Skip to content
 
Uni Watch

Monday Morning Uni Watch

By

Colts wide receiver Hakeem Nicks had two small bands of black tape on his facemask during yesterday’s playoff game against the Bengals. I remembered that he had done the same thing on Dec. 21, so I decided to see how long he’d been doing it prior to yesterday:

Yesterday: Yes
Dec. 28: Yes
Dec. 21: Yes
Dec. 14: Yes
Dec. 7: Yes
Nov. 30: No
Nov. 23: No
Nov. 16: No

I stopped looking after that. So it appears that Nicks did this for the last four games of the regular season, plus yesterday’s playoff game. Now, as to why he does it, I have no idea. At least one person has described it as a “Pop Warner-style” move, but I don’t understand that reference — like, do Pop Warner players routinely tape up their facemasks? Anyway, I’ll be asking the Colts’ media office about this today.

A few other notes from the playoffs:

• Colts running back Dan Herron wore eye black under only one eye. (I’m not sure why he’d need any eye black at all — the game was played indoors.)

• Speaking of Herron, he and Bengals defensive lineman Brandon Thompson traded jerseys at the end of yesterday’s game. (My initial thought a few weeks ago that jersey-swapping was largely limited to wide receivers appears to have been unfounded. Pretty much everyone is doing it, regardless of position.)

• After the game, Herron was spotted in the Colts’ locker room wearing socks adorned with, depending on your point of view, Ohio State buckeye symbols or pot leaves:

Yes, duh, those are pot leaves. Interestingly, Herron and the Colts will be playing their next game in Colorado. Hmmmmm.

• The spread of the Cowboys’ blue Nikelace has reached epidemic proportions. I received a lot of emails and tweets about this yesterday (most of them, I sense, from people who don’t watch a whole lot of NFL games until the postseason, although of course I could be wrong about that), so people are definitely noticing. I asked the Cowboys about this a month or so ago and got no response, but I’ll ask again.

• Going back to Saturday, Ravens safety Matt Elam received some on-the-spot jersey surgery on the Baltimore sideline.

•  Finally, there’s this (which is admittedly not uni-related but is nonetheless one of the weekend’s defining visual moments): If you ever doubted that running for president is little more than a series of indignities, check out New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie looking super-awkward while trying to hug Cowboys owner Jerry Jones at the conclusion of the Dallas/Detroit game:

Christie, incidentally, is also a Mets fan. Let’s hope we never see him behaving like that around the Wilpons.

(My thanks to Stephen Hayes, Ryan Munthe, and Phil for their contributions.)

•  •  •  •  •

Uni Watch Hit Parade: For the past 10 days or so I’ve been playing the hell out of Rips, the debut album by longtime indie-rocker Mary Timony’s latest band, Ex Hex. (Yes, she also had a solo album called Ex Hex back in 2005, but that wasn’t very good, while this new band is sensational.) I’d kinda given up on Timony, whose work hadn’t done much for me since the first couple of Helium records back in the mid-1990s, but Rips totally rips. Here are some of its best tracks:

It’s a tremendous record — don’t miss.

• • • • •

Advertiser Discount: Our friends at American Trench (whose ad runs at the top of the right-hand sidebar) are offering a discount for Uni Watch readers: If you enter the code “UNIWATCH” at checkout, you can get $20 off of this merino wool cap. So it’ll be $65 instead of $85 (and with free shipping to boot). Only a few caps are left in each color, so move fast.

• • • • •

Baseball News: Here’s some footage of the Reds wearing red alternate jerseys for a 1984 game at Dodger Stadium. The only problem with that is that the Reds didn’t have red alternate jerseys in 1984. They did, however, have these red BP jerseys. So the video is apparently an early example of a team wearing BP jerseys for a game (great find by Jerry Wolper). … Also from Jerry: Here’s some home movie footage of the Padres and Expos warming up prior to a 1969 game at Jarry Park. … Ferdinand Cesarano was watching a replay of the 1996 World Series and noticed that Braves OF Andruw Jones wore different jerseys in Games 1 and 6. The giveaway: His NOB’s arching changed from vertical to radial. … Lots of interesting uniforms on display in this post about Japanese baseball cards (from Jeff Wilk). … According to this Sporting News item, Casey Stengel was once owed money by a minor league team and stole their uniforms as collateral. They never paid up and he kept the unis. … Kevin Graber was looking at an old magazine cover photo and noticed a little “14” embroidered into Pete Rose’s stirrup. I’ve seen that for other teams, but not for the Reds. … New uniforms for the Korean team Hanwha Eagles.

College Football News: Did you hear how the town of Oregon, Ohio, is changing its name on the day of the title game, as a way to support the Buckeyes? Actually, no they’re not. … I say a lot of negative things about advertising, but I also like to give credit where it’s due. So: I think that Dr. Pepper campaign with the soda salesman who claims to have created the CFP system is pretty damn good (although nothing, not even the best ad campaign, can make that trophy look good).

Hockey News: Here’s a pretty good attempt to upgrade the Ducks’ uniforms. … New mask for Milwaukee Admirals goaltender Marek Mazanec. … Okay, so this is totally weird but also totally wonderful: former NHL ref Lou Marsh in full uniform, including skates, on the tarpaper roof of a Toronto building. “I believe he is posing with the patented jerk of his thumb that motioned a delinquent player to the penalty box,” says Will Scheibler. Yeah, probably, but still — what the fuck?!

NBA News: Yesterday’s Ticker mentioned that Rockets G James Harden wore a jersey with the NBA logo on the front on Saturday night. Turns out he also had the front logo on Dec. 31. Those are the only two instances I was able to find. Houston’s next home game is this Saturday, so we’ll see if he does it again.

College and High School Hoops News: The Wisconsin team apparently forgot to pack their towels when traveling to last night’s game at Northwestern, so they had to use — ewww — purple towels instead (from Nate Cravil). … “I am a member of Board #84 (State of Rhode Island) of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials (IAABO),” says a reader who prefers not to be named. “Every year, IAABO supports the ‘Blow the Whistle on Cancer’ campaign during a week of the season. During this week, officials can use pink whistles to show their support. However, as discussed on Uni Watch many times, the commercialization of pink has gotten out of control. So for better or worse, I declined to purchase one of these whistles and will probably send in a donation instead.”

Soccer News: As part of the FA Cup, Dover played Crystal Palace yesterday at Dover’s home field, the Crabble, which dates back to 1897 and seats only about 1,000. “The supporters had to get creative,” says John Flanagan. “Check out the lads in the trees! Sights like this are what the FA Cup are all about. I can’t get enough of the small old pitches, historic football grounds, and the amazing supporters.” … Also from John: “Big bad Manchester United and their controversial manager, Louis van Gaal, will be spending their match on this bench, as they visit League One’s (English football’s third tier) Yeovil Town. No luxuries have been spared.” … Oooh, look at this 1930s lace doily depicting a soccer player (from Robin Edgerton).

Grab Bag: On Friday I went the Museum of the City of New York to check out this outstanding exhibit on the illustrator Mac Conner. The show included a 1938 magazine cover illo showing a seriously nifty skating instructor uniform. … Buried within this article about McDonald’s latest marketing plans is the following: “The company said other changes in 2015 will include new uniforms on crew members, as well as new packaging and signs in restaurants.” … James Ballow was at a tile shop on Long Island and spotted this. Looks like it was based on NYC-area sports, circa 2000. … Here’s one observer’s choice for 10 iconic Toronto logos. … New logo for Seagate Technology. … You already knew that most horse racing bettors are a sad, lonely bunch, but this article+slideshow about the current scene at Aquaduct Racetrack in New York is still really powerful. … When a indigent man accused of a crime in Massachusetts couldn’t post bail, the judge allowed the man to present his new pair of Nike sneakers instead. … Really interesting story on the music played after touchdowns on Sunday Night Football telecasts (from Seth Horowitz).

• • • • •

Tomorrow: The launch of the Uni Watch T-Shirt Club, whoop-whoop.

 
  
 
Categories
NFL
Comments (124)

    Have to disagree about the Dr Pepper ads. Larry is the most annoying spokesman u can remember since the Verizon “Can you hear me now?” Guy. The actor pulls off middle school gym teacher pretty well, but not much more than that.

    I concur. Annoying as all get out. I know they are trying to make it humorous but the spots end up annoying.

    The only one I really care for is when Larry is explaining the playoff to Jesse Palmer and tells him, “that sandwich is a loser.” I laugh every time.

    At least the Verizon Guy was trying to demonstrate a selling point for his product.

    Larry the Dr Pepper Vendor is just stupid.

    No, the Dr Pepper ads are funny. Larry does clueless and delusional spot-on. He also makes me remember the product, something you can’t take for granted, any more.

    There’s a difference between a skilled performance and an annoying character. The actor does deliver a skilled performance. The character, however, grates on the viewer after repeated views, which is counterproductive to the ad campaign.

    Want to know what ads are annoying? The Geico “Hump Day” ads. And I’m a Geico customer. Even Geico acknowledged recently that they’re annoying.

    which is why they now have the as with camels at the zoo complaining how annoying it is for people to be yelling ‘whats today?’ at them on Wednesdays

    Loved the graf on “Rips”. I’ve been listening to it quite a bit lately too. Always like seeing your music recs.

    Ex Hex is touring the south this spring, but sadly they’re not going to make it to Louisville. I’m bummed.

    Paul, since you’re a Mets guy, you better hope Christie doesn’t seek you out for awkward hugging! :-)

    He went in for high fives, got left hanging, then compensated with awkward group hug, which he wasn’t part of initially by forced his way into it.

    Poor McDonald’s. So hung up thinking marketing and image will fix their issues. How about this Mc’s, improve the food! When I was a teen in the early 70s, I worked the grill at Mc’s. We used to toast the buns on the grills, cook the burgers right there and so forth. In Mc’s effort to cut costs and increase the bottom line, they automated all that stuff and food quality suffered. New uniforms for the crew isn’t going to fix it.

    Sure there are.

    Toasting the buns…I can recall when I was a little kid and it was a twice-a-year grammar school treat for McDonald’s to be brought in for an after school snack. Burgers and orangeade. The toasted buns made all the difference then; they’d vastly improve it now.

    Hmm…I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever been to a McDonald’s that didn’t include mustard and onions on a basic burger.

    True fact: More than half of the world’s mustard seed production comes from Canada and Nepal. Maybe political instability since the Nepalese royal massacre of 2001 destabilized mustard on global commodities market, pushing up prices, and leading McD’s to eliminate mustard on the basic burger as a cost-saving move?

    Otherwise, WTF with not including mustard on a burger? Might as well serve it without a bun.

    Having gown up on Long Island, I think McD’s served them with ketchup and onions, possibly pickles, don’t remember.

    What I do remember as a kid was going outside the metropolitan area, getting McD’s or the like and to the horror of a 7 year old, there was mustard on the burger. Don’t remember exactly what happened after that but I’m pretty sure we went back up to the counter and asked for burgers without mustard.

    Krystal (white castle of the south) serves their small square burgers with mustard and onions only, gotta ask for ketchup and they’re pretty stingy with it too.

    Weird, must be a regional thing. I’ve lived in different parts of Texas and the basic burger for the 25 years I’ve been alive has included mustard, ketchup, onions, pickles. If I walk in and say “I just want a hamburger.”, that is what I’ll get.

    I like McDonald’s new advertising campaign, but I only eat there if I absolutely have to. There are so many better food options out there like Chipotle (ironically formerally owned by McDonald’s) and Panera Bread. Sorry, Subway does not count as a better food option–just look at the link

    I have never been in a Subway (shocker), but I do love that my man Hamilton Nolan once described it as “a store that sells the smell of baking bread.”

    Thing about Subway is, I work with people who go to Subway for their lunch break all the time because they claim they need to “eat healthy”. But they buy something like a meatball sub that is high in calories or they get a salad–something I didn’t even know Subway sells–and get it smothered in ranch dressing that more than offsets any health benefits on ordering a salad over a sandwich. I wonder if its more than a coincidence that Subway doesn’t air as many health ads as they used to.

    “a store that sells the smell of baking bread.”

    What’s funny about that is, the smell is horrible. I rarely ever go to Subway, and in addition to less than average food, it’s because my clothes will reek for hours of that foul odor.

    The thing about the calories in a lot of Subway sandwiches is spot on. What the Jared ads never told anyone was that he ate veggie only subs and only 6 inch ones to lose all that weight.

    I was enjoying a lovely sunset walk on a beach on a tiny island in the Caribbean last week when my wife turned to me and said, “Does it smell like Subway to you?” Sure enough, wafting from somewhere was that distinctive aroma that’s more a late petroleum-age industrial simulacrum of bread than any actual bakery smell. Couldn’t find a source; it was just a generalized odor on the wind. Couple of days later, walking the same stretch of strand, we noticed the tiniest of doors on the front street with a tiny Subway sign and, again, that plastic almost-bread aroma. If you didn’t look straight at that door, you’d never see it. By the appearances of several senses, this little foreign Subway was relying entirely on that distinctive aroma, not the normal sight or sound of a retail establishment’s streetfront presence, to draw customers to the counter.

    I live in Indianapolis and I can say without a doubt that the glare is much worse on the left side of town so I understand why Boom Herron went with only one strip of eye black.

    That is a terrific find on the Reds wearing red jerseys on the road in 1984. Did they do this periodically even without an official alternate jersey? I think it was during the 1991 All-Star game that Jackie Moore wore a red jersey while coaching first base, which struck me as an odd sight in a time when dark-colored jerseys weren’t prevalent.

    Yeah, those Reds red jerseys in the Big Red Machine look is sweet. I like it better than their current red alternate. Then again, as a Pirates fan I like the Big Red Machine look better in general than the current unis–although the current unis are an improvement over the vest uniforms.

    ISTRC a blurb in either Sports Illustrated or my local paper from the early 80’s about the Reds conducting a uniform experiment wearing the BP jerseys during a game. Also, around the same time there was a A’s at Angels double-header on cable. First game was A’s in their gold jerseys/white pants and the Angels in home whites. 2nd game the A’s switched to green and the Angels wore their black BP jerseys that had the stripe over the shoulder.

    No photo (too lazy), but in the ‘Boys/Lions game I noticed an official with “SS” written (possibly) on the left side of his cap. For Stuart Scott perhaps?? If so, that’s a new one on me.

    Since Uni Watchers love Cooperalls, I thought I would share this find from Getty Images. Here are two photos from an International hockey tournament in France. The photos are dated circa 1900 and 1920, but appear to be from the same game.

    link

    link

    I’ve never seen long pants like that worn in photos of games from that era. The pants, combined with the sashes and mustaches, make those hockey players the most stylish ever!

    Didn’t see the footage of Reds wearing Red at Dodger Stadium (must not have seen the right spot in the video) but I skimmed and found toward the end footage of a Reds outfielder against the wall at Candlestick.

    Thanks. Saw the Dodger Stadium footage. So that’s at least two instances in 1984 of the Reds wearing red tops on the road.

    I remember the game from 1984 when the Reds wore the red jerseys at Candlestick. During one inning, the Giants Dusty Baker stole second, third & home.

    BIG QUIZ!

    So, dear comrades:

    When you pronounce this new year, do you say “two thousand fifteen” or “twenty fifteen”?

    I go two-thousand-fifteen. Never been a fan of grouping two numbers out of context. For example, when people give the last 4 digits of their phone number as ‘twelve-thirty-four’ instead of one-two-three-four. Always felt awkward. And and the risk of nitpicking, that’s more a survey than a quiz. :-)

    20-15. I’ve been that way ever since 20-10. At some point, we are going to have to change to that format because two thousand, one hundred and forty-three isn’t happening. I figure we are kicking enough cans down the road for future generations to deal with, that the least we can do is make this decision for them now.

    It’s going to change well before then. 2020 will be twenty-twenty, no doubt about it. Might as well get on board with it now.

    I know, mine was just an example. I think some people might still be saying two thousand twenty, but certainly at some point, whenever that is, everyone will change over. Either way, my conclusion is the same as yours: make the change now.

    “Twenty-oh-five” and the equivalents for the first ten years of the century were awkward to pronounce, so I said “two-thousand-five.” But since the start of the teens, I’ve found it much more natural to say “twenty-fifteen,” just like we all pronounced it in the previous century. Even in the same sentence, I pronounce it differently: “Twenty-fifteen will mark the tenth anniversary two-thousand-five, when the Nationals began play in Washington.”

    Twenty-fifteen. Been saying twenty-oh-one, twenty-oh-two, etc. as well.

    Three exceptions to that: For 2000 I say “The year two-thousand.” I also go with the commonly used pronunciations for “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the far superior sequel “2010: The Year We Make Contact.” Yes, that can lead to such sentences as “In Twenty-ten I was looking for Two-thousand-ten on DVD,” but that’s how I roll.

    When the millenium started I was wondering how I was going to pronounce the years, until I had to read a business article on the air. It went something like, “____ Motor Company still had 10,000 2000 model pickups on their lots while awaiting the arrival of 500,000 2001 models.” After several takes I was firmly in the twenty-whatever camp.

    On my iPad those numbers I typed above have been made into phone links. Don’t ask me how or why that happened, ’cause I didn’t do that.

    From 2000-2009, I say “two thousand _____.” Since 2010, I say “twenty ______.”

    When giving out phone numbers, I say, “area four-four-four (pause) five-five-five (pause) two-four (pause) three-five.”

    I’m also in the camp of “two thousand ___” for the first decade of this century, and “twenty ___” thereafter. It seems pretty silly if we’d decided “one thousand nineteen hundred eighty four” or even “nineteen hundred eighty four” was the way to go.

    My pet peeve is people who add “and” into inappropriate places such as “one hundred and fifty” (versus “one hundred fifty”). It largely dates back to my middle school math teacher who would correct us, not necessarily when talking years, but just larger numbers in general. His reasoning was that the “and” implies a decimal, so “one hundred and fifty” would be rendered as 100.50, and “one hundred fifty” is 150.

    Must take a very large amount of Presidential ambition for the governor of New Jersey, made up mostly of Giants fans on one end and Eagles fans on the other, to celebrate a Cowboys victory like a giddy little kid.

    Yeah, you should have seen him do it a few weeks ago when the link (Linked fandom map on that page.)

    But how does that reflect presidential ambition? He hails from a party that will win Texas’ electoral votes no matter what in 2016, so there’s no need to pander to any Texas voter. And the Cowboys have long been “America’s team” only in the sense that hatred of the Cowboys tends to unite Americans across divisions of party, class, and race. It’s equivalent to a Democrat from any other American League city declaring his love for the Yankees.

    He hails from a party that will win Texas’ electoral votes no matter what in 2016, so there’s no need to pander to any Texas voter.

    The primaries, Scott. The primaries…

    It’s more than that. It’s creating a persona: “I’m not a northeast guy. I’m not going to go along, just because it’s what’s expected. I’m a maverick, a plain speaking, free thinking man who Follows His Conscience. Even if that’s not popular.”

    It is a magnificently cynical little display. And why is he in the owner’s box? Buy a ticket, like normal people. And speaking as a man of girth myself, DO NOT JUMP UP AND DOWN IN PUBLIC!” Few people look good jumping up and down. Exuberant small children. Sports Illustrated models. Carlton Fisk, in Game Six of the 1975 World Series. Fat guys? Fat guys are not meant for jumping. It’s unseemly. And a little sad.

    I’m a maverick, a plain speaking, free thinking man who Follows His Conscience.

    By sucking up to Jerry Jones. Yeah, that’s pretty rebellious right there.

    Nobody likes Jerry Jones. Most Cowboys fans hate the guy. It’s not Jerry Jones; it’s guy from Eagles & Giants country rooting for the ‘Pokes. That’s like a guy in ISIS showing up for a village burning in a “Pray The Rosary” tee shirt.

    And honestly, on any other holiday weekend, how much free national airtime is the governor of New Jersey getting? That guy has been jumping and jigging all over the place this morning.

    Or he could be trying to get Jerry to pony up some cash for his campaign. Since the Wilpons are broke, I don’t think Paul has any reason to worry.

    I was wondering the same thing, myself. I noted his apparent Cowboys fandom on Facebook yesterday; a former co-worker who’s an avid ‘Boys fan said Christie’s preference for Dallas goes back farther than any decision based on political convenience. And that makes sense, too; if it was a political decision, I suppose the Giants would have been a wiser choice.

    I’m also an IAABO official. Like the Rhode Island board, the boards here in Massachusetts also have specials whistles for Cancer Awareness week. But the way we show our support/participation has changed.

    Since Cancer Awareness week put emphasis on breast cancer, we used to use primarily the pink whistles, and only during girls’ games. Then it was expanded to use the pink whistles for both boys’ and girls’ games.

    But boys (and men) felt left out, since it seemed we were only talking about breast cancer. So at some point, Cancer Awareness covered all types of cancer. So we were encouraged to use white whistles for boys’ games, then pink whistles for girls’ games.

    Then we went back to just pink whistles for both boys’ and girls’ games.

    For the last two years, we have gone back to white for boys, and pink for girls.

    Now that I’ve gotten the quiz question off the agenda, let me just say that this morning’s edition of Uni Watch features some particularly appealing items. Appealing to me, at least, and apparently quite a few others. That none of them had anything to do with contemporary sports unis illustrates 1) A sharp decline – from rabid to meh – in my attention to professional and big-time college sports; and 2) The richness of Paul’s interests in history, music and design.

    Ex Hex and Mary Timony were a revelation, and I’m grateful for the heads-up. Over the past decade I’ve amassed a ridiculously huge iTunes library (18,000+ songs) but haven’t found time (or passion) enough to keep up adequately with current rockers. Paul’s recommendations are always helpful.

    Ditto his recommendation for the exhibit of Mac Conner graphics. I had no idea! And then there was John Flanagan’s report from something called The Crabble in Dover, England, where he files a report that had nothing to do with unis and everything to do with athletic aesthetics.

    You raise an interesting point. Should “Uniform Aesthetics” be expanded to “Athletics Aesthetics”? AS has been evidenced here time and again, stadium design is at least as interesting as uniform design, and deserving of our consideration. And there is, for those of us of a certain age, an increasing boredom with the fresh Hells visited upon us by Nike and Under Armor, to say nothing of the kids younger than our youngest children who perform in them. I’m with Connie DC: more The Crabble, please.

    Gee, maybe I should have suggested this before the t-shirts got printed…

    Not sure what you’re getting at. The slogan at the top of the site has read, “The Obsessive Study of Athletics Aesthetics” since Day One.

    What I’m getting at is that I am a stupid, lazy man, who has always assumed that it said “The Obsessive Study of Uniform Aesthetics” because I never bothered to look at it all that closely, and assumed that I knew what I was talking about.

    This is how we elected W. Twice.

    Let’s not assume others were stupid and lazy because things didn’t go your way at the turn of the century. And before Paul says it, let’s move on.

    Connie…18,000 songs? Do you actually listen to all of them?

    I plead guilty to 14,000+ myself. Which when you put it in the context of your garden-variety full-length LP (12-14 songs), is just a shade over 1,000 albums.

    But I just know the day will come when absolutely, positively, I’ll NEED to hear the sophomore effort by Jason & the Scorchers. Or The Cucumbers’ debut EP. Or that Jerry Butler’s Greatest Hits I bought as a cut-out for archival purposes. Or Don Nix’s Living By The Days. The Doors’ Other Voices, even. Or…

    Ohio State’s FB page just posted that they will be wearing the Red unis shown a few weeks ago in this National Title game

    so it’s possible that both teams will wear color uniforms if the rumor is true that oregon will be wearing yellow

    Boooo!!!! Red vs yellow or green would’ve looked so much better. Why the hell are the Ducks going to wear white anyway? They’re the higher seed and thus the “home” team, right? They could have at least worn green or yellow pants. God dammit Oregon. Why would you intentionally wear the same color pants as your opponent when you don’t have to?

    Nice of Oregon to represent a possible national championship in their school colors of green and yellow. Oh wait, I mean in the OPPONENT’S team color of grey……

    Oregon in Green over yellow over green VS. OSU in Grey over scarlet over grey would have been a really nice national title game. Green over green over yellow also nice. Even green helmets, white jerseys, yellow pants? You know, school colors and all.

    A further question is why on Earth Nike, knowing that whatever team Oregon would face if they won would be red and grey (‘Bama’s uniforms had grey accents), would opt for an entirely grey based uniform at all.

    A white uniform is OK, if its something like this:
    link

    or this:
    link

    Why the hell are the Ducks going to wear white anyway?

    I’m sure it has nothing at all to do with Nike wanting both teams to flip their colors from the previous game in order to maximize sales.

    I’m not sure how that would maximize sales since replicas for NONE of the semi-final jerseys for the 4 teams are actually ON sale.

    I think it’s good the Ducks kept it toned down to the gray and white. I was picturing a white jersey with neon yellow and green accents versus Ohio colors which would have made for an atrocious looking matchup. Much easier on the eyes than it could have been. On the other hand, nothing about that Oregon uniform to me says Oregon. I feel sorry for all the people who tune into the game and won’t know immediately who Ohio is playing.

    That picture of the blue Nikelaces on the Cowboys also nicely highlights the stupid aqua-silver pants they wear with the whites.

    Good God, I so hate those pants. As you wrote, that photo really shows how awful they look. The photo also shows for the 5 millionth time how virtually nothing about their white/home uni combo matches or makes much sense. Full disclosure: I would despise the Cowboys even if their uniforms didn’t suck.

    Those pants be green! I do believe Paul did a story about it once on this very site. Was done in the days of Black and White TV because green shows up more gray. Good example was the first year the Andy Griffith Show went from B&W to color. All the backgrounds are mostly varying shades of green which look really gray on TV. Cowboys just need to match the pants to the silver but then you have the blue issue of the star with the white jersey blue. Lots of issues with the Cowboys unis.

    Yes, Paul did a great analysis of it a while back. I know why they originally did it, but it’s just stupid today. Strangely, the unis they wear when forced (blue jerseys with silver pants) match perfectly and look great. For the whites, the pant color doesn’t match the helmets, the blues on the helmet vs. jerseys, socks, pant stripes are totally different, and the jerseys have that stupid black outlining on the sleeves. They are not even consistently quirky!

    I quite enjoyed this little observation regarding recent developments at NYCFC:

    Latest NYCFC press release spells caliber as “calibre” and follows British punctuation guidelines. I don’t think that’s helping.

    That’s from this tweet: link

    “Calibre” is correct in both version of English (as is “glamour”); though I myself use British spellings for purely aesthetic reasons.

    And “British punctuation” is more frequently termed “logical punctuation”, since the only thing that belongs in the quote marks is the quotation itself. (The previous sentence provides an example!)

    You sure? Every dictionary I checked specified “calibre” for British, “caliber” for US.

    The stupidity of the whole Oregon, Ohio name change thing reminds me of the “Freedom Fries” thing after 911. So stupid and juvenile.

    The uniforms for the Natl Championships have been unveiled. Although they look great, I have to wonder why Oregon is the away team. Could it be that Nike wanted both versions to be used for both teams? (Oregon wore green in the Rose and will now wear white; OSU wore white in the Sugar and will now wear red.)

    I don’t know about the denizens at Aquaduct but if you want to see some quality horse racing go to Keeneland outside Lexington. Everybody’s is dressed to the nines. link

    Paul, are the media outlets getting it wrong with the white = away team for Oregon? I read it on both si.com and ESPN.com and immediately jumped over here for the actual scoop.

    Doesn’t the NCAA have to grant a waiver if ‘home’ Oregon chooses to wear white?

    I think they’re just struggling to find a plausible reason that makes it sound like it’s not about merchandising.

    It’s funny, in that no matter what they did, they’d have two teams that would never wear the other set of unis (assuming they really produced two full sets for each team, which I assume they had to) and depending on who won, might have a situation where one of the teams in the title game would only get to wear one set (if OSU and FSU both won, only one would get to wear a color jersey, thus the other would play both games in white). I’m sure Nike will find an occasion for the teams to wear the other unis at some point next year, however.

    I really dig the article about upgrading the Anaheim Ducks uniforms, especially the away uniforms. They are currently pretty hideous.

    [How is it that I’m the first to do this?]

    Christie will never whoop it up with the Wilpons like that because the Mets will never win anything as long as the Wilpons own the team.

    BOOM!

    :)

    Re: Wisconsin using purple towels at Northwestern

    Pretty sure every visiting team uses purple towels for some reason. Here is a picture from the Northern Kentucky game on 12/27/14
    link

    I really like Ohio State uniforms that they wore against Alabama and what they will wear against Oregon. Ohio State should permanently return to stripping pattern on the sleeves of these two jerseys. This is an example of if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. Regarding Oregon’s uniforms, I understand that they are wearing white jerseys but why can’t the jersey’s numbers, the pants, and the helmets have the green and yellow colors which the university is known for?

Comments are closed.