In today’s Ticker: Which logos were deemed “trendy” in the 1990s, a font change for a U.S. government agency, and more.
Uni Watch News Ticker for Jan. 18, 2023
Posted in:
Baseball
MLB
- Really good story on how the Boston Braves became the Bees (and perhaps a rallying cry for when the franchise changes its name again ). (From our own Phil Hecken)
- Here’s a look at the progress of the Blue Jays’ home park renovations. (From Andreas Papadopoulos)
- This MLB article talks about the Yankees’ lack of captaincy patches and also references Paul’s article on captaincy patches in MLB.
- A recent episode of Antiques Roadshow featured a baseball signed by Washington Senators P Walter Johnson. You can see the ball at approximately the 47-minute mark of the linked video. (From James Gilbert)
Football
NFL
- Orange/white/white for the Bengals on Sunday.
Hockey
Minors/Juniors
- Military appreciation unis for the Rochester Americans, affiliate of the Sabres, over the weekend. The shoulder patch is a version of their former logo from the 1971-72 season, when they were an affiliate of the Canucks. (From Doug Brei)
- New alternates for the Victoria Grizzlies of the BCHL. (From Wade Heidt)
- You’ve probably heard of this before, but just in case: Actor Steve Carell was once a goaltender for Middlesex Prep in Concord, Mass. Here he is in his pads. (From Max Weintraub)
Basketball
NBA
- The Warriors visited the White House yesterday to celebrate their 2022 NBA championship. The team presented President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris with personalized home white jerseys with their NOBs on them. Biden received No. 46 for being the 46th president, while Harris received No. 1, since the Oakland native may be considered the Warriors’ No. 1 fan.
- Ever wonder what the Warriors would look like wearing Bulls colors? You think head coach Steve Kerr has wondered? (From Jorge Cruz)
- G Donovan Williams will wear No. 4 for the Hawks. (From Etienne Catalan)
- The ESPN app showed a picture of Celtics SG Derrick White wearing a Spurs uniform in a graphic showcasing San Antonio’s next game against the Nets. White was traded from the Spurs to the Celtics in the middle of last season. (From Eric Fortune)
College
- BFBS for Wisconsin men’s last night.
- New grey alternates for Penn State men’s.
- Illinois women’s will hold jersey ceremonies later this month and next month to honor former players Jonelle Polk McCloud and Jenna Smith.
Soccer
USA
- A new expansion club, Virginia Marauders FC, is joining USL League Two and the USL W League for next season. (From our own Jamie Rathjen)
- Also from Jamie: Another new USL League Two club, Sarasota Paradise, revealed its name and logo last week.
International
- Italy: New Valentine’s Day-themed shirt for Napoli. (From @bryant_rf)
- England: New pitch planned for Bolton Wanderers. The current pitch is approximately 16 years old. (From Max Weintraub)
Auto Racing
- New livery for NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson. (From Christopher Hickey)
Rugby
- New kits for the New Orleans Gold of Major League Rugby. (From @bryanwdc)
Grab Bag
- What kinds of logos did the kids like in the 1990s? Check out this “current identity trends” page documenting the then-“in” logos for 1997. (From @GameplanChicago)
- The University of Louisville athletics department is auctioning off some jerseys, including a tequila sunrise-style baseball jersey and several basketball jerseys with no numbers on them. (From @carlostres)
- A softball coach from Splendora High School in Texas is under fire after forcing the team to wear shirts that said, “I Achieved Failure.”
- The U.S. Department of State is phasing out Times New Roman in all official communications in favor of Calibri. Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a memo informing department employees of the change with the subject, “The Times (New Roman) Are a-Changing.” (From Randy Koehn)
Comments (18)
Regarding the State Department font entry: calibrate makes sense, but 14 point seems a bit big.
#1 for first female VP?
So why is Marauders still considered an acceptable name for sports teams? Merriam-Webster dictionary defines marauder as: one who roams from place to place making attacks and raids in search of plunder
From USL press release: Ahmed Sheta, founder of Virginia Marauders FC, said. “The goal is to give the community something to build on…”
I’d rather root for a team called the Goody Two-Shoes.
That’s pretty much the goal of an away game winning streak.
link
That MLB.com story on the Braves/Bees has an AP photo of Lou Gehrig with Babe Ruth. Gehrig’s sleeves look like they were trimmed with a pair of scissors or something and left unfinished. Was that a thing?
I would love one of those “I Achieved Failure” shirts.
The Bengals uni announcement says “black socks”. Any bets on how many players will be wearing white or orange sox?
Unlike *most* (maybe half?) teams, the Bengals are pretty strict with their sock protocol. I wouldn’t think too many (if any) players will go rogue.
Thanks, Phil. I went to Getty Images and couldn’t find any deviation on the Bengals in their last game against the Ravens. Refreshingly, all wore Orange sox (Uni Combo was O/B/W/O), although some looked to have white sannies and others with black sannies.
link
Orange / white / white is a much better look for the Bengals than with the white helmets.
Re: the Braves, is there anything really specific about the name Braves tying it to Native Americans? To me it just sounds like Braves could mean any type of warrior/soldier. Couldn’t they just remove the tomahawk (they already had an alt without it) and any other NA references and keep the name?
Used without the article “the,” the noun “Braves” pretty much only refers to Native American warriors. Just dropping the tomahawk doesn’t change that. (Though for a lot of folks, I suspect that just dropping the Tomahawk Chop would be sufficient.) There’s no purely semantic/wordplay solution here in the way that some minor-league or collegiate Chiefs have kept the word but changed which part of the definition it refers to; even minimal-change approaches like renaming them “The Brave” or “Bravest” require changing the name in order to change the meaning.
Okay fair. Have Native American groups actually expressed offense at the name? I know the Chop is a problem, I can imagine the imagery is for the same reason. But have any groups actually said the name itself bothers them?
Redskins & Indians I totally get but I just haven’t heard much stink about the name Braves. Also in my experience often times these situations end up being a bunch of bored white people who think they’re heroes for being offended on behalf of non-white people.
So unless Native Americans themselves actually get mad, I really don’t see a problem. Should they change it, I’d argue change it to Bravos. Really like their Tomahawk free alt and a change to Bravos would barely change the uniform. One letter different.
I’d oppose a change to Bees because you’d have to change the colors but mainly, there’s already a popular MiLB team in Salt Lake City called the Bees.
The “Hip Logos of the 1990s” feature reminded me of a Jim Henson quote: “If it’s too dumb for adults, it’s too dumb for kids.” The ’90s were a pretty bleak period for team insignias, the bulk of which seemed to be looking down the toothy maw of a jungle cat. My optimal era of design is the 1960s-70s, which yielded the crests of the Flyers and Bulls, to name two excellent specimens.
The Walter Johnson autographed ball clip is NSFW. The lady said she got it “from my friend Big Dick who had it. He was a toy salesman and sports salesman. After his death, his daughter gave it to me.”
I know I have the maturity level of a 12-year-old boy, but this made me laugh.
That Braves/Bees story is very good, learned so many details from it. Atlanta Bees still has a nice ring to it and I am sure they would have come up with a good logo. Team colors would have been a thing: royal blue and gold is Milwaukee Brewers but on the other hand there are so many red, white and blue teams. It would sidestep the tomahawk chop: having fans pointing index fingers to imitate a bee’s sting instead.
I can’t imagine that Atlanta Bees would ever fly (no pun intended) because it is too closely associated with Yellow Jackets, the mascot of the most hated team in Atlanta (even though they are more loved in Atlanta than anywhere else :P), Georgia Tech. I could just have sour grapes though because I’m a Tech alumna and fan, and therefore biased.