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Uni Watch

Monday Morning Uni Watch

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The most striking visual aspect of yesterday’s NFL games was the sight of empty sidelines and benches during the national anthem, as the Seahawks (above), Titans, and Steelers responded to President Trump’s recent comments in Alabama by staying in the tunnel while the anthem was played (further info here). Two of those teams, the Seahawks and Titans, were playing each other in Tennessee, leaving both sidelines empty during the anthem.

The Raiders, who were playing the night game in Washington, wanted to skip the anthem as well, but the logistics of the Sunday-night broadcast schedule made that impractical, as they would have had to miss the coin toss. Team owner Mark Davis issued a statement saying that he once opposed having his players protest while in uniform but now supports it. The statement was notable for including three references to the team’s uniform.

In addition, as you’ve probably heard, many players throughout the league — by far the most ever — protested in various ways during the anthem. There’s a good team-by-team rundown here, and a well-reported piece about the protests and reactions to them here.

It’s worth noting, incidentally, that having the players on the field during the playing of the anthem is a relatively recent phenomenon. It didn’t become standard procedure for all games until 2009; prior to that, the anthem was usually played before the teams came onto the field. Maybe it’s time to go back to that, since the anthem has become, ahem, a political football.

(Some of you may be wondering “What does this have to do with uniforms?” Leaving aside Mark Davis’s repeated uniform references, the anthem protests affect the visual culture of the game. If a team lined up in a weird formation, or in size order, or whatever, I’d cover that as well. Similarly, most MLB players line up on the baselines on Opening Day, but the Orioles line up in the infield, which is something I’ve often mentioned here on the site. All part of the visual culture of the game.)

In other news from around the league:

• The Bears wore their Monsters of the Midway throwbacks while playing the Steelers, which made for a very good-looking game (click to enlarge):

• Speaking of the Steelers, we had previously seen quarterback Ben Roethlisberger wearing a black jersey from Nike’s old tailoring template. Yesterday the Steelers wore their white jerseys for the first time this season, and Roethlisberger was once again wearing the old template.

• And speaking of the old jersey template, several Bills offensive linemen continued to wear it, as you can see by looking at their collars here and here.

• Never thought I’d be saying this about a Bengals game, but I saw some of their game against the Packers at Lambeau, and the combination of the two teams’ colors — green, yellow, orange, black, and white — worked really well. A pleasure to watch:

• The Jaguars, playing the Ravens in the UK, went mono-black.

• The Eagles used midnight green end zones. Several fans said this is the first time they’ve ever done that, although I have not verified that claim (click to enlarge):

• I was surprised to see Texans linebacker Jadeveon Clowney going bare-handed. Some quick photo research shows that he usually wears gloves. Anyone know why he didn’t wear them yesterday?

• We’ve all seen frankenjerseys, but how about a frankencheesehead:

• Someone raised this point in the comments last week (sorry, I don’t recall who it was): If players are wearing skintight jerseys with no sleeves because they don’t want to provide a potential handhold to opponents, why are so many of them wearing untucked undershirts?

• Only two teams wore white at home: the Panthers and Chargers.

(My thanks to Jeff Ash and @BrosTrustTree for their contributions.)

• • • • •

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Non-uniformity: I like pretzel rods and usually have them in the house. (I keep them in a Barbicide jar, but that’s another story.) My preferred brand is Herr’s, but my supermarket was sold out of Herr’s the other day, so I bought Bachmann pretzel rods instead.

I’m surprised to see how varied in length they are. On the one hand, it’s kinda refreshing to see a mass-produced product that isn’t completely standardized. But it still seems weird. Like, wouldn’t you expect their factory to produce more consistent results than this?

(For the record: There was one rod that was even shorter than any of the ones shown above, but I already ate it.)

• • • • •

The Ticker
By Jamie Rathjen

Baseball News: Reds C Johnny Bench dressed up as “Susie the Sweeper” (that is, wearing shorts and with broom in hand) before a game against the Braves on Aug. 14, 1972 (from Bob Gassel). … Chicago NPR affiliate WBEZ did a piece on the origins of the White Sox cap logo, a story that — tying into Saturday’s entry — was prompted by an anachronistic White Sox hat in the film Straight Outta Compton (from Brad Kruizenga and Mike Chamernik). … The Rays’ rookies have an annual tradition of a costumed road trip. This year, it was cat onesies with the team logo on the front (from Mike Edgerley).

Pro Football News: A picture in yesterday’s Cleveland Plain Dealer featured Browns WR Rashard Higgins with an eye black advertisement (from Dan Monroe). … Reader Caleb Grabill found this Chiefs/NFC West football in a Kansas City Dick’s Sporting Goods. … An Eagles fan put a “Kaepernick” nameplate on the back of his jersey (from Andrew Cosentino).

College Football News: Two late-night observations from Saturday: The officials in Air Force’s game against San Diego State ended up wearing black coats (from Robert Baker). The game was lightning-delayed for 90 minutes in the second quarter, but before that there were no coats to be seen. … Ripped helmet decal for a Washington player (from Pete Carges). … You know how some baseball teams have racing sausages or racing presidents? Purdue now has racing alums, in period-appropriate uniforms. … The new PBS documentary series about the Vietnam war includes a scene that shows U.S. troops training in what appear to be football helmets with specialized facemasks (from Tris Wykes). … Mascots with outdated uniforms, part one: Eastern Michigan’s Swoop is wearing a jersey that @AVKingJames thinks may be a decade or more old.

Hockey News: Mascots with outdated uniforms, part two: Blues mascot Louie still has a Reebok jersey (from Joe Barker). .. Wade Heidt shared the 100th-anniversary jersey for junior team the Regina Pats (WHL). The Pats are the oldest team (i.e., have gone the longest without changing nickname or location) of the 60 across the three major junior leagues. … Also from Wade: This video shows the Pats’ uniforms and new white sweaters for the fellow WHL team Brandon Wheat Kings. … New, or rather, first mask for University of Denver freshman goalie Dayton Rasmussen (from John Muir).

Basketball News: NFL teams aren’t the only ones choosing to skip the national anthem. Prior to last night’s WNBA Finals game between the Los Angeles Sparks and the Minnesota Lynx, the Sparks — the league’s defending champions — left the floor before the anthem was played.

Soccer News: In MLS, both D.C. United and the San Jose Earthquakes supported a Washington-area childhood cancer initiative on Saturday with yellow ribbons. The captains’ armbands and the goal nets were also yellow.

Grab Bag: At the cycling world championships in Bergen, Norway, Slovakian Peter Sagan yesterday became the first rider to win the men’s road race in three consecutive years. As world champion, Sagan will continue to wear the rainbow jersey for all of his road races in the next year; see the version presented on the podium (here worn by new women’s holder Chantal Blaak) for a look at it unsponsored and long-sleeved. … Former pro wrestler Darrell Nickel was interviewed by David Taub, who notes that Nickel is YouTube-famous for once wearing “kissy tights,” so named because they were covered with lips. … NASCAR team owners said they would not support protests during the national anthem.

 
  
 
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Comments (92)

    I think an interesting experiment would be to buy a couple jars of those pretzel rods and see if they’re truly random or if there’s standard shapes that appear to look random so you think it’s a handmade product.

    Not trying to refute any claims. I just thought it would be interesting to see. Kind of a what is real and what is manufactured reality.

    But the product itself could be a marketing message. In this case it seems unlikely, yes, but it’s neither impossible nor unheard of for a manufacturer to use aesthetic properties of the product itself as a part of the branding process without making an overt claim in writing on the packaging. The absence of an overt claim on the packaging does not disprove the hypothesis that the variable length might be deliberate in the way Jon suggests.

    True enough, Scott, it does not “disprove” Jon’s hypothesis. But it casts significant doubt upon it. You yourself say it’s “unlikely.”

    Or to put it another way: Yes, a 1% chance of a particular circumstance is greater than 0%. In fact, it is *infinitely* greater, because anything is infinitely greater than zero! But it doesn’t make much sense to focus on that, instead of on the 99% chance of the opposing circumstance.

    I am fascinated by this type of thing since I read Nudge. I would have fully supported Paul’s view prior to reading it but now I am aware of the little adjustments made in life I do wonder if the varying lengths are deliberate.

    There are two bag types I saw when I searched online just now. Obviously, I have no way of knowing what your bag look like. Bag one: described product as “oven baked.” Bag two: showed product as varying in length and displayed in a basket with a red and white checkered old timey napkin.
    I suspect Jon is correct, and that the links are intentionally not uniform to give a more homey, crafty, quaint feel (not uniform in a bag anyways, presumably there are a limited number of machines and they’re just set to slightly different lengths, each producing identical rods.)

    This is what I bought:
    link

    The bag has a clear window with rod-shaped outlines, revealing the product inside and creating the illusion of a basket of pretzel rods. But the window is low enough that you can’t actually see that the rods are of differing lengths.

    I disagree with your contention that it shows the product to be of differing lengths. The illusion being created is that of a bunch of rods in a basket. In such a configuration, of course they’d be jumbled together in a way so that the ends wouldn’t align, even if they were of uniform length.

    Great stretch on the word “uniform” with the pretzel rods. It was a great little piece and i laughed out loud when i read you ate the small one. Now if they could just find a way to keep the salt on there then we’d really be in business. Maybe thats an entirely different argument for another day…

    The Johnny Bench photo is from the August 15, 1972 newspaper…the game is obviously from the 14th.

    Eagles fan here – I can’t remember off the top of my head if it is the first time they’ve painted the end zones green. However, it’s definitely the first time they’ve used that extra large wordmark that extends basically the entire 10 yards.

    I like it, hope they keep it that way all season.

    Likewise. And after that win, there’s a definite push coming for that. But Temple still has home games, it would be hard to mix cherry red and midnight green. You usually get black.

    Figured the midnight green was to cover up vestiges of the Cherry/White diamond end zones Temple used on Thursday night. Mowing probably lightened things up and then the green paint finished off the job.

    Tighter turnarounds usually result in the Owls playing with Eagles end zones. At least they’re still in the bird family.

    And there’s precedent for black end zones for the Eagles too that would also help with covering up Temple end zones.

    They have painted the end zone partially green before, unfortunately the one time that I can remember was the 2005 Reggie White number retirement night where we got slaughtered by Seattle in the snow.

    link

    Just seeing it now, with the picture enlarged. The woman with the Packers-Bengals frankenjersey and frankencheesehead also has her nails painted green on one hand and orange on the other. Plus one Packers earring and one Bengals earring.

    To further elaborate on the soccer news ticker. All MLS teams have been wearing yellow ribbons this month on their jerseys. The nets have been yellow in every stadium in September.

    link

    If the Bears can fit three stripes on the sleeves of their jerseys, why couldn’t the 49ers do it the past few seasons?

    Speaking of stripe issues, one thing that bugged the heck out of me yesterday watching the Lions game is how their stripes were affected by the cut of what we’re charitably still calling sleeves. Specifically, on a number of players, including Matthew Stafford, link. It’s only made worse by the text in the stripes emphasizing how off-center it looks.

    i cant get past the hideous LIONS on one sleeve and the WCF on the other.

    TRASHED UP A HALFWAY DECENT JERSEY

    Agreed. ESPECIALLY the perma-memorial.

    He may have been a nice guy, but WCF Sr. was LOATHED as an owner by the fandom. Martha doesn’t seem to get that, or just doesn’t want to get it.

    It’s not that she doesn’t get it; it’s that she doesn’t care. Memorials — and especially perma-memorials — are mostly about team ownership/management, not about the fans. They don’t care whether you miss WCF; the only thing they care about is that *they* miss him.

    Perhaps the protests should open up the whole issue of why it is necessary to play the National Anthem before a sporting event. Is one typically subjected to this exercise before other public events, such as a concert or a movie in the US? Will the world end, will God stop shining his grace on America if sporting events are no longer prefaced with frequently atonal rendentions of The Star Spangled Banner, such as the one I sat through yesterday at Dodgers Stadium?

    No other countries in the world play a national anthem for non-national team events. It literally has no relevance to professional sports. If you think about it, if anything it reeks of the kind of forced-patriotism, you-must-love-the-country-or-else stuff some in this country are so terrified of. If you don’t stand up during the anthem, you get sideways looks from everyone around you. But every other person is on their phone, half the stadium is in line for beer, some jackass always yells “WHOO!”, all while some “recording artist” you usually have never heard of labors through an extended rendition. If we want the anthem to mean something, maybe let’s stop trotting it out at relatively meaningless sporting events (which by the way, in many cases the opportunity to sing it is *sold* as a package with group tickets. Deep reverence for the anthem and country there).

    Quoting from a piece I wrote for the Voice in 2001:

    “[A]s late as the mid-1960s, the Cubs played the anthem only on holidays like Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, because team owner P.K. Wrigley felt that playing the song at each game effectively trivialized it. And Royals owner Ewing Kauffman cited a similar rationale in 1972, when he ordered that the anthem be played only ‘on Sundays and special occasions,’ because it ‘was not receiving the respect it deserved.’ Public reaction, however, was highly negative, and Kauffman quickly relented.”

    Not even always at international sporting events. When I attended the European baseball championship in Holland ahead of the 2004 Olympics, they didn’t play either team’s anthems before games. Not even the home Dutch side. Though to be fair, most of the players were either Americans with parents or grandparents from the old country or residents of distant semi-colonial Caribbean territories. So national anthems might have been awkward, especially since few fans from the competing countries were in the stands.

    I don’t mind the anthem per se, though I despise when it’s sung by a pro. The point should be the fans singing it together, so if a performer must be on the field, make it an instrumental accompaniment, not a singer. What does irk me is “God Bless America,” and not mainly because it’s neither patriotic nor a song. What irks me about it is that we’re coming to treat it like the national anthem. I don’t stand or remove my cap for “God Bless America” any more than I do for any other meaningless pop song. Which, in the last few years, has led to some uncomfortable moments in the stands. I love America, I believe in God, and I’m against surrending to Nazis, any one of which, if believed sincerely, requires not according special respect to that unpatriotic, blasphemous, and defeatist ditty. Yet here we are, demanding that our seatmates stand and salute it like the national anthem. Might as well have a new ritual of reverence for The Internationale or Deutschland Uber Alles.

    I’m standing anyway during “God Bless America” but only because it’s the seventh inning stretch, and that’s a tradition I embrace. But I’m not removing my cap for some Irving Berlin song, and a lousy one at that.

    I’ve also received the stink eye for not giving due reverence for God Bless America. My response is “it’s not the National Anthem” typically shuts them up (even at Yankee Stadium, which has a history of being hyper about the song).

    Unfortunately the US anthem is so unsingable we can’t get the effect of 18,000 Canadians singing “O Canada!” after winning an Olympic hockey gold medal, or 80,000 Brits singing “God Save the Queen” or “Jerusalem” In Wembley. It almost requires a professionally trained vocal artist to sing it well, and then too many of them go all Whitney Houston on it. The rest of us just sing it as the English drinking tune it originated as.

    Especially in light of the fact that NFL teams were never on the sidelines for the anthem until 2009, and then only because the owners were getting paid by the Department of Defense as a pseudo-patriotic display.

    I went to every Bears game in the 80’s and 90’s and vividly recall them being onfield during the anthem , like in my photo…

    The Muny – the big outdoor theatre in St. Louis – plays the anthem before each performance. I attend just infrequently enough that it catches me off guard every time.

    The anthem is not generally played before concerts, but there’s a venue in New Jersey, which in the spirit of Naming Wrongs I still call the Garden State Arts Center, which has a tradition of doing that. Sinead O’Connor actually canceled a performance there years ago because she wouldn’t allow it to be played.

    I used to go to a few concerts each summer there. The anthem was played promptly at the announced starting time of the concert, and then it would usually take a while before the show started. But I remember one time the opening act (I think for Squeeze) was Katrina & The Waves. They actually came on stage during the anthem, and the moment it ended, they kicked into the first song, which was quite an effective surprise. Not sure whether they still do it, but I’d guess they do. The venue is owned by the state.

    Liked the article about the White Sox logo. Here’s my only beef with the logo — if you look at it quickly and aren’t a baseball fan, Sox looks like another word.

    I have a tie with the logo repeating as a pattern. I wore it to work one day and someone said, “Why are you wearing a tie with sex written all over it?”

    I guess that when the bottom of the S cuts through the O it makes it look like an E.

    I haven’t worn the tie since!

    Yeah, idiots at my junior high school (back around ’92-93) would take a Sharpie and black out the right edge of the O on the hat so it more clearly said “sex.”

    “Only two teams wore white at home: the Panthers and Chargers.”

    And, as they deserved for wearing white at home, they both lost. Wear dark jerseys at home in football

    I think teams should be able to wear whatever they want, whenever they want, as long is it doesn’t clash with the home team’s choice (how it works in soccer). *However* in football if you choose to wear white at home then, since most teams wear colors at home, you’re wearing white most of the time and it’s boring (this has been an issue with the Dolphins forever).

    Yesterday’s game between Blue Jays & Yankees was Jose Bautista’s last home game so Marcus Stroman wore a throwback Bautista jersey during warmup and after the game he was asked where he got the jersey and said from a display case in the stadium.

    Great piece on the White Sox cap from WBEZ. I was in high school at the time in Minnesota, in the period in between two Twins championships. So the Twins were very, very popular among kids my age at the time. And yet as soon as the new White Sox caps became available, if I recall in early fall of 1990, they were everywhere. Purely as a fashion statement; people weren’t suddenly rooting for the division rival Sox over the Twins. They just liked the hats. A bit unlike the first time I encountered baseball caps as a fashion statement, in Philly in the very early 1980s. Then, a lot of boys wore flat-top replica Pirates caps. It felt like it was a fashion statement first – cool looking, distinctive cap – but kids wearing their Stargell caps would mostly say they were fans of the Pirates too. I suspect that the coolness of the cap led to adopting the Bucs as a rooting interest. (Though the Steelers were also immensely popular at the time, so maybe Pittsburgh sports were just having a moment.) The Sox caps were not like that; boys wore the cap but still rooted against the team.

    The fad was short-lived; when the new Rockies caps went on the market soon thereafter, a lot of the kids wearing black Sox caps switched to black CR caps.

    It’s interesting how MLB caps become fashion statements. The fans of teams don’t make the hat popular. It’s when public figures (i.e. singers, artists, actors, etc) incorporate the cap, does it gets traction. While NWA wearing Sox caps was a boost for Chicago, there was a negative ripple effect on other teams. The Rockies CR cap and the Reds wishbone C surfaced infamously in many a police video on the news. UNLV and Notre Dame caps were corrupted as well.

    A story by the late Southern humorist Lewis Grizzard, about going to a baseball game with his father when he was a young boy.

    Grizzard recalls his father belting out the national anthem at the top of his lungs when it was played before the game, and afterwards young Lewis told his father, “Dad, it embarrasses me when you sing the national anthem that loud.” The elder Grizzard replied, “Son, it embarrasses me when you don’t.”

    Only comment I have about the anthem protests is that the players have the right under the Constitution to protest. That being said, others have the right to criticize them. I recall how beat up Tim Tebow got for kneeling on the sidelines for his faith by the media. Now, the same media makes it sound like these players are above criticism. No one is above criticism.

    As a Navy vet, the forced displays of patriotism are ridiculous. The GI Joe unis and other things are so forced and not really reverent as they should be. Better ways to honor those who have served and those who have died for this nation by the sports world if they insist upon doing something.

    And my final note, which may draw me criticism which is fine, is there are political influences across all political ideologies seeking to divide the American people. One should ask to why. Simplest explanation is politicians feel they can gain power through division. If the nation is truly united, each main side feels they would lose their power. In essence, the powers that be are scared of We The People. We The People hold more power than we think if we band together.

    /endrant

    Now, the same media makes it sound like these players are above criticism. No one is above criticism.

    Could you please cite specific instances of “the same media” claiming that the players are “above criticism”? That’s a really sweeping statement.

    I don’t think anyone has suggested that the protesters are “above criticism.” The president said the protesters should be fired, which is not a “criticism.” It is a call to end someone’s livelihood. Please stick to the facts of the circumstance instead of making broad, sweeping statements. Thanks.

    Wonder how you feel about it Paul? Geez. The point made by the OP was that both sides gain from division, which you might struggle to see if you are completely on one side. Please provide us some “facts” as to how a private employee, on private property, somehow has a right to free speech without accountability to their employer? I am fairly certain there’s plenty you could say here or or elsewhere that would get you fired from ESPN. Where’s your free speech in that scenario?

    Please provide us some “facts” as to how a private employee, on private property, somehow has a right to free speech without accountability to their employer?

    The employers (i.e., the team owners) have lined up one after the other and said they’re fine with the protests. So there you go.

    Rupert: I never once invoked the right to free speech, and I’m fully aware that employers can set workplace standards. My previous comment was addressing the false equivalence of protest vs. “criticism,” when the “criticism” was actually a threat of job termination (voiced by literally the most powerful person on earth). That is not “criticism.” I welcome the debate of the protest and ideas behind it, but “fire the SOB’s” is not “criticism.” I think a more thoughtful critique from the president — something that truly qualified as “criticism” — would not have prompted the mass protests that we saw yesterday.

    The rest of the OP’s comment was fine. I never said I disagreed with the rest of it. Simply called out the parts that I found highly problematic (and I note that he still hasn’t responded to my query regarding any media members who criticized Tebow but lionized the protesters).

    Neeko: Hope that was specific enough for you.

    Here’s an article from NY Times that addresses that Tebow had supporters but also goes into all the mocking and criticism of Tebow for kneeling. It also has embedded links. I didn’t answer because I didn’t think it was worth arguing about. link

    Great. But here’s the problem:

    In your original comment, you said, “I recall how beat up Tim Tebow got for kneeling on the sidelines for his faith by the media.”

    But the NY Times article you’ve now provided as supporting evidence does not show one single instance of the media mocking Tebow for his faith. It shows sportswriters critiquing *his quarterbacking ability* (and in one instance shows a prominent sportswriter saying he thinks Tebow is a poor quarterback and then adding, “I want him to prove me wrong because I believe he’s a great guy”).

    The mockery of his faith, as plainly stated in the article, came from fans and Twitter, not from “the media.”

    In short: Your original premise was an overly broad sweeping statement, and your supporting evidence does not actually support your contention.

    And so I will once again ask that you please refrain from making overly broad sweeping statements on my website. Thanks.

    James,
    Spot on; the only thing I would challenge is your use of the word patriotism, and only because of the circumstances. Patriotism is only when you’re putting something on the line, taking a risk for the benefit of your country. Putting yourself in harm’s way, or risking your health, wealth, or position, for the good of the country is patriotism; anything else is nationalism. Standing for, or singing along with, the national anthem, is NOT patriotism.

    As for uniforms, the Bears Monsters of the Midway jersey is gorgeous. Combine that with the Steelers and that game was a thing of beauty indeed. Still, not quite as gorgeous as the USC-Cal game. Cal’s Roth unis are simply gorgeous.

    I believe all MLS teams are doing the yellow captain’s armband and ribbons for the ‘Kick Childhood Cancer’ program.

    In this NYCFC recap, it seems like New York City is wearing the ribbon, but not Houston.

    Tiny little correction in the Hockey section of the ticker – its “University of Denver,” not “Denver University.”

    This raises a question for me… could anyone explain why schools that are clearly names in the “U of ___” format colloquially refer to themselves as “_U.” Lindsay is correct about Denver, but they (and, in fact, their domain name) go by DU. More relevant in my part of the country, the University of Missouri goes by MU (contrasting from Michigan, which I see referenced in shorthand as UM?), and the University of Kansas goes by KU (Kentucky – UK?).

    I’ve always though about that too, which is, I think, why I noticed it so readily. I’ve heard so many people say “Kansas University” because of the well-known “KU” nickname/logo. Other examples of this include the University of Colorado and the University of Nebraska, and, of course, the University of Oklahoma. I think it has to do with geography. All of the schools that do this weird transposition are all in a relatively small geographical area- all in states bordering one another in the midwest/west.

    This is totally just a guess for me based on an observation.

    …and all former Big 8 schools (DU excluded)…

    I was thinking Indiana was an exception outside this range, but they’re actually known as “Indiana University.”

    The arm-in-arm protest even spread to link. I certainly didn’t expect to see it in the CFL, but after reading the article, I can understand why those players did it.

    Pats are my favourite junior team from my days growing up in Regina. Was a bit disappointed a couple years back when they changed their uniforms. The new ones are still decent, but they went from their longstanding royal blue to navy. It is the junior hockey equivalent of if the Toronto Maple Leafs ditched royal blue in favour of navy ones.

    Their signature (and my favourite) look will always be royal blue jerseys with the white shoulder yokes:

    link

    Better than the present day navy:

    link

    1. Mark Davis was shown standing with hand over his heart (unlike most of his team).
    2. More visually striking to me was the image of Army Ranger Captain and Steelers Tackle Alejandro Villanuevea being the lone Steeler showing the proper respect for the flag and the anthem.
    3. Suddenly, Villanueva’s jersey is reportedly the top selling jersey across all leagues overnight.

    The fact that Mark Davis did what he presumably usually does at every other game is not news. The fact that he changed his mind about his players’ choice to protest *is* news.

    Meanwhile, Tim, I’m sure it was just an oversight on your part that you never told us about Colin Kaepernick’s jersey being the top seller a year ago:
    link

    As usual, I don’t give a shit about jersey sales one way or the other. They have nothing to do with Uni Watch, where we cover uniforms, not merchandise. Let’s move on. Thanks.

    Villanuevea being the lone Steeler showing the proper respect for the flag and the anthem.

    What does the flag have to do with it? There is no custom requiring us to stand at attention or hold our hands over our hearts whenever the flag is in view. Imagine how difficult life would be if that were a custom! You’d literally never be able to buy a car, and the wait staff could never take your order or deliver your food at Perkin’s or Denny’s, what with the giant flags flying in plain view all the time at such establishments.

    I’ve attended plenty of events where the anthem was sung but no flag was flying, and folks still stood, doffed our caps, and held our hands over our hearts. (Amateur sports: There isn’t always a flagpole nearby.) And I’ve attended plenty of events where the flag is present but the anthem is not sung, and nobody spends two minutes spontaneously standing and saluting the flag.

    The question at issue is one’s behavior toward the anthem. Not the flag, the anthem. The one is not the other. It may seem like a small distinction, but the difference matters.

    I will put this in my scrapbook of “what my favorite athletes do during the national anthem” which i have tracked since 1972. I will never forget what Tom Seaver did in his debut with the Reds.

    I still get chills when I read that entry.

    The anthem stuff and the continued stuff of “disrespecting the military” is too much (in short, I support protests, since being a patriotic American is about fighting injustice, and I think those being offended on behalf of the military need to realize it’s not the military that makes us great).

    On the cycling item, I saw some tweet exchanges between a popular cycling host on a youtube channel and followers wondering about how much time Peter Sagan has actually raced in a “standard issue” team kit versus not. The guy has spent so much time being either at top of his country or world or wearing some sort of leader jersey in a stage race that he hardly ever wears what other teammates wear. Definitely a generational talent

    You cant make this crap up. Now villanueva the leading “hero” for the steelers is “regretting his decision”.

    I think i will unplug the internet for next 48 hrs.

    link

    I walked out of the stadium with that young man. He was very impressive. I think he thought I was going to hassle him because he looked at me and said ‘sir, I’m not disrespecting anything. We have a great country but the movement for equality is important too. I think we can support both’.

    I was really impressed by him.

    What’s odd about that jersey is that it’s a white nameplate on a green jersey. Kind of mimicking what another team in Philly has normally done since circa 2010, eh?

    Back to the White Sox. I always wondered why the Cap logo – block lettering– was different from the uni logo. (Script) The two didn’t match until the white/black makeover.

    Not totally true, the cap logo went script starting in 1969, and thru the red era, ending in 1975…

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