US Open Fashion Preview

[Editor’s Note: Paul is on his annual August break from site. Deputy editor Phil Hecken is in charge from now through the end of the month, although Paul may be popping up here occasionally.]

GRIFFINS VOTING ROUND 2 IS TODAY. PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR THE NEXT SET OF DESIGNS AND TO VOTE!

By Phil Hecken
Follow @PhilHecken

The US Open (tennis, not golf) starts this coming Monday just a few miles away from my home base (as a kid and into my early adult years, I probably went to the US Open three or four times each year, and I’ve seen three men’s finals and a ton of men’s and women’s semi-finals over the years; But with the cost of tickets these days, I haven’t been in a decade. Still, I watch every day — and some of those night time matches are really incredible) and am once again looking forward to two weeks of great entertainment. But my doubles partner, Brinke Guthrie, is an even bigger fan than I, particularly when it comes to the outfits worn by the players, so he joins me today to bring us his …

US Open Fashion Preview
By Brinke Guthrie
Follow @brinkeguthrie

It’s up to you, New York, New York. The tennis U.S. Open is upon us, with the first round kicking off Monday the 26th at the National Tennis Center. This is the last big uni-showcase (if I may borrow and adapt that term) for the tennis makers; we won’t see anything new until Melbourne in January. We’ll start off with Uniqlo because I’m biased- I’m a Fed Fan. I admit it.

• • •

Uniqlo

BFBS takes a backseat to BFRS (Black For Roger’s sake.) From Roger himself, as posted on the Tennis Warehouse forum: “I wanted a full body black style for the design of this US Open, I received a proposal from the design team for a wonderful and sophisticated outfit. The details and concept of the design are based on a vision that goes beyond sports based on LifeWear’s philosophy.”

Got that? Philosophy.

So, notice he’s wearing white socks and white sneakers here. This is similar to the popular full-on 2007 US Open Darth Federer look.

This is the style for the night matches; I would think it’s the reverse for day sessions, if he ever plays one. When you’re The GOAT, you get showcased as the featured night match on the main court more often than not. This line went on sale this past Tuesday- the socks were gone instantly. I was able to snag a T-shirt; just don’t get me started on how poorly they market this guy.

And here’s a Uniqlo Q&A with the Fed if you’re interested.

His Uniqlo buddy Kei Nishikori will be outfitted thusly;

• • •

Nike 1.0

New York is where Nike is free to unleash their inner child, and go wild(er) with the designs. Tell us about it, Nike PR: “Inspired by New York City, oil-slicked streets at night, a lone graffiti strip on a wall, the pronounced embroidery on a basketball jacket decal — these quiet details give the fall 2019 NikeCourt collection an introspective flavor.”

Nike athlete (and 2017 US Open winner) Sloane Stephens, who will be wearing a special player edition of the Nike Zoom Zero HC Jordan 8 at the Open this year, says of playing under the bright lights in the Big Apple, “it’s hard to put into words but there really is nothing like it. The people in New York have this zest for life unlike anywhere else I’ve been. It’s contagious. So when you’re out there on the court, you can’t help but feel motivated by it.” Maybe SS will win it all again; and maybe she’ll exit in in the first round. She’s like that.

Purple is the key color for this collection. We all know how someone feels about that color. Why didn’t they check with him first? He just lives a few blocks away, you know.

• • •

Nike 2.0: As The Kyrgios Turns

Million dollar talent, ten cent head. Aussie Nick Kyrgios has as much pure talent as anyone in the game. Absolutely stunning shots at times. Unfortunately, too many times he blows up and then crashes into oblivion. With predictable results. (Wanna see him lose $113K just..like..that? Glad to help. He does have a special shoe for the Open, though. The NikeCourt Air Zoom Vapor X Kyrie 5 is a shoe Nike cooked up for Nick and basketball star Kyrie Irving, since Kyrgios would rather play hoops than tennis. I think he’d rather do anything besides tennis. Nick, if tennis is so bad, there’s a Mickey D’s near you that needs help on the night shift. Grow up or stop wasting our time.

• • •

Adidas

Neon green is the theme for Adidas.This is the “NY Collection” for the final Grand Slam of the season. “Designed in collaboration with the Adidas Brooklyn Creator Farm, the ‘NY Collection’ is inspired by the streets of New York City and urban tennis culture.”

Kinda sounds like what Nike did, eh? Angelique Kerber, Garbine Muguruza, Caroline Wozniacki, Alexander Zverev, and Stefanos Tsitsipas will sport this look, which is made from recycled polyester. Zverev is wearing the NY Printed Tee, “a stand-out glitch style print inspired by the streets of NYC,” and Thiem will wear the NY Polo.

Kerber is shown here wearing the NY Women’s Tee, and Muguruza in the black dress:

• • •

Fila

Fila’s lead women’s player, the world #2 and current French champion Ash Barty, will sport the “Awning Collection.” Colors include Fuchsia Purple, Hot Pink and Orange Peel that are joined by Fila’s traditional Navy. No, I don’t know why it’s called that.

Fila is also releasing the US Open edition (“Installment No. 4”) of their vibrant Pierluigi Rolando collection . He was their original creative director and designed the original Borg pinstripe look (based on the New York Yankees!) Karolina Pliskova and Marin Cilic will wear this line.

• • •

Lacoste

Novak Djokovic will wear this shirt from Lacoste. This isn’t a US Open debut; he wore this one at the Western & Southern in Mason Ohio last week.

Thanks, Brinke! Nice job with the preview. Definitely looking forward to watching the tennis — the fashion? Well, let’s see how these look on court.

GRIFFINS DESIGN CONTEST GROUP B VOTING

Today we begin vote on the second group of contestants for the fourth annual Grand Rapids Griffins design contest. In case you missed it, the contest parameters and rules were laid out here.

The TOP THREE contestants receiving votes in each group will move on to the final group (for a total of 12 finalists — three from each group), from which the Griffins will make a decision and declare the winner who I will announce on Friday, August 30.

I again want to give my great thanks to Larry Torrez, who worked with me to come up with the poll you’ll see below in an aesthetically pleasing format as well! Great work ElTee (of DC)!

REMINDER: While some of the submissions you see below may include gloves, helmet, pants, etc., you are ONLY voting on the jersey design. Please keep that in mind when casting your vote(s).

The Griffins gave the following parameters for the jersey contest, so please keep these in mind when voting:

“The details are that this jersey is going to be worn on our 90’s Night on Saturday, February 22 (with either red or black pants and red gloves/helmets). We’d like the contest to be for a 90’s inspired jersey. We don’t want to set any other regulations, as we’re not looking for the submissions to be any of our old logos or colors. We’d like something that is created fully by the designers.”

OK? That’s about it. First I’ll display all the submissions for today, which will be followed by the new (sharp-looking and hopefully cheat-proof) poll. Click to enlarge any image below.

My thanks to all who submitted and best of luck.

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

A. RYAN BRANDT

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

B. ROSS CLITES

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

C. JACY COLTER

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

D. LUCAS DAITCHMAN

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

E. KURT GORECKI

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

F. JACK HUDEC

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

G. ROSS IVANAC

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

H. BRANDON LAMARCHE

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

I. KARI MADSEN

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

J. GEORGE MILLER

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

K. JACKSON MOREHOUSE

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

L. DOUGLAS O’LEARY

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

M. GREG OSBORN

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

N. PAM POTTER

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

O. KURT ROUBAL

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

P. DAVE ROYCE

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Q. NATHAN SHELNICK

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

R. JOE UDVARI

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

S. PATRICK WALTERS

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

T. KIERAN WEBSTER

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

U. ERIC WESTOVER

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

V. ZACHARY WOOLDRIDGE

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

And there you have it. Your second 22 submissions. And now, to vote, here’s the poll — to start, click “START”; once you start the poll, the reader design will appear above the name, and you may select as many designs as you like. Once you have finished voting, be sure to scroll to the bottom and hit “SUBMIT” to make sure your vote(s) are counted! That’s it!).

VOTING WILL TAKE PLACE FROM 7:00 AM TO 11:00 PM EASTERN

And now a few words from Paul: Hey there. With MLB’s nickNOB-clad Players’ Weekend uniforms making their annual appearance starting tonight, my latest piece for Sports Illustrated takes a look back at previous examples of MLB players wearing nickNOBs (including, clockwise from top left above, Jimmy “Cannon” Wynn, Ken “Hawk” Harrelson, Bert “Campy” Campanaris, and Tony “Tony C” Conigliaro). You can check it out here.

While I have you here:

• Season previews upcoming: Speaking of SI, the annual Uni Watch College Football Season Preview will be appearing there next week — either Aug. 28 or 29 (I’ll let you know when the date has been finalized). The NFL Preview will follow on Sept. 3.

• Cycling jersey reminder: I’ve been very pleasantly surprised by how many pre-orders we’ve gotten for the Uni Watch cycling jersey. I figured we’d sell may 10, tops, but we’ve already received orders for nearly three times that many. Good to see so many uni-cyclists out there! You can customize your jersey with your choice of number and NOB, but you have to move fast, because we’re only taking pre-orders through next Wednesday, Aug. 28. Full details here.

• ITEM! Another Teespring sale: Teespring is running another weekend sale. From midnight tonight through the end of Monday, you can get 10% off of anything in the Uni Watch shop or the Naming Wrongs shop by using the checkout code AUGUSTSALE.

• Lapel pin photo request: The Uni Watch lapel pin has been a big success, and it’s been fun to see photos of how some people are wearing them. If you’ve purchased one, please feel free to share a photo with me, either via Twitter (you can tag me at @uniwatch) or by email. Thanks.

That’s it for today. Again, I’m not reading the comments this month, so if you have a question about any of this, feel free to email me.

Now back to Phil with the rest of today’s content.

Guess The Game…

from the scoreboard

The game has returned! At least for a trial basis, but I got a lot of positive response to its return, so we’ll see how long we keep this one going.

Today’s scoreboard comes from reader “ojai67”.

The premise of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I’ll post a scoreboard and you guys simply identify the game depicted. In the past, I don’t know if I’ve ever completely stumped you (some are easier than others).

Ah, the classic Abe Stark “Hit Sign Win Suit” sign — that’s going to make it easy to ID the location, but what about the date and final score? I know you guys won’t fail me now.

Here’s the Scoreboard. In the comments below, try to identify the game (date & location, as well as final score). If anything noteworthy occurred during the game, please add that in (and if you were AT the game, well bonus points for you!):

If you guys like this, please continue sending these in! You’re welcome to send me any scoreboard photos (with answers please), and I’ll keep running them.

The Ticker
By Anthony Matthew Emerson

Baseball News: We may have covered this before, but just in case: on June 12, 1977, the Royals had their unis stolen in Milwaukee, and were forced to play a game in the Brewers road unis (from Stephen Hayes). … Storm Byrd noticed that Tigers C John Hicks’ uni was sans-MLB150 patch on Wednesday night. … Reds P Michael Lorenzen received an official warning from the league over a pair of cleats he wore a few weeks ago, and posted the full letter on his Instagram (thanks, Alex). … CBS Sports has an article to get you all caught up on who’s wearing what this Players’ Weekend (thanks, Phil). … Wednesday night’s New York-Penn League All-Star Game featured “Red” vs “Blue”, with players wearing their team’s caps (from Robert Brashear). … Kings County Baseball didn’t even try to hide their logo-thievery. That’s literally a Royals logo with no alterations (from Ferdinand Cesarano). … The Orioles have created special food options for Players Weekend (from Andrew Cosentino). … The Reds latest roadtrip began with the players all wearing sports jerseys for teams other than their own (from Patrick O’Neill).

NFL News: Lots of stuff from the Raiders/Packers game up in Winnipeg last night: the teams played on an 80-yard field due to a hole in the endzone and the CFL’s goalline-mounted goalposts, Radiers WR Rico Gafford had a jersey malfunction during the game, and Raiders K AJ Cole arrived in Winnipeg wearing a “Winnipeg, Alberta” T-shirt. Winnipeg is, of course, in Manitoba (the last one from Wade Heidt). … A Browns fan has gotten “Cleveland Browns Superbowl LIV Champs” tattooed on himself, with “Super Bowl” as one word and the old Browns logo (thanks, Alex). … Yesterday morning’s Patriots Now email was trying to promote Thursday night’s Pats/Panthers pre-season game, but instead included an image of an Iowa player rather than a Panthers player (from Andrew A. Kling). … Speaking of the Panthers, the ’25’ in the team’s 25th anniversary patch should be the same color as the uni numbers and, well, it isn’t (from Chris Schwartz). … Last night’s Jags/Phins game featured an “indiscernable” scorebug with both teams rendered in a teal/aqua (from John Muir).

College/High School Football News: Memphis players who achieve a 3.0 or better GPA will wear a patch signifying that accomplishment on their unis (from Jordan Carpenter). … It appears the 50 yard line will be the “150 yard line” for this season (from Mike Lefko). … New unis for Bowling Green (from @Mr_Jeremy). … Arizona will have unis honoring the USS Arizona that was sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor this season (from Myles Gallagher). … The SoonerTracker Twitter account posted a thread with all of the minor changes to the Sooners’ unis for this season (from Sam McKinley). … There’s a question as to whether UCF QB Brandon Wimbush will wear the Vicis helmet he wore at Notre Dame and in the spring or the older Riddell Revolution Speed he’s been wearing for fall camp (from John Carton). … All mentions of the “Carrier Dome” have been replaced with “Dome” in Syracuse’s media guide (from Jeremy Reeder). … Rutgers is giving away two historic helmet magnets a game to celebrate their 150th anniversary (from Tim Davis). … New helmets for the University of British Columbia. “Appears the team is transitioning from royal blue with yellow trim to navy blue with gold trim” writes Wade Heidt. … The following are all from Phil: Here’s a rundown of all the new college football unis, in case you lost track. … Yahoo has some opinions on which CFB unis need to return as throwbacks. … DeSoto (Tx.) High is moving to Air Jordan football unis.

Hockey News: Panthers G Sergei Bobrovsky’s personalized gear spells his name as “Bobrovski”, as it’s a more accurate romanization from “Бобровский” (from Mike Engle). … NHL Seattle will announce the franchise’s name in “early 2020” (from Jack Wade). … Here are the first ever hockey sweaters for Purdue Northwest (from @tasty_magic). … New logo for the Northwest Warriors. As if this writing, the old logo is still visible as the Facebook page’s profile pic. More info on the switch here (from Joel Horn).

NBA/Other Hoops news News: This is what I call a relationship goal: shopping for groceries in matching “Lola” and “Bugs” Space Jam jerseys. … Celtics C Tacko Fall will wear no. 99 (from Etienne Catalan). … Astronomer Neil deGrasse Tyson thinks the NBA logo “needs some updating” (from @verbDC). … New court design for Marshall (from M. Brinston Berry).

Soccer News: Scottish side Rangers were sans advertisements when they traveled to Warsaw for their UEFA Europa League match against Legia Warszawa. Rangers’ primary shirt advertiser is betting company 32Red, and advertising gambling is illegal in Poland (from Ed Żelaski). … On a similar note, Wolverhampton Wanderers played a Europa League match in Italy against Torino yesterday, and like Poland, gambling advertisements are banned in Italy. Instead of their usual ManBetX ad, Wolves wore the logo of their foundation on their kits (from Josh Hinton and @TRiCKETTengland). … Tennis player Dominic Thiem played a match at the US Open in a New York Red Bulls jersey (from Joel Rosenberg).

Grab Bag: While traditionalists blanch, Indian cricketer KL Rahul likes the addition of NOBs to test uniforms, saying “There are complaints from my own family and friends that once we’re on the field, nobody knows who’s who, because all of us have beards.” (from Jerry Pemberton). … New field hockey unis for Bryant and Penn (thanks, Jamie). … Someone posted a Twitter thread featuring screenshots of all the college sweatshirts Ted Knight wore in Too Close for Comfort (from Mike Haughey and JayJay Dean).