Question Time, Vol. 6

Welcome to the latest installment of Question Time (and our first one in nearly a year), where you folks ask me about anything you want, uni-related or otherwise, and I pretend to give a shit engage in deep, thoughtful consideration before answering. It’s been nearly a year since the last time we did this. Ready? Here we go:

Which U.S. state flag is your favorite?

Ohio’s, because of the unusual shape.

Which sock/shoe do you put on first ”” left or right?

Usually right. I have no idea why.

What was the biggest uni-related news scoop that you had to keep secret (and that you can share now, of course)?

I knew about the Brooklyn Nets’ uniform designs for more than a year before they were unveiled, and I knew about the NBA’s sleeved Christmas 2013 jerseys for about six months before they eventually leaked via another channel. Keeping embargoed info to myself comes with the job — I have no problem with that. But it can occasionally be frustrating when I play by the rules and then someone less scrupulous goes ahead and leaks something and ends up scooping me. But whatever — I’ve had plenty of scoops of my own over the years, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty more.

What is your favorite New York City bookstore, and why?

I like bookstores fine (if I had to pick one, I guess I’d go with the Strand, although that’s kinda predictable), but I’ve never spent major time hanging out in them. What I really love is a good newsstand or magazine shop, but of course those are now becoming an endangered species due to the decline of print media. Sigh.

What kind of compensation did you receive for letting Madden 25 use “your” tweets in the game?

As I said when I first wrote about that gig, “It’s not a lot of money, although it’s some nice pocket change.” I’ll stick with that.

What is your opinion of minor league baseball theme nights, especially those that involve teams dressing in unusual uniforms?

I love a good minor league theme night. What I find disappointing is when lots of teams trot out the same themes and use uniforms that are obviously stock designs — the Star Wars thing, the Jimmy Buffet thing, the ugly Christmas sweater thing, etc. So lazy! Come up with something original or don’t bother.

What is currently your favorite beer?

Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal Stout, but that’s mostly for special occasions. My favorite everyday beer is Yuengling. In general, I favor malty, not hoppy.

Not considering any specific teams, just completely in general, how would you rank your liking of uniforms by sport?

Hockey uniforms are the most interesting — the untucked jerseys, the short pants, the full-body coverage. And basketball uniforms are definitely the least interesting, because there’s so little body coverage and socks have more or less become afterthoughts.

But MLB uniforms are in a pretty good phase right now. So if we’re talking about the current state of a given sport’s uniforms, I’d probably go with MLB. Yes, even with the pajama pants.

How does a guy in Brooklyn become a 49ers fan?

When I was seven years old, I reached into a box of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes and pulled out this Ken Willard “3-D” football card. At that moment I became a Niners fan, and thus has it ever been. I’m also a big Giants fan — they were the team my father and brothers rooted for, so I picked that up from them. But if forced to choose between those two teams, I take the Niners.

As an aside, I have a similar rooting situation for the NHL: When I was seven, my brother bought me a copy of a magazine with Canadiens then-goalie Ken Dryden on the cover. At that moment, I became a Habs fan, and I still root for them today, with the Rangers a close second.

Have you ever been asked to be a consultant for a movie or TV show to make sure every detail of a uniform is accurate in every way?

No. And frankly, there are probably lots of people who are better qualified to do that than I am. I’m no slouch, but my uni knowledge is based primarily on photos, articles, etc. There are plenty of folks out there (collectors, curators, historians) who have lots of experience handling actual uniforms and are therefore better equipped to address issues regarding fabrics, stitching, etc. To see what I mean, check out my 2013 article about Ebbets Field Flannels’ role in creating the uniforms for the Jackie Robinson biopic 42.

What are the top three music shows you’ve attended?

I’ve seen a lot of live music over the past 30some years, kids, so it’s hard to narrow it down. But I can unequivocally say that he best live band I’ve ever seen was the Mekons during the period from 1987 through 1990. I saw them five or six times during this period, and there was zero doubt in my mind that they were the world’s greatest live band at that time.

Some other shows that I recall fondly: Soul Asylum in Binghamton, 1987; Pavement in Hoboken, 1989 (I believe this was the second show they ever did); the Lazy Cowgirls in Manhattan, 1993-ish; Guided by Voices in Manhattan, 1993; the Big Star tribute show in Central Park last summer; and probably lots of other stuff I’m forgetting at the moment.

Who are your favorite guitarists?

I’m always suspicious of this type of question, because most guitarists (and bassists, and drummers, etc.) don’t exist in a vacuum. They and their work are usually part of a larger whole, and isolating one element from that whole doesn’t always work.

That said, I’m particularly partial to the work of Chuck Berry (who invented rock and roll), Johnny Ramone (reinvented rock and roll), and Keith Richards (best rhythm guitarist ever). I hear echoes of all three of those guys in the work of Johnny Thunders, who’s another favorite. I generally have little interest in extended electric soloing but make exceptions for Richard Thompson and the Delta bluesman Robert Nighthawk.

What did you think about the Andre Dawson-era Montreal Expos jerseys?

Loved them. Miss them.

We all know that you are not a fan of “advertising where it is not supposed to be,” especially on most sports uniforms, but how do you feel about racing driver suits, helmets, and gloves, and the science behind designing them for maximum advertising exposure?

As I’ve often said, I think team sports are different than individual sports. I’m not crazy about a golfer or tennis player or boxer wearing advertising, but it doesn’t bother me the same way an ad-clad MLB player would. (And yes, I realize there are racing “teams,” but auto racing is ultimately still an individual sport.)

Also, I accept the fact that ad-plastered suits, gloves, and helmets are part of the culture of auto racing, although it’s probably easier for me to accept that fact because I don’t really care about auto racing. Still, when I hear about certain things being designed for maximum ad presence, I do tend to roll my eyes a bit.

Comic books: Marvel, DC, or other?

When I was a kid — roughly ages seven through 16 — I was very into Marvel, especially Thor, Dr. Strange, What If?, and Howard the Duck (which was a brilliant satirical comic book before it became one of the worst movies ever made).

As an adult, there are certain underground comix artists I’ve been into — Dame Darcy, Peter Bagge, Tony Millionaire, a few others — but I wouldn’t say I’m a comix guy. I’m just a guy who likes some comix.

I have never given a shit about DC. Ever.

When you are watching a sporting event, are you always/often focused on the uniforms, or can you watch the game without dwelling on the unis?

I wouldn’t say I’m focused on the uniforms while watching a game. It’s more like there’s a certain portion of my brain that’s always aware of any uni-related developments. It’s just something I’ve internalized. I was already doing this long before I started writing about uniforms.

This doesn’t inhibit my enjoyment of the game. On the contrary, I’d say it enhances my enjoyment of the game.

What does the “M. X.” stand for in Scott M. X. Turner’s name?

This question refers to membership card design Scott M. X. Turner. I forwarded the question to him, and he responded like so:

I worked at Human Rights Watch in the late ’80s and early ’90s. There was a lot of steam to blow off, given our work and the state of the world. One year there was a staff party, and musicians who worked at HRW were encouraged to form a band for the occasion. For unknown reasons, the flyer listed everyone with the nickname of a missile in the news at the time — “Exocet,” “Nike,” “M.X.” I got the latter. It turns out the MX missle was one of the worst designs ever for a missile. (Still, it’s better than getting “Nike,” a nickname I guarantee would not have stuck.) As nicknames organically do, this one stuck. While I’ve provided many different answers over the years, this is the one and true story.

So there you go.

I enjoy the “What Paul Did Last Night” section on the blog. My question: Has going out more been as beneficial for you as you hoped?

I didn’t suddenly start going out more — I just started documenting it, writing about it, etc. And yeah, I think it’s a good thing, especially for a work-at-home guy like me.

We all know that teams change uniforms so often nowadays in part as a way to generate new jersey sales. But some teams changed uniforms quite a bit in a pre-merch era. Why?

Excellent question. Some teams, like the White Sox and Cubs, clearly had management/ownership that liked to tinker, but I’m sure there are other explanations. A good subject for further research.

If you were forced into the witness protection program, what would you choose as your new name (assuming you get to choose and aren’t assigned one by the government)?

Hmmmmm. Can’t say I’ve ever given this much thought. The real question, it seems to me, is what I could possibly do that would land me in the witness protection program in the first place.

I recently compared an official Broncos jersey with an official Bears jersey and found the shades of orange and navy to be identical. Is there supposed to be a slight (but to my eyes imperceptible) difference between the Denver and Chicago colors, per the NFL or official team style manuals?

According to the NFL Style Guide, the Bears and Broncos have distinct shades of orange and navy. The official Pantone oranges are 1655 for the Broncos and 1665 for the Bears. The navys are 289 for the Broncos and 5395 for the Bears.

Whatever happened to Stirrup Fridays and Robert Marshall’s stirrup revolution?

Robert never made much coin on the stirrup biz (in fact, I think he often lost money), and I know he had some major headaches dealing with Twin City Knitting (the company that makes the stirrups), so he’s been transitioning out of that project.

Stirrup Fridays was a segment that Phil ran on the weekends, so I’ll let him address that:

I’m not sure Stirrup Fridays will return. It’s a lot of work to organize, and it lost a lot of momentum as Robert stopped selling new stirrups. I still have a bunch of photos saved up that were never published, so one day maybe I’ll just post them all. But as far as the recurring segment, that’s probably done.

How did you meet the New Girl?

My friend Freddie used to host 78-rpm record parties every few months at a local club. DJs would bring old jazz, blues, and R&B 78s — good stuff. The New Girl and I met at one of those parties, although we didn’t start dating until a year after that.

Why do you wear a goatee (or Van Dyke)?

For the same reason you probably wear your facial hair the way you do: because I think it suits me. Started wearing it in 1993 and decided I liked it. Every few years I’ll shave it off, just to remember what I look like without it, but I always decide I look better with it, so I let it grow back. This particular look has accumulated lots of cultural baggage over the years, of course, but I don’t care — I’m not making any cultural statement, and I’m not trying to look in or out of fashion for any particular era. I’m just going with a look that I think works for me.

When you recently turned 50 years old, you mentioned that you have “most of the same habits and routines” that you had when you were 35, “some of which are laughably analog for our current digital era.” What are those laughably analog habits and routines that you’ve kept for the past 15 years?

I don’t use any form of digital calendar or datebook. Instead, I create my own paper datebook by Xeroxing a template that I’ve been using for about 20 years and stapling/folding it myself. Just something I’m used to and happy with.

I also still have a land line. This is mainly because I work at home and need to be sure I have a dependable phone line for doing interviews.

I don’t own a DVD player but I still have a VCR and some old VHS tapes. They still work fine, so why not?

Obviously, when an MLB team travels, they have their own equipment manager and staff responsible for their uniforms and equipment. Who is responsible for the umpires? Do they bring their own, or is the home team responsible? Thank you very much!

The umps travel with their own gear, but MLB now makes sure that there are extra sets of uniforms available at every stadium, in case the umps’ luggage gets lost. This policy, which was adopted a few years ago, unfortunately means episodes like this are probably a thing of the past.

I’ve always been curious about what kind of system you use for the massive picture archive you must have. Do these files live on a Flickr account, or some cloud storage service like Dropbox? Are you able to tag photos with search terms so they can be found easily when a similar topic inevitably comes up in the future?

I probably should have a better organizational system for old uni photos. Everything’s on Flickr, and most of it is badly unorganized, untagged, etc. In a few instances I’ve kept track of certain things, like these photos of Dave Parker’s masks, which I’ve accumulated over the years. I really ought to have similar sets for FONBs, nickNOBs, color vs. color games, etc., but I don’t.

If you could watch one movie, and only one, for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Days of Heaven.

Have you ever considered doing a Uni Watch posting on fast food uniforms from the ’70s and ’80s? I particularly remember the Burger King and Baskin Robbins unis being some of the “best” from that era.

I actually wrote an article about fast food uniforms in 2005, for Chow magazine. I don’t think the article is anywhere on the web, unfortunately. But here’s a discussion thread I started in an attempt to crowd-source some of the research.

With over 1,500 Uni Watch membership cards produced so far, which ones qualify for your personal top 10?

I should start by saying that any design an enrollee wants is, by definition, a good design, even if I think it’s boring or ugly or whatever. If it makes you happy, that’s what’s important.

That said, I’ve long believed that the ugliest uniforms make for the best membership cards. So here are some of my faves:

Every day I wonder if I’m going to hear that you’re going to stop writing about uniforms, which would be a very sad day. So my question is: How long do you plan to continue focusing on uniforms and Uni Watch, professionally?

As I’ve said in previous installments of Question Time, I tend to think of my work in terms of projects, and I think this particular project is almost certainly closer to its end than to its beginning. On the other hand, I just signed a new contract with ESPN, so don’t worry — the end isn’t going to arrive tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow.

MLB’s current uniform landscape is exceptionally navy-heavy, so do you think the Red Sox would still look good if they swapped in kelly green for the navy in their set? I feel it’d work well with Fenway Park, the cross-town Celtics, and the Irish population of greater Boston.

I wouldn’t be in favor of this. For starters, a red/green color scheme always runs the risk of looking too Christmas-y. And if you’re looking to cut down on navy in MLB, why tinker with the Sox, who’ve had navy as part of their classic look for generations? I’d say the Rays and Padres would be better targets for a de-navy-fication program.

You often mention that Hamilton Nolan is really good. What other writers would you say are really good?

First, just to reiterate: Hamilton Nolan, who writes for Gawker, is probably the greatest cultural observer and polemicist currently plying his trade in America today. Don’t miss. (If you want a taste, here’s one of his best pieces.)

I’m also fond of Ken Layne. He covers a lot of same ground as Nolan and is actually a better writer, at least in terms of chops, but he’s also a bit older and more jaundiced, which is why I prefer Nolan.

ESPNnewyork’s Mets beat blogger, Adam Rubin, has become state of the art when it comes to wall-to-wall coverage of a single team. I no longer bother to read most other Mets coverage, because Rubin outhustles the other writers and summarizes all the other guys’ work in his daily rundowns each morning — one-stop shopping! He’s a fucking machine. Hope he doesn’t burn out.

I used to love reading Sports Illustrated columnist Steve Rushin, but I’ve fallen out of the habit. I did read and enjoy his novel, Pint Man, a few years back.

I’ll read just about anything by New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis, even if she’s discussing a movie I don’t care about or an aspect of film history that doesn’t matter to me. Just about everything she writes makes me think a bit harder, and that’s pretty much the definition of a good critic (or, for that matter, a good artist).

I like quite a few of The New Yorker’s staff writers, including Jeffrey Toobin (who covers legal issues and the Supreme Court), Susan Orlean (oddball reported stories), and Nick Paumgarten (quirky “Talk of the Town” short takes).

As you’ve probably noticed, all of these writers fall into the realm of journalism. For better or worse (probably the latter), I read very few books these days, and almost zero fiction. My loss.

You’ve just been offered the job at Nike to lead and manage the Oregon Ducks design team. Let’s assume for the sake of argument that you accept the position. What’s your first act as the new boss?

After the pigs stopped flying out of my ass and hell thawed back out, I’d announce that we’re terminating our relationship with Oregon so the school can focus on its academic mission instead of having so much of its identity tied to sports and our company.

Once that was taken care of, I’d quit.

Don’t you think baseball without the occasional softball top would be boring (a white vs. gray match-up every game)?

No.

How many people “hit” the Uni Watch site each day, and how has traffic trended since the site was introduced?

On a typical weekday we get about 13,000 visits and 18,000 pageviews from about 11,500 readers. Those numbers will spike considerably on a day when there’s major uni news (the Bucs unveiling was the most recent example of this), but then the numbers usually return to normal after a day or two. Like most websites, we do less traffic on the weekends.

The site’s traffic numbers have stayed fairly consistent for at least the past four years.

Is there a vista that you make a point of admiring every day?

Not as such. But I go for a bike ride every day in Prospect Park (Brooklyn’s version of Central Park), and there’s this one point where the bike lane descends down a hill and comes upon a lake. The moment when the lake comes into view is always gorgeous, and I still find myself thinking, “Damn, that’s nice” each time, even after more than 15 years of daily rides.

As a collector of many things and as a student of history, what do you think will be a collectible for this era that has not yet been deemed “collectible”?

Great question. As it happens, I recently brought two of my computers to the shop to have new hard drives installed. When I picked up the computers, the shop also gave back the old hard drives, and I was struck by how cool-looking they are. A future collectible, perhaps? Perhaps.

You have been critical of teams using custom fonts for their numbers (Tampa Bay Bucs, for example). I was wondering what you thought of the Premier League’s adoption of a standard font for numbers (and names). Would you prefer each league have a standard font, knowing it could be relatively uninspired or boring, or let each team develop their own font, even if it results in things like the Bucs?

I don’t have a problem with team-specific number fonts per se. There are plenty of good-looking teams out there whose looks are closely associated with a distinctive number font, like the Bears or the Red Sox. (Yes, lots of other teams have worn the Bosox’s font over the years, but they’re the only team to have worn it for the last several decades, so at this point it kinda “belongs” to them.)

The problem with Nike’s recent custom number fonts, including the one for the Bucs, is that they’re clearly aiming to look eccentric just for eccentricity’s sake, often at the expense of legibility and almost always at the expense of aesthetics. But the solution to bad design isn’t to impose uniformity on the process; the solution is to encourage good design.

Personally, I don’t like the idea of a single font being used throughout a given league, even if it’s a really good font, because then the league identity is superseding (or at least being raised to the same level as) the individual team identities. It’s basically a form of templating, and I don’t care for templating.

I’ve said for years that eventually all playing fields and sports will be electronically controlled. For example, in football there will be a chip in the ball and the end zone will change color when the ball crosses the plane, and in baseball all uniforms will have electronic chips that define their strike zone, when the ball (with chip inside) goes across the batters strike zone, the home plate turns a certain color. Do you foresee the same thing?

I think the football thing is plausible, maybe even likely (with something similar for first downs). Not so sure about the baseball thing. In general, I agree that an increasing electronic presence in sports is something we’re likely to see.

You often run a “Get Out More” blurb about what you did last night. That’s great, I’m glad you enjoy that kind of stuff, but I have no desire to go out and do the kind of things you do. But I would never run a “Stay In More” blurb because it’s kind of douchey to assume that my preference for going out or not going out is “better” than your preference. But isn’t that implicitly what you’re doing?

Anytime I give my opinion on anything, including a uniform design, I’m implying that my opinion is “better” or the “right” opinion — that’s part of the nature of being a cultural critic. Naturally, everyone is free to disagree. If you think that’s “kind of douchey,” well, you’re free to think that too.

As for the “What Paul Did Last Night” segment, it’s just a fun reminder (for me as well as for you) that there’s more to life than uniforms. I’m aware that my life — working at home, no kids to worry about, etc. — is different from that of many Uni Watch readers, and that many of you would rather relax at home after a hard day’s work than “get out more.” But “getting out more” can also mean getting out of your comfort zone, getting out of your own head, and generally engaging with the larger world of ideas, and I think that’s a worthwhile message no matter what your life circumstances are.

Is there a post from the past that you wish you could go back and rewrite? I don’t mean from an inaccuracy aspect but more from a how your views have changed or matured since.

This is a great question. And although I’m currently drawing a blank, I’m sure there are many, many things I’ve written that I’d probably revise, or write differently, or even not write at all, if I were offered the chance to do it again. One thing I love about blogging is its immediacy, but the flip side of that is that there’s very little time for thoughtful analysis, sober reflection, and so on. One thing that goes along with that is that a lot of what I write sort of becomes a blur afterward. Sometimes I’ll ask the readership about something and someone will quickly point out, “You already wrote about that yourself two years ago!” So while I’m sure there are things I wish I could go back and rewrite, I can’t think of any at the moment.

This answer is reminding me of the 2004 Presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry, when Bush was asked if there was anything from his first term that he regretted and he either couldn’t or wouldn’t come up with anything. I want to make it clear that I don’t view regret or acknowledgements of past mistakes as a sign of weakness — on the contrary, I devote a lot of thought to things I deeply regret and wish I could do differently. It’s just that none of those things — or least none of the ones I’m currently able to think of — have anything to do with Uni Watch.

Has anyone in one of the four major pro sports ever worn the number 69? Do you think the leagues would permit someone to wear it, or would it be considered too off-color?

It’s not all that rare. Sixty-nine has been worn by five MLB players, tons of NFL players (and that’s only since 1950, so there were probably more than that), and two NHL players. No NBA players, though.

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That’s it for this round of Question Time. We’ll do this again soon-ish, yes? Yes.

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Let no incident go unmerchandized: In a somewhat predictable development, the NBA announced yesterday that it has put the solidarity catchphrase “We Are One,” which emerged in the wake of the Donald Sterling scandal, on a line of retail T-shirts, which will be priced at $20 (youth), $24 (men’s) and — get this — $30 (women’s). For a one-color design! All proceeds will reportedly go to anti-discrimination charities, which is good, but why not just price them at wholesale and let it go at that?

Meanwhile, can someone please explain why the Adidas logo needs to be on this shirt, especially in such a prominent location? Like, seriously, what is it doing there, and what does Adidas have to do with any of this? Just askin’.

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Collector’s Corner

By Brinke Guthrie

I remember getting mini-posters with Topps football cards back in the day, but they didn’t look like these. Check out that artwork! None of them have team logos, of course, and there are little quirks like Mick Tinglehoff snapping the ball to No. 87 and the Larry Wilson poster not showing Larry Wilson (just his back), but these are still fantastic. Get ’em all in one handy auction.

You say you want more than just posters? Okay, here’s the rest of this week’s haul:

• DeLong alert! If you’re a Bruins fan, you won’t do any better than this jacket with the classic varsity look. Looks like a chenille Bruins B, with an embroidered Wales Conference patch. Doesn’t say if the sleeves are leather, but my similarly styled Reds jacket had leather sleeves. These Starter varsity jackets were well made, too.

• One more from DeLong: a Bears jacket, with some kller artwork on the back!

• As you might know, I collect San Francisco Giants bobbleheads. Most of the time they look dead-on accurate — Alexander Global Promotions really does a good job. Across the bay, the A’s do bobbles as well, and the Rollie Fingers bobble might be the most realistic depiction I’ve seen.

• This seller has three swell 1960s NFL Technigraph plaques, and the Falcons one is still in the shrinkwrap!

• I see the Atlanta Hawks have brought back the 1970s Pac-Man logo (which I never saw as Pac-Man). Did you know they used to have the blue/green logo shown on this old pennant?

• Got a few NFL posters for ya. This is a 1965 Jets vs. Broncos poster, which looks like a game program cover. Also got ’em for Big Blue and the Giants/Bears.

• If you’re a fan of the old AAFC, you’ll love this 1940s poster of the Chicago Rockets vs. the Miami Seahawks.

• Terrific-looking 1970s Vikings poster here.

• And from reader Will Schebler, a vintage red-striped hockey ref jersey that, in Will’s words, “reminds me of WHA referees, and the ones in the movie Slap Shot.”

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

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Tick-Tock: Today’s Ticker was compiled and written by Mike Chamernik, except for ’Skins Watch, which was handled by Paul.

’Skins Watch: Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Sunday’s episode of Family Guy included a little sequence about Native American mascots (from Ben Fortney). … A bipartisan group of New York State legislators will be introducing a resolution today that calls on professional sports teams to ban the use of “racial slurs” as team mascots (thanks, Phil).

Baseball News: The Giants are giving away a Buster Posey chest protector T-shirt on May 18. “Cool idea,” says Brice Wallace. “Really glad the maker’s logo was replaced with the ”˜SF.’” ”¦ Dan Conrad sends along a newspaper item on how the 1932 Boston Braves became the first National League team to wear uniform numbers. ”¦ Tigers players now have their own pairs of Zubaz pants (from Rob Siergiej). ”¦ The Reds had a Star Wars promotion on May the Fourth (from Austin Glover). ”¦ The El Paso Chihuahuas wore camo unis the other day.

Pro Football News: In this space we’ve talked about how ridiculous the LA Kiss jerseys are, but their field is equally outlandish (from Eric Wright). ”¦ From yesterday’s comments: An artist gave NFL helmet logos a Star Wars spin. ”¦ After all the chatter about Michael Vick wearing No. 8, it turns out he’s going to wear No. 1, which he acquired from Jets punter Ryan Quigley by donating $10,000 to charity. ”¦ Arian Foster was asked why he changed uni numbers before the 2010 season and he had a good response (from Chris Flinn).

College Football News: BYU will wear solid white, solid black, and solid blue uniforms for selected game this year (from Phil). ”¦ New helmets for Colgate, with a BFBS-ish gradation (from Ryan Dowgin).

Soccer News: Sporting Kansas City put hashtags inside their championship rings (from Justin Dilks). ”¦ AC Milan released its new home and third jerseys (from Phil). ”¦ England unveiled its World Cup suits (from Yusuke Toyoda). ”¦ Newcastle has new away jerseys. ”¦ The Portland Timbers posted a video about their equipment manager. The best part? The guy’s last name is Younie! A little on the nose, right? (Thanks, Joe Hollomon.) ”¦ Buncha soccer notes, all from Trevor Williams: A Norwich City player wore a blood jersey the other day. ”¦ The Bristol Rovers were relegated by Mansfield Town, who had to wear Bristol’s away kits from last season. ”¦ New kits for English clubs Millwall, Watford, Crawley Town and Ipswich Town. ”¦ New kits for European clubs St. Mirren, Udinese, PSV, FC Twente, Olympique Lyonnais, Panathinaikos and FC Köln.

NBA News: Here’s a cool time-lapse video of volunteers placing T-shirts on every seat of the Bankers Life Fieldhouse for last night’s Wizards-Pacers game (from Joel Dale).

Grab Bag: I don’t watch Mad Men but I wish I did solely for its references to Burger Chef, the Mets and, most importantly, the one-episode 1969 TV show Turn-On! Garrett sent that link in, but I’m 100 percent serious when I say this: Seeing the only episode of Turn-On is one of my life goals. ”¦ Not really uni-related, but how fantastic is this Wayne Gretzky cereal ad?” (From Jonathan Daniel.) … The Longfellow Bridge, which connects Boston and Cambridge, is undergoing an extensive renovation and officials are trying to find a historically accurate color to paint it (from Tom Mulgrew). ”¦ Superhero football gloves are now for sale. ”¦ “Oakleaf High (Florida) couldn’t make up their mind if they wanted to grift the Central Florida Knights or Oregon Nikes, so they did both,” says Ryan Bohannon. ”¦ A couple college lacrosse notes from Jared Buccola: Loyola Maryland has a new helmet, Villanova has double decal wraps with “V” on one side and script “Cats” on the other, and Denver has a Rocky Mountain shoulder design. … Netflix has a new logo. … Fashion brand Boy London’s logo has been likened to the Nazi eagle symbol.