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The Leaves of Maple, er… Maple Leafs Unveil New Unis (Penguins too!)


By Phil Hecken

Yesterday the Toronto Maple Leafs, as had been expected for some time, unveiled new home and road uniforms, which you can see in the video above. While the Maple Leafs have been very consistent in their uniforms over the years (they began play as the “Arenas” in 1917, changing to the “St. Pats” — a period in which they wore green, becoming the “Maple Leafs” in 1927), they have almost always only had blue and white as their colorscheme. So it was a given their newest iterations would be blue and white, and in that regard, they didn’t disappoint. In fact, the pair of home and roadies are pretty darn fine looking.

Let’s take a look at the new unis, then break down the various parts. Here are the new home and away kits (you can click on any images below to enlarge):

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New-Toronto-Maple-Leafs-Uniforms-2016-17-Unveiled

At first glance, you might not even notice the Leafs have new uniforms — these are not a radical departure from their previous set. There are some differences however — our friend Chris Creamer has done a bang up job showing the subtle (and not so subtle) differences. The biggest and most obvious difference is the shape and size of the trademark maple leaf crest on the sweater. The more intricate leaf design replaces the smaller, simpler leaf of the previous set. There are also changes in the hem (two smaller stripes are now one thicker stripe) and the socks have gone from an intricate (and beautiful) striping pattern to one that now matches the two sleeve stripes. Finally, the breezers now have a white stripe (where before the pants were solid blue).

Let’s examine the uni from top to bottom.

As is now rote for new uniforms in many sports, the inside of the collar is inscribed with the slogan “Honour. Pride. Courage.” Those were part of a slogan coined by former owner Conn Smythe and have now been forever emblazoned into the fabric of the team (and the collar too):

collar


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The blue jersey has a white collar, and the white jersey has a blue collar. Here’s how it looks on the white sweater:
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The biggest new change, of course, is the Maple Leaf:

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According to the Maple Leafs, the club’s new mark has a number of distinguishing design characteristics (you’ll note the Leafs have used a logo similar to this in both 1939-62, and from 1963-67, after which they switched to the much more simplistic looking leaf):

31 POINTS: The new Maple Leaf has 31 points, a nod to the year 1931 and a defining moment in team history with the opening of Maple Leaf Gardens.
17 VEIN DETAIL: The new badge contains a total of 17 veins, representing the year the franchise was founded.
13 VEINS AT TOP: 13 veins at the top of the crest to commemorate the club’s Stanley Cup Championships.
CONNECTION TO PAST: The new logo maintains a strong connection to the classic Leafs logo of the past while offering a fresh take on it for the future.
THE OUTLINE: The outline, seen in the most recent version of this Maple Leaf from 1963-67, has been removed to create a cleaner, bolder look.

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As mentioned above, the new uniform still has two sleeve stripes, as did the previous generation. The new hem has a thicker, single stripe:


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The new pants have a single stripe down the side, while the last version was solid blue:

Moving south of the waist to the socks — and here is the one area where I’m torn — I LOVED the old socks (with their three beautiful stripes), but the new socks perfectly match the striping on the sleeves of the sweater, satisfying my OCD. I think they could have left this one well alone, but it does provide a nice symmetry to the uniform. They’ll wear blue socks with the home blue sweaters, and white socks on the road with the white jerseys.

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And there you have it — really, not too much of a change, but the best change — the new crest — is awesome in my opinion. The rest of the changes are very simple and subtle, so the Maple Leafs you see on ice in the fall of 2016 will look, uni-wise, very much like the generations who’ve taken the ice before them. And that’s a good thing.

For a bit more information and some additional looks, I recommend you take a look at the excellent Maple Leafs page devoted to the new uniforms and also which provides a small history of their uniforms over the years.

But…while we expected the Maple Leafs to introduce new uniforms yesterday, what we didn’t expect were the Penguins to introduce a “new” road sweater…

. . . . . . . . . .

Yesterday the Pittsburgh Penguins, in a well-kept secret, revealed they are making the “Pittsburgh Gold” black jersey their primary, and ALSO unveiled a brand new (well, retro) white jersey that ditches the previous metallic gold and features the color known as yellow “Pittsburgh Gold.”

The new road sweater is basically a white version of their black alt (now primary) jersey in which they just won the Stanley Cup.

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cut

Beautiful, right?

OK, it’s not a return to their original powder blue, but it beats the hell the shitty metallic gold they’d been using as an accent in recent years. Here’s a bit more on the switch. And more from SI. The color, folks, is called Pittsburgh Gold, so THE and others, please don’t call it yellow.

. . . . . . . . .

So — all in all — a pretty big day yesterday for Hawkey unis. The Leafs did a very nice job with their redesign, and the Penguins made the switch back to the proper color for a Pittsburgh team.

OK dear readers, what say you?

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classic scoreboards splash

Classic Ballpark Scoreboards

I’m pleased to continue with a favorite weekend feature here at Uni Watch, “Classic Ballpark Scoreboards,” — now in Series III — which are created by Gary Chanko. This segment will appear Saturdays on Uni Watch.

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

. . . . . . . . . .

Classic Ballpark Scoreboards – Series III
by Gary Chanko

Classic Ballpark Scoreboards returns to the Windy City to revisit Wrigley Field as it was during its early decades.

Wrigley Field_1930s_UW

Wrigley Field – 1930s


Baseball Home of: Chicago Cubs (MLB) (1916 to present)
Football Home of: Chicago Tigers (APFA) (1920); Hammond Pros (NFL) (1920”“1926); Chicago Bears (NFL) (1921”“1970); Chicago Cardinals (NFL) (1931”“1939)
Opened: 1914

During the inaugural 1914 season, the ballpark (then known as Weeghman Park) featured a scoreboard in left field. For the next season, bleachers were added in left field and the scoreboard was relocated to center field were it remained until another expansion in 1937.

That well known, manually operated scoreboard above the center field bleachers (featured in an earlier posting) was constructed as part of the 1937 renovation, including the famous ivy covered outfield wall. Both are now landmarked by the Chicago city council.

For a concise history of Wrigley Field’s renovations and expansions, see this wiki article.

The Doublemint Elves

In 1921 Philly home boy and chewing gum tycoon, William Wrigley Jr. gained majority ownership of the Cubs franchise. Wrigley’s Doublemint Gum product was introduced in 1914 and featured rather bizarre twin elves for advertising promotion.

The twin elves, outfitted in baseball uniforms, were featured atop the scoreboard for most of the 1920s and 30s. Research yielded little information about the scoreboard elves, except for a few B&W photos. Colors are simply a best guess. The scoreboard structure is based on this illustration depicting a green color.

1935 World Series

The illustration recreates the scoreboard during Game 3 of the 1935 World Series. The Tigers defeated the Cubs 6-5 in 11 innings.

A Few Things to Know

• During the 1937 construction that added the center field bleachers, the Doublemint Elves scoreboard was temporarily relocated to left field. The center field bleacher expansion wasn’t completed until the last month of the season.

• The ballpark was designed as a multipurpose stadium from its inception. In addition to baseball, Wrigley Field provided a venue for pro and college football games, soccer, ice hockey, boxing, circuses, concerts and more. In 1944 there were even ski jumping competitions.

• The infamous outfield ivy was originally planted with 350 Japanese Bittersweet plants and 200 Boston Ivy plants. Interestingly, the bittersweet ivy vine is considered an invasive, environmental menace! If you previously attempted to create your own Wrigley Field outfield wall and now have second thoughts, here’s how to get rid of the evil vine.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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.

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UW Friday Flashback

UW’s Friday Flashback

The clipping you see here, announcing the release of the Cincinnati Royals’ new logo ”” the same logo that was recently revived by the Royals’ current incarnation, the Sacramento Kings ”” appeared in The Cincinnati Enquirer on April 2, 1971. As you can see, it mentions that the logo was designed by a graphic designer named Bob Grove.

Grove’s name has been lost to history, and his story has never been told ”” until now. Paul had an exclusive interview with him for his Friday Flashback column this week on ESPN. Check it out here.

Enjoy!

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Too Good For the Ticker


Too Good…

for the Ticker

Received an e-mail yesterday from reader Noah Breuer, who submitted a, shall we say, interesting piece on the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) and their hockey team, which as both a unique name and mascot.

I’ll let Noah explain…

. . .

I played club ice hockey at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) from 2000-2004. As alumni of an art and design school, me and several of my former teammates (including AirBNB founder/CEO, Brian Chesky) are avid readers of Uni watch.

While we were no juggernaut on the ice, we have always thought that our logo and uniforms were THE BEST in all of college hockey. As you may be aware RISD’s hockey team is called the Nads, as in, gonads, or our preferred cheer; “Go-Nads!”

The Nads date back to the 1970’s but the current logo and uniform are from 2000 and were designed by a Furniture Design major named Aaron Chang when he was a sophomore. The RISD store still sells shirts hoodies, etc with his logo. The jerseys were modeled after what the SJ Sharks had been wearing at that time with Colorado Avalanche typeface for the numbers. 2000 was also the first year for our mascot, scottie, the 7-foot penis. Scottie was made by some students in a RISD puppet-making class. Pretty hilarious, uh?

Anyway, if you want to use any of these photos or info for a story to get you through the dog days of summer, feel free. I’ve got better photos too if you want them.

Nads logo


Nads front Nads back

nads mascot

Keep up the good work,

Noah Breuer

Thanks, Noah.

OK. Now, onto the ticker…

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Uni Watch News Ticker

Baseball News: Sunday marks the 100th anniversary since the Cleveland baseball team were first to wear jersey numerals (from Chris Walker). Our pal Todd Radom has much more on that (a must read). … Of this year’s Stars & Stripes ‘Murica gear merchandise, Jerry Kulig says, “It’s back — and worse than ever.” Here’s more. … Tonight, the Mahoning Valley Scrappers will wear very special Youngstown State jerseys (from OT Sports). … At Thursday’s Congressional Baseball Game, Rep. Jared Huffman of California was rocking some blue stirrups (from Robert Bonasia). … The Brevard County Manatees wore these specialty jerseys last night and this weekend, and now you can buy one at auction if you so desire (from Dave Doop). … The Birmingham Barons will wear these Ghostbusters-inspired jerseys on July 9th (from OT Sports). … “I don’t recall seeing this posted previously, but my apologies if it has been,” writes Joe Werner: A western Pennsylvania author is writing a book about the uniform number history of the Pittsburgh Pirates. … Also from Joe, the Rochester Red Wings are having a shit ton of promotions, including this Star Wars-inspired jersey, during their current homestand. … Casey Hart forwarded a tweet from C. Trent Rosencrans, which says, “that’s how a baseball uniform should be worn, says the old guy.” This old-ish guy agrees. … The Omaha Storm Chasers celebrated Miles Mortensen (the four year old son of a reliever, who is battling cancer) with special themed jerseys last night. Here is a bit more on that. … During their current homestand, the Mariners will sport three different uniforms in three games (from Kevin Martinez). … Last evening the Cincinnati Reds wore throwbacks from 1976 (from KT). Here’s another look from KT. It’s Pete Rose weekend in Cincy. … MFarms Brewing captured some good good screen shots of those 1976 Big Red Machine duds. … If only they didn’t wear throwbacks in modern cuts (from Nick Colosmo). … As part of the Pete Rose Weekend, the Reds will have a 14 patch on their jerseys (from Zachary Fields). … The Milwaukee Brewers again wore their “retro” Batting Practice jerseys last night (h/t Johnny Okray).

NFL/CFL News: Atlanta Falcons prexy Rich McKay wants to see throwback uniforms at the Falcons new stadium, which is set to open in 2017. … For a good portion of yesterday, the Dolphins posted an article featuring questions with Cameron Wake. Only problem? They used the wrong guy. Later in the day they got a proper picture (great spot by Dillon Brott). … Last night, the Montreal Alouettes went with a white helmet (from Nelson Hackewich). Here’s a better shot. The Als played the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and (especially with the Bombers’ new unis) the matchup was surprisingly excellent. That had been a brutal looking pairing in years past.

College/High School Football News: Some Notre Dame football guys doing community service wore an “Irish Around the BeND” logo (from Jude S.). Here’s some more information on Irish Around the BeND (also from Jude). … As per tweeter Nic Isom, Bronco Mendenhall leaked the new University of Virginia uniforms (which you can sorta see on the mannequins to the left of that photo). Here’s a bit more on that. … “I noticed you linked to a football helmet in a headdress motiff,” writes Lance Hemmert. “My old alma mater [Spokane Schools] is introducing one for this Fall’s football season. I think it’s nicely done.” … “I just checked UW and didn’t see anyone submit this, so feel free to add to the NCAA football ticker,” writes Leo Strawn, Jr.: Toledo Rockets have new helmets for 2016. Not a fan of the Jaguars lids, but these look fairly decent to me. Maybe the color scheme?

Hockey News: Now that the Penguins have unveiled a new road uniform, Jimmer Vilk thinks the Pens also need to bring back the gold helmets of yesteryear. In fact, he wants all of Pittsburgh’s hats to be gold. … “It’s a year early, but is this a first sighting of NHL/adidas apparel?” asks Chad Witherell. “No silver trim on the logo.” … Here’s a look at the Arizona Coyotes 20th Season patch (from Matthew Crooks). … Here’s a closeup of the patch (from JC Crawford). … The St. Louis Blues, who entered the league as an expansion team along with the Penguins, will have a “50” patch (h/t Drew Ebert). … Here’s a better look at the new patch (from Pastamaniac).

NBA/College Hoops News: During his radio show yesterday, Dan Patrick was wearing headphones with the Cleveland Cavaliers logo on them (good spot by Retire Fifty Tu). … “I was searching your site for reaction to Butler University’s new men’s basketball uniform,” says Jered T. Petrey. “Unfortunately, I didn’t find anything. Here is a link. the Butler Men’s Basketball Twitter was the first to tweet them out on June 1.” Readers? What’s your take? … The Denver Nuggets had first round pick Malik Beasley pose with an old uni during Thursday Night’s NBA draft (from &rew).

Soccer News: AFC Bournemouth of the Premier League have new away uniforms (from Josh Hinton). … Here’s what MLS players will wear when they face Arsenal on July 28th (h/t Tim Cross). That’s the MLS All-Star Game. Here is a more in-depth look at the jersey (from Josh Hinton).

Grab Bag: The Smithsonian posted this look at a century-old catalog of graduation garb. Says submitter R. Scott Rogers, “Fascinating stuff!” … Reader Jesse Agler is “Here w/Padres in Cincy and made a non-sports uni observation”: Cincinnati PD officers seem to all wear white-topped hats. He adds, “Around town, at the ballpark, makes them EXTREMELY noticeable. Wonder if there’s something to the psychology of police presence or just an old tradition. But something I found interesting and thought you might as well. Chicago PD with the light blue shirts another differentiating example among big-city police that I can think of; but like I said, these white hats really make the officers stand out.” … You know your uniforms for the upcoming games are bad when even Brazilian athletes find their unis too tacky.

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And that’s all for today (phew!). Thanks (and welcome back) to Gary for another fantastic set of scoreboards and to Noah for his um, interesting bit on RISD and their hockey mascot.

I’ll be back with more tomorrow, but until that time…

Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.

Peace.

.. … ..

“The only people who would ever even think of bringing their weapons to a baseball game that will be filled with other armed folks, kids, and alcohol, are Responsible Gun Owners, and history (and daily news reports) clearly demonstrate that Responsible Gun Owners never make mistakes, have accidents, or do stupid stuff that results in harm to themselves or others.”

— Hugh McBride

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Comments (71)

    The Coyotes patch is actually for the “20th Anniversary,” but the team can’t figure out the proper verbiage. Their press release/Tweets mentioned it as an anniversary patch, but also said it was the 20th season. Of course, it’s an anniversary seeing as they played in Phoenix in 2006.

    It will also *TECHNICALLY* the 20th season of play, because THE GODDAMNED 2004-05 LOCKOUT RUINED EVERYTHING.

    *technically BE the 20th season of play*

    Was typing it differently, changed the wording before “technically”, forgot to change the wording after. -_-;

    During his radio show yesterday, Dan Patrick was wearing headphones with the Cleveland Cavaliers logo

    And on the other side of his head… notice the book that’s visible?

    Congratulations to the Maple Leafs for not ruining a classic look.

    Was anyone else more concerned about this unveiling than Brexit?

    I’m a Pittsburgh fan (well, a Pirates fan), and I wouldn’t correct him. Sometimes I call it yellow, too.

    The blue jersey has a white collar, and the white jersey has a blue collar.

    As it should be. Pretty much every jersey in every sport would look better with a contrasting collar. I’m sure there are one or two exceptions…maybe.

    Haven’t checked a NHL uniform database, but the logo on the new Penguins road jerseys appears larger than the way it was from the back to back Cup winning years.

    As a 14 year survivor of testicular cancer, I find the gonads schtick funny. However, I’ve started the clock on how long it will take the “PC Bromani” to put a halt to it. My guess is the anti Redskin movement will have the RISD team named the “pretzel rods” by 2018 and all the old Nad merch burned in a bonfire that would make Ray Bradbury proud.

    Look at that, those creepy bubble gum elves in Chicago were wearing the Cubs road blue top 60 years before it existed.

    Paul, have you ever come across printed public reaction to the 1941-42 Cubs power blue and shoulder yoke uni?

    Also the 1930 Boston Braves had sweet Red/Yellow unis with an interesting anniversary shoulder patch:
    link
    link

    That makes the Braves and the Tigers (1928) as teams who put a logo on the back of their jerseys (Do you know of any others?). The Tiger one was bad on a whole other level.
    link
    Not only was the Tiger logo nauseatingly sad, the road script awkwardly sloped down.
    link

    The Reds would be well served going back to that 1976 look full time. Clearly their signature look, it would look perfectly at home as the sole pullover in a sea of button downs.

    Agree as well. When I think of th Reds, I think of the Big Red Machine and the 70’s uniforms. Their current set is ridiculous with that cartoonish font.

    Brandiose (link) did their current set of uniforms.

    They are the ones that do the cartoonish minor-league logos for way far too many teams.

    The Reds could go to a button-down version of the pullovers and look just fine.

    For my part, I always found the 1970s Reds look dull and have no nostalgia for it. By contrast, their mid 1960s vested uniform is one of my all-time favorites, really a classic.

    The vested jersey has to be their signature. The reason I say the bumblebees are the Pirates’ signature is because their vests were a nod to Cincinnati’s look.

    And while I wouldn’t go so far as to call them dull, I don’t have the same nostalgia for the 70s Reds that I do for the Pirates, Braves, Twins, etc. They look nice, but that’s it.

    In addition to the vests, the pinstripes on the home whites and the navy trim really sharpened that vested Reds uniform as it looked in the early-mid 1960s. Though they’ve fallen out of fashion, I also loved the white and gray caps, especially how the bright red bill and “C” stood out on the gray.

    Bravo to the Leafs and Penguins, nice to see two new uniforms that are well-designed and celebrate rather than dismiss the tradition of the franchise and the sport. These should look great on the ice.

    I have to admit, when I saw the mock-ups of the Leafs sweaters a couple of days ago I was disappointed with the inconsistent stripping. It was apparent they had combined elements from the 70’s Ballard era (waist stripping) and previous eras but standing on that it looked awkward. Now seeing the entire uniform it really works. For me it’s amazing how that single stripe on the pants changes the entire look of the sweater and socks. I think I see one of these in my future.

    Seeing the Leafs’ entire uniform, and seeing the jersey on a live person, has also softened my initial “WTF” reaction to it. It’s still a little weird to have that single stripe on the waistline, but I’m a bit more accepting of it.

    And, of course, I love the Pens’ new uni. I’ve always loved that sleeve design.

    I agree, those Toledo helmets look good, no comparison to the distracting Jaguars helmets. I think a key difference is that the Toledo design looks consistent viewed from any angle, while a Jag player looks completely different when viewed from the front rather than the back. My eye wants more symmetry than that. I personally don’t even like the trend of different artwork on the different sides of the helmet. I’ll give the Steelers dispensation for tradition’s sake, but otherwise find the inconsistency off-putting.

    Small but meaningful quibbles.

    I think I may be the only person I’ve seen mention this, but the words within the Leaf are weird. I know it’s a nod to the old-timey leaf, but the words need a little bit more space to breathe.

    The leaked designs earlier this week showed astripe at the bottom of the jersey that was thicker than the final design. I really liked the thicker line.

    Ugh, no, sorry; the wide stripe at the waist was just out of place with the thin stripes on the sleeves. I’m a little torn on this, I’d like to see it with the sleeve pattern around the waist as well.

    I remember reading an article about the RISD mascot a few years back. I’m pretty sure his name is “Scrotie” and not “Scottie.”

    Kudos to the Leafs and Pens for going with updates steeped in tradition and class. No idiotic fonts, whacked colors, stupid panels or piping. Some NFL and MLB teams could learn a lot from them.

    Speaking of idiotic fonts, here’s hoping the Pens make an update to their wordmark and throw out <a href="link;?this chunky mess.

    Think the Too Good for the Ticker should come with a warning
    “Put down your drink lest it winds up on the screen of your computer.”

    (aka that was hilarious)

    Love the new maple leaves blue; adore the white. Not a big fan of the Penguins uniforms, but I am a little biased (go Blackhawks).

    The, ah…mascot? for that hockey team and the “Pittsburgh Gold” line reminds me of an old George Carlin routine, talking about uniform colors … “We’ll fight for the crimson and gold! It’s f—— red and yellow man! I think there are more colors they could use. Like flesh. We’ll win for the flesh… the Big Flesh Wave rolled down the field today…”

    JESUS CHRIST HOW HORRIFYING! That mascot… DAMN!

    Maybe somebody should’ve shown THAT to the Columbus Blue Jackets BEFORE they tried to roll out “Boomer”!

    Re: they’ll wear blue socks with the home blue sweater, and white sox with the white jersey.

    So, is it sweater or jersey?

    The colloquial term is “sweater”, because they actually used to be sweaters way back when, and many traditionalist fans tend to prefer the term. However, about the only thing today’s hockey jersey has in common with an actual sweater is that neither is meant to be tucked into your pants.

    … was it my imagination or did the Hurricanes logo on the jerseys they gave to their draft picks look bigger (bolder) than in the past after their latest redesign?

    In the 90 years since Conn Smythe christened his club the Toronto Maple Leafs all 11 of Lord Stanley’s Silver Spittoons were won with the city name “TORONTO” in a radial arch. Legendary Leaf broadcaster Joe Bowen pointed out this fact during the 1992-93 playoffs where the Leafs came within the “no call high stick from Gretzky on Gilmour” of going to the Finals against the Habs.

    With “TORONTO” once again in radial arch the Leafs can win the Cup.

    I would’ve kept the tri-striped socks and double hem. But I’ve been a Leafs fan since 1958 and that’s what I grew up with. I never did like Pal Hal’s new uniforms from 1970-71. The Leaf looked like it got caught in a woodchopper.

    One more thing. If I hear one more U.S.-based broadcaster pronounce Toronto as “To-ron-to” with an extra emphasis on the last “to” I’m going to scream. I’ve been visiting Toronto on a regular basis since 1952 (yes ’52!) and I’ve always heard the name pronounced “Toronna” or “Toronno” with the second “t” silent. I much prefer these to “To-ron-to,” eh?

    GO LEAFS GO!

    So that’s what made the Leafs so God-awful for most of the last 50 years? If so, what made Leafs Nation so insufferable for the last 25 or so?

    It should be pointed out that that first Cup as the Leafs came with “TORONTO” arched downward, or “smiling” if you will. The other ten came with the upward arched (or “frowning”) version.

    I once had a border crossing guard tell me and my sister that it’s “Turonna” (the initial O was very much slurred). Then again, he also tried to tell us that the Nordiques were the biggest rival of the Red Wings (this was 1993).

    Also, listening to the Sportsnet Radio coverage of the draft, one of the guys just said “Toronto” with an extremely soft, but distinct, second T, almost like “Torondo” but not quite.

    The Cincinnati Police wore white shirts and hats for 154 years until 2012 when new Chief of Police James Craig changed the shirts to match the navy blue trousers. They still wear the white hats, but the shirts are gone.

    Chief Craig spent 28 years with the Los Angeles Police and has since moved back to his hometown of Detroit as Chief of Police there.

    Interesting. I was living in Florida when they made that switch, I hadn’t noticed until now.

    It looks like the Maple Leafs have altered their number font based on the 16 that Auston Matthews was given last night.

    Maybe it’s just an honest mistake, but the graphics guys blew it on the sweater reveal on the Leafs’ website. About three-quarter’s of the way down, they do a retrospective of the uniform over the last hundred years. They have the wrong sweater for the 67-70 seasons (the first 11-point leaf), but then ignore the Pal Hal Ballard sweaters they wore from 70-92 completely, showing the circa-2000 sweater for the last 45 years.

    I interpret that graphic to primarily show the logo evolution, not overall jersey evolution, which would be a cluttered display. Since it was the same logo over multiple sweater generations, they just wanted to show one sweater to simplify the graphic.

    Understood, although I don’t agree; why would they ignore the most radical change in the uniform since the team abandoned green for blue? Also, that explanation doesn’t explain the error on the 1967 Cup winning sweaters.

    Is anyone noticing what seems to be a quality control issue with the waist stripe on the new Leafs jersey, which seems particularly noticeable on the home uniform? On all the pictures I’ve seen, including the main promo images, there seems to be some pretty notable bunching of the fabric making up the stripe caused by the stitching, and it’s creating a sort of crumpled effect.

    I noticed that too. Mainly because it looks like the stripes on my jerseys.

    Neglected to add the link to see it: link

    For what it’s worth, I think the white sweater doesn’t look complete without the shoulder yoke.

    So, unrelated topic, but everyone was all impressed that the Cardinals hired a woman coach, and said she was the first, but that’s actually wrong.

    Read in a book yesterday that in 1888, Walter Camp fell I’ll and his wife Coached the Bulldogs that entire season

    Maple Leafs. As a Habs fan, the look is worthless to me. As a Uni Watcher, nice new logo and jersey stripes are fine. I reserve judgment until I see the font applied to all number digits on the ice, but yeah, looks good. I concur with Phil though. In a vacuum, the triple triple stripes were the best part of the look, but I’ll admit they didn’t and wouldn’t really match anything. And at least these new socks look like something Wendel Clark wore. If the Leafs do a faux-back third that’s white with a blue shoulder yoke and the triple triple striped socks, we’ll call it even.
    Penguins. Not a surprise that Vegas is out and Steeltown is in, but I guess we didn’t know down to the day when we’d see the new look. And what else is there to say? It completely rocks. The hem stripes aren’t exact mirror images, but that doesn’t bother me for some reason.

    Noah neglected to also include the moniker for RISD’s club basketball team, the Balls:

    link

    Same mascot, though.

    Here is an article ,from the Grand Forks Herald, on the new North Dakota logo in which our very own Paul is quoted. As a member of both the GF and UND communities it was great to see my daily obsession with Uni Watch and my local paper overlap. Thanks for offering your sage comments Paul.
    link

    I’m already nostalgic for Vegas Gold. Bring it back, Penguins! Kidding really, but what ruined NHL jerseys for me in the last 10-15 years was the Bettman stripes, the colored swatches inside the arms/down the side of the jersey, minimalist/non-existent waist stripes, etc. Nice to see Pittbsurgh bringing back something big and bold, and the overall league-wide trend of moving back to respectable-looking jerseys. So many teams were wearing what I thought looked like practice jerseys.

    generally I’m a big fan of stripes, the more the merrier, within reason. But for the Leafs, I feel the old socks were a bit too loud given the simplicity of the jersey. With the new sweater arguably more simple, with shoulder patch removal and stripe reduction on the hem (which I like), the old socks were even more loud, relatively speaking. I think simple is better here.

    Reebok Edge uniform ruined the the idea behind the Leafs’ triple stripe socks. There used to be a bit more space between each set of the stripes on the old knit socks.

    The idea behind these socks was to make them look more like the vintage socks that had striping high enough that it was also around the knee. Look at those early to mid 90s Leaf socks.

    The condensing of the stripes on Reebok Edge socks took this effect away and made it look like too many stripes, but they were not intended to all be crammed together in the smaller space below the knee.

    Complaint: Phil referred to the new Maple Leafs uniforms as “kits”…

    Let’s keep that goofy term where it belongs: in Europe.

    Really like the new Toronto jerseys. A nice homage to the team’s past. Just wish they’d stayed with the old multi-stripe socks to close the retro circle.

    Typo: In the Baseball News notes, it refers to the 1916 Cleveland “baseball team” that was the first to wear numbers. They are actually called the Cleveland Indians.

    I like the new Leafs unis and they’re pretty crisp, but maybe a little too plain. I’m interested to see them in action on the ice. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if in a season or two the Leafs go back to the triple-hooped socks. I see those socks and think Leafs.

    Great job on the Maple Leafs uniforms. Striping on the hem of the sweaters and striping on the pants! If we can only get he rest of the plain-pantsed NHL teams to follow suit. C’mon Avalanche, Bruins, Caps, Flyers (yes, Flyers), Panthers, Sharks…

    Concerning the Cincinnati Reds throwbacks: that is the first time I have seen a team wear a throwback hat without the mlb logo on the back.

    New TML uniforms are awesome. However, the 9 STRIPE SOCKS are “signature.”

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