In today’s Ticker: Women’s soccer clubs are finally heeding calls from their players to ditch white shorts, some World Baseball Classic news, and more.
Uni Watch News Ticker for March 1, 2023
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Baseball
MLB
- Atlanta has an upcoming bobblehead giveaway that features the hip-hop duo Outkast wearing Atlanta uniforms. (From multiple readers)
- The Blue Jays will be giving out a cricket jersey for an upcoming cricket promotion. (From John Maynard)
- There were no umpires in the bottom of the ninth at yesterday’s Orioles/Pirates spring training game. The game was officially over after the top of the ninth since home team was winning. But the O’s wanted to give some pitching time to P Ofreidy Gómez, so the teams agreed to play another half-inning even though the umpires had left the field. Orioles C Maverick Handley called the balls and strikes.
- Speaking of umpires: The latest episode in the great podcast 99% Invisible is about robot umpires. (From Andrew Cosentino)
More
- Here are Australia’s uniforms for the upcoming World Baseball Classic. The uniform features a sun from Aboriginal symbology. (From Germán Cabrejo)
- Valley View High School in Valley View, Ark., has an interesting take on the Brewers’ ball-in-glove logo. (From Charlie, who didn’t give his last name)
Football
NFL
- Buried within this article is the news that Commies owner Dan Snyder once charged the team$4.5 million to put the team’s logo on his private jet. (From our own Jerry Wolper)
College
- This excerpt from a 1981 Sports Illustrated article explains why Georgia uses bone-shaped merit decals. (From James Gilbert)
Hockey
NHL
- Gross: New helmet ad for the Kings. (From Mike Chamernik)
- Lots of game-worn Habs gear up for auction here. (From Jonathan Goupil)
Basketball
College
- Louisville men’s wore red at home last night, with Virginia Tech wearing white on the road. (From Andrew Cosentino)
- Similarly, Kansas men’s wore red at home last night, with Texas Tech wearing white on the road. (From @UB_In_5)
- Gonzaga men’s made the Final Four in both 2017 and 2021, losing in the national championship game both times. They have banners hanging in their practice facility to honor both achievements, but they’re not consistent. The 2017 banner only shows that year’s Final Four logo, while the 2021 banner also adds that they were “National Finalists,” despite the fact that they were finalists in both years. (From Colin McDonough)
More
- The jerseys of three former boys’ basketball players at Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley, W.V., were removed from the school’s hall of fame and returned to the players after the players were charged with separate crimes.
Soccer
USA
- The NWSL’s Orlando Pride’s second kit now has black numbers and NOBs instead of silver, and black shorts instead of white ones due to menstrual concerns. As part of the reveal, some of the club’s players read some mean tweets about the uniforms. (From multiple readers)
- The NWSL will no longer mandate that teams must have a white shirt — a markedly American tradition — starting in 2024. Clubs will now just be required to have a light and dark kit, more in line with FIFA regulations. (From multiple readers)
- The Portland Timbers wore black bands on their right arms, covering their TikTok sleeve ads. Reader Dylan Darling thinks the bands are some kind of player tracker, which is used to generate stats about players such as yards traveled and shots taken.
- New 10th-anniversary shirts for Sacramento Republic FC of the USL Championship.
International
- Beer company Carlsberg has launched Liverpool-themed cans based on the club’s past kits. (From Ben Hagen)
Grab Bag
- The Toronto Rock of the National Lacrosse League will wear Indigenous Heritage-themed sweaters this weekend. (From Wade Heidt)
- Gross: Reader Stu Taylor was borrowing his dad’s truck and noticed a BP ad on the truck’s gas cap. In a similar vein, the oil cap on my car has an ad for Castrol. Anyone else have ads hiding in their cars?
Comments (14)
Merit stickers need to come back. Miss the days of the dog bone on UGA helmets tiger paws on Clemson helmets, tar heels on UNC helmets and so on.
I’m pretty sure Clemson still wears theirs. But the number of teams using them in general is WAY down. I thought I remember reading recently its down to like 8 teams in FCS
I have two Volkswagens, a 2007 Eos and a 2014 Jetta. They both had Castrol oil caps. I say had because I replaced them with Audi oil caps for just that reason. My previous car, a 1999 Jetta, had a normal cap, so its been going on since at least 2007 with VW.
Figured the Castrol ad was a Volkswagen thing. That picture is from my 2018 GTI.
It looks like 94 year old George Toma will not be doing any more Super Bowl fields, as he was irate on how the NFL handled the field (very slick) during Super Bowl LVII.
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RE: Valley View High School
Why do so many high school and college baseball players seem to prefer absolutely flat brims on their caps? I can’t name a single major league that does that.
You never noticed that in MLB?
It’s not the norm, but it’s not uncommon. Don’t care for the look myself, either, but several MLB’ers do sport a flat brim. It’s been a think for a while
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Also: player is wearing a Nike jersey with Under Armour pants and there is a Steak n Shake advertisement in the bottom corner. Logo creep everywhere
Because adolescents like going against convention, even if it looks ridiculous. Flat brims were a thing maybe 10 years ago, and it looked dumb then. When my kids were old enough to know better, I showed them how to break in and wear a hat properly.
Sad country we live in when people like Dan Snyder walk around scot-free. The general population can be evicted, utilities cut off, or arrested for something with a value less than $200; this pimple on the ass of humanity defrauded other shareholders for millions of dollars, and it barely registers a blip on the news.
The black armbands on the Portland Timbers was for Charlotte’s Anton Walkes, who died kin a boating accident in January.
It was used throughout MLS in honor of Walkes.
I introduced merit decals to my sons hockey team in 2009. We had one that said “110%” for best effort, an eagle claw for scoring a goal, and a dead bug for a good check on an opponent. I don’t know if there were any other teams doing it but you know kids will go all out crazy for that bit of sticky vinyl.
Re: the Timbers’ black armband — that was a league-wide memorial for matchday 1 in memory of Grant Wahl and Anton Walkes (Charlotte also had a patch). The player trackers are typically worn as part of a cutoff tank top/training bra looking garment under the shirt.