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Lions running back Reggie Bush, Browns safety Johnson Bademosi, and Chargers linebacker Melvin Ingram became the latest pro athletes to engage in some pregame social commentary when they wore T-shirts emblazoned with “I Can’t Breathe” — the last words spoken by New York City chokehold victim Eric Garner — while warming up for their respective games yesterday. Their gestures came one day after NBA player Derrick Rose wore a similar shirt during pregame warm-ups on Saturday night (and there may be more of that upcoming in the NBA, because LeBron James says he’s looking for a shirt of his own [although it’s not clear why he can’t simply grab a Sharpie or whatever]).
It’s particularly interesting that Bush took this initiative, because his mother is a police officer. Further info on his thinking and the reaction to his move here.
In other uni-related news from around the NFL yesterday:
• Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson was wearing an upside-down headband.
• Speaking of the Bengals, wideout A.J. Green was wearing Oregon State cleats yesterday. The weird thing is, he didn’t attend OSU — he went to Georgia. In fact, nobody on the entire Bengals roster went to OSU. Hmmmm.
• Did referee John Parry, who was working the Ravens/Dolphins tilt, give blood before the game? Was he being tested for drugs? In any case, he had a telltale bandage on his arm.
• Steelers defensive end Stephon Tuitt was missing one of his helmet numerals.
• Raiders fullback Marcel Reece had a “Battle of the Bay” mouthguard for yesterday’s game against the 49ers.
• More Raiders: Quarterback Derek Carr had stopped wearing his Qalo wedding band in recent weeks, but it was back yesterday.
• One more from that Raiders/Niners game: Fox must have used some old stock footage of the Oakland Coliseum, because the A’s logo tarp was visible in the upper deck.
• Colts wideout T.Y. Hilton lost a shoe while making the game-winning catch against the Browns.
• No photo, but I’m told that another Colts wideout, Hakeem Nicks, taped up his facemask yesterday, much like his teammate Laron Landry did last week.
• Not the sharpest pregame look for Big Ben.
• The Saints went mono-black. And for good measure, defensive lineman Akiem Hicks had the team’s fleur de lis logo shaved into his head.
• The Cardinals were playing the Chiefs, so Cards coach Bruce Arians wore a T-shirt in support of sidelined Chiefs player Eric Berry prior to the game. Classy move.
• Speaking of the Cardinals, they went mono-red.
• The Eagles wore mono-black, and even had black end zones.
• Speaking of the Iggles, what was that figurine on their sideline?
• The Chargers wore their powder blue alternates.
• Interesting look for the Titans’ cheerleaders.
• Teams wearing white at home yesterday: the Titans and Dolphins.
(My thanks to all contributors, including Jeff Flynn, Curtis Galvin, Brinke Guthrie, Mikhail Herrera, MH2212, Vince Maeda, David Nichols, Ty Schwab, Jeff Stumm, and of course Phil.)
Baseball News: When MLB had everyone wear those lame-o Twins-inspired caps for this past season’s All-Star Game, everyone wondered, “What will they do for the 2015 ASG in Cincinnati?” Some of us speculated that they might go with old-timey pillbox caps. And judging from the patches the Reds were wearing at their annual Redsfest event over the weekend, that speculation looks dead-on accurate. Meanwhile, how many players will grow mustaches for the game, and/or how many Reds will wear mustaches all season long? … Garth Brooks wore a Cardinals jersey onstage the other night. “I’m guessing the Cards gave him number 14 simply for the year 2014,” says Matt Larsen, “but at first I thought, ‘Is Garth a big Ken Boyer fan?'”
College Football News: Temple has two players named Nate Smith, so they both wear FNOB with their middle initials (from Kevin Kolb). ”¦ What’s that thing on Marcus Mariota’s elbow — a honeycomb-patterned bandage? Solar panel? Something else? ”¦ Could Penn State’s football team be planning a pink-trimmed uniform, as the basketball team has done? Maybe (from William Yurasko).
Hockey News: The Sharks will be be unveiling their Stadium Series jersey later this month, but has it already leaked? Maybe, maybe not. Not a bad design, but I still don’t understand why teams need a separate uniform for these Stadium Series games to begin with. Part of the fun should be the incongruity of seeing a familiar uniform in an unfamiliar setting.
NBA News: Neglected to mention that the Kings wore their Rochester Royals throwbacks on Friday night. They also added a 1951 Royals championship banner to their arena for the first time. Lots of additional game photos here. … Speaking of the Kings, here’s a story on Ben McLemore’s tattoos. … The Celtics wore those horrific gray things again last night. … The Lakers wore shooting shirts with Twitter handles and hashtags last night. … The Grizzlies wore their road unis at home last night.
Soccer News: The Belgian team Standard Liege had to apply red duct tape to its jerseys in order to avoid a kit clash (from Todd Gaines). ”¦ “Here are two much-maligned English soccer phenomena — the half-half shirt and full kit wanker — together as one,” says Yusuke Toyoda. ”¦ Also from Yusuke: “This weekend marked the 100th anniversary of the Christmas truce, a ceasefire between British and German soldiers, some of whom played soccer together. So opposing teams across England posed together before matches in tribute. ”¦ Former European champions Steaua Bucharest had to play a game simply as “The Hosts” because they lost the legal rights to their own team name (from Dennis Hurley).
Grab Bag: Best grocery typo ever (from my pal Liz Clayton). … I’ve been saying for years now that simply putting on a military uniform does not make someone a hero. At least one observer agrees. … Here’s the latest on the proposed bobblehead museum that may be coming to Milwaukee. … Love these socks with a library card design (from David Firestone). ”¦ Australian cricket players will wear No. 408 under the crest on their jerseys for this week’s test match against India as a tribute to Phil Hughes (from Graham Clayton).
Mariota is wearing Defender Skin, a customizable padding that allows for movement, etc. link
Couldn’t find a picture, but the kicker for the Bills yesterday was wearing a really wacky red and white striped shoe on his right foot.
Grab Bag: I’m going to throw in my candidate for best grocery store typo. There is a Chinese grocery store in Flushing that sells fuzzy squash (so named because of the fine white “hairs” on the surface), but got the translation wrong. The sign in the produce department ready “Fussy Squash”.
I’m gonna guess AJ Green just wanted some specific Nike shoes in an orange and black color way. Oregon State could accommodate that order.
Something I noticed in the Reggie Bush article. 1) He stated he had seen Derrick Rose’s shirt and, “thought it was cool.” I Amy be wrong, but “cool” isn’t a great term to use; maybe powerful, motivational, inspiring, etc.
How many times have the Eagles worn black this year? Isn’t there a two-game limit?
Given the issues with the green jerseys, were they perhaps redesignated as alternates for just this year? (They’ve only been worn twice I believe).
This was only the 2nd time for the black jersey this season. They haven’t broken any of the NFL stupid uniform limitation rules yet.
If it seems like they’ve already worn them too many times, that’s a reason to tighten up those regulations.
Those regulations shouldn’t even exist. Every team is allowed to have 3 jerseys. There’s absolutely no reason to dictate how many times they can wear each one.
Once teams like the Cardinals and Eagles smash their brands with ugly black jerseys, I see plenty of reason to dictate just that.
Oh please. According to most people here the Eagles smashed their brand in 1996 anyway, so what exactly is the problem?
On the contrary, the rules don’t go far enough. NFL teams play a piddling 16 games a year. Teams average less than one game per week over the course of the season. The idea of having a third jersey at all is ridiculous. One white shirt, one color shirt, home team gets to choose and the visiting team wears the other. (Though I’d be cool with color-on-color under sensible contrast rules.)
“Once teams like the Cardinals and Eagles smash their brands…”
~~~
You say that as if the Cards have an attractive uni set now. I totally agree with you on the BFBS nonsense, but what they need is to ditch the shitty uni template they have now and just get back to wearing cardinal and white without all the bumperstickers.
A red jersey with geegaws and bumperstickers is still worlds better than a black one, though.
Noticed this story on Deadspin: The University of Idaho men’s basketball team was assessed a technical foul during their game on Saturday because they forgot to paint the charge circle on the court.
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I was curious why this happened so far into the season. This was Idaho’s first home game in their larger arena, after playing the first 5 home games in the older gym, so this was the first time this court had been used this season.
Also, no one appeared to notice right away. The technical foul was assessed at 10:17 of the first half. I really like in the play-by-play sheet how every made basket is labeled, “GOOD!”
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I think there’s an l missing in the first soccer item.
Thanks. Fixed.
“… Neglected to mention that the Kings wore their Rocester Royals throwbacks on Friday night…”
The early NBA featured teams from medium-size cold-weather cities that wouldn’t be even remote candidates today for an expansion franchise. Rochester, Syracuse, Fort Wayne. A little earlier, football had Providence Steamrollers and Canton Bulldogs. The only major league survivor of that general phenomenon is Green Bay, I suppose.
Re: Bengals orange cleats. Apparently there were a few Bengals wearing the Beavers’ shoes yesterday.
Technically not a “library card” design – that’s a “date due” card.
(he said from his library office while watching Larry Bird on youtube)
Ironic, isn’t it, the Reds are so closely identified with mustaches nowadays? At the end of his career, Rollie Fingers was approached by Cincinnati for a spring tryout, but he retired rather than shave his iconic mustache, as per then-team policy.
As every Ohioan knows, inside-out sweatpants are the go-to outfit for Saturday night chain restaurant dining, not Sunday morning pre game (Zubaz)! Roethlisberger should know better!
Absolutely.
There are independent truckers who put more effort into their appearance.
Ben’s inside-out sweats look to be Nike Pro Combat’s, so it’s likely that no one from the league office told him to wear them that way.
The figurine on the Eagles sideline looks like Hagrid from Harry Potter. No idea why they’d have it though.
Maybe it belongs/pays tribute to Jason Kelce?
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I’m confused by the Eagles black uniforms – don’t they contain the same shade of Midnight Green that Nike was unable to produce earlier in the season?
The team acknowledged early on that the green trim on the white and black jerseys, and also on the white and black pants, wasn’t quite accurate. There were willing to live with the inaccuracy when the green was just a trim color.
I’m wondering if this is Someone Upstairs trying to tell them to change back to Kelly green uniforms. C’mon Eagles, do the right thing.
Its possible Kelly green is becoming more popular in the Nike offices given the greater frequency that its been worn by the Ducks.
The throwback unis for Sacramento confused me, and I’m sure the not uni-centric fans as well.
Apparently the NBA is wearing road unis at home right now. Ok, cool.
Road throwback unis of of a different color than the court? Come on. Pick one at a time.
Garth Brooks also wore a Barret Jackman St. Louis Blues Jersey.
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Saw that on social media. He shall be added to the database of musicians in hockey jerseys. ;o)
I should add that if anyone has any photos of musicians wearing hockey jerseys, please fire them through to me. I’ll credit you for the find as well. :o)
I don’t need to see t-shirts, sweatshirts, hats, or other apparel UNLESS it’s a musician who would never be caught dead supporting a hockey team.
Is this one in the database?
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It’s scheduled to be shortly now, Scott. ;o) Thanks!
Rochester is misspelled in the link for the Kings throwback jersey
Fixed.
Annoyingly I haven’t been able to find any photos or videos, but on Saturday during Munster’s European Rugby Champions Cup match against Clermont Auvergne the Munster number 8, CJ Stander, played about four minutes of the game without a jersey on. It seems it had got pulled up over his head at some stage and rather than fix it he took it off and threw it towards the sideline before jumping back in the action in just his black undershirt.
Bengals running back Giovanni Bernard is the brother of former Oregon State running back and current (although in limbo with Mike Riley leaving) Oregon State coach, Yvenson Bernard. There were actually 3 or 4 Bengal players wearing Oregon State branded cleats yesterday.
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Icethetics has a photo published not that pretty much confirms the Sharks stadium series uniform. By itself, I don’t love the uniform, but I don’t hate it as much as some of the Reebok Edge messes from 2007.
The thing that irks me is the way the Kings stadium uniform is pretty much an identical to the sharks with logos/colors swapped. Why would you want to standardize uniforms and make it that obvious that they represent national corporate design instead of representing the team’s unique vision? It was a similar situation for last year’s stadium series, and i don’t belive any of those being big hits with teams’ fan bases
The only answer I can come up for the standardization is that it saves on design time and reduces merchandise manufacturing costs, while the fans believe they’re getting a unique new design.
Kudos upon kudos to the Sacramento Kings for acknowledging their franchise’s history! Thank you!
Of course I understand that their wearing of the Rochester Royals uniforms gives the team another jersey to sell. I don’t mind that one bit; I hope they sell a ton of them. The important thing is the reinforcement of franchise continuity, the objective historical truth which was once an untouchable idea, but which has been battered by recent ahistorical absurdities involving the Charlotte Hornets, the Cleveland Browns, and the San Jose Earthquakes (and which will suffer more still violence whenever Seattle gets another NBA team).
Unfortunately there is now a whole generation who don’t know that the Ravens are the original Browns, and that the current Browns are an expansion team. It is of paramount importance that the kiddies become educated about the actual facts of history, and learn that the Kings were once the Royals, that the Clippers were once the Buffalo Braves, etc. So those NBA teams deserve thanks.
Regarding the Celtics’ grey uniforms: unnecessary, yes (as are all alts that aren’t throwbacks); but far from “horrific” from a purely aesthetic stanpoint.
“more still” –> “still more”
Of course I understand that their wearing of the Rochester Royals uniforms gives the team another jersey to sell. I don’t mind that one bit; I hope they sell a ton of them. The important thing is the reinforcement of franchise continuity
Wish they’d sell some KC Kings clothing as well, then. I’d love an Otis Birdsong shirsey.
And I agree with you about the Celtics alt.
You, of all people, don’t despise the unreadable white on gray?
Haven’t seen them in action yet, just closeup photos. So if they’re hard to read, then booooo, Celtics alts!
Weird question for long time Uni-Watchers. Does anyone think that with the proliferation of NCAA costumes, special caps and jerseys, mix and match sets, throwbacks, and fauxbacks, that uniform news is missing a little bit of the excitement and intensity?
I remember when Oregon first became Oregon. Sure diamond-plate was silly but it was sure to get a visceral reaction. Now it seems every mid major is doing something like that every week.
I suppose its just the field becoming saturated and extended.
Yes. And it’s almost impossible to tell who’s playing anymore.
I agree the fluid state of a team’s costumes dilutes the image and iconic qualities of said team. However, the uptick in the rate of change makes a site like this necessary simply to keep track of them.
adidas just released a short film on their new ball for Major League Soccer.
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The teams participating in yesterday’s MLS Cup Final each had two lines of small silver stamping in the center of their chests, much like the uniforms used in some World Cups … or the one game Francesco Totti played in Australia with an enormous novel written on it.
The words were “MLS Cup 2014” on the top line and “December 6th” on the lower line.
It’s pretty common link around the world, Cup finals and the like.
The silver letters were very subtle link.
Huh. I was looking for commemorative stuff and didn’t catch it. Very subtle.
Miami Dolphins had the best looking endzone yesterday.
The Fox shot of the Niner-Raider game that showed the Athletics tarp still being on was not a live shot. Here is a picture from inside the stadium yesterday: link
Also, I live not far from Oakland and drove by the stadium on Saturday and you can see the black Raider tarps from outside the stadium.
Um, yes — that was the point of why I listed it.
NY Rangers wearing white at home tonight. Penguins in the black & yellow alternates.
Shades of the 1992 playoff series!
On the slate podcast Hang Up and Listen today, the ESPN ombudsman made his uni watch/ concussion quote again
Mildy new Nike unis for the four teams. The main difference is the diamond Swoosh addition to the jerseys and pants.
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