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Saturday Morning Uni Watch

SMUW hed 9-6-14 - 550

By Phil Hecken

Ah. Back in the weekend saddle. Thanks to Paul for the Laborious Day Weekend off! Now then, this is going to be a BIG post, so we’ll get right to it. Just want to say a quick few things before we begin.

As in the past, today (first Saturday after Labor Day) will get us caught up on the past weekend of College Football — so three of the sections below will take care of that (and they will return to their regularly scheduled Sunday slots beginning tomorrow). There are also two new sections: A WONDERFUL new recurring section, by Gary Chanko (second section below) on Classic Stadium Scoreboards that you will not want to miss. Make sure to check it out. There is also Week 3 of the EPL Tracking (a new feature for 2014-15).

You’ll also be reintroduced to Terry Duroncelet, Catherine Ryan, and Tim E. O’Brien, who bring you the “Sunday Morning Uni Watch,” “5 & 1” and “Duck Tracker” (respectively). Each has a look back at what happened last weekend as the NCAA Football Season kicked off for 2014.

Here. We. Go.

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Sunday Saturday Morning Uni Watch
By Terry Duroncelet

Hello one and all! It’s been close to 8 months, and needless to say, I’m super-glad to be back at it for a fourth season. A new season, a new playoff system, and a bunch of new uniforms. Over the break, I noticed that I tend to be a bit… brutally honest when it comes to my opinions on what these schools are wearing. And you know what? That’s gonna change this year. I promise you guys a more calm, cool and collected me. After all, it’s only a game, right? … Yeah, fuck that, I’ll stick to my old ways. As you would expect, the throwing arm is a bit rusty, so there will probably be some games that I missed, some facts that I might screw up, and potential spell checks that make me want to go back to 10th grade English class, so please bear with me as we progress through these first few weeks. Without further ado…

From Thursday:

• Texas A&M wore all-white in their first ever match against South Carolina, although the Gamecocks looked to have been waving the white flag.

• As you saw just a moment ago, Louisiana-Monroe wore these swamp camo things in their game against Wake Forest. Well, at least this particular pattern makes sense for the area… I guess.

• Minnesota wore their gold tops for the first game of the season (have they worn them this early before?) against Eastern Illinois.

• Insert obligatory “The Northern Illinois uniforms from the other night were corny!” comment here.

• Boise St. wore their new orange helmets against Mississippi. Given that this game (and its variants) have had a history of color-vs.-color games (I don’t even remember that NC State/Tenn. one. Apparently, it’s from 2012?), I’m a bit disappointed that the Broncos didn’t take this opportunity to wear orange/blue/orange. Also from that game, this player had a mismatched helmet and jersey with no player name. Probably a multi-position guy that switched into an eligible number or something.

• Vanderbilt wore new alternate uniforms (which look a lot like their regular all-black, with some slight differences) against Temple. Here’s a closer look at the details. I’m not gonna lie: I’m really digging this look, mainly because of the pattern on those sleeve caps. Also, Temple wore decals that said “LEW” in memory of Lewis Katz. Here’s a close-up. I’m sure somewhere in the background, Michael Jackson’s “Black Or White” is playing. How do they mess that up?

From Friday:

• You guys have no idea how passionately I’m resisting the urge to make a fursuit joke. Other than that, it was a pretty benign-looking game.

• I’m really likin’ the new lids on UTSA.

• Here’s how Arizona’s numbers look without last year’s gradient on the field. It reminded me of the new QB/no-contact tops that the Ravens wear, but the difference is that while the Ravens’ tops look better design-wise, the Arizona tops are *slightly* more sensible for gameplay, as you can make out the numbers easier.

• Yeesh, those ‘Cuse numerals are super-sketch. The top portion looks too squinty, and the bottom portion is begging for something to eat with how open it is. Some of the numbers near the bottom actually look like mouths! It begs the question of why didn’t they just keep their Ithaca font? That was unique to Syracuse and didn’t look as weird.

From Saturday:

• Notre Dame played their first game in their new Under Armour uniforms. HUGE upgrade from their previous provider, although I’m not the biggest fan of the printed tackle twill numbers. What’s wrong with doing kiss-cut numbers like a lot of the other manufacturers are doing these days? The golds seem to be richer and more consistent as well. Definitely the sharpest ND’s looked in recent years.

• Navy wore a new alternate uniform in their first game as an Under Armour school, called the “Summer White Uniform”, which is basically a football-appropriated version of the actual Summer Whites worn by servicemen in the Naval Academy. Each player had his own ranking on his uniform. Chalk these up as a win! The game didn’t go the same way, however. Also of note, Ohio State is wearing the new Nike Pro Combat v5.0 (a.k.a. “Mach Speed”) uniform after only one season in the NPC v4.0 (HyperCool) uniform last year.

• Another Mach Speed-wearing team from Saturday was Alabama, and I waited for them to work up a real sweat before making any observations. I’m not a fan of referencing old work, but when I talked about my Nike Football League project from almost two years ago, I mentioned if it was possible for Nike to create a mesh version of the moisture-repelling fabric for the abdomen, so we get less of the sweatbox effect. Although it doesn’t look to be mesh for the new gut panel, they looked to have been listening to us over the years, because I could hardly pick out a dark stomach in the bunch. Still not sure how I feel about that mesh line going down the front and back of the jersey. Overall, Nike’s first real departure from the original Pro Combat template dating back to 2009 seems to have been a positive one.

• So what shenanigans do the Bruins of UCLA have in store for us this year? Surprisingly, a positive development happened in the offseason, as UCLA went back to the Clarendon font for their uniforms. Bear in mind that they haven’t looked like themselves since switching to TechFit in 2010, so this is the first good thing that they’ve done to their primary uniforms in a long time.

• TCU wore white helmets against Samford.

• Indiana wore helmets with a simple block ‘I’.

• The QB for Georgia had some nameplate issues against Clemson. Mind the cancelled Idaho/Florida game displayed by my pause bar.

• The helmet decals worn by UCF? Awesome. The contrast between their uniforms and Penn State’s? Not so much.

• Nothing too out of the ordinary from the Fresno State/USC game, but how long have they had “Fight On” on the field? Is that a new thing for this year?

• Florida State… don’t get me wrong, I really love the new uniforms, but I’m honestly curious as to what was their motivation to make the numbers on the white top gold with garnet trim? It’s not even a dark gold, like what the Saints used to wear in the 60s, and the garnet trim isn’t all that thick, so the numbers tend to blend with the top. Think Michigan’s bowl game uniforms from a couple of years back, but *maybe* not as bad (this was an indoor game, after all). We do have HD televisions and the like these days, but I would still think the crowd, spotters, and refs would have a hard time identifying who’s who, even with the world’s biggest boob-tube hovering over the field.

• This has probably been answered already, but what’s the significance of “TEAM 135”? Is this Michigan’s 135th team fielded, or…?

• I don’t have the best vision in the world (it’s actually quite poor), but I think this is a color-vs.-color game between North Carolina Central and East Carolina.

• LSU widened the numbers on their uniforms, which is an improvement from last year, but unless you get up close (such as that first pic of #95) the numerals on the field look more… boxy, I guess the word would be? The diagonal cutouts don’t seem to be as prominent, making them look more square-like/rectangular than they actually are.

From Sunday:

• I’m gonna miss the old Northwestern shoulder stripes on SMU’s jerseys. Also, Baylor opened their brand new stadium in black/green/black.

From Monday:

• Louisville opened up their season in new all-black uniforms. Eh, they were so-so. But let me tell you something about Miami’s new uniforms; I have a thing for metallic-ish dark green helmets, and the Hurricanes’ new green lids are a huge hit with me (didn’t they say that the green helmet wasn’t going to make an appearance at all this season at the unveiling, or did I misread something?). The overall uniform is an upgrade from last year. The game ended in a palindrome favoring Louisville, 31-13.

And that puts a pen in it for Week 1 of the 2014 season. Tune in tomorrow as I bring you my findings from Week 2.

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Thanks, TJ! Welcome back, and we look forward to your critique of the costumes uniforms worn in today’s games tomorrow.

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classic scoreboards splash

Classic Ballpark Scoreboards

I’m pleased to introduce a new weekend feature here at Uni Watch, “Classic Ballpark Scoreboards,” which are being created by Gary Chanko. You probably know Gary best for his wonderful colorizations, but he has been a solid contributor for many years, and has now embarked upon a new project, which he’ll describe below.

Here’s Gary (click on images to enlarge):

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Classic Ballpark Scoreboards — A Series
by Gary Chanko

This is the first of a series of graphic illustrations covering the unique scoreboards of classic ballparks. The illustrations are done in a minimalist style and depict the complete scoreboard, a notable design feature, or even a related ballpark structure.

Today we know ballpark scoreboards as massive, high definition video displays. A half century or more ago scoreboards were very much different. Most were still manually operated with electronics technology just beginning to find a place in the design and operation. This series strives to recreate the sensation of these virtually forgotten structures through imagery and a few historical facts.

Over coming weekends one or more of these historic ballpark scoreboards will be spotlighted. Baseball fans, particularly of historic ballparks, will easily recall many of these classic scoreboards. Some (like me) may have actually seen them in person. Others will hopefully enjoy a nostalgic look at the past.

This week we start with two great ballparks, the Polo Grounds and Griffith Stadium.

Polo Grounds Scoreboard

Polo Grounds


Home of: New York Giants, New York Mets
Last baseball game:October 12, 1963 (a Latin American All-Star Game); Demolished:1964

The towering club house located in center field was built after the 1922 season as part of an extensive renovation. The club house facade was used for advertising beginning in 1948 when the Chesterfield cigarette company acquired broadcast rights to Giants games. By the late fifties Knickerbocker Beer became the Giants sponsor and replaced the Chesterfield ad in center field. It wasn’t until the Mets rejuvenation in 1962 that the club house wall was transformed into a dedicated scoreboard.

This graphic illustration depicts the Polo Grounds 1963 scoreboard on the day of the last Mets game in New York.

A Few Things to Know

• Who was responsible for the design of the Mets’ Polo Ground scoreboard? I wasn’t able to find the answer. It might have been a small firm in Wisconsin (M.H.Spicer’s company later incorporated as All American Scoreboards) that provided Yankee Stadium’s new scoreboard in the late Fifties.

• Rheingold Beer was the official beer of the New York Mets from 1962-1973. The letters “h” and “e” in the huge Rheingold scoreboard advertisement would light up to indicate a hit or error. The Schafer Beer sign at Ebbets Field had a similar feature.

• The flag pole with mast was reportedly used to raise a (colored?) flag to indicate a victory or loss as noted in Ed Burns’ 1937 series on major league parks.

• The Wrecking Corporation of America used a two-ton steel wrecking ball for the Polo Grounds demolition ”” ironically the same one used to bring down Ebbets Field.

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Griffith Stadium Scoreboard

Griffith Stadium


Home of: Washington Senators
Last baseball game: September 21, 1961; Demolished: 1965

The graphic depicts the advertisement “scoreboard” located among the left field stands. It featured the notable National Bohemian (Natty Boh) beer advertising mascot “Mr. Boh.” A dedicated game scoreboard, located in the right field section, also utilized a smaller version of Mr. Boh.

I wasn’t able to determine when the Natty Boh “scoreboard” was added to the bleacher section. However this graphic (one of a late forties series sketches by Gene Mack) indicates it must have been constructed sometime in the early fifties.

An extraordinary April 1953 home run by a baseball legend was the motive for me to recreate the Mr. Boh scoreboard.

A Few Things to Know

• Mantle’s legendary “565 ft” home run reportedly grazed the Mr. Boh advertisement near the word “beer.” There still remains controversy about actual distance the ball traveled, but it was the only one to ever clear the left field bleachers.

• After the Mantle home run a baseball was incorporated into the scoreboard layout to commemorate the feat. You’ll also see that on the graphic.

• The mustached Mr. Boh debuted as the brand’s advertising logo in 1936. So why does Mr. Boh have only one eye? In the post-prohibition era, Natty Boh’s primary competitor was Gunther Beer which featured the advertising slogan “Gunther’s Got It” When the question was asked “where’s Mr. Boh’s other eye?” The humorous response was “Gunther’s Got It.”

Next week we’ll revisit two more classic scoreboards: Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium and Connie Mack Stadium during the Phillies era.

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Catherine 5 & 1 (animated)

Catherine Ryan’s 5 & 1

Every Sunday, Catherine will give us the rundown of her best five and one worst uniform matchups from the College Football games played this week. Since it’s practically impossible to watch every game, you guys can help by sending your thoughts on “good” and “bad” matchups (and hopefully with photos from that game) by e-mailing her at UW5and1@gmail.com.

OK, here’s Catherine with this week’s 5 & 1.

. . .

Happy Sunday Saturday, Uni Watchers! Another season is finally here and Phil asked me to start you guys off with my rankings from last week. As always, feel free to shoot me your tips and recommendations at UW5and1@gmail.com. I love feedback and hope to hear from some of you!

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5. Texas A&M vs. South Carolina

I actually surprised myself when I realized I was enjoying what you could have convinced me was an intersquad scrimmage.

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4. Ohio State vs. Navy

Twitter was blowing up with mixed reviews about the Midshipmen’s look but I thought they looked pretty good matched up against the classic Ohio State unis.

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3. Louisiana Tech vs. Oklahoma

I am usually vehemently opposed to white jersey/white pants combos but I think these uniforms are gorgeous.

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2. South Dakota vs. Oregon

The Ducks usually occupy another spot on this list but not this time. I love these uniforms and will cut Oregon a break this week.

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1. Wisconsin vs. LSU

This was my favorite match-up of the week. I’m a big fan of Wisconsin’s simple look and LSU is one of the few teams that pairs colored pants with their white tops.

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+1 UCF vs. Penn State

This is an example of a game that looked 10 times worse if you were watching it live. The overcast Irish weather made the teams practically indistinguishable from certain angles. It was all around just a visually ugly game.

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Thanks, Catherine! Well readers, now it’s your turn. How’d she do?

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Eskimos & Stamps unveil Signature Unis

The Edmonton Eskimos and Calgary Stampeders are the final two teams from the CFL to reveal their third, or “signature,” uniforms. Our CFL guru, Mike Styczen, is back to review them. Here’s Mike (click on images to enlarge):

Over the last few weeks I’ve been reviewing the CFL’s new “signature” jerseys as they’ve been revealed. The last two teams have how revealed: the Calgary Stampeders (who wore them on Monday) and the Edmonton Eskimos (who will wear them Saturday).

CS4

Calgary Stampeders


CS5

CS6 CS3

The Calgary uniform set is a well-documented mess of red and black (not to be confused with the actual REDBLACKS). Their signature helmet is not bad looking: black matte in the front, metallic red in the back, and the usual logo in mirror finish. The uniforms themselves are primarily black, with “Calgary” down the pants and a crossed-pistols logo on the shoulder (similar to their secondary logo). Overall its a messy enough look as it is, made worse by the fact that its so similar to the teams that have already revealed dark monochrome looks (BC, Montreal, Hamilton).

EE3

Edmonton Eskimos

EE1

EE2 EE4

This uniform might be the highlight of the CFL’s signature series. As with Ottawa and Toronto, the team’s double-E logo is on the front of the jersey and looks great. The whole set is rendered in the team’s traditional colours of green and gold and is a bold new look without being too much of a departure. The helmet looks great in green with an enlarged logo. Like Ottawa and Toronto, this is a uniform that I could see entering the regular rotation.

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Duck Tracker

Each week, as we have done on Uni Watch for the past five seasons, we’ll be tracking the uniform combinations of the Oregon Ducks. Back for his third season is Tim E. O’Brien, who’ll show you what the Ducks wore in their last game, and add a few words of wisdom (click image to enlarge)…

Ducks Week 1 - 2014

Here’s Tim:

. . . . . . . . . .

Last Saturday Oregon kicked off it’s season just as they did last season: Wearing white at home while blowing out an FBS team in red jerseys in a game that no one saw.

But if you’re one of the dozen of people who get the PAC 12 Network, Oregon looked great. The crisp white helmet and jersey paired nicely with the beautiful shade of green pants (This should be the only shade of green UO wears. #DropOlive). And given South Dakota’s cherry red uniform elements, this was a pretty solid color match-up. The Vilker musta loved it.

It also should be noted that unlike the bowl game uniforms from last year, Oregon’s jerseys had TV numbers on the outside of their shoulders where wings once were. The only other difference from the Alamo Bowl unis was that the pants no longer feature the subtle ‘Oregon’ or ‘Ducks’ that were on them. Addition by subtraction.

As always, it looks to be a long, visually stimulating season in Eugene and I’m happy to say Phil invited me back to help track the Ducks. As always, I’ll be keeping track of Oregon over at the Duck Tracker and on twitter (@DuckTracker). You can also follow my Northwestern (@NUniTracker) and Indiana (@Hoosier_Tracker) trackers as you so choose. Should be a fun season and I’m excited to see it’s underway.

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EPL Tracker

Each Saturday, Alex Gerwitz will be tracking the kit combinations (shirt/shorts/socks) of the teams in the English Premier League from the previous weekend.

Here’s Week 3 (click to enlarge):

EPL Week 3

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help


Little Help?

Reader Oliver Kodner (who you may recall was instrumental in bringing us a great bit of Cardinals uni history), wrote in with a request. Hopefully the Uni Watch faithful can assist (click photo to enlarge):

Hey,

As apart of our research project I’ve mentioned before, I’m trying to trace all leads and cover all tracks, and I’m stumped on a photo allegedly from 1923, and the reason I believe it is indeed from 23 is the number on sleeve.

Here’s the photo:

Harry_McCurdy_(1923_Cardinals)_3

Would it be possible to get a shout out on uni-watch for anyone who might be able to point us to a different photo of this jersey? We think it’s the same bird used in 1922 which was worn as a patch. But we don’t want to think, we want to know. Thanks guys.

Oliver Kodner

How about it Uni Watchers? Paging Todd Radom and Bruce Menard among others. Anyone?

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Texans Mock - Contest Reminder

Design Contest Reminder

In case you missed it, I’m hosting a WFL Design Contest. All the rules and instrux are in the link…

…but if you don’t want to click there it’s pretty basic: If the World Football League hadn’t folded in 1975, and the League were still active today, what would the teams’ uniforms look like in 2014? Click the link for more details.

As of today, we’ve received a good number of submissions from many of you, so this will be the last reminder. Hopefully we’ll start showing off your creations as early as next weekend.

The deadline was extended to September 8, and you can send all your submissions to me: Phil.Hecken@gmail.com.

Should be a fun contest, so if you are a concepter or designer, give it a whirl!

OK? OK!

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Uni Watch News Ticker:

Baseball News: Interesting NYT article, “The Man Who Spins Pinstripes Into Gold: Brandon Steiner, in Deal With Yankees, Is a Sports Memorabilia Maven” (from TommyTheCPA). Chris Flinn, who also sent that in, adds, “this was interesting: ‘Pre-Steiner, we had two sets of bases for the season, and we’d repaint them and put them back on the field,’ said Scott Krug, the Yankees’ chief financial officer. ‘Now we use at least three sets a game’.” … Check out this gorgeous program (from Todd Radom), who notes the Cubs ripping the Babe’s .000 lifetime series average. … The Reds wore green for Irish Heritage night (h/t Bill Fenbers). Here’s a game shot (h/t Joanna Zwiep). A few more photos here. … Double “P” for Vance Worley of the Pirates, who really unbuttoned his shirt yesterday (nice grab by Bob Gassel). … The Brewers are wearing a memorial patch for Bruce Seid (via Will Dowling).

NFL News: “As the parent of a 6-year-old, I’ve already run across the new NFL/Madden ’15-themed Happy Meal toys a couple of times,” writes Aaron Scher. “Yesterday’s included a Bucs player, but apparently even McD’s couldn’t bring themselves to use the new font.” … NFL face paint is now considered a uniform violation (here’s more) Thanks, Paul. … Barry Cofield and Silas Redd are “Honoring Families” with ‘Jr.’ suffixes on their jerseys. (“JrOB”) … Stuart Ciske noticed that on Thursday night against GB, Byron Maxwell of the Seahawks had loose sleeves, not the tight ones almost everyone else wears. … The Baltimore Ravens kicker, Justin Tucker, is featured on the cover of “Baltimore Style Magazine” (thanks to “murph1019”). … KC RB De’Anthony Thomas has announced he will wear No. 13 for the Chiefs this season (from Will Lombard).

College Football News: The Illinois Fighting Illini will be wearing white-orange-white (same combo as last week) in their game today vs. Western Kentucky. … Mizzou will be sporting black-white-blackanthracite vs. Toledo today. … Ohio State football has sold goalpost net sponsorship to Safelite Auto Glass (thanks, Paul) Here’s more on that. … Check out these gorgeous striped sleeves for Slippery Rock University in Western PA to commemorate their 125th anniversary (thanks to Chad Fette). … Arkansas will be wearing “traditional” unis vs. Nicholls State. … The Washington Huskies will be going gold-purple-gold (and they have new unis this year, which you can read about here). H/T to Tyson Losness for that. … Georgia Southern will have a patriotic themed endzone for today’s home opener (thanks to Andrew Hartfield). … Texas State has a new look this year. … The striping of the UNC logos is complete (h/t James Gilbert). … Maryland has moved to the B1G and now they have a new turtle remade version of their mascot, Testudo. With a fucking UA logo. He’s also scary. … Cal Football is going blue-blue-gold.

Hockey News: The Florida Panthers (yep, hockey is just around the corner, now) have put out a list of new uni numbers (thanks to Ryan Connelly). … We may have seen these already, but they’re nice. Check out what Maryland hockey is wearing: white jerseys and black jerseys (thanks to Bronson Wagner). … After losing 4 straight to the Kings (and holding a 3-0 lead), the Sharks are dumping the black unis (and switching to teal) for the playoffs.

Soccer News: Soccer club Villareal has an “interesting font,” with a “Crazy 4 and two different 7s for single and double digit numbers.” (from Scott Parsell). … “After a pretty heartbreaking story where the LA Galaxy’s AJ De La Garza had his young baby pass away,” writes Phillip Foose, “the team wore black arm bands with the name Luca on them.” Here’s a vine with the band.

Grab Bag: OK, then. A Notre Dame fan’s yard has been “Transformed into (a) Fighting Irish Football Field,” (submitted by Andrew Rader). … On the high school football level, Albuquerque High is using the Alabama “A” on one side of their helmets (nice spot by Jason Johnson). … Notre Dame has new track & cross-country unis (via Kevin Byrne). … Long Beach Poly High School (and Snoop Dogg’s alma mater) have new unis and helmets (thanks to Cameron Mellor). According to adidas, “Snoop Dogg, the most famous Long Beach Poly High School alum ”“ unveiled custom adidas TECHFIT uniforms and adizero cleats that he has donated to his alma mater. … The head to toe black uniform is a first in Poly’s storied football history and incorporates adidas’ TECHFIT Shockweb technology. Shockweb fits tighter to the body, making players more difficult to tackle. TECHFIT Shockweb is lighter, helping to make the player fast and increasing his range of motion, to support the athlete’s performance at the highest levels,” (via Michael Ehrlich). … Check out this Wisconsin mash up, spotted in Pella, Iowa. Submitter Steve (no last name given) asks, “Where are the Bucks?” … adidas has now fallen behind Under Armour “among sportswear brands in the U.S.” … Brian Jud writes, “I’ve had this Carolina Panthers* novelty jersey for around 20 years or so; it used to be my brother’s, then he handed it down to me. … It’s pretty clearly from when the team was announced, hence the #95 on the front and the back. However, I’ve searched online several times to find where it came from, and I could never find anything. Does anybody know anything about it?” *[I’m pretty sure that’s a Jags jersey, not a Panthers jersey, and that was the prototype logo. THE? You know more? Anyone? — PH] … “I just started an internship with UCLA and this poster was hanging up at the Rose Bowl; love the mascots in vintage sweaters,” writes Jared Buccola. “Also notice the Stanford mascot is still an Indian.” … Centreville High School is using the K-State logo (good spot by Coleman Mullins). … Here’s a good feature on the rackets of various U.S. Open champions since 1968 (thanks, Paul).

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Whew! Well, if you made it this far, you’ve done yeoman’s reading/clicking. I promised you on my last weekday post this weekend would be a big one, and it certainly didn’t disappoint in that aspect. Hope it wasn’t too much (tomorrow will be smaller, I promise).

Everyone have a great Saturday and enjoy the college football, golf, tennis, soccer and whatever else is out there where uniforms are worn. Back with the first installment of Sunday Morning Uni Watch tomorrow. Big thanks to EVERYONE (TJ, Gary, Tim, Catherine, Mike, Oliver, Alex, etc.) for today’s post. And of course, the ticker submitters, the guys and gals who tweet at me, and all you fine readers — couldn’t do it without ya! Catch you all tomorrow.

Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.

Peace.

.. … ..

“It’s probably a fair assumption that speaking to your partner at exhaustive length and with a zealot’s conviction about baseball stirrups, minor league hockey logos, or the probable placement of ads on NBA uniforms pretty much eliminates any opportunity you might have to try out sex techniques, great or otherwise.”

— Cort McMurray

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Comments (57)

    This graphic illustration depicts the Polo Grounds 1963 scoreboard on the day of the last Mets game in New York.

    Flushing is not in New York? Perhaps better to say “the last Mets game in Manhattan.”

    “team 135” indicates that this is michigan’s 135th team…i think we started doing that for team 132, (brady hoke’s first team) as another way to break from the rodriguez years and wallow in our history a little bit more than we already do.

    The one positive thing I’d add about the Stamps’ signature uniform is that the numbers are no longer italicized.

    What a post! Thoroughly enjoyed the college rundown. Looking forward to seeing the results of the WFL design contest as well.

    “Double “P” for Vance Worley of the Pirates, who really unbuttoned his shirt yesterday”

    The fact that the double “P” is in yellow doesn’t help matters. Yes, I’m 12.

    try this if that didn’t work

    link

    or google Man of the World Magazine, as Uni-Watch likes to truncate these links

    That 1995 Jaguars jersey was seen in the movie Heavyweights. I remember learning that in order to increase their visibility, the Jags and Panthers gave out t-shirts to the cast members. Kind of odd that the second biggest sports league at the time needed to promote their product through a crappy Disney movie that barely anyone remembers… Oh yeah did I mention Ben Stiller was in it?

    Cool! I don’t remember ever seeing it in there: do you have a still of it? I don’t personally own the movie, but I loved it.

    Boise State lists Eli McCullough #75 in its game participation stat but lists no #90. The only logical reason for the switch is that McCullough would have been playing as an eligible receiver and 90s are occasionally used by tight ends in college.

    Who designed Maryland’s new mascot? Toho?

    The Eagles need to adopt those Oregon jersey, like yesterday.

    If I really had to guess, I’d say for the same reason that things like this: link existed. Black fashion jerseys were really popular in the early to mid 90’s. Oddly enough, the Marino jersey I linked to there is also made by Champion, is also screenprinted, and has the logos in the same place. Perhaps they did a run of jerseys for the entire league using that template in ’93 or ’94, and the Jags jerseys and colors hadn’t yet been finalized at the time.

    That Rose Bowl poster is probably from the 1966 Rose Bowl won by UCLA. That year it was the PAC8 vs Big Ten> UCLA beat previously undefeated and number 1 MSU 14-12

    I agree with Catherine that Louisiana Tech’s uniforms are beautiful. Just wish they would design a better helmet decal. I am not creative enough to provide any suggestions.

    UCF should be barred from wearing that light, light gold at home. That’s terrible. Would make a good road/”white” jersey though.

    Also, I’m not a fan of Oregon wearing white at home.

    Steiner is what’s wrong in this sports memorabilia world. They have the New York rangers wear 9 sets of jerseys a year then sell them at astronomical prices. They dilute the market purposely to gain a buck (or thousand). The bases story is a prime example of this. Selling rakes? Come on!

    Huh, interesting. I always thought it was a Panthers jersey based on the silver and blue (and lack of teal).

    Regarding that “mystery” Cardinals photo of Harry McCurdy, I have a theory that’s an undocumented 1923 uniform style. I own that original photo from the Sporting News archives, and also have a photo of pitcher Jeff Pfeffer wearing the same style (with #17 on the sleeve). McCurdy and Pfeffer crossed paths with the Cards in ’22 and ’23, but the team didn’t introduce uniform numbers to its sleeves until ’23 (The birds-on-bat logo debuted in 1922). The solid dark socks and white cap with the soutache braid also are consistent with the Cards’ 1923 home uniforms.

    Oliver, I just read through your post again… I’m not familiar with a patch worn in 1922. I think we need to talk! Contact me at link. Jeff

    OK, I looked at my files — you’re talking about the sleeve patch on the pinstriped unis. Here’s a comparison of that bird (from Specs Toporcer’s jersey) with the bird on Jeff Pfeffer’s “1923” jersey. Definitely not the same bird: link

    Agreed-this outlier uniform has always eluded any explanation. The 1923 uniform number experiment allegedly ended before the season was over. If this was a home uniform then the uniform of the player in the background on the uncropped photo makes no sense-no 1923 NL uni combo corresponds to this.

    McCurdy went straight from the University of Illinois to the Cardinals in late May 1922, so it can’t be a 1922 Minor League jersey. A total mystery.

    Todd, the Cards definitely wore uniform numbers in 1924, too. I have photos and a copy of the scorecard from Pop Haines’ no-hitter in mid ’24 that shows both uni and scoreboard numbers. The photos I have of McCurdy and Pfeffer could be from spring training ’23 or ’24, which could explain the lack of an NL uniform match for the guy in the background.The field they’re standing on is not MLB quality, even for the early ’20s.

    Jeff-great stuff. Seemingly a ton of available research material out there, yet you taught me something new today-thanks.

    Thanks for the help guys! much appreciated. And thank you Phil! Jeff, i sent you an email, call me soon and we can chat about this more. The bird on chest we’re thinking is definitely a different bird than the 22 bird.

    the numbers on sleeve we believe was cut off during the 23 season, and if it was worn in the following season, it could have been some one just wearing a carry over jersey from the preceding season, possibly.

    So, if we can’t find a clearer photo than the one Jeff posted there, we’ll be drawing a new bird for the catalog from that photo very soon.

    Here’s a good article explaining how De’Anthony Thomas is able to pull off wearing #13 as a running back:

    link

    Key sentence: “The rules also dictate that running backs must wear numbers ranging from 20 to 49, but there was likely enough ambiguity in Thomas’ position – he’s also gotten plenty of work at wideout – that the league will let him wear a receive number.”

    Pretty much. I could have sworn that Metcalf wore #2 in the preseason for Cleveland as a rookie, but I can’t find anything on the googles to confirm it. But Thomas will do well if his career – if not his official position designation – mimics Metcalf’s.

    Terry: that was a fantastic kickoff to the first big weekend of the year. Hats off to you! (I share your fondness for the Thug U helmet. That Saints photo was glorious. Were the Noles to adopt that shade of gold, it would be a massive upgrade.)

    The Villareal font looks like the work of a drunkard whose dominant hand is still holding a drink. WTF!

    re: EPL tracker

    FWIW, Hull has worn its away kit in the past against teams wearing red, since the amber is closer to red than yellow. So they weren’t entirely Away Kit For Away Kit’s Sake against Villa.

    If I remember correctly, the Natty Boh billboard in left field was just there during baseball season; it actually covered the Washington pro football team’s scoreboard. They needed one there because they had bleachers in front of the main right-field scoreboard, covering it up.

    UTEP had new road unis last weekend and this article hints at possible new unis today: link

    It’s the UTEP 100th anniversary and rumor has it throwbacks are a possibility.

    Happy to see the gorgeous and usually spot-on Ms. Ryan back with us. Life-long Army football fan, but I have to admit, the Navy summer whites may be the nicest non-classic CFB uniform I’ve seen.

    This Illinois game would look much better if the orange on the field matched the orange of the new uniforms.

    Michigan’s Team 135 is just that, the 135th team in Michigan’s history. Next year will be Team 136

    Hurray Terry and Catherine are back. Great work on my college football.

    Good UW today for sure. So much to enjoy and I like Garys old scoreboard segment.

    I would never have noticed this before I started reading U-W last winter, but a couple of guys on the Tennessee team seem to be wearing helmets that are (physically, not graphically) different from the more modern-looking ones that the rest of the team is wearing. Is this common?

    Rheingold Beer was the official beer of the New York Mets from 1962-1973. The letters “h” and “e” in the huge Rheingold scoreboard advertisement would light up to indicate a hit or error. The Schafer Beer sign at Ebbets Field had a similar feature.

    How many remember that Shea had a similar feature? Gives me the chance to link to my favorite article of all-time (written by Paul!) which has it mentioned as number 8.

    link

    The Wrecking Corporation of America used a two-ton steel wrecking ball for the Polo Grounds demolition – ironically the same one used to bring down Ebbets Field.

    The wrecking ball was link of course.

    Re: Vance Worley’s double-p look, I noticed the other day that Edinson Volquez was doing something similar — it seemed like he had at least half his jersey buttons undone.

    I don’t have a photo from that game, but here’s a link that shows something similar.

    Volquez’s jersey situation seems particularly egregious to me, as it’s coupled with that big ol’ chain he wears. Lotta potentially distracting flapping goin’ on there — this seems like something that an umpire would/should put a stop to, but apparently it’s OK.

    I love the Notre Dame jerseys, but the difference between the colors of the helmets and pants looks even more pronounced this year.

    Last year, with exception to the throwback unis against VT (link) and the 2012 unis against BYU (link), Georgia Tech wore the exact same gold/white/gold uni combination for every game (link)

    While the very minor tweaks to last year’s uniform have been documented (gold sleeve cuffs and updated ACC logo), this afternoon Tech wore gold/white/white for it’s away game at Tulane. See from game video here (link) and off the GT Athletics facebook page here (link).

    It may indicate that Tech may be going with a white-over-white combo on the road to differentiate with their white-over-gold look at home, as they have done in the past.

    Anyone else watch the Penn State/Akron game? What was up with Akron’s NOBs? They look like they decided, after ordering jerseys with NNOBs (NNsOB?), to use a widely spaced font on a standard size nameplate and did an amateur job affixing the nameplates to the jerseys.

    link

    link

    link

    I recall some others looking even worse due to their length, but can’t find any pictures at the moment.

    Awesome scoreboard art. You should open an e-store and sell prints!

    Reading that Cubs scorecard was wonderful.
    The pitchers have gone to play “the bigger game in Europe” priceless.

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