By Phil Hecken, with Aaron Johnson
As promised, this Saturday we’re wrapping up the WFL contest, which took place during the end of the summer and in which we asked readers to submit designs for WFL teams, if they were still playing today, 40 years after the league began its all-too-brief life.
As you’ve undoubtedly seen, the designs were outstanding, and the participation was even higher than expected. Today, we’re going to show the winners of the voting (for teams for which at least three submissions were given).
Here’s Aaron with a few words:
Thank you to everyone who contributed to the World Football League uniform design contest. When I initially reached out to Phil, I thought this would be a cool and unique way to remember the WFL 40 years after its only full season and have some fun with it. I had no idea we would get the response we did (we received over 150 entries!). I hope both the designers and readers enjoyed this contest as well.
Each team that received at least three submissions was voted on…and over 7,000 votes were cast.
Congratulations to the winners!
Our first set of winners come from this batch of entries. You can see the winning design, along with the vote tallies, below:
Charlotte Hornets
Winner: Steve B. Creations
Description
Hawaiians
Winner: Lenda
Description
Portland Thunder/Storm/Thunderstorm
Winner: Gene Sanny
(No Description Given)
Southern California Sun
Winner: Brian Phillips
Description
The next set of winners comes from this set of entries. Winning design & vote tallies below:
Birmingham Americans
Winner: Gene Sanny
(No Description Given)
Chicago Fire
Winner: Curtis Peddle
Description
Detroit Wheels
Winner: Gene Sanny
(No Description Given)
Houston Texans/Rattlers
Winner: Bryan Ross
(No Description Given)
Memphis Southmen/Grizzlies
Winner: Robert Kramer
Description
Philadelphia Bell
Winner: Jeff Provo
Description
The final set of winners comes from this set of entries. Winning design and voting tallies below:
Florida Blazers
Winner: Thomas Felsmaier
Description
Jacksonville Sharks
Winner: Jeff Provo
Description
And there you have it — congratulations to all the winners, and everyone who participated. How about a big Uni Watch golf clap for everyone — including Aaron — for this great contest!
Classic Ballpark Scoreboards
I’m pleased to continue with a new weekend feature here at Uni Watch, “Classic Ballpark Scoreboards,” which are created by Gary Chanko. You probably know Gary best for his wonderful colorizations, but he has been a solid contributor for many years, and this is his new project. This segment will appear every Saturday on Uni Watch.
Here’s Gary (click on images to enlarge):
Classic Ballpark Scoreboards – Eighth in a Series
by Gary Chanko
Dodger Stadium and Jarry Park are this week’s featured classic scoreboards.
Dodger Stadium
Home of: Los Angeles Dodgers
Opened: April 10, 1962; One of the cathedral ballparks
Now over half a century old, Dodger Stadium is the third eldest among major league ballparks. The recent renovations restored much of the original mid-century modern design elements, including the restoration of the original hexagonal shape of the stadium’s outfield message and scoreboards.
For more information about Dodger Stadium beginnings, The Walter O’Malley Official website provides a comprehensive history of Dodger Stadium planning and construction.
The original hexagonal shaped scoreboard was and is unique. This scoreboard illustration recreates the pre-game display before Koufax’s second no hitter in 1963.
A Few Things to Know
• Described at the time as the “world’s largest scoreboards,” they measured 75 feet by 34 feet. The original scoreboard, message board, and auxiliary scoreboards used 400,000 feet of wire and 17,000 lamps.
• Fair Play provided the original electronic scoreboard units above the left and right field pavilions. The right field board displayed in game score information. An optical display board, similar to the concept tried in Shea Stadium, was considered but rejected because of untested technology.
• When it opened in 1962, the Union Oil advertisement above the scoreboards was the only in-ballpark signage.
• Dodger Stadium has the only hexagonal scoreboard in major league baseball. One of the original scoreboard concepts, however, was a vertical design. Fortunately the architects chose the hexagonal shape which echoes the design of the outfield pavilions.
Parc Jarry Park
Home of: Montreal Expos
Last baseball game: September 26, 1976; Now a tennis stadium complex
Jarry Park Stadium (its correct full name) was home to the Montreal Expos for the franchise’s first eight seasons. Originally intended to serve as the temporary Expos ballpark for only a few seasons, improvements to Jarry Park’s original 3,000 seat ball field were minimal. Construction delays for Olympic Stadium kept the Expos in Jarry Park until 1977.
The million dollars spent on bringing Jarry Park close to major league standards included the scoreboard in right field. The scoreboard provided basic information and some cartoon animation. It defined minimalist scoreboard architecture.
The scoreboard illustration depicts the display for the 1970 season opening day.
A Few Things to Know
• Although Jarry Park lacked many fan amenities, it did feature a “fascinating, bilingual scoreboard.” Only 60 feet wide and 24 feet high, the scoreboard wasn’t all that large compared to other major league scoreboards at the time. But it did utilize the latest electronics with animation capabilities.
• The scoreboard layout consisted of 10 rows of 30 characters. Each character, which included French language accents, was configured in a matrix of 35 lamps.
• This 1973 sports editorial from the Montreal Gazette highlights the enormous fan appeal that developed for Jarry Park and questioned if the planned move to the new Olympic Stadium was a good idea. Buried in the article is a reference to Jarry Park having the worst scoreboard in the major leagues!
• Scoreboard advertising was limited to the O’Keefe Brewing Co, the Expos broadcast media sponsor. Advertising throughout Jarry Park was generally sparse.
Next in the series is a look back at two classic scoreboards with a connected past: Sick’s Stadium and County Stadium.
If anyone is interested in purchasing a digital copy of these posters, Gary is working on an online purchase option. In the interim you can contact him directly at Classicscoreboards@gmail.com.
Jim Vilk’s World Series…
… 5 & 1
It’s been a while since we’ve heard from the original Mr. 5 & 1, Jim Vilk, but after Mike’s QOTW earlier this week, it got his creative juices flowing, so to speak.
So, without further ado, the man…they myth…the legend…
World Series Five & One
By Jim Vilk
It’s a beautiful day for a baseball list…let’s make two! Here’s why: I find numberless jerseys highly annoying, so it’s safe to guess my &1 would be the only matchup from the first three decades of the 20th Century. There were some decent looks during that era, though, so I’m going to give you a Numberless Era 5&1 as well as a Numbered Era list. And away we go…
Numberless Era
5. 1905 – Giants/Athletics. The Giants even came out with a special uniform just for the Series.
4. 1925 – Pirates/Senators. That’s a nifty Golden Jubilee patch the NL teams wore that year.
3. 1928 – Yankees/Cardinals. Love that single birdie on the Cards’ home jerseys.
2. 1917 – White Sox/Giants. Flag Code argument resumes in three, two, one…
1. 1908 – Cubs/Tigers. 106 years later, Cubs fans can cheer another victory!
And the bad one: 1915 – Red Sox/Phillies. The Bland Sawx have less red in their legwear than Philly’s home socks.
Numbered Era
5. 1965 – Dodgers/Twins. Great caps, plus I like when they spell out the city on LA’s road jerseys.
4. 1944 – Cardinals/Browns. Not crazy about the “St. L ouis” on the road jersey, but I love everything else about this matchup.
3. 1971 – Pirates/Orioles. If the O’s had the white-paneled caps then, this could have been number one.
2. 1938 – Yankees/Cubs. Bonus points for the Yanks wearing the Worlds Fair patch.
1. 1983 – Orioles/Phillies. Surprised myself with this one, but not too much.
And the bad one: 1948 – Indians/Braves. Modern Wahoo is just creepy, but ’48 Wahoo is downright scary.
Enjoy the Series!
Thanks, Jim.
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.
Here’s this weeks costume (click to enlarge):
Last night the Ducks took on Cal (who went blue/gold/blue) with another drab combo — black/white/gray. Not a school color in the bunch. And to top it off, Heisman hopeful Marcus Mariotta (and others) were wearing camo socks/leggings. Ugh. More photos here.
World Series Uni Tracking
Last night, the Royals and Giants played game three of the World Series, and the Giants wore cream (eschewing their regular season practice of wearing their orange alts) with the Royals in gray:
As they have been doing throughout the playoffs, the guys from the Diamond Uniform Database have been keeping track of the uniforms throughout. You can check out all the Wild Card, Division, and League Championship uniforms for all the teams here.
Here’s Rob Holecko with a few words:
The World Series shifted to San Francisco for Game 3, and while the Giants had been wearing their orange alts for home Friday games, they chose to stick with their standard cream home unis. So no alt jerseys for either the Giants or the Royals through any of the postseason this year, it appears. That should make many of you traditionalists happy, but I think seeing the Giants’ orange jersey or the Royals’ powder blue at least once wouldn’t have been a terrible thing.
Thanks to Matt Donnelly for the images.
U.W.F.F.L. News
Division II & III Games
By Andrew Seagraves
First, we will go to the Sonoran Desert where the Arizona Miners are hosting the Salt Lake City Spikes. This game not only has the drama of two Pacific Coast Conference squads who are in close proximity, but both have been known as the Spikes at one point in their history. The Promontory Point Spikes moved to Arizona and became the Miners, an expansion team took their place in the Salty Salty, and Bob’s your Uncle. Arizona will go 95% Stormtrooper this week with emerald green shoulder trim for Liver Cancer awareness while SLC while don pink socks for Breast Cancer awareness.
Our second contest will feature two Eastern Association teams as the Brooklyn Mariners take on the Youngstown Bobcats in the Big Apple. Youngstown has made the transition from the Central League in to the EA look easy as they are in the top tier of the table while the mainstay Mariners are tugging along right behind them. Both of these clubs have joined in the fight against Childhood Cancer as the ”˜Cats will add a subtle golden ribbon patch to their road white jersey while the Mariners will go full nugget as they go head-to-toe in Gold.
Other key matchups from across DII will have the Charleston Navigators square off against the Missouri Magnetic, the Winnipeg Winterhawks will go nose-to-nose with the Rapid City Badlanders in South Dakota, and the Big Tomato will come alive as the Sacramento Scorpions face the Portland Gamblers.
This is the league where YOU make the difference! Get on over to www.uwfantastyfootballleague.com to vote on these and many other great games that are taking place this weekend. While you are out with your friends, at the bar watching the game or even if you’re helping your grandma figure out the Googlebox; get them to help vote for your favorite teams in this weekend’s slate of games. If you’d like to try your hand at designing a team to compete in the UWFFL, head on over to our Google+ page for prospective teams and submit a concept today. We’ll be back tomorrow with UWFFL Premier League action!
Uni Watch News Ticker:
Baseball News: WOW! “Came across this incredible shot of my buddy’s grandfather when he managed the Coors Beer semi-pro baseball team in 1940″ says John Romero. “Would love to see this one colorized!” Ditto! … New Fresno Grizzlies unis were unveiled Thursday night for the mens baseball team (thanks, David Taub). … The Foo Fighters are playing an August show in Wrigley, and their t-shirts have a Cubs flavor (from Kurt Esposito). Also from Kurt, this is how the Foo Fighters announced the show. … Anyone up for making “I’m Still Calling It McCovey Cove t-shirts? It’s all a hoax (click on link for update, which still has the original article in the url — h/t Chris Schoenthal). … The Giants honored their Hall of Famers before Game Three. Looks like Willie Mays is still wearing that cap he loves so much. … In a bit of a break from their norm, the Giants wore their cream unis last night, instead of their “usual” orange Friday alts. … Old Glory suffered a serious tear during last night’s SSB. … Last night’s starter for the Giants, Tim Hudson, was wearing a UnderArmour baselayer (screen grab from Dave Garabedian). … How many Pandas are in this picture? … Some SF fans may need geography lessons (perhaps they consulted the Falcons?).
NFL News: The NFL’s Instagram account has been posting cool player stat graphics every Sunday, notes Britton Thomas. The images all have the correct fonts, and they’re even created using the jersey color worn on that particular day. For example, this Demaryius Thomas graphic from last week is navy, and this one from three weeks ago is orange. Britton also sends a few more examples. … Scott Mason was watching this 1978 Houston at Miami game and saw this inconsistency in the Oilers’ 7’s on #27 and #37. “Interesting to see such blatant differences in the NFL — forward to the 5:30 mark.” … Here’s a look at the decals the CFL will be wearing this weekend for the fallen soldiers after the attack in Ottawa and Quebec. According to Lucas Barrett, “the entire country will be watching. The largest Canadian flag will be there which covers the entire field (CFL field is wider and longer than NFL) for a moment of silence and anthems prior to the game for the fallen soldiers.” … “Did you notice Denver Mayor Michael Hancock was wearing one of the old Reebok Broncos jerseys Thursday night?” asks Mark Francis. “You’d think they could supply him with a newer jersey.” Well, that, or he likes that particular throwback (which looks like a repro of the sweet 1994 NFL 75th Anniversary jersey worn by Steve Atwater). … In 1956, Browns fans John Campbell and George Sarles came up with the idea of putting a radio receiver in the quarterback’s helmet — here’s a really great article on that.
College & High School Football News: In news sure to thrill MANY, Pitt is bringing back the “Pitt Script helmet for today’s homecoming game! (h/t to too many to name). Yeah, they’ve only swapped out decals on the current metallic gold helmet, but it’s a start! And they’ll be wearing them for the rest of the season too. … Pink has reached HS unis. According to Mike Reilly, This is in Pittsburgh in a rivalary game between North Allegheny HS & North Hills HS. NH is red & white typically. … This is actually a pretty heart-warming story: A fire in Simon Kenton’s field house damaged much of their equipment, so a bunch of high schools (who happen to be their opponents), banded together to provide them equipment for last night’s game (thanks to @layflyer for the tip). … Penn State’s James Franklin wants throwback uniforms once a year (from Mike Slavonic). … WVU will be going gold/white/gold today in Stillwater (h/t Jason Bernard), a combo they’ve not yet worn (here’s a photoshop of how this will look, from Zack D’Ulisse). … LA Tech will wear these brand new white helmets for today’s game (thanks James Poisso). … Presbyterian College has new gray Nike Pro Combat jerseys they’ll be debuting this weekend (h/t CJ). … “Soberskie,” Soberman” or “O’Beerno” are not new recruits for the Utah Utes. Utah Highway Patrol officers will be handing out anti-DUI jerseys today to remind tailgaters to find a designated driver before they start drinking alcohol. … WKU will be wearing all black vs. ODU today. … Steve Johnston was covering a High School game last night and noticed that Downers Grove South (IL) has their own take on Oklahoma State’s logo. … Two Louisville (Ky.) high school football teams ”“ Manual (in red) and Male (in black) ”“ went color on color Friday night (from Josh Claywell).
Basketball News: HOLY CRAP! Penn State hoops will be wearing a pink and black alternate uni this season (honoring the original colors from 1887) — great spot by David Gutting. That sound you heard was Larry Bodnovich hitting the floor. Here is what they will look like in action (they’re expected to wear them at least twice this season). … “Why must basketball jerseys have sleeves?” asks Paul Lee. “In other countries, athletic clubs field teams not just in football, but also basketball, volleyball and other sports, e.g., Barcelona (Spain), Boca Juniors (Argentina), not unlike high schools where the same mascot is used for all sports. I bring this up because even though Adidas has been pushing sleeves for NBA basketball because they’re primarily known for soccer jerseys, in countries fielding world-famous soccer (futbol) squads, their basketball counterparts still wear sleeveless jerseys.” … Here’s a look at all of Kansas’ hoops unis for 2014-15, including throwbacks (from Dirk Diddy). … Has the Cleveland script been removed from above the skyline on the Cavaliers’ court (or is that just a video game version)? — or…has it?
Hockey News: Washington Capitals head coach Barry Trotz gave his players the day off on Thursday, so the team went curling at the Calgary Curling Club. Hilarity ensued, including Alex Ovechkin ripping his jeans (not preferred curling attire). Some video of the event is there too. Great stuff from Max Weintraub ), who notes there’s an “awful lot of uni-watching news” in that link. … Check out the special throwback jerseys Hershey Bears will wear at their home opener (from Stan Capp). … The Detroit Red Wings will be wearing camo for warmups on November 7 (reprinted from yesterday’s comments). … An eBay user auctioned a Caps prototype jersey from 2005, which includes an early version of ‘Weagle’ logo.
Grab Bag: Here’s a really neat graphic showing the logo history of VMI (from Ethan Ritz). … “An example of when you DON’T want a fan wearing your hat,” writes Brice Wallace. “I’m talking about you, West Virginia University.” … A varsity girls volleyball team at North Hollywood High was forced to forfeit a previous victory against an opponent because they wore uniforms with a dominant color that is not one of the school’s official hues. Nike had no comment. … Here’s a bit more on that logo/trademark dispute over the “cowboy” used by Oklahoma State, New Mexico State & Wyoming. … “One of the few things that cricket is known for in America is that they play in all-white,” says Aram Gyan. “But in the shorter version of the game, anything goes. This site has gone through every domestic Australian uniform since 1982. A lot of bold yellow, red, and brown combos. Also includes cricket’s version of the infamous Chicago White Sox shorts.”
Whew! That will do it for today. Thanks to Aaron, Gary, Jim, Tim, Rob, Andrew, Matt and all of you fine readers (and all those who participated in the WFL contest). Great stuff. Back with more tomorrow.
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
“No one has ever accused Matthew McConaughey of being one of the great thinkers of our society.”
— Kenn Tomasch
Over/under on the percentage of casual observers that will just assume that the Penn State hoops 1887 throwbacks are pink because “of some breast cancer thing”?
I’d say the over/under on that is “everyone.” And I’d take the over.
Taken together, the WFL results offer a nice mix of classic and contemporary slyles. Just like any actual league would have today. So kudos both to the designers and to the voters!
Excellent designs for all the winners. The only slight nit i would pick is the Philadelphia design not using the light blue shade of the city flag (and the original team). In and of itself, it’s quite fine.
Honestly, I just didn’t think it was realistic for them to actually keep those colors today. Other teams who had similar color schemes have all gone darker. Heck, if we had a contest for modern USFL uniforms (nudge, nudge), I’d put the Invaders in the same navy & gold color scheme.
Perhaps the True Blue that UCLA uses (if that, in fact, is different from the city flag)?
My WFL memories are faded; I can’t quite recall what particular shade of light blue they used. That said, navy and old gold/buff are nice colors for a team wanting a “Colonial” vibe.
How in Corn’s name does Vilk’s 5&1 not include the 1979 series? I refuse to believe that is his list.
Pillbox caps. Even without them, though, I’d still like ’71 better.
…and I thought the pillbox caps would make it better.
I wore those, but didn’t have fond memories of them. I had to put a plastic lid in the cap to help keep its shape. Either give me an early 70s mustard cap or the current one any day.
Ah, man…I forgot to take the ballparks into account. Can’t believe a team that played in the Vet made it to #1. Let me assure you, all cookie cutter parks were not equal.
Unlike Mike’s QOTW, this list is based strictly on uniforms.
Hey, good job, Vilk! Eclectic and cool. Your Numbered Era #2 – Yanks vs Cubs 1938 — is my all-time fave.
Thanks, Conn…glad you liked it.
As for Arr’s below comment, I was only going from the current World Series format. If you want to do pre-1903 or include the Negro Leagues, go ahead. If not, I wouldn’t mind tackling that in the future.
How about the 1943 Negro World Series, Homestead Grays versus Birmingham Black Barons? Two of the all-time classic negro baseball uniforms.
QuackTracker has lost its relevance. Now every school has a weekly costume, some with actual school colors. Whereas I used to get into uniforms now I just dont bother. Too much change. I used to enjoy Helmet Project too but now I dont care. It has jumped the shark
Been a long time since we went to college together, but I’m fairly certain Denver mayor Michael Hancock is wearing the Jason Elam uni in that picture.
I think by MLB rules, teams are only allowed to wear one home and one away for the World Series, if I’m not mistaken.
That very well may be the case, but if so Major League Baseball is missing out on some marketing opportunities.
New rule, if so. The Rangers wore their blue jerseys in the 2011 World Series.
Alts are indeed allowed in the World Series. It just so happens that both teams this year are “traditional” and aren’t going with softball tops in the Series.
Good one Phil, I was scrolling down todays column and saw my name. I did see those PSU basketball unis last night on a PSU board.
That is just crazy. The football team would look better actually wearing black home jerseys with pink numbers and pink pants. Pink helmet with black stripe. Away all pinks uh not so much.
hahahahaha
The Boca Juniors basketball uniform is pretty sweet. If they looked more like their soccer counterparts, they’d have cool late 80’s Pacers look.
link
link
“Why must basketball jerseys have sleeves?” asks Paul Lee. “In other countries, athletic clubs field teams not just in football, but also basketball, volleyball and other sports, e.g., Barcelona (Spain), Boca Juniors (Argentina), not unlike high schools where the same mascot is used for all sports. I bring this up because even though Adidas has been pushing sleeves for NBA basketball because they’re primarily known for soccer jerseys, in countries fielding world-famous soccer (futbol) squads, their basketball counterparts still wear sleeveless jerseys.”
Simple answer: because the NBA & Adidas think that fans are more likely to wear a glorified t-shirt than they are a normal sleeveless jersey.
There was a horrible FXFL matchup last night between the Omaha Mammoths, clad in mono dark blue vs. the Brooklyn Bolts in mono black. I have not yet been able to even find an image from the game on the internets.
Kenn Tomasch actually sent one in late last night, but I had already set today’s ticker. It’ll be in there tomorrow. And yeah, it’s awful.
The game itself was awful to watch…which I tried to do for like five minutes…
Yeah, I caught a little of the game flipping channels last night, and I searched for an image, too. In the long shots it just looked like everyone had the same uniform on. Apparently each FXFL team only has one uniform. Then again, with four teams, they could have had, say, one team in black, one light blue, one in red, and one in green, and not had this problem….
Why does LSU use double-post goal posts?
So that the team can run through the goalposts.
link
It has been announced Pitt will actually be returning to the script on the football helmets beyond this season, although the block “Pitt” will not be disappearing from the uniform and other university sports.
Still, this is unexpected great news, since the script is closely associated with outstanding teams, and legendary players. Pitt’s 1976 team was a truly dominant national champion, crushing Notre Dame in South Bend, beating Penn State by 17, and handed Georgia one of the biggest defeats an SEC champion has ever suffered in a bowl game.
They need the script on the basketball uniforms, too!
And on the court.
Oh just put it on everything, already.
Agreed. And either create or emphasize an appropriate Panther logo.
While the Adidias sleeved jerseys look wack because they are too tight and the awkward logo renditions, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with wearing sleeves to play. Plenty of college players wear shirts beneath their jerseys, so let’s not act as if sleeved jerseys are some great sacrilege agains the game’s history.
I always found that it was more comfortable to play that way.
Then let those players who’d like to wear sleeves wear a short or long-sleeve compression shirt underneath their tanks, just like how there were players who wore compression bike shorts under their short-shorts and those who didn’t. I can’t remember, but was there a rule against Patrick Ewing wearing a t-shirt under his Knicks jersey? (BTW, I always associated t-shirts with UNLV since they were on TV a lot back in the early nineties.)
I preferred wearing t-shirts because it was more comfortable and if I didn’t I felt like I was gonna catch a cold. On hot days, though, I felt like my shooting was much better and less restricted wearing tanks. Comfort > aesthetics, but performance (should) > or = comfort, IMO. #weekendwarrior
Loose jersey sleeves, I reckon, would give poor defenders (and cheaters) more material to pull and hang on to while guarding another player. Also, perhaps one could get his/her fingers caught in them while going up for a ball (e.g., rebound) and increase the likelihood of jammed/dislocated fingers.
Where oh where can ordinary mortals such as ourselves get hold of one of those Capitals curling toques? I am not a big fan of the Caps, but I would buy one of those in a second.
“Denver Mayor Michael Hancock” from the ticker is actually the fellow in the #1 Broncos jersey, which is clearly a Reebok-era jersey. It’s an orange jersey in the same design as they currently wear, with small Nike. vs. Reebok discrepancies. The man in the throwback jersey is not the one being referenced by the submitter.
Easy way to tell: Hancock is black, the man in the throwback jersey is not.
Ah. (Karnak voice) … I did not know that. I only looked at the picture quickly, and saw the Atwater throwback with the Reebok logo, and figured that’s the jersey he was referring to — didn’t really even look at the faces (or skin color) of those he was referencing. Still, my bad for not knowing the Mayor of Denver.
Since I don’t buy $200 polyester jerseys, I had no idea the jersey the Mayor was wearing was a Reebok (since there’s no logo to be seen on it); thought it was the 27 jersey being referenced. Other than the collar on the #1 jersey, I can’t even see a difference between that and the swooshie jersey on the gentleman to his left (right of the picture).
Mea culpa.
I think “I did not know that” is to be said in Carson monologue voice, not Karnak (Carnac?) voice.
WTH is Illinois wearing today? Are chrome and gray now school colors? Not a hint of blue or orange. I know it had been done before but by “bigger brand” schools. Why now Illinois? Me too?
So dumb of them, The Gray Ghost unis. Surely we can all tell those are to honor Red Grange. Ya sure.
How is that honoring him? Should have worn cool throwbacks with friction strips. Although I have seen some Red Grange pics when the strips look orange and others where they look white. I always wondered about that.
To my knowledge, “Red” Grange (whose real name was Harold Edward Grange) was nicknamed The Galloping Ghost, not the “Gray” Ghost — I’d never heard of that until a couple of weeks ago when
IllinoisNike intro’ed that uni.I don’t know if the Illini have ever worn “gray” before, nor if it is indeed any type of honor for Grange.
Pretty sure this is just the marketing ratchet cranked as never before…
McCovey Cove hoax link has been taken down.
After-game photo of the Simon Kenton HS (KY) players with their collection of donated helmets — proud to say that I am a School Counselor for one of the schools that contributed helmets and other equipment, although the story from the original link in the ticker misspelled our school name (as often happens) — it’s CONNER High School, not CONNOR — school named after the family that owned the land that was donated. . .
link
Great work, Joel. Yeah, that article linked spells it “Connor” — not sure if you want to shoot the author of the article an e-mail, or post a comment, but it might be worth a shot.
Great story.
Honestly, it happens so often, we’ve somewhat given up trying to correct people. I’ve been told it’s the difference in a Catholic spelling of “Connor” and a Protestant spelling of “Conner,” but I’m not sure how much truth is in that story.
Gary Chanko: I love the scoreboard series. Thanks so much for doing these. I’ve had a fascination with scoreboards since I was a little kid and reading about all the details behind these boards is really fun. Once upon a time, I thought about adding some Electrical Engineering to my Computer Science degree so that I could go into programming & building boards, but now that they’re all mostly glorified computer screens, probably not worth it.
I am really excited to see what you have cooked up for County Stadium and am hoping you profile the “Smear-O-Vision” era board of the 80’s and 90’s. One of my favorite pictures of all time is from when I got to be a part of USPS Brew Crew Kids Weekend and they caught my name up on the big board: link
Even if you go with something from an earlier era, though, it’ll still be cool. Thanks again.
That 1911 VMI Logo is a humdinger!!
Count me in the minority on the “Pitt” script & colors. As a University of PittSBURGH fan the current colors are much better. Get rid of the the “Pitt” script for good along with the ugly white pants. Put the panther head back on the helmet and bring back this font and uniform top (with full PITTSBURGH on the uniforms as is supposed to be). It looks 1,000 times better than that awful script Pitt, mustard, lighter blue.
link
Count me in the minority on the “Pitt” script & colors. As a University of PittSBURGH fan the current colors are much better.Get rid ofthe the “Pitt” script for good along withthe ugly white pants.Put the panther head back on the helmet and bring back this font and uniform top (with full PITTSBURGH on the uniforms as is supposed to be). It looks 1,000 times better than that awful script Pitt, mustard, lighter blue.(fixed)
;)
Broken. :P
At least we agree on the white pants though. ;)
Kansas City spans both Kansas and Missouri, although the Royals and Chiefs both play on the Missouri side.
“the Royals and Chiefs both play on the Missouri side.”
~~~
That was kinda my point (because I’m aware of the fact that the city spans two states — but the teams don’t play in Kansas).
There are two separate Kansas Citys. Kansas City, MO is sort of like Manhattan + Brooklyn while Kansas City, KS is more like Queens.
They have their own minor league team, too, the T-Bones.
Congratulations to all the winners from the WFL uniform contest, great job! It was so fun to see all these new uniforms, almost like the WFL was still playing in an alternate universe somewhere and my father was still 32 years old playing for the Bell!
It’s hard to believe that 40 years have gone buy since the Bell played their first game on July 10, 1974 against the Storm. I can still see my father in the Bell locker room after the game standing up on the bench still in his uniform pumping his fist screaming 33-8, 33-8 then he made eye contact with me and said “Did the King do it Jimbo! 33-8”
After the game we went to a restaurant and everyone started clapping for The King, he bent down and said “this is why I play the game Jimbo” he just loved applause. You would have thought he was Namath after Super Bowl 3. But after being cut in the NFL five times the WFL validated him again. That locker room felt like a Hollywood movie, you had Vince Papale, Sonny Sixkiller, Tim Rossovich and the King leading the party.
Hamilton Bulldogs of AHL wearing a helmet decal restof the season for the soldier killed at the War Memorial in Ottawa.
(Tweeted it to Phil, but he may not have seen it.)
Didn’t see it — did you include a pic? Either way, can you resend, email me, or tell me your twitter handle?
Resent
I hope the DUI jerseys worked in Utah, which as I understand it has a statewide policy against irony, but I’m pretty sure they’d be a disaster in roughly 49 other states.
I would be on the lookout for pics on Twitter of Soberskie face-down in a gutter.