Paul here, pinch-hitting today for Phil. As you may have noticed in the left sidebar, our friends at Grey Flannel Auctions are running their annual Basketball Hall of Fame auction (which also includes some non-basketball items). There’s a lot of cool stuff this time around, not the least of which is a Slick Watts All Pro Defensive Team trophy adorned with one of Watts’s signature headbands (shown at right) — a great touch. You can see the full auction listing for the trophy here.
Among the other highlights:
• Here’s something that always bugged me about the Lakers’ uni numbers back in their block-shadow era: Certain numerals, like the 2 and the 3, had little notched serifs, but those notches weren’t included on the shadow (use the close-up feature to look at the top of the 2 and 3; here’s another example) — except sometimes they were included (here’s another example). Surprisingly inconsistent!
• This auction contains a lot of listings for game-used Celtics jerseys from the 1980s. And man, whoever was doing Boston’s NOB lettering back then had some serious problems with kerning and arching — look here, here, here, and here. Yeesh!
• Wow, look how prominent the vertically arched NOB lettering is on this early-1980s Knicks jersey. Looks more like a chest insignia!
• Interesting French flag striping on this 2006 Spurs jersey from an NBA tour of Europe.
• Love love love this 1960s 76ers warm-up top. Also interesting that Wali Jones’s nickNOB was “Wally.” Why not just stick with Wali?
• Here’s something I’ve never understood about the Sonics’ early-’90s jerseys: The letters for the team name on the front of the jersey are vertically oriented — they don’t fan out radially. But the NOB lettering on the back is radially arched. I always thought they should match.
• Here’s a relatively unusual sight: an NBA jersey — Chris Mullin’s, in this case — with a captain’s “C.”
• Basketball jerseys almost always use direct-sewn NOB lettering, not nameplates. But here are two late-1980s exceptions to that rule — one from the Cavs and one from the Nuggets.
• Mmmmm, really like this 1966 Texas Western warm-up top. Tasty!
• Never seen this before: A vertically arched chest insignia that includes a vertically arched version of the NBA logo!
• The old Kentucky Colonels of the ABA used cap-lowercase NOB lettering. But how come their font didn’t include a dot over the “I”? You can see the same issue on the back of this warm-up top.
• This amazing Minnesota Pipers warm-up top has shown up in previous Grey Flannel catalog auctions, but it’s worth looking at again — Uni Watch’s highest grade!
• Okay, now we’ll wrap up with a few non-basketball items, beginning with this beautiful All America Board of Football banner.
• If you’re into championship jewelry (or even if you’re not), you’ll find plenty to like about 1951 L.A. Rams championship tie bar.
• I’d expect to find this on Etsy, not in a Grey Flannel Auctions listing, but it’s still cool: a pillow made from a Sparky Anderson jersey.
Want to see more? You can browse through the entire catalog listing here.
This is so fucking cool: I don’t jog and I don’t like Nike, so it’s not surprising that until yesterday I’d never heard of Nike+, which is apparently some sort of wearable gizmo or app or whatever that creates a map of your jogging route, computes your speed, etc.
A San Francisco woman named Claire Wyckoff has been using Nike+ to create super-cool map illustrations. She uses Google Maps to chart a route that creates an illustration and then takes Nike+ with her when she goes out and jogs that route, sort of like a life-sized version of Etch-A-Sketch. She then posts the resulting images (like the Space Invaders guy shown above) on her ingenious blog, Running Drawing, which debuted about seven weeks ago.
Wyckoff has run-drawn a dog, a Mennonite’s head, a pole dancer, and Slimer from Ghostbusters. She also said, “Fuck cancer!” (in honor of a friend who’s battling the disease) by run-drawing a middle finger.
Those are all fun, but Wyckoff appears to be settling into a niche specialty: penises. Thick penises, thin penises, spurting penises, penises with hairy balls, you name it. You can see all of those on this page. (I’d say everything in that link is safe for work, but it’s been over 18 years since I worked in an office, so what do I know?)
Yes, run-drawing penises is totally juvenile, which is part of the appeal. I also love the idea of using a high-tech gadget to create such low-grade art. Great, great project — Claire Wyckoff for artist of the year!
Web chat reminder: Remember, I’m going to be doing a live ESPN web chat today at noon Eastern. The chat page is here — hope to see you there.
Raffle announcement: The folks at Pop Chart Lab have come up with a new poster/print edition, called “A Visual Compendium of Baseball Uniforms,” which charts the evolution of the baseball uni from the 1870s to the present (here’s a close-up of part of it, so you can get a better idea of the format), and they’ve offered to give away three copies of it — one of which will be framed, the other two unframed — to lucky Uni Watch readers.
To enter the raffle for this item, please send an email with your name in the subject line and your shipping address in the body of the email to the raffle address by 7pm Eastern next Wednesday, Aug. 13. Only one email per person, please. We’ll announce the winner a day or two after the deadline. Good luck!
Mike’s Question of the Week
By Mike Chamernik
Most of my friends and family members are sports fans, but they’re not so into the uniform side of it. We might have a short uni-related conversation now and then, but it’s not a daily obsession for them like it is for me.
I want to know, do other people know about your love of uniforms and logos? What do they think of uniforms and logos, and what do they think of you? In turn, what do you think of them? Have you turned anyone on to Uni Watch?
As always, post your responses in today’s comments.
Tick-Tock: Today’s Ticker was compiled and written by Mike Chamernik.
Baseball News: The logo for the 2015 MLB All-Star Game has been released. Here’s some additional info. … The Mets are into the ancient Chinese therapy called cupping, which leaves baseball-sized bruises on players’ backs (from Phil). … Model Chrissy Teigen threw out the first pitch at a Dodgers game this week and she wore a customized jersey in honor of her favorite drunken fast food (from Jonathan Daniel). … Red Sox LF Yoenis Cespedes looks to be still wearing his green-and-gold glove he wore with Oakland (from Matthew Englander). … At least the Joplin, Missouri, Little League World Series team has nice caps (from Coleman Mullins). … Longtime major and minor league veteran Corky Miller will have his No. 8 jersey retired by the Louisville Bats on August 31 (from Brice Wallace). … “Saw this book mentioned in the new issue of the free Twins magazine at the ballpark last night: Minnesota Twins History Through Memorabilia,” says Mike Menner. “Interesting angle on telling team history!” … Mike Colvin had a nifty custom-made jersey for his bachelor party. “It’s in the Yankees’ road style with a necessary NOB of ‘Madd Milk,’ which is an inside joke based on my ‘DJ name’ of Mad Mike,” he says. “There is also a very clever left arm band with my wedding date of 8-31-14.” … According to Wikipedia, Mike Schmidt wore the abandoned all-burgundy Phillies unis during an All-Star tour of Japan in 1979 (from Bruce Jaynes). … The Fresno Grizzlies sent Brewers CF Carlos Gomez a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles jersey (from Alan Filipczak). … Here’s the fauxback cap that the Rays will wear against the Cubs on Sunday. No visuals of the full uni yet, but Cork Gaines has tried to figure out what it will look like. … The Cardinals’ single-game media passes honor the 1964 World Series team. … The Bridgeport Bluefish released some alternatives to their bare-chested military uniforms. … Yesterday was “Turn Back The Clock Night” for the Eau Claire Express, who wore 1950s-era Eau Claire Bears unis, and the Duluth Huskies, who wore Duluth Dukes unis (from Lukas Hoffland). … Marlins 2B Enrique Hernandez should not go by his nickname. ”¦ Rare sight last night: Albert Pujols going high-cuffed (from Phil). ”¦ Matt Shepardson came across a bar in Bridgman, Michigan, that has a Cubs theme, right down to adapting the Cubbies’ logo. … Here’s more info about that Mets giveaway item with the Phillies logo.
NFL News: The Eagles are discussing the possibility of going back to kelly green (from Karl Dentino). … The Bucs will have a memorial patch for Malcolm Glazer (from Phil). … Redskins safety Ryan Clark has a colorful sock collection (from Brinke). … Brinke also sends in this eBay find, a 1960s-era NFL logo T-shirt. … Here’s a short video on how the Vikings will flip TCF Bank Stadium for their games this season (from Steven Lobejko). … Ray Lewis talked about what trying on the original Ravens uniforms meant to him (from Jack Krabbe). … Related, the Ravens and Under Armour are donating football and women’s basketball uniforms to 24 Baltimore public high schools (from Andrew Cosentino). … The Lions painted their goalposts green as part of an environmental awareness program. … Critch Field and I each noticed that the logo history video from the other day shows the Cardinals having been in Arizona since 1960, skipping their time in St. Louis. That detail really bugs me. ”¦ Saints coach Sean Payton pranked QB Drew Brees by replacing the Chevron at patch on Brees’s practice jersey with a Rogaine patch (from Mike Wernsing, Jr.).
College Football News: All of these are from Phil, except as noted: Missouri Baptist unveiled their inaugural-season uniforms. … More photos of Georgia Tech’s uniforms. … North Dakota State has a new green home jersey. … Finally, the official unveiling for Utah. ”¦ Here’s some more information on the Guardian helmet caps mentioned in yesterday’s Ticker (from Taylor Jordan Kay). … Virginia Tech released its 2014 poster, complete with opponents’ helmets at the bottom (from Andrew Cosentino). ”¦ Speaking of posters, check out this gallery of 2014 college football schedule posters.
Hockey News: Here’s the Stadium Series logo for next season’s Kings vs. Sharks at Levi’s Stadium. That place is really making a splash in its first year, with eight or more Niners games, an NHL game, and Wrestlemania (from Phil). … New jerseys for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Pointers (from Mike Bialas).
Soccer News: New kits for the Western Sydney Wanderers of the Australian A-League (from Graham Clayton). … The MLS All-Star practice jerseys had some type of blacked-out logo on the sleeve (from Joshua Williams). ”¦ “For Wednesday night’s Bayern Munich/MLS All-Star game, Bayern wore the U.S. version of the T-Mobile logo on their shirts, instead of their usual ‘T’ logo of T-Mobile’s German parent company, Deutsche Telekom,” says Nick Waters. “This was pretty amusing, because AT&T is the MLS league sponsor and title sponsor of the All-Star Game and shirt sponsor of the MLS All-Stars. It looked like the sponsor change led to the Bayern goalies not featuring the Bayern Munich club logo. I imagine Adidas likely used blank goalie shirts and heat-pressed on the T-Mobile logo and player name and number.”
NBA News: It’s a little hard to see, but Charles Barkley was wearing All-Star-branded compression shorts in the 1993 NBA ASG (from Paul). … According to an NBA official, the reason why Andrew Wiggins Cavs jerseys are not for sale online isn’t because he might get traded. It’s because they’re sold out. … In Uni Watch circles my nickname is Mr. Logo Mash-Up Buzzkill, but these soccer jerseys of NBA teams are well done (from Nam K. Ho). … While Paul has a piece of the court that Wilt Chamberlain scored 100 points on, the Hershey Arena — where the game was played — has an underwhelming wall display (from Steve Dodell). [Note: I raffled off that piece of the court at the end of 2012, so I no longer have it. ”” PL]
Grab Bag: The CFL and Reebok will debut something called Signature Uniforms later this summer. “This doesn’t sound promising for a traditionalist like me,” says Dan Bly. Here’s an idea for what the Saskatchewan Roughriders’ jersey will look like. … A Welsh chicken restaurant has a logo that looks like, well, a cock. … New logo for the New Mexico Lottery. I enjoy state lottery logos, for some reason. … Swimmer Haley Anderson is wearing her Twitter handle on her swim cap at the US National Championships (from Chris Cruz).
I’m pretty sure that Wally Jones changed the spelling of his name to Wali, presumably at some point after that warmup was issued.
You are right. He entered the league as “Wally” jones and changed it during the era when black athletes were changing their names. Compared to say Kareem or Ali, he chose a middle path, so to speak….
None other than Red Auerback dubbed it the NBA’s “worst all-time name change”.
link
RE: Question of the Week
My wife summed it up best for me when she said “I’m so glad that there are other people out there like you” while I was reading this website. Not sure if she was glad for me or glad for her.
Unrelated to anything, but Mike Chamernik, were you at the Dairy Queen on Southport two nights ago? If not, you have a twin out there. Some guy that looked exactly like the picture up there by the Question of the Week was enjoying some DQ.
Haha yep that was me. I’m always out walking in that area.
Well how random is that. I hope you enjoyed whatever it is you were having. My S’mores Blizzard was delicious, as was the wife’s Chips Ahoy Blizzard. Can’t go wrong with a DQ stop every now and again.
I know, such a coincidence. I’m thrilled every time someone recognizes my face or my name from Uni Watch. I got a Heath Blizzard, and it was fantastic. S’mores is excellent, too. I’m going to try Chips Ahoy the next time I’m there!
It was always my understanding that the striping on jerseys worn for the 2006 NBA Europe Live Tour were based on European flags, the Spurs being based on the French flag.
You’re right — brain cramp on my part. Will fix.
Love the idea of the Eagles going back to kelly green, but I am worried that means getting a uniform set that looks like the Bucs or Jags. That is a heavy price to pay.
As long as the wings stay on the helmet, I can deal.
So the replacement uniforms for the bare chested military theme are almost as bad as the previous. Especially the Army ones. They aren’t even close to any US Army uniform, and I have no idea where they pulled that rank from. I believe the rank on the Army uniform is a Air Force rank rendered in the Army coloring. Great way to “honor” the military….
RE: Question of the Week
I’ve told multiple people I get furious seeing the Eagles not wearing kelly green, the Broncos with the weird number font or the Lions having black trim in their logo/uniform.
Here is a Getty shot of Manuel Neuer, Bayern Munich goalie, from last night’s All-Star game wearing the goalie shirt without the Bayern logo. The shots hadn’t been posted when I sent in the tip.
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Sadly and unfortunately the Eagles are not going Kelly Green full time. Updated info: they want to use it as an alternate jersey, but the helmet issue may put the kibosh on it.
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Well, that’s disappointing. Stupid Eagles and their stupid-ass midnight green…
We should have realized it was too good to be true. As the article states, there is so much MG at the Linc, etc would be quite the undertaking to change it over. But Jeff has the cash.
Phillies also had a WB Mason truck promotion on July 26, and yes a lucky fan received one with the Mets logo on it.
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I had my suspicions about that yesterday.
Thanks for the update!
The ESPN article states that the error discovered at the Citi Field giveaway was merely a packaging mistake, but in the photo you posted from CP Park you can see the Philadelphia MLB team’s logo on the roof of the truck and the New York (NL) team’s logo on the door.
That’s a manufacturing/assembly error in my view.
Those Georgia Tech uniforms are from the 2013 season–it isn’t clear what the upcoming season will wear. I think Russell wants to use the first game as a reveal.
QotW
Lots of people know about my uniform deal just because if I didn’t mention it while watching a game with someone, my head would probably explode. Some people put up with it just out of kindness but aren’t actually interested, other people think it’s pretty annoying and tell me to tone it down a bit sometimes, because they just don’t care enough to listen to me.
Mike, don’t give in on those awful awful uniform mashups. If anything, this NBA one is the most objectionable yet – according to him the key to a soccer jersey is to have jersey ads and an Adidas template. Not only is it an utterly cynical view of soccer uni design, but also I’m seriously questioning the creative impulses of somebody who willingly handicaps their design by plastering a corporate logo over it and forces it into somebody else’s generic brand template.
FWIW, the Adidas template is based on NBA’s leaguewide apparel deal.
Still, you can see the variety in Adidas unis in all the World Cup unis – Colombia has a totally different look from Mexico or Germany, for example.
Perhaps a better analogy would be with MLS which also has a leaguewide Adidas deal but doesn’t have just one template serving every team.
Anyway, I understand the reasoning behind it, I just think that the reasoning is, as I said, cynical and anti-creative. And not just cynical about soccer, but cynical about design in general – the idea that you can take somebody else’s template, somebody else’s logo, somebody else’s jersey design and stick them together in a way that fits a narrowly construed idea of what constitutes a soccer aesthetic and call that unique is pure bollocks. It’s cheap, it’s lazy and it’s only just a couple of degrees off outright plagiarism.
No disagreement here – it’s basically a slightly challenging Microsoft Paint busy work, not an actual design project.
Question of the day: Family and friends know about my uni-preferences. They indulge me for a bit then it’s back to watching the game or whatever we were doing.
A friend of mine also goes by a shortened form of Enrique, but it’s typically spelled “Quique”. So I guess I could see the confusion, but it’s still awful.
With a name like Wyckoff….I would have expected nothing less than pictures of penises!
I used to work with her – she’s wicked funny and she’s been posting her penis maps for a while, but I never thought it would, uh, explode like this.
QOTW:
Get into the occasional conversation with a few friends about logos and uniforms, and get the very occasional question asked. Have one guy I know that I occasionally trade hockey jerseys with; sometimes run into him when we are both at the thrift store – he is more interested than most in logos and uniforms. Think I’ve mentioned Uni Watch but with him I’ll probably have to write it down a few times before he checks it out; think I gave him my phone number several times before he knew it.
Most of the time though I can see people’s eyes start to glaze over if the conversation goes on to long. Much like mine do when they start talking in detail about stats, sports pools, and betting for any length of time.
Wife thinks I’m a pack rat and am nuts (for a variety of reasons). I won’t say she’s wrong.
The blacked out logo on the MLS practice jerseys is the MLS logo patch. It was rendered in some god awful metallic forest green color, so when light hits it it disappears. You can almost make it out on the player on the far left.
I’m thinking that Tampa Bay Faux-Back will look like the Baltimore Orioles in 1988.
This jersey link in either yellow or light blue.
I work in broadcasting (mostly radio), and somehow I’ve been able to wear sports jerseys (mostly college baseball – they’re a little tougher to get and therefore somewhat more unique) to work for over 20 years. It starts some conversations and has given me some nicknames (‘Jersey Shore’ probably the least attractive). I think it sometimes drives people close to me crazy, especially when I point out at various places that what they’re advertising as game jerseys definitely aren’t, or that the shape of the number ‘2’ isn’t as it should be. I’ve told people about the website, but I’m more apt to show these same people a particular story or link. Thanks for the site.
QOTW:
I see a lot of the regulars here go through what I go through. My parents are eager fans but follow traditional things: Stats, hot streaks, trades, favorite players, etc. At first, during the 1970s, I got an eyeroll each time I praised the Astros or Pirates above the Yankees or Dodgers. But as I learned to temper my enthusiasm for uniforms and odd pitching windups, they reached out to me. They began admitting opinions along the lines of “The Reds are pretty dull” or “The A’s shoes make the players look faster”.
Friends and peers were more understanding, since team loyalties usually showed up in art classes. Boys attempting to scare up a subject to draw and color often settled on football helmets and hockey sweaters. But I could see I was trying their patience when I would gush about the Buccaneers’ pretty jerseys or Lee Mazzilli’s tight pants. Obviously, a learning experience for all parties involved.
It also doesn’t help that when I discuss things in my wheelhouse, like tackle-twill and gussets, that my voice speeds up and I begin to sound like Matthew Lesko.
Everyone who knows me semi-well knows I’m a massive jersey nerd. Soccer is my bread and butter. My wife has recently taken up some ‘kit spotting’ at her work and she has successfully identified a Scottish soccer’s Hearts. I was so proud.
I am a Toronto FC (MLS) season’s ticket holder and have befriended like-minded individuals. I’ve turned them on to Uni-Watch, but no idea if they are regular readers.
We’ve gone as far as recreating our own renditions of soccer kits, both original and recreations of old jerseys of days (and opportunities) gone by. Also made a ‘team’s worth’ of jerseys for our wedding recently.
It looks like the blacked out patch on the MLS all-stars is actually the MLS logo. Here is an example link
It’s the MLS logo, but it’s not blacked out…it’s dark green, but looked blacked out at some angles.
Yep. link is a better shot.
Good work, guys. Wasn’t sure if it was the MLS logo (the reader who sent it in said it was) or if it was the “Put a bird on it” Portland All-Star logo.
Boilerplate alert! Nike’s press release for the new Western Sydney Wanderers kit starts with this line: This season, Western Sydney Wanderers will play in Nike kits that pay homage to the club’s rich football culture and tradition.
Western Sydney Wanderers have played a grand total of two seasons.
And then we get this:
The new home shirt maintains the long-standing black and red hoops design that Western Sydney has sported since their first season.
Which was 2012-2013.
Now, those two seasons have been pretty good ones, as they finished the with best record in the league one year and making it to the A-League Grand Final both years, but are “long-standing” and “rich football tradition” really the superlatives you’re looking for?
Cam we talk about how link?
There’s the blue/red stripes, the white collar and Adidas stripes, the Adidas logo, the CWC winner patch and the crest with the four stars, the sponsor logo, club name above the numbers, player name below the numbers, the blue strips at the shorts hem, and the three-colored socks. Whew! They could stand to follow Coco Chanel’s advice about putting everything on and taking one thing off.
Compare that to the link, which is much cleaner, even with a lot of the same elements.
Well, if they are taking one thing off my vote would be for that obtrusive Club World Cup patch. Seriously, does anybody really care all that much about the CWC? It’s a novelty competition with virtually no prestige attached, yet a winners’ patch gets stuck front and centre of the jersey, larger than the club’s actual crest. At least Bayern will only have to endure it until January.
Paul,
RE: The Lakers numeral notch nitpick. I have no defense for why some were notched and some weren’t. And obviously I respect your rights to dislike either way on the merits as well as simply be put off/intrigued by the inconsistency. BUT, I would argue that I think “correct” would have been to not include the notch.
Keep this in mind, those numerals were not JUST drop shadowed. They were stroked (outlined) and THEN drop shadowed in the same color as the stroke. So it’s really the outline that is getting the drop shadow. And as far as that goes? Outlines to tend to simplify what they outline…whether that is an outer stroke or an inner one, the angles involved will often squash, obscure and absorb little details such as those notches. This happens in logo work all the time. You throw a stroke on an object or some type and the letterforms can create these tiny little distracting areas where the outline doesn’t “reach”. And the designer then has to make choices to manually “override” the math on the outline and choose to fill that shape in or not. Follow? If a notched numeral “2” such as Johnson’s jersey shows were outlined with a tiny 2 point (for example) stroke the notch detail might be retained. If that numeral were outlined with a larger (8pt stroke?) maybe the two sides of the outline would touch and the notch would automatically be “filled in”. If you set it for a 30 point stroke it gets so big the outline from the “3” would touch the outline from the “2” and it would look silly and so on and so forth.
Obviously how many points the stroke is are irrelevant as the size of the file determines that. Let’s say the important part is the ratio between the numeral size and the stroke size. And this stuff is far from uniform or consistent from team to team, but teams have by and large arrived at rough parameters for the sizes of the numerals and the corresponding strokes to be legible at distance and attractive. You very rarely see a stroke much larger than one quarter inch for instance.
So if you accept that the “proper” treatment of the (1/4″?) stroke on a Lakers (8-10″?) back jersey numeral SHOULD fill in the notch independent of any shadow? Then the drop shadow on the outline layer looks correct to my eyes. The explanation for the other treatment another matter that I can’t shed any light on. Maybe it irked someone similarly to how it irks you?
Am I the only one who sees the irony in someone whose last name is basically pronounced “Whack off” drawing penises with her running routes? Pointing out the irony, that is all.
It’s apt, not ironic.
My family members/friends act like stereotypical South Side Chicagoans when it comes to my love for uniform aesthetics. They think it is unimportant to the game or performance.
Besides my parents my other family members thought I cared about how I looked on the field more than I care about how I played. Wrong. Performance was number one and one example is that I always liked how Jason Witten wore arm sleeves but I wouldn’t do that while playing in college because I couldn’t handle the ball as well.
First thing I thought of when I saw those map drawings was the Nazca Lines, those really old giant drawings in the desert that those nutjobs on Ancient Aliens think were drawn to communicate with extraterrestrials flying in spaceships above the Earth.
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I think the sophomoric humor of the penis drawings ruins the whole project though. Too bad.
Furthermore, while I played football in HS on the South Side of Chicago(15 years ago) the coaches hated us wearing gloves and gave us grief if we did. Visors were absolutely not allowed along with spatting shoes.
My how things have changed now, with the same coaches. As I go back to games I see the crazy eye black, visors, wristbands, ankle bands and even the dreaded pink stuff in October.
As time goes on I feel more people care about looking good in sports.
Mitchell and ness made a version of Sat night special from that tour. The first image doesn’t show the patch from the tour, but the second one does.
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The Eagles should have gotten rid of that “forest teal” years ago. I can’t believe it’s lasted almost 20 years now. How many other teams that adopted or added teal to their color schemes in the 90’s still have it? Not many. That color and the BFBS element in the uniforms is the main reason why I’m not an Eagles fan. If they went back to kelly green and dropped the black I would be though.
I don’t understand why there’s so much hatred for the current green, or for teal in general. The Dolphins have worn what could be called teal (yeah, they call it aqua, but it’s basically the same thing) for 50 years and no one has a problem with that, but since it was trendy for 5 years in the 90’s everyone hates it on any other team. Why? What’s so terrible about it? Powder blue was just as trendy in the 70’s, but no one seems to hate that color.
Timing!! Pure and simple. The ’90s were a decade of committees, exit polling and beta-testing. Thus, the rampant color trends seemed more craven. In the ’60s and ’70s, color choices where more whimsical.
That doean’t make the ’60s and ’70 unis qualitatively better to my way of thinking, or the ’90s unis qualitatively worse. In fact, rather than every single pro team retreating from stuff like “forest teal” and purple, at least one or two teams per league ought to hang onto the look and make it their own, long as it’s not aesthetically bad in/of itself.
I think it’s because the Eagles approached it a different way than the rest of the teal (90’s) teams did. I’d argue that it’s not teal but just a darker green, which when paired with black puts it in a more sophisticated light that the teal/purple combos etc. of that era. This in turn has kept the Eagles from looking dated as quickly as some of the others from that era.
I am however all for the return to Kelly green, especially if they use silver wings on the helmet with NO outline on the wing, but if they have to relegate it to an alternate uni (with current helmet) then they should just wait and do an entire overhaul to their uniform system.
That NFL logo video also screwed up the Dallas Texans. Seems like they didn’t realize that the 1952 Dallas Texans that only lasted one season and the AFL Dallas Texans that started in 1960 were different teams. The video shows the 1960 Texans logo in 1952 and has it lasting until the AFL Texans became the Chiefs and moved to Kansas City!
Screwed up the Seahawks as well. Doesn’t show the color change in 2012.
Hated those early 80s Knicks uniforms with the new design and the red. I could swear however that when they introduced those in pre-season 1979, they were the new design except in blue and orange (the standard Knick colors) and the NOB was below the numbers, much like the team name on front was below the number (KC-Omaha King style). When the season started, they changed to red and NOB above the number. I don’t remember if I saw that live on TV or in pictures, but I can’t find verification now. Anybody with good research skills want to find proof of it?
I wonder what kind of tribute F.C. United of Manchester will be wearing this season for Malcolm Glazer?
“A Welsh chicken restaurant has a logo that looks like, well, a cock.”
As Freud said, “Sometimes a cock is just a cock.” Or something like that.
“… Yesterday was ‘Turn Back The Clock Night’ for the Eau Claire Express, who wore 1950s-era Eau Claire Bears unis, and the Duluth Huskies, who wore Duluth Dukes unis (from Lukas Hoffland). …”
Good-looking unis plus wonderful Upper Midwest place-names. American nomenclature is a such a beneficiary of French colonialism.
Bruce Jaynes noted the edit I had made to Wikipedia that the Phillies wore all-burgandy in the 1979 Tour of Japan. I made this edit based on a 1979 Carlton burgundy jersey with the patch we found at Mitchell & Ness on which we based the reproductions. This discussion questions the providence of that Carlton jersey and I have not found other corroborating evidence. Does anyone have pics of Schmidt or Rose wearing all burgundy in Japan in 1979? If so – please share! Otherwise, I have edited the Wikipedia page, link, and removed the claim about the jersey being worn in the Tour.
Here’s the link for the discussion questioning the Carlton jersey providence: link
Re: Question of the week
My friends look at me like I have three heads if I point out that a jersey someone wearing is inaccurate (i.e. a Red Sox home jersey with a NOB or a Yankees jersey with a NOB).
I do have a friend who is a closet Uniwatcher. He claims he doesn’t visit this site, but he always asks me if I saw what Paul posted that day.
QOTW: I do occasionally discuss UW with family, friends, and co-workers. Most think it’s slightly bizarre and other than my soccer-loving friends most people think it’s ridiculous that I have so many sports jerseys and t-shirts. I have had an acquaintance ask me if I was in the UW ticker.
If anything, people “know” me as a bobblehead guy rather than a uni guy. I’m not as interested in the uniform details of the bobbles as I am in “real life” as I figure the manufacturers are more interested in capturing the general essence of the player/announcer than they are in all the details of the uniform.
That Mark Price jersey isn’t authentic. Compare the number font
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to the font on an actual game-used jersey:
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Good spot! The 2 looks good…this may be a case where it was another player’s jersey and by making it a Price jersey, it’s value greatly increases…that would explain the nameplate which covers remnants of the old name.
QOTW: I make all kinds of uniform-related comments to people, but aside from the wife and you guys, no one knows the real extent of my fascination with uniforms and logos and the aesthetics of athletics. I’ve gotten enough “Who cares about that?” responses that I know when to keep my mouth shut and when to share my enthusiasm.
“I’ve gotten enough “Who cares about that?” responses that I know when to keep my mouth shut and when to share my enthusiasm.”
~~~
Curb your enthusiasm, Jimmer ;)
No one I know is as uni obsessed as I am. That’s why I appreciate Uni Watch because at least I know there are like minded individuals out there somewhere. I tend to obsess over caps. I have tons of caps, all types – baseball, other sports, any funky logo, navy ships (I’m a vet). The only reason I don’t also have tons of jerseys is I don’t have the room to store them. I am originally from Brooklyn and live in Anaheim, so I do have plenty of Angels gear, but I usually am wearing something with a Mets logo on it somewhere. Still have my 1975 satin Mets Starter jacket in the back of my closet somewhere. That was a cool looking jacket.
Are you sure that is a 1975 Starter jacket? I don’t ever recall seeing Starter before about 1980.
I’m no neurologist (might be a good type of person to interview on the subject), but my understanding of concussions is that they are more whip-lash type injuries (brain bouncing around in skull) rather than impact injuries. So what, then, does the guardian helmet cap actually do, if anything? And if they only offer a false sense of security, could they then be more harmful than helpful?
^^^^^This. The Guardian Caps website contains the following disclaimer that you must check off before you can even enter it:
No helmet, practice apparatus, or helmet pad can prevent or eliminate the risk of concussions or other serious head injuries while playing sports. Researchers have not reached an agreement on how the results of impact absorption tests relate to concussions. No conclusions about a reduction of risk or severity of concussive injury should be drawn from impact absorption tests.
Yet the article linked to in the Ticker about the creator of the company that makes them suggests the opposite.
Nobody ever claimed that the Guardian caps (or any other product) could “prevent concussions.” Indeed, no product is capable of that.
But the fact that they include some boilerplate disclaimer language doesn’t mean that the Guardian (or other products) can’t *decrease the chance* of concussions.
I’m not saying the Guardian is a good product — I frankly have no idea. But the fact that it isn’t a cure-all doesn’t mean that it’s worthless.
With all due respect, Paul, I suggest you re-read the article you linked to. The woman profiled is nothing if not disingenuous, saying variously on the one hand that “we knew we could change the game,” “changing a sport as ingrained as football takes time” and that “we were told that changing the sound of the game … would be bad for business,” while at the very end of the article saying, essentially, “we have no freakin’ clue if our product has any value.” That’s the rub in this whole thing – people & regulatory bodies (in the US at least) are embracing products as fail-safes when, to be generous, the jury is still out. Look, for example, at Florida’s mandate that women’s HS lacrosse players wear helmets, and a jurisdiction in NJ’s similar mandate for field hockey, neither of which is based on anything more than anecdotal evidence of the “my child sustained a bad injury that I’m certain some sort, any sort of protective covering would’ve mitigated or prevented entirely” variety. When, just for example, the introduction of mandatory eyewear in HS field hockey and lacrosse BOTH resulted in INCREASED rates of concussion incidence.
I realize you’re not taking a position viz a viz the “worth” of these caps, but by linking to an article that is really nothing more than a marketing ploy (“hey, look at our alumni’s company”), less-discerning readers are likely to think otherwise.
You’re a little mistaken. An impact to the head is precisely what causes the brain bouncing around in the skull action. It’s all about the sudden change in momentum which the head undergoes when it strikes or is struck by something. The cause of whiplash itself is that the neck takes the brunt of the change in momentum caused by a blow to another part of the body thus dissipating the shock before it gets to the head. When struck on the head though, there are no other body parts to absorb the shock and lessen the severity of the momentum change to the brain. Adding extra padding to the head will have the effect of decreasing the severity of the deceleration the head endures in a head on impact by creating a crumple zone (much like the bonnet of a car crumples in an impact allowing for a smoother deceleration).
Padday, I would argue the that the padding *could* have a (non-trivial) effect. Until it’s been studied, we should just assume that the genuine good intentions of the creator will lead to the result desired by all (in this case, fewer concussions).
Your description of the mechanism behind concussions is certainly more detailed than mine, and should be given more time in the concussion discussion.
Good stuff, folks. I don’t think people know the extent of my involvement with sports uniforms, so I haven’t gotten an derisive comments. But, if I do talk about uniforms with friends, it sticks to the basics, which is nice because at least we’re talking about uniforms, but there’s so much more I’d want to discuss.
The MLS All-Star practice jerseys had some type of blacked-out logo on the sleeve
That’s the MLS logo.
Oops…just noticed that was resolved higher up in the comments. Carry on.
Enrique Hernandez’s nickname is pronounced KeeKay. I’m guessing Marlins fans would be pretty evenly split between knowing that going in (he’s from Puerto Rico) and being utterly mortified reading it in print.
He’s a fun ballplayer to watch and by all accounts a really nice guy.
According to an NBA official, the reason why Andrew Wiggins Cavs jerseys are not for sale online isn’t because he might get traded. It’s because they’re sold out.
Yeah, I hope there’s some kind of refund in the works for all of those now outdated jerseys.
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The NBA rookies had their rookie photoshoot recently, and I noticed that Shabazz Napier’s Heat jersey still has the NBA logo on the chest, but the rest of the rookies have had it moved. (Photos at the link.)
In the 7th photo in that gallery, you can see the gold championship tab on the back of the jersey, and there is no NBA logo there.
Are the Heat keeping the logo on the chest with this new jersey, or was that just a mistake?
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RE Mike Colvin Jersey
Your DJ name Madd Milk, is that a Team Fortress 2 Reference?
Another look at Georgia Tech’s uniforms worn during the Fan Day.
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And another one:
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Those aren’t new uniforms, its what they wore for all but 1 game last year (when they wore the same uniforms they wore in the 2012 Opener against VT for their game at BYU).
And odds are they won’t be wearing those come opening day either. They haven’t worn their upcoming season’s jersey at the Fan Day since 2011 (wearing Gold numbered digs they eventually dumped because of visibility issues).
Going off of what they wore for the ACC media days (and for the posters/pocket schedules) and what they wore for the fan day, I suspect they will be wearing something in the middle of those 2 designs. I really wish Tech would stick to a design for more than a year, or at the very least show off their designs before gameday opening weekend. It does the brand very little if they keep the uniforms a secret (then you wind up getting a site dedicated to uniforms posting jerseys that were worn for a full season as if they are somehow new jerseys).
You made an interesting point about the Sonics’ jersey, but you didn’t mention the number. I never saw him wear number #2, but apparently he did at least for his rookie year.