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Crest in Jest: Canes Prank Jarvis with Upside-Down Jersey Logo

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Good morning, and happy winter solstice! After today, the days get longer again, which will be a welcome change.

Now then: Hurricanes center Seth Jarvis — second from left in the photo shown above — played in his 100th NHL game last night, and someone in the Carolina organization apparently decided to mark the occasion by pranking him with an upside-down jersey crest. Or maybe it was just a production error, although having it coincide with Jarvis’s 100th game seems a bit suspicious.

Jarvis, who was a rookie last season and is still only 20 years old (prime pranking age), appeared to be oblivious to his jersey’s inverted state of affairs.

This type of situation wouldn’t be possible with most other NHL teams, because their logos would look more egregiously wrong when turned upside-down. Imagine, for example, a player wearing an upside-down logo for the Red Wings, or the Flyers, or the Devils — the player would almost certainly notice it while getting dressed in the locker room. But Carolina’s crest is abstract enough that this kind of prank (or error, if that’s what it is) can slip through unnoticed.

Indeed, when people called out the snafu on social media, some other fans couldn’t ever see what was wrong:

As noted in that tweet, Jarvis wore the wayward logo in the third period. But what about prior to that? Here’s a video clip from the first period, and you can see him wearing the proper crest at the 0:17 mark:

He also had the proper crest when being interviewed after the end of the second period:

So Jarvis apparently changed jerseys during the second intermission and ended up with the upside-down crest. Prank? Innocent error? I’ll see what I can find out today.

Update: Turns out it wasn’t a prank after all! Here’s the lowdown:

(My thanks to Phil Primato for that last tweet.)

 
  
 

ITEM! Awesome New Substack Interview

 

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A post shared by Travis Demers (@travisdemers)

Travis Demers (shown above, with his son Lincoln) is an unusual case, and maybe even a unique one: In addition to handling play-by-play duties on the Trail Blazers’ radio broadcasts, he’s also part of the creative team that designs the team’s City Edition uniforms. How’s that for a cool résumé?

Travis recently gave me a behind-the-scenes glimpse into his work on the Blazers’ City designs, plus we talked about his unique uni-themed play-by-play prep sheets, the “uniform” he wears as a radio broadcaster, how he singlehandedly changed the on-field look of his high school baseball team, and a bunch of other uni-related stuff. It’s one of the most enjoyable interviews I’ve ever done, and I know you’ll like it too.

You can read about 40% of the interview over on Substack. To read the entire thing, you’ll need to become a paying subscriber, which I hope you’ll consider doing. Thanks!

 

And Speaking of Radio Broadcasters Who Get It™...

I was really bummed to hear the news that card-carrying Uni Watch member Wayne Randazzo (shown above with fellow card carriers Jesse Agler, Howie Rose, and myself) is leaving the Mets radio booth for a TV gig with the Angels.

I’m happy for Wayne, because this is obviously a good career move for him, but I’ll really miss his professionalism, his intelligence, his sharp sense of humor, and, of course, his obvious love of uniforms, all of which were plainly evident every time he was on the air. Best of luck in Anaheim, buddy — you’ll be missed.

 

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Comments (32)

    Honestly think the ‘Canes logo looks better upside down. The “puck” in the center seems to be upright in this orientation, plus it puts the red side of the logo on top and to the left. Since red is the predominant team color, doesn’t it make more sense to have it as the first portion of the team logo?

    It seems obvious to me these Carolina Hurricanes throwbacks should be the primary uniforms again moving forward. Bring back the white one and get some consistency in their uniform presentation again. Better than the black uniforms that are their current primary home.

    Agreed. Their original 1997-2007 unis, while not perfect, have been their best. Everything since has been a downgrade: the 2007 Edge unis’ warped sleeve stripes and extraneous shoulder piping (minor but annoying enough); the 2013 redesign that resulted in badly mismatched home and road unis; the 2017 redesign that didn’t really redesign the white jersey; and the CANES mark when they did change the white jersey in 2019.

    The black jersey is fine as a third jersey.

    As a Hurricanes fan, I 100% agree. That is *the* iconic look for the Canes, and if nothing else, the honest to god full color hurricane flag stripe needs to be used on every jersey again. It’s somehow been 15 years since we last wore that jersey prior to this season, and it doesn’t feel like it at all.

    And Jarvis is indeed very prankable. Great kid, though he plays wing, not center.

    That was another enjoyable UW+ article.

    I wonder how many broadcasters describe the uniforms during every game.

    Charlie Slowes, voice of the Washington Nationals, does. I think Michael Kay did when he did Yankees radio too.

    Who else?

    Ben Ingram from the Atlanta Braves does that in the top of the first of every game, in pretty good detail usually.

    Pat Hughes with the Cubs radio broadcast describes the uniforms at the start of every game. And I absolutely love it!

    Wayne’s recitation of the uni details (incredibly timed to always end just as the pitcher toes the rubber and the handoff the Howie) is an homage to Pat Hughes, a mentor to Wayne.

    I think Merrill Reese mentions…but doesn´t typically elaborate/critique?…what combo the Eagles and their opponents are wearing at the start of each game.

    He does, and Scott Franzke will run down the uniforms of the Phillies and their opponents. They’re both great, as are their color analysts.

    One of the multitude of radio guys the Orioles use does. I think it’s Kevin Brown (not the former pitcher).

    Tommy Thrall does pretty often for the Reds. Might add some additional commentary or pose a question about them to his partner if there’s something he particularly likes or doesn’t like about them.

    So I get that the ‘Canes’ crest should have the black curl on the left and the red curl on the right. However, the “eye” of the hurricane looks to me like it’s supposed to evoke a puck. Maybe I’ve been staring at it too long, but am I crazy, or does it look more like an actual puck in the upside down/wrong orientation? With the crest the correct way, it looks like the puck is upside down to me!!! Ugh!

    100% looks better upside down! The normal perspective makes it look as if you’re seeing the “puck” from the bottom… which I guess if it were an actual hurricane in the sky makes sense lol, but still I’ve always thought the logo looked weird because off that.

    I always looked at the black mark as an eyebrow.

    The black on the bottom makes the eye look tired or bored…

    Agreed. Upside down actually brings the concept into focus. The logo has always been too messy and abstract for my taste, though.

    Living in NC, I pretty regularly see cars with Hurricanes logo stickers and/or license plates that are upside down. Easy mistake to make, I guess…

    While I know people recognize the logo on what is now the third sweaters, I prefer the new logo and the black sweaters. However, there’s little doubt that this is the best red sweater they’ve had since the 1997-2007 models since it’s basically the same thing on an Adidas sweater template.

    I talked about the logos with an artist who is now into sports but fully understands logos, and thinks the ones now on the red sweaters are anything but good … I’ve heard comparisons to a flushing toilet and another even worse. The hurricane warning flags mounted on the hockey stick with the outline of the state of North Carolina between the flags has already grown on me.

    Keep the black sweaters, and the red ones. Put either the hurricane warning flags or the primary logo back on the chest of the white sweater. Make sure to border any sweater with the primary logo with the warning flags across the bottom. Easily the highlight of the primary logo sweater.

    I am going to agree with those that say it looks better upside down. Can definitely see the puck thing now and that works much better with it upside down.
    But in general I have always thought it to be a bad logo. The stick/flag one is much better. I think the hurricane eye logo has a place as a secondary logo.
    I’d be surprised if this the first time it has happened. Seems a fairly easy mistake to make. Until today I don’t think I would have known which orientation is correct if you asked me.

    Title seems reported as fact when it was an assumption. I wonder if it’s a good idea to change it for anyone who comes across it in the future

    Yep, looks like some random-looking code got placed in the link instead of the actual URL somehow.
    Here’s the actual page: link

    Aside from teams with logos that are circles, this ´prank´ may only work very well on players for the Kraken and (maybe) the Lightning.

    RE: Canes
    So the real question is: Did the team knowingly put him on the ice that way?

    Afterwards described as a production error. But did the team even know? Did they spot it? Hoping no one else would?

    Pretty poor decision if they sent him out there knowingly, just to fill a sponsor/promo demand. IMO

    Not buying that the equipment staff would do that to any player. Too much respect for the players in that room, organization, league and sport to do something like that.

    Had it been a prank (I see that it wasn’t), it would have one of the meekest “pranks” ever.

    And I’m not the only one that thinks at least as far as the center element of the logo goes, it looks better upside down.

    Lee

    “ And I’m not the only one that thinks at least as far as the center element of the logo goes, it looks better upside down”.

    Yes you are. Pleeease, stop trying.
    You wanna dig something?
    Try looking up how shitty the Ducks and Stars logo are (btw that’s Anaheim and Dallas of NHL).

    If the puck inside the “hurricane” were an italicized “C” for Carolina, they might not have this issue.

    I prefer the stick and warning flags logo but this is a funny occurence. Jarvis will never forget his 100th game.

Comments are closed.