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Maybe a Zebra Can Change Its Stripes

zebra.jpg

As briefly noted in yesterday’s Uni Watch News Ticker, the NFL Network’s NFL Total Access show ran a Wednesday-night segment about the league’s officials getting new uniforms this season. Although I don’t get the NFL Network (and probably lots of you don’t get it either), it turns out that the full video clip is available online. Go here, click on “Video Features,” and then scroll down to “Director of Officiating Mike Pereira on NFL Total Access,” and you can watch it for yourself.

It ain’t pretty. For comparison, here‘s what we’re all used to seeing. And here’s the new attire — short-sleeve, long-sleeve (the extra black areas appear to have been influenced by the NHL officials’ jerseys), rear view, and left-sleeve uni number. There are some worthwhile features, like the zip-up mock collar for cold weather, but the black pocket and tapered stripes are bad news. Why fix something that wasn’t broken? Even worse, based on this photo, it appears that there will be a wide black side panel, not unlike the side panel worn by NBA refs, which is a huge mistake.

The kicker, though, is that the officials will now wear black slacks with a white stripe during cold weather — no more knickers and striped socks. Scandalous! Anyone want to bet how many “waiter” and “butler” jokes it takes before this experiment is abandoned?

There’s additional coverage here, and another photo here (don’t worry about the shorts, those are just for training camp). Meanwhile, a coupla other thoughts:

• If you watch the video, you’ll see that Pereira makes a big fuss over the NFL shield’s placement on the rear jersey — the jersey has the “proper branding,” he says. And just what is “proper” about it? Like, it’s not enough that the NFL crest appears on the front pocket? And you can’t tell me it’s about merchandising, since nobody’s going to buy (I’m not sure it’s even possible to buy) one of these jerseys. This is just pointless, “because we can” logo creep.

• Speaking of logo creep, the white cap in this photo (taken during a Cleveland Browns practice) is disturbing. I think it’s just a replica cap, because the caps shown in the Pereira video didn’t have the Reebok logo. But this situation bears watching.

• My favorite moment in the video: When Pereira says, “The look is, uh — the look is, is, uh, is, is somethin’ certainly like we haven’t done before.” Well put.

Finally, if you’re wondering why refs in so many sports wear black and white stripes, look here.

(Big thanks to Daniel Kinderman and Matt Spencer for their research assistance.)

Geography Corner: Got a great note yeterday from reader Burrill Strong, who was road-tripping through the Midwest last weekend and stumbled across the ultimate Uni Watch town — check it out.

Upon further investigation, Uniopolis (pop. 256) appears to have favorable weather, a bustling traffic grid, a brisk real estate market, and plenty of highly attractive single women and men, many of whom enjoy the town’s vibrant social scene.

How great would it be if we held a Uni Watch party in Uniopolis? We could do it at Greg’s Place! Clearly, this needs to happen, and soon. If any readers live out that way, please do some advance location scouting and send a full report.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Killer throwback action yesterday between the Astros and Padres (although this Houston mound conference threatened to spontaneously combust). Kudos to everyone who wore their stirrups just right. The ‘Stros were particularly good about this, as you can see here, here, and here. … Remember our discussions of Mike Pelfrey’s mouthguard? After seeing this photo, I think it’s clear why he wears it. … Ben Roethlisberger, who had originally planned to switch to a Riddell Revolution helmet (shown on the left in this photo) after his motorcycle accident, has now decided to stick with his old helmet. … SI.com’s Stewart Mandel recently opined that Mississippi State “easily has the worst uniforms east of Oregon,” an assessment that seems more than a little extreme (with thanks to MSU alum Kurt Cooper for the tip). … Looks like Vernon Wells is wearing gray shoes. … The Redskins are spraying their unis and equipment with an anti-bacterial product (with thanks to Chris Zeppie). … Anyone who doesn’t get the whole “leave the sticker on the brim of the cap” phenomenon (that would include me) will enjoy this logo creep alert from Bryan Redemske.

 
  
 
Comments (197)

    Two nights ago during the Phillies game I noticed something bizarre on Chase Utley’s helmet. As you all probably know, the Phillies have been sporting link with the little blue button on top. After Utley hit a single in the 7th/8th?, the camera showed him on first as he was bending over and it looked like his red Phillies helmet had a blue circle colored in on the top of the helmet to mimic their caps. Anyone else notice this? I was in a bar when this happened, so I could be wrong.

    Those old ‘Stros unis give me bad flashbacks to a copy-cat Little League team I played against once upon a time… ugh… You can bet I voted for them in yesterday’s column.

    FYI, yesterday, the FCC ordered that Time Warner Cable must reinstate the NFL Network on systems in Cleveland, Dallas and Buffalo, among others.

    link

    TWC purchased cable rights from Adelphia and Comcast in those areas and yanked the NFLN for raising their fees 350 percent.

    After watching last night’s Red Sox – Indians game, we can add Shin-Soo Choo to the list of dual-ear flapped hitting non-switch-hitters. And he wears his hat under the helmet making for a snug fit.

    Vernon Well’s gray shoes are the Nike Huarache 2K5 baseball cleats with black trim. What, is Pelfry tryin’ to be like MJ????

    My gosh, those refs unis are absolutely horrid!!

    Out of all 118 other Div-1A schools, he picks Mississippi State? As a State alum, I call for a boycott of Stewart Mandel by all Bulldogs!

    I noticed the Phillies batting helmets a while back when they were playing my Pirates. I do believe their batting helmets have the blue dot on top.

    In the second stirrup picture, is the SD batter wearing yellow socks under the dark stirrups? Classy!

    I noticed #1’s comment last week with during one of the Philly’s games. Abreu had a helmet like that.

    I was watching yesterday’s Astros/Padres throwback game and I have to say I too was impressed with the amount of sock (and stirrup) many Astros players had showing. If only they did more of this with their current uniforms.

    On the flip side, as bad as those tequilla sunrise unis were, they looked even worse with the current Astros logo on the helmets. Couldnt they have put the old “H” in the orange star logo on the helmets? That would have been more accurate at least

    What is with the many pictures of the Astros hosiery and no mention of the brown yellow combo sported by the Padres?

    I was watching SportsCenter last night and when they showed Todd Walker’s impressive play at third I immediately thought his stirrups looked nice, there will be a picture of him on Uniwatch tomorrow. I’m disappointed.

    While not an absolute total eyesore, the older ref jerseys are much preferable. Maybe Ed Hoculhi wanted something different to better “show off the guns.”

    link

    The picture of the Astros at the mound, reminded me that Phil Garner, Jose Cruz and Craig Biggio all wore those uniforms on an everyday basis. Cruz, however, being the only one with the number on the leg. As for the helmet reference, seems as if Biggio could have at least busted out one of his old ones.
    San Diego players who showed the gold sanitaries deserve extra credit.

    “Style wasn’t my concern”
    -Mike Pereira on the new NFL Referees unis.

    That about sums it up.

    Let’s try this comment again. I just wanted to point out that the Baseball Tonight guys were all over the Toronto Blue Jays for wearing their black unis when they played the Yankees yesterday afternoon… when the temp reached 120 degrees on the field! What were they thinking?

    [quote comment=”4259″]Two nights ago during the Phillies game I noticed something bizarre on Chase Utley’s helmet. As you all probably know, the Phillies have been sporting link with the little blue button on top. After Utley hit a single in the 7th/8th?, the camera showed him on first as he was bending over and it looked like his red Phillies helmet had a blue circle colored in on the top of the helmet to mimic their caps. Anyone else notice this? I was in a bar when this happened, so I could be wrong.[/quote]
    I have noticed this a lot on the Phils helmets, it is in fact a blue dot to mimick the hat, it looks bush league if you ask me.

    Anybody else think the “Unofficial” Ed Hoculhi website from post #14 is a little creepy?

    I can’t believe no one mentioned it, but from the highlight that I saw from last night’s Mets game, Pedro was high sockin’ it again. I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to the Pedro fund for showing him the light.

    Pereira said, “We have made tremendous gains, not in style–that wasn’t my concern–but in function.”

    First, let us not overlook the switch to the new material. This is truly a gain. And the hole for the microphone cable is good, too. However, it seems to me that Pereira himself is not exactly happy with the design. Is Reebok to blame here? Did they push this crappy design on the officials?

    Also, upon first glance, the new uniforms appear to have more black than the old ones. If they are concerned about the officials getting too hot in the summer, shouldn’t the short sleeve ones invert the color scheme to get more heat reflecting white? If they were to change it at all, of course.

    Ben Roethlisberger, who had originally planned to switch to a Riddell Revolution helmet (shown on the left in this photo) after his motorcycle accident, has now decided to stick with his old helmet. …

    wow! sounds like roethlisberger is really concerned about his helmet situation this season. too bad he didnt investigate the availability of this helmet…
    link

    [quote comment=”4267″]I’ll bet Phil Knight was happy to see this in his mailbox this week…

    link[/quote]

    Does the SI Curse apply to companies, too? We’ll have to track their stock price over the next week or two.

    Its a sad day for myself personally… I share the same last name with the man who is responsible for the Ref’s uni’s, and certainly not proud of it.

    noticed that elijah manning has also switched back to the “traditional” helmet this season after wearing the big boy last year… eli wore the traditional lid his 1st year as well…

    don’t know if its available in the NFL video archive… but when the referee uni switch aired live, NFLN showed some clips of hochuli working out… Christ, you’ve got to see him in a tank-top…. not to sound fruity, but the man is a monster…

    [quote comment=”4260″]Those old ‘Stros unis give me bad flashbacks to a copy-cat Little League team I played against once upon a time… ugh… You can bet I voted for them in yesterday’s column.[/quote]

    I remember playing Legion ball in those days, and many teams wore Astros knock-off uniforms. It was really bad when their team colors were purple, red or green, and the rainbow jersey featured variations of those colors instead of the Astros’ orange/yellow.

    This is for uniwatch regulars…Remember the whole frozen cabbage leaf under the hat thing? Last night on Baseball Tonight around 10:20 (Eastern) Orel Hershiser was speaking about how to stay cool during the really hot days. He then went on to reference the “old baseball trick” of placing a frozen cabbage leaf under the cap. The others on the show seemed to think this was normal and did not comment. Just a little FYI

    Every team that has a different color button on top of their caps has a corresponding color dot on the batting helmet. It’s been that way for a few years now. I can’t believe everyone is acting like this is something new! The Phillies have it. The Mets also have it on their blue helmets. They used to have it on their black and blue helmets, but ever since they went to that cool-flo helmet they have that odd two-tone design. I think the Yankee also have it on theirs, a white dot, even though their baseball caps have no corresponding white button!

    The Pirates have a white dot on top of their batting helmets and a black dot on top of their fielding hats.

    [quote comment=”4259″]Two nights ago during the Phillies game I noticed something bizarre on Chase Utley’s helmet. As you all probably know, the Phillies have been sporting link with the little blue button on top. After Utley hit a single in the 7th/8th?, the camera showed him on first as he was bending over and it looked like his red Phillies helmet had a blue circle colored in on the top of the helmet to mimic their caps. Anyone else notice this? I was in a bar when this happened, so I could be wrong.[/quote]

    Forget the dot, which I like as it sets them off from there rest of the white dot teams. It looks like Utley marked up his helmet. There seems to be a mark like when you bend plastic and it changes the color across the one side of the helmet. What could he have done to it?

    [quote comment=”4286″]Pereira said, “We have made tremendous gains, not in style–that wasn’t my concern–but in function.”

    First, let us not overlook the switch to the new material. This is truly a gain. And the hole for the microphone cable is good, too. However, it seems to me that Pereira himself is not exactly happy with the design. Is Reebok to blame here? Did they push this crappy design on the officials?

    Also, upon first glance, the new uniforms appear to have more black than the old ones. If they are concerned about the officials getting too hot in the summer, shouldn’t the short sleeve ones invert the color scheme to get more heat reflecting white? If they were to change it at all, of course.[/quote]

    Not only that, but why not use the white cap with the short sleeves, and black with the long, instead of what they’re showing now.

    Who cares about updating the NFL referee uniforms when they should be updating the NFL referee eyeglass prescriptions!

    (Just kidding. I’m OK with the new ref unis and the USA hoops look. Go Orlando Thunder! Vote early, vote often!)

    While watching highlights of the Marlins game on sportscenter last night did anyone else notice that the “Dolphin Stadium” logo that was shown on the left field coner wall when one of the Marlins doubled to left. It appered to look like the Seahawks logo. How come they didn’t use the real Dolphin Logo. Sorry no screen grab.

    [quote comment=”4306″]While watching highlights of the Marlins game on sportscenter last night did anyone else notice that the “Dolphin Stadium” logo that was shown on the left field coner wall when one of the Marlins doubled to left. It appered to look like the Seahawks logo. How come they didn’t use the real Dolphin Logo. Sorry no screen grab.[/quote]
    I guess you could e-mail the Dolphins organization and ask them…..?

    [quote comment=”4281″]Anybody else think the “Unofficial” Ed Hoculhi website from post #14 is a little creepy?[/quote]

    Yeah a little, but I see Ed Hochuli as a great American hero worthy of enshrining. Did you know that Ed Hochuli once threw a flag so hard it impaled a fan in the 12th row?

    Miguel, I like the USA unis too, pretty sharp-looking. Funny thing that someone mentioned the SI cover curse; it’s not like the article is about Nike; it’s about Mauer. If anything, we shall see if his batting average starts to plummet, not Nike’s stock.

    Last week, I went to the Pirates game (Kip Wells’ last start with the club) and when he came to the plate for his second at bat he had an Iverson-like sleeve on his left arm only. But he’s a right handed pitcher… what gives? He wasn’t wearing it when he came back out to pitch… but I didn’t have a camera on me to catch the action.

    Has anyone else ever watched a player wear something like this?

    I like the new USA jerseys. But did anyone catch the burger king logo on the front of the puerto rico jerseys?? there was also a little patch to the top left of the jerseys. Weird.

    [quote comment=”4281″]Anybody else think the “Unofficial” Ed Hoculhi website from post #14 is a little creepy?[/quote]
    Creepy? how about worthy of investigation!

    [quote comment=”4290″]Pedro has not yet cashed the check. Don’t worry, I’m checking my online statement every morning to see if he’s deposited it![/quote]
    I hope he doesn’t have his accountant stamp “Deposit” on the back of the check, and that he actually signs.

    [quote comment=”4294″][quote comment=”4260″]Those old ‘Stros unis give me bad flashbacks to a copy-cat Little League team I played against once upon a time… ugh… You can bet I voted for them in yesterday’s column.[/quote]

    I remember playing Legion ball in those days, and many teams wore Astros knock-off uniforms. It was really bad when their team colors were purple, red or green, and the rainbow jersey featured variations of those colors instead of the Astros’ orange/yellow.[/quote]

    My high school’s baseball unis were a green and gold version of those mid-80s Sox unis that were featured in yesterday’s column. I can’t remember if they had the numbers on the front of the pants, though.

    [quote comment=”4281″]Anybody else think the “Unofficial” Ed Hoculhi website from post #14 is a little creepy?[/quote]
    Everything about that man is creepy.

    [quote comment=”4300″]Every team that has a different color button on top of their caps has a corresponding color dot on the batting helmet. It’s been that way for a few years now. I can’t believe everyone is acting like this is something new! The Phillies have it. The Mets also have it on their blue helmets. They used to have it on their black and blue helmets, but ever since they went to that cool-flo helmet they have that odd two-tone design. I think the Yankee also have it on theirs, a white dot, even though their baseball caps have no corresponding white button![/quote]
    I had noticed this before, but to me it seemes like a long time since this was the practice, I remember the Oakland A’s having it, but I can promise you the Yankees never have or will put the dot on their helmets.

    [quote comment=”4274″]While not an absolute total eyesore, the older ref jerseys are much preferable. Maybe Ed Hoculhi wanted something different to better “show off the guns.”

    link

    This is HILARIOUS! Perhaps Ed Hochuli and all his muscle glory will be the new Chuck Norris. So instead of jokes like “Chuck Norris’ tears cure cancer, too bad he’s never cried” we can now say “Ed Hochuli once bench pressed a goal post for pre-game warmups.” Something along those lines.

    BT

    [quote comment=”4311″][quote comment=”4281″]Anybody else think the “Unofficial” Ed Hoculhi website from post #14 is a little creepy?[/quote]

    Yeah a little, but I see Ed Hochuli as a great American hero worthy of enshrining. Did you know that Ed Hochuli once threw a flag so hard it impaled a fan in the 12th row?[/quote]

    Not sure if this is blasphemy, but would anyone else like to see Ed Hochuli vs. Chuck Norris in a pay-per-view? Hocs could wear the new ref uniform and Norris could wear some link attire.

    Like Micah said above, Vernon’d shoes are the Huarache 2k5. We talked (typed?) about this just after the All Star Game as well. This is the Statment level offering for next year…..

    It looks like the standard set up, gray w/team color …..

    link

    [quote comment=”4313″]Last week, I went to the Pirates game (Kip Wells’ last start with the club) and when he came to the plate for his second at bat he had an Iverson-like sleeve on his left arm only. But he’s a right handed pitcher… what gives? He wasn’t wearing it when he came back out to pitch… but I didn’t have a camera on me to catch the action.

    Has anyone else ever watched a player wear something like this?[/quote]

    Yeh they are a link made by the same people the “bungie cord” looking link that Curt Schilling wears.

    [quote comment=”4313″]Last week, I went to the Pirates game (Kip Wells’ last start with the club) and when he came to the plate for his second at bat he had an Iverson-like sleeve on his left arm only. But he’s a right handed pitcher… what gives? He wasn’t wearing it when he came back out to pitch… but I didn’t have a camera on me to catch the action.

    Has anyone else ever watched a player wear something like this?[/quote]

    You mean a sleeve like the one link?

    [quote comment=”4318″][quote comment=”4300″]Every team that has a different color button on top of their caps has a corresponding color dot on the batting helmet. It’s been that way for a few years now. I can’t believe everyone is acting like this is something new! The Phillies have it. The Mets also have it on their blue helmets. They used to have it on their black and blue helmets, but ever since they went to that cool-flo helmet they have that odd two-tone design. I think the Yankee also have it on theirs, a white dot, even though their baseball caps have no corresponding white button![/quote]
    I had noticed this before, but to me it seemes like a long time since this was the practice, I remember the Oakland A’s having it, but I can promise you the Yankees never have or will put the dot on their helmets.[/quote]

    Never say never…
    link

    Anyone catch those USA Basketball unis from last nighgt’s exhibition match?

    Those things are dreadful. The look like all those Nike college football unis. Weird back and butt stripes abound!

    Yuck!

    [quote comment=”4303″]Not only that, but why not use the white cap with the short sleeves, and black with the long, instead of what they’re showing now.[/quote]

    It wouldn’t work…the referee’s hat is different from the rest of the frew because he is the head official, and the one who signals and reports all the penalties. The captains need to be able to pick him out of the crowd if they have questions on the field.

    Ed Hochuli is a god, and a hot one at that. The new ref uniforms, ugly as they are, will not be able to muzzle his magnitude.

    As for the USA hoops uniform–I would leave them. They’re pretty bland, but with random white striping that makes no sense–such as the stripe across the butt. Also, the stripes on the sides look suspiciously close to the Nike swoop.

    Finally, Joe Mauer is indestructible–even the SI cover curse will not harm him.

    Concerning post #61: Matthew, you and I must have been typing at the same time. Great minds think alike!

    [quote comment=”4289″][quote comment=”4267″]I’ll bet Phil Knight was happy to see this in his mailbox this week…

    link[/quote]

    Does the SI Curse apply to companies, too? We’ll have to track their stock price over the next week or two.[/quote]
    If there’s such a thing, can we convince SI to feature nike on it’s cover for the remainder fo the year? Death to Nike!

    [quote comment=”4279″]Let’s try this comment again. I just wanted to point out that the Baseball Tonight guys were all over the Toronto Blue Jays for wearing their black unis when they played the Yankees yesterday afternoon… when the temp reached 120 degrees on the field! What were they thinking?[/quote]

    [quote comment=”4272″]I was watching yesterday’s Astros/Padres throwback game and I have to say I too was impressed with the amount of sock (and stirrup) many Astros players had showing. If only they did more of this with their current uniforms.

    On the flip side, as bad as those tequilla sunrise unis were, they looked even worse with the current Astros logo on the helmets. Couldnt they have put the old “H” in the orange star logo on the helmets? That would have been more accurate at least[/quote]

    My thoughts exactly–it seems like everytime teams wear the throw-backs they get lazy on the helmets.

    First, the Team USA jerseys are a dreadful vision out of Dante’s Hell. I can only hope the other teams will be distracted by the horrid sight of the unis and Team USA can use them to their advantage.

    Second, Ed Hochuli is an adonis, truly more god than man. I can’t wait to get my Ed Hochuli replica jersey (old style of course, not that new garbage.

    [quote comment=”4335″][quote comment=”4318″][quote comment=”4300″]Every team that has a different color button on top of their caps has a corresponding color dot on the batting helmet. It’s been that way for a few years now. I can’t believe everyone is acting like this is something new! The Phillies have it. The Mets also have it on their blue helmets. They used to have it on their black and blue helmets, but ever since they went to that cool-flo helmet they have that odd two-tone design. I think the Yankee also have it on theirs, a white dot, even though their baseball caps have no corresponding white button![/quote]
    I had noticed this before, but to me it seemes like a long time since this was the practice, I remember the Oakland A’s having it, but I can promise you the Yankees never have or will put the dot on their helmets.[/quote]

    Never say never…
    link
    Typical Yank-me fan reaction. Good catch.
    :)

    Slacks for the referees? Reminds me of the Flyers and Whalers experimenting with Cooperalls in the 1970s. Maybe the NFL can start selling “Authentic” NFL referee slacks – sure to be a hit with… probably no one.

    One time Ed Hochuli ran down the sideline with a massive erection. There were no survivors.

    [quote comment=”4343″][quote comment=”4279″]Let’s try this comment again. I just wanted to point out that the Baseball Tonight guys were all over the Toronto Blue Jays for wearing their black unis when they played the Yankees yesterday afternoon… when the temp reached 120 degrees on the field! What were they thinking?[/quote][/quote]

    Sorry about that….

    Regarding the concern for the Toronto blue Jays players, as many astute uniwatch regulars have already surmised, the black jerseys are actually much lighter material than the regular road grays. On MLB radio Thursday Jays LF Reed Johnson responded to an inquiry questioning the wisdom of the black uni choice. Reed stated that “the black jerseys are more of the mesh jersey” while he jokingly quipped that “the grays can get pretty nasty, they’re pretty heavy”.

    Re: My comment in #64: Nike swoosh, not swoop. If I’m going to give them ‘credit’, I suppose I should get it right.

    [quote comment=”4346″][quote comment=”4335″][quote comment=”4318″][quote comment=”4300″]Every team that has a different color button on top of their caps has a corresponding color dot on the batting helmet. It’s been that way for a few years now. I can’t believe everyone is acting like this is something new! The Phillies have it. The Mets also have it on their blue helmets. They used to have it on their black and blue helmets, but ever since they went to that cool-flo helmet they have that odd two-tone design. I think the Yankee also have it on theirs, a white dot, even though their baseball caps have no corresponding white button![/quote]
    I had noticed this before, but to me it seemes like a long time since this was the practice, I remember the Oakland A’s having it, but I can promise you the Yankees never have or will put the dot on their helmets.[/quote]

    Never say never…
    link
    Typical Yank-me fan reaction. Good catch.
    :)[/quote]

    link

    [quote comment=”4318″][quote comment=”4300″]
    I had noticed this before, but to me it seemes like a long time since this was the practice, I remember the Oakland A’s having it, but I can promise you the Yankees never have or will put the dot on their helmets.[/quote]
    I hope you’re not a betting man. Here’s a picture of a Hideki Matsui game-signed helmet WITH THE WHITE DOT:
    link

    In fact, I believe in one of Paul’s old columns he pointed out that the Yankees have the white dot on the helmet and not on the baseball cap.

    SportsCenter TOP 10 – Made 2 references to UNIFORMS this morning/last night
    #10 – NFL Referees
    #1 – Astros/ Padres, because of Todd Walker’s play at 3B

    I realize that it’s pre-season and there are a lot of interesting “uni” things occuring, but I don’t normally see changes in pants.

    I noticed in link that several Steelers are wearing black pants. Can a Steeler fan tell me if this is normal during camp, or is there a change to the uni I wasn’t aware of? What’s going on?

    [quote comment=”4296″]I just wanted to see what everybody thought of the new link uniforms.

    Personally, I like ’em.[/quote]

    I am alright with the USA uniforms too. Nike could have done worse. Dot-matrix technology anyone?

    Does anyone know why Lebron is wearing #6 and Wade is wearing #9? I would have thought Lebron would want 9 since that is what Jordan wore in the ’92 games (and hence why he now wears #23). Also, Jordan wore a special edition of the Air Jordan 7’s in those games with a 9 on the back instead of a 23. I would think Nike might want Lebron in #9 so they could do something similar.

    [quote comment=”4355″]I realize that it’s pre-season and there are a lot of interesting “uni” things occuring, but I don’t normally see changes in pants.

    I noticed in link that several Steelers are wearing black pants. Can a Steeler fan tell me if this is normal during camp, or is there a change to the uni I wasn’t aware of? What’s going on?[/quote]
    I believe that most teams are going to use long leotards with white ankle socks this year instead of real socks. The Steelers players might just be using the leotards in practice. I know that Terrell Owens practices just with the loetards as well.

    [quote comment=”4313″]Last week, I went to the Pirates game (Kip Wells’ last start with the club) and when he came to the plate for his second at bat he had an Iverson-like sleeve on his left arm only. But he’s a right handed pitcher… what gives? He wasn’t wearing it when he came back out to pitch… but I didn’t have a camera on me to catch the action.

    Has anyone else ever watched a player wear something like this?[/quote] Mike Piazza used to do that (link). I don’t know if he still does, I don’t follow the Padres.

    I’m guessing that Toronto chose the black jerseys for Cool Base because this way they can wear them either at home or on the road. If they made Cool Base in white or gray, half the time they wouldn’t be able to wear them.

    The Orioles have a grey dot on the top of their batting helmets, though, and no grey dot on their hats.

    How come the Astros wore home throwbacks?

    #84, I thought there would be split road/home black alt jerseys, with road saying “Toronto” and home saying “Jays.” Then I checked the team’s mlb.com shop and sure enough, they only have one alt jersey for home and away. It says “Jays.”

    I know the Twins have separate home and road navy alts. Script “Twins” at home, block “MINNESOTA” on the road. Do other teams have a single home and road alt jersey? Looking through the mlb.com shop a bit, I see that the Brewers, Padres, Mariners, Rangers, and A’s have only one dark alt (although the Brewers use the team name on all road jerseys) and that Houston and the Mets do like the Twins. It seems odd to me that the Ranger’s dark alt says “Texas.”

    The new refs unis are all a marketing gimmick so now they can sell the old ones at marked up prices and call them throwbacks

    Also, re: comment 73, I just spit soda out my nose! That’s hilarious and a horrible mental image all at once.

    [quote comment=”4365″]How come the Astros wore home throwbacks?

    #84, I thought there would be split road/home black alt jerseys, with road saying “Toronto” and home saying “Jays.” Then I checked the team’s mlb.com shop and sure enough, they only have one alt jersey for home and away. It says “Jays.”

    I know the Twins have separate home and road navy alts. Script “Twins” at home, block “MINNESOTA” on the road. Do other teams have a single home and road alt jersey? Looking through the mlb.com shop a bit, I see that the Brewers, Padres, Mariners, Rangers, and A’s have only one dark alt (although the Brewers use the team name on all road jerseys) and that Houston and the Mets do like the Twins. It seems odd to me that the Ranger’s dark alt says “Texas.”[/quote]
    The Rockies black alternate uni says “Colorado”, used both at home and on the road.

    Does anyone have a picture of the first year the Mets used the black unis? I believe it was 1998. They actually used the black uni with “Mets” on the front at home and on the road, and used the black and blue caps as well. In 1999 they went to all-black cap and the road black had “New York” on the front.

    Regarding comment #73, I wonder if Ed Hochuli and Chuck Norris ever sit around trading war stories……?

    Houston has 5 jerseys. I think this is how they do it: Gray(road), Pinstripe(Home), White(alt Home), Red(weekend and alt home/road) and Black (Home Sunday). I think all away jerseys say Houston and all Home say Astros. NOt sure how many other clubs have this many jerseys.

    A player once argued a call with Ed Hoculhi- Ed ejected that player from the game… and into outerspace.

    Along with Pelfrey, Roger Clemens was a mouth piece wearer, but not this season. While the MJ tounge action is most definetly the reason Pelfrey uses it I think I have a solid explanation for why the Rocket used one too. The past 4 years I was a pitcher on my college baseball team, and like many major leaguers we took “greenies” (adderol) before games to try and get an edge. I can tell you that when I was pitching, along with being more attentive, I also found myself grinding my teeth a lot. With the new ban on amphedemines in baseball, maybe that explains why Clemens no longer uses the mouth piece

    Ed Hochuli and Chuck Norris talk about Martial Arts all the time. This is because Ed Hochuli invented a martial arts form using only referee hand signal. He false-starts a speed-bag for 20 mins everyday.

    Was at the Pads-Astro game yesterday. Those 1976 Pads unis were not that bad. Wouldn’t mind seeing them again.

    Interesting that the Padres chose the 1976 version, (which were not too bad), instead of the 1984 version which was heavy on the brown. Big kudos for the Padres wearing the gold sanitary socks under the brown stirrups. Looked good. I think the A’s still ‘officially’ wear gold sanitaries under their green stirrups, although very few ever show them.

    The new USA Basketball jerseys/uniforms suck. The butt stripes and generic Nike uniform model are terrible. When will Nike learn that “simpler is better” when it comes to these sports uniforms?

    The Mets added the solid white jersey in 97, the solid black in 98 with the black and blue hat… in 99 they added the away black uniform and the solid black hat…

    [quote comment=”4370″]Houston has 5 jerseys. I think this is how they do it: Gray(road), Pinstripe(Home), White(alt Home), Red(weekend and alt home/road) and Black (Home Sunday). I think all away jerseys say Houston and all Home say Astros. NOt sure how many other clubs have this many jerseys.[/quote]

    I dont *believe* the ‘Stros have a black jersey, any longer at least, I am CERTAIN however that they have 2 Red, one with “Houston” and one with “Astros” …..

    [quote comment=”4380″]What year did the Mets wear the hat with the white crown and blue brim?[/quote]
    ’97 I believe

    [/quote]I dont *believe* the ‘Stros have a black jersey, any longer at least, I am CERTAIN however that they have 2 Red, one with “Houston” and one with “Astros” …..[/quote]
    I think that I saw them wear the black jersey earlier this year, I dont’t remember who they were playing.

    On the link it looks like the home and road red jerseys are different shades of red. Is this true or just the lighting in the pics?

    [quote comment=”4374″]Ed Hochuli and Chuck Norris talk about Martial Arts all the time. This is because Ed Hochuli invented a martial arts form using only referee hand signal. He false-starts a speed-bag for 20 mins everyday.[/quote]

    this may have trumped even the funniest chuch norris fact. bravo vic, bravo.

    When Ed Hochuli sends in his taxes, he sends blank forms and includes only a picture of himself, signaling loss-of-down. Ed Hochuli has not had to pay taxes. Ever.

    White Sox have 4 home unis this year:
    Sleeved Pinstripes
    Sleeveless Pinstripes
    Black (+Black Coolbase)
    Throwback
    Only one road uni (Grey, Sleeved).

    Twins have 3 home and 2 away:
    Sleeved White Pinstripes
    Sleeveless White Pinstripes (worn only 2 or 3 times)
    Navy “Twins”
    Sleeved White Pinstripes
    Navy “MINNESOTA”
    Grey

    wow I messed that up. One of those Twins should read “Sleeved Grey Pinstripes”
    And “Grey” should not be there.

    from yesterday…
    #117 by Lou on 08.03.06 8:07 pm | Quote This Comment

    Something doesn’t seem quite right about that Padres cap. The SD looks too small and skinny, and the yellow front panel doesn’t curve like it’s supposed to:

    today

    then

    I always thought that cap, teamed up with today’s throwback was the best in Padres history & they should go back to that full-time. It always bothered me that they couldn’t replicate that cap & the early 80s version with orange correctly.

    For some reason there are all sorts of problems with making those old Padres caps correctly. I once wrote the president of New Era about and he actually wrote me back.

    if im not mistaken, new era has only recently (last 15 years) acquired the exclusive hat contract for mlb. didnt sports specialties outfit the majors for many years prior?

    I own a 1984 padres hat from Mitchell and Ness, and it has the orange outline on the yellow and orange around the SD. Its perfect but they dont have them on the website anymore.

    [quote comment=”4386″][/quote]I dont *believe* the ‘Stros have a black jersey, any longer at least, I am CERTAIN however that they have 2 Red, one with “Houston” and one with “Astros” …..[/quote]
    I think that I saw them wear the black jersey earlier this year, I dont’t remember who they were playing.

    On the link it looks like the home and road red jerseys are different shades of red. Is this true or just the lighting in the pics?[/quote]
    To my knowledge, they are the same color ….

    [quote comment=”4380″]What year did the Mets wear the hat with the white crown and blue brim?[/quote]

    I think that hat combo was also introduced in 1997 to complete the good humor look of the all whites. (cue famous picture of Bernard Gilky)

    [quote comment=”4311″][quote comment=”4281″]Anybody else think the “Unofficial” Ed Hoculhi website from post #14 is a little creepy?[/quote]

    Yeah a little, but I see Ed Hochuli as a great American hero worthy of enshrining. Did you know that Ed Hochuli once threw a flag so hard it impaled a fan in the 12th row?[/quote]

    Ed Hochuli doesn’t do push ups – he pushes the planet down beneath him.

    The average football field has 3,242 objects Ed Hochuli could use to kill you, including the field itself.

    [quote comment=”4358″][quote comment=”4355″]I realize that it’s pre-season and there are a lot of interesting “uni” things occuring, but I don’t normally see changes in pants.

    I noticed in link that several Steelers are wearing black pants. Can a Steeler fan tell me if this is normal during camp, or is there a change to the uni I wasn’t aware of? What’s going on?[/quote]
    I believe that most teams are going to use long leotards with white ankle socks this year instead of real socks. The Steelers players might just be using the leotards in practice. I know that Terrell Owens practices just with the loetards as well.[/quote]
    Actually, they are probably shorts over the regular pants.

    Ed Hochuli’s upper body is tattooed in full referee striping. But the NFL won’t let him do games topless in fear of distracting the crowd and cameramen with his herculean physique.

    Ed Hochuli stared at the goalposts years ago, and that’s why they are in the back of the end zone instead of the front like they used to be.

    [quote comment=”4398″]The average football field has 3,242 objects Ed Hochuli could use to kill you, including the field itself.[/quote]
    [quote comment=”4397″][quote comment=”4311″][quote comment=”4281″]Anybody else think the “Unofficial” Ed Hoculhi website from post #14 is a little creepy?[/quote]

    Yeah a little, but I see Ed Hochuli as a great American hero worthy of enshrining. Did you know that Ed Hochuli once threw a flag so hard it impaled a fan in the 12th row?[/quote]

    Ed Hochuli doesn’t do push ups – he pushes the planet down beneath him.[/quote]

    Don’t just recycle old Chuck Norris jokes.

    [quote comment=”4403″]Don’t just recycle old Chuck Norris jokes.[/quote]
    And definitely don’t let Ed Hochuli hear you recycling old Chuck Norris jokes…..

    The Padres should bring back those uni’s for everyday use. They are better than anything the’ve had since. Also, those old Astros uni’s aren’t too bad either. When I was in high school we had a jersey loosely based on the Astros “sunrise” jerseys.

    [quote comment=”4352″][quote comment=”4346″][quote comment=”4335″][quote comment=”4318″][quote comment=”4300″]Every team that has a different color button on top of their caps has a corresponding color dot on the batting helmet. It’s been that way for a few years now. I can’t believe everyone is acting like this is something new! The Phillies have it. The Mets also have it on their blue helmets. They used to have it on their black and blue helmets, but ever since they went to that cool-flo helmet they have that odd two-tone design. I think the Yankee also have it on theirs, a white dot, even though their baseball caps have no corresponding white button![/quote]
    I had noticed this before, but to me it seemes like a long time since this was the practice, I remember the Oakland A’s having it, but I can promise you the Yankees never have or will put the dot on their helmets.[/quote]

    Never say never…
    link
    Typical Yank-me fan reaction. Good catch.
    :)[/quote]

    link
    Lets try to keep things nice as Paul has stressed recently, but creidt for “Yank-me” fan, actually haven’t heard that one before. But you and anyone else can Yank-me all the way to the World Series this year!
    Good catch!

    [quote comment=”4365″]How come the Astros wore home throwbacks?[/quote]
    Those were their road unis in link.
    [quote comment=”4365″]Do other teams have a single home and road alt jersey?[/quote]
    As DJ said, the Sox’ black jerseys are worn both link and link

    [quote comment=”4403″][quote comment=”4398″]The average football field has 3,242 objects Ed Hochuli could use to kill you, including the field itself.[/quote]
    [quote comment=”4397″][quote comment=”4311″][quote comment=”4281″]Anybody else think the “Unofficial” Ed Hoculhi website from post #14 is a little creepy?[/quote]

    Yeah a little, but I see Ed Hochuli as a great American hero worthy of enshrining. Did you know that Ed Hochuli once threw a flag so hard it impaled a fan in the 12th row?[/quote]

    Ed Hochuli doesn’t do push ups – he pushes the planet down beneath him.[/quote]

    Don’t just recycle old Chuck Norris jokes.[/quote]

    OK – then check out 116 – I made that one up and didn’t recycle anything for it. I’m so glad we have someone to tell us comic etiquette.

    [quote comment=”4410″][quote comment=”4403″][quote comment=”4398″]The average football field has 3,242 objects Ed Hochuli could use to kill you, including the field itself.[/quote]
    [quote comment=”4397″][quote comment=”4311″][quote comment=”4281″]Anybody else think the “Unofficial” Ed Hoculhi website from post #14 is a little creepy?[/quote]

    Yeah a little, but I see Ed Hochuli as a great American hero worthy of enshrining. Did you know that Ed Hochuli once threw a flag so hard it impaled a fan in the 12th row?[/quote]

    Ed Hochuli doesn’t do push ups – he pushes the planet down beneath him.[/quote]

    Don’t just recycle old Chuck Norris jokes.[/quote]

    OK – then check out 116 – I made that one up and didn’t recycle anything for it. I’m so glad we have someone to tell us comic etiquette.[/quote]

    #116 is really funny, I didn’t say anything about that one, but this is the first place I’ve ever seen these jokes about Ed Hochuli of all people, so I think originality should be encouraged. I’m surprised that noone said anything about the one I put at #66.

    Actually Eli Manning is back to wearing the Bike helmet, which is different (and uglier) than the classic Riddell that Roethlisberger wears.

    haha, man Vic, you’re cracking me up here. This page has really lightened up compared to the other day.

    The NFL should produce their own Mount Rushmore at the hall of fame featuring Pete Rozelle, Vince Lombardi, John Madden….and Ed Hochuli.

    I don’t see any Chuck Norris comparisons there, Vic….

    [quote comment=”4340″]Concerning post #61: Matthew, you and I must have been typing at the same time. Great minds think alike![/quote]

    Sadly, none of those minds are employed at USA Basketball uni central.

    Stripes don’t belong on butts! :o)

    In response to the post #45, another Pirate (well, former Pirate) consistently wore one long sleeve. Oliver Perez did while he was with the team, but he had it on his throwing arm.

    By the way, did anyone happen to see that Jim Tracy, the Pirates’ manager, seemed to have something scribbled on his underbill? I noticed it in the recent series with the Giants, but I couldn’t get a picture of it.

    Off topic: Can someone explain the details of the Yankees/Adidas deal I saw link shirt on espn.com and was curious how Nike can use the Yankee logos and such. I guess I’m not aware of a deal nike has with mlb. If so does that trump team deals with other companies?

    [quote comment=”4341″]Nightmares of Ed Hochuli are what make link cry after every game.[/quote]

    I stand corrected Vic – and humbly apologize – that’s actually pretty funny. But to be honest, Dick Vermiel ovulates, so EVERYTHING makes him cry!

    didnt read all 130 comments so if someone touched this already i apologize. as anyone living in brooklyn, or has at least ever been to fulton st mall, ought to know, folks wear stickers on their caps (sometimes replete with attendant hanging tags, etc) because it makes them (the caps) look either brand new or freshly stolen.

    If I ever have nightmares about NFL officials, it’s about Jerry Seeman. He looked like an elf.

    [quote comment=”4414″]The NFL should produce their own Mount Rushmore at the hall of fame featuring Pete Rozelle, Vince Lombardi, John Madden….and Ed Hochuli.

    I don’t see any Chuck Norris comparisons there, Vic….[/quote]

    We could probably get Ed to carve the whole thing himself if we gave him a cup of black coffee and a pickaxe. He’d pull a John Henry, then tell Jon Gruden to never wear that stupid gold chain again.

    Nike is one of the link of performance apparel for all of the major league teams. adidas is an link of the Yankees, mainly for stuff at Yankee Stadium.

    Stripes don’t belong on butts! :o)[/quote]

    Insert ribald comment here. Matthew, I guess we have to be somewhat thankful that the great minds of the Oregon uniform designs didn’t put in their two cents’ worth on the USA hoops uniform. Now THAT would have been a disaster. As my niece would say, “Little kids don’t want to see that!” And neither do big ones.

    P.S. Hey, Paul, how about an item about Hochs himself tomorrow? With a picture of his guns? Please? I’ll contribute a dollar to the Clinton Portis fund (I think it’s him) when he gets fined for his socks being the wrong color or the wrong height or something like that. Thanks.

    Obviously, I was trying to quote Matthew in the last post, but I screwed up somehow. He said the witty remark about striped butts. Everything following is mine.

    Now that Reebok supplies unis for the NFL, NBA and NHL, how long before they bump Majestic out of the way and take over for MLB?

    Is it just me, or did everyone get an eerie feeling when seeing the “zip-up mock collar” pic? I automatically thought dominatrix/chippendales, and I couldn’t get that vibe when looking at the rest of the pics. I think it’s the cheap looking material. It’s those God awful black patterns on the tops that just, I’M GETTING NAUSEOUS! No joke, my eyes are getting watery. Gotta Go..

    In regards to the Wyoming uniforms, I always wondered how they got away with the brown uniforms. I thought there was some rule about how the primary colors of a uniform couldn’t be brown because it was deceptive for the other team (as the color of the football is also brown). Obviously it hasn’t worked for the Cowpokes over the years, but I remember reading that rule in a rulebook when I was a kid.

    Anyone know what I am talking about here?

    The underbrim messages have nothing on what I saw in the U.S. vs Puerto Rico game last night. One of the Puerto Rican players had a message written on his headband in large letters. link is the only picture I could find of it. I remember they showed a shot of the guy shooting free throw’s with 4:35 left in the 2nd quarter if anyone TiVo’d the game.

    [quote comment=”4423″]Nike is one of the link of performance apparel for all of the major league teams. adidas is an link of the Yankees, mainly for stuff at Yankee Stadium.[/quote]
    You can see the Adidas log creep in this pic link

    The guy on puerto rico with the writing on his headband was Rick Apodaca. He played at Hofstra. It said “R.I.P. SCREW” who apparently is no longer with us.

    Going along with the trend of baseball players turning basketball sneakers into cleats, does anyone have a picture of the retro Jordans that Andruw Jones has been wearing?

    Ed Hochuli ordered a Big Mac at Burger King…and got one.

    As a teen Ed Hochuli impregnated every nun in a convent tucked away in the hills of Tuscany. Nine months later the nuns gave birth to the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only undefeated and untied team in professional football history.

    [quote comment=”4267″]I’ll bet Phil Knight was happy to see this in his mailbox this week…

    link[/quote]

    I’m surprised SI didn’t try to be clever and use the Nike logo as the ‘dot of the i’ in “American”…

    [quote comment=”4438″]Ed Hochuli ordered a Big Mac at Burger King…and got one.

    As a teen Ed Hochuli impregnated every nun in a convent tucked away in the hills of Tuscany. Nine months later the nuns gave birth to the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only undefeated and untied team in professional football history.[/quote]
    Unfortunately for Ed, Chuck Norris pulled those off first… :P

    I love how the old referees looked link the new uniforms look better on younger refs not the older ones. Ben Roethlisberger is an idiot for not wearing a helmet on a motor cycle and an idot for not wearing the link they are so much more comfortable and more protective than the standard helmets which also are very protective. I loved how much stirrup and sock there was in the astros padres game. kudos to the padres for the two color stirrups instead of the white under sock they wore them like link

    Also Mr. Lukas are you going to be doing alot more on football as the season starts.

    Batting Helmet dots:
    When you order a Pro Batting helmet and MLB Professional decal kit, the dot is included with the set which includes numbers, logos, and MLB logo. Also, decal kits vary for home helmets and road helmets. The dot colors do not coorespond to the team’s ballcap dot. Most likely, some do not put them on or remove them from their personal helmet.

    Ben Roethlisberger should have two different models the revolution and the VSR-4 like Eli Manning he has a link and a link Reggie Bush some time when he was with USC wore to different helmets not different models but here is link
    and link many players have two different helmets ore two totally different models why couldnt he try it

    Richard Seymour switch last year when he came back from injury from link to link but it looks like seymour is back to his original helmet VSR-4 for training camp look at the video on 8-3-06 under link

    Im not sure if it was mentioned, but Shane Victorino of the Phillies is wearing a double ear flapped batting helmet. With him being a rather diminutive player, he looks like a little leaguer out there.

    [quote comment=”4450″]Im not sure if it was mentioned, but Shane Victorino of the Phillies is wearing a double ear flapped batting helmet. With him being a rather diminutive player, he looks like a little leaguer out there.[/quote]
    As a matter of fact, during the ballgame SNY play-by-play guy Gary Cohen commented that Victorino looked like a litle leaguer with his double-flapped helmet.

    [quote comment=”4448″]Ben Roethlisberger should have two different models the revolution and the VSR-4 like Eli Manning he has a link and a link [/quote]
    The first picture of Manning wearing the VSR-4 is from two years ago (notice the GIANTS on his jersey, right above the number). Last year he switched to a Revolution helmet (the second pic, where he has NY above the numbers). I don’t believe he uses two helmets; only the Revolution.

    link the best picture I could find of those beautiful Jordan IV cleats worn by Andruw Jones.

    How much do you think these would go for on ebay?

    The first forward pass was actually a football spontaneously and of its own volition gravitating toward the magnificence of Ed Hochuli

    The NFL has issued several memorandums asking Ed Hochuli to stop causing the pregame coinflip to land ‘Edge’ as it confuses the players.

    [quote comment=”4365″]Do other teams have a single home and road alt jersey?[/quote]
    As DJ said, the Sox’ black jerseys are worn both link and link[/quote]
    Duh. The Cubs’ home and road alternate is the same jersey, except that the link and the link. But it’s the exact same jersey.

    That “duh” was directed toward myself for forgetting about that in my earlier post.

    [quote comment=”4436″]Going along with the trend of baseball players turning basketball sneakers into cleats, does anyone have a picture of the retro Jordans that Andruw Jones has been wearing?[/quote]

    link
    link
    link
    link
    link
    link

    [quote comment=”4456″]link the best picture I could find of those beautiful Jordan IV cleats worn by Andruw Jones.

    How much do you think these would go for on ebay?[/quote]

    I know the Jeter 7’s from a few years ago are some of the most sought after for collectors…. So I’d imagine the demand for the 4’s (Probably the most popular J’s of ALL TIME) would be off the charts

    [quote comment=”4307″]here is the web site with the logo I saw….

    link

    the website says Dolphins Stadium but the logo says Dolphin Stadium

    [quote comment=”4456″]link the best picture I could find of those beautiful Jordan IV cleats worn by Andruw Jones.

    How much do you think these would go for on ebay?[/quote]

    An autographed pair went for $500 a couple months ago

    [quote comment=”4482″][quote comment=”4456″]link the best picture I could find of those beautiful Jordan IV cleats worn by Andruw Jones.

    How much do you think these would go for on ebay?[/quote]

    An autographed pair went for $500 a couple months ago[/quote]

    link

    link

    On the new referee uni’s…they look absolutly terrible, not even Vince McMahon’s glorious XFL had outrageous ref uni’s like the NFL.

    The Mississippi State Bulldogs are the only college football team I know of that wears full socks. That makes them better than okay in my book.

    You can see the socks in these pictures:
    link
    link
    link

    Did anybody catch the Twins and Royals wearing camo ballcaps this afternoon? I couldn’t find any reasoning behind it… maybe another military tribute? Here are a couple shots of them:

    link

    link

    [quote comment=”4394″][quote comment=”4386″][/quote]I dont *believe* the ‘Stros have a black jersey, any longer at least, I am CERTAIN however that they have 2 Red, one with “Houston” and one with “Astros” …..[/quote]
    I think that I saw them wear the black jersey earlier this year, I dont’t remember who they were playing.

    On the link it looks like the home and road red jerseys are different shades of red. Is this true or just the lighting in the pics?[/quote]
    To my knowledge, they are the same color ….[/quote]

    The Astros have 5 jerseys, that much you are all correct about: night home jerseys (pin stripes with black hats), day home jerseys (white with red hats), sunday home (red with Astros on front), away (gray with Houston across the front and black hats), and sunday away (red with Houston across the front). Now since mid June, they have been wearing their alternate road red jerseys for every road game because, as JTH pointed out in the comments from Thursday, these are the only cool base jerseys the Astros have (since the Stros play in air conditioned Minute Maid, there’s no reason for them to have cool base home jerseys).

    The Astros did have black sunday jerseys in 2000, but switched to red alternate jerseys the following season because, according to several Astros players at the time, the black was simply too hot to wear (just as idiotic to wear in a summer day game as the Blue Jays wearing their blacks against the Yankees the other day in 110 degree heat).

    And the home red and road red jerseys are the same shade. Other than having Houston on the road jerseys and Astros on the home jerseys, they are exactly the same.

    [quote comment=”4303″]
    Not only that, but why not use the white cap with the short sleeves, and black with the long, instead of what they’re showing now.[/quote]

    Because only the referee wears a white hat. The rest of the officials wear black.

    Traditionally, all officials wore white hats. When games were beginning to be televised, the producers wanted a way to find the referee quickly when he would announce penalties. At first, only the referee wore the black hat. In later years, the referee switched colors with the rest of the officiating crew.

    Also, I can guarantee there are plenty of pop warner football referees out there who would snap one of these shirts up to wear to their Saturday afternoon games. I already know a few soccer guys who have the adidas unis from the World Cup.

    in response to #104, i saw the white sox play at yankee stadium a few weeks back and they were wearing black jerseys with the white ‘sox’ printed on the front. i don’t know if this is an alternate away jersey or if it was just one of those things, but they were definitely wearing it.

    [quote comment=”4492″]Did anybody catch the Twins and Royals wearing camo ballcaps this afternoon? I couldn’t find any reasoning behind it… maybe another military tribute?[/quote]

    I was at the game, and you’re right, it was “Heroes In Uniform” night–mostly to honor the military, but also police officers and firefighters. They also gave away those camouflage Royals hats as a promotion. I heard a lot of grumbling about the camo hats, but I personally thought they were a nice touch, and I was particularly glad they stopped there and didn’t go with camouflage jerseys. (I guess home plate must have been camouflaged too, since the Royals gave up 14 walks in the game, but that’s another story.)

    Sigh … add me to the list of people who can’t figure out how to keep their entire reply from looking like a quote.

    the KC Twins game with the Camo hats was atcually the two teams holding a vigal for T.O. because of the word that he was undergoing a M.R.I. The royals im told will continue to wear the hats until he returns to practice

    I noticed that Brian Roberts of the Orioles was wearing the one-sleeve thing yesterday while they were pummeling the Yankees.

    It looked to me like the Padres had brown ’76 style cool-flo helmets for some players while players with standard helmets were wearing the normal blue 2006 style. But the colors on MLB.TV aren’t all that good. Can anyone confirm?

    [quote comment=”4510″]does anyone know the reasonning of ken griffey jr.’s number change this season from link to link?[/quote]

    Apparently the change is for Junior Griffey to honor his three kids, hence the new uni number of 3

    Just a question from a nube poster, but long-time reader. During the Astros-Padres game with the throwback unis, I noticed the Astro players were wearing black cleats. Is it just me, or does anyone else think they wore white cleats?

    [quote comment=”4503″]Sigh … add me to the list of people who can’t figure out how to keep their entire reply from looking like a quote.[/quote]

    All you have to do is hit enter (or return), it skips down 2 lines, and then just type. It took me forever to figure it out, too…

    [quote comment=”4516″]Just a question from a nube poster, but long-time reader. During the Astros-Padres game with the throwback unis, I noticed the Astro players were wearing black cleats. Is it just me, or does anyone else think they wore white cleats?[/quote]

    They did indeed wear white spikes back in the day. But you almost never see a team get new footwear for a single throwback game.

    [quote comment=”4505″]I noticed that Brian Roberts of the Orioles was wearing the one-sleeve thing yesterday while they were pummeling the Yankees.[/quote]

    Melvin Mora almost always one of these too, even when the heat gets up into the high 90’s.

    I was just checking out some video online of Madden 07, and I noticed that not only is the referee our favorite Ed Hochuli, but the game also features the new referee attire as well.

    To be quite honest, it looks just as rediculous in real life as it does digitally.

    [quote comment=”4477″][quote comment=”4456″]link the best picture I could find of those beautiful Jordan IV cleats worn by Andruw Jones.

    How much do you think these would go for on ebay?[/quote]

    actually the XI’s are the most popular of all time, but the IV’s are sweet…too bad you can’t see them!!! I am a fan of the sweatpant look, but if I was sporting any Jordan cleat, I might have to go knicker-style to show those babies off. My personal favorite Air Jordan are the 3’s…classic and the first time the “Jumpman” was on his shoe, replacing the wings that symbolized Jordan on the I’s and II’s
    I know the Jeter 7’s from a few years ago are some of the most sought after for collectors…. So I’d imagine the demand for the 4’s (Probably the most popular J’s of ALL TIME) would be off the charts[/quote]

    sorry I included my commet as a quote…the stuff under the indentation is my opinions…I’m an idiot at this stuff…by the way I was watching the Eagles-Raiders game and the stipes on the refs jerseys do not look straight and the black back pannel and sleeve pannels do not fit at all…wtf

    Madden and Michales actually talked about it and Madden made a good point. They are making the jerseys more breathable or whatever, but they didn’t change the pants or the pant fabric. Don’ tyou think if they are going to change the style for comfort, they would also change the pant fabric??

    [quote comment=”4378″]The new USA Basketball jerseys/uniforms suck. The butt stripes and generic Nike uniform model are terrible. When will Nike learn that “simpler is better” when it comes to these sports uniforms?[/quote]

    I don’t think this is a Nike problem so much as a universal uniform design problem. For instance, the Sabres’ new link uniforms are paragons of busyness. Simplicity simply seems to be going by the wayside in uniform design.

    [quote comment=”4524″][quote comment=”4477″][quote comment=”4456″]link the best picture I could find of those beautiful Jordan IV cleats worn by Andruw Jones.

    How much do you think these would go for on ebay?[/quote]

    actually the XI’s are the most popular of all time, but the IV’s are sweet…too bad you can’t see them!!! I am a fan of the sweatpant look, but if I was sporting any Jordan cleat, I might have to go knicker-style to show those babies off. My personal favorite Air Jordan are the 3’s…classic and the first time the “Jumpman” was on his shoe, replacing the wings that symbolized Jordan on the I’s and II’s
    I know the Jeter 7’s from a few years ago are some of the most sought after for collectors…. So I’d imagine the demand for the 4’s (Probably the most popular J’s of ALL TIME) would be off the charts[/quote][/quote]

    I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree…. I find fer moe people that list the 4’s over the 11’s ….. perfaps it’s the nostalgia factor? I happen to love them both!!! :)

    First thought: these uniforms were designed with Ed Houchulli in mind.

    Second thought . . . the front isn’t that bad. I can get used to it – from the front, the stripes are wider. I can also get used to the side number.

    Thrid thought. The back is HIDEOUS. Its too white, and totally throws you off guard. This is NOT what you expect to see on the back of an NFL ref’s back – it just looks wrong. They totally inverted the former number scheme. Bring back the white numbers on a black background – at least it would be less jarring.

    In response to #34 – the Braves’ cap has a red dot, but the helmet has a white dot. Also, I’ve always wondered why the “A” on the helmet is so much thicker than the “A” on the cap. No other team has that much disparity b/w the cap and helmet logos.

    hey guys, i was wondering if anyone has a site where you could buy the Jordan cleats Jeter wore in 01 (if anyone has ever saw them) or the Jordan baseball cleats Deion wore that look like the Jordan 8’s. Thanks.

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