If you can’t see the slideshow, click here
Whatever else you can say about football, you have to love that the game goes on no matter what the weather (well, tornados and serious lightning notwithstanding). We all got a vivid reminder about that yesterday, as Old Man Winter set up shop in several NFL stadiums, setting the stage for some extremely entertaining action. Seriously, did you see some of those highlights? Even with all the snow-blowers, the snow on the field in Philly looked like it was a good four inches deep! With the Super Bowl slated for its first-ever cold-weather outdoor site, I think I speak for everyone here when I say all I want for Christmas is very snowy weather here in NYC on Feb. 2.
One uni-related note regarding all this: I find it pretty amazing that so many players choose to go bare-armed in the snow. Like, isn’t this the type of weather they invented water-repellant base layers for?
If you want to see more, the NFL has set up its own snow-centric slideshow here. And here’s a nice public service: Reader Andrew McKillop has compiled a database of every snow game in NFL history. Good stuff!
In non-meteorological developments from around the league yesterday:
• In the Niners/Seahawks game, Seattle cornerback Jeremy Lane’s sleeve swoosh was facing the wrong way.
• In that same game, Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch wore teammate Derrick Coleman’s helmet.
• And one more from that game: 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh was wearing cleats!
• Always love seeing a player use a sock as an arm sleeve. That’s Sean Smith of the Chiefs.
• For the first time this season, the Dolphins wore their aqua pants and blue-topped socks, and boy did the socks look weird. (As you may recall, we first discussed the socks about seven months ago.)
• The Cardinals once again went full bloodclot — and once again won! I read somewhere that they have a ridiculously good record when wearing solid-red, but now I can’t find the source. Little help..?
• The Jets wore mono-green.
• The Browns wore their brown pants, which is fine by me as long as they wear the striped socks (although I hate it when players modify their socks to position the stripes down by their ankles, as Josh Gordon did in that photo).
• The Saints wore their black unitards.
• Classy moves in New England and Green Bay (and maybe other stadiums as well..?), where the pregame activities included a moment of silence for Nelson Mandela.
As for Saturday’s college action, Phil and his contributors had good coverage in yesterday’s entry, and I have only one thing to add to that: Ohio State’s loss to Michigan State appeared to cause OSU special teams coordinator Kerry Coombs’s swoosh to go limp.
(My thanks to all contributors, including Rob Ingersol, Ramon Meza, Jeff Moulden, Chris Perrenot, Sean Robbins, Derek Woodley, and of course Phil.)
Culinary Corner: One of our annual holiday season traditions here at Uni Watch is the publication of my recipe for homemade Irish cream. In other words, homemade Bailey’s. In other words, melted ice cream that gets you drunk. It’s super-easy to make, it’ll make you the hero of whatever party you bring it to or serve it at, and lots of you have told me how much you like it. Here’s how to do it:
Start with some decent Irish whiskey ”” Bushmills, Jameson, Tullamore Dew, something like that (but not super-high-end stuff, because the nuances will be lost in this preparation). Pour a pint of the whiskey into a large-ish container and then add a can of sweetened condensed milk; a pint of heavy whipping cream; a tablespoon of chocolate syrup; a teaspoon of vanilla extract; a teaspoon of instant espresso dissolved in two tablespoons of hot water; and a quarter-teaspoon of almond extract.
Mix well (if the container has a tight lid, you can just shake vigorously), refrigerate, serve over ice, and get ready to become the most popular person in the room. No need to thank me afterward, but you’ll want to do so anyway — trust me.
Whatever the expiration date is on the heavy cream, that’s how long your Irish cream will last. But you and your friends will finish it way before then — you’ll see. I suggest that you reserve some of it and pour it on your cereal at some point during the holiday season, a little preparation that I like to call “Top o’ the Mornin’.”
Ho-ho-ho: With Christmas fast approaching, here are a few thoughts:
• If you’re thinking of getting a Uni Watch membership card for that special someone (or for yourself) and want it to arrive by Dec. 25, I suggest that you order it now. I’m not setting a hard deadline yet, but creating the membership cards takes time and effort, so please don’t wait till the last minute.
• Want to order a membership card for someone but don’t know what design to get for the lucky recipient? Easy: Order up a Membership Gift Voucher, which your giftee can redeem for the design of his or her choice.
• If you think a certain set of theoretical T-shirt designs might hypothetically find a good home under your tree or in someone’s stocking, let’s discuss.
Blazers contest ”” last call: Today’s the last day to submit entries for my Trail Blazers redesign contest on ESPN. Now or never, people!
’Skins Watch: School officials in Houston are considering a new policy that would ban team names based on ethnic, racial, or cultural stereotypes, which would affect at least four Houston high schools with Native American-based team names (from Cort McMurray). … The move toward that potential new policy in Houston was prompted in part by a recent request from Houston-area State Senator Rodney Ellis to have the Lamar High School Redskins change their name. Senator Ellis, incidentally, is black, thereby proving yet again that only white people care about this issue. ”¦ Yep, no question about it, Native American sports imagery brings out the best in everyone. Too bad they didn’t have enough space to work in a Trail of Tears reference (thanks, Phil). … The Orsikany Central High School Redskins in upstate New York are the latest front in the controversy over Native American team names (from Jude Seymour).
Baseball News: Robinson Cano was named after Jackie Robinson and has worn No. 24 — an inverted version of Jackie’s 42 — since 2007. But that presents a problem now that he’s signed with the Mariners, because 24 was Junior Griffey’s number (from Andrew Cosentino). ”¦ Mets fans, check out this nice shot of Shea Stadium getting ready to host its first game in 1964 (you da man, Phil).
NFL News: Good spot by Jeff Moulden, who was watching some 1988 Browns footage and noticed some inconsistent typography between the TV numbers and the chest numbers. ”¦ Mmmm, love this shot of old NFL helmets (from Willard Kovacs). ”¦ What would you give to have NFL players stop giving the first down signal in the middle of a drive? I’ll start the bidding at my left nut.
College Football News: Really interesting story about how three dozen Arizona State players have been participating in a new concussion study. Recommended reading (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Minnesota will wear white helmets in the Texas Bowl. “Now if only they could pay for the marching band to get new uniforms,” says Thomas Hack. “We’ve had ours for more than a decade and have to sew them back together as they keep falling apart on us.”
Hockey News: Former Buffalo Bills RB Thurman Thomas attended Saturday night’s Sabres/Canadiens game in Montreal and was given a Habs jersey with his old Bills uni number. And what was he wearing underneath? A Sabres hoodie. Insert joke about Thomas losing his hockey helmet here (from Mike Engle). … The Kings wore throwbacks on Saturday night (thanks, Phil).
Soccer News: Saturday’s MLS Cup match between Real Salt Lake and Sporting Kansas City wasn’t just color vs. color — both teams had one contrast-colored sleeve. “It’s really not my favorite MLS jersey trend,” says Laurence Holland. “It looked like the championship was being contested by two teams of figure skaters.” ”¦ Premier League teams saluted Nelson Mandela over the weekend with a minute of appause and, in some cases, black armbands. The minute of applause is interesting — is that what they do in Europe, instead of a moment of silence? (From Yusuke Toyoda.) ”¦ Also from Yusuke: “On Friday, the usually dominant Barcelona recorded only its first win in six tries while wearing the yellow and red ‘Senyera’ unis.”
College Hoops News: I caught a glimpse of the Xavier/Bowling Green game in a bar on Saturday and noticed that Xavier’s uni numbers and NOBs are positioned ridiculously high on the back of the jersey. What’s that about? Is that an Xavier tradition or something? ”¦ In that same game, I saw a Bowling Green player wearing a fairly large wad of gauze on his right temple — must have sustained a pretty nasty cut. Couldn’t find a photo, alas. … Nebraska and Creighton were both wearing new alternate unis when they played each other last night — BFBS for Nebraska and GFGS for Creighton. ”¦ Two odd things about Temple’s new alts: First, those wings on the shorts are maybe just a tad too big (duh). More befuddlingly, as Patrick Reynell points out, gold isn’t one of Temple’s school colors so what’s with the gold trim and gold shoes? Smells like an Under Armour stunt.
Grab Bag: Back in May I did an entry on the old college tradition of making freshmen wear beanies. I didn’t know that my own college — SUNY-Binghmton, which had previously been known as Harpur College — once had a beanie protocol of its own, but I learned about it in the latest issue of our alumni magazine. … David Firestone was at the mall and saw a shirt with every Superman logo ever used. ”¦ Also from David: Interesting piece on how toys are marketed to boys vs. girls by their color schemes.
If you can’t see the slideshow, click here
What Paul did last night yesterday afternoon: The very wonderful City Reliquary — the small Brooklyn museum that I’ve been involved with in varying capacities over the past decade — has a new exhibit about the history of donuts in New York City (several items from which are shown above). Yesterday they convened the inaugural meeting of the Donut Dunkers Club — a throwback to the old National Dunking Association, which once claimed five million members.
This seemed like an event not to be missed, snowy football games or no snowy football games, so off I went. Brief presentations were made, donuts and coffee were provided, and then we proceeded to dunk, adhering to the old NDA rules. At the conclusion of official business, we were all issued official membership cards. Huzzah!
The person behind all this is the lovely Julie Thomson, who curated the exhibit. (Here’s a closer look at the pendant and pin she was wearing in that last photo.) If you want to see more of her obsessive donut pursuits, check out her blog and Twitter feed.
To the st. Louis contingent … 106.5 the arch will give away a cardinals “jersey pack” of tickets in the next 45 minutes (five free Jersey games).
“… Pour a pint of the whiskey into a largish container…”
My mouth.
That’s actually cornerback Sean Smith of the Chiefs. He’s been taking after Eric Berry who’s done it in various fashions throughout the year.
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Thanks. Fixed.
Old helmet photo…. One team is missing. One team is a duplicate (sort of).
Check that…. Several teams missing. More than one dupelicate (sort of).
The Jaguars being part of an “old helmets” display is far more jarring than the 2 different Rams & Bears helmets.
Glad someone else noticed this. Was about to mention ‘one of those helmets does not belong’.
Couple of observations:
The Minnesota helmet’s facemask seems of a more modern/contemporary design to be from their gray-facemask era (’61-’79, after white they went white for 5 seasons, then to purple until this year)…possibly from their throwback program?
That Detroit helmet sure looks like it’s turning from silver to gold, doesn’t it?
You can’t see it real we’ll in the pictures, but the stripe on the top of the white Gophers helmet has a brick patern on it – similar to the numbers on their white & gold jerseys. It also says “Brick by Brick” on the back bumper.
One of the more dispiriting gender-assigning moments in marketing was Disney Pixar’s Brave, which was also abouta strong-willed archer who had little time for her assigned role as a female. So what does Disney release as merch? A purple and lavender bow and arrow set with a shiny quiver to store the arrows in.
My son got the whole set for his fourth birthday anyway, because he loved the movie and likes the colors to begin with, but why did they ever have to be anything but what they were in the movie? Before school, my son just liked toys. Now he asks me what’s for boys and what’s for girls. It’s kind of sad.
They also tried to link for the merchandise. Fortunately, they were gently persuaded of the error and link.
Typo on his name: Thruman Thomas
Fixed.
I’m not sure where the moment of applause idea started in soccer games, but it really gained traction at Rangers v Celtic matches, where it was seen as a workable solution to the problem of wanting to honor recently passed former players and the like, but not wanting to give Sectarian bigots a audio blank canvas from which to shout their abuse. Celtic legend Tommy Burns death was marked in this way link and it’s been used a lot when they’res a chance fans might spoil a silence. With regards to the rolled down socks worn by Josh Gordon, I was browsing all the pics from the game on Getty and it seems like a lot of the Browns players wore white spandex tights under their game pants and most either didn’t pull their socks up or left them down when gravity kicked in.
I think the Minute of Applause is the standard now, except in cases of tragedies/Remembrance Day, where the Minute of Silence is still observed.
Besides not giving knuckleheads a chance to spoil the silence, I think the reasoning is that they’re celebrating the recently deceased, while the silence is still appropriate for more somber occasions.
Actually, when you think about it honoring a significant person’s passing with a minute of applause is more fitting than doing so with a minute of silence. An exception being if the person’s accomplishments are of recent vintage and/or the passing was a tragic/horrific one. For instance, IMO this seems a rather peculiar way of paying tribute:
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when you think about it honoring a significant person’s passing with a minute of applause is more fitting than doing so with a minute of silence.
Yup. That’s why we all burst into rounds of applause at funerals.
Wait — what?
Maybe we should. Ritualized and socially mandated somberness (different from sadness) is an oppressive trend.
Anyway, the minute’s applause and the minute’s silence are virtually interchangeable on this side of the Atlantic. There really doesn’t seem to be any hard or fast rules as to what circumstances dictate which is used. Heineken Cup (European rugby cup) matches this weekend all featured minutes of silence, but at least one (I can’t remember which unfortunately) ended up turning into applause.
Also, there was this at the World Cup draw on Friday: link
Also – the Irish Wake and Jazz funerals are big ol’ parties.
See, I’d argue that Mandela’s passing, on its own, isn’t that sad. He was ill for a while now, and his legacy was cemented decades ago. His passing isn’t so much a loss as it is a moment to reflect on his contribution to mankind.
That’s an inane and totally out-of-context riposte. You’re capable of better, Paul.
Paul, at a funeral there might be 100 people, all family members, observing the moment of silence. At a sporting event, with tens of thousands in attendance, the odds of there being one buffoon who ruins the moment by shouting something go up by quite a lot.
The Steelers also acknowledged Mandela before the game.
PL, speaking of awful uni combos and success in them, have you noticed that the Jets have a good record in their mono-green, or as I’m going to refer to it, frog costumes? Granted, this is also the uni the Jets wore in the buttfumble game, but still…
The world needs more doughnut dunker clubs.
Did you have a choice of drink to dunk in? What was the ratio of milk vs. coffee? Ohhhhhh, how about dunking in your homemade Irish cream! Is there preferred pairing of drink and doughnut say if the doughnut was jelly filled, cream filled, cake doughnut, etc.
Great stuff. Also, I am extremely jealous of that dunking pin. It would make a great tie pin. Also love the hand drawn image on the card.
Almost everyone used coffee. But I don’t drink coffee, so I poured myself some milk.
If I’d been thinking ahead, I would have brought a beer, which I’ve found to be an excellent ducking medium for sweet baked goods (cookies, blondies, etc.).
Picked up a book on donuts at the used book store this summer. The Donut: A Canadian History. Not your typical donut book a lot more reference than fun, lighthearted – started as a PhD thesis for Department of History at York University.
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On page 33 mentions “DCA [Donut Corporation of America] also created the National Dunking Association, an organization of card-carrying donut eaters that included Broadway actors, Hollywood stars, and famous sport figures”
Book is almost all text but has a few old ads and pictures
“In the postwar era, these annual efforts including a Doughnut Queen” – picture on next page is of the DCA’s 1953 Donut Queen; could scan pic if interested in seeing.
On the photo you’ve used to show the Saint’s going all-black, it sure looks like Cam Newton is wearing shin pads. Could be knee pads slipping down, but they look a bit large and flat for that.
Agreed. This isn’t unprecedented — other players (Clinton Portis comes to mind) have worn shin pads. I’m always surprised more players don’t do so.
It’s almost certainly one of these he’s wearing link the list of players wearing proper soccer shin guards is pretty short, Clinton Portis and Adrian Peterson are the only two I can think of.
The theory ive heardabout the minute of applause isfans arent trusted todo a minute of silence.
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Weather porn is great unless youre in the middle of it. In suburban Philly, 5 1/2 hours to go about 30 miles.
Weather porn! I first started using that term back around 1994 or ’95, when I started collecting tornado videos. Even wrote an article about the term.
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here are Nebraska’s black uniforms
in defense of Nebraska they have a history of wearing black, before BFBS became a big thing
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it hasn’t been seen since the 90s however, I believe
Have a question about the donut exhibit…did they talk about (or did you see differences) in spelling? I.e. I have always wondered which spelling is correct. Doughnut (doughnuts are made from balls of dough not balls of “do”) or donut (as in Dunkin’).
The spelling debate isn’t referenced in the exhibit itself, but it was discussed at yesterday’s meeting, with passionate advocates on both sides of the issue. Julie (the curator) said she prefers “donut” because it’s more Twitter-friendly — fewer letters. There’s a modern assessment for ya.
Personally, I think “doughnut” seems more accurate (they’re made out of dough, after all), but “donut” seems more playful, more fun.
I go with doughnut. I feel it’s more accurate. Plus, I feel donut is too closely associated with the food chain, which isn’t one of my favorite places to get a doughnut.
“Doughnut” is the academically, technically correct term. However, breakfast pastries mainly do not exist as objects of high theory, but rather as artifacts of low culture. Thus, in America, “donut” is generally the more correct term. Just like how no matter how much a brewer might try to craft up his reduced calorie product, it’s not “light beer.” It’s “lite.”
On the other hand, if you go to one of the new trendy urban breakfast-pastry boutiques and pay $5 for a handcrafted circle of sweet bread, you’re definitely eating a doughnut, not a donut.
That was a very academic answer! Thanks kind sir!
The Zen philosopher Basha once wrote, ‘A flute with no holes, is not a flute. A doughnut with no hole, is a Danish.’ Ty Webb
During good stretches of the Eagles-Lions tilt, Fox was superimposing the yard lines and yard numbers onto the screen with a dark grey color. Unfortunately many times the players would disappear into the graphic, or the graphic would dance around. Give them kudos for trying it but the game looked better without it.
I noticed that too, and thought it was a great touch. For the first time (that I can recall) they used it, some bugs are expected.
Speaking of bugs, today’s the 107th birthday of the woman who first coined the term “bug” as it relates to computers: Grace Hopper.
link
Google has a special Doodle today to go with it, complete with a moth (which was the ‘bug’ in question) flying out of the computer.
The Cano number note is fun, but inaccurate. Cano’s first “true” number was 22, he went to 24 (Robinson number in reverse as the reasoning) when Clemens did his second tour in the Bronx. Lots was written on it at the time and there is tons of Cano memorabilia with 22. I believe the first number he was issued was 14, in 2005, when he was first called up. Popular number that season, I know Andy Phillips and others also sported 14.
Here’s a story about the 22 to 24 switch:
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All NFL officials are wearing a JS patch on their hats in honor of Jerry Seeman
Yes.
To Jeff Moulden- The reason for the different fonts on the Browns’ numbers is this. The manufacturer was using the font from Sand-Knit. S-K’s 4″ block number 2s did not have the serif on the bottom horizontal bar. The smallest sized “2” that had that serif was the 6″ size. Check out a vintage picture of Ken Stabler’s Raiders jersey and you’ll find the same style.
This was an issue that we S-K dealers mentioned to the factory all the time. Our complaints went nowhere.
OMG…why would you complain about the missing serif on the 2? That is my favorite font quirk of all-time…it was immortalized by the Steelers of the 70s, the Raiders, Packers, Cowboys, even UNC basketball and more. Bring it back!
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Consistency. Believe it or not in those days we’d get the occasional complaint from a high school or college coach. We’d merely pass them on to Sand-Knit.
So, when I played football in High School, there was a common belief among players, and often encouraged by coaches, that going sleeveless in cold-weather games was a sign of toughness. If you wore sleeves in practice or games in late October-November, you would have to expect to be teased. This was especially true of the offensive line. I wouldn’t be surprised if this isn’t the case in NFL locker rooms as well.
(For the record, I played on the D-Line and gladly wore a hoodie under my pads during those cold practices.)
I guess frostbite and/or hypothermia are not on the NFL’s Player Safety watch list yet.
Would their mothers let them go out and play like that? I think not.
Unless it’s an old wives tale, my understanding is that you lose body heat from your extremities. If that’s the case, bare arms (and legs) aren’t that dangerous as long as the head, hands and feet are covered.
I always think it’s a neat image when players take off their helmets in the cold and you can see steam coming off their heads.
I sort of get it at the high school level, though I still think it’s odd, but who’s impressed in the pros? Does anyone seriously think a professional football player is thinking, “Oh, I can’t beat this guy, he’s got bare arms!”
I also wonder if there isn’t just a little competitive advantage in making sure one’s body is kept at optimum temperature (especially with all the hi-tech undershirts and leggings they have these days), since keeping your body warm in cold temps, when you don’t have adequate clothing, actually uses up calories.
Maybe all the tattoos keep them warm.
To be fair, the temp was in the high 20s. Not that cold when you’re running around.
Didn’t players use to coat themselves in Vaseline to stay warm? I seem to remember reading about how Denver always put too much on and it was considered cheating. This is coincidentally when they kept on (allegedly) chop blocking people.
The ethnic slur rule would affect four Houston-area schools. If it takes effect, that is.
I never make that kind of mistake (except when I do)! Now fixed.
Note that one of the four affected teams is called the “Rebels”, and seems to have absolutely nothing to do with Native Americans.
The policy covers all racial/ethnic/cultural stereotypes, not just Indians.
I know, I know, it’s not a stereotype per se and school officials have argued they wiped out all the Confederacy imagery, but you can kinda get the argument why it’s affected.
Yeah, I get why: because it’s a poorly conceived and terribly written policy. By banning any “cultural stereotypes” they might as well be banning all human mascots. If this rule of theirs is truly enforced, then not only does it ban Redskins & Rebels, but also Cowboys & Pirates. Yes, really. They aren’t racial or ethnic, but they most certainly are cultural. Apparently all teams should only be named for colors or animals.
Apparently all teams should only be named for colors or animals.
And sox. Don’t forget sox!
Only colored sox though.
The Jeff,
Pirates of the Spanish Main – which is where much of today’s pirate imagery comes from – was actually the very model of a color- and gender-blind, ethnically diverse workplace. They’re the antithesis of the slavery apologist Rebels of Westbury High School.
Also, you can still have the link.
Only colored sox though.
The preferred term is “sox of color,” or “Sox-Americans.”
arrScott wins the internet today. Well played.
Regarding Xavier’s NOB placement, it looks to me like they hadn’t originally planned on having NOBs, with the number placed accordingly, and then they squeezed them in without moving the number downwards. I’m not complaining, though; it always looks better to have the number (and possibly name) too high than too low; link
I’ve sometimes wondered if this was the case with the link, which seem to have the same thing going on.
I have noticed this before while watching Xavier play…my theory is that their number font (which appears to be some form of Copperplate) is not a tall font from top to bottom, so their numbers probably start at the top where most other teams’ do but does not extend ad far down the back thus making it appear higher on the jersey. That being said, I do like this font for them; wish they could slide it down just a tad.
I really enjoy Miami’s aqua. Glad they trotted out the pants… it would’ve been white overload what with the field conditions.
PS, they should drop the darker blue accent on the helmet and numeral striping… just go with the awesome aqua and a pinstripe of orange!
Robinson Cano didn’t wear 24 his whole career. He actually wore 22 his first 2+ years with the Yankees, and only switched to 24 when Roger Clemens came back for that half season in 2007.
Gotcha. Will adjust text.
Love the doughnut / donut dunking event info. I always wondered how this food item got its name. Was it because it resembles the “nut” in a nut & bolt pairing (with a hole in the middle)?
I guess if I was in college way back in the day I’d never have made it, as there’s no way I’d ever wear a freshman beanie.
“…thereby proving yet again that only white people care about this issue.”
This phrase can just stop be written. It’s not that only white people care, it’s that the only reason this is a national issue is that white American and the liberal media picked up the cause. The same groups of native Americans have wanted the name changed for decades. Native opinions haven’t changed, the same people that cared decades ago still care, and the same people who didn’t care then, still don’t now. It’s white America who made this a national issue.
The same groups of native Americans have wanted the name changed for decades.
Careful — you’re going to undermine the whole “How come nobody cared about the name for 80+ years and now all of a sudden it’s a big deal?” argument.
I’m not claiming no one has cared, the same groups of people who cared then care now. The problem is not all the same groups of people who care now, cared then. I remember specifically reading the article last year where you highlighted the Kansas City newspaper refusing to print the name Redskins. That seemed to be the catalyst nationally. Groups (not all) of natives have wanted the name changed for decades. Why didn’t Bob Costas make his speech on Sunday Night Football 20 years ago? I’d like to ask Bob what day it was he woke up and thought, “hmm, I never cared about groups of natives saying they’re offended before, but I’ll jump on this cause now so I can come across as racially sympathetic.”
Why didn’t Bob Costas make his speech on Sunday Night Football 20 years ago?
Why didn’t slavery end sooner? Why didn’t women get the right to vote sooner? Why didn’t the Voting Rights Act happen sooner? Why wasn’t Don’t Ask Don’t Tell abolished sooner?
Standards of decency evolve, cultural consensus evolves, attitudes evolve. There’s never a bad time to do the right thing.
You’re more intersted in indicting the messenger (Costas, the “liberal media,” etc.) than in dealing with the message. That doesn’t work here.
Let’s say, for the sake of argument, that you’re right about Costas: He’s bandwagon-hopping, he’s just looking to “come across as racially sympathetic,” and so on. Let’s say all of that is true. Okay, it’s true — but that doesn’t mean his argument is wrong.
Stick to the message, not the messenger.
white American and the liberal media
Except not really. The anti-‘Skins movement isn’t all that partisan. Charles Krauthammer and Kathleen Parker are decidedly right-winged, and sure, white reporters are talking about it, but that’s because reporters are people who express opinions on newspaper and the tee-vee, and the media in general is pretty white. So yeah, people whose opinion you see are going to be white and reporter-y (though there’s a lot of anti-anti-‘Skins bandwagon-hopping in the right wing media).
Also, there was no Sunday Night Football on a major network 20 years ago, and Bob Costas didn’t have a national platform like the half-time of a prime time NFL game, then.
Well he did host the NBC NFL Sunday Pregame and post-game opposite CBS’ Brent Musburger for most of the 1980s. I don’t know if he had opportunity to do much “editorial commentary” on there like he does at the SNF halftime show, but even if it isn’t in primetime, I don’t think you can call the Curt Menefee/Greg Gumbel position noawadays not a national platform.
It’s national, but nowhere as big or wide audience as a prime time broadcast that doesn’t compete with another Fox/CBS or ESPN, and not limited by region or conference.
An SNF broadcast is usually the most watched TV show of any given week. The only programming that comes close, aside from events and the President, is the old MNF on ABC, and NFL has gotten bigger since then.
Also, there was no Sunday Night Football on a major network 20 years ago
Are you saying that TNT didn’t count as a major network? Of course, back then they actually showed scores and highlights during halftime, so… yeah.
Minnesota will wear white helmets in the Texas Bowl. “Now if only they could pay for the marching band to get new uniforms,” says Thomas Hack. “We’ve had ours for more than a decade and have to sew them back together as they keep falling apart on us.”
Good commentary about the money they can spend on the football team, but can’t spend on other programs, even those that support football.
Reader Andrew McKillop has compiled a database of every snow game in NFL history. Good stuff!
The best thing about this database is that Andrew has included sources. Anybody can make a list or a bunch of graphics and put it on the internet and call it a “database”, but he backs it up with proof! Thanks, Andrew! (Don’t mean to look a gift horse in the mouth, but any chance you can add a list of all of them chronologically instead of just broken down by city?)
I didn’t see this in the comments, or ticker, and not really uniform-related, but an amazingly racist sign at a Sonic in Belton, Mo yesterday for the KC/Washington game.
link
Look more closely at today’s ’Skins Watch.
Oh, sorry about that.
I make Paul’s homemade Irish cream every year. Seriously delicious, always a crowd pleaser. Cannot recommend it enough.
Best part of that link is the walkway to the World’s Fair in the background. Wish I’d been around to experience that in all it’s futuristic utopian glory.
Also, notice the grass: appears that the lower “bowl” had already been rotated to the “football position.” Were there football games played at Shea before the Mets opened the season?
Doubt they had time to have a football game…the stadium was barely finished on time and the grass had not fully grown in. A famous story says that many people left the stadium with fresh paint marks on their clothes.
Looking at that picture of Shea today, I was wondering how the vomitories lined up when they moved the stands to football position. But it looks like that lower walkway is nearly completely open so it probably didn’t present much of a problem. Certainly ahead of their time with that design.
And Steve, it’s not out of the ordinary to open a building with drying paint on the walls, etc.
Highly unlikely that any football games were played prior to the Mets opening game.
Mets ownership, particularly Ms. Joan Whitney Payson, did not appreciate football games that tore up the sod. For many years the Jets could not schedule a home opener until the baseball season was complete.
Interesting that almost every fan in the stands is wearing dark jacket/shirt…
I know with receivers, at least with Santonio Holmes,they catch better without using sleeves,because the ball slides off of their arm.
There was a nice NBA color on color in the Celtics/Knicks game yesterday. I like that the NBA is trending towards more color on color matchups.
link
Dunno if anyone mentioned it or not over the weekend, but Saturday’s Newsday mentioned the fact that the Knicks won back-to-back games in white unis, not orange.
Of course they then get blown out at home once they switch back.
On the minute of applause versus moment of silence thing…in Britain, at least, they observe sixty seconds of silence which feels profoundly longer than our “moment” of silence.
This is the first I’ve heard of a minute of applause, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened before.
I think a moment (10 to 15 seconds) would keep the hecklers to a minimum. If you observe an entire minute of silence I could see folks easily becoming bored by 30 seconds, leading to shouting inappropriate things, etc.
It really depends on the occasion and crowd. In the UK, Remembrance Day silences are usually link, and likewise when Liverpool honors the victims of the Hillsborough tragedy, because it’s such a unifying cause. But most clubs didn’t bother with silence for Margaret Thatcher because she’s so disliked by soccer fans.
That pic of Shea looks like the hole mets fan base now
wow…The snow actually made the Ravens uniforms bearable!
For the second week in a row a Packers player did a Billy “White Shoes” Johnson dance following a fumble recovery.
Last week it was Morgan Burnett following his TD, this week it was Johnny Jolly. Last week Burnett had the white shoes look going (wasn’t perfect mind you), this week I don’t think Jolly was as prepared.
Going to be in NYC tonight for the Men in Blazers holiday special. Sure to be a ton of kits on display.
The Donut Exhibit sounds cool. If i get the chance, i’d love to try and see it.
The middle, ring and pinky fingers on Julie’s doughnut pin are breaking the third rule of dunking – they are not pointed daintily upward.
The Arizona cardinals Blod clot unis have gone 14-3 and won 8 in a row.. the source is in one of Darren Urbans blogs on Arizonacardinals.com but I cant seem to find it again. last he wrote about it was after the win against the colts when it was then a 7 game win streak and 13-3 record while wearing them
On the Nike Swoosh on the Seahawks jersey facing the wrong way.
Am I the only one who gets driven bananas when that Swoosh is facing the other way? I think Nike’s corporate logo swoosh is going from right to left (like in the photo). To see it on jerseys the left to right drives me bonkers. I actually think the logo looks better “wrong” than “right”.
I mean, ideally, no logos would be ideal, but there is something in my brain that says this is right no matter what:
link
I mean, google image search “nike swoosh”. I can’t find any that face the other way.
Bonkers I tell you.
I mean, I don’t think on Reebok made jerseys they reversed the direction of the logo?
Try looking for Nike shoes. The swoosh almost always points toward the back of the shoe. The jerseys follow the same rule.
On the shows I understand it. But for each shoe it points a different direction because of (typically) the outside logo.
So the left show (on typical nike’s) is eye pleasing to me while the right show is not.
link
Maybe it’s me. And I am crazy.
link
Even the branding on the back is the same swoosh on both shoes, the don’t alternate.
link
This link shows the Reebok stamp the same direction regardless of which sleeve. Whereas Nike has the hook of the swoosh always facing forward (except for mistake in photo in article).
Though back when NFL had multiple jersey contracts in the early 00s, the Swoosh on the right shoulder incorrectly pointed the right direction, as it were: link
like it better that way!
Culinary Corner is back!
Since I enjoyed PL’s recipe for Irish cream so much last year I’m considering gifting mason jar half-pints of it for those impossible-to-buy-for/always helpful neighbors of mine. It sure beats the heck out of a plate of toll house cookies or tray of homemade fudge!
bushmills???
that’s protestant whiskey!
Exactly. You wouldn’t waste perfectly good Jameson or Red Breast by throwing it into a butter churn. Bushmill’s, though, nobody is going to object dumping that into a bowl of milk.
When I was growing up my grandmother from Ireland used to refer to Bushmills as “Prod” whiskey. Only Jameson was allowed in the O’Neill house.
You know, I’ve heard this for years but I’m filing it under Irish-American stereotype. While it is produced in Northern Ireland, I know a number of Catholic Irish (from the North) who drink it exclusively.
(and Black Bush is delicious!)
A quick Google confirms my suspicion that this is an Irish-American thing that nobody in Ireland cares about. Also, the founder of Jameson’s was most probably Scots-Irish, therefore Protestant.
My people (some of them, anyway) were Irish Catholic and I drink Bushmill’s (I can’t afford Black Bush). ;)
Here’s an example of a team pulling off an impressive “double whammy” of socially questionable uni choices. The link are an amateur indoor lacrosse team from southern Ontario. Not only do they use a Native American/First Nations team name and identity, but they also violate the link trademark rights.
don’t know if legit or not, but the comments on the page about the sonic sign are ironic…what appears to be 1 prankster (anonymous, with a not-so-funny joke), one native american and 3 non-native americans…
keep in mind, i’m not racist, so i didn’t say “white”, because i don’t know (they could all be black or hispanic or purple with green stripes)…
also keep in mind i said “appears to be…”
so, if that were correct, not counting the prankster, 3 people who are not native americans want the politically incorrectness madness to just stop now, please, oh please…
and one person who claims to be native and says his/her people are “over reacting to the Redskins team Name and to This Sign” [sic]…
oh, the irony…
pardon my grammar…i suck at english…
(the reason why i said “so i didn’t say ‘white'” is because someone earlier in the comments, in a comment regarding this very topic, used the phrase “only white people”…
which is as racist to me as this issue is to some…
Everyone knows internet commenters are the dumbest, most vile people on Earth and should never be taken seriously.
The expansion Charlotte Bobcats orange was ridiculed when they introduced that color in 2003, yet everyone loves the Knicks orange alternates? Only in UniLand…
Here’s Harbaugh on the switch from sneakers to cleats, to which I hope he soon adds the extra, Paterno-style cuff roll:
link
Thurman Thomas’ hoodie beneath the Habs sweater had the old school NHL shield.
TEMPLE DOES HAVE A SMALL BIT OF YELLOW/GOLD IN THE EYES OF THEIR ‘OWL’LOGOS SO MAYBE THAT’S WHERE THEY TOOK IT FROM.
For the third consecutive year, Paul’s Irish Cream will make me the hit of the Christmas party. Trust me, if you’ve never made this, do yourself (and your friends) a favor, MAKE IT!
The owl mascot for Temple is a Great Horned Owl. Which have giant Yellow (Athletic Gold) eyes. This has been reflected in their Owl logo for years.
link
My guess is UA is playing up the Gold for promotional purposes, but it does make sense given the theme of the uniform (I mean they have the wings from the Owl logo on the uniform). Plus the logo’s feet are gold, and the players feet are gold. Loose connections I know, but there is some precedent for the gold being included.
Made the Irish cream for the first time over the weekend, and my wife and I give it our highest endorsement.
I absolutely love the fact that for his jersey retirement, the Bears put an 89 jersey AND the classic Ditka sweater side by side. Awesome touch.
Hey uni-watchers, help me settle a bet. My friend refers to the Carolina Panthers black alt jersey as their BFBS jersey. I argue that since black is part of the Panthers color scheme, it qualifies as an alternate, and not BFBS. Thoughts?
Neither of you are correct. The black is actually their home jersey. The blue is the alt.