As had been widely expected based on video game leaks, the Lakers announced that they’ll wear George Mikan-era Minneapolis Lakers throwbacks this season (which they also wore back in 2002). The design will make its 2017 on-court debut tomorrow and will be worn four more times this season. You can see the dates here.
This is the part where I say it’s a classic design but it’s ruined by the maker’s mark and the corporate ad patch, both of which feel badly out of place on a retro-styled jersey, and wouldn’t it be nice if they could omit those elements from the throwbacks, especially since Nike and Wish didn’t even exist back when the Minneapolis Lakers played, but of course they won’t do that because they’re greedy motherfuckers. Never mind, you already knew all of that.
The Lakers are the fifth NBA team to reveal a throwback this season. The others are the Bucks, Hornets, Suns, and Warriors. Three additional teams — the Hawks, Heat, and Pacers — are slated to have throwbacks this season but have not yet revealed them.
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Time for the Fall Classic: The World Series begins tonight in Los Angeles. As usual I’ve prepared a preview column for ESPN, with 10 uni-related items to keep an eye on (including the difference beween Dodgers center fielder Chris Taylor’s real stirrups and teammate Enrique Hernández’s one-piece faux stirrups, shown above). Check it out here.
Incidentally, when I said that the Series will start “tonight,” that was technically inaccurate for people on the west coast, since the game will begin at 5:09pm Pacific Time. Obviously, we all understand why the networks do this, but I figure it must be really annoying for fans who’ll miss the first few innings while they’re commuting home from work. For those of you who live out west, how do you feel about this, and how do you deal with it?
NBA Uni Tracking: Last week I noted that the first two days of NBA action had produced zero color-vs.-color games, despite the elimination of home and road uniform designations. I concluded by saying, “If anyone wants to track all of this during the course of the season, I’d love to see how it all plays out.”
Reader Collin Wright immediately volunteered. He’s going to update us once a week on how the NBA’s uniform pairings are shaping up. Up through last night, there had been 48 NBA games so far this season. Those games break down as follows:
White vs. color, home team in white: 31 games (65%).
White vs. color, road team in white: 11 games (23%).
Color vs. color: 6 games (12%).
One note: If the Lakers wear yellow at home, we’re treating that as white, not as color. (And if the Lakers wear white at home, of course we’re treating that as white as well.)
So one week in, nearly two-thirds of the teams are still wearing white at home, and 85% of the games are still white vs. color. Not exactly a revolution, at least so far.
Collin also passed along the following observations:
• The Hornets, Clippers, Pelicans, 76ers, and Kings have only worn colored uniforms so far.
• The Knicks and Suns have only worn white uniforms so far.
• No team has worn its colored alternate uniform yet, although the Suns and Warriors have both worn their white throwbacks.
That’s it for this week. Big thanks to Collin for compiling this data. We’ll hear from him again next week, and every week throughout the season.
Click to enlarge (it’s totally worth it!)
Too good for the Ticker: A link to the photo shown above was posted in yesterday’s comments by reader/commenter Pedro. It It shows the Kodak Park team that won the world amateur softball championship in Chicago. That’s some uniform! I tried to find some game photos but came up empty.
I’d love to see a colorized version of this. Anyone want to take a crack at it?
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Collector’s Corner
By Brinke Guthrie
Tonight is Game One of the World Series, so we’re featuring the Houston Astros on today’s edition of Collector’s Corner. The seller indicates that Jeff Bagwell wore this tequila sunrise jersey on 6/26/99. Note that the jersey has Mitchell & Ness tagging — did they actually make on-field jerseys? Yes! Bill Henderson’s authoritative guide indicates that M&N did indeed make the throwbacks that the Astros wore on that date. Of course, that doesn’t guarantee that the jersey is truly game-worn, but it’s still interesting to see that M&N supplied on-field product back in the late 1990s.
Now for the rest of this week’s picks:
• Here’s a lot of 1970s Vikings-wear; a cap, scarf, and facemask for those cold Minnesota days.
• Here’s a nice-looking 1980s Steelers ceramic football bank.
• This 1970s New York Rangers hockey skate/bottle opener is still in the package.
• Here’s a promo patch from Newport, Kentucky’s Wiedemann brewing for the 1977-78 Cincinnati Stingers. Not even close with the logo. They took the player art from this schedule. They got just a bit closer with the logo the following season. Finally, check out the “Riverfront Coliseum” logo on these Stingers tickets. A classic, and one I have fond memories of.
• Back in the 1970s, Bonanza Steakhouses offered NFL gumball helmets for sale, like this Giants helmet, still sealed in the package.
• This 1970s Dallas Cowboys helmet buggy is in perfect condition!
• If you’re a Chargers fan, take notice of this 1960s poster. It’s never been removed from the plastic packing tube.
• This 1970s Cincinnati Reds luggage tag has “United Airlines, the Airline of Sports Champions” on one side.
• Cheer the Saints on to victory with this 1960s megaphone.
• Here we have a Philadelphia Flyers button still in the package. The seller says it’s circa 1960s, but the NFL shield top left wasn’t used until 1970, so we’ll date it from that point on.
XFL contest reminder: In case you missed it on Saturday, Phil announced our latest jersey design contest, this time to reimagine a team from the XFL if the league were still operational today.
The deadline is Oct. 31. Full details here.
The Ticker
By Alex Hider
Baseball News: We have our first look at this year’s World Series jersey and cap patches. Seems like they should be switched, no? (From Nick Maggos and Ignacio.) … Here’s a ranking of the best beards of this year’s World Series (from Andrew Cosentino). … Remember when the Fresno Grizzlies, the Astros’ Triple-A affiliate, gave away Astros 2017 World Series champions rings — in 2015? (From David Sreeter.) … A petition has been started to get the Astros to wear tequila sunrise jerseys in the World Series. Hey, we can dream right? … In honor of the Dodgers’ National League championship, Douglas Ford sent along his “Knot Hole GangDouble-A San Antonio Dodgers games for free that season.
Pro Football News: Vikings owner Zygi Wilf recently toured the team’s still-under-construction headquarters in a team-branded hard hat (from Phil). … This photo of Broncos QB Steve Deberg from the 1983 season opener shows both the amplifying system he wore under his uniform (more info on that here) and the memorial patch for coach Rich McCabe that was only worn for that one game (from Bill Kellick). … Which team had the best 75th-anniversary throwbacks in 1994? Vote here (from Uni Watch Fan Page). … The Montreal Alouettes wore a helmet decal honoring the 40th anniversary of their 1977 Grey Cup championship this weekend (from Wade Heidt). … The Washington Post has a great profile on Tony Britt, who has made a career out of supplying spotting charts for football broadcasters (from Rob Evans).
College Football News: Arizona State has unveiled a new military appreciation uniform, which will be worn on Nov. 4 against Colorado. The back of the helmet includes the names of all ASU players and coaches who’ve ever served in the military. Additional info and photos here. … More teaser images have been released of the GFGS unis that Ohio State will be wearing this weekend. Penn State apparently tried to block the Bucks from wearing the jerseys citing number contrast rules, but to no avail (from Tad Haislop). … Speaking of Ohio State, they apparently have mono-white unis in the works for the Michigan game. … The concourse of Colorado State’s stadium includes a labeled mural of the mountains surrounding the campus (from Kary Klismet). … Also from Kary: there’s some Iowa uniform talk in this podcast between 1:52 and 5:25. The hosts even cite Uni Watch and indirectly get into Paul’s theory about the uniform-industrial complex. … Cross-listed from the pro football section: Here’s a great profile on Tony Britt, who has made a career out of supplying spotting charts for football broadcasters (from Rob Evans).
Hockey News: Devils C Brian Boyle was recently diagnosed with leukemia. A mural bearing his image has sprung up at the corner of 7th Ave. and 28th St. in Manhattan (from James Beattie). … The Brandon Wheat Kings wore Don Cherry-inspired jerseys on Friday (from Megan Brown). … The Clarkson University women received their NCAA championship rings yesterday (from John Muir). … This list ranks the 15 worst goalie masks of all time (from David Firestone).
Basketball News: Warriors G Steph Curry has been fined $50,000 for throwing his mouthpiece at an official on Saturday. … Hornets F Frank Kaminsky is going with RNOB this season (from Jack Pesin). … This Robert Traylor basketball card features a player who appears to be the Magic’s Isaac Austin in a NNOB jersey (from @otterBP). … The ABA has a new team: the Akron Aviators. Here’s their logo. No sign of the uniforms yet (from Jim Vilk).
Soccer News: The South Korean women’s national team and the USWNT played two friendlies and switched between mono-red and mono-white unis. All players on the South Korean women’s national team went FNOB with each player’s last name listed in all-caps first. The player’s first name followed in mixed case (from our own Jamie Rathjen). … Kyle Burkholder’s MLS tracker for the 2017 regular season is complete.
Grab Bag: Last week, we mentioned in the Ticker that a member of the US women’s gymnastics team wears glasses during competition. Turns out that Penn State’s Stephen Nedoroscik does the same thing (from Mike Wilson). … Someone ran the Toronto Marathon dressed as Gord Downie, the recently deceased frontman for the Tragically Hip and one of Canada’s favorite sons (from Mike Styczen). … This long video details 10 pro wrestlers who were forced to wear masks because of injury (from David Firestone). … Also from David Firestone: Check out this guy who gave his car a paint job — with Sharpies!
What Paul did last night several nights ago: Every year around this time I attend the Food Film Festival, which is exactly what it sounds like — a bunch of short movies about food. The kicker is that they serve you the food you’re seeing on the screen as the movies are playing (which sounds chaotic and disruptive but actually works out surprisingly well), and then there’s an afterparty with more food. It’s always a great time.
The FFF typically extends over four days, but I usually attend only one or two days. This year that day was last Friday, when some friends and I checked out this program. Most of the movies were about the actual preparation of food, but one of them was a really clever, super-entertaining flick about how the term “Grey Poupon” shows up a lot in rap lyrics. That film, which was originally done for Vox, is available on the web. Highly, highly recommended — the best 10 minutes you’ll spend today, trust me.
What makes a good hockey mask design from a bad hockey mask design? 6 of one, half dozen of the other.
RE: Playoff games in Pacific Time: “… For those of you who live out west, how do you feel about this, and how do you deal with it?
I have yet to meet a West Coaster, though I’m sure they exist, who does not like that pro games start in mid-afternoon, and end in early evening. The only gripe comes on Sunday mornings when football kick-offs on the East Coast are at 10am.
The biggest gripes have to be on the East Coast, where games END around midnight or later. For working stiffs who rise early (like me), that is brutal.
Former West Coaster. I HATE that WS games start at 5. At least when my team was in it.
As for NFL games starting at 10 AM, that’s what I miss most. Games at 10, 1, and 5:30. Games are done by 8:30 and I get to bed on time. I stayed up to watch that Raiders/Chiefs game and don’t know how you East Coasters cope with that BS.
Just moved to the east coast for the first time and can’t stand how late games go! I’d much rather miss the first couple of innings than the last few.
I’m with Jeff. If I have to miss half a game, I’d much rather it be the first half than the second half. Who wants to leave a game not knowing the outcome?
Growing up in CA, I grew to love NFL start times at 10:00. I’d make brunch and bloody marys and enjoy the early action before my team (Raiders) normally took the field for their 1 pm (4 eastern) start. Moving to the east coast was a big adjustment in that regard.
Early start times for my Dodgers in playoff games meant I just had to find a way to leave work early. Granted, not everyone has that type of workplace flexibility, but I usually found a way to work around the early start times. I also enjoyed the fact that in CA games weren’t going on after midnight like later when I lived on the east coast.
As a Pacific-Timer, I love when games start earlier. I work from 7-3, so it is perfect to get home, gear up for the game and get to bed at a reasonable hour!
The World Series preview column is up:
link
Terrific preview. To my eye, this looks to be the best-uniformed World Series since maybe 1991. Been a long time since two such sharply dressed teams have met; even each team’s alternates are terrific.
As for the Astros jersey script, sure, it looks off-balanced, except for the players who wear numbers on the front. Which, happily, turns out to be all of them. Front numbers usually un-balance script treatments other than slanting script. So with arched lettering, offsetting the script to the left is an elegant solution to achieving a balanced composition with the numbers. Judging the script as script, the placket break is offputtig. Judging the script as a design element for the jersey as a whole, it’s perfect. That detail – taking something so classically “wrong” that I would never even consider doing it, and making it work – is one of several reasons that the current Astros unis have become some of my favorites in baseball.
Disagree, Phillies v. Yankees in 2009.
Uni ad and Nike swoosh is why I’m calling those jerseys fauxbacks.
World Series start times were always frustrating when I lived in California. I never really thought about it until 2010 and I had to listen to the first few innings on the radio on the way home. Thank God for Jon Miller! I’ve since moved to the Central time zone. Now I’m pissed that I won’t be able to see the end since these games will take 4 plus hours.
East Coast fans get the shaft, nothing better then going to bed at 1am & having to wake up at 530am. At least the Super Bowl starts at 630-ish EST.
If anyone is getting “the shaft”…its our friends in Newfoundland…90 minutes ahead of EST…
OTOH, I’m in Asia at the moment, and popping the game on early in the morning is working pretty well for me…
It’s amazing how much range in effort there was in the 1994 NFL throwback effort. But the team that half-assed it the most for me was the Buffalo Bills. They didn’t even bother changing out the stripes on the helmet, let alone wear the proper color helmet, and the throwback jerseys looked like cheap knock-offs of their current jerseys rather than actual throwbacks.
I STILL feel ripped off by what the Colts wore against the awesome 1933 Steeler unis.
Seems like more than a few teams just decided to use the same helmet even if it didn’t make the throwback. Jets using their green helmet with the 60’s era throwback.
The results of the vote are no surprise, Oilers and Chargers were the most popular throwbacks.
Bad effort for the Jets. Always makes me snicker when I think about how they decided to actually use a Saskatchewan Roughriders throwback helmet instead and plop their logo on it:
link
The Jets jerseys at least had the correct sleeve colors, and at least they bothered to put stripes on the helmets (though the fact that they used the green helmets and black facemasks at all is disappointing). Still not as bad as Buffalo, in my opinion.
Being an east coaster I envy the 5pm start time. If it is your team, you are going to find a way to start watching the games at 5pm. Now, as I understand it the traffic is awful in LA, so you’re probably talking about having to leave work a full hour before the game to get home in time. I find it kind of comical that some would complain about a 5pm local start time, since for years people were upset that the games got switched from late afternoon to the evening.
I’d take 5pm starts over a 1am finish
Like many West Coasters, I work at a job with many clients in the Eastern Time Zone. Live on the West Coast and work East Coast hours. World Series starting at 5pm not a problem. I am long gone from work by then.
Plus we can see all the West Coast games as it is never too late. NFL starting at 10 am. The Hockey Night in Canada games at 4pm and 7pm.
I’m surprised the NFL didn’t do more of a data dive about viewership for that one game that got moved from Arizona to Oakland, and from the afternoon to 11 p.m. Sunday on the East coast.
I think the NFL would love to have five broadcast windows on Sunday — 9 a.m. (for a game in Europe), 1:05 p.m., 4:25 p.m., 8:15 p.m., and 11 p.m. Complete monopoly!
Perhaps this has been addressed, but I suppose we consider the Astros to be a navy team, with orange as their secondary color, even though when they go with a colored jersey it is orange?
I think they really are missing the boat by not having an orange cap, makes them stand out from all the other blue and navy teams. Likewise, judging from the crowds at their games, seems like the fans prefer orange.
If you’re referring to the first item in my World Series preview, I didn’t refer to the Astros as a “navy team,” nor did I imply that they have a navy/orange color hierarchy. I simply said navy is one of their team colors, which it is.
Oh yeah, I don’t think you made any proclamation about their color hierarchy. That is what I am curious about, and I’m guessing it has been addressed before. Based on their uniforms they are a navy team with orange trim. Which is unfortunate, because they look like a Tigers knock off, when they could be their own thing with orange.
“that M+N did indeed make the throwbacks”
Maybe it’s nit-picky but: M+N made the jerseys.
They didn’t become “throwbacks” until recently.
No, they were already throwbacks in 1999, when they were worn for that game.
“Astros 2017 World Series champions rings — in 2015”: if the Cubs don’t make the World Series in 2015 — and win it all the following year — maybe the Astros…
I know LeBron James is a basketball legend, but to already have an arena named after him —
link
Oh.
I’ve heard that it’s recommended for runners to put their name on their shirt so spectators can cheer for them by name.
The Gord Downie marathon runner has his first name on his bib number. Can spectators pick peoples’ names out of those bibs? And do the elite runners have their first names on their bibs too?
I think you see many elite runners with their WHOLE names on bibs. (WNOB?)
That’s called FNOB (Full Name on Back/Bib).
I join those who would rather miss the start of a game then have to go to bed before the end of it. I’m a lifelong Eastern Timer, but when I visit the West Coast I like the fact that after the games you can still go out or turn in early.
Penn State apparently tried to block the Bucks from wearing the jerseys citing number contrast rules, but to no avail
So there are rules against this mess but they’re not enforced? Who’s running the show here?
(Rhetorical)
The ABA has a new team: the Akron Aviators….No sign of the uniforms yet
Here’s a look, and from the waist down it isn’t good.
link
Just say no to crotch writing. It’s bad enough on practice shorts…but on game shorts? Get outta here.
Sorry, as someone who lives in the Eastern Time Zone I have no sympathy. At least West Coasters get to see the ending of the games. I’m up at 4:00 AM to go to work.
I know the Lakers are originally from Minneapolis, but isn’t it kinda weird that they’d wear MPLS in Los Angeles when there is currently another team in Minneapolis (wolves)?
I remember the Wizards wearing Chicago Zephyrs jersey several years ago, for example, but they didn’t wear “Chicago” on their chest. As a wizards fan I think that’d be a little odd rooting for my team had they worn a competing city’s name on their chest.
One last thing, why do you count the Lakers yellow jersey as white? I assume it’s because they’ve historically worn that at home, but it seems a little silly to do so since, well, it’s not white…
why do you count the Lakers yellow jersey as white?
Because it fits the model of a team wearing its standard (or formerly standard) home uniform at home.
I acknowledge that it’s a judgment call, and I went back and forth on the best way to approach it. There’s really no ideal solution. Whaddaya gonna do.
WOuld you consider a lighter grey white? Just hypothetical question but curious. What about a lighter blue? Like the MPLS-shade?
Case-by-base basis.
Let’s review the whole point of this exercise. Why are we compiling this data? Because we (or at least I) want to see if the NBA’s elimination of home and road uniform designations is having much of an impact on the uniforms that the teams choose to wear.
If the Lakers wear yellow at home, that’s the same thing as any other team wearing white at home. If they stick with that this season, it means the new uni system is not having an effect on their uni choices. We never considered a Lakers-in-yellow home game to be a color-on-color game in the past (we just considered it the normal look for a Lakers home game), so I see no reason to start treating it as such this season.
Ok, I personally had always considered it color but I understand your point
> I think that’d be a little odd rooting for my team had they worn a competing city’s name on their chest
Reminds me of several years ago when the Braves wore Boston throwbacks against the Red Sox. That was pretty weird.
Regarding the Lakers wearing Minneapolis on their chest when there currently is a different team in Minneapolis…
I’ve always thought it would be funny if the Arizona Coyotes wore old Winnipeg Jets throwbacks in a game against the current Jets. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be allowed since the current Jets have all the legal rights to the name, but it would be entertaining in a confusing sort of way.
I love the Astros’ rainbow jerseys but the new versions of them seem to be proportioned all wrong, with the rainbow too far down the player’s stomach. This pulls the number on the back downward and puts the NOB right in the middle of the guy’s back; it looks link. The players have to link.
The first time they made these throwbacks, they also seem to have proportioned it wrong but in a different way: the rainbow was still too far down, but link, with the NOB again getting a vast expanse of space to sit in the middle of.
On the 1970s originals, the rainbow link. In the early years they even made link. Why are none of the throwbacks reflecting these important points that make the uniform so great?
The circle thing has been addressed here before: I believe it was just a one year thing for the Astros. Otherwise, agree, the numbers are just too far down the jersey, because the colors are too low to begin with.
I wish that games 1 & 3 of the World Series started no later than 4:30 eastern and were streamed for free. That would do great things to increase interest. People would watch at work, kids home from school could actually the beginning of it.
Also, the “Los Angeles” script Dodgers roadies are beautiful and should be worn 81 times annually.
A 4:30 eastern start would kill interest and ratings. Perhaps people in the competing markets would stream it at work, but most of us wouldn’t be allowed. Which says nothing for the people who logistically can’t do it (factories, construction, outside jobs, etc.) regardless of market.
I think a 4:00 or 430 Pacific start time would work the best. It’s not unreasonably early for the western time zones, and the eastern time zone should still be done watching by midnight.
has anyone mentioned the HUGE apple / football logo that was on Jimbo Fisher’s sleeve this weekend? Looks like a patch but it also looks like it is stiff and very rigid, so much so that it was sticking out on the ends. A search for Jimbo Fisher and Louisville will find it.
WS Time:
I prefer listening on the radio and it would make for a great commute in LA traffic. I play fantasy and have the MLB radio app to listen around the league. I love spending summer evenings in my garage taking in the different announcer teams, culture and local advertisements.
I think it sucks more for the East Coast that games end so late.
The only downside would be missing the visuals of the first game festivities.
As a Chicagoan, I had to look up to see if there was actually a Kodak Park in the city. Nope. But I found this image that shows them in a satin uniform: link
Moved to the West Coast in June, after nearly 4 decades on East Coast. Gotta say, my favorite thing (other than the beach nearly out my front door) is the early start times for “important” games, whatever they are – playoff baseball, Saturday football, whatever.
I hated having games end hours after I needed to be in bed.
Now, if I’m not planning to be home right at 5, I can always DVR and then catch up before the end of the game bc half of them are just an elaborate excuse to play commercials anyway.
I don’t quite understand the obsession of college football teams with wearing all white.
A white jersey worn with white pants is possibly the single most common uniform combination in the history of football.
I’m used to having the WS games start at 5 PM (Pacific), living on the Best Coast my entire life, knowing that the East Coasters will be snug in their beds by the 8th or 9th Inning. Usually, I record the pre-game for Game 1 and play catch-up when I get home. (Easier now with DVRs instead of videotape.)
As an aside, I was in the car driving to my home here in SoCal for Game 3 of the 1989 WS when the Loma Pierta Earthquake struck the Bay Area and feeling the quake a few seconds later.
Real question: is Ohio State’s gray alts technically GFGS since gray is in their color scheme?
re: Kodak Park team
Here’s a poor quality newspaper photo along with an inning by inning report on the last game.
link
better newspaper pic of pitcher Harold “Shifty” Gears on the mound here:
link
cartoon on series here:
link
Ooooh, that second link is awesome. Thank you!
And more about the team’s pitcher. (link)
newspaper pic after win – players in jackets
link
pic of team (wearing jackets) with trophies and larger trophy
link
While trying to find something on Kodak Park team just found out Chicago Tribune newspaper archives which were previously freely accessible online recently became behind a paywall
:(
link
Some good 1936 Kodak Park softball team pictures in the 3rd and 17th pages of the pdf of this issue of Kodak magazine:
link
“pitcher Harold “Shifty” Gears on the MOUND”: in softball? (I know, that’s what it says in the photo caption.)
Those WERE the good old days, when the world championship was contested by teams from the U.S. (and one from Toronto),and played directly on the grass at Soldier Field, as it appears on the first link.
Yes in my book.
My thought looking at the tOSU jerseys is that if the numbers were outlined in white they would really pop.
link
Check out that “scf” (“short center field”, I suppose) in the softball box score!
In the original team photo, looks like the player in the middle row, fourth from left was just a bit too small for the standard lettering. He got the only (visible at least) white A in KODAK. Light hitting shortstop perhaps?
Now I am craving Grey Poupon. Think I’ll go Rye bread, turkey, bacon, muenster, lettuce, tomato, and onion…Clausson pickle on the side. However, I opt for county dijon style.
Thanks for sharing Paul.
Muenster with turkey is on point!
Re: Korea women’s national team jerseys, I came across the name order issue in a previous job working with many Asian people and decided to eschew the first name/last name conventions of the West and used ‘family name’ and ‘given name’ when talking with them.
So it wouldn’t be ‘last name first, first name last’ (I’m sure this sentence structure has some kind of special name), but rather ‘family name first, given name last’.
I began saying it that way after living in Japan where the family name comes first.
Some day I’ll move to Iceland, where people generally don’t have surnames but rather patronymics, so perhaps “surname” is the best choice.
How do we handle west coast start times? If it’s your team, like the Padres of the late nineties, you leave work early! Who cares?! Everyone else is also! If it’s not my team, then I listen to the first hour or so on the radio and then catch the last 2-3 hours at home. The games are so long it doesn’t matter.
It’s interesting to see how many people say, “You just leave work early!”
Not everyone has such a flexible work schedule. But I suppose the people don’t have the luxury of leaving work early are the same ones who don’t have the luxury of commenting on blog during the workday.
With the streaming options these days, not being at home doesn’t necessarily mean missing the game, especially at the office or on public transportation.
Still, I wish I lived on the west coast so I could be awake for the end of east coast sporting events.
Pacific Time person here. My teams are all Eastern Time-based, so I am used to streaming the beginnings of games at work before going home to catch the rest.
For the World Series, I will likely listen in the car on the way home and watch the rest there. I am amazed they are 8:09 ET starts, though. Feels like usually it’s 8:39 or something.
But, yeah, football at 10am (before the time change, 11am after that for us in Arizona) is really good.
Grew up on the East Coast but now live in LA. I don’t like missing the beginning of games, but as others have said, I’d rather miss the beginning and have the game over by 8:30 than have it start at 8:30 and have to either stay up until midnight or miss the end. I hated the 10am football start when I first moved here, but now I’m a convert.
I also work in a business where there’s a TV in every office and another in the common room/kitchen, so I have no doubt that I’ll see way more of this Series than I have any interest in. LA is going to be insufferable for the next week, and even worse if, God forbid, the Dodgers actually win.
“The concourse of Colorado State’s stadium includes a labeled mural of the mountains surrounding the campus.”
As a point of clarification/correction, the mural is of Colorado’s “link” (mountain peaks above 14,000 feet in elevation), not the mountains surrounding the campus. The CSU campus is on the western edge of the Great Plains, near the Rocky Mountain foothills, but there really aren’t any mountains surrounding it. In fact, most of the Fourteeners depicted in the mural are link.
That said, Colorado has 53 of the 96 Fourteeners in the United States, by far the most of any state. As such, they are an important point of cultural identity and state pride, especially among outdoor enthusiasts (of which Fort Collins has many). The significance of Fourteeners is so ingrained in the mindset of Coloradans that the link was named the “link.”
This link has a nice description of the various features and amenities of CSU’s new stadium, including a nod to the Fourteeners mural on page 2.
Mountain time guy here.
I LOVE that the games end at a reasonable time.
As four-hour playoff games become the norm, I like that games are over by 10 p.m.
I don’t know how you east-coasters do it, stay up till midnight or later and then get up for work the next day.
Boo hoo to the West Coasters getting a 5 pm start time.
Every year the NHL staggers playoff games so that a Western Conference game with two midwest teams thatstarts at 8:30 Central Time midweek. I understand they want to get an Eastern Conference game in, but damn, they sing the anthem and then the kids fall asleep. It’s almost midnight before the game ends or we get the awful “Do I commit my whole week to overtime hockey that may last 1 minute or may last 3 more hours?” conundrum.
I’d much rather listen to the start of the game on the radio and catch the remainder with dinner than have to stay up late.
Also: I miss the occasional daytime World Series game. They still had them in the 80’s.
The last day game in the World Series was in Minneapolis in 1987. So that doesn’t count.
The last outdoor day game in the World Series was game 5 (the clinching game) in Detroit in 1984.
I’m a purist for Ohio State and am always leery of their one-off looks, especially an all mono look. But is it technically gray for gray’s sake if one of the team’s actual colors is gray?
I friggin’ LOVE pro/college sports start times from the West Coast. Especially weekends. It means I don’t have to wait ALL day for something to start. Sports are literally on all day instead of just afternoon/evening.
ABA news in the Ticker? How is that news when they’ll probably fold by the second quarter of their first game?
We’ve never discriminated against teams or leagues based on their size or viability. A uniform is a uniform.
The Magic are adding a memorial patch for Helen DeVos, the wife of owner Richard DeVos, who passed away last week. How common are memorial patches for owner’s family members?
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Myra Kraft on the Patriots comes to mind immediately.
Others include link (2004), link (2003), and plenty of other examples.
Mugs Halas got an armband memorial.
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Ohio State’s uniforms on Saturday are not GFGS. Their colors are Scarlet and GRAY !!!
I noticed that no one else has broached the subject, but the Bagwell jersey in Collector’s Corner: Bagwell’s name is arched on a nameplate, but the photos in the Henderson guide show horizontal lettering. Something to wonder about, considering the $2K the guy is selling it for.
Paul S has a GREAT point.
Pics dont lie
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As far as west coast games starting at odd times, I can’t speak for Pacific time zone people, but I’m a Rangers fan in North Texas and sometimes when they play the Yankees or Red Sox,they start the games at 6pm here. Complete and total bs.Baseball should start at 7pm at the home park.
But like another poster said, I’d rather miss the first few innings than the end.
Try living in Hawaii where WS games start at 2 and NFL starts at 7AM!
Central time zone here, where it’s just right. Games start at 7:00, when I’m home from work and eating supper, and they finish around 10:00 before I have to wash dishes and go to bed.
As a Timberwolves fan I feel bummed when the Lakers wear a jersey that says Minneapolis on it.
I’ll pull for the team with the gloss finish on the helmet rather than matte. To me the matte finish looks cheap.
Shifty Gears has to be one of the greatest sports monikers.
Reply to all West Coasters who are whining about 5pm start times (I live in CA) There is this device; a digital video recorder- I believe this piece of technology allows you to….watch a game ANY time YOU want! I suggest you get in touch with your cable or satellite provider. (Millennials, ignore this.)
That Akron Aviators logo looks like something put together from a 1980’s era clip art collection.