Photos taken yesterday; click to enlarge
When people hear that I work from home, they often say, “So you’re all by yourself, all day long? That sounds pretty lonely.” But as I then explain to them, I’m not by myself — I share Uni Watch HQ with mascots Caitlin (left) and Tucker, who provide plenty of fun, affection, and purring every day. And no lie, just as I was typing this sentence, Tucker walked over and hopped up in my lap. Good kitty!
Caitlin and Tucker turn nine years old today. That’s about 53 in human years, but they don’t look or act their age (something we have in common). They’re the best cats in the uni-verse and the universe, and I can’t imagine life without them. They’ll be getting lots of catnip and other birthday treats today. Meow! ”” Paul
A Film Fit for Uni Watching: I knocked off work a bit early yesterday and caught a late-afternoon screning of the new Wes Anderson film, The Grand Budapest Hotel. It’s enjoyable in that now-familiar Wes Anderson way (I don’t love all his films but I do tend to like most of them), but what really struck me was that it’s that rarest of cinematic creatures: a great uniform movie.
Seriously, the film is one great set of uniforms after another. One at a time:
1. Hotel uniforms. The movie is set in an early-1930s hotel, back when being part of the uniformed service class still meant something, and the unis worn by the concierge, the lobby boy, the elevator operator, and so on are all so beautifully rendered that I don’t even mind the purple-centric color scheme (for all of these images, you can click to enlarge, and it’s totally worth doing so to see the texture and details):
2. Prison uniforms. The lead character, played by Ralph Fiennes, spends part of the film in prison, where he and his fellow inmates wear some classic-looking striped uniforms:
3. Police and military uniforms. There are several encounters with the local gendarmes, whose uniforms are spectacular:
4. Bakery uniforms. There are a few scenes that show the uniforms of a local bakery called Mendl’s. I particularly like the caps:
5. Usherette uniform. There’s a brief scene set in a theater, and I noticed that the usherette — who was onscreen for maybe three seconds — had an absolutely magnificent uniform. I wasn’t able to find an image of it online, unfortunately.
Anyway: Very good movie. But a great, great uniform movie. Kudos to costume designer Milena Canonero.
Apocalyptic fun: In case you missed it earlier this week, we’re currently running another e-book promotion, and this one is for a book that should be a no-brainer for most of you: The Sports Illustrated Book of the Apocalypse: Two Decades of Sports Absurdity, which is a compendium of SI’s long-running “Signs of the Apocalypse” series. It’s basically an encyclopedia of Donald Sterling-esque stupidity from the sports world, presented in a highly entertaining fashion.
Our friends at Diversion Books are making the e-version of the book available to Uni Watch readers for the exclusive low price of $1.99. That price will only be good for this week — don’t miss.
’Skins Watch: Never a dull moment in ’Skins-ville, as a ’Skins-themed semiautomatic rifle showed up at a DC-area gun show and online. Now the NFL is investigating, because the league doesn’t allow the use of its team logos on firearms. ”¦ Brady Graham reports that the North Dakota Highway Patrol has a Native American mascot character called Red Tomahawk. “I’d be interested in hearing what the public opinion of this would be,” he says. (Update: Turns out Red Tomahawk was an actual Lakota Indian who had a career in law enforcement. Interesting!)
Baseball News: While looking through Bill Henderson’s jersey guide for something else, I came across a detail I hadn’t been aware of before: The Rockies used to have team-branded buttons on their jerseys! … I’d previously reported that the Angels had begun wearing red belts and red shoes when wearing their red alternate jerseys at home. But on Monday night they went with the red accessories while wearing their home whites (good spot by Brett Crane). … Red Cross-themed jersey for the Pensacola Blue Wahoos (from Kourage Kundahl). … The Iowa Cubs were rained out last night, but they had been slated to wear Iowa Oaks jerseys. The Oaks were the franchise’s original name from 1969 through 1981. … When the Cubs wear their 1994 throwbacks while hosting the Orioles on Aug. 24, the Orioles will be wearing ’94 throwbacks as well (thanks, Phil). … “I recently came across a photo of my high school’s ‘unique’ alternate jerseys,” says Mike Schwartz. “That’s West Linn High School in Oregon. This is the only picture I can find right now, so I can’t tell what the design is on the jerseys, but I’ll bet they’re little lions.” … At least two fans have Nats jerseys with “Ovechkin” NOBs. ”¦ Someone needs to tell this dude how a baseball cap works. ”¦ Lots of uni-notable stuff going on in this photo from last night’s game between Kansas and Wichita State: the nice stirrups on the Kansas hitter, the awful truncated striping on the Wichita pitcher’s jersey and pants, and — most intriguingly — a base runner wearing a jacket! Remember, college teams all use the DH, so that can’t be a pitcher out there. What’s the deal? “The announcer said it was because he was going to pitch the next inning,” says Colin Harrison. “He started the game as a DH.” Interesting — never heard of anything like that before. ”¦ Something else I’ve never seen or heard of: Daisuke Matsuzaka warmed up in Philly last night while wearing a Mets ski cap (from @STLMetsFan5). ”¦ All the recent talk about uniform protests reminded Douglas Smith of this one: When the Reds traded a bunch of players during a fire-sale season in the late ’90s, Barry Larkin removed his captaincy patch and replaced it with the uni numbers of his traded teammates.
NFL News: Contrary to what was reported in yesterday’s Ticker, Michael Vick might not be wearing No. 8 after all. ”¦ Former Packers RB Bill Butler has donated some rare Lombardi-era gear to the team’s archives, including a very cool-looking 1959 Packers basketball uniform (from Lee David Wilds). ”¦ The Browns are exploring the possibility of adding a cheerleading squad in 2015.
Hockey News: Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: What is every NHL team had its own Game of Thrones-style banner? (From Kevin Kurz.) … A Canadiens fan and a Bruins fan both have serious basement shrines devoted to their favorite teams (thanks, Phil). ”¦ NHL ref Steve Kozari ended up with a black eye during last night’s Rangers/Flyers game (screen shot by Alan Kreit). ”¦ Speaking of the Flyers, they’re selling team logo-shaped pretzels at their arena (from John Muir).
NBA News: After NBA commish Adam Silver lowered the boom on Clippers owner Donald Sterling yesterday, the Clippers’ website replaced all its content with a simple message on a black background. There was no link, no way to enter the site — that was it. At some point — I’m not sure when — they added a link to enter the site. ”¦ Meanwhile, some enterprising fans came up with a T-shirt response to the Sterling situation, and someone else retired Sterling’s jersey (thanks, Phil). ”¦ I have nothing to add regarding the Sterling mess except this: It’s now quite apparent that Adam Silver can move quickly and decisively when the circumstances allow, and this episode has no doubt strengthened his position within the league, all of which doesn’t bode well for those of us who oppose corporate ads on uniforms.
College Hoops News: No photo, Wayne D’Antoni submitted another example of a team-wide uniform protest: “Back in the early ’70’s the University of Loyola in New Orleans announced during the season that they were ditching the men’s varsity basketball program. The players peeled the nickname ‘Wolfpack’ off of their unis, and a local media type dubbed them (or they dubbed themselves, can’t remember which) the ‘Orphans.’ They were referred to in that manner when they were mentioned on sports broadcasts and in the local papers at the time.”
Soccer News: You say you wanna support the Japanese World Cup team and celebrate Hello Kitty’s 40th anniversary? Yusuke Toyoda has the perfect jersey for you.
Grab Bag: Lots of examples of team-wide uniform protests — including a bunch we hadn’t come up with earlier this week — in this solidly executed article. There are a few in there that I definitely should have come up with for my own piece on that same topic earlier this week (from Matt Shepardson). ”¦ USA Today invited kids to redesign the paper’s logo. … Latest team to wear pink: the Aussie football team the Melbourne Demons (from Leo Strawn Jr.). ”¦ All you colorizers out there — and everyone else, really — will enjoy these before/after colorized photos (big thanks to Andrew Rader). ”¦ Rock drummer Mick Fleetwood loves wearing hats. No, I mean he really loves wearing hats. ”¦ After repeated criticisms of new military hairstyle regulations, which many observers argued were unfair to black women, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered a review of the regulations. ”¦ Here’s an early cricket helmet from 1933 (from Graham Clayton).
To expand the uniform definition in Grand Budapest Hotel, you slso have the monks in their habits.
To take the hotel uniforms in the Grand Budapest Hotel a step further, there is also the “Society of the Crossed Keys.” I loved how each hotel had its own uniform with its own color palette, but they all were members of a larger “league” —
link
I immediately thought of Uni Watch!
Euromaxx, a news-magazine from the German broadcaster Deutch-Welle, had a piece today on Marjam Alexandra Grese. She runs a fashion boutique in Berlin called “Mimi’s Antique Textils” that supplied the costumes for Grand Budapest Hotel. The segment runs from 11 min 40 sec to 15 min 38 sec.
link
And as bonus to the 9 (53) year olds, the same episode had a piece on cat cafes in England. That segment runs from 17 min 37 sec to 20 min to 36
I think the “We Are One” thing was a league-wide thing in some fashion, as the Pacers did the same thing on their Facebook page. link
Which, I meant to add, was unfortunate timing on the Pacers’ part. The irate fanbase added plenty of endings to the slogan, such as “We Are One. . .Loss From Being Out of the Playoffs.” Good intentions gone awry.
There’s no link in the West Linn item.
Thanks. Now fixed. Here’s the proper link:
link
Iowa Cubs were rained out last night.
Thanks. WIll adjust text.
Since the Buffalo Bills will be inactive for 2014 maybe they could relocate to Cleveland as the “Brownies.”
I meant the Buffalo Jills. But the way the Bills have played in recent years maybe they should disband as well. LOL
In college baseball it is not that uncommon for teams to have position players that they use as relievers when needed. If you have the arm strength to play at that level, odds are you were used as a pitcher in high school. In the situation described above, after the DH comes into pitch the DH position just goes away and whoever is playing the pitcher position in the field will have to hit or be pinch hit for once his turn to bat comes up again.
I saw Buster Posey catch eight innings for FSU, and then come in and pitch the ninth. He had a homer and a save in the same game. That was pretty special to see in person.
Also, when Michael Roth was at South Carolina he would hit for himself a lot. Roth was a converted first baseman, so he had a pretty good stick. When he was pitching Ray Tanner would just list him as the DH, even though there really was no DH.
It get’s even more confusing in college softball where the DH doesn’t have to hit for the pitcher. So there will be games where the pitcher will bat for themselves, and the DH (which they refer to as the “designated player”) will hit for the shortstop or something like that.
I can’t remember the circumstances now, but I’ve seen this happen in college baseball as well. The pitcher was hitting and the DH was hitting for one of the other fielders.
I just realized that it’s because in college baseball, the pitcher and DH positions are treated as separate (but one player may fill both roles), such that a pitcher can be relieved for as the pitcher but remains the DH. So what probably happened was that the starting pitcher was also the DH, and a relief pitcher came in for him, so the starter was then just the DH from that point.
If I’m not mistaken, Tim Hudson led the SEC in HRs during his last season at Auburn. It’s basically the norm to see players pitch and DH/play the field in the modern college game. (That sentence works for baseball, too.)
I seem to remember Darren Dreifort being a nasty P/DH while at Wichita State.
Posey played every position once in a college game,too–other teams in the conference hated him for being just a hot dog and showing up the other team for that.
I don’t see a lot of 2-way players in the ACC, but have seen a few from time to time.
link?
itemId=120828887183
“Game worn” john wayne shirt ftom the Searchers.
“Someone needs to tell this dude how a baseball cap works.”
But… if he actually has to turn his hat around, he won’t be one of the cool kids!
*facepalm*
Happy 9th Birthday, T&C!
That’s quite an interesting pattern on those pillows. What are those figures, seahorses?
Oh, wait. They’re owl heads. That’s pretty cool!
Yeah, it took me a minute to figure out the owl heads on the quilt. Happy Birthday, Tucker and Caitlin–still as handsome as ever. One of the libraries at UNC-CH has therapy kitties for stressed out students taking finals to pet, this year. They also have dogs again, but this is the first year for cats. Not many cats would stand for being mauled by dozens of college kids.
Just realized I had this old “Birthday Card”.
May as well repost.
That’s awesome, it took me a minute to notice the stirrup-fur!
The NFL’s licensing rules that say no firearms merchandise are not in question with the Redskins rifle. Rather, it’s just like a homemade sweatshirt: If you want to paint your rifle in your favorite team’s colors, and even put the team’s logo on it, you absolutely have the right to do that. But sell it, whether it’s a rifle or a sweatshirt, and you’re violating team and league copyrights.
For what it’s worth, it’s a terrible custom job on that rifle. Most of the pieces look painted, mostly spray or dipped, but some appear to be actually brush painted. Even small-time custom producers usually add color with anodizing or powder coating, which is both more durable and doesn’t add thickness to the part. Firearms are pretty precisely machined, so you can’t just slap a layer of paint on a part and expect it to work properly.
Anyway, it’s almost funny that the NFL would object, since Dan Snyder has a long history of involving his team and players in NRA events, fundraising, and shooting events. That, they don’t have a problem with, but some dude paints his AR-15 burgundy and gold, and the league sics the lawyers.
Trademark law is an issue that businesses of many sizes take seriously. Their brand has value and that brand can be names, logos, even colors (though that’s more likely trade dress).
I’ve seen clients dragged into federal court for less.
Powder coating does add thickness to the surface, oftentimes a substantial thickness, hence the word “coating” in the term. Anodizing, however, is a treatment to the existing surface and does not add thickness to it.
True, and good point, but doesn’t powder coating typically add less thickness for a given depth of color than applying a wet paint, whether by spray or dipping? The seller’s original description specifically mentions dip-painting one or more of the piece.
Interestingly, in the background of both pictures are several apparently anodized AR-15 accessories. If you’re going to make a Redskins rifle, anodize the relevant parts, and don’t sell it!
To Red Wing below, while I don’t like the frivolity inherent in decorating a firearm in team colors, I have seen people use the logos of their favorite teams’ rivals for target practice. Somehow, even though I would not feel comfortable with, say, a 1911-style pistol decorated like a Nats uniform, I would feel comfortable slapping a Phillies logo on a target sheet at the firing range.
My first thought was that they couldn’t even get the burgundy tones to match. The sight (optic) and the rest of the weapon are two different tones. Which of course made me think of the Cowboys and their insistence on looking like a bad rummage sale of silvers and blues. What Washington fan would want a rifle that (in some tangential, Uni Watch readers notice, way) references their arch-rivals?
A little Google search on Red Tomahawk has him as a police officer who killed Sitting Bull. link
In Men’s NCAA baseball, it is not uncommon for a pitcher to bat and get on base. Pictured on second base wearing a jacket is Dakota Smith, who started the game as DH, went 3 for 5, and pitched a scoreless 8th inning in relief.
The North Dakota HP shoulder patch is based on an actual Lakota named Red Tomahawk. From what I see he is credited with killing Sitting Bull and had quite a career in law enforcement.
link
THanks — good info. I’ll add that to the text.
Here is the video of NHL ref Steve Kozari taking a puck to the face at the Red Wings/Bruins game a few days before, which caused his black eye last night.
link
That pic of the guy w/ his hat on backwards is photoshopped. It’s actually a cubs hat. They inserted the Tx A&M logo and removed “cubs” from the brim. In full-size versions of that picture, you can see many other crowd members wearing cubs’ gear.
link
I mean, the point remains, but I thought you’d like to see the original pic.
Yeah, once you see the original, there are obvious signs – like the TA&M logo that’s misaligned with the hat but perfectly aligned with the frame, and I doubt an A&M fan would be out wearing a burnt orange shirt.
“… A Canadiens fan and a Bruins fan both have serious basement shrines devoted to their favorite teams (thanks, Phil). … ”
That Habs fan has amassed a fabulous collection. Wow. Is there a major league franchise in any sport that boasts a uni history more illustrious than the Canadiens? Really.
“…You say you wanna support the Japanese World Cup team and celebrate Hello Kitty’s 40th anniversary? Yusuke Toyoda has the perfect jersey for you…”
Keep ’em coming, Yusuke.
Who is the more despicable owner? Micky Arison or Sterling? It’s a close call. The Heat joined the unicentric protest with the warm ups and all, but where’s the outrage about Arison? You know, the guy who is a billionaire more than ten times over, on the backs of foreign workers who he pays about $60 per month, and pays was head of a corporation who pays no US income taxes. Get rid of him too?
You can dig up dirt on 60-70% of professional team owners, Donald Sterling was simply the lowest-hanging piece of fruit.
Well, get somebody to illegally record him saying stupid stuff, too. They knew most of the racist stuff about Sterling for years, but nobody did anything until the incendiary comments were heard.
I was telling a friend, Americans don’t care about regular black or Hispanic folks, but they sure do love Magic Johnson.
Maybe the girl recorded him illegally (we don’t know that yet). Maybe, as you’re implying (and as many other people are explicitly saying), she’s a terrible, terrible person.
And maybe all the people expressing outrage this week, as you’re implying (and as many other people are explicitly saying), are hypocrites.
OK, so now we’ve established that the girl is trash and people are hypocrites.
Doesn’t change one little thing about Sterling. And Sterling’s comments are the only thing that matter here. Everything else is just noise.
What’s done is done. Let’s please move on. Thanks.
Trying to come up with a way to link uniforms to Bob Hoskins (RIP) but cant figure anything out. (Except for dressing as Super Mario but better left unsais)
link A very good looking baseball scene.
What about the link from Brazil?
At least two fans have Nats jerseys with “Ovechkin” NOBs.
Are there other examples of fans wearing jerseys with the name and number of star on another team (I mean, besides a basketball player getting a baseball jersey because he threw the first pitch, for example). Seems like folks would’ve made “Jordan 23” Cubs or White Sox jerseys, or maybe Lemieux or Jagr Pirates jerseys.
You can purchase Jordan White Sox jerseys, you don’t even have to customize them.
Glad I’m not the only guy who can admit to loving cats. I’ve had both cats and dogs in my life, and greatly prefer cats. I’ve been playfully chided by friends who think a man is just supposed to have a dog, but let the haters hate. Tucker and Caitlin look like a great couple of pets.
Part of the fun of having a cat is the chess match the two of you play trying to outsmart each other (depending on how mischievous the cat is).
Paul was speaking of cats not acting their age, Trixie Firecracker, a rescue tabby found abandoned by her mother, didn’t act her age for over 14 years. She always thought she was a kitten and has just recently started slowing down. Now, nearing 16, she’s entered grumpy old lady cat stage [well earned]. I never tired of playing with her, be it a feather on a string or just chasing each other around the house.
Cats do have the maintenance advantage over dogs to be sure, and have the ability to entertain themselves when the owner is out, unlike many dogs who end up causing damage to their homes.
But there definitely seems to be more stories of dogs helping people, and not just the individual owner. Cats appear to be more likely to save their own skin, while you hear of dogs helping not just their owners, but complete strangers. Some dogs can smell disease in humans, and we all know the countless lives dogs have saved in military and law enforcement duty. And going back thousands of years, it was the dog which played a key role in our own survival as a species.
The ancient Egyptians didn’t worship cats as gods without reason. Cats are certainly capable of saving people from things like housefires, but the cat must deem you worthy of being saved.
Dan Steinberg of the post posted a picture of someone wearing a Wizards “jordan 23” at the gsme. Trolling at its ftinest
Notice the red spats on the lobby boy uniform.
“I recently came across a photo of my high school’s ‘unique’ alternate jerseys,” says Mike Schwartz. “That’s West Linn High School in Oregon. This is the only picture I can find right now, so I can’t tell what the design is on the jerseys, but I’ll bet they’re little lions.”
They look like pajamas.
That gun is simply a custom job. What’s there to investigate? My little sister is a skins fan and when she was little I painted the redskins logo on her bike basket. That’s really no different than doing a custom job on a gun you own. How is this an issue?
Because someone was selling it.
It’s an issue because you and your little sister didn’t try to sell that bike basket.
of course we did. The bike and basket were sold in 1985. I understand it’s an unauthorized use of trademark and whatnot but this is kind of cheap on behalf of the NFL. How many custom fan made logos on items are their floating around?
If you decorate something for yourself and later sell it as used, the NFL is probably not going to care. But the rifle in this case was clearly customized with the intent of selling it as fan merchandise, and the seller is on record asking for a handsomely marked-up price. I could slap a Nats logo on a sweatshirt for my own use and later sell it at a garage sale for five or ten bucks, and MLB isn’t going to come after me. But if I take that sweatshirt and add the Nats logo with the intention of selling it for $50 to earn a big profit, I should expect MLB to haul me into court for violating the league’s intellectual property rights.
I’m guessing you and your sister didn’t post the photo of the bike on the 1985 equivalent of Twitter or Reddit. And surely you understand the difference between selling an item in a yard sale and creating something specifically for sale at a trade show.
And I think you’re misunderstanding the issue for the NFL. The point of trademark isn’t just to protect profits, but also to allow trademark/copyrights to determine how and by whom their imagery is used. It’s not unreasonable for the NFL to not want logo of the league or its teams used on firearm, for example.
*trademark/copyrights owner
ugh.
While reading the ‘Skins Watch, I had a thought I’d not had before: Will the thorough scouring of Native American names and imagery from society also effectively remove them from our collective consciousness? While many team names and logos are indeed in need of being retired, I don’t think all uses are inherently derogatory. And in some cases, are keeping the Native American culture in people’s minds.
Right — that’s the best way to teach anyone about anything: name a sports team after it.
Yup.
It isn’t the best way, but it’s better than having their imagery completely banned from the mainstream. Your argument that only Native Americans should use Native American imagery only serves to further isolate them from everyone else. How does that help anything?
Classic straw man argument. Nobody ever argued that Native imagery should be “completely banned from the mainstream,” and your notion that Natives are inherently “isolate[d]” is completely fucked.
You can have educational programs, museums, community programs, educational TV shows, etc. Lots of ways to involve Natives in “the mainstream” without exploiting their cultural imagery for corporate profit.
Nobody ever named a team after Asians (or Jews, or Hispanics, or blacks), and yet somehow they weren’t “isolated.”
When we’re done doing the Natives a favor by naming teams after them, maybe we can help out other disadvantaged groups by renaming some teams as the Battered Wives, the Unemployed, and the Poor. Otherwise they might fall away from our collective consciousness, right?
Yup.
keeping the Native American culture in people’s minds.
What part of the Cleveland Indians experience represents “Native American culture”? Is the designated hitter some kind of ancient Shawnee practice? Was the seventh-inning stretch really a traditional Miami sacred ritual? Are you talking about, like, chewing tobacco or something?
Look, I’m cool with respectful Indian imagery in sports. Retire Chief Wahoo and I’ll defend the Indians in arguments on the subject. But it seems beyond absurd to suggest that, with or without Chief Wahoo, the Cleveland Indians have anything at all to do with “Native American culture.” Attend an Indians game, and you will come away with no new knowledge or appreciation of Native American culture. Nada. Zip. Zero. Attend 81 Indians home games, and you’ll still come away without having learned anything about Native American culture, and likely you’ll have had repeated exposure to non-Native stereotypes and mockery of Native American culture.
Native American nicknames and iconography has almost nothing to do with popular understanding of Native American culture, so fewer such teams will in no way diminish awareness or appreciation of Native American culture. I can think of three exceptions: The Florida Seminoles and the Spokane Indians, who actually involve particular tribes in their work and so do represent aspects of Native American culture, and the Seattle Seahawks, whose logo is a pretty straightforward rendering, not a caricature, of Native American art. The Seahawks logo is the anti-Wahoo.
The Jeff,
If anyone cared about the presence of Indian heritage in American culture, it would be the folks at the National Museum of the American Indian, yet they hosted a link.
Sure, in a world of false dichotomies like you present, a racist nickname is better than nothing, but we get to have more than two choices, and like arrScott says, we already have examples of teams who do it right.
Wow. A hypothetical comment ignited a firestorm. I don’t condone any disrespectful use of Native American names and imagery, to make that clear.
What has been the consensus on the Chicago Blackhawks? Have they been deemed “respectful?” I ask because I don’t often read all the Uni-comments.
Thanks for the feedback to my original post. Really, I was not trying to be inflammatory.
Growing up in Cleveland, we had a class study in junior high school centered around the Cleveland Indians baseball team. We were exposed to Louis Sockalexis, his tribe, and his life. It was a subject that tied Native American Culture to civic pride, and as kids, also held our attention due to the baseball tie-in. For my classmates and I, it was the ideal way to expose us to the presence of Indian heritage in American Culture.
“Growing up in Cleveland, we had a class study in junior high school centered around the Cleveland Indians baseball team. We were exposed to Louis Sockalexis, his tribe, and his life.”
~~~
That’s awesome. Unfortunately, you probably didn’t learn the truth though. Much like the most kids (or at least when I was a lad, back in the non-“PC” era) learned of the native peoples in school, it was Pilgrims & first supper (or Thanksgiving), then pretty much somehow *they* turned on *us* while we simply wanted to peacefully exploit their lands. We didn’t learn about the Trail of Tears, Andy Jackson, forced removals, destruction of property and lands, broken treaties, etc. Somehow all *that* history got, pardon the pun, whitewashed.
The story of Louis Sockalexis is a sad one, and tragic. Probably not the one you were told. And it’s still being debated whether the “Indians” were actually named “for” (or “in his honor”) him. But I’m sure all sides of that story were told, right?
I’m not meaning to be critical of you or the educational system — I’m only saying that you probably didn’t learn the full story — just the “good” parts.
And depending on who you believe, there are many modern writers who have done much research on the man and the “myth,” who debunk the story of Louis being the genesis of the team name.
What we do know, sadly, is that Louis was given to drink, and that led to his early death at the age of, I believe, 43. He only played in something like 90 or so games over parts of 3 seasons. That alone makes it questionable that the team would be named for (or in his honor) him.
I don’t know whether or not the myth is true. Even Joe Posnanski (whose work is linked above and who has probably done the most research on Louis) still can’t be 100% certain the team wasn’t nicknamed “Indians” due to his being on the team, although the connection is specious at best.
I’d love to hear more about your class and what you studied though. Seriously.
Your reaction, declaring what I “probably didn’t learn” really sums up the conflict between those demanding a logo/name change vs. those who don’t quite nicely, and is a good life lesson. You can either focus on the positive things in this time you have on Earth, or you can focus, and become obssessed with the negative things. The fact is, a bunch of 13 year olds in Cleveland Ohio were exposed to Native American culture because the city’s baseball team was named after the first Native American professional baseball player.
Hey Paul,
Didn’t even realize that you had linked to my piece on the Cleveland Crusaders and their black armbands in your ESPN article yesterday.
Thanks for reminding me about it. I had totally forgotten! LOL
Thank YOU for documenting that chapter in uni history, Teebz. Hope you got a little traffic bump out of the ESPN mention.
Just a little. I had to find out why, and the links pointed back to your story. Like I said, I had totally forgotten about it, so thanks! :)
Thanks for the colorized photos. Elizabeth Taylor was an absolute knockout.
You’re not kidding… but it’s a shame they colored her eyes wrong.
Good point. Normally, I’d say this is nitpicking, but in this case I’d say micoloring the eyes is a pretty big mistake.
Same for the link. Didn’t he famously always wear a gray suit?
micoloring = miscoloring (if my comment ever gets released from the sin bin).
1) Oh Audrey… sigh.
2) Who knew link
3) The country store might be my favorite. So much detail.
With a couple of recent posts on baseball players wearing glasses (Paul posted a link last week to a Japanese catcher wearing them in the mid-90s, and B.J. Upton started wearing them last week), here’s a link to a slideshow of numerous baseball players wearing glasses over the years — link
Paul, are C&T littermates, or simply a bonded pair?
Obligatory hotel uniform content: Emil Jannings as a German demoted from doorman, desparate to hold on to the uniform.
Whoops.
That’s Emil Jannings in link directed by FW Murnau.
Until this movie I had no idea of the importance Germans place on professions’ uniforms.
They’re littermates, so they’ve been together since the womb. And today is their actual birthday, not the anniversary of the day I acquired them (that date is in mid-June). The person who brought them to the shelter knew the exact date they’d been born in his garage!
It was a litter of five. I knew I wanted a boy and a girl, and Tucker was the only boy from the litter, so he was a given. I picked up all the girls and played with them a bit, and Caitlin sort of chose me before I had a chance to choose her — she was all over me, climbing, putting her paws on my face, a total monkey. She’s still that way today. Amazing that her character and personality were already evident at six weeks old.
OK, I’ll stop — I could talk all day about these awesome cats….
Littermates are the best. And “dedicated cat staff” all have lots of stories. Thanx.
RE: The NHL GoT style banners. Can we please finally remove the Roman soldier theme from the Senators logo, etc.? What does a Senator have to do with a soldier? Use the original (albeit never used) Peace Tower wordmark, it was so much more unique.
Shout out to UWer Yusuke Toyoda, who’s international contributions are always top notch.
I knew Paul had done articles on bullpen cars in the past. link
Did not realize it was 7 years ago. But watching the 1974 highlights of the NY Mets during the rain delay showed that the Mets had bullpen cars for all of the visiting teams as well. I saw different ones for the Braves, Reds, and Phillies in the highlights. Who approved that expense?
It’s unfortunate that the Cubs and Orioles are throwing back to 1994 rather than link.
The gray hat! I forgot about that one. And I even owned one as a kid. Thanks for that awesome memory.
When the Cubs wear their 1994 throwbacks while hosting the Orioles on Aug. 24, the Orioles will be wearing ’94 throwbacks as well
WHY would anybody in Major League Baseball throwback to 1994??? Are they going to stop playing 2/3 of the way through the game to rub it in even more?
That would be worse than the LA Clippers throwing back to 1994. Speaking of which…if I were the next owner of that team, I’d do a total re-brand. Name, colors, uniform, logo. I smell another UW re-designing contest!
Are they going to stop playing 2/3 of the way through the game
GREAT IDEA! That means we won’t have to listen to some random dipshit butcher “Take Me out to the Ballgame.”
As soon as the Expos take a lead, the game stops. That’s how you commemorate 1994.
My favorite piece of sports memorabilia is my official 1994 World Series ball. Winter of 1994-1995, MLB dumped a ton of 1994 playoff balls on its marketing and promotional partners. My dad, who worked for a CBS Radio affiliate, got one, and it’s been the pride of my collection ever since. My kid brother played with it a bit, so it even looks like it’s game used! (Makes it worthless as memorabilia, in the cash sense, but it’s priceless to me as an artifact, in a sentimental sense.)
Thanks for the Grand Budapest Hotel screencaps. Like the Wes Anderson aesthetics or not, I think it’s hard not to appreciate his eye for aesthetics, especially for sartorial signifiers like uniforms.
Though I don’t think you can beat the Royal Tennenbaums for the sportiness, with Richie’s tennis gear and Chas and his kids’ Adidas tracksuits.
Speaking of team-themed rifles, I suggest a new plan: Let the Oregon fan win.
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From an AR-15 custom shop in, of all places, Portland. NCAA-colored semiautomatic rifles may be the least West Coast hipster things ever.
Blazers have a Dr. Jack memorial patch, and it is a winner. I place it behind Harry Caray, King Clancy, and Tom Landry, in no particular order.
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I would SO wear that.
RIP Dr. Jack Ramsey.
That ’77 Finals is still the greatest display of team basketball I’ve ever seen in the NBA.
I’m a little late with this, but I recall NASCAR owner Robert Yates removing all the Ford-related decals from Ernie Irvan’s #28 over some sort of dispute (R&D or $ or both) back in 1997 at Michigan.
Ernie wound up winning the race, his last with that team, at the tracksite where he had a near-lethal crash some time before.
Yates only went halfway with this protest though, as Irvan’s team mate in the #88 (Dale Jarrett)retained the Ford Quality Care sponsorship and branding on his ride for that event.
Is this anthem too obvious for the NBA?
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Upton in his glasses reminded me of a Tumblr page I started of baseball players wearing sunglasses (on their baseball cards). I haven’t added to it in a while. Maybe I’ll revisit it in the coming weeks. Dave
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The end of an era.
Tucker looks just like my Darrel. Paul