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Uni Watch

Major Blast From the Soft Drink Past

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Oh baby, check out this amazing 1930s ad for Celo soda featuring Dodgers pitcher Dazzy Vance, courtesy of reader Bruce Menard. Interesting uni detail: We’ve seen plenty of piping-outlined belt tunnels before (the Braves still use that design element today), but it’s much rarer to see individually striped belt loops.

As for Celo, it was originally a celery-flavored soda produced in Florida (which is where the company was still headquartered when the Dazzy Vance ad was made). The brand name and logo were later acquired by a Wisconsin family, which scrapped the celery product and put out a line of more conventionally flavored sodas in small batches. The tiny bottling plant and equipment are currently for sale.

Meanwhile: New ESPN column today — a brief history of nickNOBs. Enjoy!

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Reach thousands of people just like you, only more so: As you may have noticed, we currently have zero (0) ads in the right-hand sidebar. That makes this a good time for you to place your own ad there, because you’ll be facing zero (0) visual competition. So if you have a product, service, or business that you think will be of interest to Uni Watch readers, let’s talk. Thanks.

Troll update: I put up a new post yesterday at My Pet Troll, about trolling and gender. Enjoy.

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’Skins Watch: A snack food company that wanted to register the trademark “Redskins Hog Rinds” has had its application turned down because the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ruled that “Redskins” is a “derogatory term.” That’s potentially bad news for the ’Skins, who are currently facing the loss of their trademark protection over precisely that issue (from Walter Young).

Baseball News: Our friends at Ebbets Field Flannels are running a sale on old-school jerseys. … The Dodgers debuted their new BP jerseys during the team’s annual Winter Development Program. “As you can see, they’re not as pictured in the earlier Majestic leak,” notes Ross Yoshida. ”¦ MLB and Yankees logos and uniforms are being used in a new Broadway play about the Yankees. … Very nice new uniforms for the U. of Miami. … Remember how Expos OF Ellis Valentine wore half of a football facemask to protect an broken cheekbone in 1980? That look has now been captured on this cool T-shirt (from Eric Stangel). ”¦ Looks like the GI Joe bullshit has spread south of the border. Those are the Tijuana Toros (from Michael Ortman). ”¦ Jerry Wolper was looking at some footage from the 1981 NLDS between the Expos and Phillies and spotted Philly skipper Dallas Green with a “World Champions” patch on his jacket. Did the Phils wear that all season long in ’81?

NFL News: As part of the build-up to the Stupor Bowl, the Council of Fashion Designers of America has created a series of “haute couture” football helmets (from Tommy Turner). … Joe Hilseberg was poking around on eBay and found what looks like a Titans prototype. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Someone in Philly made some clever jersey adjustments to create a Nick Foles jersey. … During Jerry Seinfeld’s recent “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit, someone asked him, “Can you tell us how your white sneaker collection first started?” Seinfeld’s response: “It started with wanting to be Joe Namath of the 1969 New York jets, who at that time was one of the only football players to wear white shoes. And I wanted to be like him, so I always wore white sneakers. Also, Bill Cosby on I Spy always wore white sneakers. And they were my fashion icons” (big thanks to Dave Wilson). … Saints coach Sean Payton had his team’s practice field painted with a Seahawks logo to simulate this weekend’s game environment. … Speaking of the Saints: If they beat Seattle and the 49ers beat Carolina — neither of which is a sure thing, obviously — the Niners would host the NFC championship game. In other words, Candlestick may yet host one more game. … Lots of folks, including the Tennessee Titans, mess up the orientation of the stars on the Tennessee state flag (from Jameson Adams). … Eric Wright was poking around on the Chiefs’ website and found this uniform history. “Lots of fascinating info, like the fact that Marty Schottenheimer was the one who, with Lamar Hunt’s blessing, brought back the white-over-white look in 1989.”

College Football News: Reader Jeff Seals notes that Oklahoma DE Charles Tapper was missing his bowl game patch in the Insurance Bowl. “I think I’ve trained my wife well enough in uni watching, as she instantly spotted the missing patch when I showed her the pic,” he says. ”¦ Susan Freeman has created a 2013 uni-tracking infographic for the old Southwest Conference teams. “It depicts a color block for each 2013 game (three rows = head to toe),” she explains. “So, week one SMU wore white helmets, red jersey, white pants. I did annotate away games, so you can see Texas is true-blue traditional (burnt orange jerseys at home, all white on the road).”

Hockey News: You know how baseball first basemen sometimes wear a batting glove under their fielding mitts, for an extra layer of palm protection? Here’s a vintage shot of former Kings goalie Gary Edwards doing the same (good spot by Jake Elwell). … Back in 1974, the Sabres’ PR guy cooked up a hoax that included what would have been the NHL’s first Japanese NOB. Fun story — recommended (thanks, Brinke). … Speaking of fun, here’s a story on how the Caps’ players like to play pranks on each other by messing with their teammates’ gear (from John Muir).

Soccer News: Last winter I published an interview with Mark Willis, who reimagined baseball teams as soccer teams in his awesome Soccer Out of Context project. Now he has a new project called 32 Nations, which I’ll let him explain: “I boiled down the graphical essence of the 32 teams going to the World Cup in Brazil into punchy, minimal T-shirt-style designs. I published detailed explanation pieces for each shirt, going through all the World Cup groups (eight total), and just finished before Christmas.” Like all of Mark’s work, this is great stuff — enjoy. … “My favorite J-League team, Shimizu S-Pulse, will sport an all-orange home uniform for the 2014 season,” says Thomas Fiers (who was the guy behind yesterday’s awesome NBA button DIY project). “The away uniform will be white and royal blue with vertical pinstripes. The traditional world map will be displayed on the back of the home shirt, with Mount Fuji on the back of the away shirt.” ”¦ “Kaka scored his 100th goal for AC Milan on Monday and celebrated with a No. 100 jersey,” says Yusuke Toyoda. ”¦ New away kit for Poland (from Trevor Williams).

NBA News: Here’s what all 15 members of the Heat will be wearing for this Friday’s nickNOB game against the Nets (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Good slideshow of old Harlem Globetrotters photos here (thanks, Brinke).

College Hoops News: “I was watching my alma mater, Quinnipiac, on Monday night against Iona,” writes Michael Bailey. “Toward the end of the first half, Iona brought in a guy for his first minute of play all season. He was going NNOB while the rest of Iona was going NOB. I wonder if they don’t even bother putting names on the jerseys of the guys they don’t think will get much playing time throughout the season?” … Iowa State is adding a “JO” memorial patch for Johnny Orr (thanks, Phil).

Grab Bag: Can you guess which school has the most lucrative apparel/equipment deal in all of college sports? Answer at the end of the Grab Bag. … Killer helmets for the Canadian Olympic skeleton team (thanks, Phil). … John Sheehan describes this old USFL Boston Breakers cap as “a hideous gem,” although I’d say it’s more the latter than the former. … This is bizarre: The pro golfers with the third- and fourth-highest earnings in 2013 were Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus, who made $40 million and $26 million, respectively — almost all of it from endorsements, obviously. … Wanna get a good grounding in practical typography in relatively little time? Check out this site (great find by Seth Horowitz). … Two cycling items from Sean Clancy: “The Tour of Italy starts in Ireland this year (naturally), and the pink leader’s jersey will reflect the Irish start with a shamrock on the side panel, although I’m not sure you can see it in those photos. Also: New kit for Orica-GreenEdge.” … New logo for the “Made in Britain” campaign (thanks, Brinke). … While looking for something else, I came across this shot of Johnny “Lam” Jones running for the Texas track team. Love the triple-striped tube socks! … Just what the world’s been waiting for: Black Sabbath-themed Chucks (blame Phil). … My favorite writer, Hamilton Nolan, strikes again. … Wondering what Nike’s CEO’s office looks like? Look here (Brinke again). … Answer: Michigan’s deal with Adidas (thanks, Phil).

 
  
 
Comments (101)

    Love the infographic for the quondam SWC!

    I got an EFF jersey (Estrellas Orientales) a couple years ago. It’s terrific. Very tempted to get another, maybe Cedar Rapids Bunnies as it would be a hoot to wear a Bunnies jersey while cooking rabbits.

    That Cedar Rapids Rabbits jersey is a thing of beauty. I picked one up from an EFF stock clearance sale a while back, and I’ve been wearing it as a sweater during the polar vortex. I’ve actually worn the jersey in Cedar Rapids, but nobody has recognized it.

    On the Redskins trademark, it has never really been a question whether the name violates federal law barring protection for names that “consists of or includes matter which may disparage or bring into contempt or disrepute persons, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols.” It plainly does. The question that has been subject to litigation for two decades now is whether anyone has the legal right – “standing” – to challenge the government’s original grant of trademark protection.

    Agreed. My recollection of the Federal Court of Appeals decision a few years back was that the finding that the trademark was derogatory wasn’t in issue, only that the plaintiffs in that case had waited too long to bring the claim

    link

    That E. Valentine shirt is disappointing.

    (but there is no MLB/Expos logo infringment issue!)

    Is it possible the NNOB Iona player was in a blood jersey? Unlikely, but possible…

    Ha, I doubt it. He had just entered the game (first minute all season). Unless he got bloodied on the bench!?

    Maybe a walk-on. Since they don’t get a lot of playing time, if any, you usually only see them with their warm-ups on. I’m guessing that what it was, down by 23 in the final seconds of the half.

    I had seen a player during a St. John’s basketball game last season with no-name on his jersey; his jersey looked just like that of his teammates but was missing his name. It was determined that the player was probably a walk-on–that could be the case for the Iona player, too.

    I’d like to see these teams who wont put NOBs on walk-ons’ jerseys at least design the jerseys so that the look normal without names on them. Too often you see a big ugly blank spot where the name should be, drawing attention to the fact that everyone else has a name above the number. Just iron the number on a little higher up. Particularly if the kid ends up keeping the jersey (and it’s the only one he ever keeps); it’ll look much better hanging up in his house that way.

    Also, interesting to see that Dwyane Wade is just going with D.WADE on his jersey.

    Perhaps there will be a BCS National Championship review later on this week, but man did that game look good. The contrast of color on white, the field, the Dikta-ness of Gus Malzhan, etc.

    Very good way to end the BCS, in my opinion.

    Go Noles!

    (Photo Gallery) link

    “The USPTO ruled that “redskins” is a derogatory term.”

    I see our cultural betters are back to tell us what is good for us! Progressive projection at its finest. Glad to see Paul in full support, otherwise I think the world would spin off its axis.

    What, precisely, is your objection to the USPTO’s position?

    Trademark protection is not a right. It is a privilege that must be applied for, with said application then granted or denied based on certain standards. The people at the USPTO are not “our cultural betters” — they are experts in trademark standards, and it is their job to rule on trademark applications based on those standards.

    Do you object to the entire notion of trademark protection? If so, that’s a valid intellectual position, so please say so (and perhaps you should petition your elected representatives to change the law accordingly).

    Do you object to trademark standards including a prohibition on disparaging marks? If so, that’s a valid intellectual position, so please say so (and perhaps you should petition your elected representatives to change the law accordingly).

    Do you object to the USPTO being the ones who rule on trademark applications? If so, who do you think should be making the determinations? Please be specific.

    Or do you just like to insult people when their opinions differ from yours?

    Paul misstates this slightly: “with said application then granted or denied based on certain standards.”

    Those aren’t “standards.” They are laws. Would Chris really prefer that the executive branch ignore and break the laws passed by Congress?

    Progressivism has nothing to do with it.

    The word’s derogatory. End of discussion.

    (And not that it matters, but I’m politically conservative and I hate that word. But I don’t think the Washington football team should be forced to change its name, either.)

    I don’t think the Washington football team should be forced to change its name, either.

    Nobody, including the current litigants, is arguing that the ’Skins should be “forced” to change their name. Rather, many people are arguing that changing the name is the right thing to do.

    As I have said many times, and hereby reaffirm, I fully support Daniel Snyder’s right to call his team whatever he likes. But he does not have the right to be free of criticism, free of boycott, free of public opobrium, and so forth.

    I can’t really speak for Chris, but I certainly have a bit of a problem with a government agency deciding what is or isn’t derogatory. Forget the Redskins, what about other terms, like Redneck, for example? I’d generally consider it to be an insult, but there’s plenty of people who self-identify as and are proud to be rednecks. Can someone trademark “Redneck Barbeque” as a restaurant name, or is that derogatory? I’m not really sure, and I don’t think the government should be making that decision. Given the ever changing and evolving nature of our language, trademark protection should be available to anyone who requests it, not restricted by personal opinions or arbitrary rules. After all, what’s “socially acceptable” today might not be in 30 years, and vice versa.

    No offense, but I have a problem with people who say they “have a problem with a government agency deciding” what it is (1) that agency’s job and function, and (2) within that agency’s statutorily-granted authority and discretion — and the specific expertise of its personnel — to decide.

    In American law, we have processes. We have statutes (i.e., laws passed by Congress and signed by the President), we have regulations (i.e., processes, procedures, standards, &c. promulgated by executive-branch agencies, pursuant to that agency’s statutory authority to promulgate regulations and involving a process of soliciting comments and recommendations from interested parties and from the public), and we have judicial review. We have an electoral process where we choose our legislators and executives, where we choose the people who get to appoint other people to “government agencies.”

    A “government agency” is not a Golem; a malevolent entity with a singular consciousness and singular will. It’s an organization consisting of people who have some level of expertise in that agency’s core function(s). Everyone who works for a “government agency” that “gets to decide” things was either elected, or lawfully appointed by an elected official.

    The Lanham Act gives the USPTO the authority and discretion to issue, or decline to issue, patents and trademarks. It provides for an internal appeals process if an applicant wishes to challenge a determination. And it provides for a right of action in federal court if that fails. As Paul pointed out, trademark protection is not a right; it exists because of the Lanham Act, its enabling regulations and interpreting case law. If “the government” grants the protection in the first place, then “the government” gets to decide to whom and under what circumstances it will or will not grant that protection.

    All that being said, in a typical situation the USPTO would not make a determination sua sponte as to whether a proposed trademark that someone applies for is “derogatory.” It just doesn’t happen the way you’re imagining. What would happen instead is that an individual who finds the trademark derogatory would either oppose the application or file a lawsuit seeking an injunction invalidating the trademark.

    Sorry for the rant; complaints like this get my dander up and strike me as an over-the-top effort to feel victimized.

    Well put. Jeff, what you really appear to “have a problem” with is trademark law. If that’s the case — and it’s certainly a legitimate position — I suggest you petition your elected representatives to get the law changed. But don’t complain about professionals are who doing the job that Congressionally enacted legislation requires them to do.

    I should correct myself here: The Lanham Act only authorizes trademarks, not patents.

    The, why are you putting “socially acceptable” in quotes? Socially acceptable is not at issue here. The Lanham Act was passed in 1946, and it forbids granting trademark protection to names that “consists of or includes matter which may disparage or bring into contempt or disrepute persons, institutions, beliefs, or national symbols.” Not “socially acceptable” but “may disparage or bring into contempt or disrepute.”

    A seminal case of a trademark being revoked on account of disparagement was a portable toilet company that called itself “Here’s Johnny Portable Toilets.” Johnny Carson sued to oppose the trademark and won.

    A seminal case of a trademark being revoked on account of disparagement was a portable toilet company that called itself “Here’s Johnny Portable Toilets.” Johnny Carson sued to oppose the trademark and won.

    You know, that doesn’t exactly sound disparaging to me, that sounds like an attempt to piggyback off of Johnny Carson’s success to sell their own product – kinda like someplace calling themselves McD-something and using a golden arch. I’d say that was the right decision, but for the wrong reason.

    …and I put socially acceptable in quotes because I think that it goes hand in hand with “may disparage or bring into contempt or disrepute”. Look at the Redskins – they were granted trademark protection in the past, but today they apparently wouldn’t be, thus the ongoing lawsuit. Public standards play a pretty big roll in determining what is or isn’t offensive/disparaging/derogatory/etc.

    The, what you think does or doesn’t go hand in hand isn’t really a question here. Pretty high on the list of Things John Roberts Won’t Ask About When a Case Reaches the Supreme Court, you know? The USPTO tries (and often fails) to uphold the law as written by Congress and interpreted by the judiciary, so it really isn’t useful to philosophize about standards like “socially acceptable” that aren’t in the law the USPTO is trying to apply.

    The Carson case is instructive because there were not grounds to argue confusion; reasonable people will not be confused about the difference between a television show and a portable toilet. Carson’s argument, which the federal courts accepted, was that associating his identity with defecation is derogatory. (In American culture, peeing or pooping on something is typically a sign of disrespect.) A similar case involved a company that tried to trademark a logo of a shitting greyhound dog; Greyhound Lines sued to oppose the registration on the grounds that a depiction of its primary logo taking a shit may be derogatory. Which it plainly may be.

    I grew up with Globetrotters during the Meadowlark, Geese, Curly, etc. era. Great stuff!!

    I love the photo in the slideshow of Meadowlark palming the ball with only three fingers!!!

    The truncated collar piping on the Dodgers hitting-rehearsal smocks sure are odd. At first, it almost has the appearance of a bowtie. Then it sort of settles into looking like some kind of European military cadet uniform.

    Can I just say that Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda is great? Three cheers for celery flavored stuff!

    “Celery-flavored soda”? Celery has no flavor. Is that just a fancy name for plain seltzer?

    Try a Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray sometime.

    Better yet, use it as the base for a chicken glaze reduction (a la Dr. Pepper ribs).

    ed

    Celery has no flavor? Pick a soup or stew. Any soup or stew. Make it as normal, set aside a cup in the fridge. Then make the same recipe, without the celery. (Don’t worry, celery is an ingredient in the vast majority of soups and stews from a broad range of global cultures.) Then compare the two side-by-side. The difference in taste will blow your mind. Celery is the straw the stirs the culinary drink. Which makes it the Reggie Jackson of vegetables.

    It’s just that raw celery has a very mild flavor that doesn’t really come out in strength until you cook or process it. Such as when turning it into a drink flavoring. How I’d love to taste a sample of original, Dizzy Vance-endorsed Celo!

    I also love the flavor celery salt adds to chicken salad and to Chicago style hot dogs.

    That Paul Weiland article brought back some very fond memories. I hadn’t thought about Taro Tsujimoto, or Sliderex, or The Phantom Signmakers for a long time. It used to be so much fun to be a Sabres fan…

    Great piece!

    I know that without conclusive evidence that this remains conjecture, but I am certain that in 1972-73, John Tresvant of the Bullets wore “Tres” on the back of his jersey (teammates Phil Chenier wore “Phil” and, of course, Elvin Hayes wore “E”).

    The best I could come up with–and this a stretch–is this photo…Tresvant is #32:

    link

    Anybody else remember that?

    Also, I seem to recall that at some point in his time with the Sonic, Donald Watts wore “Slick” on the back of his jersey.

    But, again, without solid proof these remain my white whales.

    Your Uni-Watch NCAA Archives should have at least 1 example of NickNOB, well kinda.

    Similar to what Adam “Pacman” Jones did in Tennessee, for at least one game (I believe multiple games though), Demaryious “Bey Bey” Thomas wore B. Thomas for his NOB during his 2009 season with Georgia Tech.

    link

    Here’s a shot of Chuck Weatherspoon wearing “C. SPOON” for the University of Houston. I believe there were some other players at Houston wearing NNOBs at the time.

    link

    The NNOB basketball player from Iona may be a walk on. Many schools don’t give NOB jerseys to such players.

    A few years back Georgia Tech had a walk-on get some playing time in a blowout, he was NNOB.

    Its not so much that they don’t get a NOB, its more than likely a result of another player or group of players not being able to dress out for the game. Thus propelling him from what is essentially a Team Manager position, to player at the end of the bench.

    In that Tech game 2 players were serving suspensions. If it had been an ACC game he would have remained a team manager, but because it was a game Tech expected to win the coaching staff knew he would get a chance to play in the game, so they had him dress out in a spare uniform.

    The question is are they really saving that much money by not ordering enough uniforms to dress out all players they have on the team (whether they would play in a game or not). It may be a little bit tougher for Iona to swing, but considering Georgia Tech is the premiere Russel team and has had a new uniform every year for the past 3 seasons (the year I where the NNOB was worn was year 1 of that 3-year trend), you would think that they would have a uniform for every player including the walk-ons who only had a slim chance of playing. Anyways the guy is still a Walk-on (though he may now have a scholarship, given his seniority, and the fact that we haven’t given out all of our alloted scholarships for recruiting), but he now has a full uniform complete with his chosen (at least I assume it was his choice), and a NOB.

    I believe he might have been a walk-on. Man, that sucks if it’s true. I know I’ve seen some walk-ons who play at ‘bigger’ schools have NOB. Maybe it saves the smaller schools a buck or two (which would be lame).

    My B.S. detector just went off. I want evidence of walk-ons not having NOB’s and that that is a policy of an athletic department or coach of an institution of higher education. As someone before me once said: “the historical record demands visual documentation!”

    I am pretty certain the guy who came in was a walk-on. I know I’ve seen walk-on players at ‘bigger’ schools and they had NOB (if the team was NOB). Maybe it saves some of the smaller schools a buck or two (lame, if that’s the case).

    Interesting that that Yankees play has the rights to use wordmarks, etc., but the costumes don’t have raglan sleeves. (the real unis must be too expensive for a Broadway budget.)

    ed

    Ah, but some of the Yankee uniforms in the play link. And historically, the Yankees were known to wear link from time to time.

    There’s a great interview with the costume designer link, including a bit on that very subject.

    Ah – thanks for the better view. The pic in the article didn’t seem to show any.

    ed

    In reference to paul’s espn column, wahoo mcdaniel had the nickname since childhood and used it as his wrestling name in the early 60s while playing jn thr AFL for houston, denver and the jets, where fans would yell “wahoo” when he made a tackle.

    Look out! Today’s items are converging: Paul’s ESPN article links to a photo of Wahoo McDaniel punting for Miami. The punt is being blocked by Bills’ linebacker Marty Schottenheimer (who is mentioned in the ticker): link
    And McDaniel, who used his Choctaw-Chickasaw heritage for wrestling promotion, had this comment on the Native American situation:
    link

    I’m from Tennessee, but I never noticed before that the blue negative space between the stars on the flag looks like the Mitsubishi logo.

    Flywire has been in shoes for years – I’ve got a pair of Lunar Racers from about 2008 with them.

    (its a great technology for shoes because it really does cut down on the weight of the shoes)

    Not surprising Dallas Green of the 1981 Phillies would be wearing a patch honoring their 1980 team. The 1980 Phils were the first World Championship team in franchise history, so it was a really big deal at the time.

    “Lots of fascinating info, like the fact that Marty Schottenheimer was the one who, with Lamar Hunt’s blessing, brought back the white-over-white look in 1987.”

    This can’t be right because Schottenheimer coached the Browns through 1988. His first year in KC was ’89. So either the date is wrong or the credit shouldn’t go to Schottenheimer. Frank Gansz was the coach in ’87.

    link

    It’s listed as ’89 on the link you posted, so I think your reference of 1987 is the incorrect bit here.

    link

    I wish the Titans went with that prototype. Im not a fan of the secondary color stripe on the shoulder pads. It looks good on the white uniforms with the blue stripe, but the dark uniforms look horrible in my opinion

    When I was a kid in school in Memphis, we were taught how to remember to properly fly the Tennessee state flag. The stars represent East, West and Middle Tennessee. So it is the East and West on top with the Middle falling. Doesn’t mean anything but it is an easy way to remember it.

    As for the Redskins, it is just a matter of time. Snyder will never come out of this clean though at this point. If he would have taken the initiative right off, he could have changed the name to something awesome AND gotten great publicity for it. Now, it’s just going to be he finally caved if you will.

    Oh, and I wear white sneakers because of Cousin Eddie’s influence.

    This item is so beyond great:

    “… Last winter I published an interview with Mark Willis, who reimagined baseball teams as soccer teams in his awesome Soccer Out of Context project. Now he has a new project called 32 Nations, which I’ll let him explain: ‘I boiled down the graphical essence of the 32 teams going to the World Cup in Brazil into punchy, minimal T-shirt-style designs. I published detailed explanation pieces for each shirt, going through all the World Cup groups (eight total), and just finished before Christmas. Like all of Mark’s work, this is great stuff – enjoy. …”

    Wow. Double Wow. This project is one of the greatest convergences of solid research and frolicsome creativity I’ve ever seen. Blown away by how cool those shirts look and how ingenious the linkages between each country’s traditions and the spiffy up–to-date graphic rendition…

    When the miscreant teen soccer players return from school, we’re going to have a blast together with Mark’s great stuff.

    While I was looking up the history of the Oakland raiders “Senors” name a nice log popped up…

    The West Sydney Pirates have been around since 1986 and have a new beautiful logo They play in the NSWGFL(NEW South Wales Gridiron Footbal League)

    Here is the Uniform history for the Pirates… link

    This is the closest I could find to a league homepage, which does show some of the other teams uniforms.
    link

    Funny how their uniforms have drifted away from the Raiders, but the logo has actually gotten closer. That logo without the P is certainly similar to what I’d expect to see on one of the spike-wearing, face-painted fan’s jerseys.

    Yea, that’s the logo that popped up when I was searching the web for raiders stuff. I think it looks great though. and they have a purple accent color that isn’t shown on their logos either, just on their uniforms.

    Yet. The Indians’ handling of the Wahoo phase-out has so far been a master class in heating the water just slowly enough that the frog never jumps out of the pot.*

    I’m only a little surprised that they didn’t do this last season. Many MLB properties have already been treating the C as the primary logo since 2011, and if they’d done the thing with changing the primary logo but leaving Wahoo unchanged last year, then they could have replaced Wahoo on the home jersey sleeves this year with a Cleveland Bicentennial patch. (Yeah, Cleveland celebrated its bicentennial in 1996, but 2014 is the 200th anniversary of the city’s incorporation.) I’m not sure there’s any such obvious excuse to start removing Wahoo from the sleeves in the next couple of years, so the Indians’ next step may be the hardest of the process.

    *Which is a terrible metaphor. In fact, if you place a frog in a pot of cool water and then slowly heat it, the frog will jump out to safety when the water gets uncomfortably hot. Whereas if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will die, not jump out, due to the shock of having its entire skin surface instantly scalded.

    1) That Canadian skeleton helmet is amazing!

    2) Did anybody watching the National Championship game catch what appeared to be a ref’s sneaker in the backfield during a 2nd half play inside the redzone? (I think) No DVR so I couldn’t rewind, but it was in a very bad place, I was surprised they didn’t stop the game to move it.

    One of the things that really jumped out at me Monday night while watching the BCS Title Game was how much I hated that Under Armor jersey cut on Auburn…

    link

    I know sleeves are disappearing in football, but those are horrendous. And Auburn has such a gorgeous uniform.

    I mean, look how much better…

    link

    In Paul’s ESPN column today, he mentions Tampa Bay’s “Bolts” jerseys and Ottawa’s “Sens” jerseys as examples of shortened team nicknames on jerseys. There are quite a few more examples of this. Back in my college/grad school writing days, I put together an article on this and deemed them “Nicknicknames” (as in “Senators” is the Ottawa team nickname and “Sens” is a nickname for that nickname).

    A lot of the links are probably broken and there are probably other examples I missed, but here it is anyways:
    link

    Are there any rules in the NCAA about having fur on helmets??? God, I hope so… I can see Nike running with link. Although, they would have to come up with “re-engineered aerodynamic fur” that makes you faster!!!

    In honor of Celo, I must recall my favorite Uni Watch comment ever. In a discussion of team mascots, Philly Bill chimed in with “Mr. Celery whups all comers up and down the block every day and twice on Sunday.”
    If you’re unfamiliar with Mr. Celery, drop everything and read this:
    link
    Empires have been made of less brilliance than this…

    It occurs to me that a quick fix to the San Diego Padres would be to switch the letters/numerals on the Home and Away jerseys from blue outlined in gold/white to gold outlined in blue. The Padres wore gold numerals and letters in the 70s and it looked sharp. It might be a solution to jazzing up an otherwise bland uniform.

    Re the Gary Edwards photo, as a tender myself, I’d forgotten all about the glove thing. Years ago, as the trapper began to wear out, the felt they used would start to break down and lose its protective qualities. At the same time, the leather would begin to stretch out and get slick, to the point where you’d lose the nice snug feel on your hand. Hence, the glove (although being hockey players, they were usually a golf glove); for a little more padding, I would use a cyclist’s fingerless glove.

    I wonder if that Titans jersey was ever actually considered or if it was just a promotional tool. According to the listing they got it from an NFL executive, which could mean that it was never actually being considered by the team, but rather a way for the NFL to build up excitement for the new team.

    Glad they went the way they did, its hard to think of the Titans not having the design they do now. Not that this was a bad design, but it is severely lacking in color.

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