“My father just told me a really good story about dirty baseball pants.” I think we can safely say I’m the only writer in America who’d receive that message in an e-mail from a reader.
The reader in question is John Okray, whose father, Mike Okray, works in the athletic department at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. John generously arranged for me to interview Mike, who did indeed have a good story to tell, illuminating some interesting behind-the-scenes details. Without further ado:
Uni Watch: What is your job title?
Mike Okray: I’m the athletic facilities manager at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.
UW: And what does that entail?
MO: I take care of all the games management stuff. We set up all the basketball games, the track meets, volleyball games — anything that goes on, I have a crew of people who set everything up.
UW: How long have you been working there?
MO: Fourteen years.
UW: And I gather from what John told me, you also deal with equipment issues.
MO: Yup. I take care of the laundry for all the teams —
UW: For all of them?
MO: Yeah. We have 19 different sports here at the university, so I take care of that, with a crew that helps me. This is my first year in charge of the laundry — the woman who’d been in charge for 30 years, named Rosie, she up and left, and they had nobody else to handle it, so they asked me if I could do it and I said, “I have no idea what’s going on in the laundry room.” The washers are on a computer, and nobody else in the university even knew how to turn them on. It was very mismanaged, as I found out as I got into it.
UW: What was the problem?
MO: Well, she’d been using the wrong chemicals — a lot of chlorine, which affected a lot of the coloration of the uniforms. And at one point I was pulling clothes out of these two washers, and they were both set to the same water temperature, but it felt like some of them were warm, and the ones in the other washer were cool. So I got the manufacturer to come over and take a look, and the guy says, “Well, the reason is, this one washer’s temperature setting is in Fahrenheit, and the other one is in Celsius.” And I’m wondering how long this has been going on! And lots of other problems like that.
UW: Okay, so tell me about the situation with the baseball team.
MO: Well, I was in the laundry room a few weeks back. And the baseball coach was in there doing uniform inventory, and he had a big box full of white pants. I said, “Where are you going with that, coach?” And he says, “Well, we’re throwing those out and I’m gonna order new ones.”
UW: So he’s just going to throw away these pants?
MO: Right. So I says, “You’re throwing them out? What’s wrong with them?” And that’s when I saw that they were all stained and stuff. And he says, “Last year when we played down in Florida, they’ve got that red clay down there in the infield, and Rosie said we couldn’t get the stains out of ’em.”
UW: So wait, their pants had gotten stained, like, last March?
MO: Right.
UW: And what happened to the pants the rest of last season?
MO: They played the whole season in those soiled pants. Jesus! I never really noticed it, because I wasn’t doing the laundry last year. And when I went to the games, a lot of times I showed up in the 3rd or 4th inning, so I didn’t think much of it — I just figured they were dirty because they were running around out there, slidin’ and things. And they went to the Division III World Series like that — the coach said it was pretty embarrassing.
UW: So were they stained on the knee, or the thigh?
MO: Yeah, and where guys wipe their hands on their butts. Some were worse than others; some were really bad. And we’re ranked, like, fourth in the nation, Division III, so it’s a good team, and yadda-yadda, but their uniforms looked like crap. So said, “Hold it, hold it. There’s gotta be a way to get those stains out. I mean, you shouldn’t just be throwing these away.” And he says, “Nope, Rosie said there’s no way to clean ’em.” And I’m thinkin’ for a minute, and I says, “The New York Yankees must play on clay soil at some point, and I’m sure they don’t send their people out on the field in dirty uniforms.”
UW: Yeah, but wouldn’t the Yankees, with all their money, just throw away anything that was dirty, just like your coach was going to do?
MO: [ignoring last question]: I says, “I bet they’ve got something that really gets that dirt out.”
UW: [persistently]: But you didn’t think that they’d be, like, the first ones to throw something away if it was stained, instead of trying to clean it?
MO: [just as persistently]: So I just mentioned that, and the coach says, “Well, that’s just what Rosie told us.” And I says, “Before you throw ’em out, gimme a day or two to look into this. I’m sure I can find something that’s gonna get that out.”
UW: [giving up]: Why did you think of the Yankees?
MO: Because they’re, y’know, the epitome of baseball. So first I tried some chemicals that we spray on blood stains and things like that. So I tried a few of those, and they did get them cleaner, but not completely clean. Then I experimented with a few other things, and I soaked ’em, and I washed ’em, and I did some other things —
UW: Mike, who’s setting up the track meets and stuff while you’re doing all this?
MO: Well, I’ve got my people. I put in long days.
UW: I bet!
MO: Anyhoot, I try some experiments, and they’re getting cleaner, but not really clean. So I decide, heck, I’m gonna call up the Yankees. There’s gotta be someone who can answer the question. So I go online to their web site, and I’m clickin’ around, clickin’ around, until I find one of the equipment guys, and it lists his phone number. I don’t even remember his name. So I called him and explained what my problem was, and he kinda chuckles and says, “Y’know, Mike, the Yankees wouldn’t go out on the field with dirty uniforms.”
UW: So he’s sort of giving you the business?
MO: Yeah. And he says, “For the clay that’s down in Florida, there’s a chemical called Klayco, and the manufacturer is this company called Tri State Laundry in Hopewell Junction, New York, and here’s their number.” So I call them, and the guy says, “Yeah, that’ll definitely get the red clay out. We sell it to a lot of pro teams and bigger universities.” And I say, “Great. Do you sell it 10-gallon drums?” And he says, “No, just 1-gallon bottles, because you don’t use that much.” So I ask him to ship me out a gallon, and he says, “No no no, you can’t do it like that. We have to send a representative to show you how to use it.” Jesus, how tricky can it be? He says, “Do you have an airport close by?” And I tell them there’s one here in town, and a commercial airport 20 miles away, and he says, “I’ll fly somebody out there. Can you pick him up?”
UW: Wait, they’re gonna fly someone out to Wisconsin to show you how to get out a clay stain?
MO: That what I said. And he says, “I’ll be honest with you, Mike. If we sell you that chemical, maybe you’ll like it enough that you’ll buy all your chemicals from us.”
UW: And are they flying this guy out there on their own dime?
MO: That’s what I wondered — how much would it cost? And he says, “Nothing — we’ll take care of it.” But how it ended up, they didn’t have to do that. There was some sort of convention in Chicago —
UW: Like a cleaning products convention?
MO: I guess, yeah. A chemical convention. And they had reps at that convention, so one of them drove up.
UW: How long a drive is that?
MO: About four hours. So he drove up and showed me. And the thing is, you spray the chemical on and it comes out black. So you spray it on a white pair of pants and they turn black — holy Christ! And he says, “Don’t worry, that’s so you can see the area where you’re spraying. You let it sit for 15 minutes and then it’ll start turning yellow around the edges — that means it’s pulling the clay coloration out of the material. Then you just throw it in the washer.” And he was right.
UW: How much does this stuff cost?
MO: $136 a gallon. But if we use a gallon a season, that’d be a lot, because it doesn’t work as well on regular dirt or other things — I mean, it’d get them cleaner, but it works best on this red Florida clay. And what was surprising to me was, our team just played a game in the Metrodome in Minneapolis, and they use that same red clay! I don’t know why they would, but it’s the same clay. So I used Klayco on the uniforms after that game, too.
UW: And did it work?
MO: Worked like a charm. An interesting sidebar to this story is that I just called the University of Minnesota this morning to ask what they were using on their stains from the Metrodome clay, and they told me they were having problems this year also. Seems the boys went and put some sort of plastic beads in the clay so when the players would slide, they wouldn’t get hurt as often. Bad news is that the plastic embeds in the fiber of the uniforms along with the clay, and it’s been a real bitch to get out completely. So far, they haven’t found anything to really get the pants clean. I told him about Klayco and he said they were going to look into it.
UW: So I assume the baseball coach is very happy now?
MO: Sure, we saved a couple grand, at least. And a couple of the guys from the team came by and thanked me. They really appreciated it. Turns out they were always nervous to say anything about it, because they thought Rosie would chop their heads off or something. I don’t know why — I mean, if your pants are dirty, why don’t you say something to the coach, and have him deal with it? But nobody ever went that route.
UW: That’s the quiet Wisconsin demeanor for ya.
MO: Exactly. It’s like, if someone’s got a booger stickin’ out of his nose, don’t say anything — just let it go. Don’t wanna embarrass anybody.
=========
Certainly not. There’s a whole second part of this interview, about Mike’s experiences dressing up as one of the school’s mascots, but I’ll save that for another day. For now, big thanks to Mike, and to John for pointing me in his direction.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Chargers’ new uniforms have arrived. The official unveiling is tomorrow, but those two pages I just linked to began circulating late last night. I have more to say on the subject on today’s Page 2 index page. … Adidas is issuing special Red Auerbach sneakers (with thanks to Dominic J. Litten). … Umlaut alert: N.C. State’s Engin Atsür (as spotted by Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek). … And here’s a macron where you wouldn’t expect to see it: right in the middle of Osaka TÃ… in High School’s jersey (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Nomar’s still using the game cap doctored to look like a BP cap. … And Eric Gagne is clearly wearing a game cap from last season — note the gray undervisor. … Good view here of the John Vukovich memorial patch that the Phillies are wearing. … And a good view here of the “No Drugs” logo on Johnny Estrada’s chest protector collar. … We’re gonna have to get Jose Cruz Jr. to sit down for an interview or something — dude’s the only guy out there who knows how a ballplayer should really look. … Peter Greenberg just got back from spring training, where he spotted Kevin Youkilis wearing the wrong number last Saturday. … Chris Andringa reports that the Rock Island (Ill.) High School girls’ hoops team wears some amazing socks. … Another item from Andringa: “Iowa State will wear 1977 throwbacks for their game vs. Iowa on Sept. 15. It’s both a tribute to ISU’s 1977 Peach Bowl team as well as the 30th anniversary of the renewal of the ISU-Iowa series (which was dormant from 1935-’76 after some ‘issues’). Interesting side note: ISU, despite being the home team, will wear the whites and not the home cardinal, because that’s the color the Cyclones wore in the Peach Bowl. Iowa will wear their home black jerseys (presumably the 2007 edition).” Here’s the throwback helmet.
Re: the ISU throwback helmet.
With the stacked “ISU” embedded within the larger “I,” one of the “I”‘s is redundant, right?
Great Interview!
Regarding the Rock Island Socks… those are a template from link, a great online store for soccer socks, though I’ve seen a bunch of their templates in other sports. They have some wonderful templates and some absolutely horrid ones. Worth a look.
Cool interview. I wonder if you could get this Rosie to talk to you. She sounds like such a “sweet” woman.
That’s my dad! Whooo hooo! I couldn’t believe it when he told me this story. First of all having the baseball team play with dirty pants, and then the part having guys from New York sending out reps to help him clean the pants. I couldn’t resist…it had Uni Watch written all over it.
Has anyone else heard of this Klayco stuff before, or had an experience trying to get stains out of baseball or football pants? Because I am with my dad, no matter what conditions the players on the field play in, they always have sparkling jerseys on the next game.
Apparently Golden State wore their “The City” jerseys last night and ended Dallas’s 17 game winning streak. link on ESPN.com called The City jerseys “some pretty hideous throwback jerseys” (look at #3, the highlighted one).
OK, I’m all for classic unis and actually like Iowa State’s ’77 helmet (even though I’m a die-hard University of Iowa alum). But doesn’t a Peach Bowl bid sound like kind of a lame event to commemorate?
[quote comment=”59805″]OK, I’m all for classic unis and actually like Iowa State’s ’77 helmet (even though I’m a die-hard University of Iowa alum). But doesn’t a Peach Bowl bid sound like kind of a lame event to commemorate?[/quote]
That is pretty much penultimate moment of Iowa State football. I think next year they are having a patch to commerate the tenth anniversary of a team that “didn’t suck too bad”.
Not much of a football team at Iowa State,
It’s interesting, I’ve seen it mentioned that the game hats for MLB are going all black on the underbills, but I think that the Angels have had black linksince they changed to red unis. All three of the red hats I’ve had have the black underbills.
Z
OK, battle of the bad uni’s in the play in game. Cast your vote for the ugliest 17 seed
link
OR
link
Finally an official site with the actual San Diego Chargers uniforms, they look good. They have less ’90s appeal, which is good.
[quote comment=”59808″]OK, battle of the bad uni’s in the play in game. Cast your vote for the ugliest 17 seed
link
OR
link[/quote]
My vote goes to Niagara
It’s hard to see in the pic, but I assume the girls are the Lady Rocks? (cool name!)
and those are some AWESOME socks…
That’s an excellent interview, Paul. And good job, Mike and John.
The problem I have when playing ball is that by the end of the season, my pants have gone through several sew jobs thanks to sliding on dirt that most times resembles gravel. :o|
Let’s just say that my ball pants last season had more stitching on the ass and shin than in the rest of the pants combined.
[quote comment=”59814″]That’s an excellent interview, Paul. And good job, Mike and John.
The problem I have when playing ball is that by the end of the season, my pants have gone through several sew jobs thanks to sliding on dirt that most times resembles gravel. :o|
Let’s just say that my ball pants last season had more stitching on the ass and shin than in the rest of the pants combined.[/quote]
try the head first slide. that’s always been my favorite.
Is there not going to be a white jersey for the Chargers?
[quote comment=”59807″]It’s interesting, I’ve seen it mentioned that the game hats for MLB are going all black on the underbills, but I think that the Angels have had black linksince they changed to red unis. All three of the red hats I’ve had have the black underbills.[/quote]
Look link (it’s several years old, so most of the links no longer work, but the text is still valid).
[quote comment=”59816″]Is there not going to be a white jersey for the Chargers?[/quote]
Road uni will be white jersey, navy pants. No photos yet except a few thumbnail-sized partial views that you can see in those pages I linked to today.
Quick Jose Cruz, Jr story:
I was at a Brewers-Mariners game in 1997 and Cruz batted in the top of the first. When his spot came up again in the third he was pinch-hit for, and my dad said, “I don’t remember seeing him get hurt, I wonder what happened.” I joked, “Maybe he was traded.” In the bottom of the third they flashed on the scoreboard “JOSE CRUZ, JR. HAS BEEN TRADED TO THE TORONTO BLUE JAYS”. I thought that was about the funniest thing I had seen at a ballpark. They couldn’t even wait until the game was over.
[quote comment=”59819″]Quick Jose Cruz, Jr story:
I was at a Brewers-Mariners game in 1997 and Cruz batted in the top of the first. When his spot came up again in the third he was pinch-hit for, and my dad said, “I don’t remember seeing him get hurt, I wonder what happened.” I joked, “Maybe he was traded.” In the bottom of the third they flashed on the scoreboard “JOSE CRUZ, JR. HAS BEEN TRADED TO THE TORONTO BLUE JAYS”. I thought that was about the funniest thing I had seen at a ballpark. They couldn’t even wait until the game was over.[/quote]
I remember that trade, Cruz Jr. was supposed to be and amazing player, there was a lot of hype in T.O. but he didn’t make much of a difference, could’ve been coaching. He strikes out too much.
[quote comment=”59815″]
try the head first slide. that’s always been my favorite.[/quote]
Broker, I don’t like sliding on the concrete that we play on at the best of times, but I can assure you that I am not ripping my arms and hands up. I do like sliding head first, though.
Maybe I just need to play on better diamonds. :o)
I’m going to have to see more numerals before I can make an official ruling on the Chargers unis, but I definitely think if they were going to go with the white helmets they should have put the numbers on the sides, too.
And re the Jose Cruz trade story:
My one visit to Wrigley Field came on Aug. 4, 1982 for a game against the Mets. During the game, Joel Youngblood came up to bat, got a hit, then was replaced. Soon, we found out he had been traded to Montreal. On the way home, we heard he had not only made it to Montreal but got a hit. It’s the only time a player got hits for two different teams in two different cities on the same day.
Nice going on those white Chargers’ helmets.
But, not so hot on the numbers. Interesting that the trend of using these goofy number fonts continues unabated in the NFL (Denver, Baltimore, Philly, Tennessee). Meanwhile, in the Arena Football League, the trend in recent years has been for teams that formerly had silly fonts (New York, LA, Colorado, Orlando) to ditch them in favour of block numbers.
[quote comment=”59809″]Finally an official site with the actual San Diego Chargers uniforms, they look good. They have less ’90s appeal, which is good.[/quote]
They look great. I think the white helmut really helps complete the look.
Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.
[quote comment=”59821″][quote comment=”59815″]
try the head first slide. that’s always been my favorite.[/quote]
Broker, I don’t like sliding on the concrete that we play on at the best of times, but I can assure you that I am not ripping my arms and hands up. I do like sliding head first, though.
Maybe I just need to play on better diamonds. :o)[/quote]
Teebz, I know what you mean about the stones or pebbles on the infield, I played on a few of those, they suck, but I was at Comerica Park in Detroit and walked right up to the infield, man, it looked like feathers, it was beautiful, it would be like sliding on sawdust.
Hey Paul, i didnt know you wrote for Slate. I just recently (the past 2 months) have become addicted to that site. I read your bio and didnt notice anything in there about it.
Does the ESPN gig prevent you from writing stuff for them now? I was always curious as to how deals liek this work.
In fact for that matter, could you explain your ESPN deal to us anyway? I dont need money figures and stuff liek that, and obviously nothing to harm your job, but maybe like how they approached you or did you go after them? How does the editing process work? Can you pretty much write whatever you want to? Stuff like that.
I am very interested.
Thanks.
[quote comment=”59827″]
Teebz, I know what you mean about the stones or pebbles on the infield, I played on a few of those, they suck, but I was at Comerica Park in Detroit and walked right up to the infield, man, it looked like feathers, it was beautiful, it would be like sliding on sawdust.[/quote]
If there was a diamond even close to Comerica’s standards here for rec ball, I’m sure it would be booked solid right through the winter. :o)
[quote comment=”59827″][quote comment=”59821″][quote comment=”59815″]
try the head first slide. that’s always been my favorite.[/quote]
Broker, I don’t like sliding on the concrete that we play on at the best of times, but I can assure you that I am not ripping my arms and hands up. I do like sliding head first, though.
Maybe I just need to play on better diamonds. :o)[/quote]
Teebz, I know what you mean about the stones or pebbles on the infield, I played on a few of those, they suck, but I was at Comerica Park in Detroit and walked right up to the infield, man, it looked like feathers, it was beautiful, it would be like sliding on sawdust.[/quote]
I was just in San Diego (mentioned briefly yesterday), and Petco has a real dirt infield, but rock warning track / foul area. The rocks are supposed to be safe, which is still a concept I don’t understand. I guess sliding on the regular dirt infield has to be better than if an outfielder slides on the track going for a ball.
Anyone know what they mean on that Chargers Jersey when they say that the collar is the first of its kind in the NFL?
I does look a little different. Almost like that white part is coming up from under the rest of the Jersey.
Anyone know more about this?
[quote comment=”59824″]Nice going on those white Chargers’ helmets.
But, not so hot on the numbers. Interesting that the trend of using these goofy number fonts continues unabated in the NFL (Denver, Baltimore, Philly, Tennessee).[/quote]
I don’t think the Chargers’ new font is “goofy”; I think it’s sleek. Modern without being stupidly futuristic. It’s not a “Look how rad we can be!” font; it’s simply a contemporary font. I think it will age well, not look dated, etc. By contrast, I thought their old block numbers were actually too big.
[quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
It’s a great day for hockey. :)
[quote comment=”59828″]Hey Paul, i didnt know you wrote for Slate. I just recently (the past 2 months) have become addicted to that site. I read your bio and didnt notice anything in there about it.[/quote]
My Slate tenure is mentioned on the link.
[quote comment=”59828″]Does the ESPN gig prevent you from writing stuff for them now? I was always curious as to how deals liek this work.[/quote]
I’m free to write for whoever I like, but the Uni Watch column itself appears only on ESPN.com. I can’t write that for anyone else.
[quote comment=”59828″]In fact for that matter, could you explain your ESPN deal to us anyway? I dont need money figures and stuff liek that, and obviously nothing to harm your job, but maybe like how they approached you or did you go after them? How does the editing process work? Can you pretty much write whatever you want to? Stuff like that.[/quote]
I wasn’t happy at Slate.com (it’s pretty much the North Dakota of sports journalism), so I approached ESPN and convinced them to give me a shot. Simple as that.
I can’t discuss the editing process or anything like that, but for the most part I choose my own story topics and am free to treat them the way I want to. Sometimes my editors suggest story topics, but I’m never “ordered” to do (or not to do) anything.
[quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
[quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
I am so happy! I was having all sorts of philosophical arguments with myself. When I root for the “team,” is it the city, the uniform, and/or the players? This is the first time that I have had to ever consider this, as the Yankees and Bears are not in danger of moving (although I was going to have issues if the “New York” Yankees built their stadium in New Jersey). It is taking everything I can muster not to skip through my office in a manic, spritely manner.
Oh, and Teebz, thanks for the article with the super-cheesy back-to-back Sidney-Mario picture. It takes the cake! The pokecheck lives on in Pittsburgh!
[quote comment=”59806″][quote comment=”59805″]OK, I’m all for classic unis and actually like Iowa State’s ’77 helmet (even though I’m a die-hard University of Iowa alum). But doesn’t a Peach Bowl bid sound like kind of a lame event to commemorate?[/quote]
That is pretty much penultimate moment of Iowa State football. I think next year they are having a patch to commerate the tenth anniversary of a team that “didn’t suck too bad”.
Not much of a football team at Iowa State,[/quote]
Hey now, be nice boys. Last year was a downer (okay, the last couple have been downers, no thanks to a couple missed field goals to prevent a trip to the Big 12 Title game)
But we’ve pulled Chizik away from Brown at Texas and are hoping for alot of improvement next year! I actually hope the team chooses not to link, and that they do wear link!
I know it won’t happen, but I wish they’d let link ref the game too! :)
Looks like the OU Sooners will be wearing green for St. Patrick’s Day.
link
[quote comment=”59817″][quote comment=”59807″]It’s interesting, I’ve seen it mentioned that the game hats for MLB are going all black on the underbills, but I think that the Angels have had black linksince they changed to red unis. All three of the red hats I’ve had have the black underbills.[/quote]
Look link (it’s several years old, so most of the links no longer work, but the text is still valid).[/quote]
I don’t have any photographic evidence of it, but I did have an all navy winged A Angels hat and a Grey w/ a navy bill BP hat and both of those had grey underbills as well. Great older article. Love the sight.
Z
Sorry, meant to say black underbills not grey. my bad.
Z
I remember last year a Uni Watch reader was meeting with Iowa State brass to petition to ditch the navy and change back to the early-mid link, but after seeing those link, I say stick with them! I love link link link stripes!
link
Dang it…maybe link
I give up…
link
[quote comment=”59818″][quote comment=”59816″]Is there not going to be a white jersey for the Chargers?[/quote]
Road uni will be white jersey, navy pants. No photos yet except a few thumbnail-sized partial views that you can see in those pages I linked to today.[/quote]
Bolts new unis do look good. I always loved the powder blue. The white helmet with the numbers on the side looked cool, too. Too bad they didn’t bring back the helmet numbers. I’d also rather see white pants for away games than the “unofficial” navy blue. Even the gold pants they used to wear would be better!
Now, if only the Bengals would lose the stripes and go back to the unis of the Paul Brown days in the 70’s (he says wistfully)!
As scared as I was about the new Chargers look (remember – a few weeks ago, right around Super Bowl time it was ONLY supposed to be a new LOGO?!?), I’m actually quite impressed by the look of the new jerseys. I’m not a big fan of the numbers on the shoulders, but the inconsistency of the numbers on the sleeves were getting to be a bit too much. Half the players lost their number on the sleeve as it was jammed up into their armpit with tighter fitting jerseys.
The helmet is nice and I think a better representative of the helmet will be a player without LT’s faceshield. I imagine that the will have Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates modeling the jerseys at the official announcement tomorrow. Should be interesting. And at least they didn’t go with their god-awful 1980’s yellow facemasks.
Now as for this new logo – it really doesn’t seem like such an overall change from the previous
I’m free to write for whoever I like, but the Uni Watch column itself
Paul: Only because I’m such a fan of this site I respectfully note that “whoever”, I belive, should read: “whomever”.
I really like the new San Diego unis–they’re a nice update without a total change. Obviously, the powder-blues are preferential, but you can’t always get what you want. *sigh*
Additionally, I noticed this on the press release:
“The new bolt is sharper and brighter, signifying the aggressive and lightening quick team on the field.”
“Lightening” quick? Come on, Chargers–run your press release through spell check, for Pete’s sake. You’re professionals! It’s “lightning.” You’d think they’d know this, since it’s part of their whole identity. I’m surprised the jersey didn’t say “Chagrers.”
Yes, I’m nit-picking.
I belive
And, to be fair, “belive” should have read: “believe”. My bad.
link except the rest of the uniform I am not such a fan of…I like the whites better.
The Syracuse Crunch of the AHL are going to wear an orange shamrock on their St. Patrick’s day jersey in protest of Syracuse University not getting into NCAA tourney
link
[quote comment=”59802″]Cool interview. I wonder if you could get this Rosie to talk to you. She sounds like such a “sweet” woman.[/quote]
I cringe when I see these interviews because its not my favorite content…but PL pulls through each time with good insight and quality interviewees (?) That guy was classic, I felt like I was listening to my Grandpa!
Overall I like the new Charger unis. I’m actually glad they didn’t put the numbers on the helmet…then I would have expected a full throwback uniform. Also, the numbers on the helmet most likely wouldn’t have matched the numbers on the jerseys.
The only thing that I’m not a huge fan of are the white/navy shoulder patches in which the bolts sit. But who knows, once they’re on the field it may all look completely different to me.
[quote comment=”59852″]The Syracuse Crunch of the AHL are going to wear an orange shamrock on their St. Patrick’s day jersey in protest of Syracuse University not getting into NCAA tourney
link[/quote]
Wow, kind of a double-meaning special jersey! OK Teebz, is there any precedent to THIS!?
[quote comment=”59852″]The Syracuse Crunch of the AHL are going to wear an orange shamrock on their St. Patrick’s day jersey in protest of Syracuse University not getting into NCAA tourney
link[/quote]
In the story they say fans are encouraged to wear orange “in protest” of the NCAA leaving Syracuse out. This doesn’t seem like much of a “protest” to me. I guess my definition of protest always included some sort of passive or aggressive defiance. If fans were outlawed from wearing orange to a game but showed up wearing Orange anyway, THAT would be a protest. If they wore shirts that said F&*$ THE NCAA, THAT would be a protest. Anyway, that’s my unecessary opinion.
[quote comment=”59852″]The Syracuse Crunch of the AHL are going to wear an orange shamrock on their St. Patrick’s day jersey in protest of Syracuse University not getting into NCAA tourney
link[/quote]
Perhaps the AHL has some sway in terms of hockey, but it has never had an effect, good or bad, on NCAA basketball. This is one of the dumbest promotions ever. It would be like the Los Angeles Galaxy wearing a silver and black shamrock because the Los Angeles Kings aren’t making the playoffs. Maybe the Orangemen should win their conference instead of relying on getting in on reputation. Enjoy the NIT, Orangemen, especially after how you played in your conference playoffs.
And since the Crunch are third-worst team in the AHL’s Western Conference and will most-likely miss the playoffs again, they should worry about their own fortunes instead of trying to help out Syracuse University.
Ok, rant over. :o)
Paul, great interview, I also work in Athletic Facilties and Operations and am glad to see someone else in the field get some pub. But while Mr. Okray is cleaning uni’s I would be the “crew” setting up for track meets, basketball games and hockey. Now begins softball and lax season so at least I’ll be outdoors. Keep up the good work.
Re: The Chargers new unis.
Christ, do those things suck dick or what?
The new white helmet looks way stupid with the dark blue facemask.
And thanks Chargers for completely and totally fucking up the best throwback unis ever.
What a fucking disgrace.
Seriously, this makes no sense to me. The powder blue throwback unis have been universally acclaimed and any number of mooks and semi-mooks, including many posters here have been clamoring for the Chargers to go back to that look fulltime, much as the Giants have.
Merch sales for the Chargers would blown through the fucking roof.
So what do the Chargers do?
Completely ass fuck one of the most beautiful and elegant designs in sports uni history.
No wonder they got their cocks served up to them on a platter by the Patriots in the playoffs.
[quote comment=”59835″][quote comment=”59828″]
I wasn’t happy at Slate.com (it’s pretty much the North Dakota of sports journalism)….[quote]
I was born in North Dakota – and am now forever offended.
[quote comment=”59861″][quote comment=”59852″]The Syracuse Crunch of the AHL are going to wear an orange shamrock on their St. Patrick’s day jersey in protest of Syracuse University not getting into NCAA tourney
link[/quote]
Wow, kind of a double-meaning special jersey! OK Teebz, is there any precedent to THIS!?[/quote]
I don’t think there is any precendent. It could be a first, despite the obvious stupidity of the promotion.
[quote comment=”59830″][quote comment=”59827″][quote comment=”59821″][quote comment=”59815″]
try the head first slide. that’s always been my favorite.[/quote]
Broker, I don’t like sliding on the concrete that we play on at the best of times, but I can assure you that I am not ripping my arms and hands up. I do like sliding head first, though.
Maybe I just need to play on better diamonds. :o)[/quote]
Teebz, I know what you mean about the stones or pebbles on the infield, I played on a few of those, they suck, but I was at Comerica Park in Detroit and walked right up to the infield, man, it looked like feathers, it was beautiful, it would be like sliding on sawdust.[/quote]
I was just in San Diego (mentioned briefly yesterday), and Petco has a real dirt infield, but rock warning track / foul area. The rocks are supposed to be safe, which is still a concept I don’t understand. I guess sliding on the regular dirt infield has to be better than if an outfielder slides on the track going for a ball.[/quote]
if I rememebr correctly, the reasoning behind the pebble track is so that on a full sprint, outfeilders will be able to tell the difference when they’re close to the wall. it’s a different sound for sure. You have three steps (for most people) before you hit the wall.
[quote comment=”59868″][quote comment=”59861″][quote comment=”59852″]The Syracuse Crunch of the AHL are going to wear an orange shamrock on their St. Patrick’s day jersey in protest of Syracuse University not getting into NCAA tourney
link[/quote]
Wow, kind of a double-meaning special jersey! OK Teebz, is there any precedent to THIS!?[/quote]
I don’t think there is any precendent. It could be a first, despite the obvious stupidity of the promotion.[/quote]
What the heck is their link anyway? a polar bear? yeti? albino gorilla?
As promised, my take on the new Chargers uniforms is now up on today’s link. Look in the far-right column.
[quote comment=”59868″][quote comment=”59861″][quote comment=”59852″]The Syracuse Crunch of the AHL are going to wear an orange shamrock on their St. Patrick’s day jersey in protest of Syracuse University not getting into NCAA tourney
link[/quote]
Wow, kind of a double-meaning special jersey! OK Teebz, is there any precedent to THIS!?[/quote]
I don’t think there is any precendent. It could be a first, despite the obvious stupidity of the promotion.[/quote]
I like how they’re having the shamrock, but making it specifically ORANGE.
[quote comment=”59869″][quote comment=”59830″][quote comment=”59827″][quote comment=”59821″][quote comment=”59815″]
try the head first slide. that’s always been my favorite.[/quote]
Broker, I don’t like sliding on the concrete that we play on at the best of times, but I can assure you that I am not ripping my arms and hands up. I do like sliding head first, though.
Maybe I just need to play on better diamonds. :o)[/quote]
Teebz, I know what you mean about the stones or pebbles on the infield, I played on a few of those, they suck, but I was at Comerica Park in Detroit and walked right up to the infield, man, it looked like feathers, it was beautiful, it would be like sliding on sawdust.[/quote]
I was just in San Diego (mentioned briefly yesterday), and Petco has a real dirt infield, but rock warning track / foul area. The rocks are supposed to be safe, which is still a concept I don’t understand. I guess sliding on the regular dirt infield has to be better than if an outfielder slides on the track going for a ball.[/quote]
if I rememebr correctly, the reasoning behind the pebble track is so that on a full sprint, outfeilders will be able to tell the difference when they’re close to the wall. it’s a different sound for sure. You have three steps (for most people) before you hit the wall.[/quote]
warning track talk always reminds me of the guy who link #2 on this list. IIRC, the track was some sort of poly-something that didn’t sound or feel any different from turf, that’s why he never slowed down.
[quote comment=”59863″][quote comment=”59852″]The Syracuse Crunch of the AHL are going to wear an orange shamrock on their St. Patrick’s day jersey in protest of Syracuse University not getting into NCAA tourney
link[/quote]
Perhaps the AHL has some sway in terms of hockey, but it has never had an effect, good or bad, on NCAA basketball. This is one of the dumbest promotions ever. It would be like the Los Angeles Galaxy wearing a silver and black shamrock because the Los Angeles Kings aren’t making the playoffs. Maybe the Orangemen should win their conference instead of relying on getting in on reputation. Enjoy the NIT, Orangemen, especially after how you played in your conference playoffs.
And since the Crunch are third-worst team in the AHL’s Western Conference and will most-likely miss the playoffs again, they should worry about their own fortunes instead of trying to help out Syracuse University.
Ok, rant over. :o)[/quote]
First off, Syracuse deserved to get in over Ilinois, Arkansas and Stanford, but that’s beside the point.
The Crunch are basically trying to get fans in any way they can. Syracuse is and will always be a college basketball town, and this is a pretty decent effeort of trying to get people into the War Memorial, since the arena is a dump and the team is even worse.
It’s hard for me to find fault in their attempt to steal some publicity from the biggest issue in Syracuse at the moment.
[quote comment=”59873″][quote comment=”59868″][quote comment=”59861″][quote comment=”59852″]The Syracuse Crunch of the AHL are going to wear an orange shamrock on their St. Patrick’s day jersey in protest of Syracuse University not getting into NCAA tourney
link[/quote]
Wow, kind of a double-meaning special jersey! OK Teebz, is there any precedent to THIS!?[/quote]
I don’t think there is any precendent. It could be a first, despite the obvious stupidity of the promotion.[/quote]
I like how they’re having the shamrock, but making it specifically ORANGE.[/quote]
I can’t tell you how wrong this is. An orange shamrock?!? My grandmother, God rest her soul, is rolling in her grave! Now, I understand the Syracuse element of this, don’t get me wrong. And if you have not been indoctrinated by Irish relatives, this might seem like a ridiculous rant. So prepare yourself.
Since I cannot figure out where to start, I’ll just cut to the chase. For the Irish, orange represents the protestants who, for much of Irish history, colonized and terrorized the “green” Irish Catholics. The massacres of 1641 during the “link” are still commemorated on the banners of the link. The Orange Order, named for the conqueror William the Orange, would parade in celebration of events that colonized and killed the Irish in their own land. This organization would wear orange on St. Patrick’s day as a show of their opposition to Irish Catholics.
I wouldn’t put this up to the level of “offensive,” but it is certainly in poor taste to not consider the other implications of this idea.
As an Iowa State alumnus, I’m always happy when ISU gets a story about their football team that isn’t specifically about how lousy the team has been. And those are some of the better uniforms they could’ve picked for a throwback. There was one year in the mid-ninties where ISU played Iowa in Iowa City that ISU had very shiny red jerseys over shiny gold pants, and Iowa had their black jerseys over gold pants, but they had weird wings on the shoulders and thighs. It was hard to watch that game.
[quote comment=”59866″]Re: The Chargers new unis.
Christ, do those things suck dick or what?
The new white helmet looks way stupid with the dark blue facemask.
And thanks Chargers for completely and totally fucking up the best throwback unis ever.
What a fucking disgrace.
Seriously, this makes no sense to me. The powder blue throwback unis have been universally acclaimed and any number of mooks and semi-mooks, including many posters here have been clamoring for the Chargers to go back to that look fulltime, much as the Giants have.
Merch sales for the Chargers would blown through the fucking roof.
So what do the Chargers do?
Completely ass fuck one of the most beautiful and elegant designs in sports uni history.
No wonder they got their cocks served up to them on a platter by the Patriots in the playoffs.[/quote]Travis, I couldn’t agree more. Those navy blue facemasks look awful and the new font for the numbers bites the big one. They couldn’t just go to the classic throwbacks-they had to tinker with it and ruin it. What the Chargers’ new uniforms remind me of is MLB’s ill-conceived “Turn ahead the clock” unis. Dumb, dumb, dumb.
i found this cool pic of the link teams starting offense. there doesnt seem to be a rhyme nor reason on why the unis are different but i think they are pretty cool.
^ corrected link for link.
Paul, any word on if the Chargers will keep the alternate / ringed socks pictured link?
On the Chargers Uniforms… I don’t know if its just me, but the arch direction/orientation of the over-the-shoulder bolt is different on the powder blue jersey versus the dark blue. A small difference, but I wonder if that is just a mix-up or intended difference.
Am I the only one who thinks the new link uniforms would look pretty good if they got rid of the white around the collar and the white around the bolts on the shoulders?
[quote comment=”59812″][quote comment=”59808″]OK, battle of the bad uni’s in the play in game. Cast your vote for the ugliest 17 seed
link
OR
link[/quote]
My vote goes to Niagara[/quote]
Neither are that ugly compared to the rest of the field.
MetsFan asked:
What the heck is their link anyway? a polar bear? yeti? albino gorilla?[/quote]
I dunno, MetsFan, but I wondered the same thing. it looks like a Polar Bear on a bad LSD trip to me.
[quote comment=”59884″]Am I the only one who thinks the new link uniforms would look pretty good if they got rid of the white around the collar and the white around the bolts on the shoulders?[/quote]
Allison, you rock!!!
I’ve been thinking the same exact thing since we first saw these uni’s a few days ago. Why can’t the blue jersey’s (Navy & Powder) keep the tradition of having the bolt right on the color? Otherwise, not a bad looking uni (except for the word “Chargers” on the front…completely pointless).
[quote comment=”59884″]Am I the only one who thinks the new link uniforms would look pretty good if they got rid of the white around the collar and the white around the bolts on the shoulders?[/quote]
I like the collar ok – not the white around the shoulder bolts. Small quibble.
Overall – job well done San Diego on improving/modernizing the uniforms. My favorite parts are the white helmet, the number font, and the nameplate above the numbers.
Now it’s the SD Chargers, UCLA, and the Denver Nuggets that employ the dual blue and gold scheme.
I can’t find a photo link, but I swear these new Charger unis look a lot like the Winnipeg Blue Bomber set from about 10 years ago. (CFL watcher: think back to the blue-helmet years for the Bombers when they had the wide stripe on the pant leg.)
[quote comment=”59863″][quote comment=”59852″]The Syracuse Crunch of the AHL are going to wear an orange shamrock on their St. Patrick’s day jersey in protest of Syracuse University not getting into NCAA tourney
link[/quote]
Perhaps the AHL has some sway in terms of hockey, but it has never had an effect, good or bad, on NCAA basketball. This is one of the dumbest promotions ever. It would be like the Los Angeles Galaxy wearing a silver and black shamrock because the Los Angeles Kings aren’t making the playoffs. Maybe the Orangemen should win their conference instead of relying on getting in on reputation. Enjoy the NIT, Orangemen, especially after how you played in your conference playoffs.
And since the Crunch are third-worst team in the AHL’s Western Conference and will most-likely miss the playoffs again, they should worry about their own fortunes instead of trying to help out Syracuse University.
Ok, rant over. :o)[/quote]
Not to nit pick, but they are just the Orange now. They dropped the “men” part of a year a two ago.
Last season there were alot of rumors about the Saints making some minor changes to their unis, mostly in making the helmets black and making the numbers on the link look more like the gold of the pants. Also, can anyone think of a way to spice up the all black that they wear?? I’m thinking a thin gold stripe might look very good. I also think a simple way to improve the helmets would be to remove the white stripe on the top and just have a black one.
[quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
I am from Kansas City, and I am actually glad the Penguins reached a deal. I would hate for a team with the history they do to come to a city that has no support for hockey what-so-ever. It would be like the Yankees moving from New York and going to Montana (no offense to any Montanians, if that’s what they are called). I think I read somewhere that the Predators were possibly exploring re-location, though. And a couple NBA teams, like the Clippers.
Paul — another great interview! Keep up the good work and send a thank you to both of the Okrays. Why are the guys in the front row have different colored sleeves on their unis? Were the dark blue ones too dirty? :)
link
[quote comment=”59889″]I can’t find a photo link, but I swear these new Charger unis look a lot like the Winnipeg Blue Bomber set from about 10 years ago. (CFL watcher: think back to the blue-helmet years for the Bombers when they had the wide stripe on the pant leg.)[/quote]
Do you mean link I found it on their website.
[quote comment=”59882″]Paul, any word on if the Chargers will keep the alternate / ringed socks pictured link?[/quote]
It’s not yet clear what socks will be worn with the navy pants. But it’s worth noting that the team has mostly been going link over the past year or so.
[quote comment=”59894″][quote comment=”59889″]I can’t find a photo link, but I swear these new Charger unis look a lot like the Winnipeg Blue Bomber set from about 10 years ago. (CFL watcher: think back to the blue-helmet years for the Bombers when they had the wide stripe on the pant leg.)[/quote]
Do you mean link I found it on their website.[/quote]
Looking at that picture again makes me think of BYU’s jerseys a few years back.
[quote comment=”59887″][quote comment=”59884″]Am I the only one who thinks the new link uniforms would look pretty good if they got rid of the white around the collar and the white around the bolts on the shoulders?[/quote]
Allison, you rock!!!
I’ve been thinking the same exact thing since we first saw these uni’s a few days ago. Why can’t the blue jersey’s (Navy & Powder) keep the tradition of having the bolt right on the color? Otherwise, not a bad looking uni (except for the word “Chargers” on the front…completely pointless).[/quote]
I addressed this point (but haven’t been able to get a straight answer about how it will be resolved) on Page 2 today.
all that is missing is the #’s on the helmets.
hi
I think it would have been nice to have kept the TV numbers on the sleeves ,its something that seems to be slowly dieing out with new uniform cuts andf templates.
Les
[quote comment=”59893″]Paul — another great interview! Keep up the good work and send a thank you to both of the Okrays. Why are the guys in the front row have different colored sleeves on their unis? Were the dark blue ones too dirty? :)
link[/quote]
Wow, I guess I never really noticed that in the pic. Thanks for pointing it out. But not to nit pick…UW-Stevens Point’s colors are Purple and Gold. But I guess it could be confused with Navy Blue in that Pic.
link
cant wait till i get home tonight so i can actually see the new jerseys.
stupid work proxy blocking flickr *grumble grumble*
[quote comment=”59890″]
Not to nit pick, but they are just the Orange now. They dropped the “men” part of a year a two ago.[/quote]
Good point. My bad. I apologize to Syracuse University for the “men” part, but not for the rant. And I’ll continue for those that think Syracuse should be there.
Syracuse was the 6th-best team in the Big East with a 22-10 record. They went 10-6 in their own conference. They aren’t ranked in the top 25, meaning there are 40 at-large spots available.
They lost to Wichita State by 3 (17-14), Oklahoma State by 4 (22-12), Drexel by 5 (23-8), West #3-seed Pittsburgh by 8 (27-7), St. John’s (NY) by 4 (16-15), South #6-seed Louisville by 5 (23-9), Connecticut by 13 (17-14), West #9-seed Villanova by 3 (22-10), and twice to Midwest #6-seed Notre Dame by a combined 16 points (24-7).
The only ranked team that Syracuse beat this season who is currently in the NCAA Tournament is Georgetown when the Orange beat them by 14. They lost to more teams NOT playing right now in either the NIT or the NCAA Tourney.
Take away the 7-0 start and they went 15-10 since December. Not quite impressive numbers.
Tell me how that makes them better than the 104 other teams with 20 or more victories in the tournament?
Just a observation.
Yesterday I watched the nats-mets game. The nats had on their home game unis with the new game hats.
I have no idea what the tempurature was. But I noticed no discolorization, sweat stains etc. on the new hats.
The starter for the nats lasted 4 innings and no sweat stains.
[quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
I’m glad they’re staying in Pittsburgh. I guess the city finally saw the light, aka dollar signs. This deal should have been done a long time ago.
[quote comment=”59845″]I give up…
link
Wade – it’s nothing you are doing; The Helmet Project doesn’t allow live linking to their images to preserve their bandwidth. You would need to download the image to another host (like Photobucket, etc.) and link to that.
[quote comment=”59887″][quote comment=”59884″]Am I the only one who thinks the new link uniforms would look pretty good if they got rid of the white around the collar and the white around the bolts on the shoulders?[/quote]
Allison, you rock!!!
I’ve been thinking the same exact thing since we first saw these uni’s a few days ago. Why can’t the blue jersey’s (Navy & Powder) keep the tradition of having the bolt right on the color? Otherwise, not a bad looking uni (except for the word “Chargers” on the front…completely pointless).[/quote]
First off, I agree about the Vikings-style collar – that isn’t needed.
However, having the blue right on the color for the blue jerseys is only a 19-year “tradition”. Having the white insert on the blue jerseys is their heritage – worn that way on columbia blue from 1960-1973 and on royal blue from 1974-1987. Even the current powder blue throwbacks have the white insert:
link
For me, the white insert on both blue jerseys is a return to their roots.
[quote comment=”59907″][quote comment=”59887″][quote comment=”59884″]Am I the only one who thinks the new link uniforms would look pretty good if they got rid of the white around the collar and the white around the bolts on the shoulders?[/quote]
Allison, you rock!!!
I’ve been thinking the same exact thing since we first saw these uni’s a few days ago. Why can’t the blue jersey’s (Navy & Powder) keep the tradition of having the bolt right on the color? Otherwise, not a bad looking uni (except for the word “Chargers” on the front…completely pointless).[/quote]
First off, I agree about the Vikings-style collar – that isn’t needed.
However, having the blue right on the color for the blue jerseys is only a 19-year “tradition”. Having the white insert on the blue jerseys is their heritage – worn that way on columbia blue from 1960-1973 and on royal blue from 1974-1987. Even the current powder blue throwbacks have the white insert:
link
For me, the white insert on both blue jerseys is a return to their roots.[/quote]
Didn’t even realize that they used to do that. However, for my eyes, I like it better with the bolt right on the color.
I go to the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point. Kind of depressing to think our team is very good and yet our uniforms were all levels of disgusting. Anytime you can post the second part of the interview on dressing one of our mascots (I am assuming it is either Stevie or Stephanie Pointer link ) That would be greatly appreciated.
I must say the link I’m pleasantly surprised with. They combine the Helmets of the 60s ( but where are the numbers on the helmets? ), with the classic gold bolt of the 70s ( think Dan Fouts ), with the modern-day look of the navy blue ( super bowl XXIX anyone? ). Nice touch reincarnating the powder blue back into the unis, but the font of the numbers leaves something to be desired.
At least they don’t look like link
[quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
Easy on the “dream” talk. I’m from KC, and I could care less whether we get a team or not.
So, I was just looking at SI.com and noticed that Illinois is getting rid of all Native American References, link
Does this mean they will be changing anything else (i.e. uniforms)
[quote comment=”59823″]And re the Jose Cruz trade story:
My one visit to Wrigley Field came on Aug. 4, 1982 for a game against the Mets. During the game, Joel Youngblood came up to bat, got a hit, then was replaced. Soon, we found out he had been traded to Montreal. On the way home, we heard he had not only made it to Montreal but got a hit. It’s the only time a player got hits for two different teams in two different cities on the same day.[/quote]
Nice recollection.
However, the later game was in Philadelphia, not Montreal (if that’s what you meant by “made it to Montreal”). Getting hits in two countries – clearing customs and all – would have been a bigger distinction, let alone two cities.
According to Retrosheet.org, Youngblood got his hits against two future Hall of Famers that day: Fergie Jenkins in Chicago and Steve Carlton in Philly.
[quote comment=”59913″][quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
Easy on the “dream” talk. I’m from KC, and I could care less whether we get a team or not.[/quote]
You mean you couldn’t care less?
I think the guy’s speaking for the city council or the people who tried really hard to land the franchise. There must be KC citizens who crushed by this news since it has been a several week long process.
[quote comment=”59914″]So, I was just looking at SI.com and noticed that Illinois is getting rid of all Native American References, link
Does this mean they will be changing anything else (i.e. uniforms)[/quote]
As far as I understand, they will keep their nickname of the Illini, just removing all native american references like you said. From looking at their link I don’t think they should have to change them.
Syracuse should have been in over Stanford, who was only 18-12, and lost something like 7 of their last 11. Syracuse was 5th in the Big East ahead of Marquette, and Villanova, who both got in. While they don’t play a good OCC schedule, Drexel, and Witcha St are both very good teams, and Witcha St. was ranked in the top 25 when they played. Oklahoma St. was 15-1 when they played Syracuse. Syracuse has a key win vs. Georgetown, and a higher RPI than Stanford. If anyone shouldn’t have been in the tourney it should have been Stanford who finished 6th out of 10 in the Pac-10
Dan Fouts and Air Coryell ROCKED!!!
link
RE: SD new unis – I’m wondering how the horizontal shoulder stripes are going to work with the linemen’s “tank-top” style jerseys they wear.
Lots of hubbub about the new Chargers Unis. Bottom line is that I am OK with the changes. As stated by many before, going back to the old powder blues would be great, but I can live with the new things.
Few things…
1- I guess I am in the minority, but I think that the shoulder bolt on the navy blue uni (the one that many people say is “upside down”) looks BETTER than the one on the powder blue. To me it just looks right with the angle of the bolt over the side of the shoulder. In my mind, this is what a bolt would look like if it were to strike forward.
2 – Much also said about the white shoulder plate that holds the bolt on the navy and powder blue unis. One person even said that it takes away from the tradition of the bolt on the blue itself. Well, so much for tradition…it is a tradition to GO BACK to that look. But I will say that mock ups on Chris Creamer’s board makes the power blues look BETTER with out the white, but I think the navys look beter WITH the white.
3 – Font is OK. It is NOT as bad as Baltimore or Tennessee (to name a few).
4 – Nameplate on front of the uni. Bad.
5 – White collar…OK. Could take it or leave it.
Here are some MOCK UPS from Chris Creamers board and from a Charger fan message board. Please keep in mind that thse are made by fans and are NOT the final product…
link
link (Love the fan made comments on the yellow pants.)
link (Bad)
link
link (Nice)
link (A little bit much for my taste.)
link
All in all a great job by the artists!
One last thing. Someone said the new alternates reminded them of the old link. I can see that!
Thank God Tessa said something about how how offensive an orange shamrock would be. I wonder how this story plays out in Scranton (where they just wrapped up their St. Pats festivites), and home of Gerry Mac?
There are places in Northern Ireland and Glasgow where wearing Orange will get you a sideways glance or seven (and that’s if you are lucky)
link was wearing #87 on Friday (3/9) versus the Phillies, not Saturday (3/10) versus the Tigers. I was at both games and was frantically scanning Tigertown for Youkilis on Saturday to see if he was back in his usual link. Alas, he didn’t play and I never saw him. We surmised he’d just lost his jersey. No one else has been assigned #20.
One more “yea” vote for the Bolts’ link here. It passes the “is it good or is it stupid” test. The streamlined numeral font still looks appropriate for football rather than link.
The ‘Bolts new unis are a compromise, I think. I believe I read somewhere [probably on this site] that the owner liked the dark blue, late ’90s-present version … but there was so much goodness coming out of those days when Tomlinson [can’t call him LT, that’s reserved for #51 of the Jersey SwampGiants] wore the powder blue …
like the Chargers of Sid Gillman, John Hadl and “Bambi”.
Speaking of teams that had powder blue in their pasts … how ’bout those Penguins! Glad they’re staying here in the East … such a treat to see Crosby and Malkin … the future of the NHL .. play against the locals here in NY so many times.
[quote comment=”59926″][can’t call him LT, that’s reserved for #51 of the Jersey SwampGiants][/quote]
link
I actually like the new Chargers neck-line treatment…players like link have been link their jerseys to simulate that technique for years.
My main gripe with the jerseys are the numbers. Not the font choice (even though I think the full block look better) but the color of the middle layer of twill. Compare the link. If you use the color of the jersey as your middle layer the white and gold pop off the jersey better. I love them using the light blue more, but using it with the numbers is ugly to me.
Re: NBA & NHL teams moving/relocating.
The next NBA team that relocates, be it Seattle, Memphis, New Orleans, Sacramento or the LA Clippers will be moving to Las Vegas. It’s a done deal that has already been approved by league officials and the leagues lawyers. Plans are already in place for a new modern arena with all of the bells and whistles, including a possible strip joint, all to be paid for by the city, the team won’t have to shell out a penny. An NHL team moving is a possibility, but not very likely.
Re: The Chargers new unis.
Did I mention that they suck flaccid uncut cock?
The worst thing about them is the white helmets. They completely and utterly clash with the navy jerseys, and look especially retarded with the dark blue facemask.
I’m talking pukeinducingly awful.
I guarantee that the Chargers will change the helmet within the next 2 years, after fans see how shitty the white helmet/navy jersey looks.
Bottom line: A total fucking travesty.
[quote comment=”59913″][quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
Easy on the “dream” talk. I’m from KC, and I could care less whether we get a team or not.[/quote]
Which is exactly why everyone should be thrilled they’re staying where they belong! I’m so glad the Pens are staying in Pittsburgh.
On another note, I think the Chargers did a great job updating their uniforms. I know everyone has their list of things they might change about them, but considering what the Bengals, Bills, and Vikings ended up with, I think we should count our blessings.
I live here in KC, and I haven’t heard from anyone here that they would be interested in an NHL team. Higher-ups seem to think they could bring one here, but I am not sure they would get any fans to attend the games. We like our football and baseball too much here (even when they aren’t very good) to really accept another sport. The only person that I know that is even remotely interested in hockey comes from Pittsburgh, so is already a Penguins fan, and is glad they are staying put.
[quote comment=”59929″]Re: NBA & NHL teams moving/relocating.
The next NBA team that relocates, be it Seattle, Memphis, New Orleans, Sacramento or the LA Clippers will be moving to Las Vegas. It’s a done deal that has already been approved by league officials and the leagues lawyers. Plans are already in place for a new modern arena with all of the bells and whistles, including a possible strip joint, all to be paid for by the city, the team won’t have to shell out a penny. An NHL team moving is a possibility, but not very likely.
[/quote]
The Nashville Predators have a clause in their lease that allows them to leave the city of Nashville if the game attendance drops below a certain level on average. The clause takes effect after the 2007-08 season. And according to link, Kansas City is already drooling over the thought of the Predators moving to KC.
For all those who think that NHL hockey in KC is a dead issue, think again. Leiweke wants it there in his arena so bad he can taste it.
[quote comment=”59836″][quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
I am so happy! I was having all sorts of philosophical arguments with myself. When I root for the “team,” is it the city, the uniform, and/or the players? This is the first time that I have had to ever consider this, as the Yankees and Bears are not in danger of moving (although I was going to have issues if the “New York” Yankees built their stadium in New Jersey). It is taking everything I can muster not to skip through my office in a manic, spritely manner.
Oh, and Teebz, thanks for the article with the super-cheesy back-to-back Sidney-Mario picture. It takes the cake! The pokecheck lives on in Pittsburgh![/quote]
tessa, how sad is it that after I read about the Penguins staying put, I thought of how happy you’d be? I’m glad your rosaries worked in this case.
I like the font on the new SD unis, but I’m not so sure about the rest. I will have to see them in action before deciding.
[quote comment=”59931″]I live here in KC, and I haven’t heard from anyone here that they would be interested in an NHL team. Higher-ups seem to think they could bring one here, but I am not sure they would get any fans to attend the games. We like our football and baseball too much here (even when they aren’t very good) to really accept another sport. The only person that I know that is even remotely interested in hockey comes from Pittsburgh, so is already a Penguins fan, and is glad they are staying put.[/quote]
I will second that – Pens are my favorite East team and hockey does not need more relocations.
Thank God Penguins’ uniforms will not go the way of the Hartford Whalers’.
[quote comment=”59913″][quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
Easy on the “dream” talk. I’m from KC, and I could care less whether we get a team or not.[/quote]
This is why Kansas City doesn’t deserve an NHL team. It’s a one sport city.
Regarding the observation last week that only USC and Alabama wear black shoes with white laces, check link out
[quote comment=”59877″]
I can’t tell you how wrong this is. An orange shamrock?!? My grandmother, God rest her soul, is rolling in her grave! Now, I understand the Syracuse element of this, don’t get me wrong. And if you have not been indoctrinated by Irish relatives, this might seem like a ridiculous rant. So prepare yourself.
Since I cannot figure out where to start, I’ll just cut to the chase. For the Irish, orange represents the protestants who, for much of Irish history, colonized and terrorized the “green” Irish Catholics. The massacres of 1641 during the “link” are still commemorated on the banners of the link. The Orange Order, named for the conqueror William the Orange, would parade in celebration of events that colonized and killed the Irish in their own land. This organization would wear orange on St. Patrick’s day as a show of their opposition to Irish Catholics.
I wouldn’t put this up to the level of “offensive,” but it is certainly in poor taste to not consider the other implications of this idea.[/quote]
tessa, thanks for the history lesson. This entry was fascinating, and I am sure the Crunch braintrust didn’t even think about it.
Now that I’ve quoted you twice in one day, I am going to ignore you for the rest of the week. J/K.
[quote comment=”59929″]Re: NBA & NHL teams moving/relocating.
The next NBA team that relocates, be it Seattle, Memphis, New Orleans, Sacramento or the LA Clippers will be moving to Las Vegas. It’s a done deal that has already been approved by league officials and the leagues lawyers. Plans are already in place for a new modern arena with all of the bells and whistles, including a possible strip joint, all to be paid for by the city, the team won’t have to shell out a penny. An NHL team moving is a possibility, but not very likely.
Why the hell would a team wanna re-locate to Vegas?
Frankly I like the new Charger Unis. I find it hard to believe that people are saying they stink. Take a look at the Charger uniform history link and you’ll see that the gold bolts in white patches go back to the air coryell (I know I misspelled that) unis. The new number font is great, remember the old numbers were the most boring part of the uni. The best part of all is the way the chargers describe the change on their website. They said they wanted to do it to establish a different identity for this team. And they’ve actually done that every generation. The Lance Allworth teams had the original powder blues, the Dan Fouts/Kellen Winslow teams had the gold bolts, the Seau teams had the navy and white. Now this team has a chance to make its own identity. That really is a great way to treat the team unis as changing with the times but not forgetting the past. Its a tribute to the chargers to be able to change unis multiple times, and still remain among the slickest in the league.
[quote comment=”59929″]Re: NBA & NHL teams moving/relocating.
The next NBA team that relocates, be it Seattle, Memphis, New Orleans, Sacramento or the LA Clippers will be moving to Las Vegas. It’s a done deal that has already been approved by league officials and the leagues lawyers. Plans are already in place for a new modern arena with all of the bells and whistles, including a possible strip joint, all to be paid for by the city, the team won’t have to shell out a penny. An NHL team moving is a possibility, but not very likely.
Re: The Chargers new unis.
Did I mention that they suck flaccid uncut cock?
The worst thing about them is the white helmets. They completely and utterly clash with the navy jerseys, and look especially retarded with the dark blue facemask.
I’m talking pukeinducingly awful.
I guarantee that the Chargers will change the helmet within the next 2 years, after fans see how shitty the white helmet/navy jersey looks.
Bottom line: A total fucking travesty.[/quote]
Give em a chance, see em out in that gorgeous San Diego sun. Besides the white helmets have always been cool.
[quote comment=”59935″][quote comment=”59913″][quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
Easy on the “dream” talk. I’m from KC, and I could care less whether we get a team or not.[/quote]
This is why Kansas City doesn’t deserve an NHL team. It’s a one sport city.[/quote]
I resent that statement. We are more than a one sport city. We love our sports here, and even though the Royals are usually not good, we still support them more than any other city supports their crappy baseball team. And we have a MLS team and an Arena Football team. They might not be the most popular sports in the country, but we have them, and we support them. I do agree that we don’t need an NHL team, though.
Re: NBA & NHL teams moving/relocating.
The next NBA team that relocates, be it Seattle, Memphis, New Orleans, Sacramento or the LA Clippers will be moving to Las Vegas. It’s a done deal that has already been approved by league officials and the leagues lawyers. Plans are already in place for a new modern arena with all of the bells and whistles, including a possible strip joint, all to be paid for by the city, the team won’t have to shell out a penny. An NHL team moving is a possibility, but not very likely.
Why the hell would a team wanna re-locate to Vegas?
Oklahoma City is next on the NBA relocation list (either the Sonics or the Hornets).
Re: Charger uniforms–I’m OK with the new uniforms, though I think they should have gone to the gray facemask and the previous lettering font on the “CHARGERS” mark was better than this one. Also, re: powder blue/yellow combo–there is precedent for this color combo–link
[quote comment=”59932″][quote comment=”59929″]Re: NBA & NHL teams moving/relocating.
The next NBA team that relocates, be it Seattle, Memphis, New Orleans, Sacramento or the LA Clippers will be moving to Las Vegas. It’s a done deal that has already been approved by league officials and the leagues lawyers. Plans are already in place for a new modern arena with all of the bells and whistles, including a possible strip joint, all to be paid for by the city, the team won’t have to shell out a penny. An NHL team moving is a possibility, but not very likely.
[/quote]
The Nashville Predators have a clause in their lease that allows them to leave the city of Nashville if the game attendance drops below a certain level on average. The clause takes effect after the 2007-08 season. And according to link, Kansas City is already drooling over the thought of the Predators moving to KC.
For all those who think that NHL hockey in KC is a dead issue, think again. Leiweke wants it there in his arena so bad he can taste it.[/quote]
That number for Nashville would be 14,000, and thankfully with some of these late season sell-outs, the average attendance has gotten above that number. Everything in Nashville boils down to local corporate support. If you go to a game, the upper deck is always full. It’s the really expensive seats that Mr. and Mrs. Joe Fan can’t afford that are empty.
re: Chargers new unis: Finally! A uniform change that is not a train wreck, ala Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals.
I was involved with the NCAA Div. III Indoor Track and Field Championships over the weekend and the Stevens Point interview made me remember hat link had some unique track tops. (That and Stevens Point took 3rd in 4×400 obviously) link are some more link of the those Oshkosh link.
[quote comment=”59941″][quote comment=”59935″][quote comment=”59913″][quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
Easy on the “dream” talk. I’m from KC, and I could care less whether we get a team or not.[/quote]
This is why Kansas City doesn’t deserve an NHL team. It’s a one sport city.[/quote]
I resent that statement. We are more than a one sport city. We love our sports here, and even though the Royals are usually not good, we still support them more than any other city supports their crappy baseball team. And we have a MLS team and an Arena Football team. They might not be the most popular sports in the country, but we have them, and we support them. I do agree that we don’t need an NHL team, though.[/quote]
I’m a Cubs fan, KC does not support their crappy baseball team more than any other city. 3 million+ cubs fans bears that out.
The Chargers’ new uniforms have arrived. The official unveiling is tomorrow, but those two pages I just linked to began circulating late last night.
Bolts meet the Buffaslugs…
The unis designs went backwards design wise. The helmet in white is an improvement although it needs the numbers on the side…by the way the numbers suck.
The logo is brutal… again, you just couldn’t have used this…
link
Let’s recap this way, when you have Marilyn Monroe and you turn her into Pam Anderson…you did not improve a classic, you just trashed her up that’s all…Where’s John Hadl and Lance Alworth?
On a scale of 1 to 10 it’s a 3.
[quote comment=”59946″][quote comment=”59941″][quote comment=”59935″][quote comment=”59913″][quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
I’m a Cubs fan, KC does not support their crappy baseball team more than any other city. 3 million+ cubs fans bears that out.[/quote]
As a White Sox fan let me say that the Cubs are a freak occurrence. I know there are a lot of Cubs fans who are genuine but there also a huge number of bozos who don’t really care if the team wins or loses and are just enamored with the atmosphere. I’m not saying you aren’t a true blue Cubs fan just that a lot of those 3 million+ Cubs fans don’t care as much as KC fans do.
[quote comment=”59824″]Nice going on those white Chargers’ helmets.
But, not so hot on the numbers. Interesting that the trend of using these goofy number fonts continues unabated in the NFL (Denver, Baltimore, Philly, Tennessee). Meanwhile, in the Arena Football League, the trend in recent years has been for teams that formerly had silly fonts (New York, LA, Colorado, Orlando) to ditch them in favour of block numbers.[/quote]
The Dragons change was unique, as the rest were done by Russell Athletic. The Dragons began play in 2001 in jerseys with numerals link. However, before one game a year or two ago, all of their uniforms were stolen. The mfg. sent out replacements with regular block numbering rather than the stylized flaming numbers.
I’m a Cubs fan, KC does not support their crappy baseball team more than any other city. 3 million+ cubs fans bears that out.
As a White Sox fan let me say that the Cubs are a freak occurrence. I know there are a lot of Cubs fans who are genuine but there also a huge number of bozos who don’t really care if the team wins or loses and are just enamored with the atmosphere. I’m not saying you aren’t a true blue Cubs fan just that a lot of those 3 million+ Cubs fans don’t care as much as KC fans do.
Wrigley Field never has an off year, drops a fly ball or blows save after save… it’s the ballpark…always was always will be… and honestly nothing wrong with a great destination to bring in fans, both casual and hard core…
[quote comment=”59947″]The Chargers’ new uniforms have arrived. The official unveiling is tomorrow, but those two pages I just linked to began circulating late last night.
Bolts meet the Buffaslugs…
The unis designs went backwards design wise. The helmet in white is an improvement although it needs the numbers on the side…by the way the numbers suck.
The logo is brutal… again, you just couldn’t have used this…
link
Let’s recap this way, when you have Marilyn Monroe and you turn her into Pam Anderson…you did not improve a classic, you just trashed her up that’s all…Where’s John Hadl and Lance Alworth?
On a scale of 1 to 10 it’s a 3.[/quote]
More of an 8.5 – 8.6
My 2 cents on the Chargers Unis.
1) Blue facemask looks odd (grey would have been ideal)
2) Flip the bolts on the shoulders of the Navy jersey, they look weird not matching the helmet.
3) Get rid of the blue background for the bolt on the white jersey and white pants. They wanted to be consistent with the bolt so why not always have it on a white background?
As a Charger fan, the thing that stuns and amazes me is how passionate people’s opinions are here about the new unis, even if they’re not Charger fans!!On the Chargers’ own boards and the Union-Tribune boards, there are plenty of opinions, but there’s nothing like the passion here. To paraphrase, nobody’s even hinted that the new unis ass-fuck a great tradition with a carbuncled festering donkey dick, or whatever Travis said. Whether you agree or disagree with Travis, you have to appreciate how much he cares.
[quote comment=”59945″]I was involved with the NCAA Div. III Indoor Track and Field Championships over the weekend and the Stevens Point interview made me remember hat link had some unique track tops. (That and Stevens Point took 3rd in 4×400 obviously) link are some more link of the those Oshkosh link.[/quote]
very link.
am chuckling away at the podium there. does it stretch away to infinity or something?
Sox prosepct Jacoby Ellsbury is pretty lucky that he was wearing a double flapped helmet or this clip might not have been tagged ‘blooper’.
link
[quote comment=”59953″]As a Charger fan, the thing that stuns and amazes me is how passionate people’s opinions are here about the new unis, even if they’re not Charger fans!!On the Chargers’ own boards and the Union-Tribune boards, there are plenty of opinions, but there’s nothing like the passion here. To paraphrase, nobody’s even hinted that the new unis ass-fuck a great tradition with a carbuncled festering donkey dick, or whatever Travis said. Whether you agree or disagree with Travis, you have to appreciate how much he cares.[/quote]
Well spoke. Well spoke.
[quote comment=”59936″]Regarding the observation last week that only USC and Alabama wear black shoes with white laces, check link out[/quote]
Teams that anyone outside of Manhattan cares about, pretty much.
I’m was planning on going to the Portland Winterhawks (WHL) game this Saturday, and I just found out two things:
* The ice will be green (St. Patrick’s Day, of course)
* The teams will be wearing throwback uniforms. Portland will be wearing the Portland Buckaroos jersey link And the Seattle Thunderbirds will be wearing the old Seattle Totem’s jersey. link, which looks a lot like the current Thunderbirds logo.
[quote comment=”59916″][quote comment=”59913″][quote comment=”59826″]Kansas City’s dream of getting the Penguins is link.
In Mario, I trust.[/quote]
Easy on the “dream” talk. I’m from KC, and I could care less whether we get a team or not.[/quote]
You mean you couldn’t care less?
I think the guy’s speaking for the city council or the people who tried really hard to land the franchise. There must be KC citizens who crushed by this news since it has been a several week long process.[/quote]
Regardless of what one or two people have said, KC cares plenty, trust me. Personally, I’m secretly relieved (for the Pittsburgh fans) that the Penguins aren’t relocating, since it’s such a storied franchise, but … damn! I could have watched Sidney Crosby in his prime. Oh well. We could do worse than the Predators.
Travis and TonyE and I are the only ones here that think the Chargers’ new unis bite the big one. That blue facemask, the ridiculous number font, and the dumb Chargers nameplate on the chest all make the jerseys look like the work of a 4th grader. As a Chiefs fan, I hate the Chargers, but even I had to admit that the old powder blues were one of the best-looking unis in all of sports. Only the Chargers could’ve screwed that up. This new uniform change is even worse than drafting Ryan Leaf with the #2 pick in 1998.
[quote comment=”59939″]Frankly I like the new Charger Unis. I find it hard to believe that people are saying they stink. Take a look at the Charger uniform history link and you’ll see that the gold bolts in white patches go back to the air coryell (I know I misspelled that) unis. The new number font is great, remember the old numbers were the most boring part of the uni. The best part of all is the way the chargers describe the change on their website. They said they wanted to do it to establish a different identity for this team. And they’ve actually done that every generation. The Lance Allworth teams had the original powder blues, the Dan Fouts/Kellen Winslow teams had the gold bolts, the Seau teams had the navy and white. Now this team has a chance to make its own identity. That really is a great way to treat the team unis as changing with the times but not forgetting the past. Its a tribute to the chargers to be able to change unis multiple times, and still remain among the slickest in the league.[/quote]
Nothing new to add here, just wanted to give link to Tom on his point about the generations of Chargers unis.
[quote comment=”59954″][quote comment=”59945″]I was involved with the NCAA Div. III Indoor Track and Field Championships over the weekend and the Stevens Point interview made me remember hat link had some unique track tops. (That and Stevens Point took 3rd in 4×400 obviously) link are some more link of the those Oshkosh link.[/quote]
very link.
am chuckling away at the podium there. does it stretch away to infinity or something?[/quote]
Yeah, the podium was quite large, but the top 8 are All-Americans and we had to make it big enough to fit all 4 of the relay team members on a step.
[quote comment=”59922″]Here are some MOCK UPS from Chris Creamers board and from a Charger fan message board. Please keep in mind that thse are made by fans and are NOT the final product…
link (A little bit much for my taste.)[/quote]
OMG! I love that!
Thanks for the great interview w/ Mike Okray. Great stuff!
Re: The Chargers new unis.
here’s the thing. I don’t mind the new look for the jerseys, though I think the powder blues are ruined with the additional navy accents, but the white helmets with the navy facemasks DO NOT work.
At all.
It’s horrible and spare me the junk about how fabulous it will look under the San Diego sun in the fall.
It won’t look fabulous.
It will look like flayed pus encrusted donkey cock.
It sucks.
It’s ugly.
It clashes horribly with the navy jerseys.
Did I mention that it sucks?
I guess the Chargers current owner really hates the powder blues, ’cause they really fucked them over.
Re: An NBA/NHL team relocating to Las Vegas.
A poster asked, “why the hell would a team want to move to Vegas?”
I suppose it’s a fair question, if you’ve been completely ignorant of the demographics of the Vegas area for the last 15 years or so.
Vegas is one of the top 5 fastest growing metropolitan areas in the country, has one of fastest rising incomes and of course has gambling. It’s one of the major stops for many of the AAU basketball teams, it’s where the NBA has it’s summer league and where Michael Jordan has his fantasy camp. Perhaps the biggest draw is something I already mentioned, that whatever team moved there wouldn’t have to shell out a penny for the construction of a new arena.
The NBA is seriously thinking of moving the All-Star game there permanently.
Oh, I’m speaking as someone who could give a shit about both the Chargers or whether or not Vegas ever gets a team.
[quote comment=”59863″][quote comment=”59852″]The Syracuse Crunch of the AHL are going to wear an orange shamrock on their St. Patrick’s day jersey in protest of Syracuse University not getting into NCAA tourney
link[/quote]
Perhaps the AHL has some sway in terms of hockey, but it has never had an effect, good or bad, on NCAA basketball. This is one of the dumbest promotions ever. It would be like the Los Angeles Galaxy wearing a silver and black shamrock because the Los Angeles Kings aren’t making the playoffs. Maybe the Orangemen should win their conference instead of relying on getting in on reputation. Enjoy the NIT, Orangemen, especially after how you played in your conference playoffs.
And since the Crunch are third-worst team in the AHL’s Western Conference and will most-likely miss the playoffs again, they should worry about their own fortunes instead of trying to help out Syracuse University.
Ok, rant over. :o)[/quote]
Additionally, since I’m a Blue Jackets fan and the Crunch are their farm team, I would rather the Crunch focus on developing their players so maybe, possibly, perhaps, when pigs fly, the Blue Jackets will make it to the playoffs in the not-too-distant future (heck, I would be happy if they finished at .500).
More hate towards the new Batting Practice caps…
Watching the A’s vs. Giants spring training game on FSN. Towards the end of the second inning, Glen Kuiper commented that he doesn’t like the new BP caps and that Rich Aurilla called them “Nascar looking.”
[quote comment=”59955″]Sox prosepct Jacoby Ellsbury is pretty lucky that he was wearing a double flapped helmet or this clip might not have been tagged ‘blooper’.
link
Wow. Doesn’t look to me like the ball hits an ear flap as much as it seems to hit the brim on the front of the helmet.
[quote comment=”59960″]Travis and TonyE and I are the only ones here that think the Chargers’ new unis bite the big one. That blue facemask, the ridiculous number font, and the dumb Chargers nameplate on the chest all make the jerseys look like the work of a 4th grader. As a Chiefs fan, I hate the Chargers, but even I had to admit that the old powder blues were one of the best-looking unis in all of sports. Only the Chargers could’ve screwed that up. This new uniform change is even worse than drafting Ryan Leaf with the #2 pick in 1998.[/quote]
… and the Chiefs performance in the ’06 playoffs is worse than the Leaf pick.
Look at link of Ben Wallace’s warm-up gear from tonight’s game. Looks like Bill Belichek is in the NBA.
My $.02 regarding the Chargers uniforms….I gotta see them in action, but they aren’t bad…they could have been a lot worse, and it seems to me that some people whine to whine sometimes here.
Now, and this is slightly serious and is right now devoted to Travis, but others have been guilty as well…is the language THAT necessary? My 11-year old was reading this along with me because she is into some of this stuff (a kid after my own heart), but I had to scroll quickly past anything Travis wrote tonight. Seriously, get your point across with a different set of words. Look, I curse as much as the next person, but I don’t do it here…can we all lay off that a bit?
And yes, I’m only 36….
Frank
[quote comment=”59924″]Thank God Tessa said something about how how offensive an orange shamrock would be. I wonder how this story plays out in Scranton (where they just wrapped up their St. Pats festivites), and home of Gerry Mac?
There are places in Northern Ireland and Glasgow where wearing Orange will get you a sideways glance or seven (and that’s if you are lucky)[/quote]
It is crazy that you would mention Scranton, as I am from Scranton and almost my entire family still lives there. I would live there, too, if only they would move the state government there. I miss home.
I can tell you that the only orange you see consistently in Scranton is on Syracuse gear. But they didn’t wear it on St. Patty’s Day, that’s for damn sure!
[quote comment=”59937″]
tessa, thanks for the history lesson. This entry was fascinating, and I am sure the Crunch braintrust didn’t even think about it.
Now that I’ve quoted you twice in one day, I am going to ignore you for the rest of the week. J/K.[/quote]
I’ll just have to start quoting you to reestablish the balance!
[quote comment=”59933″]
tessa, how sad is it that after I read about the Penguins staying put, I thought of how happy you’d be? I’m glad your rosaries worked in this case.
[/quote]
And how sad is it that my first thought, well, my first thought after the unbridled joy, was “Crap, I forgot to have my sister take pictures of the rosaries to post for Minna!”
[quote comment=”59982″]Look at link of Ben Wallace’s warm-up gear from tonight’s game. Looks like Bill Belichek is in the NBA.[/quote]
Juxtaposing the Bulls wordmark with the Celtics colors and logo. Just to sell merchandise.
Keep up the good work, NBA. Jeez…
The local cable station I work for was airing a Pennsylvania State Girls Basketball game tonight between East Stroudsburg South and Philadelphia Central high schools. On first glance, I thought Phlly was wearing mismatched unis – black tops with white shorts. But as I kept watching, I noticed the colors on their shorts didn’t match those of the jersey. Turns out, both teams showed up with only their home whites. Since Philly was classified as the “away (lower-seeded)” team, they had to borrow jerseys from the host school, Freedom.
I have some screen grabs, accessable link It’s a little tough to see, but Philly’s regular colors are red and black, while Freedom’s are yellow, brown and black. As you can imagine, it looked a little silly. It’s no wonder they lost.
I just noticed a few more things about those photos: One side of the black jersey has side piping, the other doesn’t, and the last pic features a nice big swoosh on the forehead
[quote comment=”59984″][quote comment=”59924″]Thank God Tessa said something about how how offensive an orange shamrock would be. I wonder how this story plays out in Scranton (where they just wrapped up their St. Pats festivites), and home of Gerry Mac?
There are places in Northern Ireland and Glasgow where wearing Orange will get you a sideways glance or seven (and that’s if you are lucky)[/quote]
It is crazy that you would mention Scranton, as I am from Scranton and almost my entire family still lives there. I would live there, too, if only they would move the state government there. I miss home.
I can tell you that the only orange you see consistently in Scranton is on Syracuse gear. But they didn’t wear it on St. Patty’s Day, that’s for damn sure!
[quote comment=”59937″]
tessa, thanks for the history lesson. This entry was fascinating, and I am sure the Crunch braintrust didn’t even think about it.
Now that I’ve quoted you twice in one day, I am going to ignore you for the rest of the week. J/K.[/quote]
I’ll just have to start quoting you to reestablish the balance![/quote]
I was wondering about the inappropriateness of an orange shamrock. Thanks for the history lesson.
Scranton, huh? Now I know who to look up next time I need paper :)
I know i got into this way too late but to call KC a one sport town is absurd. Baseball is supported here. KC is the college basketball mecca, and INDY stole the NCAA headquarters away from us. (im pissed about that still) High school sports are huge here, AFL is successful, MLS aint bad, we have minor league baseball in town as well. All and all sports are the “cool” thing to go and do/watch in KC. They are our “biggest” events, since we have no celebs or movie premieres. So fuck the KC haters.
Secondly, i swear ISU runs this message board. MOre alums and ISU students in here than any other, and we get our stuff mentioned constantly even when we aren’t good. Thats why the KC Star always calls ISU fans the best in the nation.
* The teams will be wearing throwback uniforms. Portland will be wearing the Portland Buckaroos jersey link And the Seattle Thunderbirds will be wearing the old Seattle Totem’s jersey. link, which looks a lot like the current Thunderbirds logo.[/quote]
Sadly, despite a great logo, the uniforms were traditionally link
Seattle has a lot of link over the years.
[quote comment=”59995″]I know i got into this way too late but to call KC a one sport town is absurd. Baseball is supported here. KC is the college basketball mecca, and INDY stole the NCAA headquarters away from us.
I’m sorry, did you jsut call Kansas City the college basketball mecca of the world? Off the top of my head I can name New York (NCAA’s, NIT, MSG, St. John’s etc) Chapel Hill, UCLA, Indiana as all bigger, more important mecca’s than KC… no offense tho, I do love myself some bbq
Overall I think the Chargers unis are an improvement. I have never liked the dark blue shirt and helmet. I think making powder blue an official color is great because we know that we will see those unis every year and they won’t have to make a throwback exception to wear them. My real probelm is not the numbers or the lack of them on the helmets but the lack of yellow. The yellow on the mock up pages it too gold, like the horrible gold of the Rams. I think it would be great to have yellow Dan Fouts pants.
What is this love affair people have with white pants? The best unis use yellow, silver, or khaki pants then you do not have to worry about dark blue (red, green, fill in the blank)pants when the team has white jerseys. For some reason no one will use orange pants it makes no sense (Bengals and Browns). But I digress.
Like the unis; miss the yellow.
where is the college basketball hall of fame?? o ya KC. and you named college towns with the exception of NY. KC has fans of TONS of teams, not just one like those college towns. And please if you live in NY you have 1,000,000 things before basketball. KC during winter college basketball is king. Only comparable is Pennsylvania with all their D1 teams.
Once again, people, PLEASE CEASE WITH THE GUTTER MOUTH COMMENTS!
Your IP will be on notice once Paul notices them, and trust me, he really doesn’t want to go there, if you know what I’m talking about.
Banishment land.