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Good morning! Hope everyone had a good weekend, as I did.
Now then: Phillies pitcher Matt Moore has been in the big leagues since 2011, and I’ve probably seen him pitch, or at least seen photos of him, countless times during that span. Despite all that exposure to him, it wasn’t until last Friday night, when he was pitching against the Mets, that I noticed something very uni-unusual about him — something he does differently from most MLB players. Can you spot what it is in the photo above?
Answer: Moore wears his belt with the buckle and pin facing to his left (or the viewer’s right), while the belt’s tip and built-in loop are on his right (or the viewer’s left). That’s contrary to how the vast, vast majority of players wear their belts, as you can see in these group shots:
Wearing his belt the opposite way is not a new thing for Moore. He’s done it throughout his big league career, as you can see in these shots from his stints with the Rays, Giants, Rangers, and Tigers:
You might think that this is simply a lefty-vs.-righty thing, and that all southpaws wear their belts like Moore does, but that’s not the case. My photo research indicates that while a few other left-handed players wear their belts the same way as Moore’s, most of them do it the “normal” way. Here are some examples (I’ve been focusing on pitchers because they’re the most frequent subjects of close-up photos, plus it’s easy to see their handedness):
So who wears their belt like Moore does? Four guys that I’ve identified (although I’m sure there are more) are Cubs pitcher Andrew Chafin, former MLBers Randy Johnson and Jerry Blevins, and Rockies manager Bud Black:
All of those of those guys are left-handed. Based on my photo research so far, it appears that while not all lefties wear their belts this way (in fact, most of them do not), all of the people who wear their belts this way are left-handed. So for simplicity’s sake, let’s call this the lefty belt style, and we’ll call the more common format the righty style.
If you’d asked me a few years ago which direction most MLB players’ belt buckles faced, I’m not sure I even could have told you — it was the rare uni detail that I wasn’t attuned to. But over the past few seasons we’ve seen an increasing number of players wearing belts with uni numbers and/or contrast-colored belt loops, and those new custom elements — at least the ones I’ve seen — have always been on righty-style belts. Or to put it another way, the number and contrast-colored loop have always been leaning to the player’s left (or the viewer’s right):
I’m fairly sure that’s why Moore’s lefty belt jumped out at me when I saw it on Friday night. Seeing all those uni-numbered belts, with all of them formatted the same way, had gotten me accustomed to seeing the belt worn in the righty format. So when I saw Moore’s buckle, it looked notably different, even though his belt isn’t uni-numbered.
Speaking of which: If Moore got a conventional righty uni-numbered belt and wore it in his usual left-handed style, the number would end up upside-down! In order to accommodate him (or anyone else who wears the lefty style), the manufacturer would have to rotate the number 180 degrees when printing it onto the belt.
It’s worth mentioning here that I am left-handed, and I wear my belt like Moore does (i.e., when I put on a belt, I begin by threading in through the belt loops along my right hip, and then I pull it tight by grabbing the end with my left hand). I never thought of it as a lefty thing — it’s just what feels natural to me.
How do other lefties out there wear their belts? And are there any righties who use the lefty belt style?
Have you ever seen an ejection during a wardrobe malfunction in a baseball game? pic.twitter.com/VHaLQPLgoR
— Doug Gray (@dougdirt24) June 26, 2021
And speaking of belts: Welcome back to Ump Watch, where we continue to document the wide world of umpire attire. Our latest report is a doozy and comes from last Friday night’s Triple-A game between the Louisville Bats and Indianapolis.
The key uni-related moment came when plate ump Takahito Matsuda apparently broke his belt buckle while bending over to sweep off home plate. A broken belt wouldn’t be an issue for a base ump, but the plate ump needs his belt to hold the side pockets where he stores the balls. So Matsuda called the other two umps to his side (Some Triple-A crews have only three umps, not four), and one of them removed his belt so Matsuda could use it.
The best part of this is that Louisville skipper Pat Kelly, who had apparently been jawing a bit with Matsuda during the game, evidently added a few more choice remarks while Matsuda was in the process of swapping belts. So Matsuda’s standing there at home plate, trying to retain a bit of dignity while strapping on someone else’s waistwear, and he tosses Kelly from the game in mid-belt-swap! That ended up prompting a very entertaining rhubarb. Fun stuff, and all nicely documented in the video above.
Footnote: Matsuda put on his belt right-handed.
That concludes this installment of Ump Watch, and also wraps up our belt coverage — at least for today.
(Bottomless thanks to Erik Spoonmore, Kenneth Traisman, and Tim Dunn for this one.)
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Blast from my past: When I was a kid in the early 1970s, I had copies of both of the magazines shown above, because I was completely obsessed with Ken Dryden’s goalie mask. There was nothing else quite like it in the NHL (and there never has been since then). As a result, I became a Canadiens fan, even though I was, you know, a kid on Long Island who’d never been to Canada and didn’t speak French.
Half a century later, I no longer follow hockey as closely as I once did, but I’m still a Canadiens fan, at least nominally. So I’m tickled that they’ve made it to the Stanley Cup Final(s) for the first time since 1993. I realize they’ll probably lose to the Lightning, but they weren’t favored to win their playoff rounds against the Leafs, Jets, or Golden Knights either, and here they are, still standing. I’ll be rooting for them as the series gets started tonight, and I’ll be watching Game Two on Wednesday with my neighbor Harris, who grew up in Canada. Go Habs!!
Incidentally, I never noticed until now that Dryden doesn’t appear to have TV numbers in the cover photo on the right. What’s that about?
Finally, as long as we’re talking about the NHL: In case you missed it over the weekend, the current issue of The Hockey News is reporting that jersey ads are “all but assured” for next season, so this Montreal/Tampa series may be our last look at ad-free NHL sweaters. Sigh.
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Oh. My. God. Can you guess where longtime Uni Watch reader Kurt Rozek lives? If you guessed “Green Bay,” you’re right! He got this photo of a Packers-themed cement mixer shown turning around in his cul de sac the other day. “I wish the Packers would return to having five fused sleeve stripes, instead of three separated ones,” he says.
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Cap update: Great move by reader Brian Pidgeon, who added a pair of Stargell Stars to his Uni Watch cap! How great is that? Looks so sharp!
Speaking of caps: We finally got our new supply of shipping boxes (they were delayed in transit) and are caught up on cap orders. We’re now sold out of most sizes but sill have the remaining inventory:
7-1/4: 2 caps
7-3/4: 5
7-7/8: 5
If you want to get one of these last remaining caps, here’s how to order. Once they’re gone, they’re gone!
ITEM! Koozie raffle: Remember, Post-Pandemic Porch Cocktails Day is coming up next Thursday, July 8, and I’m encouraging everyone in the comm-uni-ty to help celebrate our return to normalcy by taking a photo of yourself having a beverage that day on your porch (or stoop, or deck, or whatever). If you’d like to have a Uni Watch pint glass or koozie for the occasion, so much the better, but that’s certainly not necessary.
With all that in mind, reader Chris Hickey has generously donated funds for two koozies, so I’m going to raffle those off today. This will be a one-day raffle. USA mailing addresses only. To enter, send an email with your mailing address to the raffle in-box by 8pm Eastern tonight. I’ll announce the two winners tomorrow. Good luck!
The Ticker
By Jamie Rathjen
Baseball News: Remember Paul’s obsession with Phillies P Aaron Nola’s cap? Nola tied the MLB record with 10 consecutive strikeouts on Friday, so the cap he wore that day — which included the New Era logo was sent to the Hall of Fame. Now let’s see if he goes back to the unbranded cap in his next start (from Samuel Thornton). … The Double-A Bowie Baysox and New Hampshire Fisher Cats played a black-vs.-black game yesterday, never mind that it was hot (from Dan Mickelson). … In 1999, Diamondbacks P Randy Johnson accidentally put on a Giants hat after a brawl between the teams (from Rich Fuller).
Football News: Buccaneers COO Brian Ford said on Friday, shortly after the news about the end of the one-shell rule broke, that the team plans to wear creamsicle throwbacks (from Kary Klismet). … Also from Kary: One USA Today writer has opinions on which throwbacks should return. Unlike the column he sent in for yesterday’s Ticker, all featured designs actually are ones that wouldn’t have been allowed previously.
Hockey News: Multiple readers told us that pictures of the Canadiens’ Stanley Cup Final patch started appearing this weekend. “Can confirm the patch at home will be en français but I don’t know about the road jerseys,” says Mike Engle. I would think this the first time the current SCF logo has appeared in French on a uniform, but Sportslogos.net does have versions for other years. … The National Collegiate Hockey Conference, a Division I men’s conference, doesn’t have a name for its tournament trophy, which makes it unusual (from Kary Klismet). … Also from Kary: A complex in Attleboro, Mass., is renaming one of its rinks after A.J. Quetta, a high school player who suffered a spinal injury earlier this year.
Basketball News: This thread shows the uniforms of some of the men’s national teams participating in Olympic qualifers. Separately, here’s Canada (from Jeremy Brahm and Adam Peleshaty). … Australia’s men’s team also has different manufacturers going on (from @Texas_AU). … This video recaps some of the protective masks worn by NBA players (from K.C. Kless). … Baylor bought the court on which they won this year’s Division I men’s championship to turn it into memorabilia, which is something other recent Division I men’s champions have done (from Kary Klismet).
Soccer News: Some MLS and NWSL teams wore rainbow numbers this weekend, including OL Reign, the North Carolina Courage, and New York City FC, who had a matching captain’s armband. The expansion San Diego NWSL team also participated, even though they don’t start playing until next season. … Meanwhile, Portland Thorns striker Christine Sinclair wore the transgender pride flag armband she recently wore for Canada. … Brazil’s Vasco da Gama wore a shirt with a rainbow sash yesterday (from Trevor Williams). … New first shirt for the Netherlands’ Feyenoord. … Spokane is to get a new stadium to host USL League One and W League teams next year. … New outfitter for Portuguese men’s champs Sporting Clube, who have switched from Macron to Nike (from Ed Zelaski). … Also from Ed: New away shirt for Stoke City.
Olympics News: The Swedish Olympic team is outfitted by Uniqlo, so about a month ago they revealed various outfits and other designs, including a soccer kit, which is obviously different than the ones the Adidas-outfitted national teams usually wear.
Grab Bag: The former Ontario Junior A Lacrosse League, a men’s junior indoor league, dropped the “A” from its name and has a new logo (from Michael Sullivan). … Reader Jeremy Brahm has been keeping track of the double NOBs worn by volleyball players as part of the Equal Jersey program. Participants on both sides of the Brazil/Poland men’s Volleyball Nations League final yesterday wore the NOBs of Russian women. … In Denver, the Broncos’, Nuggets’, and Avalanche’s stadiums are currently all lit in rainbow colors (from Kary Klismet). … The W Series, a women-only racing series now supporting Formula One, is allowing its teams to have their own liveries, like in other series, instead of giving everyone the same one in a few different color schemes. One innovation carried over from before is that drivers’ national flags are painted on the rear wing. … There are still five U.S. high schools that have “Midgets” as their team name, and Little People of America wants to change that (from Kary Klismet). … With the northwest being battered by a heat wave, Major League Rugby’s Seattle Seawolves wore their green away kits at home last night. “They usually wear navy at home,” says Sy Hart.
Tomorrow I’ll have a major announcement about an important new Uni Watch development. See you then. Update: Announcement will be on Wednesday, not tomorrow. — Paul
One thing I also learned from the Matt Moore pic: when Nike took over the MLB jerseys, they got rid of the extra script “L” in “Phillies” that was obscured by the buttons when the shirt was properly buttoned but read “Philllies” it unbuttoned. At least they kept the chain stitching, for now.
The ‘pattern’ of the chainstitching was also changed. The changes actually had more to do with MLB telling the Phillies that their script had become ‘fatter’ over the years and they needed to make it consistent with their logos. There’s a few writeups about it, and if you look at 2018 pics vs current ones, you can clearly see the differences in script. I don’t think it was a Nike thing.
This father’s day my wife had a belt made for her father and the orientation of the design is such that it has to be worn lefty style in order to be right side up. He mentioned that is is awkward to put it on that way, and we were joking that there potential niche market for lefty belts.
I’m not aware of there being a “lefty style” in belts other than a few baseball pitchers. Like, if you go to a clothing store, you will not find belts sold as lefty or righty. Rather, belts will usually be organized by men’s and women’s styles, and almost ubiquitously, men’s belts will be made to be worn as most baseball players wear their belts; women’s belts will be made to be worn as the few lefty pitchers in today’s article wear their belts. Of course, most belts for either gender work fine worn either way, but to the extent that a belt has up/down elements like writing or stitched graphics, they’ll be one way for men, the opposite way for women.
Personally, one of my kilt belts has stamped thistle graphics that are only right-side-up if I wrap the belt clockwise, and it is physically disconcerting to put a belt on that direction. Even though I do most things other than write, bat, and throw left-handed.
There is something else unusual about the Ken Dryden SPORT cover besides the missing TV numbers. The crest appears to be too high on the front. It should be centered on the stripe, with the H on a blue background. In this photo, it is centered above the stripe, with the H on a red background.
Not 100% sure of this (maybe someone can confirm or refute?), but I believe there was some inconsistency on the crest placement during that period.
Yup, this picture supports that theory.
link
I found another image of Dryden from (apparently) 1979 that shows the TV Numbers above the stripe. The CH isn’t centered either.
link
Per the Hockey Uniform DB, the Canadiens moved the TV numbers quite a bit between 78 and 81 between above and below the stripe..
link
My guess, SPORT magazine’s picture wasn’t clear enough, so they “blued” it out. I know that looks strange, but if you blow up the picture on that part of the uniform, that looks like what they did.
As to the mask, I grew up in Montreal in the 70’s, I’m pretty sure that was one of a kind, and for good reason, the protection looks minimal. A lot of other mask-styles were showing up in road hockey games, not that one.
And now this picture has me even more baffled. Here is the logo being worn in both locations on the ice at the same time.
link
I’m left handed, and I put on my belts the same way as you and Matt Moore. I was surprised to learn that this was unusual!
I cannot agree more that those Stargell Stars look amazing. Great add-on to an already sharp looking cap.
I’m RIGHT-handed and have aways worn my belt the way Moore does. I have no explanation for it.
Wow — you are indeed a uni-corn!
always *
I am left-handed and wore my belt lefty style for most of my life but made the switch some years back. Maybe I felt it looked ok when I saw myself reflected in a mirror, since it resembled righty style. Being a lefty, I could always identify fellow southpaws if they wore their belt in the Moore style. Joe, you are an original!
Me too!
Ditto here. Not sure why or how I started doing it this way, but just makes sense to me.
I too am right handed and have always worn my belt like this. And I wear a belt every day. Never even thought that it should go the other way!
I’m also right handed and wear my belt this way. I never realized it was atypical until today.
I’m left handed, but wear my belt the “right-handed” way.
As do I. Have never even thought about wearing it the other way.
But, I do a lot of things right handed that many lefties don’t (hit a baseball/softball, play golf, open a door just as examples).
Belt: fellow lefty here and I put my belt on lefty.
Ads: David Samson keeps saying on his podcast that helmet ads for MLB are assured for next year.
I agree with the most desired throwbacks for the most part. Except, I really don’t want to see the red-helmeted Bills again. The white ones look sooo much better. The red helmets always looked out of place to me. Reminded me of bloodshot eyes or something.
After looking at the Jets’ uniforms for a couple of seasons now and not once being treated to a Sack Exchange option, I fully support a ‘true’ Namath-era throwback. Ho-Hum.
I wear my belt lefty style. I write and eat with my left hand, but play guitar, golf and used to bat right handed. I attribute those ticks to a lazy right eye. Which makes it so I can’t see anything on my right side very well. That doesn’t explain the belt thing, tho. Humans are weird
Another lefty issue is what wrist do you wear a watch on. I’m lefty and wear my watch on the right wrist.
People tend to wear their watch on their non-dominant hand, because you want to use your dominant hand to deal with the band/buckle/etc.
Duh…never thought about that! I probably couldn’t get my watch on my left wrist if I tried!
Yes, and also I don’t want my watch on my dominant hand when doing activities like tennis. Same reason I started wearing my wedding ring on my right hand. The one issue with wearing my watch on my right hand is that I have to take it off to wind or set the time, unlike right handed where the stem is facing out towards the hand and not the arm.
Left handed and wear my watch on my left wrist. Always have.
But as I said above, I do of lot of things with my right hand that many lefties can’t or won’t do.
Also an oddball piece of info- EVERYONE in my immediate family is left handed (father mother, brother and myself). Haven’t met any other lefties for whom that is true.
My wife is a lefty, and her parents are both southpaws as well. I hadn’t really considered that that’s an odd situation at all.
I always thought the watch wrist choice was more about how wearing a watch on the same wrist as the hand you use to write can be physically inconvenient. I say as someone who writes righty but has always preferred my watch on the right wrist. It is sometimes bothersome to have my watch strap hitting or dragging on the paper as I write. But I am slightly more dexterous with my left fingers than my right, so Paul’s strap-handling hypothesis makes sense to me.
While I’m sure there are some exceptions, I suspect belt wearing is much like batting handedness. Whomever taught you how to do it largely dictates how you do it for life. For left handers, some right-handed parents may think of switching it for their lefty kid and some won’t. Exceptions, of course, occur when people make the conscious decision to do it a specific way somewhere along a lifetime. Just like many people don’t notice how someone else is wearing a belt, many (not all) don’t think about how they’re wearing their own belt. It just is what it is.
I’m left-handed and wear my belt the lefty belt way. I did know this was different than right-handed. Starting with your left hand, it just seems natural to feed the belt through the loops on the right side, than pulling the hand backwards to feed it through the left side. Of course I could use my right hand, which I use for other tasks like using scissors, but I would have had to start when I was young for it to feel natural.
They’re wearing Girls’ belts!!!
I’m a righty but just for kicks I’m wearing my belt lefty today. Here’s hoping I don’t need to remove my shorts in a hurry today! Also, I’m no musician but I’ve always thought Jimi Hendrix played the guitar properly and everyone else was wrong.
Isn’t Koozie a brand name like Kleenex or Dumpster?
Lefty here, have always done my belt the ‘normal’ or righty style. I suspect this is partly because I’m the only lefty in my family, so some stuff has just been observed by me or outright taught to me thru my right-handed parents. Another i.e.: I’ve always been a switch-hitter since tee-ball, but when I started taking up golf in middle school and had to pick a side, my dad insisted that I golf right-handed because a) we had right-handed clubs and b) he golfs righty so in his mind he’d be able to teach me better right-handed.
The way Moore wears his belt (what Paul is calling “lefty” style) is typically the way belts are designed to be worn by ladies (just as women’s clothing buttons from the opposite direction). Men’s belts are designed to be worn counter-clockwise (if you’re looking down at it).
But most belts have no design at all (unless there’s some graphic printed/stamped/embroidered/etc onto it, which is more the exception than the rule), so how can you say that they’re “designed” to be worn a certain way? There’s no visual cue, and no way to tell which is the “correct” way.
Correct, it is only evident on belts where there is some sort of graphic, text, etc. ok a “plain” belt there is no difference. Growing up I wore my belts the “lefty” way (I am a righty) but had to form a new habit since my graphic belts were upside down (which is why I looked into why I was wearing my belts the “wrong” way).
There could be a tag on the inside (usually designed to be torn away) that may be oriented in some way that implies that the belt should be put on in a way that makes the tag right-side-up (or ‘readable’) if you were somehow able to pull the belt from your waist so you could see the tag.
I bought a leather belt years ago on an extended trip to Australia. The guy in the store that sold it to me looked at me funny and asked if I was from the U.S. when I tried it on. I assumed my accent (or lack thereof depending upon your perspective) gave me away. He said, sort-of, but the bigger clue was that I buckled the belt the “righty” way. A typical Australian would use the “lefty” technique. He didn’t use those terms, but that was the gist of it. The belt had some printing on the inside with the manufacturer’s name and “genuine leather” or some such marking which was always upside down for me.
Proud lefty here – wear my belt “righty”. I hold the buckle with my right hand and use my left to feed it through the loops starting with the left hip, about half way through I switch hands. Tried it the other way just now, did not feel natural.
I’m right-handed but wear my belt left-handed. I never even thought about it (or knew that I was doing it “wrong”) until I started wearing golf belts with a manufacturer’s logo. When I would put on the belt in my normal left-handed style, the logo would be upside down.
Continuing with the video of Pat Kelly, the Louisville manager, being tossed from the game, Kelly has an interesting uni feature – a black strap or lace running from inside his pants to his back pocket. I’m guessing that it attached his lineup card to his pants, but I’m not sure.
Any theories?
Probably a stopwatch/timer.
I’m left-handed and wear belts like Moore does.
Jamie — didn’t realize you were a fellow southpaw!! Good to know I’m not the only lefty on the Uni Watch team.
Pretty sure AE is a *lefty* too ;)
Lefty here. I loop my belt the opposite way of Moore. I think it’s one of many things as I lefty I do “as a righty” does. Fun little thought exercise though! I never even thought about which way I do it and I even got up from my desk and went into my bedroom and grabbed a belt to see which way I did it.
I had to dress up this weekend and wore a belt for one of the rare times since last March. I am a lefty and I actually had an inner-monologue wondering if I wore mine opposite of righties or not, so the timing on this article was perfect. Turns out, I wear my belt like righties do! And I normally do everything lefty. But starting to loop the belt on the left hip has always felt natural, and my thoughts yesterday as I put it on were that I was probably doing it differently than righties do. Who knew?
Dryden didn’t need tv numbers. EVERYONE knew who the goalie on Montreal was lol.
I would not have guessed that any high schools in America would be nicknamed “Midgets”, much less that there were five. Wow.
I would love to hear the rationalization used by people resisting the request to change this one.
Knowing some people in one of the communities whose high school still uses “Midgets” as its team name, I can tell you what the rationalizations are. And they’re the ones you’d expect:
“It’s been our name for generations! You can’t just change tradition like that.”
“It’s not demeaning. It’s meant as an honor.”
“Some people are too sensitive! They need to lighten up!”
“They’re trying to cancel us!”
According to Wikipedia, small dirt-track racers are still called “midget cars”. They lack the wing/spoiler feature which distinguishes “dirt-track racers”.
“Midget” is still an age classification in junior hockey in Canada.
There have been complaints as well, I think Hockey Canada has renamed all the classes by age (e.g. U18 instead of Midget) but the name is still all over the place.
I’m right handed and wear my belt like Moore does. A couple years ago I ordered one of these ratcheting belts and was upset that the release tab was on the “wrong” side when I put it on. I tried wearing the belt the other way to move the tab to the bottom of the buckle, but I just couldn’t do it.
Limited-time deal: Marino Men’s Genuine Leather Ratchet Dress Belt With Automatic Buckle, Enclosed in an Elegant Gift Box link
I’m with you, Jeff. I used to flip my belt, mostly because of concern about wear and tear. I’m not “ slightly larger”, but have always been “ cost-conscious “.
I’m right handed and wear my belt in the lefty style, but I made a conscious decision to do so a while back. This is because the “higher,” top side (the side with the hole where the button or hook goes through) on pants is the left side (when they are on you) and the buckle side of the belt is bulkier (with the loop for the buckle, the piece that folds under to hold the buckle, and the buckle itself) than the strap/hole side, so I purposely wanted the bulkier buckle side on the “lower” side of the pants (the right side). This is to even out the levels of the sides. I felt like having both the higher side of the pants and the belt buckle on the left made it too out of balance and “high” on the one (left) side. I know in actuality there is only a very small physical difference, but wearing it this way just seemed to have a more comfortable balance.
I’m a righty and will occasionally put my belt on the “lefty” way. Since I’m slightly larger and my belts get put under a bit more stress, I occasionally flip the around so that the stress gets distributed more evenly from day to day. It feels more natural to put it on the standard/righty way, but going the other way doesn’t feel so unnatural that I can’t do it.
I’m with you, Jeff. I used to flip my belt, mostly because of concern about wear and tear. I’m not “ slightly larger”, but have always been “ cost-conscious “.
I’m a lefty and do the same thing. I swap orientations all the time.
I’m right handed and wear my belt in the lefty style, but I made a conscious decision to do so a while back. This is because the “higher,” top side (the side where the button or hook goes through) on pants is the left side (when they are on you) and the buckle side of the belt is bulkier (with the loop for the buckle, the piece that folds under to hold the buckle, and the buckle itself) than the strap/hole side, so I purposely wanted the bulkier buckle side on the “lower” side of the pants (the right side). This is to even out the levels of the sides. I felt like having both the higher side of the pants and the belt buckle on the left made it too out of balance and “high” on the one (left) side. I know in actuality there is only a very small physical difference, but wearing it this way just seemed to have a more comfortable balance.
Bloomington IN cement company (Rogers maybe?) would paint 1 of their cement mixers like a football (w/ white stripes and IU logo) every time Indiana won a football game in the mid 70’s. Their football team wasn’t very good so they only painted 2-3 mixers per year. Looked for pictures but can’t find any on internet.
I can’t believe there isn’t more coverage, discussion, or controversy around this NHL advertisements on the jerseys thing. Either people don’t fully know yet, or we’ve just become so accustomed to selling out every square inch of our lives in America that it doesn’t even register as newsworthy. Either way, it’s gross and it’s just another thing that is gnawing away at my already deleting interest in the NHL.
I think once the damn broke with the NBA, and the backlash didn’t stop them, we knew the other 3 would fall sooner or later.
I don’t watch the NBA, so I haven’t had to suffer through the ads yet. I am guessing I’ll be more upset once it comes to the NHL and I have to see the ads on a regular basis.
The Nike maker’s mark in MLB this year has prepared me a little for the intrusiveness of ads.
Bettman and the owners … a pox on all their houses!
Side note: methinks Paul better increase his stitch remover inventory. Selling sweaters WITH the ad patches is the height of corporate gall.
-C.
I bat lefty and throw righty. I golf righty and putt lefty. I play tennis/racquetball both lefty and righty. I wear my belt as a righty.
Paul, I’m curious, do you clap lefty (left hand into right hand) or righty (right into left)? I’ve always clapped lefty. When I see someone on television clapping righty, it appears incredibly awkward to me.
I never thought of there being left- and right-handed ways of clapping! But now that you mention it, I clap with my upper/left hand into my lower/right hand.
Getting weird looks as I sit here at my desk clapping, but I am right handed and also clap left. That is my left hand is facing up and going into my right hand.
Oh wow, that’s amazing! Thanks for giving me something new to think about! Also something new for my very short list of things I do right-handed. Though in this case I’m pretty sure it’s nurture at work, not nature. I distinctly remember as a boy being impressed by how loudly my dad clapped, and imitating him. He was a righty, so I copied his clap motion until I could generate claps just as obnoxiously loud as dad’s: Right fingers, slightly concave, into left palm.
I’m right-handed and generally clap in two ways. (This is 100% nurture-related, as I spent an inordinate amount of time as a child trying to learn how to clap as loudly as possible.)
The first way is both palms cupped into each other – no fingers. When I clap that way, I hold both my hands vertically so neither hand is “on top”, per se.
The second way is basically what RS Rogers described – cupped fingers of one hand into the palm of the other hand. In this case, I do left over right because it just feels more natural. (I am right-handed.)
I’m a lefty and wear my belt “lefty-style.” Had no idea there was a different way but it makes sense!
*a different way for lefties and righties, I mean
I’m a righty & I wear my belt ‘lefty’. Didn’t realize it was weird until I recently bought an elastic belt that has a small logo on it that is now upside down. The belt thing is not the weirdest lefty/righty thing about me, though. Even though I’m right handed, I write ‘upside down’ like a lefty. That quirk has confounded people since handwriting lessons in elementary school.
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No TV numbers here, either. I am guessing this comes from the dame game versus the Rangers.
I’m a lefty, but wear my belts the “righty” way. Just one way I hide my sinisterness, I suppose.
Belts bearing artwork, be it on the leather or on the buckle, are oriented to be worn right-handed. I have one with embroidered fish, and when I wear it “lefty”, the fish look dead.
Just about anything I do having to do with dexterity, my left hand is dominant. But I play the drums right-handed (left foot on the hi-hat, right foot on the bass drum) just like Ringo Starr, another lefty. It’s because the first couple of times I played, I used someone else’s kit and got used to it.
I’m a righty and wear my belt like a “righty.” For whatever reason, I distinctly remember being taught that the “lefty” way of wearing the belt was the traditional way women wore their belts. I don’t know why, nor do I believe that. For curiosity sake I looked up pictures of college softball and the belt directions are all over the place.
Bowie may have had black jerseys for Sunday’s game, but the Fisher Cats’ jerseys are more likely navy blue.
A bit of a random tangent to the righty/lefty issue, but it’s something I’ve had to think about a lot in my line of work…
I’m pretty strongly right-handed – really can’t do much of anything with my left hand – and I’m also a herpetologist, which means I catch lizards on a fairly frequent basis. Most lizards, of course, are very fast and wary, which generally makes them difficult to catch.
One day a few years ago, I caught a lizard and consciously noticed – for the first time in my life – that I’d done it with my left hand. For a few months after that, I paid attention to what felt more comfortable and realized that I ALWAYS caught lizards with my left hand. This was quite the strange epiphany, because, as I mentioned, my left hand isn’t good for much of anything. I’m about as strongly right-handed as a person can be.
The only theory I can come up with is that it’s a relic from the two years or so that I played organized baseball as a kid, throwing right and catching left. I guess something stuck in my subconscious that the left hand is for catching things.
I am right handed and wore my belt the normal righty way. But I think I may be an unusual case, in that, as an infielder, I got tired of diving for balls and having the buckle dig into my belly and causing pain and bruising. So I switched to a football style D-ring type belt. That was harder to undo when natured called, but I found it more satisfying for game play.
Belt orientation. I’m a righty and I do it righty style. But enough about me. Honest to God, that was a very early Uni Watch moment for me! I became a Uni Watcher in about 1996, when I first became aware of baseball and some uniform quirks. Look it up, I participated in Paul’s crowd sourcing of origin stories. I was accidentally set up to be a Yankees fan when my Yankees hating dad took me to Yankee Stadium for my first game (July 4, 1996), and then when they won the World Series, that was it. I have a lot of family based in New York, including my uncle who sent me a commemorative yearbook of 1996. Lo and behold, there was a picture of deadline acquisition, part time 1B/DH Cecil Fielder. Batted right, threw right, belt left! I thought it was the most inexplicable thing!
Canadiens SCF patch. I was not expecting the French version on the white jersey, but sure enough that’s how it is going! I’m not a fan of this…a French SCF patch doesn’t match the English NHL shield on the front as it will match on the home red jerseys. But I’m a HUGE Habs fan, so I’m just thrilled we get to see it!
Regardless of jersey color, it should be LNH.
Fascinating post on the left- and right-handed belts. I’m right-handed, and I wear my belts both ways, depending on how the belt is curved. If it’s bending in one direction, with that big warped curve in the back, I’ll wear it the other way to straighten out the leather.