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Green Bay QBs Take It on the Chin

By

You probably recognize at least two of the players in the photos shown at right (which you can click to enlarge). From top to bottom, they are former Packers quarterback Brett Favre, current Packers starting quarterback Aaron Rodgers, and current Packers backup quarterback Brett Hundley.

Notice anything odd that all three players share? Answer: They’re all wearing two-point chinstraps. And not just any two-pointers, but the old-style straps with the flexible chin cup that’s ridged on the outside and felt-lined on the inside. That design is such an old-school signifier that we even used it for the Uni Watch T-Shirt Club’s recent football design.

Leaving aside kickers and punters (I haven’t had time to check all of their chinstraps), nobody wears this kind of old-school strap anymore — except for Packers quarterbacks. Hmmmm.

It’s one thing for Favre and Rodgers to wear the same strap, but Hundley really makes it a trend, right? I can’t take credit for noticing that — it was pointed out to me by reader Stephen Scheffel, who’s apparently something of a chinstrap-whisperer. He says the only other player he’s seen wearing this kind of strap in recent years is Kyle Orton, who retired after the 2014 season.

Scheffel also notes that the Green Bay quarterbacking troika all wore different straps before joining the Packers. Let’s look at them one at a time:

•  Favre usually wore a four-point strap while playing at Southern Miss and maintained that style while beginning his NFL career with the Falcons. He stuck with the four-point setup when he joined the Packers in 1992 but had switched to the old-school two-pointer by 1993. He stuck with the old-fashioned strap during his stints with the Jets and Vikings.

•  Rodgers’s chinstrap trajectory has followed a similar arc as Favre’s. He was a four-pointer in college at Cal and stuck with the four-point style during his 2005 Packers rookie season before switching to the old-school two-pointer in 2006. To my knowledge, he’s stuck with that style throughout the past decade.

•  Hundley, like Favre and Rodgers, was a four-pointer in college. But he switched to the old-school two-point strap for his first Packers minicamp after being chosen in the 2015 NFL Draft, and has stuck with that style since then.

Interesting, right? Does Packers equipment manager Red Batty have a thing for this kind of strap? I’ve asked the Packers and am waiting to hear back — stay tuned.

Meanwhile, if you want your own old-school two-point chinstrap, they’re available for $18 apiece from Gridiron Memories.

•  •  •  •  •

Gift Guide reminder: In case you missed it yesterday, my annual Uni Watch Holiday Gift Guide is now available for your shopping enjoyment.

• • • • •

T-Shirt Club Update: I’m happy to announce that the Uni Watch T-Shirt Club’s final design of 2016 is now available for ordering. Many of you have been curious about what the design theme would be for this one — curling? rugby? cricket? — and I confess I’m a bit surprised that nobody came up with the right answer (click to enlarge):

As you can see, it’s a mash-up of elements from all of our previous 2016 jerseys. The only new element is the baseball cap (which didn’t appear on our baseball-themed shirt because the player was wearing a batting helmet). It’s comes in four color options — our usual grey, black, green, plus a new “military green” (that’s what the manufacturer calls it, although I’d just call it light olive) — and is also available with either short or long sleeves.

The shirt will be available through next Friday, Dec. 9. The shirts are due to ship right after Christmas, so they should arrive in time for you to wear them on New Year’s Eve. (I had hoped to have them delivered in time for Christmas, but it just wasn’t possible to get things finalized in time for that. Sorry.)

If you’ve ordered all five of this year’s previous shirts and also get this one, you’ll be eligible for our year-end “Collect ’Em All” prize, which will be a patch based on the jock tag design used on this year’s shirts. To qualify, please send me proof that you’ve bought all six shirts. The proof can either be (a) a photo showing all the shirts or (b) screen shots of the “Thank you for your order” emails you received from Teespring and Represent.

Big thanks, as always, to my creative partner, Bryan Molloy, who executed this design and then patiently endured my dozens of picky fine-tuning requests.

This is our final shirt of the year. Will we do the T-Shirt Club again next year? I’m not sure. I’d definitely like to do some more shirts, but maybe in a more random, less programmatic way. We’ll see.

Once again, the new shirt can be ordered here.

• • • • •

The Ticker
By Paul

Baseball News: If you look at the “Score-Board” column on this 1941 newspaper page, you’ll see commentary on the Pirates’ uniforms in the first graf and info on the Cubs’ unis in the last graf. Interesting that the writer at one point refers to the Cubs as the Bruins — bruins are bears, of course, but I’d never seen that shorthand used for the Cubbies (from Jerry Wolper). … An Illinois chef has celebrated the Cubs’ title by making a 400-lb gingerbread replica of Wrigley Field (thanks, Mike). … No surprise here: Padres owner Peter Seidler says he doesn’t care much about uniforms. … In a related item, the Hall of Fame has this 1985 Padres prototype cap in its archives. Paul Lee and Todd Radom both say it was meant to go with this prototype jersey, which I don’t understand, because the jersey is trimmed in orange while the cap logo is yellow. “Things were not always so slavishly matched back then,” says Todd. … A pop-up Dodgers museum will open at Dodger Stadium tomorrow (thanks, Mike). … At yesterday’s press conference announcing that Yoenis Céspedes had re-signed with the Mets, GM Sandy Alderson presented Céspedes with a cap that was blissfully free of New Era logo creep. “Too bad he’ll never wear that in-game anymore,” says Niko G.

NFL News: Good news out of New Orleans, where the Saints announced that they’ll be wearing throwbacks this Sunday. … The Vkings’ Thursday-night jersey, which will be worn for tonight’s game against the Cowboys, has “Skol Vikings” — the title of the team’s official fight song — on the inner collar. Here’s a comparison showing the regular jersey on the left, tonight’s on the right (from Joshua Kramer). … Reader Elan Tavor raises an interesting question: With rumors flying about the NFL possibly abandoning its Thursday-night games after next season, what would that move mean — if it were to happen — for the Color Rash uniforms? Would they be scrapped? Used for Sunday- and or Monday-night games? Used as all-purpose alternates? Discuss. … Yesterday was the anniversary of the Jags being awarded the NFL’s 30th franchise. Some good info and archival photos in this slideshow (from our own John Ekdahl). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The Titans and Browns have a bye this Sunday, so players from those teams who wish to participate in the “custom cleats for charitable causes” promotion will do so in Week 14. … This is interesting: Giants equipment director Joe Skiba has posted an Instagram photo of the retro-styled helmets he’s preparing for the team’s upcoming Thursday-night game, with white facemasks and the old “Giants” wordmark. The thing is, that game isn’t until Dec. 22 — the Jints be wearing their regular helmets for several games before then. So if Skiba has already prepared a separate set of helmets for the Thursday game — and if those are really the helmets the team ends up wearing on Dec. 22, and not just something Skeebs set up for a photo-op — that would appear to violate the one-shell rule. Hmmmm (from Mark Gonillo).

College Football News: Colorado will be going mono-white for the Pac-12 championship game (from Greg Kissler). … Penn State has a new end zone design for the B1G championship game (from William Yurasko). … This will apparently be Navy’s jersey for the Army/Navy game. “Looks like dress whites,” says Jon Hanson. … Here’s a short video clip of a Youngstown State equipment staffer prepping a helmet for Saturday’s game against Jacksonville State (from Robert Hayes). … Yesterday’s Ticker included an item about how Nebraska wore two different jersey designs in the 1980 Sun Bowl. Brett Baker tracked down a player from that game, Randy Huebert, and asked him about the mismatched jerseys. The gist appears to be that new jerseys were ordered for the game, but many of them didn’t fit particularly well, so many players stuck with their old jerseys.

Hockey News: Yesterday’s Ticker linked to a ranking of WHL jerseys. The same guy has also done a jersey ranking for the OHL. … The Bridgeport Sound Tigers will be wearing this Star Wars jersey on Saturday (from Barry Brite). … A KHL player took such a hard hit that his alternate captain’s “A” patch went flying (from Aaron Scholder). … New alternate jersey for the Toledo Walleye.

Pro Basketball News: The Harlem Globetrotters unveiled a new logo yesterday. Here’s a video clip showing the evolution of their logo over the years and a press release with additional info. … Bucks G Tony Snell had been wearing an upside-down “2” for about a month, but now it’s been fixed. … Heat G Tyler Johnson will now wear a mouthguard on the court (thanks, Mike). … The Celtics are 7-1 this season when coach Brad Stevens wears a tie, and only 3-6 when he doesn’t (Mike again).

College Hoops News: New court design for Louisiana-Lafayette (from @lblandry). … The SF Dons will wear throwbacks with “short shorts” on Dec. 6, although they’re not really all that short. … Brutal color vs. color game last night in Ann Arbor, as Michigan and Virginia Tech went orange vs. maize (screen shot by Andrew Cosentino). … A better color/color game could be found in Oklahoma, where Okie State and Rogers State went red vs. turquoise (from Spencer Drury).

Soccer News: Small note within this story indicates that Glentoran and Detroit City will wear “commemorative jerseys” for a 2017 friendly. … After most of the most Chapecoense’s team died in a plane crash, the team’s badge is being added to several teams’ jerseys as a memorial gesture. Participating teams St. Etienne and the Uruguayan club Nacional (from Cory Mizer). … The MLS ball design for 2017 features American and Canadian flag imagery. “Let’s honor the flag by kicking it!” says Trevor Williams. … New uniform being teased by the Portland Timbers. Full reveal to follow in January (from Michael Orr).

Grab Bag: Faaaascinating look at alternate U.S. flag designs that were proposed after Alaska and Hawaii joined the union (big thanks to my pal/hero Jamie Jensen). … If you were thinking of getting me something for Christmas, you could do a lot worse than this reprint of the style guide for the 1976 American bicentennial logo, which looks absolutely tremendous (big thanks to Philip Bump). … Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro had repeatedly been photographed wearing an Adidas track jacket during the latter phases of his life, so many of the political cartoons about his death had an Adidas slant, as seen here, here, here, and here. … New logo for LD Products. … Monmouth University has inked a new deal with Under Armour (from Kenny Ocker). … “I just noticed that Donald Trump is using this logo for his presidential transition,” says R. Scott Rogers. “I wondered whether this was an off-the-shelf design dusted off every four years, or if it was designed by or for the Trump campaign. So I did a little digging and found that then-President-Elect Obama used a different logo for his transition in 2008. The two logos are an interesting study in contrasting approaches to political and nationalist design. Both seem to be reaching for a sense of institutional solidity and classicalism, but in very different ways that are emblematic both of the men themselves and of their campaigns.”

 
  
 
Comments (101)

    Can someone explain how Rodgers is even allowed to wear that chinstrap? With all the concern over concussions and rule about only able to wear one helmet, I find it strange the league is ok with this. Anyone can see that chinstrap is leaving him exposed for injury. Curious if he wears it due to a loophole in the rules or if the league actually approves.

    The 2016 NFL rulebook only states this:

    Item 1. Helmet, Face Protectors. Helmet with all points of the chin strap (white only) fastened and facemask attached.

    Thanks for the clarification. Curious if the league will make a rule that the chinstrap has to be 4 point, like the rule in college. I’m totally bothered the league has the one helmet rule, so stupid. Yet this chinstrap from 60 years ago is ok. Seems very inconsistent

    While there is only ONE reference to the chinstrap in the rule book, the word STOCKINGS is found TWELVE times!

    Seems the league cares more about the bottoms than the tops.

    lol socks.

    Paul – I noticed in the Carolina game this week that some players appeared to be wearing long colored tights instead of long socks (just like NBA players) You could see that they stopped below the calf and then they had the white socks over the tights. Is this something new and is the league ok with it?

    The use of tights has been going on for many years. The NFL’s hosiery situation is a mess, with many players mixing and matching game socks, tights, leg warmers (i.e., game socks with the feet cut off), and white crew socks. Some of this is a style thing, but I think it’s also a comfort/practicality thing for many players.

    The rulebook specifies that the sock should be one piece, but they haven’t enforced that in ages. The rule should really be rewritten, because it’s been overtaken by the way the players actually dress.

    When did chin straps become mandatory? In the early days of Terry Bradshaw’s career, he didn’t wear one at all. He even specifically mentioned this in one of his books. I find this hard to fathom, given how ill-fitting the helmets of yesteryear were.

    Here is a picture:

    link

    How does a chinstrap choice leave a player exposed to injury? (Or maybe my sarcasm detector isn’t working thus morning?) As long as the helmet stays on during play, the strap is doing its job. Rodgers has shown that he’s willing to do what he can to avoid concussions, equipment-wise. After he missed a game with a concussion a few years ago, he changed helmet styles.

    I think the idea is that taking a hit to the chin — which does happen a fair amount to quarterbacks being hit by pass rushers — is a lot more dangerous with this type of strap than it would be with a hard-cup strap.

    Much the way mouth guards are required because they help absorb the shock caused when the jaw is slammed shut during a hit, I would think the NFL would require padded four-point chin straps to further help absorb shock.
    Perhaps they don’t bother, since almost everyone wears the four-point straps already?

    So the chinstrap is like a jockstrap, while the chin-cup is like the athletic cup… That makes sense. Also (awesomely), in this analogy, the chin is the genitals of the face.

    I learned something new today – thanks Paul and Adam!

    The Jaguars weren’t awarded a team until October 1993…even so, the earliest I have seen documented that the team was even a thought was 1991…how is that 30 years?

    I remember the Jags anniversary as if it was yesterday, I feel old enough as it is….

    I was living just south of Jacksonville back then and was following the news updates and just remember laughing at how many times they called J Wayne Weaver “Jayne Weaver”.

    Unless the text has been changed since you read it, I don’t see where it says 30th anniversary. The “30th” clearly states NFL’s 30th franchise.

    Actually, I did change the text after Peter’s comment. Thought I read 30th anniversary somewhere but probably got that wrong and don’t have time to find the right ordinal now, so I just removed the ordinal.

    Totally unrelated to anything: this Canton, Ohio baseball team photo from 1907 seems to have the players wearing uniforms in link. I’d love to see what ideas colorizers might have for it!

    Well, the Packers QBs aren’t modelling after Bart Starr. Though his strap was two-point, he was a MacGregor guy all the way.

    link

    To my eye, the shoes on the new t-shirt look backwards. The white shoe especially looks longer to the outside, making it seem to be a left shoe on his right foot.

    Re the Giants helmets – I guess the team will prepare a number of spares for replacement in game should helmets fail or break?

    Yeah, I don’t know that this is any sort of indication that they’re breaking the one shell rule. It seems perfectly reasonable that the equipment staff would have other helmets on hand besides the ones players wear in games. That photo shows 8 helmets, could be just a test run applying the “retro” decals to different helmet models with different facemasks to get everything positioned correctly. NFL equipment people sure aren’t used to changing helmet designs on an almost weekly basis like they do in college; I don’t the blame the equipment manager if he wanted to practice a little ahead of time to make sure he could get it right.

    Those flags are truly horrible- especially the one with the UN logo in the union.

    I do like the interlocking USA logo. That would be great crest on a US hockey or baseball jersey.

    A lot of those flags would actually violate international flag standards. For example, the ones that are horizontally symmetrical, there would be no way to tell if the flag was flying upside down, which is a distress signal. There was one interlocking USA that looked uncomfortably swastika-esque for me. And whoever did the US/UN mashup should be stripped of citizenship and deported to Switzerland immediately.

    Plenty of national flags have horizontal symmetry. France (and every other tricolour-based flag), Japan, even Britain’s Union Jack is impossible for the layman to tell at a glance whether it’s upright or upside-down. Given that those three flags make most vexillologists’ world top-five list, it’s difficult to hold horizontal symmetry against any of the US designs.

    As to the UN canton thing, it was a different time. WWII was still a fresh memory, and world-governmentism was in vogue. After all, the UN itself was the institutionalization of the alliance that defeated the Axis, and the great lesson most folks in the democratic West learned from the first half of the century was that collective defense worked and world government was a good idea. And thanks to an accident of timing, the United Nations had just successfully used collective force to defend a member nation from invasion. At the time, today’s level of cynicism about the UN would have marked one as an paranoid crackpot, the sort of person who thought Ike was a commie and flouridized water was a Soviet plot.

    Anyway, fun stuff about the various models of star arrangement on Old Glory, and how we could incorporate new stars if we ever get back into the adding-states-to-the-union business: link

    The Giants’ helmet item got me to looking in the NFL Rule Book for specific language on only using one helmet. Didn’t find it, but did find this section which appears to contradict the One Helmet: Article 3 Speakers in Helmets, Sect 3: “Clubs that have a player whose principal position is as a non-quarterback (e.g., wide receiver, running back) and who also is used as a quarterback from time to time must have two helmets for that player–one with and one without radio components.” Well then, maybe the Giants are designating everyone to be alternate QBs? And if a rule isn’t in the rule book, is it an actual rule?

    The one-shell rule is not in the rulebook. It is a league policy based on recommendations from two advisory committees.

    Lots of rules aren’t in the rulebook. For example, the word “concussion” does not appear anywhere in the rulebook, but the league nonetheless has a concussion protocol.

    Interesting and a good point. Some directive that is placed in the organizations policies, procedures or protocols generally must be adhered to as a rule. Most organizations have it clearly written within their rules that one most strictly adhere to all agency policies, procedures or protocols. A failure to do this is a violation of the rules.

    I think the concussion protocol (and any medical protocol) doesn’t specifically apply to any specific aspect of playing football – a player could get one in the parking lot for example, but he’d still have to be enlisted in the protocol. Different from the drug policy because nobody deliberately gives themselves a concussion.

    I always liked the one-shell policy on all the teams I played for. It took forever to break in a helmet just right back in the day. That was why the original Bike Air helmets were so popular. You could wear them right out of the box without having to break them in, and they were a lot lighter than the Riddell jobs. The drawback was that if you looked at them funny they’d crack or your facemask would pop off.

    I still think the one-shell rule is actually a one-color rule. Remember when Joe Ferguson played football in the AFC East? Most all of the helmets in the mid-70s in that division (Jets, Patriots, Bills, Dolphins, Colts) were white helmets.

    He requested the Bills change helmets, which they did in 1984. That’s because he threw to a certain helmet color, not just to a space or to a receiver.

    Now, imagine if you were the QB coach in a game between Maryland and Oregon. How do you practice for a game situation when you’re unsure which helmet or uniform is yours and which is the opponent’s from week to week?

    This is definitely a rule meant to benefit quarterbacks; they are the highest-paid players on the field, after all. Not even NFL Properties can change that reality.

    Oh, and Color Rash needs to sit down on the porch and have some HoHos.

    So you think all the talk about concussions and break-in times for new helmets is just a smoke screen to hide the secret agenda of the rule actually being designed to save QBs from the embarrassment of throwing to the wrong receiver?

    Uh, okay.

    Can anyone explain what the actual rationale for this rule is? What makes it safer to not switch helmets?

    The way the white stripe on Brett Favre’s helmet rises–is it actually applied differently or is that just how the shape of his helmet is?

    All Riddell helmets up to the VSR-4 had those. In the helmet innards, the front and back pad packs and the two that ran over the crown of the head were anchored to a nut and bolt that went through that center strip. There were little plastic anchors inside the helmet to hold the pads steady but those bolts were the main points. If you’re wondering about side padding, the VSR-4 didn’t have any (other than those two little ear-croissants). That’s why it’s mostly quarterbacks still using the VSR-4, because there’s plenty of room inside the helmet for a radio pack. If you’ve ever seen the guts of a VSR-4, they’re kind of scary. They’re designed more for easy cleaning than protecting brains. The first year my son played football, we bought him one of the first youth Revolution helmets and the coach gave him a bunch of static, calling him a wuss and names like “Great Gazoo.” How times change.

    The Packers definitely have different preferences or at least trends when it comes to chinstraps compared to most other teams. A lot of their hard-cuppers through the years have worn Schutt hardcups, which are hardly ever seen anywhere else:

    link

    link

    link

    It was never a certainty that hard-cuppers would get this style, especially recently as it must not fit the newer helmets as well, but it was certainly a lot more likely on them than other teams.

    It might be fun to have a segment at some point that goes over how certain teams have different preferences for certain equipment compared to other teams. Another good example would be the Chargers’ use of Riddell facemasks instead of Schutt a lot more frequently than other teams.

    No evidence to back it up but it seemed like the Raiders used to wear Schutte helmets more than most teams in the mid to late 2000s.

    I am half kidding when I say this, but only the Giants would get away with this sort of infraction. Had it been the Dallas or Washington that had done this (uncapped year, cough, cough), the NFL would have come down on them with some sort of penalty.

    In all seriousness though, I would imagine that Skiba had just re-decaled the extra helmets in stock out of excitement for the upcoming throwback/color rush. Or maybe he did it for the practice squad players? Who knows?

    Aren’t people who see conspiracies in everything just the most fun people to troll?

    I hear that MetLife will be renamed Belichick Coliseum and a statue of Bill Parcells having marital relations with a komodo dragon will be installed out front.

    Many believe the NFL’s one shell rule is more about brand recognition than safety. If the Giants really did prepare a second set of blue helmets in advance (and that’s only an “if” right now), it would support that theory.

    Just curious… I get the sense from the blog that military themed uniforms are sort of “gimmicky” in a sense (maybe not the best word, but I think you guys might know what I’m saying) So, just curious on the new color option for the t-shirt. Head-nod to the style?

    No intention to turn this into some craze, just stood out and a little curious.

    If I were naming the colors, I would not call that one “military green” — I’d just call it olive, or light olive, or something like that.

    I think it plays well with the colors we use in our shirt designs, so we’re offering it as a color option. The fact that the manufacturer chooses to call it “military green” is, unfortunately, something we’re stuck with.

    Saw the latest t-shirt on twitter last night. I was purchaser #2. Didn’t hesitate one second. LOVE this design!

    RE: What happens to color rush?
    I think even if the NFL keeps Thursday nights they should scrap color rush and just do an “alternate uniform” night for teams. Basically give each team an alternate design or maybe just an alternate pairing (Texans in blue jerseys with red pants everyone has clamored for as an example). But they could have fun with it each year, do a futuristic theme or something. I dunno.

    Also, yet another instance of where a Nike throwback uniform should immediately replace the normal uniform. (Saints)

    Let’s hope Color Cash goes the way of the dodo. Or, in the alternative, takes on more of a Throwback Thursday vibe with more retro looks like the Saints, Chargers and Broncos and less over-saturation like the Bucs and Titans.

    Man, those Saints throwbacks look good. I’d chime in with “they should wear that all the time” or “that should be their primary uniform” but that goes without saying at this point (yet for some reason I said it anyway).

    And, apropos of nothing, in case anyone’s interested, I’ve done some substantial rewrites on this Wikipedia page: link

    Paul — While I did play youth football as well as junior high and high school football in the mid- to late 80s, I will not claim to be an expert on helmets and chin straps.

    However, I think the simple explanation here is that the chin straps are directly related to the helmet manufacturer. For all but one of the pics with the four-pointer chin straps, the QBs are wearing the old BIKE helmets (or whatever that company has evolved to now — Schutt?) The two-pointer chin straps are/were the typical chin straps for the old Riddel helmets.

    I remember hating the Riddel helmets in high school, primarily because of the foam padding inside, but also because of the flimsy chin strap. Thus, I always opted (even purchased) a BIKE helmet for both the pumped-air padding and the four-point chin strap (which, in my opinion, held the helmet on your head a little better).

    In any event, the lone exception in the photos is Rodgers 2005. In that pic, for whatever reason (likely because he was used to it with his previous BIKE helmets) he’s wearing a Riddel helmet, but has a 4-point BIKE chin strap.

    I could be wrong, but that’s what I am guessing…

    On a separate but related note, I remember in high school that there was also correlations to the types of face masks that would best fit on either a Riddel or a BIKE helmet. I actually preferred a modified Riddel face mask on my BIKE helmet. To make that work, you had to personally drill holes in a different spot to accommodate the connection screws… or torque the connection screws a bit. In my scenario, it allowed the face mask to be a little closer to my face and chin than most of the BIKE face masks were designed to be.

    Anyway, just a thought or two…

    I realize this puts me in the knit picking crowd, apologies Paul and maybe I’m missing something, but Penn State new end zone design, is at a neutral site?? Is it any different from the Super Bowl end zone being different from what a team has in the regular season?

    “Knit” picking is something that probably should be reserved for sweaters and blankets, but I digress :)

    In seriousness, though, you make a good point. The two end zones for the BTCG are generic in that they include the school’s primary logo along with block lettering for the name. They are not “new” per se, other than compared to past BTCGs which had no logo and, in my opinion, extremely poor stock font designs.

    I guess San Francisco just said “no thanks” to the last period after the “F,” even though they’re holding an original that has it. I’ve maybe never cringed so hard.

    Am I the only reader who would purchase the hat the player is wearing in the T-shirt this month? Because I would. Perhaps this discussion was had in the summer (when I’m incommunicado), but I would buy that white-front magnifying glass hat in a hot minute.

    Interesting note on the Presidential Transition logos: When Obama used the logo with the words “Office of the President Elect,” more than a few people pointed out that legally, there no such “office” exists.

    Excellent point.

    One could further argue that nobody is truly the president-elect until so designated by the Electoral College. In between Election Day and the day that the Electors meet, the winner might more accurately be termed the *presumptive* president-elect.

    legally…no such “office” exists.

    It does if the president-elect, or his campaign, or anyone else for that matter, creates it. There is no official, governmental “Office of the President-Elect,” but anyone can create a corporate or quasi-corporate entity by that name. It’s the same as creating an entity called, e.g., “Law Office of John Q. Public.”

    I know America doesn’t like titles associated with royalty, but I’d call him the Dauphin.

    link

    Then his logo could use both fleur-de-lis and dolphins

    link

    Interesting that the writer at one point refers to the Cubs as the Bruins…

    One of my favorite subjects! Nicknames for the nickname. The Yankees are unusually blessed in this regard; I’ve seen them referred to as the Bronx Bombers, the Pinstripes and the Gothams. It harks to a day when teams got their handles from sportswriters. What are your favorites? I’m partial to Gang Green.

    Nicknames for the nickname.

    And one of my favorite peeves — “Cubs” is not a nickname. It is the team’s NAME.

    Cubbies is a nickname. Ditto for Bruins — when referring to the Cubs. But Bruins is not a nickname when referring to the Boston Bruins. For them, it’s their name, not their nickname.

    As for favorites, I agree that Gang Green is good. Ditto Amazin’s (although the apostrophe, while correct, looks like a mistake). Iggles. Big Blue. Hmmmm, I’m really listing too many NYC teams….

    Pale Hose.
    Halos.
    Bucs.
    Cards.
    O’s.
    Fish.
    Pats.
    Jags.
    Habs.
    Whale.
    Broad Street Bullies.

    My favorite, although it’s outdated and I think only Gregg Easterbrook used it, was “The Mighty Lambs of Anaheim.” I also like another of Easterbrook’s nicknames, “Persons,” short for “Potomac Drainage Basin Indigenous Persons.”

    War Eagles.
    Tribe.
    Bengals (Detroit Tigers).
    Bayou Bengals.
    Snakes.
    Bums.
    Blueshirts.
    G-Men.
    Redbirds.
    Bolts.
    Hogs.
    Seraphs.
    That can’t be all!

    Don’t know where I came across the position that the team’s location was its name and the creative bit was the nickname; possibly the Green and Red Books which had all the Major Leagues’ pertinents.

    But yeah, New York has a surfeit of nicknames; there’s a direct correlation between the number of followers and the number of nicknames. I was hoping to be turned on to some I hadn’t heard yet. The basic criterion is that the word can’t appear on the team’s official apparel.

    For the Reds, I guess ‘Redlegs’ can be viewed as both their name and their nickname, since that is what they were officially called from 1953-1958.

    Brew Crew (or even just Crew) for the Brewers and the Dubs for the Warriors. I also like how “Timberwolves” and “Diamondbacks” immediately became T-Wolves and D-Backs. Compound words with 10-plus letters don’t quite work.

    Is the name Knicks considered a nickname? It is shortened from Knickerbockers.

    Although the Mets are derived from Metropolitans and the original name was the New York Metropolitan Baseball Club- the team was named Mets.

    All seriousness- what are the Knicks?

    It’s hard to know the motives of the team’s founders. If it were me, I’d know “Knicks” would get more usage than the longer word. This rationale keeps me from thinking “Sixers” is unofficial; it’s right there on the jersey.

    America’s Team.

    Debate it all you want, but everyone knows who you mean when you utter that phrase.

    Oh, cripes! That reminds me: Pokes.
    Cadets.
    Avs.
    M’s.
    Pens.
    Griz.
    Bosox.

    Without much success, I’ve tried to encourage Ponies (Broncos), Skates (Rays), and my favorite, Torontosaurus (Raptors).

    I didn’t know the Giants were going to wear the old helmet design this year. I say “boo” to that. I hate that wordmark.

    What they should wear is the link. That “NY” logo is magnificent; what a shame that it lasted only one year — the year that the Giants played home games at Shea Stadium, incidentally.

    That’s one of the better pictures I’ve seen of that helmet design. Personally I think it’s hideous, and impossible to make out from a distance, but it does have endearing qualities, not the least of which being its rarity.

    Totally disagree! That wordmark, big bold solid capital letters spelling out GIANTS, is outstanding. Wishing and hoping they go back to it someday, finally retiring the dated, dull and underwhelming lowercase ‘ny’.

    Oh man, that quick peek of possible new Portland Timbers uniforms is great! Especially with the sponsor being covered on the front. Reeeeally makes me pine for all MLS teams to sport ’em clean like that. They will not. Oh well.

    Another Packers quarterback anomaly is that most of them either wear no flack vest or they wear such a thin model as to be indiscernible under the jersey. All in all Packers QBs look much less “quarterbacky” than most of the guys who play the position in modern times—with the lack of padding and hard chinstraps they look more like punters.

    Come to think of it, I’ve never seen a Packers QB wear a knee brace either…

    Is MLS serious about trying to promote American AND Canadian flag desecration with that new ball design?! It looks like something that would fly in the NASL. I remember when World Cup souvenir balls were rolled out that featured the flags of the participating countries; whenever Saudi Arabia was in the field, they would never have the Saudi flag on the ball, but use another design in its place.

    The article about 50-star American flag designs brought to mind a movie that featured a trial that was held in the U.S.-controlled part of West Berlin (?). It showed a 50-star flag with the stars in a 10×5 alignment.

    When was the previous time the Cowboys have played two straight games not wearing their classic white jerseys with metallic silver/green pants?

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