse of Allie Brosh amidst her hordes of admirers, and then scramble to find some crappy bar where I could watch the World Series while drinking overpriced beers.

But before any of that could happen, I got a text from Kirsten, who informed me that she’d arrived at the bookstore and that it was already way too packed, so she’d reluctantly decided to go home and advised me to do the same. It was a drag that I wouldn’t get to see Allie Brosh, but whaddaya gonna do. So I crawled to the next exit and drove home, where I promptly ordered Allie Brosh’s book on Amazon and then watched the Series with my cats.

Note to Allie Brosh: I love your work, and I respect that you wanted to do an event at a small, indie bookstore. But next time please schedule something at a larger space (preferably on a night that doesn’t conflict with the World Series). Thanks.

 
  
 
Comments (143)

    Perhaps Ellsbury is wearing two different gloves because of all the additional wrapping on his left hand/wrist, due to injury? Ken Rosenthal’s excellent column this morning has more on this.

    I think that Guardian awful soccer uniform gallery from George is an update of one they did a couple of weeks ago.

    Still, it’s nice to see an ugly kits gallery that isn’t just early 90s atrocities.

    It is, TH – following on from the previous article readers have sent in their ‘favourites’.

    #1

    The Pelican

    By Ogden Nash

    Photos by Laurie Haines

    Perhaps a different angle on that Pelican mascot photo would have been better?

    A wonderful bird is the pelican,
    His bill will hold more than his belican.
    He can take in his beak
    Food enough for a week,
    But I’m damned if I see how the helican.
    ~~Ogden Nash

    That pelican mascot is definitely in the running for worst professional sports team mascot. Just when you thought the logo and uniforms were bad, they unveil that thing!

    I kind of like that, in a city famous for its music history, the mascot is shaped like an 8th note. I don’t love the execution but I’ll give them points for the attempt.

    As a Clevelander and lifelong Indians fan, I am excited to see Chief Wahoo fall by the wayside and it can’t come soon enough. For years now, I have boycotted purchasing merch or caps with the Wahoo face on it – I love the block C and the former script I. (link)

    Regarding the Cavs last night – they have made an effort to wear the “wine” unis at home on opening night, so the fans get to see the team in their official colors (wine/gold).

    Probably not what you’re remembering, but I put these together a while back – basically putting Wahoo’s feather on my favorite Indians design:

    link

    link

    Paul, thanks for creating the concussion FAQ. As a youth football coach, I’m trying to stay on top of this emerging story, but it’s tough to do so.

    You can add MMA to the boxing section. They both follow similar story lines. Following along with Mrs. Goodell’s “bikes are dangerous” statement, the NY Daily News points out that bike riding causes more injuries than MMA: link What’s the old adage about figures never lying?

    Wonder if Shane Victorino’s hyper-patriot footwear is a product of a determination to distinguish himself – Hawaiian certifiably melting-pot USA – from Hispanic ball players who identify with their non-US homelands. “Shane” may not be enough in this regard.

    (This may have been covered in prior Uni episodes.) How does SI get away with all the photoshopping? Baylor’s uniforms. Ray Lewis’ hairline. Kate Upton’s curves. Fans from one team now fans of another. Shouldn’t they have more integrity? Or am I just living in another era?

    Baylor’s uniform weirdness aside, I don’t think the editing work you mention is particularly a matter of integrity or “getting away” with anything. With Ray Lewis’s hair and the yellowing Washington fans, they’re editing photographs for the sake of the cover art, not trying to misinform the public. And Kate Upton’s curves – well, right or wrong, that’s SOP with for a style magazine cover, which the Swimsuit Issue essentially is.

    Yeah, you’re applying the sensibilities of another era, but not in the way you think. There was a time, before cable TV and the internet, when magazine covers were the way people interacted with the world, so being faithful to real world colors mattered. But now, magazine covers are more works of design than editorial photos with captions slapped onto them. The Oregon cover isn’t meant to deceive readers about who attended the Oregon-Washington game. It’s a yellow/green-themed cover design.

    The White Sox catcher in the derby seems to be returning to the dugout. My guess is that it was one of Bill Veeck’s ethnic celebration nights (further evidenced by the unusual color guard), the catcher just finished a first-pitch ceremony, and he’s returning to the dugout to get his actual helmet to start the game.

    A poke back through the Tribune archives brings up an Irish Night in a game against the Royals on 8/22/78. Turns out the Sox had the umpires confiscate Hal McRae’s bat, suspecting it was corked (although it turns out it wasn’t). No mention of the bowler hats, but it does touch on the pre-game

    Can’t link to the Trib article, but it briefly mentions the pre-game entertainment.

    I don’t think that is the date. This footage was from an episode of This Week in Baseball shown on 6/20/1978 even though the YouTube video mistakenly says it is 6/2/1978 (the date is shown during the clip a little later on). The White Sox are also playing the Royals in the clip and Chicago did play Kansas City at home for a 4-game set June 16-18 (DH on the 18th).

    That link helmet looks to be a Realtree camo design (popular for hunting.) If it’s legit, I’m shocked/dismayed Miami of Ohio beat WVU to the Realtree camo game.

    Paul,

    The link to the new third kit in the soccer portion of the Ticker is incorrect. AGF Aarhus is the club and Hummel is the kit manufacturer. You have Hummel listed as the club.

    Eric Dickerson’s jersey was modified. The opening was made bigger because of the neck roll I’m sure. They just left the NFl logo attached and cut around it. I had a neck roll in high school and the opening of the jersey was always stretched to the limit. Marcus Allen’s jersey has the log in the center and it’s not hard to imagine what they did.

    It even looks like the put some kind of finish on Dickerson’s jersey to help keep the integrity of the jersey.

    link

    That Miami helmet looks about as good as the team wearing them. So proud of my alma matter (#Sarcasm)

    I don’t consider the Jamaican bobsled costume ‘black face’. It might be semantics, but they used brown make up. Didn’t the term ‘black face’ originate from Hollywood actors using actual BLACK paint to make themselves into derogatory African-American characters?

    For instance, in the movie ‘Tropic Thunder’ Robert Downey Jr was doing the same thing with brown colored makeup and I don’t remember the outrage there.
    link

    Also, is ‘sweat back’ a term that Nike uses? I’ve only seen it here, but I could be wrong. That’s an offensive term I’ve heard used people of Mexican decent and making fun of them working outdoor/labor-type jobs.
    link

    Never heard “sweatback” used as a derogatory term. I have heard the term “wetback” used extensively, mostly on the internet and by people to afraid to actually call someone a wetback.

    Secondly, Paul, I lived in Greenpoint in the late 90’s for 5 or 6 years, northern part, back then I could never see the possibilty of paying for an overpriced beer, most places seemed like little mom and pop bars. I know things have changed, that much?

    It might be semantics

    It is semantics. I think it’s clearly over the line when you dress up as another ethnicity. It’s different if you dress up as a specific person, though I think there’s a danger of crossing the line if the joke is about the ethnicity or it’s just brown/black makeup smeared on, blackface style.

    The point of Robert Downey’s character in ‘Tropic Thunder’ was the utter ridiculousness of a classically-trained actor going dark. It was meant to be offensive. There was no outrage because people understood context.

    so no white person can ever dress up as someone of another ethnicity?

    In this instance, I don’t think they were doing anything offensive. The kid that wore brown makeup and dressed as Travon Martin while he friend dressed like George Zimmerman…that has malicious intent and is offensive.

    so no white person can ever dress up as someone of another ethnicity?

    If that was your takeaway from what I wrote, then I suggest you not dress up as anything. Let’s try again:
    I think it’s clearly over the line when you dress up as another ethnicity. It’s different if you dress up as a specific person…

    Also, good intent and offensiveness aren’t mutually exclusive.

    Blackface began long before Hollywood and the invention of the motion picture. It arose as part of 19th century minstrel shows – theater acts in which mostly white actors portrayed blacks as simpletons, idiots, and brutes for comedy. Also, blacks were portrayed as naively promiscuous sex objects who alternately deserve lynching or rape at the hands of white men. Because blackface is hilarious and in no way offensive or a shameful stain on American history and culture.

    The racism was in the portrayal of the characters, not the act of wearing the makeup. It is possible to wear “blackface” without being racist.

    Context and intent does matter.

    I don’t know, it’s one thing if it looked like they made a good-faith effort to recreate the characters from ‘Cool Runnings’. But when it’s in the old blackface-style, just-smear-some-makeup-on, I think the distinction between minstrelsy and a simple movie reference starts get a little murky. I mean, even without the blackface overtones, the costume would’ve been a lot better if they didn’t try to get the skintone right because it’s so poorly done.

    And it doesn’t help that the movie being referred based a lot of its humors on Caribbean clichés and patois-spitting goofballs.

    Context matters. Intent is very nearly meaningless. And the context, for an American, always includes our unique history of white supremacy and the culture of white supremacist art manifested in 150 years of popular blackface and minstrelry. In this case, the makeup was an inherent part of the portrayal of the characters – it exaggerated perceived racial characteristics and thus ratified white racial prejudices. Given that history – that is, given the context – it is very nearly impossible for a white American to wear blackface without being widely perceived as engaged in deliberate racial bigotry. If the context of a communication leads to a predictable audience understanding of what the communication means, then the person doing the communicating doesn’t get the claim that he intended everyone to understand him to be saying something completely different.

    If I go to the bakery and ask for dough, I don’t get to complain when they hand me a pan of unbaked bread rather than a wad of money. Context, not intent, determines meaning.

    The bottom line is that no one else can ever truly know the intent behind another person’s statements or actions. Other people’s hearts are opaque to us. All we have is the action or the statement itself, and the context of it. Thus truly benign intent is revealed not by protestation after the fact that one didn’t mean harm, but by the care taken to recognize the context and avoid doing or saying potentially harmful things in the first place.

    The act of wearing the makeup is part of the portrayal of the character.

    No kidding! What I’m saying is that they could very well be using the character portrayal as a conduit for an ethnic caricature. Because as far as character portrayal goes, the makeup is really, really shitty.

    All I’m saying is that I don’t think it’s possible to perform blackface without it being racist.

    “All I’m saying is that I don’t think it’s possible to perform blackface without it being racist.”

    Neither do I.

    Perhaps in another country, with a different history. But not in ours.

    “The racism was in the portrayal of the characters, not the act of wearing the makeup. It is possible to wear “blackface” without being racist.”

    ~~~

    So what you’re saying is basically one can wear blackface and not necessarily be a racist, but the act of wearing blackface is in and of itself racism.

    So, to what Chance & hmich176 both said. I agree. I’m not sure what country and with what history it might be possible, but certainly not this one. Not now. Not ever.

    “Rose, of course, famously wore his Phillies BP jersey in the 1979 All-Star Game – a move that helped jump-start the trend toward solid-colored alternate jerseys … ”

    I disagree with this statement slightly. The Orioles, Indians, White Sox, A’s, Pirates, Padres and Giants were already wearing some kind of solid-colored jersey before 1979. The White Sox dropped the navy tops in ’82, the Giants dropped their black and orange tops in ’83, the Padres dropped the brown tops and the Pirates dropped black and yellow tops in ’85. The Cubs and Mets got a solid-colored game jersey but not until 1982 for both.

    The wave of the current-day alt tops really didn’t start until 1994. Rose may have started the trend for BP jerseys, though.

    Right, in fact, after 1979, the trend was to move away from dark-colored, pullover jerseys and elastic waistbands back to home whites and road grays with button jerseys and belted pants. Didn’t Steve Garvey have something to do with the Padres returning to buttons and belts and then doing away with their brown jerseys?

    Shane’s cleat is an actual Nike cleat, its the Air Huarache 2K Fresh with a modified Zoom Air midsole. Ellsbury has been wearing the Nike BG on the left hand and the Franklin glove on the right hand since the start of the ALCS against the Tigers. Against the Rays in the ALDS, he still wore the Nike Elite MVP BG’s on both hands.

    It’s too bad Victorino didn’t use “3 Little Birds” when he was with the Dodgers. He and Adrian Gonzalez have the best walk-up songs. How great would it be to hear “3 Little Birds” and “El Mariachi Loco” in the same lineup.

    Apologies if I responded to this twice – having some computer issues this morning.

    Anyway….

    It’s too bad Victorino didn’t use “3 Little Birds” as his walk-up song when he was with the Dodgers. He and Adrian Gonzalez have the best walk-up songs, and it would’ve been awesome to hear “3 Little Birds” and “El Mariachi Loco” in the same lineup.

    Kurt Suzuki would come up to bat this year with 3 different Marley songs… one of which was fairly obscure. None of which provoked a sing-along.

    Not using the term Blackhawks? that’s ridiculous. The team is named after the Black Hawk division of infantry, which was took it’s name from Chief Black Hawk of the Sauk tribe. I can respect objection to the imagery of the Chief, but I don’t see how the name can be construed as a pejorative.

    One note about the Blackhawks, they were never a tribe. Chief Black Hawk was a person and that is where the name comes from. At the end of his life, he was attempting reconciliation between Natives and whites. Not sure what he would think of controversy over his name basically being used as a team name. He was of the Sauk tribe.

    Oh and the patriotic motiff was made by CaseyCustomSneakers and was a tribute to the Boston Marathon victims. The names of his kids, Makenna and Kingston, were on the ankle straps on each of the cleats.

    Serious question: Even if you accept that the design was “patriotic,” what does a “patriotic” design have to do with the Marathon victims?

    Oh, nothing at all, other than the standard, “USA, USA” thing after any terrorist attack. I think its just a rallying point for the team to acknowledge the victims, misguided as though it may be to plaster the American flag all over your cleats.

    “the standard, “USA, USA” thing after any terrorist attack.”

    ~~~~~

    That’s a great point. And why the reflexive “USA USA” after any terrorist attack bugs the shit out of me.

    Certainly Timothy McVey’s OKC bombing was terrorism (a terrorist attack) but I don’t recall any reflexive USA USA crap then. Similarly, the attack at Ft. Hood — where was the “USA USA” stuff? And while one might not consider the horrific school shooting in Newtown to be terrorism, I don’t recall any instance of USA USA jingoism.

    So, why the reflexive patriotism for the Boston Marathon bombings? This was not a foreign attack on US soil or the actions of any foreign government (though this may still be disputed). Yes, the perps were foreign-born, but was this any more heinous than the OKC bombings? So why was this one met with so much *Patriotic* fervor while other mass killings of US citizens on US soil don’t spark any such feelings?

    Serious response, Phil: Boston was a bomb attack, not a gun attack, and from the beginning the attackers were assumed to be dark-skinned and Muslim. (Though at first they were wrongly assumed to be other dark-skinned Muslims than the perpetrators turned out to be.)

    Dark-skinned Muslim shoots people? No jingoism. White-skinned dude blows up stuff? No jingoism. Dark-skinned Muslim causes explosion? U-S-A! U-S-A!

    I don’t know why – that is, I don’t want to know why, so I choose not to think about underlying causes – but that is a consistent pattern going back as far as the early 1980s. See for example the disparate responses to Reagan-era anti-US bombings in Lebanon and Germany, versus plane and ship hijackings at gunpoint and the then-novel incidence of workplace mass shootings.

    I remember the ’85 ASG at the Metrodome, it was one of the first games we taped. Lou Whitaker with his homemade #1, and wasn’t there something weird about the 1st & 3rd base lines being red white and blue, or maybe the bases?

    Also I remember Rose & Parker wearing the red jerseys, my favorite team was the Cubs and on the NL team, their blue jersey matched those two Reds in that they were wearing non-grays. But what stood out for me as unusual about them wearing red was that I think there were other Reds on the NL team wearing the regular gray jerseys as well.

    The foul lines, as well as the infield ‘grass’ line and on deck circles, were red, white and blue; the bases were give a stars and stripes treatment.

    I recall a Giants-Reds game from 1984 at SF where the Reds wore red jerseys. The game was also notable as Dusty Baker stole 2nd,3rd & home in the same inning. link

    Phil, yeah, I do not get why there was so much USA fervor after the Boston attack. Maybe because it was the cops going door to door and how it dragged on in the media.

    On another point, the Cal jerseys are pretty clean, I like the contrasting dot print on the sides.

    I agree that the overall design is clean but I have to say the side detailing is a bit busy for my taste and reminiscent of candy buttons – link

    The PI writer is definitely taking offense where none should be taken. The cover just has a yellow filter on the entire background of the photo. From the headline I thought it would be individuals’ clothes changed from purple to green.

    I was expecting something akin to a political campaign doctoring a crowd scene image to exaggerate the size of an audience. What a letdown – it’s just a yellow backdrop.

    Ugh. That’s brutal. They’re supposed to be smarter than that.

    Gizmodo actually recruited me for a columnist position (non-sports-related) back in the spring. I was excited about it, but then they lost interest and the whole thing fizzled out. Dang.

    Can you expand on the details of what that position entailed and what topics you would have been writing about?

    They were interested in having me do something about branding and design — similar to what I was doing in my New Republic column, “One-Man Focus Group,” earlier this year.

    “Kids are more likely to get injured riding their bike on the way to (football) practice than at practice.”

    link

    To “attack a straw man” is to create the illusion of having refuted a proposition by replacing it with a superficially similar yet unequivalent proposition (the “straw man”), and to refute it, without ever having actually refuted the original position.

    See also – defending the Washington football team name by attacking the Vikings.

    That’s more of a red herring than a straw man.

    A straw man argument would be if Roger Goodell’s wife argued against eliminating football programs from high schools, which isn’t something anyone’s really argued. Or if ‘Skins defenders argued against federal legislation banning Indian references in sports.

    Which is to say, straw man argument is one that misrepresents the opposition’s argument. What you’re talking about misdirecting the discussion.

    I’m not surprised that the filthy traitor Titans are not honoring Mr. Phillips with a patch. It’s pretty well known that he was not a fan of the move – or of the way he was dealt with by Adams.

    I will not be shocked, however, if the Texans announce a memorial patch for him – despite the fact that his formal affiliation with that organization is essentially “DC’s dad”.

    There was an interesting logo mash-up at Mr. Phillip’s memorial service, visible in this pic: link

    If the Bulls wear their black alts, and the Knicks wore their new orange alts, they’d be perfectly matched up for halloween

    I forgot how drab and cheap baseball looked back in 1985. From the Metrodome & artificial turf to Pete Rose and Dave Parker wearing batting practice jerseys. Lou Whitaker wearing a replica jersey and those awful away uniforms of the Padres, Astros, Phillies and Mets.

    Why were there so many Padres’ starters (5) on that 1985 club?? Didn’t the fans vote for the starters back then? And they had 2 bench players as well, WTF?? And 44 year old Pete Rose was on that team?

    And what’s Terry Kennedy doing starting that game over Gary Carter?? And Why was Garvey starting?

    How did he not start Gooden in that game who was in the middle of one of the greatest pitching seasons in MLB history?

    No Hernandez, no Schmidt? Did John Tudor & Orel Hershiser make that team?

    Padres manager Dick Williams managed the NL team. 2 of the 5 Padres in the lineup were manger’s picks, since the manager always chooses the pitcher, and Terry Kennedy replaced Gary Carter due to injury. Gwynn, Garvey, and Nettles were well-known popular players from the defending NL champs and were voted in.

    Pete Rose was heavily in the news at the time as he was just about to break the hit record. A “lifetime achievement” All-Star selection is pretty common.

    Gooden pitched a complete game shutout 2 days earlier, so he was on the team but unavailable to pitch.

    IIRC, Joaquin Andujar (who had 15 wins by the break) was named to the team and was assumed to be the de facto starter, but he opted not to play or attend…a decision which began the collapse of his career?

    Actually, Andujar skipped the game b/c he wasn’t the de facto starter even though he should have been.

    link

    it’s also a stretch to say skipping the ASG had anything to do with his decline in 1986 and thereafter. Between 1982-85 he started 150+ games and threw 1,000+ innings, in fact acquired a reputation for being rubber-armed. He succumbed to injury in 1986, and precipitously declined thereafter.
    link

    I think it was the World Series Game 7 meltdown a few months later the day after the Denkinger call that was the bellwether moment for his career.

    hey, i noticed something last night but figured someone would send it in for the ticker…maybe no one else noticed, and it would have gone well with the opening of uni watch today…

    unfortunately, i don’t have a screen shot, maybe someone can watch the celebration online and get one…but just before the last out of the w.s., one of the sox was shown wearing a skull cap biker helmet, and sure enough, he wore it onto the field for the celebration…

    just a simple black biker’s helmet…but when he turned his head, there was a swoosh on the side!?

    (i will take a few minutes and see if i can find it on youtube…if not, maybe someone who can replay the game can make a screen grab…)

    found it…he has goggles on and the swoosh is on the elastic band holding them onto the helmet…

    not a baseball fan, so idk who the player is, sorry…

    link

    That was Ortiz. Saw it at the time, but I was watching on mute (because, you know, I value my sanity) so I don’t know if the announcers talked about it. But the camera lingered on Ortiz and his bike helmet several times during the top of the ninth.

    It started with Gomes and this:

    link

    I think the goggles are simply to keep champagne out of the players’ eyes.

    From 1977: episode of This Week In Baseball, which includes a clip of Royals/Brewers game with some Royals wearing Brewers Jerseys (17:30 into video) link

    LOVE the old TWIB!! That brought back memories! Interesting to note how many guys back then were not wearing helmets while running the bases. There were several examples in that episode where you can see that.

    Thanks much for posting those FAQs on football and concussions, Paul. While I understand why uni-watch doesn’t cover other team sports, I appreciate you mentioning them and pointing out that concerns over concussions stretch to a number of team sports.

    I thought I noticed Farrell wearing two Nike undershirts during Game 5, so perhaps it’s a superstition where the # of undershirts equals the # of wins the team has in a series so far? I believe he did the same thing in the ALCS but I could be mistaken.

    “Highly recommended. … New jerseys for the New Zealand Super Rugby teams”

    Were drugs involved?

    I’m surprised there was no one mentioned the somewhat bizarre sight of Big Papi wearing a ski helmet(?) and goggles as the on field celebration began. What was up with that?

    I was just at my daughter’s elementary school Halloween parade. I can report that there were three kids in Washington Nationals gear (I’m in a Maryland suburb of DC) – one kid was in pajama pants, another was stirupped and another wore track pants. Though the Nationals were outnumbered by the Red Sox, who all wore track pants that were neither high-cuffed nor hanging over shoes.

    Nice! Once working hours are over, I’ll be throwing on my pinstriped knickers to complete my Senators costume. Alas, I don’t have the excuse of being an elementary school student. But I will be in stirrups, gosh darn it.

    Just one – there was a kid in a single-bar ‘Skins helmet and a nameless #11 t-shirt. The other football players I saw were a Tony Romo, a Tom Brady and a teacher dressed as Torrey Smith of the Ravens.

    Kinda surprised not to see any RG3 or Leo Messi, since those two jerseys seem to be the most popular around here.

    I should add, the town I live in aspires to be a bit like Portland/Austin, even more so than the rest of already ultra-liberal Montgomery County. So if there’s anywhere in the DC area that’s receptive to the anti-Skins message, it’s here. Though the Ravens influence is probably a bigger factor than the nickname.

    Holy Halloween…Knicks break out new orange alts on the road vs. Chicago at home in black. It is something to see, I must admit.

    I think it’s Kinesio tape. link You see it on beach volleyball players and stuff, but I’ve never seen it on an NBA player before.

    Okkonen’s book shows the Reds with an alternate red jersey for use from 1985 through 1990. Any idea if it was actually used in regular season games and not just the 1985 All Star Game?

    North Texas looks purdy tonight. Green hats with a black eagle logo, black shirts with green sleeves and black britches.

    I was watching the clip of Dave Parker, and I backed up to the previous 1/2 inning, to see Nolan Ryan in a Padres brown helmet.

    Troy State and Northeast Louisiana looks awesome tonight. I like what the Houston Cougars are throwing down as well.

    That 1985 ASG footage is tremendous! Some of those NL away uniforms (ex. Phillies, Atlanta, Expos, San Diego) are unbelievable. I mean they’re blinding. I was 7 years old when this was on TV but it seems like a lifetime ago. Thanks for posting — very interesting.

    If you think 1985’s MLB uniform colors are tremendous, then go back about 8 years further to 1977 or so and check out San Diego, San Francisco, Cleveland and Pittsburgh and get back to me.

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