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National Championship Game Recap

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If 13 is bad luck, what about a torn No. 13? That was the situation on Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s helmet in last night’s college football national championship game. Considering how the game turned out, maybe the torn numeral was good luck.

Aside from that, it was a pretty uni-uneventful game, but here are a few notes:

• Here’s a good look at the cameras that were mounted on the officials’ caps (click to enlarge):

• A member of Alabama’s color guard died yesterday morning after a long battle with a brain tumor. As a memorial gesture, both schools’ marching bands wore grey ribbons on their uniforms last night.

Embed from Getty Images

• This is pretty fascinating: Georgia’s fight song is based on “Battle Hymn of the Republic” (NYT link), which was a rallying cry for the North during the Civil War.

• Alabama is the first school to win multiple titles in the CFP era, so their championship T-shirt shows two CFP trophies:

• ESPN updated the TV number on Alabama’s helmet from 16 to 17, to reflect their 17th national title, but the numerals they used were too large:

(My thanks to James Gilbert, Josh Hinton, Scott Hord, and Phil for their contributions to this section.)

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Collector’s Corner
By Brinke Guthrie

Still recovering from a big ol’ honking cold that has dogged me since before New Year’s Eve, but I feel better when I look at this eBay auction for a Chiquita football and stickers. If you already had the football and stickers, all you needed was the radio (which I have right here) and this yellow Viewmaster thing (which I never heard of back in the day).

Now for the rest of the week’s picks:

• From reader Matthew Dunn: Here’s one of those neat 1969 “bicycle hub cap” helmet kits, this one for the Atlanta Falcons.

• Sticking with the bicycle theme, these MLB team reflectors snapped onto your bicycle spokes. These only came in five MLB team options for some reason: the Expos, White Sox (shown), Giants, Mariners, and Orioles.

• Caught myself humming some vintage NFL Films tunes more than once while watching the weekend playoffs, and if you’re a fan of that music, you will love this box set. This was the NFL Films album that started me off, way back when.

• These 1971 IHOP NFL placemats take me back to my Dallas days. I can distinctly recall pulling into the IHOP parking lot and getting geeked up about their in-store helmet display. Pancakes? I was there for the helmets! Well, maybe the pancakes, too.

• Wow, check this out: a 1967 NFL “Western Conference” color-by-numbers set by “Venus Paradise.” Looks like Dave Robinson squashing Dan Reeves, if memory serves. You get nine pencils, nine sketches, and a sharpener.

• I’m admittedly not an NHL guy, but I’ve spent a few Uni Watch years now on eBay, and I have to say I have never seen “Chuck Canuck” — as on this Vancouver Canucks pennant — before.

• This Padres shirt is from Nike’s Cooperstown Collection. I have one of these for the Giants (circa 2000 or so) and it’s the softest shirt I’ve ever owned, right up there with those epic 1990s soft-as-buttah Champion NFL Pro Line styles.

• Plenty of vintage logos on this 1960s NFL “twin blanket throw.”

• The artwork on this 1970s New York Rangers poster is sharp, to say the least. Other teams available here.

• Here’s an NFL mini-helmet clock — this one with Bucco Bruce. I have never seen these before! Now, the clock is ridiculously small, so you’ll never be able to read it, and at first I thought this was a DIY. Nope, officially licensed!

• Just tell me what the art director was thinking when he/she approved the “Montreal” font for this Expos pennant.

• • • • •

Great sign making film: A friend on Facebook pointed me toward a 16-minute documentary from 2013 called Gentlemen of Letters, which is about sign painters in Dublin, Ireland. Highly recommended.

• • • • •

Bat giveaway: As you may have noticed in the right-hand sidebar, our friends at the Pillbox Bat Co. are planning to give away one of their gorgeous painted bats later this month. Full details here.

• • • • •

The Ticker
By Alex Hider

Baseball News: The A’s opened their new team headquarters yesterday. Here are some photos of the new building. … The Cardinals have not announced which number new LF Marcell Ozuna will be wearing this season, but Lids is selling an Ozuna jersey with No. 23 (from Tony Hansel). …  A photo of the Giants’ Fred Merkle, taken moments before he committed his infamous baserunning error that cost the Giants the 1908 pennant, has been uncovered (from Tom Ekstrand). … New uniforms for Samford (from B.J. Millican). …Texas A&M will wear stars and stripes uniforms next season (from Clint).

NFL News: With Martin Luther King Day less than a week away, this week’s New Yorker cover depicts King kneeling alongside NFL protesters. … Whoops: Someone at Majestic forgot to proofread these Vikings T-shirts (from Gary Olson). … Here’s a list of soccer kit concepts for NFL teams (from Doc Serph).

College Football News: Los Angeles Rams RB and Georgia alum Todd Gurley wore a Bulldogs frankenjersey ahead of yesterday’s national championship game (from Ben). … Former Iowa coach Hayden Fry is up for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame. His full name is John Hayden Fry, but the Hall of Fame’s website lists his full name as George Hayden Fry (from Kary Klismet). … HQ Trivia, a popular mobile game, asked a question about Oregon’s football uniforms yesterday (from Griffin Smith). … NCAA D-III Gallaudet University’s helmet is the best in college football, according to Helmet Tracker’s fan vote (from Jeff Weld and Todd Usher). … Lots going on in these vintage Youngstown State photos: mismatched nameplates, crop top jerseys, and giant merit decals to name a few (from Robert Hayes).

Hockey News: There’s no crying in hockey, either: The Rockford IceHogs of the AHL will wear Rockford Peaches-themed jerseys on Jan. 26, honoring the 75th anniversary of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The Peaches were the team famously portrayed in “A League of their Own.” … As mentioned in Saturday’s Ticker, Penguins C Sidney Crosby used purple tape on his stick to raise awareness for the “Do it for Daron” organization. In that game, Crosby scored a goal and tallied three assists so he used purple tape again on Sunday for good luck (from Jeff Slater). … Joe Werner ordered an item on eBay recently from a Canadian seller, and his package came delivered with some awesome hockey-themed stamps.

NBA News: Last night, the Pacers wore their white Hickory throwbacks against the Bucks, who went BFBS (from Nate Thompson). … ESPN is using a photo of last year’s T-Wolves unis in a commercial (from Patrick Lerentz).

College and Rec League Hoops News: Looks like Ohio State will wear grey throwbacks on Thursday against Maryland (from Ben Teaford). … Northern Kentucky and Oakland went black-on-yellow this weekend on Oakland’s dark wood floor (from Derek Linn). … Robert C. Byrd High School in Clarksburg, West Virginia, will wear uniforms honoring Kelly Miller High School on Feb. 2. Kelly Miller was an all-black school that closed in 1956 (from Mike Gilbert). … A Cincinnati rec league team was suspended after wearing uniforms with NOBs that included “Coon” and “Knee Grow.” The team itself was called the “Wet Dream Team.” Additional info here (from Joe Owen).

Soccer News: Club America of Liga MX has a new kit (from Ed Żelaski and Josh Hinton). … Memphis will be getting a USL squad in 2019, and the team will play its home matches at AutoZone Park, the home of Triple A baseball’s Memphis Redbirds (from Parker Lee). … New kits for Leones Negros of Mexico’s second league (from Gilberto). … Repost: Here’s a list of soccer kits concepts for NFL teams (from Doc Serph). … Real Sociedad of La Liga has signed an apparel deal with Macron, replacing Adidas (from Josh Hinton).

Grab Bag: Here’s what the USA’s Olympic ski team will wear next month in Pyeongchang (from Phil). … The Zambonis, the hockey-clad rockers that have been featured here on the site before, have teamed up with the band Vista Blue to produce a record about curling. They’re taking pre-orders now for the 7″ vinyl record, and they’re hoping to have the records delivered in time for the Olympic opening ceremonies. … Jeremy Brahm wrote a blog post discussing how teams handle volleyballs  in their logos. … This blogger is disturbed by Under Armour’s speed skating uniforms (from Bryon West).

 
  
 
Comments (53)

    There’s some possible uni news in the responses to the tweet about the new Athletics’ office in the Ticker.

    Proofreading:

    “T=this week’s New Yorker cover depicts King kneeling kneeling alongside NFL protesters.”

    A twofer: “T=this” and “kneeling kneeling”

    Typo: “Northern Kentucky and Oakland went black-on-yellow this weekend on Oakland’s dark wood flood”. “Floor”

    Watched the end of the college football game last night. Got me thinking that the Green Bay Packers, Georgia and Grambling all wear the same style “G” logo on the helmet. Anyone know who wore it first?

    There are those whose Google-fu is strong. There are those whose Google-fu is weak. And then there are those who use Bing. We try not to talk about that last group. :P

    I’ll be nice, and say that Green Bay was first. Georgia and Grambling actually license it out from them.

    *insert tired “The G stands for Greatness” joke here*

    Didn’t get chance to search on Net due to a tight time schedule this morning. Have lack of good US college football uniform history knowledge. It is great that the answer comes up by just putting in “Packers Grambling Georgia”. Thought too much about what to search I guess.

    I do appreciate the response Rob S.!

    Georgia had the G first. There was actually a legal battle when Green Bay decided to make it their logo, as they were accused of stealing Georgia’s logo. The Packers were forced to alter the logo just slightly (if you look closely the Green Bay logo is wider and more squat than Georgia’s).

    Every Source I found said that Georgia based its logo on the one from Green Bay and that Green Bay’s logo has been modified over the years to look like Georgia’s.

    For the ESPN Alabama helmet, I wonder if they had 16 on one side of the helmet and 17 on the other, then just flipped it around since the first photo shows Georgia’s helmet on the left and Bama right (even though Georgia was the designated home team) then they flipped positions in the second photo.

    I went back to the archives to see what they did last time Alabama won, and link. Though, they were two different desks at different locations in the stadium as well.

    I appreciate all the research that went into Jeremy Brahm’s blog post about the volleyballs. I’m wondering about how often the Molten basketball design used in the Olympics (and in Lithuania where the Ball brothers will play) appears in logos compared to the (current) traditional 8-panel design.

    Proofreading:
    The A’s opened their new team headquarters yesterday. Here’s some photos of the new building.
    – Here “are” some photos

    That ticker story about the Cincy area team wearing the racist jerseys was disgusting. Paul, you might wanna add the fact that this was a YOUTH rec league. These were 7th graders wearing the jerseys.

    Re: the hockey themed stamps

    the ones in the top left are from the ‘History of Hockey’ joint release with Canada post and USPS
    link

    The others are from ‘Canadian Hockey Legends’
    link

    That Merkle photo is pretty interesting, but looking up the play, I have to wonder… did Rule 5.09(b)(2) exist at this point? If Merkle turned and headed to the dugout before reaching second base, that would, under that rule, constitute abandonment, and he would be ruled out regardless of whether the ball actually reached second.

    This is one question where my Google-fu has thus far failed me.

    Correction on the Hayden Fry ticker entry: Hayden Fry isn’t up for induction to the College Football Hall of Fame, he’s already been inducted – in 2003. Here’s a better link to the full-sized image where you can see his induction date:

    link

    Re: Merkle and Chance photo. What a find! Ever since Okkonen came out I’ve loved the 1908 Cubs uniforms, especially the road duds. Photos from that year have always been scarce so it’s really cool to see a “new” one. And look at Frank Chance’s sleeve stripes!

    I *really* want to know what that alternate color is in the socks. Okkonen shows it as light gray; one of the minor league affiliates wore 1908 throwback uniforms in which it was dull gold or brown. I’ve also seen photos of the home uniforms in which there is a brown border around the C-with-bear logo on the front and wonder if that (being the color of a bear’s body) was the actual one.

    Did anyone else notice in the A’s open their new team headquarters photos, the set of three, middle photo the construction helmet painted in San Francisco 49ers colors?

    Noticed that too! And the football thing is just for the coupon, not the actual football… Do people buy vintage coupons now?

    This is not uni related BUT the script logo for a private bus line in NY/NJ irks me every time I see it. The ‘y’ in Community is smaller than the rest of the script letters!!! Aaaaaaargh!!!!!!!! I wonder if there are any uni logos that have a similar issue. Thanks!!!

    If only there were a mechanism, perhaps on the internet, where one could look up the answer to this type of question… ;)

    link

    I noticed something in the championship game that I’d never seen before. One of the players (from Georgia I think) had a different SEC badge, a special one that said “SEC Graduate”. Not sure if this means he’s a grad student or a recent grad. Is this a new thing?

    Being disturbed by those speed skating uniforms is really immature. “Oh no! A very vague, almost non-existant outline of human anatomy!” *blushes*

    So now you have an Anti-AdBlocker popup on your website? Seems a little hypocritical to ask us to whitelist your site, considering your stance on “Corporate Douchebaggery” and #NoUniAds.

    1) I honestly have no idea what you’re referring to. Could you please send a screen shot?

    2) Even if I did know what you were talking about, you appear to be engaging in a logical fallacy. Here, read this — I think you’ll find it illuminating:
    link

    I’ve re-created the phenomenon and posted it here: link

    Oddly enough, after turning the blocker on, it took me several tries to get that to show up, leading me to wonder about it. (My blocker’s off again now anyway.)

    Tua entered the game with large eye black crosses under each eye, after the first or second series he was in they were removed and he played the rest of the second half eye black free.

    Nit-picky but “Glory” isn’t UGA’s fight song. One of their their main tunes, yes. Not their fight song though. Similar to “Rocky Top” not being Tennessee’s fight song.

Comments are closed.