We have a lot of stuff to cover today, kids, so let’s get started: As you may have noticed in the left sidebar, our friends at Grey Flannel Auctions are running another catalog auction. Here are my picks for some of the most interesting items up for bids:
• The listing for this Rocky Colavito jersey provides as good a look as you’re ever likely to see of the Indians’ “Cleveland Sports Spirit of ’76” sleeve patch. (As an aside, my college galpal was Rocky Colavito’s distant cousin. Unfortunately, she didn’t like baseball.)
• FNOBs are relatively rare in baseball. One of the best was worn by Angels first baseman Ron Jackson (teammate of Reggie, of course), whose FNOB was vertically arched! Here’s his game-used jersey.
• Speaking of the Angels, I like how they used a green halo for this St. Paddy’s Day jersey. Much better than making the whole jersey green.
• Holy bizolee — I’d totally bid on this amazing American Federation of Labor basketball jersey if the opening price weren’t so steep (and if I ever wore tank tops, which I don’t).
• If you look at the second thumbnail, you’ll see that the jock tag on this 1975 A’s jersey was dead-center on the shirttail, instead of over on the left side. Same thing for this green jersey from the same season. Obviously, the pullover format lets you postion the jock tag anywhere you like, but other pullovers from this era — or at least the ones that I’ve seen — typically stuck with the more common left-side positioning. Was this centered placement common for McAuliffe jerseys?
• Here’s a game-worn A-Rod jersey from an All-Star tour of Japan. Never seen that sleeve patch before!
• So many patches on this Ichiro jersey: 2001 All-Star Game patch on the left sleeve, American League centennial patch on the right sleeve, and the post-9/11 American flag patch covering up the MLB logo on the back collar.
• Stargell Stars! Love the close-up of the little star patches.
• I never liked seeing the Expos’ catchers wearing red catching gear. The team’s stirrups were blue, their undersleeves were blue, and their caps were mostly blue (even in the pinwheel era, the brims were blue, which kinda made blue the “controlling” color), so their catchers always looked better wearing blue equipment, not red equipment. If you disagree, you might be interested in this set of Gary Carter’s red gear.
• Oh baby, dig this 1936 National League All-Star jacket!
• People sometimes ask me, “Why does the Yankees’ top hat logo feature so much red when the team’s uniforms don’t include any red?” Maybe it’s because the Yankee Stadium ushers wore red!
• Love the simple boxing glove illustration on the back of this Muhammad Ali training robe.
• Oh man, how great would it be if the Rangers wore New York Americans throwbacks?
• One of Uni Watch’s simplest rules: I never, ever get tired of anything with the Dallas Chaparrals logo on it.
• Gotta love this 1926 New York Football Giants season pass. Look how the charm has a pebbled surface, just like a real football.
• And speaking of the G-Men, check out this early-1950s Giants jacket.
Want to see more? You can check out all of the auction listings here.
ESPN update: In case you missed it yesterday afternoon, my latest ESPN column takes a close look at the Rangers’ uniforms, several details of which are more unusual than they may initially appear.
Shortly after that column was posted yesterday, reader Mike Guterman pointed out a great Rangers detail that I left out: For the past several years the Rangers have worn a helmet decal for Garden of Dreams, which is Madison Square Garden’s charitable foundation. “The Rangers are the only team in the NHL (and possibly in all of pro sports) to permanently wear a logo of a charity,” notes Mike.
Finally: One of the things I mention in that column is that the Rangers routinely wear patches on the shoulder, not on the chest. But the folks putting together the NHL 14 video game apparently didn’t know that because, as reader Mikey Brethauer points out, they’re showing the Rangers wearing the Stanley Cup finals patch on the chest.
Nifty 50: The NFL announced yesterday that the 50th Super Bowl — not the one being played next February, but the one after that — will not have a Roman numeral. It will simply be known as Super Bowl 50.
This isn’t exactly as surprise — most observers, myself included, had figured there was no way they were gonna go with Super Bowl L. But what is a surprise, at least to me, is that they’ll be going back to the Roman numerals for Super Bowl 51 Super Bowl LI. I had figured they’d stick with Arabic numbers once they made the switch.
Hmmm. Will they get Liv Tyler to sing at halftime of Super Bowl LIV?
RIP, Popeye: As you’ve probably heard by now, Rays coach Don Zimmer passed away last night. Aside from being a cherished character in the baseball world, Zim also had two unusual uni-related distinctions. The first one, which was widely known, is that he kept increasing his uniform number by one each season over the past 15 years or so, to reflect the number of years he’d been in baseball. He was up to No. 66 this year (here’s how he spent those 66 years), and that will go down as his final number.
The other thing, which not as many people knew about, is that Zimmer and pitcher Bob Miller were the first two players ever to wear Mets uniforms. It happened in February of 1962, when Zimmer and Miller were chosen to model a Mets uni for a photo shoot. I wrote a piece about this, including a short interview with Zim, a few years ago.
My brief phone interview with Zim was enough to confirm what everyone else always said: The man was a total peach. He’ll be missed. RIP.
(My thanks to Cork Gaines for making the chart of Zim’s baseball service, and to Phil for sending it to me.)
ITEM! Design contest announcement: Although I’m not a soccer fan, I’m fascinated by the variations and seeming vagaries of soccer ball design. Like, a baseball is essentially a baseball — we all know what it looks like — but a soccer ball can look like, and can be, many different things.
With that in mind, my latest ESPN design contest is a challenge for readers to redesign the World Cup soccer ball. The deadline is next Thursday, June 12 (the day the World Cup starts). Further details here.
Chicago reminder: All you Chicago-area readers, remember that there’s a Uni Watch party coming up this Saturday, June 7, 6pm, at the Black Rock Bar. And now that the Blackhawks have been eliminated, you won’t be busy that night and will need to drown your sorrows, so come on out and meet intern Mike “Question of the Week” Chamernik, Comrade Robert Marshall, Jimbo Huening, Marty Hick (visiting all the way from St. Looie), and the rest of the Chi-town crew. Wish I could be there, but mainly I’m hoping you’ll be there.
And while we’re at it, all NYC-area readers are hereby reminded that we’ll be having a Uni Watch 15th-anniversary party one week from tonight — Tuesday, June 10, 7:30pm, in the back room at Sheep Station. Phil and I look forward to having you buy us a few rounds seeing you there.
Shoulder pad alert: We rarely talk about football shoulder pads here at Uni Watch, because we rarely get to see them. But Russell Athletic is coming out with a new pad system, called the CarbonTek (shown above), which the company claims will be a game-changer. According to Russell, lab tests showed that CarbonTek outperformed other shoulder pads in impact dispersion, including a 63% reduction in the average force felt through the CarbonTek in a 600-pound impact test.
Is that really a game-changer? I have no idea. But I’ll ask around and see if the CarbonTek is catching on. Meanwhile, here’s how the new pads look on Saints running back Mark Ingram.
Mike’s Paul’s Question of the Week:
By Mike Chamernik Paul
Paul here, pinch-hitting for Mike with the Question of the Week (he’ll be back next week). Ready? Here we go”¦.
As you know, the Rangers and Kings played Game 1 of the Stanley Cup finals last night. The game was in L.A., so it started at 5pm local time, in order for it to be in prime time on the east coast.
That’s mighty convenient for those of us who live here in the east (I went for my usual late-afternoon bike ride, stopped for groceries on the way back, made myself a nice dinner, did the dishes, and then sat down to watch the game), but I feel bad for Kings fans who missed the start of the game because it took place while they were still getting home from work. And it also just felt weird to know that the game was taking place at 5pm on a Wednesday — such an odd time for a hockey game. It felt wrong.
Obviously, this isn’t the first time a cross-country series has resulted in some odd game times. And of course I know that west coast fans often end up watching NFL games at 10am local time. And hey, when the Mets play the Dodgers, Giants, and Padres, I have to stay up late because the games start at 10pm New York time, so a lot of this stuff evens out.
Still, when it’s a big postseason series, it seems like the east coast always “wins,” for lack of a better term. Even as a kid, that struck me as a bit unfair.
So here’s my question: Do you west coast fans (and Kings fans in particular) resent the fact that the postseason schedules are usually geared toward east coast TV audiences? How do you deal with it — like, do you typically DVR the game and watch it later, or do you change your work schedule, or what? And for east coasters, do you ever feel guilty or weird about the schedules always being geared toward your viewing convenience?
As always, post your responses in the comments.
Tick-Tock: Today’s Ticker was compiled and written by Mike Chamernik.
Baseball News: Mat Latos has yet to pitch this season due to injury, and fans yearn for his return (from Brady Phelps). ”¦ The Birmingham Barons will wear Michael Jordan-era throwbacks next week. ”¦ Coleman Mullins sends in what he calls Paul’s “worst nightmare”: Riverside High School (WV) has purple camo unis with black trim. ”¦ The College of New Jersey is basically the Yankees of Division III baseball (from Rick Edelman). ”¦ The St. Paul Saints and Quebec Capitales will wear hockey-themed throwbacks honoring the North Stars and Nordiques tonight (from Alan Kreit). ”¦ A site called Statlas creates real-time visual box scores for every baseball game (from one of the guys behind Statlas, Dan Chaparian). ”¦ In case you’ve forgotten, Sammy Sosa used to wear elasticized sleeve cuffs (from William Jones). ”¦ Manny Ramirez wore baggy pants during his days in the bigs, but he’s gone high-cuffed recently as a Cubs minor leaguer (from C. Trent Rosecrans). ”¦ Padres pitcher Nick Vincent wears “Gettin Greedy” on his cleats (from Coleman Mullins). ”¦ This great infograph breaks down World Series champions from over the years (from Phil). ”¦ The Royals mowed a crown into their outfield grass (from Phil). ”¦ I was watching some of Chris Rock’s 1996 stand-up special “Bring the Pain” and I noticed his logo on the stage looked like the Colorado Rockies cap logo. ”¦ Back in 1996, The Toronto Star ran a Blue Jays logo-redesign contest. Here’s the winner and the two runners-up (from Mark Roberts).
College Football News: Purdue fans can get their picture on the Boilermakers’ helmets next year (from Phil). ”¦ Might Wisconsin have new alternate helmets? Looks like it, judging by this photo of a new commit (from Dale Mueller). ”¦ Along those same lines: New helmets for Cincinnati?
Hockey News: An Etsy user is selling a full size Ken Dryden replica mask (from Troy DeCeuster). ”¦ Female Rangers fans are getting playoff manicures (from Luke Rosnick). ”¦ Here are some photos of the 1936 Bruins (from Ted Ellis). ”¦ Here’s what the NHL Draft hats will look like (from Bill Erdek). ”¦ New uniforms for 2014-15 for the Blues? Scroll to the end of this interview with their owner and speculate for yourself (from Jonathan Karberg).
Soccer News: Nike sponsors 11 of the World Cup countries, and Adidas sponsors nine (from Phil). ”¦ Here’s a look at the science (or, perhaps, “science”) behind the World Cup jerseys (from Phil). ”¦ Changing Hampden Stadium from a soccer field to a track venue was an elaborate ordeal (from Cody Dannen). ”¦ The Costa Rica national team says that their jerseys become too heavy when soaked in sweat (link is in Spanish), only FIFA already approved their kit so there’s no possibility for them to alter it (from Fernando Cardenas). ”¦ Louisville City FC of the USL Pro league is holding a design contest for a new logo (from Carter Wright). ”¦ “Just saw an amazing moment in the Wales/Netherlands international friendly,” says Laurence Holland. “Welsh winger Hal Robson-Kanu had his shorts shredded by a tackle, and had to have the equipment staff hand him a new pair on the sidelines. He stripped the old ones off right on the field, revealing some exceedingly small briefs. The crowd, of course, went nuts.” ”¦ New kit for West Ham United (from Vann Holden).
NBA News: The guys over at Bucksketball are running a Bucks logo and uniform redesign contest. They already posted one concept and I have to say, I don’t much care for it (from Phil). ”¦ Whoa! This appears to be a proposed Clippers logo from some years ago (from Neil Vendetti). ”¦ The new Hugo the Hornet will have made his mascotting debut by the time you read this (from Phil).
Grab Bag: The 49ers mascot will wear Levi’s jeans this year in the team’s first year playing in Levi’s Stadium. Uh, OK. … NASCAR has an official blood thinner. That’s from a commercial for Xarelto (from Andrew Kacvinsky). ”¦ Here’s what the Nike golfers will wear for the US Open (from Phil).
I just DVR and/or download any game I want to see and watch it commercial free the morning after. But I work nights and don’t have a smartphone, so it’s not too hard to avoid spoilers.
The Jets/Coyotes wore a shoulder patch for their “Goals For Kids” charity until about 2002. After the move to Phoenix, it was the same design as the patch on the opposite shoulder.
The Rangers might be the only NHL team to wear the logo of a charity now, but the Jets regularly wore a jersey patch of their “Goals For Kids” foundation in the ’90s, and continued doing so for a time after becoming the Coyotes.
If memory serves correctly, the Vancouver Canucks wore a patch for their charity in the 90’s as well.
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In this ebay listing you can see the Winnipeg Jets Goals for kids patch. link
Here is a pic of Jeremy Roenick wearing a white Coyotes sweater with the Goals for Kids patch on his left shoulder.
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When it comes to playoff game times in sports, living on the east coast, no I do not feel guilty about the start times being geared towards east coast viewers. In fact, my dad and I have often discussed this, that the west coast has the advantage that they don’t have to stay up later than usual to see the end of a game. Missing the very beginning of a game is more harmless than missing the finish – and west coast viewers don’t have to stay up late for that, ever. I’ve often stayed up later than I would ideally like to in order to see the ending of the game; but more times than not, the missed sleep is worth it. Would I rather tell my boss I’m leaving at 4:00 because my favorite team has a championship game starting at 5? Yes. But it’s the trade off, and as fans, we get used to these schedules in our lifestyle and viewership habits.
The real winners, in my opinion, are Central Time Zone viewers.
As a Midwesterner I agree the Central Time Zone is perfect. National telecasts usually begin at six or seven o’clock- I get home from work in plenty of time and don’t have to stay up too late. As a Cardinals fan watching on MLB.tv I don’t mind West Coast games (usually 9:00 or 9:30). I just have to go to bed a little bit later which is no big deal.
Agreed. Football games at noon on Sunday and decent start times for all other national events. We win again!
Yes, and also Mountain Time Zone (where I live). Games start at 6 or 7, done by 10:30? Yes please!
I always thought the networks were trying to satisfy both the NY and LA markets. And you know what happens when you try to satisfy everyone. The fact that Flyover Country benefits the most probably doesn’t even factor into their scheduling.
I’m in the Eastern time zone. When it comes to watching sports that’s not an advantage to me. I’d rather be out west where games end at a decent time. I bet the kids out west appreciate that.
My question for us “older” folks is this: before the internet, how easy was it to avoid the outcome of a game? Because I miss the days of tape-delayed broadcasts*. I could/still can easily go into bunker mode and be able to enjoy a game on my time, but I’m curious as to how others fared back then.
*I don’t miss the NBA Finals being shown at 11:30pm…I’m talking about, say, a World Cup or Olympic game from 4am being shown at a decent hour, or being out west and watching a day game in primetime.
Most of the bitching (or guilt) I hear isn’t east coast vs west coast times (since where I live is in EST that’s no surprise).
Regarding NHL hockey on television it’s usually some minor complaining about having afternoon games on the weekends to satisfy the U.S. networks/audience. Of course their complaining doesn’t stop these hardcore hockey fans from watching the afternoon games. They’ll often stay up late or record “regular west coast time” games that go into OT without complaint.
– Oh baby, did this 1936 National League All-Star jacket!
I assume you mean “dig”
Thanks. Fixed.
Zimmer may have been a “peach” of a guy, but he destroyed a whole lot of players, and made Bucky Dent a much more remembered name than he should have been.
RIP, Don, but you were a terrible manager.
In other words, like everyone else, he was imperfect.
The body isn’t even cold yet. Can’t you wait a little bit before you shit all over it?
Sorry, but the facts are the facts. Telling Bruce Hurst to “take your bible and go back to Utah” doesn’t sound too peachy to me.
I’ll withhold additional comments until the body is cold, though.
Dude, I’m not saying you’re wrong (or right).
I’m saying there’s a time and a place, and less than 12 hours after the guy died is not it. No more of that, please. Let’s move on. Thanks.
I always hated Zimmer because he ruined the career of my first favorite ballplayer, Bernie Allen: “…his potential to develop into a perennial big league All Star was wiped out with one play during the 1964 season. Attempting to turn a double play, Allen was bowled over by Don Zimmer who rolled over the second baseman’s leg. Allen had torn his ACL, but the injury was mis-diagnosed by Minnesota’a team doctors. When the leg didn’t get better, Allen got his own doctors to examine the knee and they made a correct diagnosis and operated five months after the injury occurred. By then however, the ligament had shriveled and the surgeon didn’t think Allen would ever again play baseball. He proved that doctor wrong but it does explain why all of Allen’s highest single-season offensive numbers took place during that 1962 rookie season. He was simply never the same player after Zimmer rolled his knee.”
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R.I.P. Zim!
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I’ll always remember Zim for his 4-hits-in-55-times-up performance for the ’62 Mets!
-Jet
The Expos thing strikes me as the sort of foolish consistency that I’m prone to. Sure, blue pads made for a more consistent blue look. But the Expos of that era were never a blue team. They were a blue and red team, and they even used white as an actual color, not just a blank canvass or an accent to separate their other colors, as most teams do. So the red is clearly the better choice. Plus, the catcher doesn’t take the field alone; he has eight other teammates on the field with him. So even if the red is a bit too dominant on the catcher, it remains a nice bright accent among the team as a whole. The post-pinwheel Expos did become a blue team, relegating red to a minor accent color, and they were much the poorer for it.
So do you think their stirrups and undersleeves should have been red as well? Should their pinwheel cap brims have been red? Should their belts have been red?
Not trying to be a pain. Genuinely curious to hear what you think.
So just because someone thinks the catchers gear/pads looked better in red means they surely should have to think the undersleeves, belts and stirrups should be red as well?
Thats silly thinking, out of the 2 pics you posted it looks better in red, but it could be because the blue catchers gear to me doesn’t look so good on a light blue uniform.
So just because someone thinks the catchers gear/pads looked better in red means they surely should have to think the undersleeves, belts and stirrups should be red as well?
That’s not what I said. Scott said the Expos weren’t a blue team, they were a blue and red team. So I was asking him specifically if he thought any of those blue elements should have been red. Simple as that.
Now, for what it’s worth, I think you’ll find that undersleeve colors, sock/stirrup colors, belt colors, and catching gear colors usually do match. Not always, but usually. I’m not saying they have to be that way, mind you. But they usually are.
Fair point. I do think they overdid the blue just a bit with the undersleeves and stirrups. Now, the undersleeves pretty much have to be one color, and since the Expos were more blue than red, blue is the right choice there. So the real problem is the stirrups. Red stirrups would have been too much, so really they should have had some red stripes with white feathering on the stirrups.
But then again, the Expos mainly played during the era of the shoestring high stirrup and the following and current era of long pants, so the stirrup color is basically a non-issue here.
With those racing stripes (1980-1991) being as wide as they were with no white breaking them up, red stirrups would have looked OK I guess (more so with the road uniforms since the numbers and wordmark were red as well), so long as the blue cleats remained a constant.
Montreal had alternating BP jerseys too…red for road games and blue at home?
Take a gander at this beautifully realized map of where people actually live in the United States.
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And consider that the latest census put the nation’s geographic center of gravity in Missouri. So ideally, national broadcasts should be aimed at the Central time zone. Yeah, East Coast viewers will have to stay up an hour later, but from DC north, we already tend to live about two hours later than the Midwest anyway. And then the West Coast will be only two hours inconvenienced, not three.
But even though I live in the Eastern time zone, I prefer when West Coast games take place at a more naturally West Coast time. These things are happening in the real world, at a real place, and are not just TV shows. Shift the start time an hour early for the national broadcast, but not three. My friends and colleagues can tell when the Nationals are on a week-long West Coast road trip by my increasing morning bedraggledness and alarming rise in coffee consumption. That’s just part of being a fan!
You could argue that the national broadcast schedule is already aimed at CTZ. I imagine that given the choice, most people would rather be watching, oh I don’t know, Scandal at 8 pm, the local news at 10 pm and the “late” night show at 10:30, and tuck themselves in before midnight.
Funny thing: Midwesterners I know will apologize if they call me after 9pm my time. My East Coast friends don’t say, “Sorry to call so late, but …” unless it’s after 11pm.
If you aren’t here…the CTZ is the best place to watch anything! I love it. I’ve been at ET guy for most of my life, but been in the CTZ for 3 years. It’s great.
“New Jersey is the most densely populated state…”
I feel like I should’ve known that already.
I don’t know if I feel like I should have known that, but found it very interesting.
Lee
I witnessed an incident similar to what occurred in the Wales/Netherlands friendly in a 2002 Chelsea/Sunderland tilt at Stamford Bridge. Sunderland subbed in a player who tore his sweatpants off and rushed onto the field, but apparently forgot to tie the drawstring of his shorts. Play resumed with a Chelsea throw-in that went directly over the substitute’s, and when he jumped in the air to try to deflect it, his shorts dropped to the ground to reveal him wearing nothing but a jockstrap. Not surprisingly, the entire ground erupted in laughter, followed up with mockery. To add insult to injury, whoever was operating the Jumbotrons mounted at each end of the stadium immediately replayed the incident. Two times.
does Liv Tyler even sing? I feel like she would have a terrible signing voice, however I am thinking back to Empire Records for some reason.
If singing ability is hereditary, then yeah, I’m sure her voice is terrible.
Though maybe not as terrible as her choice of undergarment in Empire Records.
Super Bowl 51 is going to be on Long Island?
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It’s too bad they couldn’t hold Super Bowl 40 at Levi’s Stadium.
At least there’s a chance that Super Bowl 501 will be at Levi’s, for ultimate brand synergy.
as opposed to Renee Zellweger, who killed it in that Music Town apron.
and also had a little fun with Sexy Rexy
A very nitpicky question that I’m honestly curious about: Is the A-Rod patch proper grammar? “Seen” doesn’t read properly to me, but I can argue it as an implied “I have.” That seems like a lot to imply in a sentence, though.
It could be perfectly acceptable, and I also understand that this is a blog and not exactly an academic textbook. Not necessarily pushing for a change, just curious if that bit is strictly by-the-rules.
Yes, there’s an implied “I have” in that sentence.
In addition to the Jets/Coyotes, who wore their Goals For Kids patch from 1987-88 to 2000-01, the Vancouver Canucks had a patch for their children’s hospice, Canuck Place, on their sweaters’ right shoulders from 1992-93 to 1996-97 (though not on the red alternate introduced in 1995-96). They wore the patch again on their red/blue alternates from 2000-01 to 2005-06.
NASCAR’s “official blood thinner” came about because driver Brian Vickers had some serious blood clot issues a few years back, and had to miss most of the 2010 season because of it. He then had to miss the end of last season as well, because the issue resurfaced. The new medication he is on (Xarelto) allows him to compete while handling his blood clot problems.
“Xarelto” sounds like either a South American soccer player or a patent medicine from a Three Stooges episode.
They’re running out of names for medications… At this point, they’re just smashing random syllables together.
Does that Manny Ramirez picture from an extended spring training game really reflect how he’ll look in a real minor league game? Extended spring training games are little more than glorified batting practice. It will be more interesting to see if Manny maintains that look when he gets to Des Moines (maybe he will; do the Cubs mandate their minor leaguers go high cuffed?)
The Badgers football team wore the red helmets with black facemasks & black striping twice last year. Once with white tops/red pants at Illinois, and once with white tops/white pants at Minnesota.
Red helmets with white striping/white facemasks were worn at home vs Tennessee Tech and Northwestern.
Have the Badgers ever worn the Bucky helmet that is on top of the shelf?
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More of the black trimmed helmets:
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Looks like the link for the Purdue helmet item wasn’t linked properly…
Fixed. Here’s the proper link:
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I have a concern about the Stargell Pirates hat in the auction listings. IIRC, the Stars were always attached around the P and between the lines. I do not remember seeing stars on just the brim alone. I would want more info about this hat before placing a bid.
The idea of a cap with all the stars on the brim doesn’t strike me as completely foreign, but I may be thinking of the gold caps, where players would occasionally put starts on the black brim. I’d need to see a photo to believe that cap was worn like that. I suppose it’s possible it was a game-worn cap where the stars were added later.
“…Holy bizolee – I’d totally bid on this amazing American Federation of Labor basketball jersey if the opening price weren’t so steep (and if I ever wore tank tops, which I don’t)…”
What a garment! Really, right up there with the seraphim in the Celestial Uni Choir.
The word that I was thinking was “glorious” which fits in with the rest of the imagery…
. . . and emphasizing “OF” in the wordmark – not something you see every day.
The Expos seemed to have used red catchers pads only from 1992 onward (post-pinwheel). Blue-only would have made more sense in the later period. I have more quibble with the particular shade of red, which seems a shade or two too scarlet for the post-pin era.
As an East Coast person, I’m jealous of the early start times on the West Coast for the NHL games. The important part of the game is the end. And if it goes into OT, there’s no way I’m staying up late when the alarm goes off for work at 5:30.
East Coaster here (as probably most everyone commenting now is. The Westerners will probably start trickling in over the next couple hours as they wake up), but I’ve never once felt guilty about start times catering to us. If you live out west, especially in LA, San Francisco, or San Diego, I figure it’s just the price you pay for having such nice weather all the time. If you’re in Seattle or Portland, I’m just jealous that you live in such a cool city, so you should be able to deal.
East Coaster here (as probably most everyone commenting now is. The Westerners will probably start trickling in over the next couple hours as they wake up)…
A few weeks ago I woke up at about 6:45am and immediately got an email from a reader who I know lives on the west coast. I wrote back, “What are you doing up so early?!”
He replied, “Haven’t gone to bed yet.”
Ha!
I actually think the West Coasters have a better deal. Finals games and such are not that common, so you make arrangements with work for these odd occasions. At least they don’t have to worry about getting home at 2AM and being tired the entire next day. I think they have the win in this deal.
Same with the NFL. My whole day is killed if I want to watch the 1 and 4 PM games. They can go out at 4PM.
Re: that Bucks design
That “new” concept logo has actually been kicking around the web for a few years. I believe it was first posted in a Creamer forum and I’ve seen it pop up many times in various online venues. I’m surprised that Bucksketball is calling it a new concept.
Yeah. Here’s the original board: link
“… … The new Hugo the Hornet will have made his mascotting debut by the time you read this (from Phil)…”
In the Charlotte newspaper article that Phil found, the writer employs the nickname “Queen City.” [Makes perfect good sense for a town named after a queen named Charlotte.] Which got me to thinking about one of my favorite Americana lists: municipal nicknames.
I’ll start with some places in the Northeast:
Boston: The Hub / Beantown.
Bridgeport (CT): Park City
Hartford: Insurance City
New Haven: Elm City
Westfield (MA): Whip City
Waterbury (CT): Brass City
Barre (VT): Marble City
Danbury (CT): Hat City
Buffalo: Queen City of the Lakes
Baltimore: Charm City (?!)
Philadelphia: City of Brotherly Love
Pittsburgh: Steeltown
Wilkes-Barre (PA): Anthracite City
Pile on, please.
I love that Rochester used to be the Flour City, and that they then changed it to the Flower City. Homonymic consistency!
Also explains this Rochester Red Wings cap:
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Or as I refer to it, Philadelphia: City of Brotherly Goddammit You Suck (in reference to how Philly sports fans cheer for their own teams and players)
Anyway, my hometown of Cedar Rapids (IA): City of Five Seasons (?!)
Rockford (IL): Forest City (a recurring nickname for early Rockford baseball teams)
Mediocre collection of civic nicknames on Wikipedia here:
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Cleveland has been called the Forest City, too. Not so much these days, but sometimes you still hear it.
Jim, you must remember this:
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“Anyway, my hometown of Cedar Rapids (IA): City of Five Seasons (?!)
Just don’t call it link. (Even though some of those “Five Smells” – including Crunch Berries and Peanut Butter Cap’n Crunch – are pretty awesome.)
Detroit: Motor City
Portland: Rip City
Portland’s nickname is actually the “Rose City”. (Hence the Rose Garden.) Rip City was broadcaster Bill Schonely’s tradmark call.
A couple of my favorite ones are in New Jersey: Newark, Brick City and Hoboken, The Mile Square City. And even though D.C. is no longer majority black, I still like Chocolate City.
Growing up in North Carolina, we had a few unofficial/ironic nicknames:
Fayetteville -> Fayettenam, because of the military presence
Greenville -> Greenvegas, because of the vibrant nightlife
Raleigh -> Raleighwood, because of the glitz and glamor
Milwaukee: Cream City
For years I thought this one was because Wisconsin is so dairy-oriented. It’s only recently that I learned that it’s because much of Milwaukee was built with cream-colored bricks.
I’ve heard of my hometown, New Orleans, La., called “The Big Easy” and “The City That Care Forgot.”
I remember New Orleans pushing “The Crescent City” more now.
While looking for some visual backup I found this Pelicans hat that I like very much…
[url]http://www.strictlyfitteds.com/sites/default/files/styles/featured_550_x_420/public/new-era-new-orleans-pelicans-crescent-city-59fifty-fitted-baseball-cap_1.jpg[/url]
Is that an official logo? I remember they released nearly a dozen official logos when the team launched.
Ugh, little help with the link? I forgot how to code properly in this comments section.
You use standard HTML codes, so for embedding links, you use the link, like link, or simply paste the bare link like this: link
Yes, that is an official logo.
Wow, can’t believe I forgot that one.
/Turning in my Y’At Card, hanging my head in shame
PA ones (Not named Philly or Pittsburgh):
Harrisburg: Capital City
Lancaster: Red Rose City
York: White Rose City
Scranton: Electric City
State College: Happy Valley
Johnstown: Flood City
Altoona: Mountain City
Meadville: Tool City
Erie: ???
Lotta Queen Cities, I guess. Cincinnati is the Queen City of the West. (I know, but it was the “west” at one time. The Big Ten used to be the Western Conferece.)
Denver is the Queen City of the Plains.
St. Louis: Mound City, from the earthen structures built by ancient Native Americans in the area.
Zanesville, Ohio has two — Y City (after it’s famous Y Bridge) and Clay City (famous for pottery for many years).
Charleston SC – The Holy City (allegedly due to per-capita number of churches)
Akron – Rubber City
San Diego: America’s Finest City (I always felt that was incredibly presumptuous . . . shoot, they even have that written on the police cars!!)
NYC – the city that never sleeps;
LA – city of (fallen) angels a/k/a Hollyweird;
Minneapolis – the mini-apple;
Madison, WI – MadCity;
Boulder, CO – the peoples republic of Boulder;
Seattle – the emerald city;
my hometown – the Mile High City (that moniker should be growing in popularity with the very visible weed business).
Does the phrase “Holy Toledo” count for anything? Growing up in Toledo, that always amused me, but I don’t think the city really has an actual nickname or anything.
I always thought “Holy Toledo” was a reference to Toledo, Spain.
. . . as painted by Domenikos Theotocopolous a/k/a El Greco.
Some others in Ohio (besides Cincy/Queen City and Akron/Rubber City):
Cleveland/Forest City
Toledo and Lancaster (both)/Glass City
Columbus/Cow Town (although we like “CBus” better)
Dammit, I totally forgot about Toledo being “Glass City”, and I freakin lived there for the first 21 years of my life. Does anyone still refer to it that way, or has that become a bit of an anachronism?
Indianapolis: Circle City
Never heard Lancaster called that, and I grew up there! (Of course I knew Anchor-Hocking was the biggest employer in town, just never heard the term “Glass City” used.)
Never heard Lancaster called that, and I grew up there! (Of course I knew Anchor-Hocking was the biggest employer in town, I just never heard the term “Glass City” used.)
Don’t forget about Findlay being Flag City!
Followup question – how many city nicknames end up as team names or uniform elements? Off the top of my head, I can think of two:
Portland: link (Rose City Til I Die) and link on Timbers jerseys.
San Francisco: link on Warriors jerseys
Pittsburgh: Steelers
Detroit: link
Milwaukee: Brewers
And of course, the Boston Beaneaters.
2 minor league ones off the top of my head:
Wheeling Nailers (hockey)
Lancaster Red Roses (baseball)
The late lamented Phoenix Firebirds of the PCL.
Do the Minnesota Twins count?
How about the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim? (Los Angeles is “the City of Angels,” after all.)
The Washington Capitals (for “the Capital City”)?
Edmonton Oilers (“Oil City”)?
Yes, yes, yes and yes.
Though the Capitals should’ve really gone with “Washington Sexual Chocolates”.
Coincidentally enough, I made a Sporcle quiz a few years back based on the link.
Houston’s cops wear a patch that says “SPACE CITY, U.S.A.” Houston is frequently referred to as “The Bayou City.” And my personal favorite (which never caught on, for some reason) comes from a 1950’s reporter named Paul Hochuli: “Houston is a whiskey and trombone town.”
Dallas is Big D. Austin is Live Music Capital of the World.
Niagara Falls is Cataract City, presumably because of the waterfall, and not because most of its citizens are pensioners. North Tonawanda, NY is Lumber City, because 120 years ago, there were lumber mills there. Tonawanda, NY is Swiftwater City, because some claim that ‘tonawanda” is an Iroquian word meaning “swift running water.” That means nothing to anyone, except those who grew up in the Twin Cities (where the rival high schools are the NT Lumberjacks and the Tonawanda Warriors, formerly known as the Red Warriors).
This nostalgic moment brought to you by middle-aged ennui.
Louisville: Derby City/River City
My hometown, Oak Ridge, TN, was founded as a top secret research facility for the Manhattan Project during WWII, and is now home to one of the largest DOE research sites in the country. It’s nicknamed The Atomic City, and the seal is an atom with an acorn as the nucleus.
Acorn nucleus? That would make a good shoulder patch.
I was just thinking about these city nicknames the other day.
Not sure if this is legit, but there is a comic shop in Portland, Maine called COAST CITY COMICS.
Coast City is a terrific nickname.
Beacon N.Y. aka Tree City
Here’s a different take on time-zones. I like watching various sports in Europe (cycling and tennis, mainly). There’s something kind of neat about waking up to a live sporting event, even if it’s often halfway done, or I have to turn it off to go to work. It makes breakfast more exciting, and it’s a reminder that the world doesn’t stop when you’re asleep.
I really wish there was a sports network that showed live sports at all hours of the day. It would be neat to see live cricket or soccer or basketball in the middle of the night.
An all entertainment and sports programming network? That would be awesome for the first few years, but I bet they would probably just resort to having talking heads argue issues after that.
You nailed it Joe…all I could add is that it would be one hour of talking heads arguing issues, repeated six consecutive times.
That’s kinda what ESPN was going for in the early days, before it had broadcasts rights for anything worthwhile (at least for the mainstream American audience), right?
Then it got popular and it all went to shit. No one watches ESPN any more because it only shows stuff that get ratings.
Great irony in that last sentence!
Even when ESPN started to get real broadcast rights, that’s pretty much what ESPN2 was for its first years. You’d get Aussie rules football and obscure NCAA sports or regional amateur championships in things like Tae Kwon Do. It was awesome.
Another thing younger folks may not believe: Once upon a time, ESPN Classic showed nothing but old games, round the clock. For a few glorious years, if you had basic cable, you could be assured that no matter what time of day it was, you could choose between an old-time pro sports game, a WWII documentary, or “Law & Order.”
Reminds me of Yogi Berra saying, “nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.”
Tbone, I live in the UK and trying to follow the NBA, and hockey & baseball to a lesser extent, is damn near impossible without DVRing games. Occassionally there’ll be a sunday evening game starting around 8 or 9 pm, but most games start between 11pm – 3am (although it is nice to be able to wake up and catch the last quarter of a West Coast game with my breakfast). The NBA finals start tonight, and it’s killing me that I’m not going to be able to watch them live. I’m going to have a similar problem following the World Cup this year, too. It wasn’t so much of an issue when I worked for myself, ’cause I could work around it, but now I’ve got a “regular” job it’s just not possible.
When I travel to Asia, it is fun waking up at 7 AM local time, fire up NHL GameCenter on the iPad and watch live hockey games with breakfast.
On the other hand, watching Formula 1 at 7 AM on a Sunday is no fun, because I can’t blast the surround sound unless I want some angry neighbors.
I lived my first 25 years on Central time, and miss it after moving to a place that’s on Eastern. Actually, I’m basically on the dividing line, which means the people here argue Eastern time is better “because the sun is out until 9:30” in the summer. That’s all well and good, but I’m an old man of 31 that has a job and tries to be in bed by 10. Thank God for DVR or I’d miss a lot of shows and sporting events that I refuse to lose sleep over.
I think I’d prefer the West Coast game times, as it would be a lot easier to watch a DVRed (DVR’d?) game that’s only a few hours old, vs. having to save the game until the next day and avoid spoilers.
I’ve spent my first 30 years on CT and will be moving to ET in July. I have to say I’m not looking forward to it. Sports is perfect, unless you start to go into OT for night games they’re usually done by 10:30 at the latest. Very rarely does a game start before Noon. Not just sports viewing, local news and prime-time shows too. I just can’t see why someone would want to wait til 11pm for the news and midnight for late night tv. Aren’t most of the working world in bed by then? Sure shows you can dvr but sports and live events such as the Oscars or Election night, etc is perfect for Central Time zone.
Paul- thanks for being the first East Coast guy I’ve ever known to ask, “Hey, does this 5pm game start bother you?”
I live in Seattle and have Seahawks season tickets. For 5pm kickoffs, I love that I can be home from the game by 10pm and not be totally useless the next day at work.
However, I’ve learned over the years that a 5pm weeknight game basically requires me to take the day off work. I live not that far away in the burbs, but traffic will get totally horrendous if I’m not on the way to the stadium by 2pm; there’s a lot less stadium parking than on a weekend because people are actually at work in the city, so that’s a big pain in the ass too.
The first thing I do when the Seahawks schedule comes out is I say, “please no Thursday home games.” Obviously, this year, I don’t mind having the first Thursday. Already put in to take it off during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl.
So, it’s a mixed bag, but generally I hate the 5pm starts.
And this is going to cause a problem for the new 49ers stadium. Since they are sharing parking with local businesses, they can’t have any weeknight games except for Thanksgiving.
That’s only for this year. They’ve already secured enough parking, but they’re still waiting for approval from the City of Santa Clara (if I remember correctly). There will most likely be weeknight games next year.
I’m a college student, so time of events and time zones don’t really matter much to me right now, especially in the summer – however, I still think the West Coast has it better. The NBA Finals games are starting at 9 PM Eastern. It’s asking a lot out of people to stay up until at least 11:30 every night of a game, especially when they have work in the morning. I would much rather prefer a slightly earlier start time than an extremely late end time.
As other people have said, I think Central Time is the best for sports.
Nike sponsors 11 of the World Cup countries, and Adidas sponsors nine (from Phil)
The image is wrong as it shows Switzerland as a Nike team but they will be wearing Puma (Nike 10, Adidas 9, Puma 8)http://store.fifa.com/departments-2014-fifa-world-cup-brazil–shop-by-country-switzerland.html
Don’t normally chime in for the QOTD, but a quickie: I’ve lived my entire life on the East Coast, but used to travel a fair amount — that’s when the time zone difference in games really kicks in. I always thought it was awesome to be in Cali or Vegas or wherever and having the games come on “much earlier.”
I remember being in Furnace Creek for a wedding during the 2000 NLCS and it was great seeing the Mets dispense with the Cards before the wedding even started.
The real trip came when in Hawai’i (no, I didn’t watch a lot of TV there, but waking up and having “afternoon” games on live was an almost surreal experience).
A college pal of mine worked in American Samoa for a year, would tell us how he’d set his alarm clock to wake up for opening kickoff during the NFL season. And would have the entire afternoon free once the games ended (this was before Sunday Night Football was around).
Now of course you’d simply DVR the games and watch at your leisure, which is what I do with the EPL most weekends…
To answer your question about McAuliffe jersey tagging – that location is common on A’s jerseys. According to Bill Henderson’s “Game Worn MLB Jersey Guide”, McAuliffe tagging normally consists of four individual tags – the manufacturer tag, the size tag, the year tag and the washing instructions tag. These are normally found grouped together in the front of the front tail on A’s jersey – which is consistent with the two jerseys up for auction. Sometimes, teams would split the four tags up between the front tail and the back of the collar. There were three other teams I instantly associate with wearing McAuliffe jerseys – the Red Sox, Angels and Giants. This combining of the four tags dead center on the front tail is also found on the Angels’ pullovers of the early 70s. The Red Sox seem to use this on occasion with their mid 70s pullovers, but they also use a stack of three tags (minus the washing instructions tag) on the front center as well. The Giants had gone to Wilson by the time they started wearing pullovers, but the tagging on their McAuliffe button-front jerseys seems to mimic those of the Angels and Red Sox botton-fronts – three tags (manufacturer, size & year) close to the center but on the left-hand side of the buttons.
I’m always suspicious of game worn items, particularly with Grey Flannel. After a close looking at the tagging, I’ve learned that McAulliffe used different fonts on the year tag. The 1975 A’s tag, particularly the “7”, differs from the Red Sox. And sometimes the A’s used the same font as Boston’s. Odd that McAulliffe would have two separate supplies of tags for the same year, but it seems, they, in fact, did.
it appears
So you know how geologists and paleontologists divide history into eras, like the Jurassic, the Pleistocene, the Holocene, even possibly a new era of the Anthropocene? You pretty much just take a Greek or Latin word to describe the main feature of the era and jam it in front of a more general Latin or Greek word for “era” or “age” or something. So “paleo” (ancient) + “zoe” (life) = Paleozoic era.
Anyway, how about naming the eras of uni history? In baseball, looking at just stirrups, we would have the
Excultathume – up to about the late 1960s, the long classical era of proper stirrups with high pants and little visible sani. Latin “excultus” (civilized, cultivated) + Greek “athume” (game).
Conrigiathume – late 1960s up to about the early 1990s, the era of stirrups with increasing lengths and ever more sani showing. Latin “conrigia” (shoelace) + Greek “athume” (game).
Saniothume – the current era, 1990s to present, of long pants with little to no visible sock. Latin “sanio” (pantaloon) + Greek “athume” (game).
Out-freaking-standing!
Here’s a football take on the trope:
Scorteocephalic — leather head from Latin Scorteus (leather as an adjective) and Greek Cephalos (head);
Proteofabrile — first artificial [helmet] from Greek Prota (first) and Latin Fabrilis (aritificial);
Magnamanic — great sleeves from Latin Magnus (great) and Greek Maniki (sleeve);
Mastigocrebent — frequent stripes from Greek Mastigos (stripes) and Latin Creber (abundant);
Nimiaprosopid — excessive [face]mask from Latin Nimius (excessive) and Greek Prosopida (mask);
Parvoperiskile — short pants from Latin Parvum (short) and Greek Periskelis (trousers);
Brachiopictine — tattooed arms from Latin Brachio (right arm) and Latin Pictus (tattooed).
Oh, man, that’s excellent! I like your more literal constructions. The equivalent in mixed Latin/Greek would be
Excultuknimic – “era of the civilized shins”
Congrigiakaltic – “era of the shoestring stocking”
Sanypnic – “era of pajama pants”
I forgot Fred Biletnikoff’s era – Tibialiakollic from Latin Tibialia (stockings) and Greek Kolla (glue).
I love this, but I don’t know enough Latin or Greek to play. Can I make suggestions for hockey?
The woolen Original Six Era
The more colorful era of 1967 and later (secondary colors like Minnesota green, LA purple, and Philly orange are introduced)
The helmets, starting in 1979-ish
The short-lived Cooperall mutation
The era of fancy sublimations of the 90’s (Wild Wing, two-toned Canucks, etc)
The god-damn EDGE (gratuitous diaper tails and overly fancy polyester)
Original six — archehetypicohexic from Archetypus — L original, Hex G six;
Wildly Colorful — Truculographic from Truculenter — L wildly G colorful (alt);
First helmets — Protocassidic from Proteus G first Cassida L helmet;
Brief shame [of cooperalls] — Paucintropic from Paucis L brief Ntrope G shame;
Fancy shadows — Placebansic from Placebant L fancy Skis G shadow;
Edge- my first instinct is Damnatio Memoriae but Turpikopsic from Turpis L ugly Kopse G Edge
spelling fixes: archetypicohexic and placebanskic.
Karl Placebanskic would be a great name for a brawling defenseman playing for Winnipeg.
Here’s a game-worn A-Rod jersey from an All-Star tour of Japan. Never seen that sleeve patch before!
a) that font looks remarkably like the most recent link
b) don’t usually see the MLB Players Assoc. logo on a jersey. Lack of detail really makes it look like a “K” harkening back to the original reason for using that to mark a strikeout.
c) golden home plate is great
As someone who grew up on the West Coast and now resides on the East Coast, I have to say I prefer the former. I always liked waking up on weekends and having football games to watch immediately. I hate that Seattle Mariners games typically don’t start until 10:05pm my time now. I rarely make it through the 5th inning. To be honest, this is the only thing I don’t like about living on the East Coast. Most of the teams I care most about having such late start times. I’m up until 2-3am on Saturday nights in the fall watching Washington Huskies games, and then I work at 5am the next day…
Living in CA has it’s advantages. On Sunday, I get football from 10 AM until 8:30 PM and still have time after the Sunday Night game to relax and watch some news before bed. So there’s that.
But 5 PM weekday games for my teams really sucks. I remember racing home in both 2010 and 2012 to catch as much of the World Series as I could, with my radio blasting the Giants broadcast all the way home. I have a 45 min commute, which isn’t bad and made it home in the 2nd or 3rd inning.
On another topic, did you get a chance to hear Vin Scully eulogize Don Zimmer last night? I HATE the Dodgers, but would love to have Vin read my book of life when I get wherever I’m going after this life! :)
link
Funny mash-up of NHL logos and Simpsons characters.
link
Not funny. Completely stupid. Half of them ruin the logo completely.
One man’s hilarity is another man’s boredom.
Such is life.
In the times I have been on the west coast I’ve asked myself the same question about sports events. I especially think it seems odd to have east coast games done when it’s still “prime time” on the west coast. Imagine having the Yankees/Red Sox 8:00 PM EST game in post-game-interview status and you’re just cleaning up from dinner! I asked one or two people about this phenomena, and it seems to me that they’re just used to it. It’s not odd because it’s just business as usual. It’s been one of my theories as to why there isn’t a NFL team in LA. I can’t state the reason why I have this theory because it’s not fully developed in my mind yet. Right now it’s just in the “smells test” phase of formulation. Another example, and I don’t know if this has changed, but there was a time that people wouldn’t even show up to Dodgers or Angels games until the game was well under way. The sports culture on the west coast is just different. You don’t schedule any part of your life around the sports culture because it’s so slanted towards a time zone that is 3 hours away that it would drive you crazy! You watch when you can. You don’t when you can’t.
Edit, replace 8:00 PM with 7:00 PM.
“You don’t schedule any part of your life around the sports culture because it’s so slanted towards a time zone that is 3 hours away that it would drive you crazy!”
I’m on the West Coast and don’t really agree with this. The only games starting at a weird time are national broadcasts. In baseball, basketball, and hockey, this is a very small percentage of the total number of games. Obviously, the postseason can be different, especially in the later rounds.
Football is also different, but the majority of games are on Sunday, so it’s a nonissue most of the time.
This SI article on Don Zimmer happens to include a photo of him with the Dodgers link with ’42’ on the knob.
At least it didn’t say “Fuck Face”, like Billy Ripken’s on that baseball card.
Too bad
At leastit didn’t say “Fuck Face”, like Billy Ripken’s on that baseball card.(Fixed.)
Any idea when the new Pelicans, Hornets, and any other new jerseys may be released? Really curious as to what color the Pelican’s jerseys will be. I’d like a red alternate for road, gold for home.
To my knowledge, the Pelicans just got new jerseys after their name change, and have been white at home and navy for away for the past year.
I know, I’m wondering about an alternate jersey.
My understanding is that in the NBA, teams can only introduce an alternate a season after new home/away unis are released.
Not exactly the rule, but close enough.
Hornets unveiling is on June 19.
I haven’t heard anything about a Pelicans alt.
Too bad
At leastit didn’t say “Fuck Face”, like Billy Ripken’s on that baseball card.(Fixed.)
Mountain Time resident here. I like it here, sports-time wise. East coast baseball games generally start at 5, Central at 6, I get home from work around 7, so I miss the beginning but have plenty of time to see the later innings. And west coast games start at 8, so I can usually see the whole thing and still get to bed at 11-ish.
Don’t watch football any more but when I did I found that having the late games end around 5 on Sunday worked pretty well. And the Monday nighters were over in plenty of time for bed.
Premier League soccer games start pretty early on weekend mornings (6-8 am, generally), but I just DVR them and watch when I get up, delayed by only an hour or two so I don’t have to go out of my way to avoid seeing scores.
Likewise, I live in the Mountain Time Zone. We may not have it quite as good as the Central Time Zone folks, but catching televised games here from coast to coast is rarely a problem, schedule-wise. My work schedule is flexible enough that I can normally be home by 5:00 PM if I really want to catch the start of an East Coast game. (It’s usually not that important for me to do so unless it’s a playoff game involving one of my favorite teams.) And West Coast games don’t keep me up much past my bed time, either. I also make liberal use of my DVR for any games I’m unable to watch live.
Regarding the Rangers uniforms: I believe the 1967 Penguins (and the more recent Penguins Winter Classic jersey that was based on it) had 7 o’clock drop shadow numbers. It’s a little harder to notice due to the rounded number style.
Good one!
Of course, they were just copying the Rangers:
link
Someone else just sent me another example — the current Pitt football team:
link
Those Pitt jerseys aren’t current, they’re from a few years ago. As a PSU fan, I only know this because I remember them switching from Adidas to Nike, and that picture is Adidas. Their current Nike jerseys don’t have any shadow, just a white outline: link
Trying a different link: link
But the helmet still has the shadow, as does the wordmark just below the collar.
The Colorado Avalanche used the diagonal city name similar to the Rangers, but without the drop shadow:
link
Speaking of the drop shadows… in my 35 years of sign painting and being in the sign business, a drop shadow has ALWAYS gone on the left side of the letters. So the Rangers are the only team whose lettering looks “correct” to me.
-Jet
I guess everyone forgets about the Penguins doing a direct copy of the Rangers with link. I thought of that first before Colorado’s uniform.
QOTD: My cousin and I are life-long west coasters and he has a wife who threatens she wants to move back to her Boston hometown so we are constantly discussing start time of sports. Both of us agree West Coast is by far the best since we don’t have to stay up until 2 a.m. to finish a game.
I’m always making fun of my cousin when he’s in Boston for Christmas and his Blazers always seem to play that night at 10:30 EST. Everybody is in bed before the game even starts and then he texts me at midnight that it’s only halftime. He says he will never survive if he moves to the east coast.
About 15 years ago, I took a week long vacation in Washington D.C. I kept falling alseep before the Dodger games ended and then I’d check the paper the next morning and the score wouldn’t be in there because the game ended after the paper went to press. So I’d wait until the next day and half the time they forgot to print the boxscore. It drove me crazy that I had to look at the standings just to find out if they won. I guess that doesn’t matter now that we have smart phones. But still…
For a 5 p.m. start time, I DVR the game and then fly thru the commercials and catch up to live action before the end of the game. If there’s nothing going on at work, it’s also a good excuse to leave an hour early.
The 10 a.m. start times for Sunday football is the best. There is something truly American about the ability to sit on the couch from 10 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. watching nothing but football. And then still having time to watch a few Sunday night TV shows. Sometimes I even wake up to exercise at 9 a.m. so I don’t feel like a fat pig all day.
In response to the comment about Dodgers and Angels fans arriving late to games, that has nothing to do with the start times and is mostly do to with the traffic in LA and Orange County. Growing up in LA I liked to get to a Dodgers game in time for batting practice but despite thinking I had left early enough, many times I would miss BP and soemtimes even the national anthem. Traffic can be heavy all the way until midnight so a later start time wouldn’t help much.
Traffic can be heavy even after midnight, especially on Fridays and Saturdays on the 101 with lots of people going to/from Hollywierd.
The Dodgers experimented with 7:35pm Friday start times for a while but that didn’t really work. People were still stuck in traffic and still late. They ended moving back to 7:10pm start times on Fridays.
I am a current midwesterner who is from the west coast, so yes, I feel like I am in the perfect zone to watch sports.
As a Sharks fan, I wish they started their games at 9pm (like the Ducks seem to usually do) instead of 9:30pm CT so I could go to bed around 11:30ish.
What I feel most for are the players – along with our game day routines, theirs are also dramatically changed. For superstitious players, their whole timeline is messed up. The Kings have the home ice advantage, they should also be able to decide when their games start.
Regarding the 75 A’s jersey center tagging…this was indeed common on the McAuliffes for them at least. They actually had a bunch for sale at Fanfest this year, along with other jerseys from the late 70’s and early 80’s.
Finley, of course, switched jersey manufacturers about every other year during that time…
re: QOTD
Now, fans of European soccer have a different perspective. It’s actually pretty nice being an East Coaster, since I can get most of my viewing done before the morning. I’d hate to have to get up for the noon (UK time) kickoffs on the West Coast, though.
Champions League games are a little trickier, since they’re usually 3 pm to 5 pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
Re playoff start times, I would argue that the West coast wins, simply because games rarely last until midnight. I don’t know how East coasters stay up until midnight or 1AM and then drag themselves to work. I can deal with an early start time, especially if I can listen to the game on the radio on the way home.
I was a fan of the old California Golden Seals as a lad in the 70’s and I would routinely be up until 1 a.m. on a school night with the radio pressed to my ear in bed, listening to their home games from Oakland over east coast teams’ radio stations…
-Jet
Lifetime West Coaster and I wouldn’t have it any other way, we’ve never known anything different. Love the weekday 5pm start times, over by 8pm, everything is good. I am the rare exception though, I get off at 4:30p and have a 10 minute commute.
I especially love the 10am NFL start times, I love waking up and watching football, plus excuse to not go to church (not very religious). My Raiders usually play at 1pm our time, but its a real treat when they play out east. When Raider games start at 10am, drunk by 11, have time to sleep it off and have a nice family dinner still.
As a Raiders fan, I just have to ask… how the heck are you drunk by 11 for a game starting at 10? They’ve been mostly competitive in the first half of games, it’s the 4th quarter where they seem to forget how to play and blow a 2 TD lead.
Can’t watch football without drinking. If I drank based on how the Raiders are doing I’d be wasted from September through December every year.
. . . but not in January or February!
I travel a lot for work and have always asked the question to Westcoasters about they feel about most major sporting events being set-up for the East coast (and the advertising dollars it generates).
Most of the people I spoke to in California didn’t seem to mind it IF they grew up watching sports that way. Most people who moved there were thrown off by it a little but mentioned how cool it is to leave work, head to a bar, grab a few beers and watch MNF. The one consensus was that they all LOVED the Superbowl being an East coast time because of the ability to watch the game and still have the rest of the night to either go out and party or get ready for work the next day.
My travels to Hawaii were a different story. Most games are during breakfast which creates what you see with European soccer fans who live in New York City watching games at random British pubs early sunday morning. Bars and restaurants seem to love the fact they make money at early morning hours that wouldn’t generate any foot traffic on the East coast.
As for my opinion, I always thought it was cool to see Monday Night Football during rush hour/happy hour in LA or the time I watched the MLB All-Star game in Hawaii while having lunch.
Also, you can’t say, “I missed the end of the game because I fell asleep during half-time”.
As a native Californian, my issue with West Coast start times never really had anything to do with my own convenience — especially now when you can just DVR the start of the game if you can’t make it home time. The thing that always bothered me was the inconvenience to the players (and I am only talking about baseball here) of having to hit in the difficult conditions of shadow-covered fields. Go back and look at some of the All-Star games that have started at 5pm . . so many of them were a joke because the hitters couldn’t see. Fortunately, it seems that we don’t see as many post-season games starting at 5 anymore though. But that is really the only issue I have ever had with the early start times.
Doesn’t Queen City have a specific definition?
Something like “largest city in a state that is not the capital?”
Would apply to Cincinnati but not Denver. Actually it wouldn’t even apply to Cincinnati, since Cleveland’s bigger.
It’s true for Charlotte, but that’s not how it got its nickname. It’s named after Queen Charlotte, wife of George III of Great Britain.
Sweeet-lookin’ sweater on this trainer in that set of old Boston Bruins pics!
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-Jet
I grew up on the east coast, moved to midwest, and subsequently moved back east and I really like Central time the best, that one hour makes a huge difference with sports and even primetime tv (although we don’t watch much tv anymore). I loved the noon NFL kickoff, just seems like 1 is a little too late to get the action going. I was in Portland, OR once for work and the early games really threw me off, don’t know how well I’d adjust to that.
“And for east coasters, do you ever feel guilty or weird about the schedules always being geared toward your viewing convenience?”
I know I’m in the minority with this (shouldn’t make my opinion any less valid) but I prefer late starting games. My work schedule is not that of a 9-5 jobber so when games start at 10 or 11 east coast time it actually gives me a chance to watch some. The greatest thing in NFL history, to me, was that weird Raiders/Chargers game with the 11:15 start. First game I got to watch all of in YEARS!
But specifically about yesterdays game, well, no hate but, it’s hockey. Not that many people really cared. If they tried to pull that shit in any of the major sports there’d be a revolution.
If they stay with roman numerals (and society and the NFL make it that far), in January 2477, the name will be “Super Bowl DIX”.
:)
I like how responses to QOTD come in geographical waves.
As someone who lives in the Bay Area I do feel a little cheated whenever one of my favorite teams plays a post season game in the east coast. I understand that certain considerations need to be made, but a little more compromise would be nice
QOTD: I was born and raised in the LA area, lived in DC for several years, and now live in Orange County. On balance, I think the west coast has it better. It helps that I follow west coast teams. I
For playoff games that are set for east coast viewers, I either try to ditch out of the office early or follow along online if I can and watch the rest live at home. There’s just too much of a chance that I’ll get a text, email, call, or other message to trust that I can DVR it and not find out what happened.
There are far more regular season games than playoffs obviously, so I spend a lot more time watching the day to day ins and outs of the season (especially for baseball). With the huge volume of games, I don’t mind missing an occasional game that starts at 4pm PT. I do, however, very much appreciate the fact that I don’t have to stay up until 1-2am ET to watch the end of a west coast game. The same is true for late NFL games.
The biggest difference for me between the east and west coasts is for Premier League soccer. While most Premier League matches start at 7-9am PT, we do get the occasional 4:45am PT start time which is truly absurd. Over the years, I’ve adapted to the schedule. This is bad for many west coast fans but as a parent I appreciate the fact that I can go down to the pub, enjoy the match, and be home in time for a full day of family time rather than having to ditch my daughter so I can watch soccer.
As an East-Coaster, I am actually jealous of West Coast fans who get to watch sports earlier. Especially for football. Yeah there would be times like last night it may be hard to watch the beginning of an event, but as a whole, I’d take that knowing my Sunday Night Football games were ending at 9pm vs Midnight.
That Bucks logo looks very Minnesota Wild-y, but I did think of something looking at it…Wouldn’t it be cool to maybe incorporate antlers as the lines on a basketball in the logo?
They should just go back to the old Buck’s logo from the 80’s, they can even updated it a la the Atlanta Hawks updating their Pac Man logo. Anyone agree?
The thought of an updated smiling Buck facing an updated Pac-Man Hawk sends good chills down my spine. It’s been hard to watch a Bucks/Hawks matchup the last couple of decades.
Easy fix for all the east coast/west coast tomfoolery:
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Alternate version of the same idea:
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unsurpisingly the CNN one is the more ignorant of the two, splitting up the KC, Omaha and Fargo metro areas between two time zones.
And Texarkana, too!
Having moved from the east coast (Go Rangers!) to the west coast, I have found that one of life’s simplest pleasures accomodates nicely for east-coast sports: Happy Hour. I live in Seattle, and much to my surprise, a very large portion of people work earlier hours than standard east-coast 9-5, so at 4, people are leaving work and ditching straight out for Happy Hour. If nothing else, it makes watching sports easier overall — no late games, everything is done by 11 or so.
(Comments about EPL are particularly interesting — a favorite activity is to have friends over early and cook a big breakfast and have mimosas on weekend mornings. We make an event of it.)
Generally, I do like being in the Central time zone for sporting events. What I don’t like is how the times of games are erratic based on the whims of the network. The Hawks games, on weeknights, always started at 7:30. This past year, every game started at 7. If you know Chicago traffic – you’ll know that if you work until 5:00, you really need to leave at 5:00 or prior to get down to the lots and into UC. My ticket rep (whose name I’ll keep quiet) said that they were pressured from the NHL and the broadcast partners to change the times. When the playoffs rolled around – home games started at 8:00 (face off closer to 8:30). Why? So the networks could show the Eastern Conf. games, the Central time zone game and then the West time zone game.
I could ramble on and on about how TV’s a pain in the ass, including trying to find the ever-changing channels that the games are broadcast on, but I’ve done that enough already.
Blah, blah, blah, you kids get off my lawn, etc.
There is, of course, a difference between TV watching and going to the games. I remember being in the Bay Area during the ’88 World Series and hearing media implore fans to use BART to get to the 5:30 ballgame.
I’m really surprised some people feel the east coast’s start times are advantageous.
Internet, DVR, radio, and smart phones make it relatively easy to catch a game that starts at 4-5 PM. Technology doesn’t solve the problem of an NBA or MLB game ending at 1-2 AM.
Completely agree with Trev here, I don’t get how east coast start time are advantageous or as Paul said “always being geared toward your viewing convenience?”
The night Derek Fisher beat the Spurs with 0.4 seconds, my plane arrived in Washington D.C. around midnight. I was able to get to my hotel in time to watch the 4th quarter and managed to stay up until 2 a.m. when Fisher ended it. That was a spectacular finish (especially for a Lakers fan) with Duncan hitting an incredible shot and leaving only 0.4 seconds on the clock. I remember thinking about how few people actually got to see that live.
I don’t remember what time last year’s NBA Finals game 6 ended but I assume that was also pretty late when Ray Allen sent it to overtime. Plenty of people left the arena to get home before the game ended and I’m sure plenty of people turned off their TV or fell asleep watching on the East Coast.
The only advantage of the East Coast is getting to watch live TV show events. I think it’s lame when I watch something like the Survivor finale and the caption says “previously recorded live” even though it’s filmed in LA.
I always loved how 30 Rock had a live TV show and filmed it live for the east coast and then did it all over again live for the west coast.
As far as timing for games goes I live on the West Coast. As an avid sports fan there are a few things that get quite annoying. The main one for me is that I am a Christian and regular church attender(which I realize is my own personal choice so this is sort of a self afflicted problem) so NFL games kicking off at 10 am is a real issue for me. Because I also play fantasy football and like to stay up to date there is no way for me to really DVR and watch games later. I usually make it home in time to catch the last 30 minutes or so of the early games. Thankfully, my favorite team is the Seahawks who rarely play in the early games. I am a huge soccer fan and the World Cup is always tough for me as well. I still remember waking up at like 4 am to watch games and having my buddy come over and we just sat there like zombies, but we were zombies who were enjoying ourselves. I would much rather wake up at 7 am instead of 4 am for a soccer game. I actually don’t get off work until 5:30 pm so by the time I pick my kids up and commute home it’s roughly 6:15-6:30ish. That makes it incredibly difficult to catch full games of say the NBA playoffs. I don’t mind DVRing games but I again like to keep up to the minute on stuff so I have to avoid social media and the internet and my random friend texts saying “Did you see LeBron hit that buzzer beater to win the game?” until I get to watch the game. My wife does not like sports so often times I can’t watch a game until her and the kids are off to bed, which puts me watching a game at like 9:30. I would never want to trade the laid back west coast lifestyle for the hustle and bustle of the east coast but I sure wouldn’t mind trading game start times.
I would get rid of the ball and wordmark, but otherwise I really like the Jays redesign contest runner-up logo on top: link
Looks like UCLA is going back to Clarendon font with a navy blue drop shadow this year:
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The UCLA stripe is still sadly mangled.
Nice shoutout to Paul on 99percentinvisible!
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“Oh man, how great would it be if the Rangers wore New York Americans throwbacks?”
I’m gonna go out on a limb and say that getting the Rangers to wear those is a lost cause, considering that the two teams played in the NHL at the same time.
The Islanders might be another story, though, especially with the impending move to Brooklyn and the fact that in the final year of their existence, the Americans were known as the Brooklyn Americans.
Especially since the Americans cursed the rangers going out the door in 1940… Yeah, no effing way in hell.
Looks like the commenters are pretty pleased link, Paul.
That Clippers logo was supposed to be introduced for the 1993-94 season – no idea why it was nixed.
Not a wagering man but I wonder if there is any way to predict game outcomes based on each team’s travel schedule? On Sunday the White Sox should wing home from Anaheim by 7:30pm Central (5 hrs after first pitch), flying 2000 miles and landing about 11:30pm for a game that starts 19.5 hours later. Tigers should be landing in Chicago by 1am (CDT) after 1 hour flight. Advantage short travel time or earlier to bed? Or no big deal?
Generics. I have made casual searches for un-named, un-numbered Bears jerseys and found that the usual outlets don’t offer them. Anyone know if that’s a policy of the NFL? And does that make this a big deal? link
Since I’m mainly a football guy, I love living on the West Coast. There is nothing like starting a football Saturday/Sunday with a Bloody Mary, Eggs Benedict and football. As for the rest, I can leave work a little early (which is NEVER a bad thing) for big games.
“… He stripped the old ones off right on the field, revealing some exceedingly small briefs. The crowd, of course, went nuts.”
I see what you did there.
It appears as though I’ll need to chime in to represent yet another time zone….
Being from Atlantic Canada means that we are one hour behind Eastern time, hence 7:00 pm EST starts are at 8:00, Sunday football at 2:00 instead of 1:00, etc.
And of course as a result, west coast (known as late games) start at 11:00-11:30. Newfoundland, further east than the maritimes, is behind an additional 30 minutes.
I’ve been an LA Clippers fan since I was a kid, and now that they make it more often onto US national telecasts…most times games will run well past 2:00 am, which I love as you never have to worry about what’s on TV before going to bed…but bad when you have to be up at 4:00 for work lol
I’m late to the party. but Yes! I have always wondered about the time difference. I still do today, game time 5pm LA – 8pm NY.
I’m from the East and if you have your own young family you ain’t sitting down peacefully for another 4 hours if you clock out @ 5.
So I would hope for extended OverTime out West.
Life long west coast fan here and obviously late to the party for QOTD, but what else is new for us on the left coast. I guess I think it could be considered east coast biased to think that the schedule caters to those along the Atlantic. I think it is better for me out west. I never have to stay up to an ungodly hour to watch the conclusion of a playoff game and then try to slog through the work day on a few hours sleep. I love watching MNF out west. I can’t even imagine waiting until 9PM for kickoff. Keep me in the west, thank you very much!!