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Uni Watch

Detroit Lions Unveil New Uniforms

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The Lions unveiled their new uniforms last night. They’re not perfect, but they’re definitely an upgrade. You can read my full assessment in in this ESPN piece, which was posted last night. If you want more, there’s lots of good info and images here and a few dozen photos here.

Speaking of the Lions, check out this sleeve patch that they wore in 1951:

What is that? It’s the Detroit sestercentennial (250th anniversary) logo. The Tigers wore it that season as well (and so did the Red Wings, although I’ve been unable to find a good photo of them doing so):

(My thanks to @dmoon for reminding me about the Lions’ 1951 patch.)

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LAST CALL for the jacket raffle: Today’s the last day to enter the raffle for the free varsity-style satin jacket from Stewart & Strauss. Full details here.

Merch reminder: In case you missed it earlier this week, the Uni Watch social media avatar (shown at right, click to enlarge), designed by the great Larry Torrez, is now available on a variety of shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs, tote bags, and stickers. They’re all available here.

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The Ticker
By Paul

’Skins Watch: MLB commish Rob Manfred is reportedly putting pressure on the Indians to transition away from Wahoo. … Here’s something I didn’t know: Back in 2014, Etsy banned listings for products that contain the ’Skins name or logo (from Mickel Yantz). … There were delays on I-75 two days ago when boxes of Braves foam tomahawks fell off a truck and spilled onto the freeway (from James Beattie).

Baseball News: Dodgers fans will want to check out these cool new T-shirt designs. … Here’s an early shot of Robin Yount wearing Adidas cleats with the stripes blacked out (from Brian Wulff). … Great spot by Brian Cheung who noticed that the MLB logos on Reds INF Jose Peraza jersey and pants don’t match. The one on the jersey, with black on the left and red on the right, is the team’s official MLB logo rendering. The one on the pants is wrong. … Jackie Robinson Day is tomorrow, so all MLBers will be wearing No. 42. Some minor leaguers will also wear 42, but the Daytona Tortugas will wear No. 9, which is the number Robinson wore when he played for Daytona back in 1946. … LSU will retire Todd Walker’s No. 12 today. … Comedian Jeff Garlin was in the Cubs’ broadcast booth yesterday and wore a House of David jacket for the occasion. … The Orioles expressed city pride regional pride yesterday by wearing Washington Capitals T-shirts (from our own Mike Chamernik). … An Arizona man has painted MLB team logos on a series of small rocks and hidden them in Papago Park in Phoenix (from @AZjoshM). … Virginia will mark the 10th anniversary of the Virginia Tech campus shootings with a helmet ribbon. Virginia Tech has been wearing that same ribbon on the front of the helmet (from Andrew Cosentino). … Cleveland was getting blown out last night and brought in INF Michael Martinez to pitch, resulting in a new addition to the single-digit pitchers’ club (from Robert Hayes). … Great throwbacks last night for the Nashville Sounds (from Chris Howell). … The Mariners unveiled a Junior Griffey statue yesterday. … Columbus High School in Georgia has a very Cubs-esque uniform design (from Mike McLaughlin). … The Hall of Fame has requested several 2016 World Series items from the Cubs, but the team has not provided any of them.

NFL News: Check out this Tim Couch Browns bobble with an oddly off-center uni number (from Martin Hick). … New personal logo for Cardinals RB David Johnson. … Court papers obtained by The New York Post indicate that Giants QB Eli Manning and equipment manager Joe Skiba were part of a scheme to sell phony “game-used” gear through an auction house. … New uniform number assignments for the 49ers (thanks, Brinke).

College Football News: Here’s a tidbit we missed from a few days ago: Clemson players received their championship rings last Saturday (from Kary Klismet). … A new NCAA rule will require that pants cover the knee and include a knee pad. Up until now, knee coverage was recommended but not required (from Jason Hillyer and James Gilbert, respectively).

Hockey News: What if NHL teams were actually football teams? The results might look like this (from @Jimmy64). … Love this awesome old jersey from the 1930-31 Philadelphia Quakers (from slightly0better). … There’s a taxi company in Atlanta that appears to have poached an old Stars logo. … This was in the baseball section, but I’ll put it here as well, just in case: The Baltimore Orioles expressed city pride regional pride yesterday by wearing Capitals T-shirts (from our own Mike Chamernik).

Soccer News: New home uniform, including a fifth-season patch, for the Portland Thorns (from Jeremy Brahm). … New 125th-season crest for Newcastle (from Ryan Walters).

Grab Bag: New uniforms for Japanese table tennis (from Jeremy Brahm). … Here’s a visual timeline of Kings Xi Punjab cricket uniforms. … There’s a controversy in an upstate New York town, where the local police force has put the logo of the comic book vigilante superhero the Punisher on their squad cars, despite opposition from the mayor and some residents. … This is pretty awesome: meticulously carved artwork made from orange peels (from Mary Bakija). … With the summer Olympics set to take place in Tokyo in 2020, Japan is adding English language road signs (from @GKG_77). … Check it out: a lacrosse ref with a zebra-striped headband (from Tris Wykes).

 
  
 
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NFL
Comments (140)

    Interesting contrast between the new NCAA rule about football pants and what is shown for the Lions’ unveil – especially Stafford.

    Remember the etsy story. Same time they were still selling items with swastikas on them and other nazi items. Not just historical collectibles. New items,

    Yes, you can still buy swastikas on Etsy:

    link

    …although the merchandise all looks tribal/ethnic and not exactly something most people would think of as Nazi-related. Not my cuppa, but whatever.

    Somewhat more surprisingly (at least to me), Etsy allows sales of items featuring Chief Wahoo:

    link

    Now THAT seems inconsistent with its stance on ‘Skins merch.

    That ticker item clears up a lot. I went to Cooperstown in December and wasn’t sure why all the Royals WS stuff was still being displayed.

    I don’t get the point in typing city pride then striking it to put regional pride.
    You could’ve just put regional pride.

    Then again I think most times you do the strike out it’s usually for something petty.

    The point was that it’s highly unusual for a team in one city to support a team in another city. Teams usually support teams in their own city. It wasn’t/isn’t a criticism.

    – Petty, as usual

    they might just be trolling the Blue Jays, who they were playing yesterday while the Caps are playing the Maple Leafs.

    Different Bob here, same subject. I’m an Orioles and NY Rangers fan. And while I live far from Baltimore I know there are some Balmer area folks who embrace the Caps. But it’s very odd and kind of unsettling seeing the Birds in those shirts.

    In the unlikely instance that Baltimore nets an NHL team, I assure you they will have an animated rivalry with the Capitals. Until then, regional support.

    My impression of Yount’s cleats is this was more a case of a lazy polish job not wanting to bother avoiding the stripes and less a case of “blacking out” for some sort of contractual purpose. Especially given that he was a rookie probably did the polishing himself.

    Such a great uniform; the way the gold (yellow) leaps out from that shade of cobalt blue is inspiring. I guess it was spring training, because there were no yellow sanitaries or gold-paneled road cap. Perfection would entail “Milwaukee” instead of “Brewers” across the jersey in vertical arch, but I can’t change history.

    I thought the same thing that Younts cleats were probably just sloppily polished.
    I think the photo is from She Stadium. The Yankees played in Shea during their stadiums 1974-75 renovation and the Brewers were an AL team back then. It’s a great photo.

    Also nitpicking, Portland Thorns, not Timbers

    Also eeesh, Nike spare no expense by giving them a teamwear template and a heat applicator…

    It will be interesting to see how much credibility Eli Manning loses and how it will impact his future regarding commercial endorsements.

    Those NHL uniforms, presented as NFL uniforms, looked much better than I imagined.

    That is a good-looking set of football uniforms. Denver Broncos could look at the New York Islanders football uniform as an inspiration for a redesign. Orange jerseys for the Broncos of course, but that Isles road uniform would provide a basis to design a decent road uniform for the Broncos.

    The NHL football uniforms came out *fantastic*; kudos to the designer for his diligence and taste, not to mention detail for removing all the hockey sticks from the symbols. If the NFL looked this good, I’d be more of a fan.

    The only set that I feel doesn’t look good is the one for the Avalanche. The Bettman piping throws the whole look off. Overall, though, not too shabby at all. I was actually surprised how well the Flames’ Edge unis translated onto a football uniform, and even the Predators don’t look god-awful.

    Agreed. Most of those unis were really nice. I do wish we could get a better view of the helmets, though.

    Just loved these. I saw real potential in when comparing color schemes. Jags/Sharks, Bengals/Flyers, Falcons/Canes, Cardinals/Red Wings, Seahawks/Canucks, Browns/Ducks, Broncos/Islanders. I am really impressed with that guys work.

    I liked the little non-hockey tweaks in the logos (Avalanche has a football, Montreal has a C-F) but, unless I’m missing something, the Islanders still have a hockey stick. It looks like the blade of the stick makes up the Y with the striping on the shaft below the N.
    Oh, and that NY logo looks great.

    The biggest thing that jumped out was the striping on the Blackhawks white jersey looking like the Bears.

    That should be NIU football. It’s already part of the way there with the Black helmet, but that red really popped along side the traditional blocked numbering.

    Yes mike 2, for sure. The numbers on the road jerseys for both of them almost exactly the same.

    link

    hey arthur blank, the carolina hurricanes are wearing what your falcons SHOULD be wearing.

    The best part of the Lions unis is the WCF with the racing stripes.

    All in all they aren’t wowing me. I *almost* miss the black defining the numbers on the jersey.

    I also enjoy the old style logo racing stripes behind the WCF.

    I like the new Lions uniforms. Had concerns about what we might get considering the trauma I experienced from some of the recent redesigns (Jaguars, Buccaneers, Browns). This one has traditional style striping on the jerseys and pants, which I am always on board with, especially for a long-established NFL team.

    Though I know this is not popular with all Lions fans, I had hoped for it. I love the unexpected surprise of the return of the Honolulu blue road pants.

    I loved the blue pants in 1998.

    I think the boldest aspect of the lions new set is no white in the striping. They are going legit blue and gray.

    Definitely a huge improvement but the Lions and WCF on the sleeves have to go and block numerals are always best.

    The NHL as NFL designs would have been better if the helmets were shown in profile to get the full effect of the logos.

    Just to add some spice to the Orioles earring Washington Capitals shirts, they are wearing them while playing a series in Toronto. The Maple Leafs are Washington’s playoff opponent.

    On top of that, the Orioles and the Blue Jays have had a pretty testy history over the last few years, with some flare-ups on the field, a Wild Card match-up last season, and an off-season declaration by the Orioles that they had no interest in Jose Bautista as a free Agent because their fans disliked him so much.

    So, seeing pictures of Adam Jones, one of the main participants in Orioless-Jays friction, strutting around in a Caps t-shirt in Toronto, is a delightful throwback to a time when pro athletes showed some pride in their team and sense of rivalry board others.

    RSB

    The jack Robinson story you have Dayton but you also have Daytona on it

    I didn’t notice that the Lions had eliminated both black trim and the flywire collar from their new set. Kudos to them for those changes. As for the rest, meh. As an announcer (high school), I think those numbers are going to be somewhat difficult to read from a distance. The two 1s on the 11 jersey are awfully close together, and the numbers are pretty narrow overall. I think there will be 6/8/9 confusion, at least potentially for fans at the game. Elsewhere, TV cameras will take care of it.

    I have problems with color vision, but I still think it’s a little weird that the Lions new “Color Rush” uniforms look hot pink to me.

    I think the Lions nailed the striping, bungled the typography, and missed an opportunity with the logo. The numbers, I will say, are definitely better than the wordmark lettering, so that’s a plus.

    If they added the striping to the throwback, and put Bubbles on the helmet (sans outline), I think it would be perfect.

    New Lions unis definitely an improvement. I don’t care for the helmet striping; too wide for me. A single blue stripe (similar to Giants or Steelers) would look better IMO.

    How long until the Lions start mixing/matching their home and road combos to go mono-blue or mono-white? I say mid-October.

    Well, they can’t go mono white because they don’t have white pants. The mono blue could serve as an alternate Color Rash set, I suppose, although I would generally prefer to avoid that.

    Good point on the white pants, apologies for the lazy writing on my part. But mixing and matching in general for mono-blue or a look closer to last year’s road look.

    I look at the Bills as the best example of what the Lions are likely to end up doing. The Bills didn’t even have blue pants when they first unveiled their current set.

    Assessment hits the mark, I may be a bit more favorable on the helmet stripe.

    I found the old Lions uniforms suffered particularly from two tones of blue – this is not the best picture – the stomach area seemed particularly prone to it. Hopefully addressed with this version

    link

    Note, there is a sporting good store across from where I work, I noted last week – they had Lions gear more prominently displayed, (what now is Old Lions gear) – let the buyer beware.

    Thanks for posting, that’s exactly what I mean – I had missed that it had picked up on before

    It looks like the new Vapor templates eliminate the “sweatbox” , at least on the front of the jersey.

    The one thing that irritates me about the Lions’ new uniforms is the perma-memorial for William Clay Ford, Sr.

    I’m not big on perma-memorials in general, but I can at least accept the ones for George Halas and Lamar Hunt because of the significance of the men in question. Halas was the Bears franchise for decades, and Hunt’s formation of the AFL forever changed the NFL. Moreover, both men are beloved, revered figures in their teams’ fanbases.

    Ford may have been a nice guy, but as Lions owner he is quite simply reviled by the fanbase. Nobody I know who actually cares one bit about the Lions wants to see them continue to honor an owner who is defined by the public perception that he was willing to settle for and accept mediocrity. It was that mediocrity that made the team a joke in the 1980s, and turned “Another One Bites The Dust” from an attempted rallying cry to a punchline. It was that mediocrity that caused one of the greatest running backs of all time to walk away from the game when he was within reach of the career rushing record. It was that mediocrity that gave us the Millen era, and it was Ford’s son, Bill Jr., who finally forced Millen’s ouster.

    I will say this: it is fitting that the throwback uniforms don’t include the perma-memorial. After all, they’re throwing back to an era when the Lions were championship contenders, an era before William Clay Ford’s ownership.

    TL;DR version: There are only two men in the NFL even remotely worthy of a uniform perma-memorial. William Clay Ford, Sr. is not one of them.

    Also, I will say one positive thing about the perma-memorial… its design is a significant improvement over the patch. At least it’ll be a lot harder to mistake the initials for “WTF” from a distance.

    Query- is the blue on the Lions’ away pants and jersey lighter than the blue on the home jersey? Maybe it’s just the lighting from the pictures and different contrasts with between the blue and white and the blue and silver, but it sure looks lighter to me.

    Officially, only one shade of blue.

    But as we’ve seen with other teams (most notably the Jets), Nike sometimes has trouble maintaining color tones across different fabrics.

    Interesting to see that the 3 helmet stripes are uncut in the Speedflex helmet. The Lions are a team that cut the stripe, but maybe it was a slip, will have to wait until September to see if this change remains.

    I noticed Matthew Stafford has a rubber band on his wrist.
    Here’s why (in case you/me didn’t know):

    **from a 2009 interview**
    What’s something you keep in your locker for good luck?

    I don’t really keep anything in my locker but I always wear a rubber band on my left wrist, which everybody finds weird. I just wore it for good luck ever since I was about 7 years old, and I always switch it out when it breaks and all that kind of stuff. It’s just like the normal rubber band that you would see in the stores, and I wear that.

    I really like the new changes to the Lions uni. Considering we knew about the sleeve wordmark prior to the unveiling it didn’t look nearly as bad as I thought it would. I think it will be one of those things that grow on me like the Seahawks weird logo placement. I can stomach the shoulder wordmarks alot more than “Browns” in the Cleveland pants. Speaking of, looks like that Reddit leaker was wrong (thank goodness). I know I’ll be in the minority but I actually like the color rush set. So many color rush uniforms would look better if they let them wear contrasting socks, particularly the Giants, Cowboys, now Lions, Rams, etc.

    Ok, Lions uniforms:
    1. Home – boring – should have incorporated white on those sleeves.
    2. Road – much better with the blue pants, but the socks should either be grey or white.
    3. Throwback – does this violate the one shell rule?
    4. Color rush – they are all bad, so whatever.
    5. Helmet – the striping is too wide.

    Overall, they tried a new twist on a classic look and ultimately it’s pretty lame. Eliminating black is the only good that came out of it.

    Is there ANY science or research whatsoever to support the NFL’s “One Shell” helmet rule? From my experience and common sense the Rule defies reality. How can a very worn helmet with compressed and pushed in padding fit better than a brand new, properly fitted helmet with firm unworn pads. My apologies if you previously posted that info, but I must have missed it ….

    Devil’s advocate here…

    By that logic a player should get a new helmet every game/practice to ensure the utmost protection.

    Of course that is silly. Just as silly a keeping ONE for the entire season–which we know doesn’t happen in MANY cases already.

    1) If there is any science behind it, I have not seen it. But the two advisory panels that recommended the rule say that the science is there.

    2) Just fyi, interior padding is swapped out all the time.

    Does using the new Nike Vapor Untouchable template mean the Lions will no longer have the dreaded sweatbox effect? It always looked really bad on the Lions blue.

    It looks like there’s a chance of sweatback with that lower back panel, but if it means the end of the front and armpit sweatboxes, I’ll take it.

    so with the blue pants, does that mean we are going to see Honolulu blue-on-blue leotards at some point next season? I feel like it is inevitable. Same with white-on-gray?

    “An Arizona man has painted MLB team logos on a series of small rocks and hidden them in Papago Park in Phoenix”

    Would have been nice had he painted the right set of logos. The Astros logo is outdated.

    That’s not the only one that’s not modern (Rangers, Padres). Maybe he went with his personal logo preferences?

    I’m very happy with the new lions uniforms. They aren’t perfect by any means but with the shitty designs Nike has been rolling out recently I was pretty worried that we would look like the Browns or bucs. The pant stripe extends the entire pant length and there is no text on the leg or tramp stamp text. I can live with the shoulder stripe text since they removed it from the chest.

    Thanksgiving will feel right this year with those perfect throwbacks.

    The color rash gfgs is better than the bfbs ones but still unnecessary. Thankfully they will wear those once a season.

    Overall, as a lions fan it’s good to see the last remnant of the Millen era wiped away now.

    New Lion uni’s are a definite improvement, but a few things irk me. Goofy number font for starters. Why can’t any of these uniforms go with classic block numbers? Not as bad as their previous….but still not good. Hate the “Lions” on the sleeve striping (reminds me of the Browns leg stripe fiasco). Love that they’re now just two colors, a’la the Raiders. But maybe just one solid blue stripe on the helmet would have been a nicer, cleaner look. Also would have preferred silver pants with the white jersey (also a’la Raiders). I’m not going to comment on the color rash abomination.

    Detroit’s stripe-fu is weak. In the uniforms they just got rid of, the helmet stripe was too skinny. Now it’s fat and clunky.
    Stick to the Barry Sanders-era striping patterns, if you ask me. I’m also getting to dislike the team name on the jersey; it’s an ugly fad.

    Those Brewers road uniforms back then were beautiful…and they looked awesome with gold sanitaries as well.

    What if NHL teams were actually football teams? The results might look like this

    Those concepts were really well done. I’m impressed.

    Shouldn’t Dayton be Daytona in baseball. Dayton has a minor league team, the dragons, but I believe you were referencing Daytona.

    The linked article says Daytona as well.

    Funny thing is, when I first glanced over that and saw “Dayton Tortugas”, I thought it looked like “Dayton Triangles” for a second.

    MLB commish Rob Manfred is reportedly putting pressure on the Indians to transition away from Wahoo.

    No great loss. I have fond memories of Wahoo, but then, I was fourteen years old. Teams don’t have to have a mascot; it never hurt the Yankees.

    Chief Wahoo isn’t a mascot and never has been. Slider, the big, pink, fuzzy…..thing is the Indians mascot.

    If Manfred really cared about getting rid of Chief Wahoo, he would not have awarded the Indians the 2019 All-Star Game without an agreement for the Chief’s demise as a quid pro quo. That was the perfect opportunity for leverage and it looks like he blew it.

    Or: That quid pro quo has already taken place and both sides are just going thru the motions now to allow the team to make it look like they made the decision on their own.

    Paul, you often call people out around here for unfounded speculation. I’d say your statement here falls under that category – unless you know something we don’t? I agree that this seems like a wasted opportunity to phase out wahoo.

    Does the Commissioner even have the power to change a team’s uniform? Manfred serves at the pleasure of the owners. Surely Wahoo merch makes MLB money so even if he would try to invoke the catch all clause that is “in the best interests of baseball” is that really a fight Manfred wants to take on? Sure he could have refused to award the all star game to Cleveland over Wahoo but he could also then make an enemy of one of his bosses.

    Does the Commissioner even have the power to change a team’s uniform?

    Moot point, since nobody has suggested that he has that power. If he had it, he’d have used it already, since he clearly wants Wahoo to go.

    He’s trying to use persuasion, leverage, diplomacy, bargaining, etc., not some magical fiat power.

    Do the Indians own the trademark and or copyright on Wahoo, or does MLB? If it’s the latter, I’d think MLB could just unilaterally change it if they wanted to.

    I really liked those NHL-to-football concepts. Even teams with atrocious uniforms like Nashville and Calgary looked acceptable. The designer could’ve done a lot worse. Also, notice how none of them had the team’s wordmark on the side of the unis. Take a clue, Nike/NFL.

    Agree that the Lions’ new set is an imperfect upgrade.

    I do wonder if they will pair the silver pants with the white jerseys from time to time? The blue pants don’t look terrible, but I generally feel that with white jerseys the pants and helmets should not be different colors if possible. Seems like there was a reason they tried blue pants once upon a time and quickly ditched them.

    I think that look is a tad too close to the Cowboys… At least if the Cowboys, in theory, had actual silver pants that weren’t mint green.

    Rhetorical question. Does the Lions uni update cement the NFC North as the best dressed division in the NFL? On one hand, you have the classic Bears and Packers. Then you have the Vikings, which represents an excellent blend of classic and modern design. And now the Lions get an upgrade. Which division is better right now?

    Probably so. I guess a case could be made for the NFC East, though that case would be a lot stronger if the Eagles weren’t still stuck in the late 90’s. AFC South’s gotta be the worst, right?

    I what way is the Vikings a blend of classic & modern?
    “Classic” in what sense?
    Not classic as far as the Vikings themselves are concerned, certainly.

    Lee

    RE: Vikings unis… I was thinking ‘classic’ in that there are sleeve and pants stripes in the traditional location, but they are asymmetrical in a modern way. They didn’t attempt any newfangled truncated striping or ‘boxes of color’ like the Cardinals, Falcons, etc. So in that sense, my brain considers the Vike’s uniforms at least nodding in the ‘classic’ direction.

    In a (perhaps stretched) way, you could consider the current set as an updated version of the 60’s set…. just with adjusted font and striping.

    link

    Why does Nike have to put words on everything? The most iconic NFL jerseys don’t have giant wordmarks on the sleeves or pants, and yet Nike keeps doing it. You don’t need “Lions” on the sleeve to know it’s the Lions. Just like you don’t need “Browns on the pants to know it’s the Browns.

    They also did this to the Bucs (words on sleeve), to the Jags (patch on chest), and to the Seahawks (words on chest).

    Please stop, Nike. The small wordmark on the middle of the chest was fine, but it’s gone too far. Sometimes stripes can just be stripes.

    Some white would have looked nice in there to substitute for the black trim. Like the Barry Sanders era uniforms. Otherwise decent job Lions.

    As far as the new Lions set goes, I like them for the most part. Like most, I could’ve done without the LIONS wordmark on the sleeve. The stripe on the helmets might’ve looked better with one solid stripe, but what they ended up with isn’t so bad. I also think the whole Color Rush thing is just insipid, so I could do without that whole uniform.

    I’m just glad no one has touched the Chiefs uniforms. For me, that one is sacrosanct.

    The ticker lists Virginia Tech wearing ribbons on the back of the helmet. Only that’s Virginia. Tech is wearing their ribbons on the front, which was correct in the ticker.

    As an Avalanche fan, I’m sad (but not at all surprised) to see that our uniforms would still be ugly if we were a football team… Thaaaanks, piping…

    Agree that the blue pants look great, but needed a contrasting sock so as to not look like leotards. Too bad that the Color Rush aren’t all blue, but I guess that would just be wearing the home jersey with the road pants.

    A meta-journalism question for Paul: If Joe Skiba, who’s been a great source for Uni Watch, is involved in some unethical dealing that’s proven in a court of law, would you still continue to use him as a source?

    Correction:
    “Virginia Tech will mark the 10th anniversary of the campus shootings with a helmet ribbon.”
    – Actually, it’s Virginia that is wearing the Virginia Tech helmet ribbon on the back of their helmets.

    I think the new Lions unis look good. I could do without the Lions and WCF on the sleeves, but I love that they’re off the chest, and I dig the blue road pants. The throwback set is fantastic. Finally, while color rash is abhorently stupid and I wish it didn’t exist, I think the scheme they used looks better than all black or all blue.

    I liked how the Penguins football helmet look like the Baltimore Ravens helmet. I don’t think that would be very popular in Pittsburgh.

    The ESPN analysis of the new uniforms for the Lions was perfect, if just considering the text, but the grades? How can the away uniform merit an A-? As beautiful as the blue pants are, when paired with unitard inducing socks, they are ruined. Many decades ago when I was in school, an A represented “outstanding”. Unitard and outstanding should never appear together. Now get off my lawn.

    The pants have stripes, so it’s not a true “unitard” look like, say, the Saints’ black pants/black socks combo.

    Because the article on Japan introducing English road signs didn’t have photos, I found some:

    link

    Seems like a good idea. I’ve spent a lot of time in Tokyo (never driving) and didn’t know what a stop sign looked like until now.

    re: Detroit Red Wings 1951 patch

    from Montreal Gazette April 2, 1951 (photo to right):
    link

    Undated photo of Sid Abel:
    link

    Serious question on this:
    “Dodgers fans will want to check out these cool new T-shirt designs. (link)

    My first thought when I see nonMLB or offbrand merch is “cool, if I save some $ and support my team then screw nike, UA, puma, MLB, NCAA, NFL etc etc”

    But then at this site, $20 is not really that great a deal for a tee-shirt so this guy is ripping me off as hard as the aforementioned douchebaggery corporations.
    Also, does he not have to pay Kershaw and Lasorda for using what is clearly their likeness or a drawing made to cash in on their likeness?

    Just wondering…..

    …I’ll hang up and listen

    Odd, that 49ers number article lists WR DeAndre Carter as #4. I thought it might just be a typo but looking at their link it’s listed as the same and includes WR Eric Rogers as wearing #3.

    A quick scan shows the only unassigned WR numbers are: 12, 16, 80, and 87 which are all retired.

    I’m guessing neither of those WRs will end up wearing a single digit number once final roster cuts are made, but we will see them in the preseason.

    This will only become a larger problem as more teams retire more numbers.

    Everything about that Tim Couch bobblehead is wrong. Including the fact that there actually is a Tim Couch bobblehead.

    Dammit Detroit. When you wore blue pants in 1998, you used gray socks, and it was awesome. Now you’ve gone and fucked it up. I guess the lack of black trim makes them look less like the Panthers, but I don’t know if I’d actually call it an improvement.

    Like the song says, “she used to be pretty, but now she’s just pretty f***ed up”.

    Are you referring to the lack of “stories” in the Lions’ design?

    Or are you referring to my ESPN story on the unveiling?

    Ah, that.

    Sometimes the only “story” is “We like how it looks.” And that’s really the *best* story.

    I for one found the lack of “storytelling” nonsense in last night’s unveiling to be quite refreshing.

    Now hold on a second, Paul, you did mention “a chrome grill for Detroit, get it?” in your piece…so it looks like the “storytelling” bug got a hold of you as well. ;)

    The Lions uniforms are better than what Nike did to the Browns and Jaguars but that’s not really a compliment. Nike has yet to improve upon a team’s existing uniforms since they landed the NFL.

    I really wish MLB would have the NL honor Jackie Robinson and the AL honor Larry Doby. I don’t think it would lessen Jackie’s impact or legacy to also honor the man who broke the color barrier in the AL three months after Jackie did it. If you can wear different colored unis for Mothers Day and Fathers Day you can celebrate both accomplishments.

    Rob Manfred may want Chief Wahoo to go away but you may not see it happen until the Indians organization believes it has a logo/graphic the fanbase can live with. Looking around the stadium when I was there the other night 75% chose to wear Wahoo merch/caps over the block C. You certainly see a lot more Caveman C merch available for sale and other than Wahoo, there is no more iconic look in Indians uni history than the Caveman C.

    I couldn’t agree more about your last point. If the Tribe would embrace the caveman C instead of trying to ram that crappy block C down everyone’s throat, maybe the fans wouldn’t dig their heels in so much over Wahoo.

    I’d say it’s more 50/50 on what Nike has done. They definitely improved the Seahawks. Vikings, and Lions. The Browns, Jags, and Bucs were all downgrades. I’d say the Dolphins were just a wash. They’ve also come out with some cool alternate jersey’s/uniforms with color rush that would be great were it not for the unitard look, such as the Cowboys, Giants, Saints, and Browns. Give each of those uniforms proper contrasting socks and you’ve got some great unis.

    The NHL crossover football uni’s look great! Dallas Stars can easily pass for Saskatchewan Roughriders – or Bruins or Penguins as Ti-Cats.

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