Big day yesterday for league specific apparel contracts in the uni-verse, beginning with the news that Adidas will not be renewing its uniform contract with the NBA when it expires following the 2016-17 season.
I’ve written an FAQ-style piece for ESPN that assesses the potential implications of this development. If you didn’t see it yesterday, you can check it out here. (Later in the day, the NBA announced that it will name its new apparel partner next month.)
As the NBA news broke, there was some initial speculation that Adidas might be marshaling its resources to make a run at the NFL uniform contract, which was due to expire in two years. But then Sports Business Journal reported that Nike had just inked a three-year extension on its NFL contract. (The full article is behind a paywall, unfortunately.) So Nike has consolidated its position in the uni-verse, while Adidas’s position appears to be weaker.
The perfect uni for St. Patrick’s Day: Brinke will have “Collector’s Corner” later in today’s entry, but I want to begin today with an eBay auction for what appears to be the ultimate St. Patrick’s Day item: a vintage emerald green satin uniform for a baseball team called the Shamrocks, hot-cha-cha!
Here’s the back of the jersey, along with the pants:
According to the eBay listing, the uniform dates to 1940 (a claim backed up by this photo) and was acquired by the seller at an estate sale. The uniform comes with a cap and a pair of spikes.
Now, I’m not exactly lacking for green items in my life. Green has been my favorite color ever since I was a little boy. I now have a green car, a green-upholstered sofa, a green-upholstered living room chair, green bedsheets, green bathroom towels, green walls in my kitchen, lots of green houseplants, a green-themed website, and lots and lots of green clothing, including lots of green vintage jerseys. So it’s not like I need this Shamrocks uniform. But damn — it’s a beauty. I want it.
But it’s too big for me, so I won’t be bidding on it. If it fits you, however, you should totally go for it — what could be more appropriate on St. Patrick’s Day?
T-Shirt Club update: Today is the third Tuesday of the month, which means it’s time to launch the Uni Watch T-Shirt Club’s latest design.
So: April 15 is Jackie Robinson Day, when teams teams wear No. 42 to honor the anniversary of Jackie’s big league debut. That’s the inspiration for the Club’s April design, which we’re offering in two different colors (click to enlarge):
Here’s everything you need to know about the shirts and how to order them:
1. You can purchase the shirts on this page. (Ignore the bits about “reaching our goal” and the “campaign being successful” — that’s for Teespring clients who use T-shirt sales as fundraisers.)
2. Two design notes: The date under the Uni Watch script — April 15, 1947 — is the date of Jackie’s first game with the Brooklyn Dodgers. And we chose to go NNOB because that’s what teams do on Jackie Day. This will likely be the T-Shirt Club’s only NNOB design.
3. I’m happy to announce that 100% of Uni Watch’s proceeds from these shirts will be donated to the Jackie Robinson Foundation, which builds on Jackie’s legacy by providing college scholarships to disadvantaged students of color. ESPN will match my donation (that’s their policy for charitable contributions), and Teespring may make a donation as well. That’s why we’re offering separate home and road designs ”” to maximize our donation potential. This will likely be the Club’s only design to be offered in multiple colors.
4. For both colors, you’ll have a choice of American Apparel or Hanes. Their tailoring and sizing are slightly different, so use the “View Sizing Chart” link and compare the colors to be sure you get the shirt that’s best for you. Domestic shipping is $3.85 for the first shirt, $1 for each additional shirt; Canadian shipping is $9.50 for the first shirt, $4 for each additional; shipping to other international destinations is $12.50 for the first shirt, $4 for each additional.
5. This design will only be available through next Monday, March 23, 11pm Eastern. After that date, the shirts will not be offered for sale. All shirts ordered by then should be delivered by April 7 (and in many cases well earlier than that).
6. People who purchase all 12 of the T-Shirt Club’s designs will be eligible for a bonus prize at the end of the year. Note that you do not have to purchase both of the April shirt colors to qualify — you only have to purchase the home or the road, but not both (although you’re welcome to purchase both, of course). I haven’t yet decided what the prize will be, although I have some ideas. It may depend somewhat on how many people stay on board for all 12 shirts, and we won’t have a sense of how many people that might be until the summer, so I’ll likely wait a while before settling on the prize. But I assure you it’ll be something good.
I think that’s it. Again, the April shirts can be purchased here. If you have any questions, give a holler. Thanks for listening.
Click to enlarge
Collector’s Corner
By Brinke Guthrie
The Interwebs are a small place. I had seen this Miami Dolphins orange gumball helmet on eBay last week and bookmarked it. Then it was coincidentally featured two days ago here on Uni Watch (scroll down to the “Too Good For The Ticker” section). Were the Dolphins really considering doing orange helmets? Who knows?
Okay, here are the rest of this week’s picks:
• I know I’ve seen these NFL helmet cardboard cutouts somewhere before, and I have — at least the full-size helmet version — on This Week in the NFL.
• Philadelphia Flyers fans! Save your pennies in this 1970s puck coin bank.
• Plenty of 1970s MLB logo action on this baseball card binder.
• High-tops. John … Constantine ”¦ Unitas. Wrapping up a legendary career with the Bolts in this photo.
• Wow, here’s a complete 1971 Gatorade NFL Standings Board with all 26 teams. Have to say, I guzzled a lot of GA back in the day to get these. It was great ’til they yanked out the cyclamates or whatever. My mom would go up to Winn-Dixie, and we’d come away with Chiquita Bananas with the NFL stickers on ’em, and bottles of Gatorade with these caps. I knew how the game was played, even then.
• Here’s an Atlanta Braves bumper sticker that actually says, “Bumper Sticker.”
• One more 1970s MLB bumper sticker for you: Elsie The Cow Says, “Pour it on, Reds!”
• Here’s a massive 1970s Dolphins blanket that looks to be in great shape.
• Great images in this 1968 AFL booklet. But why was Rozelle in this? The commish of the NFL in an AFL promo piece?
• Cheer on your 1960s Los Angeles Angels (not the “Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim”) with this nifty T-shirt.
• Here’s a nice assortment of 1970-’80s Seattle Mariners patches.
Follow Brinke on Twitter: @brinkeguthrie
NCAA bracket contest: Big thanks to intern Mike Chamernik, who has set up our annual NCAA bracket contest. To enter, go here and use the password Uni15Watch. If that first group maxes out on the number of entrants, here’s a second pool (same password).
Scoring will be as follows: 1 point for a correct pick in the 1st round, 2 for the second round, 4 for the third, 8 for the fourth, 16 for Final Four games, and 32 for the title game. The winner will win a prize from my freebie bag.
Uni Watch News Ticker
By Garrett McGrath
Baseball News: “Look for the Indians to recognize the late Al Rosen with some kind of patch on their uniforms this season,” Indians beat writer Paul Hoynes says. Rosen, 91, died last Friday. … The Oakland A’s are doing Throwback Thursday buttons again this season (from Tom Lupoff). … The Frisco RoughRiders, the Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, are having a Full House night in June, complete with ’90s-style uniforms (thanks, Paul). … The Rays wore light blue socks yesterday in honor of relief pitcher Grant Balfour’s late father, the former GM of the Australian Blue Sox team and a key figure in Australian baseball (from Ken Guckenberger). … The Washington Nationals wore green caps yesterday.
Hockey News: Longtime Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Börje Salming assessed the uni-accuracy of his bronze statue going in Legends Row at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto later this year (thanks, Paul). … The Ontario Hockey League team that’s scheduled to start playing in Flint later this year will be called the Flint Firebirds and unveiled their new logo and uniforms as well (thanks, Paul). … The Vancouver Canucks wore their Millionaires gear yesterday at morning skate.
Soccer News: Here’s a leaked photo of Real Madrid’s 2015-16 home kit (from Conrad Burry). … A lot of successful MLS coaches wear sweaters on the sidelines (from Craig de Aragón). ”¦ For Saturday’s game between Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City, Spurs will be wearing special jerseys to show their support for something called the AIA China Youth Football Development Programme.
NBA News: Mitchell & Ness will release Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls 1994-95 jersey number 45 for sale (thanks, Phil). … The NBA is running ads in support of March Madness where the uniforms of NBA players suddenly revert, with the help of animation, back to that of their college alma maters (thanks, Phil).
College Hoops News: A word from the Washington Post about Maryland’s ostentatious postseason sneakers (from Shawn Hairston). … What could possibly go wrong with these Kentucky Wildcats ‘White Platoon” T-shirts? (From J. Daniel.) ”¦ New March Madness uni for UAB. “Words cannot express how much I love this jersey,” says Dustin Semore. “They’ve been needing to separate the ‘Alabama’ part of their name for decades, so the simple ‘Birmingham’ is fantastic.”
Grab Bag: Florida lawmakers want to pay schools to require students to wear uniforms to class. A state house committee has approved a bill paying schools up to ten dollars per student in kindergarten through eighth grade if they enact a dress code (thanks, Paul). … A photographer captured the quirky bowling alleys still standing in Middle America (from Lynn Peril). … Cricket players have uniform number superstitions (thanks, Phil).
Link seems to be missing for the “complete 1971 Gatorade NFL Standings Board with all 26 teams”.
Maybe he fixed it, but it’s there for me.
Those are REAL helmets in the “This Week in the NFL” photo (not the cardboard cutouts).
Holler House: Awesome.
But not if you’re one of those folks who hates bowling in the lane next to the wall!!
Geez, I thought I was the only one who didn’t like bowling in that end lane. Not that I was ever so good a bowler, but something about that dropped-down space next to my lane just messed up my visualization. It reminds me of some college basketball courts I see on TV that are set well above the surrounding floor (without looking, Vanderbilt and Minnesota?).
PS Hope the OHL can make a go of it in Flint. I did not know the UHL ceased to exist, joined the choir invisible, but it was nicknamed the “UHaul” for a reason.
Include me in the list of folks who hates bowling next to the wall. Apparently this is actually a thing.
I hate it too. It’s too visually confining for a sport that requires so much motion.
Put me on the end lane. I like it.
And I’m glad to see bowling is growing as a collegiate sport. A lot of the high schools around here have started teams as well.
I’m fine with the wall being on my left, but not on my right.
For what it’s worth, I’m right-handed.
“Great images in this 1968 AFL booklet. But why was Rozelle in this? The commish of the NFL in an AFL promo piece?”
The NFL-AFL merger deal was struck in ’66, IIRC, before the first Super Bowl.
Did the Bengals consider an Orange jersey or was that an artist’s guess?
…and a black stripe down the helmet center?
Rozelle also became the commish of the AFL after the 1966 merger with the NFL.
I am unable to answer your questions…seems I picked up a bad case of Dodge fever.
Due to the logo, that Dolphins’ blanket can be from no earlier than the late 90’s.
Digging the old bowling alley pics.
That Dolphins blanket is definitely not from the 1970s. The crap some people on eBay try to pull is unbelievable.
“Florida lawmakers want to pay schools to require students to wear uniforms to class.”
Lovely. Will they be paying the parents, as well? Those uniforms aren’t exactly free.
Maybe the $10 per student will help supply the students with a uniform?
School uniforms are a great idea. I wish more of the US would go that route. Some studies show that school uniforms are actually more cost-efficient than personal dress options.
Parents are already buying clothes for their children, so this is a red herring. Uniforms work. Americans tend to find them antithetical because of our love of independence, but they work. I wish I taught in a school with a uniform rule.
“Parents are already buying clothes for their children, so this is a red herring.” … “Some studies show that school uniforms are actually more cost-efficient than personal dress options.”
Doesn’t work that way, folks. Normally, a kid’s everyday casual clothing is usually appropriate for various settings; it’s good for school, and good for plenty of other activities, as well.
But with school uniforms, parents have to buy the uniform pieces (a quantity sufficient for a school week — probably three sets, assuming a mid-week load of laundry), and they *still* have to buy regular clothes for their kids to wear when they’re not at school. So the total expense *increases* with uniforms.
“School uniforms are a great idea.”
I’m not going to tread down that old tired road of defending childrens’ right to “self-expression” or “individuality” or whatever else you usually hear, but oftentimes, adults will too soon forget that childhood and adolescence aren’t really times when everyone is likely to look or feel good in exactly the same outfit.
I understand the need for some boundaries on what is and isn’t appropriate for an educational setting, but at the very least, one can appreciate that a bit of freedom to make personal choices about colors, cuts and materials will lead to more confident and better-functioning students.
And of course, private schools can go ahead and set whatever crazy uniform policies they like; people know what they’re getting into when they sign up. But at a public school — oftentimes, the only school to which one might have access in a particular area — kids really don’t need to be saddled with that type of discomfort for eight or more hours a day…certainly not in the midst of what is too often already a stressful and awkward span of years.
If a kid grows up with a school uniform, there really isn’t much “discomfort” because that’s “how it always has been.”
It works around the world and there are no issues. But, yet, here in America we must put more and more focus in the individuality. Whereas, there are more and more kids who aren’t “confident” in clothing that is not “hip” or “culturally significant” or “dirty” or whatever you want to call it.
Uniforms can be done a proper way while still allowing for individuality. It happens across the world. It happens in our own country. It should happen all the time.
I like those light blue socks for the Rays. They might want to consider adding those to the mix permanently.
Paul Lukas hopes the NBA doesn’t adopt uniform ads until the new supplier takes over but suspects it will happen sooner than that.
Fourteen words too many. #NoUniAds
One thing to consider in the Nike and Adidas uniform supplier when mentioning that Adidas is going to have a lower profile in North America is that Adidas may be taking a more global approach to their supplier contracts. They recently have taken over the ManUtd and Juventes contracts, long-time Nike staples, for seemingly outrageous sums. ManUtd is close to $90MM US/year I believe. They are also heavily linked to be Barca’s new supplier, which would be as big a steal as ManUtd and would likely cost more. It could be that Adidas decided soccer was the better bet worldwide, long-term. Or, it could be that Nike chose not to step up for the ManUtd or Juventes contracts because it was going to try to get back the NBA contract. Sort of a chicken and the egg thing.
That’s been considered. adidas is still the #3 player in the supplier market. Announced today was Sao Paulo FC, Brazil’s most successful first division team, just signed with Under Armour.
So, adidas has their work cut out for them. If UA figures out the global soccer market, that could drop adidas even more. UA really suffers in the soccer market, especially globally. So, it’s really amazing they are #2 with suppliers when their global reach isn’t as much as Nike or adidas.
Lots to like in that MLB Baseball Card Binder. It has a few odd things on it:
1. The Indians logo seems reversed.
2. I’ve never seen that A’s logo rendered in white like that.
3. I’ve never seen that Rangers logo with a circle around it.
4. I’ve never seen that generic looking “Cardinals” word mark.
5. Can’t say as I recall seeing that Twins logo without the “Win Twins” wording.
6. I haven’t seen that Red Sox logo with out the “Boston Red Sox” wording around it.
Maybe they were just trying to save space, but then why the circle around the Rangers logo?
Also, those rings in the binder seem pretty chincy, no? It might hold maybe a max of 10 pages?
Looks like most of the logos used were copied from the 1970 MLB All Star game program:
link
I’m guessing the binder is from 1972 (lower case lettering used in California logo, first season for Texas…maybe their logo and a red border were super-imposed onto the circle used for Washington?).
Interesting final paragraph in the story on the Maryland shoes:
“Also, if you’re feeling ornery about this, please note that he did not volunteer to talk about this, and no one from the team volunteered to talk about their shoes, and no one from the team thought their shoes were more important than their results, and no one said this is important, and there is absolutely nothing to be grumpy about here other than possibly the mismatched sock business, but kids these days really like to wear mismatched socks anyhow.”
Anticipating the blowback?
Better link for the Flint Firebirds story:
link
MLive.com is an online media group with the local papers from the towns outside the metro Detroit area. The unis? Ugh. They could have done a lot better, but either they got lazy with it, or the CHL, Reebok, or a combination of the two imposed it upon them; way too many CHL teams are saddled with the basic Edge template sweaters, apron strings and all.
The article about Florida school uniforms has a few problems. At one point, it says the state is offering the money for schools enacting a dress code. (Almost?) every public school has a dress code. Very few public schools have a uniform. They aren’t the same thing.
There is also a photo at the top of five pleated plaid skirts, but the article says the “uniforms would have to be solid colors for tops and bottoms”. Misleading, no?
I’m wondering if the UAB “Birmingham” uniforms are, in part, a response to the University of Alabama’s part in killing UAB’s football program. If so, it’s pretty clever to leave the “Alabama” out of the school name.
That may have been part of it, but I’ve noticed more and more state schools doing things like this(UNC Charlotte going with just Charlotte, for example). It’s a way for the lesser known schools to get out of the shadows of their more famous brethren.
Spitballing a theory on the orange Dolphins helmet…
Maybe this was Miami’s original intentional, but when Cincinnati was awarded a team for the following season, perhaps Paul Brown (who likely had a lot of leverage) requested that the color be reserved for his team’s upcoming new helmets…
Denver had been wearing orange helmets for about 3 seasons before Miami was awarded. Having 2 teams in a then 9-team league wearing that color helmet seems odd(?)…even though half the AFL wore white helmets and 2 wore silver by the time of the merger.
When Denver switched to blue helmets in 1967, an orange void was created; IIRC, Paul Brown took the Cleveland NFL teams helmets with him when they parted company and placed them in storage. Putting Cincinnati in orange helmets was a no-brainer once they won the franchise bid.
Speaking of orange…
Lamar Hunt originally wanted his AFL team to wear Columbia blue and orange. I wonder what Dallas AFL would have looked like had Bud Adams not claimed Columbia blue for his Houston team (Would Dallas have worn orange helmets?).
I don’t think that the Cincinnati franchise was awarded to Paul Brown until after the 1966 season had concluded. (Remember, the Bengals didn’t actually begin play until 1968). If that’s the case, then the Dolphins would have already played a full season with their familiar white helmets.
Unless I’m missing something, these two are probably unrelated.
Is the genie out of the bottle on American sports leagues and a single uniform provider? Other than lining the pockets of the league and it’s owners, it would be far more interesting visually, and from a uniform competition if the clubs dealt individually with providers. I suppose it won’t be long before the clubs are completely stripped of their identities, say NFL, then just melded in to one. “This week NFL-Dallas takes on NFL-Washington.” The NFL, for example, is already far more like MLS than it would like to admit.
I say this from the standpoint of growing up in the US and being a huge baseball and football fan, but in the last ten years I have developed a love of soccer and in particular the English Premier League. The variety of uniforms, relegation, plus the other cup competitions (FA & UEFA CL) just make it far more compelling and entertaining.
Like so many things in the uni-verse, the single-supplier trend is driven by merchandising. Much easier to manage the retail pipeline if it’s all coming from one place.
Is merchandising really to blame here? In my limited experience in the business world, it’s somewhat easier to manage a supply pipeline with one supplier than with multiple suppliers, but not a lot. It’s a marginal difference, such that in most sectors it’s quote common for companies to maintain multiple supplier contracts to achieve other value goals (lower cost, higher quality of goods, etc).
I would have assumed that the real driver behind single-supplier contracts is maximizing leaguewide revenue from the contract itself, not from the subsequent merch sales. I mean, MLB already maintains multiple supplier streams for the “authentic” merch that seems to wag the uni dog in other respects. If MLB can live with Majestic and New Era, then it could just as easily live with Majestic, New Era, and Rawlings, from a supply-chain management point of view. But multiple jersey suppliers would effectively be bidding on a team-by-team basis, not league-wide, and so (1) More of the revenue would flow to teams individually than to teams via the league; and (2) The cumulative value of the 30 contracts would likely be less than the value of a single contract for all 30 teams. With a single league-wide contract, the supplier has to pay closer to Yankees prices to outfit the Royals than if the supplier were negotiating with the Yankees and Royals independently. That seems likely to be more decisive than anything to do with the retail supply side of merchandising.
Merchandise sales may be responsible for many evils, but not necessarily for every evil, in modern sports.
Yes, it’s merchandise that’s the issue. Take for example a web retailer of jerseys. They need all of the photos to be the same, and these are provided by the manufacturer. Pricing has to be the same, what happens if one factory has better pricing? The list goes on, but basically the entire supply chain is the issue, and the way every team is marketed has to be the same. This can only be done with one supplier.
But area any of those “have to be” statements actually true? Retailers would prefer all of that to be true, yes, but basically every retailer in America already deals with selling products from multiple manufacturers and wholesalers. Besides, MLB surely doesn’t see the contract mainly in terms of retail supply chain efficiency. Surely MLB sees the contract mainly in terms of revenue. Cold, hard cash. If MLB believed it could get more cash out of selling each league as a separate jersey contract than the whole shebang under a single contract, don’t you think MLB would be happy to split the deal between, say, Majestic for the NL and UnderArmour for the AL, and let retailers deal with the consequences?
Besides which, all of the things you say retailers want to be the same are things that could easily be dictated in contract terms or handled at the distribution level by a third party or even MLB itself. Majestic and UA could easily photograph products under effectively identical conditions; a contract could easily specify a set wholesale price for jerseys regardless of the vagaries of production costs. (In fact, this last point is already true of Majestic’s contract with MLB. Note that a Yankees home jersey, which requires less material and labor to produce, and is produced in greater numbers and so achieves economies of scale, has the same price at wholesale and retail as a Cardinals or Rockies home jersey, each of which requires more material and labor to produce and is made in smaller quantities.)
Any way it goes, uniform providers “line the pockets” of the owners. I would assume that the more teams involved, the more lucrative deal there is. More bang for the buck. It helps the lower-market teams financially — they don’t have to worry about lower contracts because their value is essentially the same.
I understand it. Don’t like it…especially since everything is templatey. Many organizations and workplaces require a “uniform” though, so I understand organizations (individual teams) under an organization (NFL/MLS/NBA/NHL) having a specific brand to them for uniformity.
I may have missed it while traveling but had there been an explanation from the Cardinals about why they’re wearing spring training uniforms during games now? I think this is the first year for that. I always liked the regular uniforms during spring training.
I was surprised to see the NCAA bracket on Yahoo instead of ESPN. Any reason for this? Competitor, no?
Bummer I won’t join though. I don’t need another account to sign into and another password to forget.
I made the choice of Yahoo over ESPN. For two reasons: One, the UW bracket pool has been on Yahoo for the last few years, and two, I’m running multiple fantasy leagues on Yahoo currently and none on ESPN, so it’s easier for me to keep everything in one place.
And it’s interesting for the account conundrum – I figured more people already have a Yahoo account for personal email and stuff than an ESPN account.
If you want to make a throwaway Yahoo account we’d love to have you, Ponch.
The UAB “Birmingham” jerseys are not new for the tournament. They are new for the season though. They’ve been wearing them pretty much all season. They won the C-USA championship game in them last week. They revealed them just shortly after the news of the football program being shut down. So read into that what you wish about them being a statement about that. But as for separating themselves from the UA system, absolutely.
That Shamrocks uniform is an all-time beauty. Thanks for featuring it today, Paul!
Love vintage photos like this, would never have known a green satin jersey existed.
Love seeing my local Timber Lanes in Chicago listed. Spent many years in a Friday night league there. Bob Kuhn, the owner, is a wonderful guy and amazingly welcoming. Highly recommended.
Always wondered why everyone made such a big deal about the Parry Sound Shamrocks on March 17?
As a bowler, I’ve always considered a lack of automatic scoring a requirement for consideration as a classic bowling alley. But Holler House’s use of “pin boys” takes it to a whole ‘nother level. Great stuff!
I’ve had the privilege of bowling at Holler House many times. Here I am throwing a strike there last October:
link
I’m envious. The clip gives me a good idea of what it must be (or have been) like to bowl at the two lanes in the basement of the White House. Or those couple of private lanes at the conclusion of “There Will Be Blood.”
I’ve written before about Rohman’s in Pennsylvania, where you set the pins yourself! Dig:
link
What is automatic scoring?
Report yesterday morning on DC-area public radio about a Maryland state legislator who’s trying to pass a bill naming an official state tartan. Illustrated with a photo of the pattern on Terps merch:
link
I would have expected the color scheme for a proposed state tartan for Maryland to include white, not just the other three colors on the state flag.
That is a color-dense tartan, for sure. But it’s in the spirit of McLeod. Adding white might make for a nice “dress” variant.
Technically, isn’t the predominantly yellow MacLeod tartan already considered to be the clan’s dress variant?
Oakland’s Throwback Thursday Billy Martin 1981 button is wrong. All wrong.
The “OAKLAND” jersey wasn’t introduced until 1982.
I know … I know … Dressed to the Nines/Okkonen says 1981, too. However, they’re wrong, as well.
Charles Finley sold the A’s to Walter Haas in 1980. The deal wasn’t finalized until right before the 1981 season. As a symbol of commitment to the community (rare for an A’s owner,) and signal a new era, the Haas family wanted to change the uniforms and add “Oakland” to the front of the jerseys. MLB rules state that uniform changes must be submitted a year in advance. Fast forward to 1982 … the A’s introduce their new retro style button up home jersey, alternate pull overs and road jersey, with Oakland on the chest.
I thought they looked like the tigers.
Oh yeah … they also wore BLACK SHOES!
To go against the grain here, I am fine with Nike getting the jersey contract in the NBA. Adidas only exists in America for soccer cleats and the NBA right now. Nike makes a far superior product to what Adidas does in most facets of materials and technology. Adidas doesn’t cater to the American audience much anymore, and I would love to see Nike jump in. I love what they have done with the NFL and their designers are good. I don’t think they’re too keen on sleeves, either.
“…I would love to see Nike jump in.”
Wait…the same Nike that did this…?
link
“I love what they have done with the NFL…”
Really?
link
“…and their designers are good.”
link
I find that sarcasm and sincerity are difficult to distinguish these days.
I don’t know if it was mentioned before, but there is some good news from the Mariners, they will only wear their ugly teal shirts on Friday games this season, instead of both Monday and Friday as has been done the past several years.
That is good news, I find the teal particularly unattractive.
Seems that Nike and/or Dick’s realized the potential for trouble in the “White Platoon” shirts. They still have the other option available for any Smurf supremacists out there.
Mike, I entered the pool but was not asked for the password. Is that normal?
Interesting. Not sure! But if you’re in, you’re in
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