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Chinese Hard-Liners Softballers

softball.jpg

In case you didn’t know — and let’s face it, you probably didn’t — the International Softball Federation‘s 11th annual Women’s World Championship tournament is currently taking place in Beijing. And as is usually the case with anything going on in that part of the world, Uni Watch Far East Correspondent Jeremy Brahm is on the case. Here are some of the many observations he recently forwarded to Uni Watch HQ:

• The Greek team has olive branches on their helmets.

• The Brits should stick to soccer, because they have no fucking clue how to design a softball jersey.

• The Chinese are wearing Nike’s 90-minute soccer socks. Here’s another view.

• Classy look for Botswana — and a left-handed catcher to boot.

• Dig the collars on the North Korean unis. Also note how the cropped jersey nicely exposes the belt. But why’s this gal wearing blue sleeves and socks, instead of red like everyone else? The Dear Leader’s gonna hear about this!

• Jennie Finch has a disturbing pink strip on her glove. Also, note the patch on her right sleeve — looks like it might be the “You’re your Stripes” logo, which is a Kellogg’s promotion.

• See those thin stripes at the base of the Venezuelans’ sleeves and shorts? Those are the colors of the country’s national flag. For their white jersey, they managed to get all three colors into the chest insignia.

• Pretty outrà© nameplate font for the Japanese. They’ve got a raised helmet logo appliquà©, too.

• The Dutch look like they’ve been taking notes from the NBA.

• What the hell are they smoking in New Zealand? (Maybe the helmet logo is a hint.)

• I’m a sucker for green and gold, so I confess a fondness for the South African design, despite the mismatched shorts legs. Dig that “SA” sock logo, too!

• Another guilty green/gold pleasure: the Aussies, despite all the visual gibberish. Meanwhile, that’s one weird chest protector the catcher‘s wearing. And is that a soccer ball depicted on the tip of this gal’s bat?

• Interesting effect for this Canadian player, as the shorts striping mirrors her VPL.

• Last but not least: the inevitable fat chick. As you know, the rulebook requires every team to have one.

Although the text of this entry is mine, Jeremy deserves the credit, since he provided all of these photos and many of the observations (I wouldn’t have noticed the soccer ball on the Aussie player’s bat, for example, and I’d never even heard of the “Earn Your Stripes” program). Ãœber-thanks to him!

Uni Watch News Ticker: Jersey switcheroo for the Thrashers, where the original home design is being shelved and the third jersey will now be worn for all home games. The road design is unchanged. Further details here. … Weirdest underbill update ever: What’s that on Don Newcombe’s panama hat? … That New Balance logo on Central Michigan’s new jersey sure looks close to the collar and wordmark, no? … Exactly one day after I reported that the Diamondbacks would be changing their color scheme next season, further confirmation appeared here. … Given our various discussions of players with long surnames, can anyone find a rear-view photo of this guy? … Good article here about Tsuyoshi Shinjo (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Pittsburgh-related photo finds from Chris Hilf: a 1924 football team, a 1912 Pirates shot, a 1910 photo of Honus Wagner (note the sleeve cuffs!), and an amazing shot of a 1923 Little League team. Of somewhat more recent vintage, there’s this 1975 high school girls basketball team (who should never have had to wear “TA” on their jerseys, even if the name of the high school was Taylor Allderdice). … Good catch by Brian Redesmke, who notes that in the space of a couple of days, Nomar’s cleats went from Reebok (Aug. 30th) to Puma (Sept. 2nd). … Roman numeral alert: Check out the nameplate on Oregon’s Walter Thurmond III (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm for the screen shot). … In last week’s ESPN column, I wrote that Northwestern and Miami (Ohio) would wear a “41 Walk” helmet sticker to memorialize Randy Walker. What I didn’t realize was that the sticker would be on the nose bumper, instead of on the back like most other memorial stickers. Interesting approach (and good catch by webmaster John Ekdahl, who found the photo). … Virginia Tech’s Kam Chancellor had a nameplate malfunction midway through Saturday’s game (with thanks to Josh Crockett). … Good article here (with an accompanying chart) about MLB players with high uni numbers (tip of the Uni Watch cap to Matt Schudel). … Underbill Update: Kevin Gee notes that Wilfredo Ledezma has been wearing the MLB Authentic hologram under his brim. … Great shot here of the stirrups that Yadier Molina wore yesterday. … In that same game, Ian Snell appeared to have something written on his cap, but I can’t get a clear enough view to see what it was. … At the risk of being overly self-promotional, I think this is so cool (if disappointingly pricey). … Okay, gotta run and start setting up the Uni Watch Labor Day Barbecue! Pics tomorrow, I hope.

 
  
 
Comments (42)

    Actually, I’m rather surprised by the number of normal-sized women in those softball photos. I think our entire college team was made up of fat chicks.

    The ‘Earn Your Stripes’ promotion is exactly what the patch is. Kellogs Frosted Flakes is an official sponsor of the US National Team. Frosted Flakes also was the sole sponsor for the Women’s College World Series this year.

    The US team jerseys still annoy me a great deal. I’m happy to see that the Chinese have copied the uniform down to the annoying yellow stripe down the sides. Maybe Kellogs should sponser them so that the patches will match.

    The one Korean girl with the blue sleeves was in uniform. If you look at the previous pictures, the team wears blue sleeves with the red vests. And, if you look in the background of that pic, you can see someone else with the blue sleeves on.

    Molina wasn’t the only guy to wear those stirrups yesterday in the Bucs-Cards game. Rookie pitcher Anthony Reyes of the cards did too.

    I don’t know why, but I really dislike the softball teams with sleeveless jerseys (GB, Aussies, and NZ). It looks like they’re getting ready to play basketball, not softball.

    “Turquoise and copper are Arizona colors…” By whose edict? Yeah, I guess…if I’m decorating a restaurant in Bisbee, maybe.

    I think Great Britain’s softball look has a lot better design sense than China. In fact, gray with a simple red/blue wordmark that isn’t trying to be cheesecake, cutting-edge or a trial-balloon experiment by the manufacturer, well, that’s my idea of a good uniform.

    However, if one believes that the entire world of softball uniform design is out of its mind, on that point I concur.

    [quote comment=”7508″]I think Great Britain’s softball look has a lot better design sense than China. In fact, gray with a simple red/blue wordmark that isn’t trying to be cheesecake, cutting-edge or a trial-balloon experiment by the manufacturer, well, that’s my idea of a good uniform.[/quote]

    Agreed, at least in terms of your larger point. But c’mon, you can’t even read the British jersey lettering! It looks more like a biscuit tin than a jersey (which isn’t a bad thing in and of itself, but it’s more like a faded, rusty, illegible biscuit tin).

    I like saying, “biscuit tin.”

    I had a bat that had the “soccer ball” on it, but it’s not a soccer ball, it’s just some design. I broke the bat so I can’t take a close up picture.

    Hopefully one of the other guys from the softball message board (where there is a uniwatch discussion thread) will chime in and help with a closer picture.

    “The Chinese are wearing Nike’s 90-minute soccer socks”

    Actually, they’re called link (that’s not the same model, but the point is the name). But yes, it does refer to the 90 minutes of a soccer game.

    “The Chinese are wearing Nike’s 90-minute soccer socks”

    Actually, they’re called Total 90 (that’s not the same model, but the point is the name). But yes, it does refer to the 90 minutes of a soccer game.

    Once a soccer game goes into a shootout…as in the World Cup Cahmpionship Game… doesn’t Total 90 mean a bit less on the ol’ inspiration meter?

    Or maybe it’s just my lack of Nikeconnectivity…

    T.

    Couple of things. One, that is a hole in the panama hat. Two, not quite uniform related but nifty logo creep on the ASU football field on Tuesday night. Instead of the usual directional arrows on the field that appear after the yard numbers, the Devils had small pitchforks showing the dircetion. Here is a link to a highlight clip that you can see them in. link I am guessing they did this since the Arizona Cardinals are no longer sharing the field, therefore allowing the Devils to customize it a bit more. Also, RIP Steve Irwin

    on MLB caps today… naturally…..

    nice to see jason marquis wearing his pants properly at washington today…

    [quote comment=”7517″]on MLB caps today… naturally…..

    nice to see jason marquis wearing his pants properly at washington today…[/quote]

    Sure to be the “cheap-o glue” variety.

    Okay, maybe it’s not exactly uni-centric, but — the Houston Astros, over a two game span, just made 38 outs between base hits. This strikes me as a possible MLB record. Anyone know how we can find out?

    I took a bet with a friend of mine about the reasoning why the Yankees wear pinstripes on the home uni. He kept insisting that they introduced the pinstripes to the uni in the 1920’s to make Babe Ruth look slim; something I quickly refuted using the link database showing that the Yankees had pinstripes in 1915, before the Babe was sold. He reluctantly agreed with me that I was right, but wanted to know why the Yankees wear pinstripes. I could not give him an answer because I didn’t know why. However, do any of you know why?

    [quote comment=”7510″]http://nikeid.nike.com/nikeid/index.jhtml#build,baseball,_73686f4d6f6e4d657430353131,2810038,59279560

    First stamps then spikes… I feel the need for a Uniwatch baseball kit here somewhere.

    Happy Labor Day (i’m friggin’ working)

    T.[/quote]

    Tom, you can’t possibly have designed a Uni Watch pair of spikes using Nike? I mean, c’mon, doesn’t that kind of contradict itself?

    For those Canadian Football League fans, check out the Hamilton Tiger-Cat helmets for the Labour Day Game against the Toronto Argonauts right now… the helmets are white instead of black and the Ti-Cats are wearing white jerseys instead of black (CFL teams wear coloured jerseys at home normally).

    Great one today Paul. Kinda sad you missed the one big point about the softball unis. Why are they even wearing them?

    Not only did Ian Snell have something inscribed on the top of his cap, but he also had some underbill inscriptions too. My guess is that the inscription may have been for Pittsburgh Mayor, Bob O’Connor, who passed away from brain cancer this weekend.

    Anyone know when the Majestic dugout jackets will be updated? It’s been 2 seasons now with currenet style I think.

    Is it absolutely necessary to drop so many f-bombs? I feel like I am reading a middle schoolers AIM chat window. Seriously, its called an adjective, for those of you aren’t competely retarded.

    Okay, maybe it’s not exactly uni-centric, but — the Houston Astros, over a two game span, just made 38 outs between base hits. This strikes me as a possible MLB record. Anyone know how we can find out?

    Looking at the invaluable link, I see that the Braves made 11 outs after their last hit the game before Harvey Haddix got 37 outs before giving up Milwaukee’s only hit in his famous 1959 game. So the record is at least 48.

    [quote comment=”7533″]Is it absolutely necessary to drop so many f-bombs? I feel like I am reading a middle schoolers AIM chat window. Seriously, its called an adjective, for those of you aren’t competely retarded.[/quote]

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but I counted…one. And that was from Paul, who’s entitled. He has to deal with stuff like link on a regular basis

    i know this is completely off subject and i dont know how many of you watch or follow scottish premeir league, but did anyone notice the new celtic FC jerseys with black, it seems they are trying to copy the boston celtics with adding the black

    Yeah, its not a soccer ball on the end of the Worth Mayhem bat (the one that looks like a hilighter), its sorta like a ninjastaresque metallic design. They’re puttin some crazy logos on bats these days.

    I know there has been talk on Uni Watch in the past about baseball players with flags appearing in different locations on their uniforms. Sorry if this one has been addressed, but today during the Cubs v. Pirates, I noticed a flag on Cubs’ reliever David Aardsma’s glove. It was on the WGN’s broadcast so briefly it was hard to make out. It was 3 horizontal stripes with red and white on top. The bottom one looked green which would be Hungary, but since Aardsma was on the Netherlands WBC provisional roster, it was probably a blue stripe for the Dutch flag.

    Another College football notice from this weekend–WVU was wearing blue pants with the blue jersey.

    On top of that, they were sporting a “Broncos-like” gold stripe on the pants as well.

    link

    Such a shame, until now they always wore white or gold pants with the blue jersey (and no pants stripe).

    kinda uni related…… and maybe one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen…..

    jason giambi in tonight’s yankee/royal game shaved his mustache between at-bats…. he has been slumping recently.. and had the stache early in the game… now he’s shorn…

    chalk this up to the bizarre….

    The f-bomb, while vulgar, is actually a pretty interesting word. Legend has that it originated from the legal charge of “For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge.”

    really hope my grammar was correct

    There were no Little League teams in 1923. Little League Baseball (a registered trademark) was founded in 1939 by Carl E. Stotz (pronounced “STUTS) in Williamsport, PA.
    The caption should be youth baseball.

    I have to agree with andrew the f-bomb was out of left field and not called for but this is a great site worthy of daily visits anyway. Great job, Paul.

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